City Manager Spencer Isom isn’t answering questions about why El Mirage kicked its artist-in-residence out of a city gallery last week. Isom was polite enough to return New Times phone call last Monday, when we first wrote about artist Thomas Schultz getting an eviction notice and then being locked out of…
The Fiesta Bowl hasn’t been the only organization handing out goodies to public officials.The Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau paid for Phoenix Councilwoman and mayoral wannabe Peggy Neely to fly to Hawaii on a six-night, seven-day junket to woo a youth soccer tournament that didn’t need wooing.New Times is reviewing Phoenix travel…
It’s official — Greg Stanton is the winner of an Arrogant Butcher straw poll gauging who might be the next Phoenix mayor. Stanton, a former deputy Attorney General and Phoenix councilman, claimed victory with 524 votes, or about 40 percent of all the votes cast by diners at the downtown…
Candidates in the Phoenix mayor’s race carefully measured their words during a forum hosted by Equality Arizona, a political organization that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality. The Monday night forum included questions to gauge candidates’ stances on same-sex marriage and discrimination in housing and employment within city…
El Mirage officials are booting artist and photographer Thomas Schultz from the city’s downtown gallery.The reasons remain unknown.And even though on Friday the city gave Schultz a whopping five days to clear out, city officials changed the locks on gallery over the weekend because Schultz wouldn’t hand over the keys…
Phoenix taxpayers have lost out on millions of dollars from Veolia Transportation, fees the corporate giant would have paid had city officials not given its executives a four-month pass on poor-performance fines. In October alone, the company that operates Phoenix city buses racked up nearly $560,000 in fines, mostly for…
C’mon people … where is the competition?Greg Stanton, former deputy attorney general and Phoenix councilman, continues his lead in a straw poll for the mayor’s race at the Arrogant Butcher, a new-ish downtown restaurant at 2 E. Jefferson Street. Stanton had the lead in the first week with 168 votes, and…
Phoenix is safer now than it has been in the past 25 years, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon told hundreds of people who showed up today for his State of City speech. Even so, he said his top priority for 2011 — his final year as mayor — is to get more more…
The Arizona Republic took a look at what Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon hopes to accomplish in the final months of his time in office.It was a sweet piece looking at how Gordon is trying to execute his lofty goals in the scant nine months he has in office.And what a…
If the customers who feast on the Arrogant Butcher’s Turkey Sloppy Joe and wash it down with a Miller High Life have anything to say about who will lead the nation’s fifth … er, that is sixth largest city … then the honors will go to former Deputy Attorney General…
Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos sent a message to Phoenix employees praising them after results of a citywide Community Attitude Survey reveal that 95 percent of residents are pleased with customer service.Not bad considering that in 2008, the survey showed that 86 percent of residents reported being treated professionally and…
Peoria police detectives are still on the hunt for a man who reportedly robbed a gas station convenience store near 83rd Avenue and Bell Road with a rock last week.The suspect threatened to bash the clerk’s head in with the rock, which was described by the clerk as being “the…
Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos wants to rebuild public trust in the wake of allegations that police officials inflated border-related-kidnapping statistics to secure about $2.45 million in federal funding. Cavazos’ strategy has involved stripping Phoenix Public Safety Manager Jack Harris of his duties as police chief and assembling a panel…
We’ve asked before, but we gotta ask again because publicist extraordinaire Jason Rose hit another skid.Is the guru losing his mojo? A campaign run by the Policy Development Group last spring to incorporate a small community near the Grand Canyon so artfully defeated Rose — who was running the opposition…
The Arrogant Butcher, downtown’s newest dining spot, has been running a straw poll to gauge who might be Phoenix’s next mayor.The results for Week One are in, and former Deputy Attorney General and Councilman Greg Stanton is leading the pack. Stanton: 168 Councilman Claude Mattox: 126 Councilwoman Peggy Neely: 78…
A panel of independent experts charged with reviewing Phoenix’s kidnapping statistics will be headed by Karen Thoreson, president of Alliance for Innovation. The other members are retired FBI Agent Larry McCormick, retired Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Cecil Patterson, retired Arizona Supreme Court Justice Michael D. Ryan and Michael White,…
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon tweets this from his iPhone: “The truth about the kidnapping stats? There was no fraud. I’m confident the audit will show that.”And Gordon, who has thrown his confidence and support behind Phoenix Public Safety Manager Jack Harris, who was stripped of his duties as police chief…
U.S. District Judge David Campbell ruled today that the Tohono O’odham Nation’s 54-acre property in the West Valley must be taken into trust.And that means that the Nation is one step closer to building the West Valley Resort, a casino that would feature restaurants, bars, and retail shops for the…
Public Safety Manager Jack Harris retains some of his duties as police chief, but Executive Assistant Police Chief Joe Yahner becomes Acting Police Chief in the wake of a scandal over inflated border-related kidnapping statistics reported to the federal government, it was announced today. Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos’ office said Harris will have…
A press conference regarding the flawed kidnapping statistics published by the Phoenix Police Department has been bumped from Friday to 2:30 p.m. today at City Hall.(Read the in-depth analysis published on February 7 by New Times of 264 of the 358 kidnapping reports from 2008.) The city’s notice doesn’t give…
Let’s be clear about a few things regarding Phoenix’s kidnapping statistics snafu.Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris tells the Arizona Republic that he is outraged at what is happening in the community regarding kidnappings and other crimes, and he adds:”If anyone doubts we have a home-invasion problem in this community . . …
There has been a firestorm of reaction from Phoenix officials over admissions that the kidnapping statistics generated by the Phoenix Police Department are inaccurate.Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris is steaming over reports that the he will be reassigned, and it remains unclear what exactly will happen with his post.However, change…
