THE VOICE OF THE EAST VALLEY SINCE 1891 AND WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR LOCAL REPORTING
Mesa man owes $405K in taxes, feds charge
THE SUNDAY
Tribune
PAGE 7
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | EastValleyTribune.com
Chandler/Tempe Edition
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS............................... 8 Former EV Partnership head adores Cambodia.
BUSINESS...................16 Chandler gives Allstate sweet deal for jobs.
EAST VALLEY
Athletes show Christmas spirit in Chandler PAGE 19
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Light rail’s roll through the EV marks a decade BY GARY NELSON Tribune Contributor
I
t was so cold that Grand Funk Railroad almost froze in its tracks. The classic rock band’s guitar-pickers had trouble getting their fingers to work on that frigid day in late December 2008 when the East Valley helped inaugurate the region’s light-rail line. But the sharp weather that day was nothing compared with the political headwinds that blew in the face of the system now celebrating its 10th anniversary. Those winds, in fact, have never stopped, even as the system continues to expand and as billions of dollars in urban development projects sprout next to the tracks. Of all the leaders who had a share in bringing the system to life, Scott Smith is perhaps bestpositioned to opine on what those 10 years have wrought.
(Kimberly Carrillo/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Light rail by next year will be rolling clear to Gilbert Road, expanding its influence on economic development in the region.
As mayor of Mesa, he sat gleefully at the controls when a light-rail train made the first
crossing from Tempe into Mesa on a test run in the summer of 2008. Months later, he froze his caboose with the rest of the crowd as Grand Funk chugged through its tunes at Mesa’s Sycamore station on Dec. 27, 2008. And now, as CEO of Valley Metro, he’s actually in charge of the whole 26-mile system. Smith speaks of his job with a mixture of exasperation and pride. More about that after a brief excursion into history. The rail system, a dream of Valley transportation planners for decades, came to life through a series of city council decisions and public votes beginning in the mid-1990s. A crucial moment arrived in 2004, when Maricopa County voters were asked to approve Proposition 400, a half-cent sales tax for a 20-year transportation program that included light rail. Rail opponents chose that moment to try to kill it. See
LIGHT RAIL on page 4
Mesa woman’s house a Christmas dream come true BY SIERRA POORE Tribune Contributor
FOOD ......................... 22 Christmas Tree dish will light up your table.
COMMUNITY.................12 BUSINESS........................16 OPINION.........................18 SPORTS ...........................19 GETOUT...........................21 CLASSIFIED....................24
L
inda Rhodes repeated one phrase as she walked through her newly renovated and decorated Mesa home for the first time last weekend. “I’m so overwhelmed,” said the 61-year-old Army veteran and cancer survivor. The home was a gift from Patty and Ron Gottshalk, a Gilbert couple and cofounders of a nonprofit called Word In Motion, who had originally bought the house with the intention of renovating it and “flipping” it. Instead, they decided to help out Rhodes, whom they had met at See
HOUSE on page 6
(Sierra Poole/Tribune Contributor)
Army veteran Linda Rhodes was agog Dec. 15 when she was surprised with a new house from a Gilbert couple who initially planned to flip it.