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Tempe Mayor and City Councilmember recognized for their service by League of Arizona Cities and Towns

Mayor Hugh Hallman and City Councilmember Mark Mitchell were presented awards for their service in municipal government during the League of Arizona Cities and Towns annual conference, held Aug. 19-22 in Paradise Valley

Each year, the league honors local officials who have given many years of service to municipal government in Arizona. Both Mayor Hallman and Councilmember Mitchell were recognized for eight years of service.

Additionally, Mitchell was appointed to a two-year term on the League's Executive Committee.

Street closures and bus service for ASU football games

This information was just released by the City of Tempe:

Several downtown Tempe streets will be closed or restricted during all ASU home football games. Below is a list of all ASU home football games, street closures/restrictions and bus detours.

• Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. – ASU vs. Northern Arizona

• Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. – ASU vs. Stanford

• Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. – ASU vs. UNLV

• Sept. 20 at 5:13 p.m. – ASU vs. Georgia

• Oct. 25 at TBD – ASU vs. Oregon

• Nov. 15 at TBD – ASU vs. Washington St.

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2 more waves of foreclosures?

Housing economist Patrick Newport, with Global Insight, predicts two more waves of foreclosures. Neither are expected to be as big as the first and current waves, which are mostly related to bad loans and negative equity. Newport says:

"The next round of foreclosures could come over the next several months as a result of continued job losses in the U.S. In addition to the nearly 660,000 U.S. jobs lost since December, Global Insight is currently forecasting another 600,000 jobs lost over the rest of 2008 and into the first quarter of 2009."

Some of us already know people who have lost jobs, and most of us know people who's work has become very slow. 

Newport also predicts a wave in 2010 and 2011 that:

"... will be associated with interest-only loans made between 2005 and 2007, Newport said. In those loans, borrowers only pay the interest for the first five to seven years before they start paying off the principal, at which time their monthly payments increase.

Newport said those loans were one of the innovations that lenders came up with to make it easier for people to borrow, but noted they would mostly make sense for younger home buyers who expect their incomes to rise in the future.

"I think in most cases they were just given to people who shouldn't have gotten loans," he said. "A lot of these homes are going to be deeply underwater when the monthly mortgage payment shoots up (and) there will be a very strong incentive for people to just walk away from their homes."

Foreclosures will be dominating the resale market for a few more years if these predictions are true. However, we seem to be in the thickest part of the crisis right now.

Housing comedy video ... but not everyone is laughing

This isn't new -- and it doesn't apply just to Tempe by any means -- but it is funny (depending on what side of the housing fence you are on). Enjoy ...

Tempe hosts education session for Arizona cities and towns

The City of Tempe will host a session at the Arizona League of Cities and Towns Conference designed to give municipalities tools for contributing to education in their communities. This is the second year Tempe has hosted a session.

"Cities and Towns: Engaging Our Schools," will be Thursday, Aug. 21, from 8-9:30 a.m., at the Camelback Inn's Town Hall Room. The hotel is located at 5402 E. Lincoln Drive, in Paradise Valley. Media may enter the conference free of charge, but they must register first at the conference's Registration Desk.

Speakers at the session will be Tempe City Council member Onnie Shekerjian, who chaired the Council's Education, Technology and Economic Development Committee for two years, and Andrew Moore, a Senior Fellow at the National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education and Families. A graduate of Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Moore creates programs and projects that help inspire collaboration among schools and municipalities around the country.

Following their remarks, small group discussions and a question-and-answer session will help representatives of Arizona communities discover how they can engage with local schools.

"The health and vitality of cities is directly linked to the health and vitality of our schools," Shekerjian said. "Property values impact schools and dropout rates impact cities - and those are just two examples. We want to encourage Arizona communities to learn the tools they can use to foster strong relationships."

New mapping for Tempe/Phoenix area foreclosure searches

Our new Phoenix Area MLS seems to be working much better and faster now. I modified your search capability, and the bank owned (REO) property search on the navigation bar now has much more functionality for Phoenix foreclosure searches. Go ahead and try it out.

Tempe Center for Arts seek volunteer ushers

The Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA) will be training volunteer ushers from August through October. All individuals wishing to volunteer MUST attend one of the following eight training sessions.

Training sessions will be at 7 p.m., on Aug. 25, 26; Sept. 9, 15; and Oct. 8, 14; and at 2 p.m., on Aug. 28 and Oct. 23 at the Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway.

Please park on the southeast end of the TCA parking lot and proceed to the Stage Door entrance. Training will include a full tour of the facility, so please wear comfortable shoes; dress is casual.

To sign up for orientation, call Sally Garrison at (480) 350-2883 or

e-mail: sally_garrison@tempe.gov

Homebuilder cancels Tempe project and 8 others

DR Horton was introducing a new style of homes they called the "Urban Living Series." Urban Living was to be exclusive community luxury condominiums. In Tempe the units were 3-floors each ranging from 1,685 sq ft - 1,922 sq ft. They were priced from $387,500 - $405,000 and were to be located at the NE corner of Rural Rd. and Lakeshore Dr. (just south of I-60).

Architectural drawing:

However, the housing market stepped in and changed DR Horton's plans. I talked with the sales person who formerly worked at the Tempe location and learned that DR Horton restructured their company and dropped the Urban Living Series. That decision stopped development plans at 9 valley locations, including the one in Tempe.

Not one unit was sold during the brief 5-6 weeks the Tempe location was open for business.

DR Horton should have paid a little more attention to what is happening on Tempe Town Lake, at least for the Tempe location. There are condos there in the $400,000 range with a much better location and more amenities. Potential buyers in the $400,000 price range would be more likely to purchase at Tempe Town Lake.

What next for Rural Rd./Lakeshore Dr. area? It won't be a Taco Bell because they just opened at McClintock and Southern.

Rural Rd potential site for Light Rail

According to a recent survey conducted by the Federal Transit Administration, Rural Road has the most daily bus riders in Tempe.The survey indicated that nearly 3,500 people or 44 percent of all bus riders travel down Rural Road each day.

That makes Rural Rd the best site for a light rail expansion. The proposed alternative routes include the Tempe Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad corridor, Mill Avenue/Kyrene Road and McClintock Drive.

Marc Soronson, the transportation project manager for the Tempe South Alternatives Analysis study believes the light rail line could be constructed in one year depending on the utilities available.

The project is still in its initial stage and requires community input to progress.   “We won’t get anything constructed without the concurrence of the community,” Soronson said. “It just doesn’t happen.”   A final project proposal is expected by early 2009.

Tickets for Simon comedy to go on sale

Tickets for Tempe Little Theatre's production of the Neil Simon comedy "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Monday through the Tempe Center for the Arts Box Office, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for students and seniors, not including service or convenience fees. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more through the TCA box office.

Visit the box office in person, order online at http://www.tempe.gov/TCA/ or call 480/350-2TCA (2822).