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THE SUNDAY
Tribune
SPECIAL SECTION
This Week
NEWS .............................. 3 Alzheimer’s hits home for Tempe mayor and his family
COMMUNITY ......... 12
Millennials lead the charge into leased homes
SPORTS ...................... 23 Local graduates impact football all weekend long
PAGE 20
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Chandler/Tempe Edition
INSIDE
EAST VALLEY
65 years of Tex Earnhardt – No bull Sunday, September 25, 2016
COVER STORY
Gateway: Still the ticket to future growth? Project slowed by recession, but hopes are still bright BY GARY NELSON TRIBUNE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
N
o one who lived in the East Valley 10 years ago can forget the frenzy that turned the region’s real estate market into a churning sea of sometimes fatal speculation. But even as that live-for-the-moment mindset gripped the region, cooler heads looked deeper into the future—past the recession that even then was imminent, past the year-to-year vagaries of the economy and politics—to a time when a mature East Valley would either have made its mark in the world or missed its chance.
MORE AIRPORT NEWS INSIDE Allegiant tackles safety questions ...... 4 Airport grows beyond military use ..... 6 2 Falcon Field hangars honored ........... 11
(Will Powers/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Arizona State University Polytechnic campus has a large presence at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. About 10,000 students are enrolled nearby.
Roc Arnett, then serving as president of a business-government coalition called the East Valley Partnership, favored the first scenario. And of all the areas in the East Valley, the largest unpainted canvas was the area around what was then still called Williams Gateway Airport. Could that airport—now Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport—serve as the launch pad for a vibrant urban center designed to meet
the needs of a new century? Arnett was personally bullish on the idea, but he wanted to make sure. He asked the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on urban sustainability, to assess the potential of 52 square miles in and around the airport. ULI’s expert panel descended on the region See
GATEWAY on page 4
Pilot recovers after parachuting from burning plane BY SHELLEY RIDENOUR TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
HALLOWEEN ...........27 East Valley is rife with haunted houses, scary spots
COMMUNITY ............... 12 OPINION ........................ 18
BUSINESS ...................... 20 FAITH .............................. 25 CLASSIFIED ....................32
T
he pilot of a Cessna 182 that crashed into a Gilbert home is recovering at the Maricopa Medical Center from secondand third-degree burns. Ryan Kilgore, 31, was flying four skydivers to the Constitution Fair on Sept. 17. A wing of the plane caught fire and the skydivers jumped, essentially on schedule, while the plane flew away from the Gilbert Civic Center. Kilgore parachuted out of the plane into a field
about a half mile from the Civic Center as the plane crashed into a house. Two people were inside the home when the plane hit. The home was destroyed by the subsequent fire, Gilbert police Sgt. Jesse Sanger said. But homeowners Peter and Sharon Lebeau were not injured. In a statement to the media, the Lebeaus said they and their dogs got out of their home safely. They expressed gratitude that no one else on the ground was injured in the incident. In a statement released Tuesday, Kilgore’s
parents Jan and Bill Kilgore of Spokane, Washington, said, “We feel blessed that Ryan’s skill as a pilot and God’s loving protection were with all involved. We are very sorry for the family who lost their beautiful home, and we are so glad that no one else was injured and that no lives were lost.” Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration arrived at the scene about two See
PILOT on page 5