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September 17, 2002

Host: Michael Grant
Topics:
New design guidelines in the City of Peoria; Social service agencies and healthcare providers for Arizona's homeless
In-Studio Guests:
Maeve Johnson, Executive Director of Valley Partnership;
Kevin Murphy, Executive Director of Labor's Community Service Agency

>> Michael: Tonight on "Horizon," the West Valley is growing at an explosive rate. In response, the City of Peoria is considering new design guidelines to balance the needs of residents, retailers and developers. We'll find out what those guidelines and how they could affect that community. And later we'll examine the challenges facing the Valley's homeless population. Good evening, I'm Michael Grant. When the City of Peoria adopted its design review ordinance five years ago, its guidelines were basically one size fits all, but in the wake of intense development, city planners are looking at a more responsive way of directing commercial development.

>> John Keegan: Most communities have zoning regulations, and that really addresses the land use itself. Whether it's commercial or residential. But what the design guidelines do is it takes it a step farther and really looks at the issue of the aesthetics. Does this development fit in with the surrounding area?

>> Reporter: The City of Peoria is currently in the process of revising its design review ordinance and part of that effort includes the crafting of new commercial development design guidelines to better meet the needs of this growing community.

>> Chad Daines: When we were looking at a site plan that's going through the review process at the same time we also look at the design components.

>> Reporter: Because design guidelines by nature tend to be subjective, some standards may be required while others remain as suggestions.

>> Chad Daines: Case in point would be color. It's a very subjective criteria, and so when we look at those standards, it's hard to mandate what colors -- of buildings, but you can start to require things like the building will be compatible with the color pallet of the surrounding buildings.

>> Reporter: A primary goal is to create an ordinance that is flexible enough to allow for creative design but at the same time provides for aesthetic harmony between a project and the neighboring developments.

>> Chad Daines: But if you had a fast-food restaurant and a shopping center, shouldn't that fast-food restaurant pick up color and style from the surrounding center? Maybe it doesn't look exactly like it but it picks up design themes from that surrounding center so it looks as a coordinated development and it's really kind of creating that balance between not wanting everything to look identical, but looking compatible.

>> Reporter: Peoria is basing its new design guidelines on input from developers, residents, retailers and the recommendations of Valley Partnership, an organization that advocates responsible real estate development.

>> John Keegan: I think that what we're hoping to achieve is continuing quality of life in the community, that people feel comfortable in their community, that the reason that the -- they came here continues to be the reason why they want to stay here, that the community of the Peoria of the future is not just reflective of its past but also is a quantum improvement on the quality of development as it continues to grow.

>> Michael: Joining me now is Maeve Johnson, executive director of Valley Partnership. Maeve, I will tell you, I've been out of touch here for a while, 25, 30 years. How many cities will have these kinds of design guidelines? Are they fairly common in the Valley?

>> Maeve Johnson: I would say that every city has -- there's 26 cities and jurisdictions in Maricopa County and I think that every one of them has one. I'm not certain about Maricopa. It's been -- Maricopa County. It's a long time since we worked there, but in all of the cities there is a resurgence in interest in either revising as in Peoria or developing new design guidelines for their communities.

>> Michael: And obviously I think we're all aware of the fact that, you know, you have certain minimum standards, you have to put the building back so far from the street. You need so much light at night for safety and security purposes. Handicap spaces and sufficient parking, those kinds of things. But these really do get to the aesthetics of the project, correct? >> Maeve Johnson: There are standards that are requirements for the design of parking lots and setbacks and layouts and parking lot stall sizes, and the engineering departments and staffs take care of that. What the interest is is making -- on the city side, is making the commercial developments, which includes retail and office and industrial to make it aesthetically pleasing, and because Valley Partnership represents the real estate development industry, we represent developers, engineers, architects, anyone who has their hand on a project is invited to be a member of our organization and we wanted to get ahead of the curve and work with communities, because we want -- as our name indicates, Valley Partnership, we wish to work in partnership with the communities in the Valley.

>> Michael: Understood. It does seem to me, though, that there can be very fine lines here between encouraging tasteful good development and stifling creativity and innovation and those kinds of things because of a sort of central command and control kind of approach. Can you walk that sort of fine line successfully?

>> Maeve Johnson: I think that the cities learned -- I think the best -- one of the most wonderful things about development is people learn as they go, that there's always always opportunity for creativity, innovation and learning as we go and I think that the cities had an experience where they started being too prescriptive in what they wanted to see their development look like, and then that's why you see -- you hear the term the sea of red tile roofs and I think cities are learning from the fact that they have to have a minimum standard, but they don't want to be so prescriptive that everything looks the same.

>> Michael: End one cookie cutters and those kinds of things. Ok. What do these guidelines, design recommendations, what sort of things do they touch on? You know, what do they specify, advise, guide and direct on?

>> Maeve Johnson: I have to give a little plug to my committee before I start, because this was a task force of really some extraordinarily impressive people and companies. The best of the best in the retail development industry, including Westcor partners, VESTAR development, SUNCOR, Roth development corporation, he's an office developer and the Peterson group, evergreen DEVCO, so we've had the expertise of people coming in, educating our whole committee and helping us develop guidelines that we can put out to all the cities and say, "here's our recommendations. Our group believes that we're helping to build what the city envisions." So we sat down and we crafted these guidelines to try to get people to understand that form follows function and that make sure that you are really aware of what you're asking us to do. So we broke our design recommendations into true categories. The first is for neighborhood shopping centers and the second is for the power centers where you would see a Home Depot or a Wal-Mart. So we broke those two things out because we think that's illustrative of form following function.

>> Michael: How detailed do they get? Can I build a glass front power center?

>> Maeve Johnson: I think that that would be regulated by the development standards, and I don't know that for a retail center that probably wouldn't be applicable because there's a lot of other considerations that come in in terms of safety and marketability, but I think for an office building you could probably do that. The things that we focused on were more the aesthetics.

>> Michael: Could I paint it bright orange?

>> Maeve Johnson: I think that depends on the city. If you remember, the building up on cactus road up in Paradise Valley, when they paint that condo complex with that clay pot red, do you remember that, and every81 was horrified, and how could you do that and it comes it's like it's ahead of its time and it sets a standard. So we are try not to get into that. So what we're doing is making recommendations saying we want people to come to our centers, whether you're coming to a grocery-anchored center or a power center, we want you to come, we want to make it inviting to you. So what can we do to make sure that we're meeting the standards of the community, but making it inviting? We want our centers to be a success and by making it a success, we have to make it pleasant, invite you in.

>> Michael: I guess what I was trying to get a feel for, Maeve, is how detailed these get. Will they specify colors? Will they specify particular facade designs? Will they specify red tile roofs? I think we've already ruled that out. I was trying to get a feel for just how precise these are and, therefore, how limited you may be in your choices either as a developer or, for that matter, as a tenant looking for space that I'd really like -- I'd like to do something different here buzz perhaps I can't do so because of guidelines.

>> Maeve Johnson: By example, if you have pedestrian plazas that you want to make that inviting, so if a city or a jurisdiction says you will have five trees, two benches in the shade, a water fountain and an art feature, then if you come to my center, it's -- that's going to be what I'm going to build because that's what they're requiring. What we're saying is, create a pedestrian plaza including these features. So we think that you should consider these things and -- because you might be able to put something in there besides trees. You could put creative or innovative shade structures for a variety of reasons, because you want it to be architecturally compatible.

>> Michael: So it sounds like these suggested guidelines really argue for more flexibility and more discretion within, I suppose, a certain bound of tastefulness?

>> Maeve Johnson: Yes. And the tastefulness, I think s very suggestive and I think most of the design guidelines are very subjective because they are people who are making decisions and we think if that you set the standards that you will provide a shaded walkway for pedestrians from the parking lot that there could be a myriad of ways to do that. If you are so prescriptive that you say, you have to have a tree planted every 15 feet on center and it has to be a Palo Verde and it has to go in and it has to be in this color of a planter, then you lose that spontaneity. What happens is people just start putting the same thing in they're required to put the same thing in.

>> Michael: Maeve Johnson, thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate the information.

>> Maeve Johnson: Thank you.

>> Michael: For improving the Valley's homeless population improving the quality of life has little to do with aesthetics. There are more than 30,000 people without homes in our state, close to half of those can be found in Maricopa County. Social service agencies and healthcare providers are trying to decrease those numbers by providing support and assistance at a critical time

. . I play the street life because there's no place I can go street life It's the only life I know

>> Reporter: They live under bridges, in riverbeds n alleys, or if lucky n a shelter. Nearly half of the homeless in Maricopa County are substance abusers a quarter of mentally ill, 17% are veterans. But some of the homeless are people just like you or your neighbor, perhaps struck down by a deep loss, like the death of a loved one, loss of their home, or work.

>> Homeless Man: Last November right after the 9/11 incident our job lost its security, the business went under and everybody got laid off. I went out the door, and then I lasted about another month, until about the last part of November.

>> Homeless Woman: That was the reason I ended up out here, was because I couldn't get into any halfway houses, I couldn't get in anywhere.

>> Homeless Man 2: They think we're worthless people but we're really trying to get a back on our feet and they don't understand that. They think we're all bums.

>> Reporter: Living under these extreme conditions, many might think the homeless would want nothing more than getting off the streets.

>> Homeless Man 3: I kind of want out but I kind of want to stay, too.

>> Reporter: Many homeless hesitate to take that big step, to leave the lifestyle they have learned to get used to and walk away from the friends that may be their only social network.

>> Greg Donnell: It's scary for them sometimes to go through the whole process by themselves and that's why we're there, to help them move from where they are today there every step that's going to bring them to a feeling of self-sufficiency.

>> Greg Donnell: Do you desire to get out at this time? What are your plans?

>> Homeless Man 4: That's the biggest reason I'm here. I'm on vacation.

>> Reporter: Gregg Donnell is one of whom works with the homeless population in Maricopa County.

>> Greg Donnell: We come out to the parks because we can meet them in the day. We will also go to them in the riverbeds, under the bridges, we will drive right down the streets of downtown Phoenix and stop where we might see somebody who has all their personal belongings gathered together and we'll stop and see how we can help them there.

>> Reporter: With help from the City of Phoenix and donations from citizens in the Valley, project hope reaches out to the homeless community trying to motivate them to transition back into society.

>> Greg Donnell: We have access to shelters and other programs that may help them, at least in the short-term, to help them get their feet underneath them, save up some money so with when they get out on their own, they have the deposits for a decent place to live or get them into subsidized housing so they don't have to get everything they get in benefits to live there.

>> Reporter: Six day as week, two outreach teams fill their vans with cold water and Gatorade, canned food, basic clothing and other necessities.

>> Greg Donnell: It's essential to our program to have something that we can give them. I don't feel we're enabling them. We're not making it possible for them to stay out here here. We're hoping the door way to where we can communicate.

>> Reporter: As the team approaches, the responses vary. Some jump on bikes and leave not wanting to be disturbed, while others are curious and willing to talk. Roy has lived in this riverbed for three years. He was in the marine corps in the '70s and served our country for six years. After that he worked as a carpenter but an accident at work injured his eye and impaired his vision dramatically. He left his well-paying job and soon found himself unable to continue the same lifestyle on his new minimum wage salary. He turned to the V.A. for help but was rejected. Donnell calls the V.A. office.

>> Greg Donnell: Could you do me a favor and just talk to him real quick? All right, thanks a lot. This is Michael Leone from the V.A.

>> Roy: Hello? Is that right? Well, that's not what they told me when I was there.

>> Reporter: Project hope workers provide support at the right time and explain the correct information about the services that the homeless are eligible for. They also provide basic healthcare for the homeless by working with an outreach nurse.

>> Judi Messer: I do reachout for Maricopa County. I do medical triage. I go out to the different areas in Maricopa County to South Phoenix, Chandler, south Chandler, east Mesa, Tempe and triage for medical care and get people to where they need to be as far as their medical status. >> Reporter: Jude Judi messer takes care of many health problems on site but sometimes they are so serious they need to be treated in a clinic.

>> Adele O'Sullivan, M.D.: Healthcare for the homeless is a walk-in program for homeless people on 12th Avenue and Madison in downtown Phoenix. We provide homeless services, including medical, behavioral health, substance abuse, dental, transportation, case management services for people who are homeless throughout the Valley.

>> Reporter: Diseases related to poor nutrition and hygiene are common health problems in the homeless population, and living outdoors under the beating sun and extreme temperatures of the desert causes many heat-related problems, such as dehydration, heat exhaustion, sunburns, muscle cramps, heatstroke and foot problems.

>> Adele O'Sullivan, M.D.: The foot problems that the homeless have on a regular basis are very difficult, you know. Blisters. In the summertime we see lot of thermal injuries on the feet, people that have been walking on hot sidewalks and hot pavements, and then the fungal disease on the feet because of using common showers, because of sweating and leaving their shoes on all the time. We see some very serious and very uncomfortable foot problems in the summertime.

>> Reporter: People who work with the homeless aren't doing it for the money. They provide their time and support because they care about those less fortunate.

>> Adele O'Sullivan, M.D.: I don't think anyone chooses to be homeless. No one would make this choice to live this way. The choice was made for many people early in life. It certainly is a stereotype that our society has made of homeless people.

>> Reporter: And the hope is their assistance may be what gets them off the streets.

>> Lorena: It was miserable and I was always depressed and sad and lonely.

>> Adele O'Sullivan, M.D.: And then what happened?

>> Lorena: I met you guys and things started changing for me.

>> Reporter: LORENA was a drug addict who lived on the streets for years but now is back on the right track thanks to help and support from social workers and healthcare professionals.

>> Lorena: You guys saw in me something that I didn't, and then I started seeing that other person, too, and when you guys -- when I would talk to you or Dave or the nurses, you guys would always like make my self-esteem go up and stuff, make me feel good about myself, even though I was still messing up. You guys knew that I would be where I'm at today.

>> Reporter: Those who work with the homeless feel they have done their job if they can get just one person off the streets.

>> Greg Donnell: Why is it important? Because they are people. They are people we know. They are people who end up there because they have no other choices. They may be brothers or sisters, they may be friends and relatives. They are part of our community. They deserve to be treated with respect.

>> Michael: Here to talk about the challenges that face homeless families and some of the resources available to them is Kevin Murphy, executive director of labors community service agency. Kevin, good to see you. Homeless families, I don't think -- we don't normally think of families in connection with the homeless issue.

>> Kevin Murphy: That's true. Because most of the homeless families operate in the shadows. The piece that you just ran was very informative, but everybody sees the individual homeless because they're on the streets and very visible. Families tend to either live with friends when they're homeless, go back to other family members, live in their cars, they're out at the river bottom and a number of them under programs like ours.

>> Michael: Is this a two- parent/children kind of family situation, a single-parent household? I'm sure it runs the gamut, but can you give us a feel for the universe that we're talking about here?

>> Kevin Murphy: The vast majority of single-parent families with children, and what leads them to homelessness is a variety of things. It's very complex. But the common thread there is lack of earning power, low job skills, minimal education, two or three children and, you know, can't make a living. With rents as high as they are and rent are going up, wages are stagnant, you know. So if you have a six, seven, even an $8 an hour job and you are trying to support yourself and two or three children, it's very difficult.

>> Michael: I mentioned some statistics early on about the number of homeless. What percentage of the homeless population is comprised of families?

>> Kevin Murphy: Over 40%. And that's what's been recorded. There was a massive effort by government people and nonprofits to count the homeless in one day. So we counted all the ones that were visible, but -- and the segment that you mentioned, the individual homeless population is about 3,000 of the 14,000 in Maricopa County, and those are the ones that were counted. Like I said earlier, the ones that are homeless and yet living with friends or relatives, technically homeless, were not counted. So if you try to factor that in, the majority of homeless people are typically women and children.

>> Michael: You mentioned multiple causes, but are there particular trigger events that account for more of those people than others?

>> Kevin Murphy: I think it's lack of job skills and the job market, the lack of a living wage in Arizona and in the Valley. The service industries that is predominant in the employment arena does not lend itself to support a family on one income. You can have, you know, a husband and wife, two-income jobs, low-income jobs and still be able to be self-sufficient. When you've got one wage earner supporting three or four people, it's next to impossible. You can go along for a while, but then when you hit a bump, it throws you into homelessness.

>> Michael: I think much of the Valley's -- and Arizona's population has grown more familiar with the Pappas school than they were before here over the past year or so. The first thing certainly that comes to my mind when you're talking about a family is you've got education needs for children. You have something like the Pappas school. On the other hand, can there be enrollment at regular schools as well, school districts, those kinds of things?

>> Kevin Murphy: Sure. Very difficult for the children that are in a homeless situation. Pappas school does a wonderful job. Nationally recognized for their efforts. But most of the homeless kids are mainstreamed into the local school system. Programs such as ours understand how traumatic it is for the children, and where the resources are available, we try to have, as we do, a master's level counselor to work exclusively with the children, and several of the other providers of homeless families have that resource so that we can work with the children to get through what they're experiencing, because a lot of times and I mentioned the many factors, there is a lot of drug history in homeless families, either parent or both, and so you've got issues of moving around. It's very difficult for the child to be stabilized in any -- to make friends and get accustomed to -- you know, their neighborhood.

>> Michael: And certainly some of the basic things you associate with school. Just in terms of, oh, you know, writing implements and pads and, you know, those kinds of things, I assume those will be hard to come by in that environment?

>> Kevin Murphy: They are. We have a back-to-school drive and we supplied all the kids in our program, we have about 140 that we house and case manage, and we provide those -- them with the basics. But they don't have access like most children to computers. They're not -- they don't have computers in the household, which is a big disadvantage in this day and age.

>> Michael: What sorts of other services are available generally to homeless families?

>> Kevin Murphy: Well, as you may imagine, resources are very thin in that population, and social services in general does not get a lot of support by our politicians. What's interesting is that all the polls indicate people would may more to help the most disadvantaged, but most our leadership has other priorities.

>> Michael: Ok. Kevin Murphy, thank you very much for joining us.

>> Kevin Murphy: Thank you for having me.

>> Michael: Thanks for your efforts as well. For more information about our program, please visit Channel 8's website at www.kaet.asu.edu. You can click on "Horizon," and then you can follow the link. Tomorrow night on "Horizon," we will be taking a look at proposition 411. That's something you will vote on in November. It is the jail tax extension, as well as a unique program for women at the Estrella jail. Thursday we will take a look at the challenges facing ballet Arizona. And, of course, on Friday, our journalists will join me with their weekly roundtable discussion of the week's news events. Thank you very much for being here on this Tuesday evening. I'm Michael Grant. Have a fine one. Good night.