Council ready to hit new heights / P. 4
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS................................10 Papago Plaza demolition to begin soon.
Gelato re�lects deep Italian roots / P. 27
Sunday, August 25, 2019
City slow on bridge repairs, audit found BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Progress Managing Editor
C
ity of Scottsdale staff failed for years to follow up on recommendations from the Arizona Department of Transportation to inspect or repair its bridges — including the Drinkwater Bridge that recently underwent $9 million worth of repairs. A June report from the Scottsdale City Auditor found the city lacked procedures to follow up on recommended repairs to city bridges and did not have an accurate or updated inventory on all bridges in the city. The auditor found that the city failed for
years to follow up on repairs recommendations from ADOT, which inspects many city bridges on a yearly basis. Calling the situation “a complete lapse,” Mayor Jim Lane said he found the audit results surprising and concerning. “ADOT does their inspections…and we need to respond to that, and for several years we’ve found that that wasn’t happening,” Lane said. The audit noted that ADOT had been warning the city about Drinkwater Bridge for a decade. “ADOT inspection reports noted evidence of water leaking, concrete spalling, and bro-
ken light fixtures at the Drinkwater bridge for more than 10 years,” according to the report. “Yet city staff did not initiate additional assessments until after public complaints of lighting outages for the boulevard under the bridge.” Despite those advanced warnings, the City Council had pull funding from other projects in late 2018 to provide millions of dollars in emergency funding for repairs that are scheduled to be completed this fall. Lane said had the city known investigated the issues sooner, it could have planned for
see BRIDGES page 6
Baseball museum eyed for Scottsdale Stadium NEIGHBORS..................21 Food Network star opening 2 restaurants here.
ARTS ..................................25
Get ready for a new season of art experiences. NEIGHBORS .........................16 BUSINESS ............................. 22 OPINION .............................. 23 SPORTS ................................24 ARTS .................................... 25 FOOD & DRINK................... 27 CLASSIFIEDS .......................30
BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Progress Managing Editor
A
small piece of city property behind the left-field wall at Scottsdale Stadium could be transformed into a museum dedicated to the history of baseball in the Valley — if the city can find someone willing to pay for it. Scottsdale officials issued a request for proposal in August seeking a development partner to lease the city land and build a year-round “baseball-themed visitor experience” venue. In its RFP, the city specified that the venue would include a focus on “the history of professional baseball and the role of baseball in the Valley of the Sun.” The outside developer, not the city, will be responsible for all costs for the construction, operations and maintenance of
see BASEBALL page 12
Andrew Bloom REALTOR®, Senior Partner Andrew@BVOLuxury.com VOTED #1 SCOTTSDALE REAL ESTATE TEAM FOR 2018
The City of Scottsdale is seeking a development partner to build a museum-style baseball venue on city property just behind the left field wall at Scottsdale Stadium, the spring training home of the San Francisco Giants. (Photo by Pablo Robles)
(480) 999-2948 www.BVOLuxuryGroup.com