Odd-shaped District 6 confounds some Phoenix voters
by Cathryn Creno - Aug. 10, 2009 08:51 AM
The Arizona Republic

When Ahwatukee Foothills residents go to the polls Sept. 1 to elect a Phoenix City Council representative, they'll choose among the same four candidates as voters in north Phoenix, Arcadia and the Biltmore area.

Phoenix City Council District 6 has two distinct population centers.

One starts as far north as Butler Drive in north Phoenix. The other ends at Phoenix's southernmost boundary, Pecos Road in Ahwatukee. The two areas are connected by a thin strip that snakes along 48th Street. 

The District's convoluted shape - some say it resembles a barbell - and that fact that the top of the district is about 20 miles from the bottom, make it complex to represent, said City Councilman Sal DiCiccio.

He is the current incumbent and also represented District 6 during an earlier stint on the council more than a decade ago.

The two sections of the district have dramatically different issues, DiCiccio and other city officials say.

Some neighborhoods in the north section are fighting gangs, high-rise buildings and other big development.

Ahwatukee residents, meanwhile, crave more city services, struggle with traffic and want an answer to the question of whether an extension of Loop 202 will be built in their community.

The configuration of District 6 hasn't emerged as much of a campaign issue.

But all four candidates for the seat were prepared with answers for how they would handle representing the odd-shaped area:

•  "I'm in a good position because I live in one part of the district and work in the other part of district," said Dana Marie Kennedy, who lives in Ahwatukee and drives to her job in at the north Phoenix offices of the AFL-CIO, where she is communications director.

•  Barry Paceley, a general contractor who is the only candidate in the race who does not live in Ahwatukee, pointed out that his home in Arcadia is about in the middle of the district - about a "12 to 15 minute drive" to any part of it.

•  Circle K worker Nathan Oshop points out that he has experiences working with a wide variety of people in big companies and a family run business.

•  DiCiccio, a business consultant, says what he has learned representing older north Phoenix neighborhoods helps him understand potential problems that could crop up in newer Ahwatukee.

Many district residents shrug off the fact that fellow voters live in a different part of town.

"I've never given it much thought," said Biltmore area resident Matt Molina, a magazine publisher. "It is what it is. It doesn't bother me."

Don Zella, an Ahwatukee retiree and board member of the Ahwatukee Board of Management homeowner association, said he isn't troubled by the district's shape, although he acknowledged that it does "appear to be a hodgepodge."

"I don't know that it hurts anything to be in a district with voters from up north," Zell said.

Ahwatukee, said to have about 80,000 residents, went through a population explosion during the housing boom in the middle of the past decade.

Many current residents didn't live in the area when the city realigned council districts after the results of the 2000 census.

Rick Naimark, a Phoenix Deputy City Manager who oversaw redistricting after both the 2000 and 1990 censuses said the goal last time around was to create eight "compact, contiguous" districts of about 165,000 people each.

In addition, council districts had to meet federal Voting Rights Act guidelines for protecting the rights of minority voters, he said.

Lumping Ahwatukee with the South Mountain area might have been viewed by the United States Justice Department as dilution of south Phoenix's minority voting strength, Naimark said.

So, Naimark said, the city council opted for District 6 to have two population centers with similar demographics.

The most recent Census shows both parts of the district have average household incomes of more than $80,000, the majority of homes are owner-occupied and more than 28 percent of residents have college degrees.

"I think the Camelback Corridor and the Arcadia area are logical neighbors for us," said Dole Cole, chairman of the Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning committee.

"Both are family oriented and home to professional people who are involved in their communities," he said. "When it comes down to it, unless we add members to the city council, Ahwatukee will never have the population to support a stand-alone district."

But Alex Tauber, a business consultant and Biltmore area neighborhood activist, said the boundaries of District 6 "defy logic."

"It's a weird shape," he said. "The shape makes this district a very high maintenance district. That places a premium on having quality leaders."

Tauber said he was happy with the way DiCiccio, of Ahwatukee, has handled recent disputes between Biltmore area residents and high-rise developers and is supporting his campaign for re-election.

Still, Tauber wonders why one council member should have to represent such divergent interests as those of Ahwatukee and those of his neighborhood.

"I am at ground zero of high density moving east," he said. "People in Ahwatukee are wrestling with a highway. We have already gone through the highway issue with the construction of (State Route) 51."

Naimark said that voters who are unhappy with the present District 6 boundaries only have to wait slightly more than a year, when results from the 2010 census are out.

Officials, including DiCiccio, estimate that the population of District 6 is now well over 200,000 and will require a boundary change.

Naimark said while the city council ultimately will decide on any boundary changes, the process will be open to anyone. "Anyone who has ideas can call or e-mail us a map," he said.