- Slug: BC-CNS-CN2Go Weekly Update. Runtime 11:32.
- Download audio briefing here. (Note: Some web browsers may not support media download)
(Music)
THIS IS YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2GO BRIEFING…
(Bring up music briefly and duck below and out)
I’M KENNY RASMUSSEN…
Glendale, developer are first to take advantage of tax break for affordable housing
HOST INTRO: On the 24th of March, a ceremony celebrating the plan to construct a 368-home community in the city of Glendale took place. I was among those in attendance and have more details on the event.
RASMUSSEN: Gorman and Company made Arizona history, by announcing the creation of the state’s first affordable housing community to be financed by state low-income tax credits…. The ceremony was hosted by Gorman President and CEO Brian Swanton and included speeches from various elected officials from Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers to Governor Katie Hobbs, a rendition of the national anthem from the Glendale High School Choir
(music pop)
RASMUSSEN: and a prayer from Methodist leader, David Rennick. The tax credit-funded community will be mixed-income, designed to address the housing crisis in Glendale and throughout the region. Swanton himself stated the community would have numerous amenities.
<< Brian Swanton: “We’ll have a 13-acre walking path, a dog park, a splash pad, a computer lab, a fitness center, a multipurpose community center, Retail spaces for local nonprofits and a commercial kitchen operated by Local First Arizona, that will provide kitchen facilities to 50 food-based entrepreneurs and startups.” >>
RASMUSSEN: Governor Hobbs, who has a background in social work, praised the creation of the community and called back to her own history with the homeless youth of Arizona. She mentioned that despite parts of the state once priding themselves on manageable costs of living, nowadays 46 states have more affordable housing than Arizona. Hobbs also noted that the housing crisis can be of notable consequence to those who can afford a home.
<< Gov. Hobbs: “And housing affordability isn’t just a top concern for those struggling to pay rent, but also for those in our business community who must attract, develop and retain a good workforce.”>>
RASMUSSEN: Hobbs called the usage of state low-income tax credits an effective well-utilized finance solution and said her administration sought to make the program permanent as part of her housing policy agenda.
RASMUSSEN: Also amongst the speakers was the recently elected representative Analise Ortiz, who ran on a promise of housing reform herself. Ortiz mentioned that people in Phoenix were being evicted, with many in mobile homes set to become homeless by May. She highlighted the issue as a case for the creation of more affordable housing across the state. Further reaffirming her commitment, Ortiz also mentioned that she did not go unaffected by the current housing crisis.
<< Analise Ortiz: “You have my commitment that I will do that in our fight for affordable housing. I am a tenant myself at 29 years old. I cannot afford to own a home in the state where I was born and raised, in the state where I’m currently governing.”>>
In Glendale… Kenny Rasmussen… Cronkite News…
Group works to bring awareness of liver health to Mexican-American community
HOST INTRO: Nosotros is a program that focuses on liver health awareness and education within the Mexican-American community in southern Arizona. Roxanne De La Rosa has more…
(People talking)
DE LA ROSA: Nosotros, a grant funded research program at the University of Arizona, promotes preventative measures and healthy lifestyle within the Mexican-American community. Mexican men in particular, are at high risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease which can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Nosotros director David Garcia says estimates show that up to 50-60% of people of Mexican origin have the disease.
<< David Garcia: “Our goal again is to spread or increase awareness around the disease state. Obesity plays a role so, specific to Mexican-American communities, Mexican men for instance, we have the highest rates of obesity in the United States, sadly we are number one.”>>
DE LA ROSA: Nosotros provides free liver scans to community members, among other things.
(People talking)
DE LA ROSA: The procedure takes just a few minutes. Garcia says people of Mexican descent are genetically predisposed to the disease.
<< Garcia: “It’s really focused on early detection and screening. So I think the first step is to create awareness, remove some of the stigma associated with, like, ‘Oh it’s just related to alcohol.’ Like, when I say liver disease most people relate it to alcohol or cirrhosis or something else. No, this can happen to anybody.”>>
<< Rosie Vogel: “Last year we were able to provide over 700 free liver scans to the community. So that’s just in one year.”>>
DE LA ROSA: This is Rosie Vogel. She helps with the program’s community outreach and education efforts. Another challenge Nosotros is working to overcome is that people in the community are Spanish-speaking only.
<< Vogel: “The issues that I learned from the community is that barriers they have of access, the lack of education. Another thing sometimes is the lack of resources in their language.>>
DE LA ROSA: Being physically active and consuming less sugar can help reduce the chances of the disease. Vogel says she enjoys taking the time to be in the community and hearing people tell their stories.
<< Vogel: “For me I love my job. It makes me so happy. I wake up every morning, I say, ‘Yay. I get to do my work,’ which is amazing. I love being in the community and meeting with people.”>>>
DE LA ROSA: Through the research Nosotros hopes to motivate community members to make behavioral changes that will lead to healthier lifestyles.
Roxanne De La Rosa… Cronkite News…
Historians have slim hopes for saving the spa that birthed the Cactus League
HOST INTRO: The Cactus League plays host to half of the M-L-B’s teams each year for spring training… but its beginnings start with a little roadside hotel in Mesa… Cronkite Sports’ Jeff Hinkle has more….
(music)
HINKLE: Nestled on the corner of Main street and Recker road in Mesa is a building that looks like any old, dilapidated building that has fallen into disrepair…. The old white paint chipping off the walls, exposing the brick and adobe building underneath, a neon sign out front reading “Buckhorn Baths Motel” that doesn’t work anymore, and huge amounts of scrub brush and overgrowth all over the property, from around the main lobby, all the way back to the private cottages on the property. This building is one of the reasons why the Cactus League is what it is today, and as the spring training season wraps up, let’s dive into the story of how this tiny roadside hotel came to be one of the founding pieces of the league.
(music)
HINKLE: Ted and Alice Sliger bought a plot of land in 1936 between highways 60 and 70. It was their home, it was a gift shop and oddly enough it was a place for Ted to show off his huge taxidermy collection, which has since been donated to ASU. Then, after three years of having to haul fresh water between downtown Mesa and their property, the couple decided to dig a well and see if they could find water.
(movie clip audio)
HINKLE: What came next changed their lives. They found water! The only problem with it was that it was about 120 degrees and it was full of minerals. The water wasn’t drinkable but had lots of healing benefits. Not long after the water was found, the motel was built and a spa along with it. The early 1940s brought a lot of tourists, and ailing soldiers from nearby military bases to the hotel, and then eventually, word got around to New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham about the Buckhorn.
HINKLE: Stoneham found his way out to Mesa to visit the hotel, stayed at the Buckhorn, and got to know Ted and Alice very well. He would eventually move his team out to Arizona in 1947, and stay at the Buckhorn because of the hot springs and he thought it would be a good place to take his players for treatment. According to Mesa Historical Museum President Vic Linoff, it was a little bit of needed rest and relaxation before the season.
<< Vic Linoff: They would go there, and they would just play. They weren’t in uniform, so the photographs you’d see they were in Hawaiian shirts, they’re running out in the desert, they’re going hunting or fishing with Ted Sliger>>
HINKLE: Mesa Historical Museum Executive Director Susan Ricci even added…
<<Susan Ricci: We have photos of some of the ball players signing pictures to Alice, but it’s not like they were the owners to them, it was like a family>>
HINKLE: That is the beginning of a long history between the New York Giants and the Buckhorn Baths. The team would stay there for 25 years, which also included the Giants moving from New York to San Francisco.
HINKLE: Slowly but surely, more and more teams started to come to Arizona. The Cubs, who had been training on Catalina Island off the coast of California, moved out to Arizona and started using the Buckhorn as their hotel as well. Then, with the addition of the Indians, who came to Arizona to escape the radical Jim Crow laws in the south, and the Orioles eventual move to Yuma, the Cactus League was born. But what lies ahead for that old, dilapidated building that carries so much history and so many stories.
<< Linoff: There’s a term we use in preservation called demolition by neglect. You let it just stand there long enough, it’ll fall down. That’s kind of where it is>>
HINKLE: Since the hotel closed in 2007, there have been many efforts to save the building. It is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places, so it’s protected for the time being. But according to Linoff, that’s only a placeholder.
<< Linoff: It’s on the National Register of Historic Places. There’s a belief that if you get that designation or recognition, that your property is protected. It’s not.>>
HINKLE: There have been plans for an apartment complex to develop part of the land, but to keep the main lobby intact and treat it as a museum, which would harken back to the heyday of the Buckhorn with countless pieces from the original hotel, along with a Cactus League exhibit to draw the attention of baseball fans in town to catch a ballgame.
HINKLE: Those plans have stalled, and now the fate of the hotel lies in a sort of “limbo state.” But if walls could talk, the Buckhorn would have a speech like no other from the things the old hotel has seen, and rumor has it that the pipes in the hotel still hold that mineral water Ted found when he was trying to find drinking water.
From Cronkite Sports, I’m Jeff Hinkle.
HOST: We had help today from Roxanne De La Rosa and Jeff Hinkle…
HOST: You can learn more about the stories you heard in Today’s news update by going on cronkitenews-dot-A-Z-P-B-S-dot-org….
That’s all for your Cronkite News 2 Go! … I’m Kenny Rasmussen.
^__=