European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 13, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse A a a of downtown Phoenix where Reat Denta complaining of air pollution and mounting traffic congestion Are calling for a halt to rapid growth of past decade. People Aro gelling More unhappy about Iho air pollution Tia in Alec congestion and too last growth the cities Are starting to reduce density and you be got More people concerned about what the Devalo pors have Dona to the desert they be literally bulldozed the desert to the ground and those of us who Lovo the desert have been encouraged to say something Aboul but Many residents say they think otherwise and predict citizens Elloris to control development will increase. Some contractors Are fighting Back. The Alcor investment corporation a subsidiary of american Continental Homes one of the county s biggest developers recently filed an $11.8 million lawsuit against Max Jennings executive Edillor Oltha Mesa Tribune. The suit contends that a column written by Jennings questioning the Wisdom of placing a 3,000 unit housing development near a local Fiat Force base had jeopardized the project Jennings said he was unconcerned Aboul the lawsuit because the first amendment protected publication of opinion but Hal it would be expensive to defend. Developers have held Sway in the county he said for a Long Lima but you see things starting to change. Allergies of in Scottsdale. Ariz., efforts Aro under Way to control use of certain ornamental plants and officials in Santa be Are also concerned. Bui no place has acted As vigorously As the Tucson area where pollen counts have been taken since 1943. The figures show thai Overall pollen counts Rose nearly 35-fold Between 1943 and 1986. A period Over which a 10-fold increase in population has pushed the edges of the cily deep into the Saguaro studded desert turning Sand into condominiums. Aboul Hall the pollen Load comes irom two imported Trees the Mulberry and Olive and another 10 to 20 percent from Bermuda grass. The disruption of the land has also encouraged such native allergens As Tumbleweed. Desert ragweed Sal Bush and careless Weed. The dry air so valued by victims of bronchitis asthma tuberculosis and allergies turns out to be an Ideal transporter of foreign pollens. A study of 3,800 Tucson ans by or. Michael d. Lebowitz associate director of the Chesl allergy Center at the University of Arizona has found thai nearly half Suiter from respiratory allergies Aboul twice the National average of 15 to 25 percent me says Only about 60 percent of the excess is due to the fact that people with allergies migrated Here. Studies show 90 percent of Tucson ans Are not natives and about half of them moved Here or health reasons ii was against this backdrop that the Pima county supervisors banned Mulberry and Olive Trees and required Lawn mowing Over the objections of the Nursery operators and some developers in 1984, until recently the county issued Only warnings to1987 violators but last fall Sneller the Pollan policeman began issuing citations to Homes where the Bermuda grass was allowed to grow to pollen spewing lassies it s no More or. Nice Guy Sneller said. Or. Patricia a. Nolan the county health director said generally compliance had been Good because so Many people were allergic. In some cases neighbors have been snitching on each other. Also to get zoning approval for new developments builders must use no pollen producing plants. But so ingrained is the problem thai even Iho Plaza outside the county health Soltice is planted with Mulberry and Olive As is the Campus of the University of Arizona. The once fashionable Mulberry tree Dies alter Aboul 30 years but Olive Trees much favored Here because they Are so drought resistant live Lor As Long As 500 years. And Bermuda grass which sinks deep roots is impossible to eradicate. Meanwhile at Sneller s office pollen is treated like an advancing Hurricane. A map shows a big red Blob the hot zone just to the North of downtown. In a daily phone recording a sounds the alarm for the sniffle is pollen s going up All weekend. Mulberry is the Leader. Mold is inordinately High. The Central Region is hardest hit. Walch out for any breezes this weekend. They la double the pollen meanwhile Tucson continues to grow. On the rapidly expanding East and South sides the Greenland Nursery its very name shouts Defiance Al the parched desert continues to Supply Cottonwood Trees shrubs and other greenery to the new subdivisions adding new albeit Legal sources of pollen. Across town at Pinnas allergy clinic Al the St. Lukes in the desert clinic. The daily Parade of sufferers has no end. People like Darryl Jakes a respiratory therapist who thought to had outgrown his allergies in his native Chicago Only to be hit again in Tucson Denise Shay a Kansas born lawyer who thinks she would get Relief by leaving Robin p. Brand a Hospital maintenance worker a Syracuse. N,y., native who says he is allergic to All of this has raised questions about whether there is any Haven from allergies. According to Lebowitz allergic people who moved to the Southwest May have had an inherited predisposition to allergies and after a Brief honeymoon built up an allergic response to the local vegetation and dust therefore he doubts thai the Pima legislation will work. Ii will Cut Down on a few allergens but very few people Are allergic to just three things he said in the Long run we will not see much change while the movement Back to native vegetation is Welcome he said he discourages extremely allergic people from moving to Tucson. Indeed because the predisposition to allergies is believed to be partly inherited Pinnas fears that South westerners As they marry and reproduce May be Breeding new generations of allergy sufferers migration he says is no longer considered the answer a lot of people use allergies As an excuse for not lacing their environment their jobs their Homes he said this is a socially acceptable reason for giving up they give up Loo soon. There is no Safe no one knows that belter than Pinnas. His Tucson Home has four Olive Trees the source of much misery to him he is considering cutting them Down. The stars and stripes Page 15
