Ahwatukee Foothills hosts forum on crime

Kelsey Hazelwood, For the Tribune

November 6, 2007 - 12:12AM

A meeting meant to help residents learn about crime and fraud prevention turned into a tough questions-and-answers session for Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and other Phoenix officials Monday night in Ahwatukee Foothills.

About 100 residents came to the meeting at the Desert Vista High School cafeteria armed with tough questions for Goddard, who was joined on a panel by Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris and Phoenix City Councilman Greg Stanton.

Goddard opened the meeting saying he wanted special emphasis to be put on prevention of crime and fraud, and discussed topics such as identity theft and consumer fraud.

Harris and Stanton also addressed the group briefly, discussing topics such as methamphetamine abuse, gang activity and the future of the police presence in Ahwatukee Foothills.

“We don’t want anyone to be the victim of any crime, anywhere in the community,” Harris said.

Attendees were then allowed to ask questions, but very few were focused on prevention.

Many of the people who spoke shared personal experiences with crime such as property theft and sexual assault, and some felt that their concerns were not being properly handled by Phoenix officials or the Goddard’s office.

Other residents spoke about more general issues such as illegal immigration and racial profiling, asking broad questions that the panel had difficulty addressing.

After the meeting, many attendees were not satisfied with what was discussed.

“I think they should get more questions from the public,” said Rich Osiol, an Ahwatukee Foothills resident. “I wanted to know about the use of police resources.”

Elaine Neuman, 53, thought the meeting was informative, but said it could have been handled better.

“I was here to listen and learn,” Neuman said. “But they seemed to back away from the hard hitting issues.”

This was the fifth meeting in the Crime and Fraud Prevention series being held by Goddard’s office. The next forum is scheduled to take place in Sierra Vista.

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TheChubbyPsychic

I saw the crime rate going up quite a bit in this once peaceful and wealthy area years ago. Not anymore...I will not be surprised if within 1-3 years we have a seperation into a "East" and "West" Ahwatukee. The police will be much more active on the East side.... Suggest removal of this comment

November 6, 2007

Boneprone

Thats what you get for bussing in south Phoenix ghetto dwellers into Mountain Pointe HS.
It takes less than $1 in gas to get from 48st and Baseline to your Ahwatukee paradise and even less from Guadalupe and btw you got the tribe to your south, your almost surrounded ******s Suggest removal of this comment

November 6, 2007

TheChubbyPsychic

I live in serene Gilbert...the Ahwatukee area is in a "battle"...more than the residents know..like I said soon to be "East" and West"... Suggest removal of this comment

November 6, 2007

Rob Sanchez

That hearing was a total sham. The Arizona Republic, who moderated the sham, totally stacked the deck as far as who could ask questions or make comments. Most of the questions were softball questions or infomercials from various city bureaucrats.

I complained directly to Terry Goddard and he seemed quite surprised to hear that so many citizens were shut out. I don't know if he was really surprised though, because he admitted that he helped to choose the AZR to moderate it. I'll give Goddard credit -- he is a skilled politician!

I thank the Tribune for doing a much better job of reporting this than the AZR, even though they are the ones how hosted it. Check out this shoddy reporting by Colleen Sparks -- it's a shameful whitewash.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/1106ar-crime1107.html

There were at least 5 of us that talked to this reporter about how we had been shut out, and yet not a single word was written about it in the AZR.

Colleen Sparks put on a good show of asking us questions, and pretending to jot things down on a notepad. One woman told me afterwards that several of them suspected that Colleen was just drawing circles while we talked. I dismissed them at the time, but this coverup article proves it.

So just what, you may ask, were some of the topics that we wanted to talk about, but were shut out?

Immigration and mortgage fraud

Are you surprised that the AZR would not only shut us out of the forum, but would order Colleen to not write about the problems? You shouldn't be, considering the way the AZR has consistently coddled the housing industry and illegal immigration.

Shame on the AZR, and shame on Terry Goddard and Jack Harris for conspiring with the AZR to pull the wool over us. They must really think the public is stupid.

One last thing: it's possible that Colleen really did want to do a complete article but the sleazy editors at the AZR wouldn't let her. Either way, this gives me even more reason not to renew my subscription to this worthless rag. I recently signed onto the Tribune and never regretted the change.
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