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Wednesday, October 21, 2020
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THUNDER V-BALL
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Million White Lights prospects brighten BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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C
ity of Phoenix inspectors this week could bring a little early Christmas cheer to Ahwatukee by deciding let there be lights. For more than a year, the Festival of Lights – one of Ahwatukee’s most popular Christmas season traditions – has been in jeopardy because city inspectors have demanded expensive repairs to the wiring and other infrastructure that power the festive display. They threatened to withhold permits unless the Festival of Lights Committee completes repairs to power boxes and other apparatus in the medians of Chandler Boulevard between Desert Foothills Parkway and 24th Street.
But Festival of Lights Committee President Raphael Isaac – who has been working with the city to resolve the issue – said the Phoenix Planning and Development Department now might let the lights shine as long as the repairs are done next year. Isaac and other members of the all-volunteer committee of local business owners were to meet with inspectors later this week for a final walk-through along Chandler Boulevard. But Isaac told AFN he’s hoping that meeting will end happily so the display can go on for the 25th consecutive year. “We’re very optimistic,” Isaac said. “The city has verbally told us that we can light the islands using last year’s infrastructure.” But the display is not out of the woods by a
Scare package Climate, city bills push tiny HOA to the brink
long shot. Even if it goes on as scheduled beginning Thanksgiving Week through New Year’s Day, the future of the display will hinge considerably on the generosity of Ahwatukee businesses and residents. Ironically, while the pandemic shattered the two big events – popular community traditions in their own right – that help pay for the display, it apparently softened the city’s insistence that the infrastructure repairs be completed before the lights go on. Social distancing guidelines largely provoked the cancellation of both this year’s adults-only Beer Wine and Culinary Festival
see LIGHTS page 4
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
W
hen he thinks about climate change, Craig Sullivan isn’t necessarily thinking about melting glaciers and rising sea levels. For Sullivan and the other residents of the 68 units that comprise the tiny Ahwatukee homeowners’ sub-association called RD-1, “climate change is banging on our doors.” In fact, the front and back doors at RD-1, one of the 16 age-restricted subdivisions among the 56 communities that comprise the sprawling
see LAWN page 19
Henry Ibarra has spent 18 years scaring up some Halloween thrills outside his Ahwatukee home and he’s getting ready for Year 19. Read about his tradition on Page 23. (Pablo Robles/AFN Staff Writer)
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