Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 56

JNtirth Deer Valley Moon Valley North Central Phoenix Paradise Valley Sunnyslope mMU THE PHOENIX GAZETTE THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC Friday, January 17, 1992 26 NITY Phoenix will lead nation in job growth, mayor says S' Chamber of Commerce. "We're more affordable, we're more stable than most other cities," Johnson told an audience of 100 people at Luby's Cafeteria in the Paradise Valley Mall. "I believe in this city. It doesn't get much better than this, and all of us Johnson said he based his optimism on input he has received from outside sources, including Bank of America and Fortune magazine, which last year ranked Phoenix No. 6 in the country as a place to live and do business.

Officials at San Francisco-based Bank of America, which from 1990-91 bought several failed savings and loans institutions in Arizona, have been pleasantly surprised with the business climate in Phoenix, the mayor said. "Bank of America says that its work force here, even though they're paid less than their people in San Francisco, are living better and are more productive," he said. In discussions with an editor at Fortune, Johnson learned the importance of image to the economic potential of any city. "Atlanta was rated No. 1 by the magazine, even though Phoenix beat Atlanta in most every category, such as the cost of living and education," Johnson said.

"Image is the reason Atlanta is No. 1. It's riding a PR (public relations) high right now." Johnson said the editor pointed to politics and water problems as two reasons why Phoenix wasn't ranked higher. "He admitted the magazine doesn't know for sure that there are water problems, but that we always seem to be arguing about water," Johnson said. "And he said the political problems hurt Phoenix, even though those are state See GROWTH, Page 2 IJOHNSON need to start thinking of ourselves that way." Deer Valley board suspends teachers for misuse of keys Instructors found in principal's office Johnson believes the key element is positive attitude By Herb Whitney Staff writer Mayor Paul Johnson predicted that Phoenix "will lead the nation in job growth" within the next few years during a breakfast speech Wednesday to members of the Greater Paradise Valley Hat trick Gero Ramirez, 7, keeps track of prepares to perform with the Ballet i.

By Connie Cone Sexton Staff writer Iff "--if i. it i PHOENIX Two teachers in the Deer Valley Unified School District have been suspended for unauthorized entry into a principal's office. During a 9 -hour hearing Tuesday, board members rejected a recommendation that the teachers be dismissed, instead voting unanimously to suspend them for 18 weeks. In a statement of charges against Jack Evans and Whitten "Ed" Sink, district Superintendent Jim Chapman said the two should be dismissed because they "engaged in unprofessional conduct in violation of governing board policies." Chapman said Evans and Sink both teachers at the district's Vocational Technical Center violated policy when they used a master key Oct. 16 to enter the locked office of Barbara Daggett, Vo-Tech's principal.

Evans had been given a master key as part of his job as site i James Garcia the phoenix gazette the sombreros as he Sota on Saturday at the Garfield Neighborhood Fight Back Folklorico of Rosalva program at 811 N. 13th St. Dust seems to be settling on city driveway issue Phoenix halts action against ordinance violators rr? Tar- if i- tl- it in coordinator for Glendale Community College, which offers night courses at the Vo-Tech campus, 18400 N. 51st Ave. Evans also teaches a night course for GCC at the center.

In his statement of charges, Chapman said Evans and Sink "rifled through confidential material in the office." Daggett testified during the hearing that she returned to her office sometime after 5:30 p.m. Oct. 16, and found Evans standing in her doorway and Sink inside her office, holding a paper in his hand. During their testimony, Evans and Sink said they 'entered Daggett's office to look at the Vo-Tech master schedule of classes. The schedule is a grid showing class offerings and teaching assignments.

Evans said he had been told by" Daggett a few months ago that he may not be offered teaching assignments at Vo-Tech beyond the current school year unless there was student demand for his courses. See TEACHERS, Page 4 PV district alters school boundaries By Herb Whitney Staff writer The Paradise Valley Unified School District's governing board has approved new boundaries for Echo Mountain Elementary School because of the scheduled opening of a new, unnamed elementary school at Central and Grovers avenues for the 1992-93 school year. Echo Mountain, 1811 E. Michigan has an enrollment of 1,595 pupils and is the largest elementary school in the district. With the the boundary change, its enrollment is expected to drop to 920.

Currently, Echo Mountain's boundary extends from Seventh Avenue on the west to Cave Creek Road on the east. Its northern boundary, which is along Beardsley Road between Seventh and Central avenues, drops downJto Union Hills Drive from Central over to Cave Creek. Under the new boundary setup, Echo Mountain's enrollment area will run from Seventh Street east to Cave Creek, and from Union Hills south to Bell. The new school will take over the western portion of Echo Mountain's existing enrollment area, from Seventh Ave-, nue to Seventh Street and from Beardsley to Bell. It is expected to have 781 pupils.

Eagle Ridge Elementary School, which is just north of Echo Mountain, still will be bounded by Central Avenue and 16th Street, and by Beardsley and Union Hills. In other district news, Sandpiper Elementary School, 6724 E. Hearn Road, was chosen Wednesday as one of the top five elementary schools in the state by the Arizona Department of Education in its annual A Recognition Program. Liberty Elementary School, 5020 E. Acoma Drive, had been selected earlier as one of the top 10 in the competition.

On Jan. 30 the governing board will conduct its second public study session to assess the need for budget cuts. The meeting will be held in the Shadow Mountain High School cafeteria, 2902 E. Shea from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Last week, the board unanimously re-elected Florence Wistuber as its president and Samuel Passamonte as its clerk.

By Herb Whitney Staff writer A north Phoenix man who has been accused by some of his neighbors of starting a controversy involving the city apparently has been the main force in pushing for a solution. Laurens Sparling, who lives in the 1500 block of east Northern Avenue, was one of nearly 300 north Phoenix residents. who were cited last year by the city for violating its dustproof ordinance. He said he received the city's violation notice Nov. 9.

"They gave me until Dec. 13 to comply, and that wasn't enough time," Sparling said. "Even if I wanted to comply I couldn't have." Sparling was cited for having a gravel driveway, which is not acceptable under the ordinance. After receiving the letter, Sparling said he went around his neighborhood, discovered about 70 other properties with gravel driveways and reported them to the city. "I compiled a list of examples of similar properties to mine," he said.

"I went downtown (to the Neighborhood Mainte Tom Tingle Staff photographer Laurens Sparling won't have to pave his gravel driveway on east Northern Avenue If a proposed amendment to the city code is adopted. TT A I. i 'V1 -w immediately look into amending the dustproof ordinance. Victor Morrison-Vega, administrator of the city's Neighborhood Maintenance and Zoning Enforcement Division, said his department has drafted an ordinance amendment that will list gravel as an acceptable dustproof surface. After the Planning Commission has discussed the amendment, it likely will go See DUST, Page 2 and developers call me so they can contact groups in certain areas where development is planned," he said.

"It gets development people and neighborhoods thinking together, rather than fighting one another." But the biggest benefactors of the directory probably are the individual homeowners associations and neighborhood groups. "It allows people to talk to one another, to tap into the experiences of others and learn how to pursue particular problems," Hopkins said. Anyone who is forming a neighborhood group in north Phoenix or who knows of in current groups can contact Hopkins at 991-0358. nance and Enforcement Division) and told them how ridiculous it was (that) I was cited because of all these other gravel driveways. "I wanted them to drop the charges against me, but they said they couldn't.

I never intended for anyone else to be cited." Sparling then contacted Alan Kennedy, the city's vice mayor and councilman for Sparling's district whose term of office ended Jan. 1. Sparling said he set up two meetings with Kennedy's staff, but no one from the staff showed up at either meeting. "I talked to Mr. Sparling several times on the phone," Kennedy said.

"He was agitated about being shrugged off. "Frankly, my staff made a mistake. There was an illness that kept one of my assistants from attending one of the meetings, but they should have put me in contact with him a lot sooner. "When we finally got to talk and he explained to me about the violation notice, I agreed he had a point. Then I wrote' a letter to Frank Fairbanks." In his Dec.

10 letter to Fairbanks, the "There's definitely been a trend toward more community involvement. These neighborhood groups allow people to find out what's happening in zoning cases and to network between one another." Phoenix started the directory in 1987 and listed only five groups, said Hopkins, who took over the job of updating the list in 1988 when the number jumped to 32. The number increased to 40 in 1989 and to 56 in 1990. The directory covers an area bounded by 16th Street and Scottsdale Road, and by the Central Arizona Project canal and the northern edge of the Phoenix Mountains Preserve near Shea Boulevard. Those also are the geographical boundaries of the Paradise Valley Village Homeowner organizations proliferating in north Phoenix By Herb Whitney Staff writer city manager, Kennedy urged that driveways of gravel or granite be permitted as long as inspections show they keep dust down as effectively as concrete or blacktop surfaces.

Fairbanks' letter back to Kennedy, dated Dec. 27, said all city residents cited for non-dustproof parking would be placed on administrative hold, meaning that any enforcement action would be delayed. Fairbanks also said the city would Planning Committee. Hopkins is updating the 1992 version of the directory. "I know of at least three or four new groups I'll be adding, and there may be more before I finish," he said.

"I call each group in the 1991 directory and confirm addresses and the contact people. "I add some, subtract some. Like the phone book, the directory becomes obsolete as people move and change offices and mailing addresses." The village planning committee uses the directory to advise specific neighborhoods about upcoming planning and zoning cases, Hopkins said. "The city's elected leadership is also interested in the list, and zoning attorneys What a difference four years make. In 1987, five homeowner organizations in north Phoenix officially were registered.

In 1991, the number had jumped to 65. So says Don Hopkins, a businessman and member of the Paradise Valley Village Planning Committee who has revised the planning committee's Direc-, tory of Homeowner Associations and Neighborhood Groups every January since 1988. "The number of groups really took off a couple years ago when there was the controversy over the amphitheater (in northeast Phoenix)," Hopkins said. -1.