Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 113

I Downtown South SERVING Central Phoenix Laveen South Phoenix West Phoenix PHOENIX GAZETTE THE ARIZONA: REPUBLIC Wednesday, September 1, 1993 for black channel Cable firm sebscribers push By Alfredo Azula Staff writer "Every that's been a hot issue," he said. Borten said support for the channel cuts across ethnic and racial lines. "There's been a great deal of concern expressed by the non-black population," he said. Borten said a federal law regulating how cities and cable services negotiate contracts forbids city officials from requiring a cable company to carry a specific network. But cities are allowed to demand that See CABLE, Page 4 to justify its cost.

Edwards said his marketing research disagrees. Johnson said that Dimension has continued to offer BET to its customers in Glendale as a gesture of good faith in its with the network. The cable company's 15-year-old contract with the city expires June 30. The City Council must approve a contract renewal. Richard Borten, president of The Communications Policy Group, said subscribers at other hearings also demanded that the cable company carry BET.

programming and to make room on the channel spectrum for other networks. Since then, Dimension and BET officials have been unable to agree how much the cable company should pay to receive the network. Marc Edwards, a BET vice president in Washington, said his network charges one of the lowest rates of any national cable network, a statement substantiated by an industry newsletter published by Paul Kagan Associates in Carmel, Calif. But Johnson said that even at the low price, BET does not have enough viewers The meeting was the last of five sessions held by The Communications Policy Group for the city, which is considering renewing Dimension's contract to provide cable service through most of Phoenix. Curry and others' grilled a Dimension Cable representative who came to the meeting as an observer but ended up having to defend the company's decision to drop BET.

Dimension spokesman Ivan Johnson said the company dropped BET in 1989 after the network doubled the fee it charges cable systems to transmit its City leaders should pressure Dimension Cable to carry the Black Entertainment Television channel. That was the message a crowd of angry cable subscribers sent to a consulting company putting together a report on cable service in Phoenix. "You got plenty of everything but black stations!" snouted Freddy Curry, one of about 60 people who attended a hearing on the issue last week at the South Phoenix Adult Center. Teens 1 firehouse Create center to act as refuge Ryan Konig Staff writer I if 0 Carlos Gonzalez Staff photographer sleeping in his car. The man had no driver's license and was asked to get out of the vehicle.

As part of Operation Heat Wave, Phoenix police Officer Reuben Gonzales questions a man who was found Police operation targets prostitution, crime in neighborhood Mayor Paul Johnson reached out to shake 14-year-old Luis Lopez's hand. What he got in return was a smile, a paintbrush and instructions to cover an unpainted strip along a wall. Not many teenagers get a chance to put the mayor to work. But then, few teenagers get a chance to renovate a donated building as a youth center. Luis and dozens of other teens have been volunteering for several weeks to renovate an old fire station at 14th Street and Thomas Road.

The city donated the building to a community organization called Mothers Against Gangs. The group was founded by Luis' mother, Sophia Lopez, after his 16-year-old Eddie, was shot and killed by another teenager. It works to console parents who lose children to violence and with teenagers and children who want to stay away from violent lifestyles. Sophia Lopez said the youth center will be used to give teenagers after-school activities, educational and counseling programs, and other services aimed at keeping them out of trouble and in school. Johnson was among the city officials who recently visited, and went to work on, the budding youth center.

The teens are hoping to have the center ready to open by the end of September. When complete, the facility will have offices, conference rooms, classrooms, a kitchen, a basketball court and pool tables. "I can't believe this," Sophia Lopez said, walking among a group of teens who were painting and cleaning on a recent afternoon. "The kids did all this themselves. They went up to the City Council members to get this building and to get things rolling.

"They did all the repairs, the painting, the scraping, the scrubbing of the floors. Even the landscaping." The teenagers worked with council members Craig Tribken and Calvin Goode, Johnson and Police Chief Dennis Garrett. The city donated the building about a month ago. Moses Salcedo, 17, spent much of last Wednesday painting a mural of Eddie Lopez on a wall in one of the fire engine bays. In the center of the mural is an aerosol portrait of Eddie, surrounded by messages of peace.

Now that the renovation work is nearly complete, the teens will focus on obtaining donations of recreation equipment, pool See CENTER, Page 4 By Laura Placheckl Staff writer Operation Heat Wave I Roosevelt I Fillmore Van Buren Washington Ti irH I oi ai a i ft ynder the glow of a street light near 22nd Avenue and Van Buren Street, a woman stands wearing blue jeans and a purple T-shirt. She has straight black hair and wears little makeup. She doesn't seem to have a reason for being there. Across Van Buren, a dozen people sit atop a trailer park fence watching. They're waiting for the next unsuspecting man to fall into the trap.

A beat-up white Chevette pulls around the corner and stops. The driver summons the woman. There's a quick exchange of hellos and small talk. It is hard to hear the driver, but the woman's comments indicate they're making a business transaction typical for the area. "What?" He suggests oral sex and offers a price.

"Twenty bucks? OK," she says. A police officer gets the word. "She's got a deal." In a matter of seconds he emerges, lights Community flashing, from an alley. He stops the man, who has no time to flee. The woman quickly walks away as if to avoid trouble.

But she reappears minutes later showing the man her Phoenix Police Department badge. See PATROLS, Page 6 Community concealed in a dollar Several rocks of crack cocaine were found bill carried by one man. Landmark storefront proving several points By Alfredo Azula Staff writer armm that is forgiven if the business maintains the storefront for five years. The money can be used to pay for 50 percent of a storefront improvement project, up to a maximum of $12,000 per storefront, Chan said. Gino Affronti, the grocer who is developing the Fiesta Market Center, said he was glad to see the city committing itself to revitalizing an area that has gained a reputation as an example of urban blight.

"When I first came here, everybody told me south Phoenix- was dangerous," he recalled. "The people here are not dangerous. They're working people, they're good people." Affronti, who opened an grocery store at the center in December, hired Phoenix architect Martin Sandino to design the storefront. "I wanted something different," Affronti said. "I'm the only one that has a storefront like that." Sandino said he drew on traditional Indian art as the inspiration for his design.

"The idea was to give a little of the Mexican flavor, and it happens that I am a Mexican architect, so I tried to incorporate the elements of the Indian architec he said. "The colors are typical of what the Indian Mexican people would use in their dresses, in their houses, whatever. They used bright colors." The facade is topped with a stylized depiction of the sun, which was associated with life in traditional Indian religions, Sandino said. One customer, Rosa Sanchez, smiled when she was asked what she thought of the facade. "Of course, it's impossible to pass by without seeing it," she said in Spanish.

"It's attractive, and it does what it should, attract customers. It's better than the plain ones they use in front of the big (grocery) chains." The huge mauve storefront at the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Broadway Road is rapidly becoming a south Phoenix landmark. It's also a highly visible example of what a joint city and federal government program that promotes development in blighted areas can achieve. The Aztec-themed facade on the Fiesta Market Center, which was built with assistance from the city's Storefront Improvement Program, is one of 17 such restoration projects, according to John Chan, the program's manager. "The main purpose of it is to encourage businesses and property owners to rehabilitate the exterior storefronts of their building," he said.

The program uses federal Community Development Block Grant Funds and city money to provide businesses with a loan UL 01 Nancy Engebretson Staff photographer Gino Affronti's Fiesta Market storefront, built with assistance from city and federal funds, serves as a landmark to his south Phoenix customers. V- Hi.