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Transcripts

December 11, 2002

Host: Michael Grant
Topics:
What lies ahead for the Arizona Cardinal's new stadium;
An update on drowning prevention and water safety
In-Studio Guests:
Jim Grogan, Chairman of the Tourism and Sports Authority;


>> Michael: Tonight on "Horizon," with legal challenges cleared away, the Arizona Cardinals can break ground for their new stadium. Find out what still lies ahead. Plus, it's not just a summer problem, especially with all of the holiday distractions. We'll have an update on drowning prevention. Good evening, I'm Michael Grant. The Tourism and Sports Authority is now free to move ahead with construction of the cardinals football stadium and multipurpose facility. Plans have been held up by a lawsuit filed challenging the constitutionality of the TSA. That lawsuit postponed implementation of pop session 302 passed by Maricopa County voters in the year 2000. The 30-year hotel-bed tax and rental-car surcharge fund the TSA projects. Last week the state Supreme Court decided not to take the John F. Long lawsuit under further review. Here to talk about what that means for the cards stadium an other TSA projects is Jim Grogan, the chairman of the TSA. Jim, it's good to see you again.

>> Jim Grogan: It's grade to be here, good evening.

>> Michael: Let's start off with the long legal challenge. What was that about 15 months or so?

>> Jim: The litigation almost lasted two years and it was very unfortunate. It cost our community, but the good news is it's behind us. We need to now move forward and we're very excited about all that the TSA is doing for the community and the TSA being able to move forward will not only be able to bring the stadium out of the ground but we'll be able to fund our Cactus League obligations and build youth and amateur sports facilities, baseball diamonds and soccer fields around the valley, and we're also going to be able to fund tourism promotion, which will help our economy. The new stadium alone is going to create over 3,000 jobs and we're prepared now to spend over $350 million in our community at a time when as everyone knows our economy could use that boost.

>> Michael: Is it good timing from that standpoint? Obviously economic times around here are not great, not as bad as some places, but not great. Is putting out the construction contract at this point in time better than if you were putting out the construction contract for bid in booming economic times?

>> Jim: There is a weighing of factors. In fact, the delay always costs you money because prices always rise.

>> Michael: Sure.

>> Jim: The good news is interest rates are low right now. We have all of the experts moving as quickly as possible so that we can bond at a time when we get the advantage of low interest rates. So in effect, you're able to buy more money because your monthly income stream that you can utilize to buy that money is a constant with lower rates, you can literally buy more money. Now, we have many, many constraints with our ability to bond, but we're moving forward and we're very excited about the opportunity to literally bring this building out of the ground.

>> Michael: Speaking of the ability to bond, was that one of the sidebars, side effects of the long lawsuit, was the impact that that had on the surprise facility that was reported on the front page of the newspaper this morning.

>> Jim: No question about it. The fact that raising a Constitutional issue, put a cloud over the very essence of the TSA and our ability to raise money. That caused us not to be able to sell any bonds until we were able to win the litigation. We were very confident from day one that the Constitutional challenges were baseless. In fact, we wanted -- we won it each step of the way from the attorney general, to the superior court, to a unanimous decisions out of the Court of Appeals and now the Supreme Court agreeing with the Court of Appeals in denying any type of review, but the time delay was very expensive. And it tied our hands. We were not able to fund the surprise stadium as we had hoped and as we had committed to do.

>> Michael: In other words, you couldn't cut bonds for the surprise facility because of the suit, and that's why this sort of, okay, Surprise, you pay for it, we'll repay you for it, and we'll send you a small revenue stream in the interim. That's why this sort of Rube Goldberg separation was put together; right?

>> Jim: That's correct. The story is a positive story. Working with surprise and the creativity of the TSA, we were able to build that stadium. It's now up and out of the ground. We've got the Texas Rangers, and we've got the Kansas City Royals. We will be using that same drive and ingenuity to make sure that we keep all of the current Cactus League teams. We'll be working with the City of Phoenix, and the City of Tempe. We'll be working with the City of Scottsdale to revitalize their staples as the leases come due and in spite of some of the misreporting in today's paper, we'll be able to work with all of those municipalities and others and keep this a vital Cactus League. That's a big part of our charge.

>> Michael: The story this morning was indicating that the TSA could have problems in funding the improvements to Phoenix Muni stadium. I want to say the time frame for that was in the 2005 area. You're saying that you will not have those problems?

>> Jim: We're going to be able to work with them. What you saw this morning was a little political muscle being put to us to try to get our attention. It's not the way we like to do business. We don't negotiate in the press. We're going to be working with all of the municipalities that have Cactus League stadiums that need to be revitalized and renovated. We'll provide funds to help -- matching funds -- the cities will have to put money in, too. We'll be able to help those cities. I will tell you, though, we will look at each and every project individually. We're not going to create a Disneyland beyond the standard new stadium for any city. We're going to be able to make them state of the art so that they will be able to keep the current Cactus League teams, but we want to keep all of the staples relatively equal so the new stadium that's coming up at surprise will set the standard, and we'll make sure that the other staples to the extent that we possibly can, are able to compete.

>> Michael: Let me go back to the revenue stream that we were talking about a couple of minutes ago. Obviously, the economy is depressed as we already mentioned. Tourism is down. I was looking at some of your numbers just today, and although they have improved from last year at this time, the revenue line is not looking real good. You've got enough revenue stream to support the bonding necessary for all of the these facilities we've been discussing plus Cactus League?

>> Jim: There is no question that the industry is down and some of the revenues have been depressed. The good news is that our good friends at Dane, Rouscher who have been our financial advisors and Chuck folly, the TSA's CFO are very conservative. From day one we have worked with conservative numbers. While the revenues are down from what we had hoped, all of our pro formas are still well within our means of what we expected and we're going to be able to meet all of the obligations that we had hoped to be able to meet. And when tourism improves, which we all know it will, some our monies are used to help promote tourism, an those monies come back to us severalfold and come back to our community severalfold. As the economy improves, we'll do better. One of the most exciting things going on in that realm is the Super Bowl committee that has just been formed. We're working diligently in our community to develop a package to go to the NFL owners in march, to try to bring the Super Bowl here either in 2008 or 2009. As you know, the Super Bowl brought in economic activity of over $305 million to our community in 1996, and recent Super Bowls in other communities have pushed over $400 million.

>> Michael: New Orleans I saw a number of around $403 million or so.

>> Jim: We'll have an opportunity to use this new facility coming out of the ground soon as a true catalyst to bring our entire community together and to bring something fabulous to our community.

>> Michael: Jim, I know one of the concerns about a Glendale location for the stadium was a hotel room adequacy, enough facilities in the immediate vicinity. I know the NFL for something like the Super Bowl has some rules about that, so many rooms within square miles. Is that going to impact it at all?

>> Jim: We've spoken to the people at the NFL. We will continue working with them as we put our bid proposal forward. Mr. Bidwill is really our secret weapon. He is very, very highly regarded among the owners in the NFL. In 1996, Arizona got the Super Bowl for one reason and one reason only and that was because of Bill Bidwill. What the Super Bowl folks have told us, the NFL representatives, they are very excited about the fact that the coyote stadium is going to be right next door. They'll be able to have a variety of pre game events in the coyotes' arena and folks will be able to walk right across game day. So the quality of our site with enormous amounts of parking and enormous amounts of raw land where they can put up tents and an arena right there. They are very excited about that.

>> Michael: For example, I recall there was the NFL experience that was north of Sun Devil stadium.

>> Jim: The Glendale site is a spectacular site for the Super Bowl. When you look at what's happening along the 101, the new desert ridge Marriott, the new Westin at Scottsdale Road along the 101, the Westin at Kierland. Those hotels are going to obviously be major Super Bowl hotels. But frankly, the hotels in Phoenix, the hotels in Scottsdale, the hotels in Tempe, those will all be utilized on Thursday and Friday and Saturday for all of the pregame festivities, and then folks will simply hop on the 101, wherever you are in the valley, the stadium is going to be about a half hour away once you get on the 101.

>> Michael: Let's talk about time frames and those kinds of things for the Cardinals' stadium itself. When is ground-breaking anticipated?

>> Jim: That's a great question. Unfortunately, the contentious litigation set us back. We have charged all of the experts from the architects to the contractors, to the folks who are literally doing the schematic designs and drawings to the folks who figure out where the sewers go and where the electricity lines go. All of those experts are working almost around the clock right now to come with us -- to come to us with the very best schedule. We have to weigh our finite resources with the best schedule so that we can get the best pricing. If you push too hard and you try to go too fast, you have to pay a premium.

>> Michael: Right.

>> Jim: If you wait too long, the subs won't commit to bids over too long of a time. There is a balancing act there. We're relying on the professionals. My goal is to have some type of an announcement before the end of the year that'll give people a feel for a timetable. Unfortunately, it appears from early feedback, early feedback from the experts, that the 2005 season is not something that's really a practical reality.

>> Michael: Any possibility at all for the January 1, 2006 Fiesta Bowl?

>> Jim: Again, we're waiting for all of the experts to give us their input. It appears now and we'll have an announcement later on, it appears now that that would be very, very challenging to meet that. We're going to wait, listen to the experts and make sure that the community gets the very best product that we can get. It doesn't make sense to push for a couple extra months or three or four months and spend money doing that when we could wait a while and spend the money to have a better facility for our entire community for years to come.

>> Michael: Jim, is the design relatively final? We've all seen the mock-up on it and the field rolls out and those kinds of things, and I understand a whole lot of design details are -- but is that basically what it will look like?

>> Jim: Because we have had so much time, we have been able to use some of that time and we're continuing to use some time to challenge every single assumption that we've made from day one. I mean, there are certain basic features that we expect will be the same, but I have asked our team of experts to look at every single feature, look at them from a cost-benefit perspective. How can we create the very best facility for our community? And we're going have a multipurpose facility that will be a spectacular stadium for football, but it also will house concerts. It'll house a variety of entertainment events and trade shows and convention type shows. We're looking at everything to make sure we create the best possible facility. People will be excited about it.

>> Michael: But still a key element probably being the roll-outfield?

>> Jim: Certainly the multipurpose functions.

>> Michael: Jim Grogan, good to talk to you.

>> Jim: On behalf of all of the volunteers on our TSA board of directors, we appreciate having the opportunity to tell people what's really going on, because there is always a lot of misinformation and as volunteers, we're working hard to just do what's best for our community.

>> Michael: All right, thanks.

>> Jim: Thanks, Mike.

>> Michael: We hear the message every day "watch children around water." But drowning continues to be the number one cause of death in our state for children under the age of five years. Just today another tragedy. A two-year-old boy pulled unconscious from his families swimming pool. Rescuers were there quickly. The child was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital. Doctors made a major effort to save his life. Unfortunately that little boy died. While drowning is often thought of as a summer time danger, drowning prevention advocates say awareness is key during the winter months as well. In a moment, we'll talk more about that. First, Merry Lucero has a look at some of the drowning statistics to date.

>> Reporter Lucero: This time of year, many of us are focused on holiday shopping and putting up decorations. And during winter months, many of us aren't thinking about water awareness and drowning prevention.

>> Reporter Lucero: Temperatures are cooler, and pools and spas are often covered, but the Phoenix fire department warns just because it's cooler, don't let your guard down. Holiday distractions might be just what takes your eyes off your child for that one crucial moment. Last year, Phoenix fire had 104 drowning-related incidents. 27 of those resulted in fatalities. This year in Phoenix, there have been 90 incidents to date. Of those, 31 resulted in fatalities. 60 of the 90 incidents involved children. 30 were adults. Of the 31 fatalities, 12 were children, and 19 were adults. Valleywide, there were 152 water related incidents this year. 54 of those resulted in deaths, including 19 children.

>> Michael: Here to talk about drowning prevention, Bob Kahn, Phoenix fire department assistant chief and Druann letter, drowning prevention coordinator for Phoenix Children's Hospital. Good to see both of you. Happy holidays. Bob tell us about today's incident.

>> Bob Kahn: It was a scenario that we work hard to prevent. It's something we've seen before. You have a mom with a younger sibling, a three-month-old was distract bide taking care of that. A 2-year-old is at the age where they can get out of doors. They learn to open doors. Apparently went out to see a new puppy that they had and ended up in a pool that didn't have a barrier and became a victim for us to respond to. It's another tragedy. It's a residential setting that's exactly the scenario that we work so hard at trying to prevent from happening tout out there.

>> Michael: You know, not to say that it's enough, but there's been a lot of attention a lot of public awareness efforts on this situation over the past couple of years. Why more fatalities?

>> Bob: We saw the numbers for residential drownings. The house that is we get out with kids under 5, that need pool fences, those numbers were very low. In fact the winter drownings matched the summer drownings so far. It's just as we get away from that, and honestly everybody knew about water safety this summer, it was everywhere, but in the winter we lose sight of that message and people forget. We need a constant reminder that we need to stay on top of it, watch your kids around water, child proof the back of your house so kids can't get outside and then put up a four-sided pool fence.

>> Michael: You know, Druann, in fact, you obviously think of it as a summer phenomena, but the temperatures are cooler, certainly at the holiday period, more distractions. Kids are more likely to play outside?

>> Druann Letter: Somebody said this is why we live in Arizona. That's right. We live here it's beautiful. If you have a water hazard outside, and the children are out there that's when this tragedy can occur.

>> Michael: Tell us about the awareness program at the Phoenix Children's Hospital.

>> Druann: We have a drowning prevention and prevention program called water watching. We are a group of concerned parents, doctors, different nurses and staff who teach parents and children how to be safe around water. We work with different agencies, Phoenix fire, Mesa fire, Tempe fire and talk to people about how to make their home safe. I think a lot of people don't know and secondly they don't think it can happen to them. And it can, it happens to good parents as well.

>> Michael: Conduct classes? Distribute literature?

>> Druann: Everything. We have brochures available. We have information available on what you can do. We go out and we do events. We go to mom's groups. We go to corporations. We work with Intel to teach their employees about what you can do to make your mom as safe as possible.

>> Michael: Bob, what are the laws on this subject in the City of Phoenix?

>> Bob: Stiff Phoenix is you're supposed to have a fence that's five feet high with a self-closing self-latching gate that opens outward. We use a magnet lock for that and there needs to be two inches of clearance around the bottom. We see drownings but the gate doesn't shut all the way or the pool needs to be repaired. If you think about how mobile kids are, all of these drownings are preventable. If you think about how mobile these children are, if you don't have a pool fence and there is a pool, there is a good chance that that child being so curious will end up in that pool, then you're on the clock. Then you have five minutes to get to that child before you are talking about some pretty serious damage.

>> Michael: Incidentally, these laws vary in different cities; correct?

>> Bob: Absolutely. City to city. And it can be -- there can be different types of barriers. Scottsdale allows you to use nets. There are different types of barriers that you could use. We found and DruAnn and I feel -- it's best to have a four-sided fence that encapsulates the pool. It's not a substitute for supervision, we're trying to reduce the ability of the child to get out to the pool.

>> Michael: Do winter visitors impact the situation, people unfamiliar with --

>> Druann: Definitely, those who move in here as well as those who are visiting. It's been a couple of years, but we had a few children here visiting, staying with other families and got into the back yard pool. It happens also inside as well as in the back yard pool. It happens in our bathtubs and in buckets. Different areas. If you are not here during April through July or august, you might not hear the rash of information that we're telling you about water safety. It needs to be done year round.

>> Michael: What about some of the other -- I know, for example, there are alarms that you can use. Good idea?

>> Druann: Statistically, the only proven effective barrier that's come out of any form of research is the four-sided pool fence, but at children's Phoenix --

>> Michael: When you say four-sided pool fence.

>> Bob: It literally isolates your pool. It's got four sides. It doesn't use the back concrete wall or the back walls. It is a four-sided fence going around your pool. That's the only thing that research has shown that will not allow a child to get into the pool area. But there's other things that we tell to you do, locks on the back door, alarms both on your home as well as a pool alarm. A laser alarm, the net, a pool cover. To me, the more you have at your home to make it safe, the longer your child would be out of your sight, the longer they would have to get into that pool.

>> Michael: I never had heard about the four-sided fence. Why would it be better than having a three-sided fence that for example is using the wall that you may have around your yard?

>> Bob: If you don't encapsulate the pool, there is different configuration that is can lend itself to a child getting in either through a garage or the back of the house itself. Some of the codes will let you use the back of the house as a barrier. What happens if you add a doggy door or that latch, the spring starts to get ajar and doesn't work properly, kids will have an access directly to the pool. If it's a four-sided barrier, you have surrounded the pool with the if he says. If the child gets out into the Pat your, then there's a whole set of barriers before that child gets into the swimming pool.

>> Michael: Now, I'm not suggesting any of these devices in lieu of that, but bottom line, if you pardon the expression at this time of the years, Christmas tree, more and more stuff on, it's just better and better, the alarm system, the covers, those kinds of things?

>> Bob: Layers of protection is what we say. If you child proof the back of the house so the child can't get into the back yard, you take into consideration a pet door, doggy door and you have other measures. If you want alarms, doggy door alarms or patio door alarms, when they are open, that's a layer of protection. I wouldn't count on that only because batteries can fail, and you can get distracted and not pay attention to that tone, but in addition to, it's another alternative for people to layer their house with protection. Not unlike a smoke alarm or other things that we work with out in the system.

>> Michael: What about pool covers? A lot of people do not obviously heat their pool during the summer and go ahead and cover it up.

>> Druann: A pool cover as long as it's a motorized pool cover and there are different regulations, but it will actually work in some cities as a barrier code. Now, when I say full pool cover, it's on a motor, the kind that's just a piece of material over your pool, we tend to say that we do not recommended that because a child could become trapped underneath the pool cover.

>> Michael: In fact, I have heard that it could actually become more of an impediment to getting out?

>> Druann: Oh, definitely. Having anything over any part of your body when you're in water and you are struggling, I would think would be detrimental.

>> Michael: Green pools?

>> Bob: Green pools have been a problem. We've seen several incidents over the past couple of years. One sibling followed other one in. If you think about it, one of the last places people will look is a swimming pool. If you have a green pool and the toddler is missing, you simply can't see that they are out there in the swimming pool struggling. You lose sight of them. We've seen two sets of brothers all within a mile of each other fall into green pools and even for a submersion, that bacteria can get down in the lungs and cause an infection and cause problem. Green pools are a problem.

>> Michael: The green pool is -- describe the green pool.

>> Bob: It's algae, it's a lack of maintenance, neglect. It's something people don't use. The algae starts to grow, gets way from them, and they don't see that as a hazard in the back yard. It's just there in the pool. It's gotten better in that West Valley that we've been looking at, there's been an improvement, but still we will run into green pools where kids will disappear and you don't see them. By the time they are pulled out of the swim pool, it's too late. They are gone.

>> Druann: If people have questions about any of thinks, the City of Phoenix has a water safety hotline that they can call if they have a green pool or if they need more information or they can get information also about what to do in case of a green pool or different questions that they have.

>> Michael: Does Phoenix Children's Hospital also have a contact?

>> Druann: You can call our drowning prevention and awareness line which would be myself and you can also call the water safety hotline.

>> Michael: Okay. Bob, I was struck by the number of adults, both incidents and fatalities.

>> Bob: We lose sight sometimes of the adults. A lot of times they are seniors or people with physical challenges out there that get themselves in trouble. Certainly adults shouldn't swim alone if they have some physical challenges, consumption of alcohol and/or drugs while you are swimming is deadly or more deadly than some of the traffic accidents that we see out there, collision that is we see out there if that. If you are an adult, make some pretty good decisions before you jump in for a swim.

>> Michael: Bob Kahn, thanks for being here. Druann Letter, we appreciate the information.

>>> For transcripts of "Horizon," a schedule of upcoming topics and information related to tonight's subject matter, including a link, go to Channel 8's Web site at www.kaet.asu.edu., click on "Horizon" and follow the links.

>>> Tomorrow, "Horizon" is preempted for a special edition of "Books & Co." Noted poet and ASU professor Alberto Rios shares his thoughts about writing.

>>> And then on Friday local reporters engage in a discussion of the week's top stories on the journalists' roundtable edition of "Horizon."

>>> Thanks for joining us on this Wednesday evening. I'm Michael Grant. Have a great one. Good night.