www.yourwestvalley.com | Surprise Today | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013
SUN CITY
Election
LD21 Dems learn how
to boost membership
STAFF REPORT
The chairman of Democracy for America, Maricopa County, will give a presentation at Monday’s
meeting of the LD21 Democrats.
Joe P. Murphy VII will
explain how to build an
active membership base,
said Dianne Nesvig, district chairwoman.
The meeting will be at
the Menke Community
Room, 10307 W. Coggins
Parks
>> From page A1
partment’s capital improvement projects. Coronado said
a decision is likely in November or December.
But Surprise Farms resident Andy Cephon saw the
tour and meetings in the fall
as window dressing and a
waste of time. Since the bulk
of construction in Arizona
takes place in fall or spring,
this process will only cause
residents to wait longer for
what their parks need.
“There’s amenities that
people have been waiting ive,
eight or nine years for. This
whole dog-and-pony show
about a new public input process is ridiculous,” Cephon
said. “Most of these commissioners have served multiple
terms. They’ve talked about
these issues for years, and
nothing has changed.”
Surprise Farms parks lack
planned amenities including an aquatic center, a dog
park, play structures, ramadas and restrooms and water fountains in all but the
westernmost parcel.
Resident Connie Brisson
has been at the forefront of
the issue since moving to
Surprise Farms nine years
ago. She said residents, while
requesting the amenities
promised, are making the
best of what they have.
Surprise Farms will have
its third annual party in the
park later this month.
“We’re going to hire a porta-potty,” she said.
Other parks on the tour
also need upgrades, including:
• Veramonte Park in southwestern Surprise is a developer partnership featuring
a soccer ield, modern playground and a ramada. But
the park lacks a parking lot,
with only a patch of gravel
nearby.
Drive, in Sun City at 6:30
p.m. A social period begins at 6.
“The project to build the
base of the active membership of the Democratic Party is necessary for
the future election success of our party from local school boards to city,
county, state and national
elections,” Nesvig said in a
release. “The methods for
building party participation are proven, and some
of the programs have been
adopted by other states to
build their parties.”
Murphy, a longtime Arizona resident, is an arborist with a local business in central Phoenix. He
has been chairman of Democracy for America, Maricopa County, since 2011, is
LD24 irst vice chair and
a state committee member. He was elected chair
of the MCDP Party Building Committee in 2013.
• The city’s signature
space, Surprise Community Park, also needs a parking lot and could use another restroom.
• Three Star Park may be
the oldest in the city. This
small park on the east end of
the Original Town Site is underutilized, Coronado said,
and will need more modern
amenities.
• Gaines Park, also in the
town site, needs repaving.
• Bicentennial Park, the
third park in old Surprise,
has seen major upgrades in
the last decade and more
could be on the way. It has
softball, basketball and soccer facilities, and the Lizard Run trail links the park
with Benevilla and Rio Salado College.
In the public comment
portion of the CRS meeting
before the tour, Step Higher Foundation CEO Anthony Chavez proposed building a skate park in the town
site, either near Benevilla’s
community garden or behind the Villanueva Recreation Center.
“My heart is in the Original Town Site because I live
close. Gaines and Three-Star
park are well-kept secrets,”
Rose Garden resident Vicki
White said. “I’m partial to
Bicentennial Park. I work at
Benevilla and I’ve been very
active in the community garden. Some more amenities
can be added in that area.”
White and others were impressed with Asante, Heritage and Sierra Montana
parks. All three are collaborative efforts. Surprise
spearheads the park’s design, the developer builds
the park and maintains it in
the early years before handing it over to the city. For example, Asante Park will enter Surprise’s maintenance
schedule in April.
Of all the parks on the tour,
Asante may be the biggest
head-scratcher. With ields
for youth baseball and softball tournaments, four basketball hoops, soccer ields.
miles of walking trails, picnic areas, playgrounds and
even a World War II memorial, Coronado labels the park
“a hidden jewel.”
But the park is in a remote
area of northwest Surprise
and is surrounded by barren lots of what once was a
planned upscale development and is now in the state
of lux.
Surprise Farms has the
opposite problem. It’s mostly
built out, but lacks adequate
places to play.
Matt Voegtli also spoke before the meeting, proposing
the idea of a disc (Frisbee)
golf course in Surprise. After looking at all the parks,
he said Surprise Farms is the
closest to ideal site because
of its unused green space and
the low cost of building disc
golf courses.
Whatever the city decides
to add at Surprise Farms or
elsewhere, Cephon hopes
work starts soon.
“Stuff needs to be done
now,” Cephon said. “The
communities understand
that it’s going to be limited
in the irst year and second
year and going to be accelerated after that. But they want
to see some progress.”
>> From page A1
Nov. 5 general election.
Two-candidate races in District 1 (Ted Cimino and Roland
Winters) and District 5 (Skip
Hall and Cammie Marceaux)
will have races resolved in the
primary. The District 6 contest, with three candidates
(Randy Miller, Lou Provenzano and Todd Tande) and no
incumbent, is the most likely
to stretch to November.
In any case, sweeping changes are coming to a City Council that led Surprise out of its
financial hole in the last two
years. Two new members are
guaranteed, with a third possible if Marceaux defeats Hall.
Plus, the council will choose
either Danny Arismendez or
Rachel Villanueva to replace
the late Roy Villanueva in
the District 4 seat — likely at
Tuesday’s council meeting.
Results were not available at
press time.
Mayor Sharon Wolcott said
while change is inevitable,
there’s a clear framework set
by the council and city leaders
this time around, which should
make the adjustment period
less volatile than in prior election cycles.
“Right now what we have is
a plan moving forward. We’ve
made it very clear and it’s been
a publically vetted strategic
plan that we’ve voted on and
approved by the council,” she
said. “Those people coming in
will need to be educated on the
strategic plan and all emerging
issues. That’s one of the reason
I set up working groups that
work on emerging issues. Then
in the future, when we have a
report to the council, the council can decide on whether any
of those issues are relevant to
a change in policy.”
Wolcott endorsed Cimino,
Hall and Tande in their respective races.
“I look forward to working
with the new members and
helping them get up to speed
quickly. We’ve directed staff
to make certain there is a robust orientation process so everyone understands the issues
they will be voting on,” Wolcott said.
This is the first Surprise
election to use the district
boundaries approved by the
council in 2011. Here’s a look
at how each of the three districts have changed:
District 1 — The section of
Sun City Grand west of Loop
303 previously dominated voting in this district. Now, all of
Grand and most of Arizona
Traditions are in District 2
— though Winters’ section of
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Arizona Traditions is in District 1. The redrawn district includes a sliver of Arizona Traditions and all of Happy Trails,
but skews younger. Surprise
Farms is the largest development in the district by population, with Northwest Ranch
(where Cimino resides) and
more sparsely populated expanses on north and west Surprise included as well.
District 5 — Sun Village and
its resident Councilman Skip
Hall moved into this district,
which is largely commercial
(Surprise Marketplace and
Towne Center) and administrative (the City Hall complex, Surprise Stadium and
Community Park). Built-out
neighborhoods like Kingswood
Park (home of Marceaux) and
Mountain Vista Ranch, as well
as part of Westpoint Town
Center.
District 6 — Miller, Provenzano and Tande are vying for a
spot representing fairly recent
developments such as Copper
Canyon Ranch (home to both
Provenzano and Tande), Kenly
Farms (Miller’s home) Marley
Park, Royal Ranch and Veramonte. All of the district, including the more established
communities of Ashton Ranch,
Countryside and Rancho Gabriela, is geared toward families.