European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 13, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Alarm raised on growth of by Robert Lundsey . Ompla1mng of foul air and mounting traffic congestion residents of Phoenix Are demanding limits on the City s Heady Pace of expansion Tor the first time. In Phoenix and nearby the Arizona desert neighbourhood associations Are pressing to reduce try size of rvs office buildings and other projects. Planners consider the area the nation s purest example of rapid Urban growth in the past decade. On radio talk shows and in newspapers letter columns citizens there Are attributing pollution and traffic problems to excessive population growth and the yearly migration or wintertime vacationers from outside Arizona. And leaders of the building Industry Are complaining of what they Call there s a growing concern for the Quality of life and they re blaming developers Lor it said Richard mauler executive vice president of the Home builders association of Central Arizona. The association has opened a $500,000 advertising Campaign aimed at persuading residents growth was Good and developers Are nol Guys in Black As if they were unroll no an endless Carpel at new Homes shopping centers office buildings and highways developers Are pushing into the Cactus and Sagebrush covered Deseri surrounding Phoenix and nearby communities at a Pace that is a wonder to behold. Since the mid-1950s, the boundaries of Phoenix have grown from 17 Square Miles to More than 400. The population of Maricopa county which includes the suburbs of Tempe Mesa and Scoll Sdale has grown in the same period from less than 200,000 to almost two million people. About 930,000 of hem live in Phoenix now the nation s ninth largest City each Day the county s population grows by an average of More than 140 new residents not counting Many thousands of vacationers from other states and Canada who drawn by the warm climate Lake up temporary residence there each Winter. As the county s population and physical size expand More motorists Are driving farther from their Homes to jobs and other destinations creating not Only increasingly severe traffic congestion but what the environmental Protection Agency has described As one of the nation s most serious automobile caused problems of Urban air pollution the sky above Phoenix once so Pristine that physicians sent patients suffering from respiratory ailments there to improve their health is often stained a Muddy Brown color. Ii contains such High Levels of Carbon monoxide and panic late matter that it is deemed unhealthy. Phoenix Over the last decade has adopted a master zoning plan calling for the organization of the City into eight Urban villages and a downtown Core. The plan envisions that most residents would five and work in the same although the City can boast of a few successes in accomplishing this plan Urban planning experts say that Phoenix for the most pan in developing the same kind of Topography As los Angeles. It is fast becoming a City with a weak downtown District surrounded by Miles of Low density sprawl poorly served by Public transportation oriented to the automobile and the freeway and requiring workers to commute Long distances. They attribute the pattern largely to the political influence of developers who have often found it More profitable to develop Cheeper land at the fringes of the City. Although achieving rapid expansion has been a goal some would say a religion of government and business leaders in Phoenix for decades there Are increasing indications that Many Are now becoming concerned that the growth of the past has produced problems hat have diminished the Quality of life. Local Chimberg of Commerce have warned that the Region s air pollution problems must be reduced or they will drive business and Industry away. University c Arizona researchers conducted a Sun a that indicated that Many local business leaders were already so concerned with the deteriorating Quality of life that he Wokf consider moving. Asserting that they have tailed to comply with Federal clean air standards the Arizona Zertler for Lav in he Public interest has sued the environmental Protection Agency and the City of Phoenix in an Effort to Force them to require parking restrictions mandate use of car pools or other Steps to reduce automobile pollution. A court Victory could Cost the City about $10c million a year in Federal Highway construction Gran la. David Baron assistant director Wohha Public interest Law firm said the Public s angry and it s really angry Over air pollution so High in places that i think thai people Are willing to accept some changes in their life style. Only the first strands of a slow growth movement have formed. Many critics of the smog and congestion say rapid population growth is Good for the local Economy and want it to continue David Ilchert the City s Deputy planning director says he is optimistic that the Urban Village concept will work end Phoenix will not become another los Tucson in a grass roots Datil against by Robert Reinhold new York times Hen Sam Lena moved from humid East Texas to arid Tucson ariz., 47 year ago to getaway from his allergies he brought with him the seeds or the pollen As it were of his own troubles. Like thousands of other newcomers to the Southwest desert he tried to reproduce the greenery he was accustomed to Back Home planting a. Lawn of Rich Bermuda grass and big Shady Mulberry and Olive Trees which rained pollen on him. Soon his allergies were worse than Ever. It s almost Tike an epidemic he says. It seems like almost everybody has now Lena and Tucson Are fighting Back but it May be too late. He has Lorn out the Tush landscaping around his Home on the South Side of town and replaced it with Cactus and other native desert plants. And. As chairman of the Pima county Board of supervisors he has helped pass an ordinance forbidding the sate and planting of Bermuda grass Mulberry and Olive Trees and imposing fines of up to $300 on residents who fail to mow their lawns. Allergies have become a political Issue in the american Southwest. Once considered a Haven for the allergy afflicted southwestern desert cities now exceed Many Eastern and Northern ones in pollen counts. And As what is expected to be the worst Spring pollen season in history begins Tucson ans with Tucson watery Eye in a dry climate pollen eau stand population of Tucson. Arli., Moi or. The Polton count to the number of grains Par Squir Inch Par year. 10.000i h
