Byline: By Ryan Konig, Staff writer
The burned-out hull of an abandoned station wagon casts a twisted shadow in the desert.
Sun-bleached from dark red to dull orange, the car is a reminder of rituals once common in
the field north of South Mountain, east of 28th Street.
For years, thieves used it as a graveyard for the cars they stole, stripped and sometimes set on fire to burn off fingerprints.
For years, four-wheeling joyriders sent clouds of dust into the nearby East Highland Terrace neighborhood.
But all that has stopped because of a sales-tax increase.
East Highland residents were among the first to apply for and receive money from Proposition 301, the sales-tax increase approved three years ago for crime-fighting programs.
The community spent about $2,000 to buy and install more than 40 boulders along the field's perimeter. Lined up like tombstones, the boulders block cars from entering.
''There was a time when we were getting three or four abandoned cars each week back there,'' said nearby resident Michael Goodman. But with the boulders, one or two cars have managed to maneuver into the field during the past year.
''The boulders have been a great investment,'' said neighbor Mike Bevans.
From South Mountain to Deer Valley, small doses of money from Proposition 301 have yielded big results. Voters passed the measure in 1993, generating about $15 million a year to help make the city safer. Phoenix officials believe the crime-fighting effort may be the only one of its kind in the country.
And although only 5 percent of the money from the tax goes to neighborhood programs, the results have been significant.
Hundreds of neighborhood volunteers have the equipment and training they need to patrol their own streets at night, keeping in close contact with police.
Thousands of children attend after-school programs rather than playing in the street or getting into trouble.
And in downtown Phoenix, at least three prostitutes have turned their lives around.
Catholic Social Service of Phoenix came up with a plan to get them into a new line of work. Called Dignity House, the program reaches out to about 60 jailed woman each year, teaching them how to interview for jobs and write resumes.
When the women are released from jail, they are taken by taxi to a
shelter so they don't end up back on the street.
SHELTER SOUGHT FOR WOMEN
In recent months, the program has helped three women trade prostitution for steady office
jobs. The goal now is to build a new shelter where the women can go to get all the help
they need.
''You don't get into a lifestyle like prostitution unless you are in a great deal of pain,'' said Kathleen Mitchell, the program's co-founder. ''Eighty-five percent of these women had been sexually molested as children in their own home. One-hundred percent were abused either physically or emotionally.
''These are the issues we need to work through to get them off the streets.''
Just north of the central city, the Phoenix College Neighborhood Association has a different goal: to help older residents feel safe. The group matches neighbors with dogs from the pound and pays for the immunizations and vet fees. The dogs will be companions and guards.
The association also has bought peep holes, deadbolt locks and smoke detectors.
Many older residents have been there since before World War II, before mail was delivered to what was then a patchwork of orchards and dairy fields, weaved together by dirt roads. Eileen Bailey, a member of the association, said a survey found that 47 percent of those who live in the neighborhood are at least 60 years old.
''Our mission then became finding a way to make a connection to our seniors and make them feel secure in their own neighborhood,'' she said.
In north Phoenix, residents used money from Proposition 301 to turn the neighborhood dump into a community garden.
A home near Third Street and Carol Avenue burned down years ago. People started dumping dishwashers, sofas, refrigerators and other items onto the empty lot.
After a Phoenix man bought the property, resident Grace Wagner asked him whether he would donate the land. He donated most of it, and the garden has been named in his honor: the George Weyant Neighborhood Garden.
Proposition 301 raised the city's sales tax one-tenth of one-percent when approved in 1993. That comes out to one penny for every $10 spent at Phoenix businesses.
200 POLICE OFFICERS HIRED
The main purpose of the tax is to hire more police officers and firefighters. Two hundred
officers and 70 firefighters have been hired. But Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley has
said the county needs more prosecutors to keep pace with the additional arrests.
Such difficulties have made the neighborhood programs all the more important. The 5 percent that goes to neighborhoods generates about $750,000 a year.
On Wednesday, the council awarded the latest round of money to 115 programs, mostly Block Watches and after-school programs. Previously, the city awarded just more than $1 million to 160 organizations. The money has had a measurable effect on several neighborhoods.
Crime is down 10 percent in the Westwood Community Neighborhood Association, which had more incidents of serious crime in 1993 than any other comparable part of Phoenix. The neighborhood covers most of the square mile northwest of 19th Avenue and Indian School Road.
Westwood used Proposition 301 money for after-school activities to keep children and teenagers busy. Every Saturday, Westwood blocks off a stretch of Pierson Street and turns it into a playground for supervised street hockey and basketball games. Other neighborhoods are considering copying the idea.
''This program is working because it's putting money into the hands of the true experts: the people who live in the neighborhoods and experience the problems firsthand,'' said Richard Fox, president of the Phoenix Block Watch Advisory Board.
The Proposition 301 program is unusual for several reasons. Many cities set aside money from their general fund each year for neighborhood crime-fighting projects. But Phoenix is among few, if any, cities that raise the money through a sales-tax increase approved by residents.
''I haven't heard of any city having a program like ours,'' said Sgt. Terry Donegan, who oversees the neighborhood program.
Neighborhoods and nonprofit groups also have used the money to publish newsletters, clean out alleys, paint over graffiti, install new street lights and teach English to immigrants.
The Campfire Boys and Girls used a grant to teach survival skills to
more than 700 children who speak limited English. The children were taught how and when to
dial 911, how to avoid strangers and how to fix a snack when they are home alone. Color
photo by Paul F. Gero/Staff photographer
Color photo (Page A1, The Phoenix Gazette) by Paul F. Gero/Staff photographer Luis Lopez
starts a faceoff between Nick Chasteen (left) and Sean Wilson. Mothers Against Gangs
bought the street-hockey equipment for Phoenix kids with Proposition 301 funds.
Mothers Against Gangs has used Proposition 301 money to buy recreation equipment to try to
keep Phoenix children out of trouble. Nick Chasteen, 7, and Sean Wilson, 8, go after the
ball this week on a playground at 1404 E. Thomas Road.