AG slaps town council
EV getting go-kart giant
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
COMMUNITY......... 18 Gilbert family finds help for autistic child.
BUSINESS..................21 EV restaurant serves up eastern European fare.
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, May 1, 2022
Vice mayor derails commuter rail station study BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
G
ilbert Town Council put the brakes on staff’s request to spend $288,760 to further study two proposed transit stations to accommodate future passenger rail service – which has no timeline for implementation. Staff said “time is of essence” in awarding a contract to the Dallas engineer firm AECOM to look at the feasibility of site locations in the downtown Heritage District and do preliminary site design of phases for a transit center in the Cooley Station community. The centers would not only serve as a hub for commuter rail and intercity rail but oth-
er modes of transportation such as bus, bicycle and rideshare. Council is expected to revisit the item Aug. 23. “I have a lot of problems with this item,” said Vice Mayor Aimee Yentes, who pulled the item off consent agenda for discussion. “My specific concern is specific to these being planned for commuter rail,” she said. “I feel like as a body we really haven’t had an opportunity to discuss this idea (and do) a deeper dive into, is this even a good idea has not been held by this body and I feel this is absolutely premature.” Yentes acknowledged that commuter rail has been in planning documents for a while both with the town and the Maricopa Asso-
Public only gets summary of $1.7B town spend plan
ciation of Governments, which plans and finances regional transportation systems. She also brought attention to the scope of work that included forming a stakeholders group for input on the stations. The group seemed more oriented toward designing or planning the framework for the stations rather than reaching out to residents to see if they even want them in Gilbert, Yentes said. “The commuter stations have been published in several documents that have been presented to the public in Gilbert over the past several years,” Councilwoman Yung Koprowski said.
Lunch brakes?
see RAIL page 14
BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
SPORTS.......................22 Highland High baseball coach earns respect.
COMMUNITY....................................... 18 BUSINESS..............................................21 SPORTS.................................................. 22 PUZZLE.................................................. 25 CLASSIFIEDS.......................................26
O
ver half of Gilbert’s proposed $1.7 billion spending plan for the 2023 fiscal year that begins July 1 funds capital expenses such as street improvements, parks and traffic-control upgrades. But the public won’t get a chance to see all the details of the spending plan until May 17, when Town Council is expected to adopt a preliminary budget with final adoption on June 14. Council was provided a detailed copy of the proposed budget while the public only had access to Budget Director Kelly Pfost’s 18-page presentation from the study session. A town spokeswoman said staff was working to finalize the budget and that the full document will be available on
see BUDGET page 11
Nancy Mazzeo stacks boxed sub sandwiches on the line as cafeteria staff prepare for lunch at Desert Ridge Junior High School, a Gilbert Public Schools facility in Mesa. But the days of universal free meals in both GPS and Higley Unified districts could be ending soon unless Congress takes action. For the story, see p. 4. (David Minton/GSN Staff Photographer)