Published on Friday, September 15, 1995
© 1995 The Arizona Republic

Byline: By Mike Padgett, Staff writer

Richard Fox hopes to cultivate a new awareness of central Phoenix using seeds of clearer perception and better understanding.

His goal, and that of a special subcommittee formed from members of the Encanto Village and the Central City Village planning committees, is to dispel an image held by some that central Phoenix is a crime-ridden area.

Over the summer, the joint subcommittee assembled a report filled with ways to promote central Phoenix and its historical neighborhoods as a safe place to live.

And for Valley residents who work in central Phoenix but live elsewhere, they might want to consider moving closer to work, said Fox, who was subcommittee chairman.

The joint subcommittee was formed in June in the wake of a city report that one of the obstacles to luring developers into central Phoenix is the perception that the area suffers from a high crime rate.

While there are pockets of crime in the area, ''crime is in many parts of the Valley, not just central Phoenix,'' Fox said.

While ''no one can deny that we have crime problems'' in parts of Phoenix, those areas often are isolated and small, he said.

''We feel that if people who live outside the central city area had a clearer picture that there are some really nice neighborhoods, they might be prone to move here,'' Fox said.

To convey that ''clearer picture'' to developers and others, the joint subcommittee has several ideas, such as:

-- Volunteers who would publicize neighborhood events and interesting residents to reporters.

-- Advertising neighborhood virtues on posters hung in the lobbies of major corporations.

-- A brochure promoting neighborhoods.

-- Photography contests involving students who could help create an archive of interesting photographs of the neighborhood.

-- A neighborhood news magazine highlighting neighborhood issues and distributed throughout Phoenix.

The subcommittee also suggested placing neighborhood advertisements on billboards along freeways.

The billboard messages could promote historical neighborhoods and remind commuters leaving their jobs in Phoenix at the end of the work day that they would have more time to spend at home if they lived closer to work, Fox said.

Encanto Village Chairman Michael Dollin said Phoenix officials should include the central part of the city as potential sites for new employers, and not just desert areas on the city's fringe.

''We need jobs creation in the central city area,'' Dollin said.

Dollin and Central City Village Chairman Jim Trocki plan to review the recommendations, along with city staff, to suggest ways to implement them.