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Wednesday, July 15, 2020
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Feds poured millions into Ahwatukee to save jobs BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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he federal government pumped a staggering amount of money into 1,119 Ahwatukee businesses, nonprofits, schools and other entities to hold on to 9,932 jobs as the economy began reeling during the first few months of the pandemic. Records released by the U.S. Small Business Administration last week show that the agency gave Ahwatukee entities – some with addresses at private homes – at least $63.9 million and as much as $123 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans. Most of those loans likely won’t have to be repaid, under SBA guidelines, though the agency states: “Forgiveness is based on the employer maintaining or quickly rehiring employees and
maintaining salary levels. Forgiveness will be reduced if full-time headcount declines, or if salaries and wages decrease.” The loans to Ahwatukee entities ranged from as little as $16,035 to as much as $5 million to $10 million, the SBA data show. The number of jobs the borrowers said they were saving didn’t necessarily reflect the size of the loan they received, with one entity obtaining a seven-figure loan and listed no jobs to save, according to the SBA data. The SBA did not identify the 994 Ahwatukee entities that each borrowed less than $150,000. And while it did provide names and addresses for 125 Ahwatukee entities that obtained loans of at least $150,000, the agency did not disclose the specific amount they got. The incomplete data was released by the SBA after weeks of pressure from Congres-
sional Democrats and government watchdogs about the lack of transparency in 4.9 million loans totaling $520.6 billion that it has approved so far nationwide. The SBA last week also extended the deadline to early August for applying for some of the estimated $130 billion that remains unspent. The PPP loan funds – described by the SBA as “a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll” – are part of the $2 trillion pandemic relief package approved by Congress in March that also included other assistance to individuals, businesses and local and state governments. PPP loans are aimed at preserving jobs by helping borrowers maintain their payroll and stay afloat by using some of the money for rent, mortgage interest or utilities.
Club West course A pandemic challenge owners say a plan is months away
see LOANS page 14
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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he new owners of Club West’s former golf course don’t expect to complete a proposal for the site until late this year and will spend the next few months soliciting ideas from homeowners on what they’d like to see there. “We’ve worked with an architect to see what can be done with the land and develop a framework for what a park would look like and discuss the number of ways to remediate the land,” said Matt Shearer, one of three partners in Community Land Solutions. “The big issue right now is that any plan has to go through a long process of working with the community,” he said. “So right now, we’re
see WEST page 12
Lauren De Hart of Ahwatukee had long wanted to open a Montessori center, but her efforts to open the Montessori Peace Academy got much more complicated after the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Her story appears on page 21. (Pablo Robles/AFN Staf Photographer)