OPINION
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THE CHANDLER ARIZONAN | WWW.CHANDLERNEWS.COM | JUNE 26, 2022
OPINION
To our readers, This is the second and last round of opinion columns from candidates for Chandler mayor and City Council. They were asked to write a maximum 500 word piece on any topic of their choosing. Columns by candidates who missed the deadline will be posted at chandlernews.com. The candidates’ previous columns and the answers to our questionnaire are also at chandlernews.com.
Hartke: Passionate about, committed to Chandler BY MAYOR KEVIN HARTKE Arizonan Guest Writer
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love Chandler. I love riding my bike on our beautiful canal system early in the morning as well as catching a sunset at an iconic location like Veteran’s Memorial at Veterans Oasis Park. I love being surprised by amazing food at a new Chandler restaurant or catching up with a friend at one of our many coffee places. I love drinking a cold glass of homegrown lemonade or grapefruit juice on a hot day. I love our rich diversity in Chandler and how culture, different opinions and experiences continue to make us a better community. I love how our downtown has become
a gem, a point of pride for not just Chandler, but the entire Valley. I love it when someone mentions how a police officer, first responder, neighbor or stranger helped them in a time of crisis and turned that crisis into a lifelong amazing memory. This is our community. I love Chandler. For the past 37 years, I have been passionate and committed about serving you. Through the years, this commitment has manifested in many ways: • Coaching soccer with the YMCA; • Reading to students at Galveston Elementary School weekly for 14 years; • Organizing and serving at Chandler’s largest backpack give-away for over a decade; • Serving with local nonprofits to feed those who need it for decades; • Helping hundreds of men and women who have experienced homelessness get off our streets and into a better life; • Serving as your councilmember for nine years; • Serving as your mayor for 3.5 years; • Serving on regional and state boards, commissions and committees in areas of transportation, economic growth and homelessness for over a decade I did not show up recently and promise what I would do as a candidate; I have been leading and serving Chandler for most of my life. With your help, I will continue. This is my promise; I will continue to listen to you to create and continue Chandler’s legacy as a word-class community with great jobs, exceptional schools and safe neighborhoods for ALL. I will: • Make sure that our first responders have the people and resources they need to keep our community safe; • Ensure great customer service and transparency to our residents; • Continue to attract great companies;
see HARTKE page 34
Jones: Chandler’s rising homelessness is a major problem BY RUTH JONES Arizonan Guest Writer
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veryone should have a home. Right now, in our country we have a problem. The homeless population is rising. This is a problem everywhere but nowhere is it growing faster than right here in the city of Chandler. To understand this problem, you need some information. The homeless population is counted by something referred to as the Point In Time Count (PIT). These numbers are used for several things. Federal funding is based on this number, and it is also a metric used to determine if our programs are successful. In the 2020 count Maricopa County’s numbers rose 12%. That’s about the national average. However, here in
Chandler our numbers rose by a little more than 38%. That should have set off alarm bells and caused us to change what we’re doing, but it did not. No count was taken in 2021 due to the pandemic so we knew that the numbers would be steeper in 2022. Maricopa went up 34%. Phoenix went up 33%. In 2022, the homeless population in Chandler went up 76%! What is driving this increase and what can be done? To answer that question, you must look at the programs here in Chandler. A little over a year ago our mayor introduced Support Court. There is no requirement to complete any program to get assistance there. We also have Operation Open Door. In this program we identify homeless people, we then pay for hotel rooms for these individuals. Housing is provided from 30 to 90 days. It is considered a positive outcome of this program to get a bed in the shelter. There ares no requirements in the program of working with these individuals to change their situation. No job training, no life skill classes. No substance abuse or mental health evaluation. Not even interview skills or how to get your documents, like Social Security card, is mentioned. I do not believe in criminalizing homelessness, but if what we are doing isn’t changing lives, why are we doing it? We have more than 15 programs here in Chandler. What is the cost… Millions., Some are funded by federal allotments, but those come with federal requirements. The remainder is from our General Fund. Either way our tax dollars are being spent while the problem continues to grow. This comes at a cost to our citizenry, homeless encampments and open-air drug use is becoming more prevalent near our schools and in our neighborhoods and parks which creates safety,
see JONES page 34
