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Notes for MARCH 2007
City stresses equal opportunity work force
City stresses equal opportunity work force
Phoenix continued in its role as a leader in promoting equal employment and diversity among its work force again last year.Of the 13,935 people employed by the city at the end of the 2006 fiscal year in July, 39.1 percent or 5,453 were minorities and 32 percent or 4,462 were women, according to the latest study by the city's Equal Opportunity Department.
Both figures represented slight increases over the 2005 fiscal year with the number of minorities and females working for the city growing by about 1 percent. Of minorities employed by the city during the past fiscal year, 27.7 percent were Latino, 7.3 percent African-American, 1.9 percent Asian and 1.1 percent American Indian. Employees who self-identified with a category of two or more races and those who said they were "other" races each totaled less than 1 percent.
The annual studies are done to help determine how well the city is doing in the hiring of minorities and women and how its efforts hold up against the civilian labor force in Maricopa County in eight different occupational categories.
The latest review showed that the city's overall employment of ethnic minorities exceeds the minority representatives in seven of the eight categories. It fell behind only in the public safety classifications where minority representatives are 0.8 percent below the labor market. However, that was an improvement from the previous year when the percentage stood at 1.1 percent.
The number of female employees fell below the county's 44 percent labor market availability, meaning the city has not kept pace with growth in this area. Still, women made up 44.4 percent of the executive appointments made last fiscal year and 44.2 percent of the middle management appointments.
A copy of the Equal Employment Opportunity Report is available at phoenix.gov/eod/eodrpt.html or by calling 602-262-7716 or 602-534-1557/TTY.
Fire hazards target of campaign
The Fire, Public Works and Neighborhood Services departments are teaming up again this year in an effort to reduce the number of weed, brush and debris fires in neighborhoods.Firefighters next month will begin surveying neighborhoods for brush and debris fire hazards and forwarding the location of possible violations to the Public Works and Neighborhood Services departments for city code compliance.
The city requires that property owners keep lots, properties, alleys and easements free from litter, garbage, overgrown vegetation, dead trees, brush, weeds and other conditions that present health, fire or safety hazards.
Siebert elected vice mayor
Three-term District 1 City Councilman Dave Siebert is the city's new vice mayor.Selected by members of the City Council, he will serve in the post until the end of the year.
Siebert has been on the council since January 1996 and began serving his third, four-year term in January 2004.
He chairs the Public Safety and Veterans Issues Subcommittee and serves on the Innovation, Parks and Education and the Land Use, Environment and Natural Resources subcommittees.
During his tenure on the council, he has focused on crime prevention, neighborhood stabilization, managed growth and economic development opportunities in northwest Phoenix and citywide.
Siebert holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Arizona State University.
Incentive Zone Locator aids businesses
Business owners interested in finding out if they might qualify for low-interest commercial real estate loans, tax credits or other incentives for growing their business now have an easy way to get a quick preliminary answer.The Community and Economic Development Department offers an online service - Incentive Zone Locator - that anyone can use to find the incentive status for specific parcels within the city.
Just visit phoenix.gov/phxizl and follow the simple instructions.
Searches will show if a business is located in an Enterprise Zone or Foreign Trade Zone or if it qualifies for the New Markets Loan Program. It also shows a variety of other information about the property, including the assessor parcel number, current zoning, city council district, and police precinct area.
For more information, call 602-534-1916 or send e-mail to robert.ito@phoenix.gov.
Group offers tours of burial sites of pioneers
The public will have an opportunity next month to tour a Phoenix landmark and visit the final resting place of many of the state's early pioneers.Pioneers' Cemetery Association volunteers will be on hand to help with free guided tours of the 107-year-old Smurtwaite House at the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park and those touring the seven historic cemeteries on the park grounds.
The tours will be conducted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, April 22.
The cemeteries, which were used from 1884 to 1914, contain the burial sites of many of the state's pioneer families and notable figures in the state's history and folklore. Among them are John T. Alsap, Phoenix's first mayor and Maricopa County's first probate judge, and Jacob Walz, the Dutchman of Superstition Mountain fame whose legendary "Lost Dutchman" gold mine is part of the folklore of Arizona and southwestern United States.
The historic Smurtwaite House, which was relocated to the park in 1994, recently underwent an extensive restoration and now is the headquarters of the association, housing burial records, obituaries and other data relating to historic cemetery sites.
The park is a facility of the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department and is located at Jefferson Street and 14th Avenue.
For more information, call 602-534-1262 or visit phoenix.gov/parks/pioneer.html.
Children's Chorus plans auditions
Boys and girls in the second through 12th grades will be able to try out this month and next month for the Phoenix Children's Chorus, a culturally diverse group that offers young people a choral music education and performance opportunities.Auditions will be at the Phoenix Center for the Arts, 1202 N. Third St., at 6 p.m. April 19 and April 20; 9 a.m. to noon April 21; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 12.
The chorus has performed throughout Europe and taken top honors at the World Choral Olympics. It is sponsored by the Center for the Arts, which is part of the city's Parks and Recreation Department.
For more information or to schedule an audition, call 602-534-3788 or visit phxchildrenschorus.org.
Senior, community centers open
City residents have three new spacious facilities to enjoy in their neighborhoods - two senior centers and a community center.The Shadow Mountain Senior Center, 3546 E. Sweetwater Ave., and the Westside Senior Center, 4115 W. Thomas Road, now are open.
Both facilities contain 10,000 square feet, which provide ample space for a variety of activities, including dances and holiday events, computer classes and arts and crafts rooms. They are equipped with serving kitchens.
The two centers were financed with bond funds approved by voters in 2001.
In addition to the senior centers, the city also has opened the Pecos Community Center at Pecos Park, 17010 S. 48th St. The 38,600-square-foot center offers a variety of services including a senior center, police substation, Parks and Recreation programs and a customer service center.
A combination of money from the 2001 bond fund, city's general fund and parks funds was used to finance the facility.
Airport adds military hospitality room
Members of the military, veterans and their families now have a quiet, private space set aside for them at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.The Military and Veterans Hospitality Room inside Sky Harbor's Terminal 2 is designed to show the city's appreciation for the sacrifices members of the military make for their country.
The lounge is equipped with sofas, chairs, a computer, a large-screen television, games and a children's play area. The amenities were either donated or purchased through the fundraising efforts of the Phoenix Military Veterans Commission.
In addition, the Phoenix Police Airport Bureau collected donations among the officers and furnished a game room for the lounge in honor of Marine Cpl. Christopher Lapka, who was killed in Iraq in October 2004. He was the son of Phoenix Police Officer Kenneth Lapka.
Festival highlights 100 films
Movie lovers are in for a treat next month.The 2007 Phoenix Film Festival April 12 - 19 will feature more than 100 independent films, as well as world premieres, film-maker discussions, celebrity events, educational seminars and parties.
The week-long festival, which will be held in Phoenix at Harkins Scottsdale 101 Theaters, 7000 E. Mayo Blvd., has become Arizona's largest film festival
For tickets, which range in price from $10 to $425, visit phxfilm.com or call 602-955-6444.
Brown Bag series features Chamoru culture
Phoenix residents and Chamoru, Guam, natives Merci Hernandez and Claudia Fajardo-Kaercher will present the Chamoru culture through narrative and dance at next month's free Faces of Diversity Brown Bag luncheon.A group of native Chamorros also will perform dances at the event, which will be noon to 1 p.m. Friday, April 20, at the Phoenix City Council Chambers, 200 W. Jefferson St.
The ancient Chamorros were of Mayo-Polynesian descent from Southeast Asia as early as 2,000 B.C. Today, they are a mixture of various ethnicities consisting of the many cultural groups originating from Asia, Europe and the Americas.
For more information, call 602-261-8242 or 602-534-1557/TTY or visit phoenix.gov/eod/bbag.
Hazardous waste collections set
Phoenix residents can dispose of common hazardous wastes and other items at Household Hazardous Waste collections from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 12 - 14 at Palmcroft Baptist Church, 15825 N. 35th Ave., and May 17 - 19 at Los Olivos Park, 2802 E. Devonshire Ave.In addition to batteries, oil, paint, antifreeze, pesticides and pool chemicals, the events will accept five road tires per household, computers and household appliances that use refrigerants, including refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and heat pumps. Commercial loads will not be accepted.
The city also will pick up household appliances at your home for a fee. Call for a collection appointment. For information, call 602-262-7251, send e-mail to pwserve@phoenix.gov or visit phoenix.gov/publicworks.
Help available for appliance repairs
Low-income Phoenix residents who find it difficult to come up with the money to pay for the repair or replacement of appliances in their homes may be eligible for special assistance from the city.The Human Services Department's utility repair and replacement program covers water heaters, cooking stoves, refrigerators, evaporative coolers and furnaces, as well as minor repairs of air conditioning units and plumbing.
To be eligible, residents must be at or below 150 percent of the poverty guidelines, own their home and not have received services from the program in the past 12 months as well as provide proof of identity and citizenship. Funding is available through May 15.
To learn more about the program or schedule an appointment, call 602-262-4520.
City hosts equal opportunity workshops
City residents can learn how to protect themselves from sexual harassment and job discrimination and learn about fair housing practices at a series of two-hour workshops planned over the next several months.Sessions on equal opportunity will be at 4 p.m. May 16 at Burton Barr Central Library, 1221 N. Central Ave., and 5 p.m. July 17 at Maryvale Community Center, 4402 N. 51st Ave.
The fair housing sessions will be at 9:30 a.m. June 11 at Desert Broom Library, 29710 N. Cave Creek Road, and 10:30 a.m. Aug. 8 at Acacia Branch Library, 750 E. Townley Ave.
To register or to obtain additional information, call 602-262-7486 or 602-534-1557/TTY.
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