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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS............................. 13 No action urged on new ethics complaint..
BUSINESS................ 24 Long-time Japanese eatery eyes Gilbert locale.
SPORTS...................... 26 Perry dad and son savor coach-player bond.
COMMUNITY.......................................20 BUSINESS.............................................24 SPORTS..................................................26 PUZZLE..................................................29 CLASSIFIEDS........................................31
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Town’s Heritage District investment paying off BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
G
ilbert’s longtime investment in the Heritage District is paying off: with every $1 the town has spent, there’s a $1.47 in return. The Town in 1989 designated 168 acres downtown as a redevelopment area in need of revitalization and substantial growth has been occurring every year in the district since 2007. “There was an increase in the last 10 years of 198% for sale-tax collection in the area,” said Sydney Bethel, redevelopment special-
ist. “This actually outpaced the town-wide, sales-tax collection of 131% over the same period, which is very exciting.” When it comes to sales tax, the Heritage District accounted for approximately 1% – or $1.2 million – of the Town’s total sales tax collected for fiscal year 2021, Bethel said told the Redevelopment Commission in a recent overview of the area. Also, the full-cash value for land in the Heritage District has increased to $1.5 million an acre for fiscal year 2021 from just under $200,000 an acre in 1995, according to Bethel. Businesses have been flocking to down-
Teen’s traffic stop may trigger suit
town with 13 opening last year – including Spce Coffee, The Parlour Room, Pedego Electric Bikes and AZ Beauty Babes. “You can see there is quite a large variety of restaurant, bar, retail and a bunch of different options and amenities for the community,” Bethel said. She added that The Bar, a ‘Pulp Fiction’-themed establishment opened on March 16 with more to come this year, including Rumble Boxing, State Forty-Eight Apparel, Candle Chemistry, Gypsy Cup Coffee and Scoopwell’s Dough Bar.
All that jazz
see HERITAGE page 4
BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
A
17-year-old girl leaving her junior prom claims she ended up bruised, battered, handcuffed and arrested after a traffic stop by a Gilbert cop. The teen suffered emotional and physical trauma and has become fearful of police because of the officer’s use of force, according to her claim for $250,000 that the Town Attorney rejected recently. Now her attorney Jesse Showalter said he plans to file a suit on her behalf against the town in early April. According to the rejected claim, the incident occurred last April 24 around 11 p.m. when Officer Nathan Martin said he spotted a black Chrysler 300C speeding and running a red light near Cooper and Elliott roads. Martin said in his report that he clocked it going 60 mph on a portion of Elliot that was transiting from 45 to 35
see PROM page 8
Sean Turner and other trumpeters in Highland High School’s Jazz Band Black, an elite jazz band made up of the top sophomore, junior and senior musicians at the school, were rehearsing last week as they prepared for the iconic 11th annual Highland/ASU Jazz Festival Thursday through Saturday.To read about the festival’s importance in the region’s jazz landscape, see page 20. (David Minton/
GSN Staff Photographer)