RIO PHX: New Plan, Old Dream And Fears Of Displacement

PHOENIX — The City of Phoenix announced approval of its Rio Salado District Policy Plan Nov. 5, advancing RIO PHX and a redevelopment vision Councilwoman Laura Pastor says must protect established neighborhoods.

The plan guides housing, employment, recreation and environmental restoration within RIO PHX, a broader initiative covering approximately 20 miles of river corridor.

It does not approve individual developments or change existing zoning, according to the city.

During the Oct. 21 City Council formal meeting, Pastor connected that future to her father, the late Democratic Rep. Ed Pastor.

Pastor said her father’s vision began with a class assignment approximately 65 years ago and continued through his public service.

“This plan is needed because the community’s voice is needed in this plan, but it should be better,” Pastor said. “It should be embedded even deeper.”

For Pastor, RIO PHX must pair new investment with affordable housing, preservation of mom-and-pop businesses and continued community involvement.

Her concerns reflected the corridor’s working-class history, including families traveling north for jobs and returning south.

“I don’t know if it was intentional, but they separated communities,” she said of the bridges.

Pastor recalled her father’s work to secure federal funding for river restoration. Congressional appropriations records identify him among lawmakers associated with earlier river projects.

Final 2008 funding tables included $1.771 million for Rio Salado’s Phoenix and Tempe reaches and $10.824 million for Tres Rios, the wetlands restoration and flood-protection project near 91st Avenue.

The late Republican Sen. John McCain later helped advance Rio Reimagined, asking ASU to convene the regional partnership, according to EPA.

“We’re just continuing the legacy and making sure that it is built the way it is needed by community,” Pastor said.