PHOENIX — City of Phoenix planners and businesses said they want to promote the future of the southern corridor, while also protecting the people who call the vibrant area home.
Right now, the city is creating a 30-year plan on how it will implement transit-oriented development and growth throughout south Phoenix. A community survey is expected this fall, with a full plan deadline by the end of the year.
"They felt like over decades they haven't seen a lot of investment, and here we are. Now we're inundating them with investment,” Phoenix Special Projects Administrator Joel Carrasco said. "It's really about all of us working together and being strategic on how we can inform some investment to come into the corridor without it being so quick and so intense that it starts to change too quickly.”
South Phoenix businesses said they have relied on each other through change and challenges as construction slowed Central Avenue traffic for years.
"What it would look like to do it right also would to help those businesses, maybe help them get a facelift,” Co-owner of Dos Chicas Coffee Priscilla Jimenez said. "South Phoenix has great pride and to get that back again would be amazing.”
Jimenez grew up in South Phoenix and returned with her family to create her local coffee business that’s situated inside Manny’s Tattoo Shop.
"I want others in our community to know that they can do it too,” Jimenez said.
The building is much more than its name, but a community hub filled with local artists, salon spaces, and which holds regular public events.
"Open more opportunities for a lot of people, that way they can open their own business,” Owner Manuel Gomez said. "I just want to see more businesses open around here.”
The city’s south Phoenix implementation plan not only looks at economic development opportunities, but also includes key goals for affordable housing, walkable community spaces and revitalization.
Longtime resident Victor Vidales wants to make sure that plan doesn’t push established families or businesses out.
"A successful plan looks like prioritizing the people,” Vidales said. "Making the people that are here first and we have a lot of families that are very vulnerable…The city of Phoenix has an opportunity to get it right and it’s not going to happen with the government alone. It has to be the people as well."
