The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality asked the Arizona Department of Health Services to evaluate the health threat to residents from exposures to ash fallout from a fire at an asphalt plant located on the Salt River Indian Reservation in Mesa, Arizona. The facility has recently been bought by Vulcan, Inc. The site is located just north of the Salt River between Dobson and Alma School Roads. April 13, 1999.

This public health assessment evaluates the potential public health hazard from exposure to contaminated groundwater in the vicinity of the Tucson International Airport. The Tucson International Airport Area superfund site consists of a main plume of contaminated groundwater and three smaller areas of groundwater contamination east of the main plume. This report focuses on one of these areas of contamination called Plume B and evaluates the public health hazard posed by Plume B to residents of the area of south Tucson bounded by Valencia Road, Campbell Avenue, Irvington Road, and 6th Avenue.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency asked the Arizona Department of Health Services, Office of Environmental Health, to provide an evaluation of the health hazards that may result from exposure to soil and soil gas contaminants present on the West-Cap site, located just north of the Tucson International Airport. Improper waste disposal practices from previous industrial activities at the site have resulted in contamination of on-site soil and soil gas. The objective of this health assessment is to assess the potential adverse health impact to on-site workers from exposure to the on-site contaminated soil and soil gas. Community exposures are not presented in this public health assessment.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has asked the Arizona Department of Health Services, Office of Environmental Health, to conduct a health assessment for the off-site residential area located adjacent to the Tucson Industrial Center, also known as the 3 Hangars site, within the larger Tucson International Airport Area Superfund site, in Tucson, Arizona. Previous investigations found that elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the drainage areas at the TIC site had migrated off-site into residential areas presenting a health threat to residents. The purpose of this Public Health Assessment is to evaluate if a public health hazard still exists since the remediation activities have been conducted at the off-site El Vado residential area. ADHS concludes that no current public health hazard exists as a result of ingestion, dermal, or inhalation exposures by residents, children, or transients to the post remediated soil in the residential areas on El Vado Road. Replacement of the top soil with certified clean soil has removed all contact with the soil containing PCBs eliminating any future public health hazard.

The Arizona Department of Health Services prepared this report to evaluate whether a public health hazard exists as a result of potential environmental exposures from the contamination at the Phoenix Goodyear Airport North site. Another objective of this report was to investigate and address the health concerns of the residents in the Goodyear area, including former Unidynamics workers. This report uses available environmental data from the site and information collected from members of the community regarding their health concerns. There were many concerns, including health concerns, of residents and former Unidynamics workers that were related to living near the PGA North site or previous employment at the former Unidynamics facility. These community concerns are identified and addressed in the public
health assessment.

Fierce competition for workers is one of the top issues today in Arizona. Many people may be surprised to hear that anything related to the state’s economic situation is on a list of pressing issues. Arizona’s economy is and remains robust, the state is finding it difficult to supply workers in demand by industry. The result is a new but deep threat to our economic future. Businesses’ inability to find and retain the workers they need, where they will need them, may in fact be the spear that unexpectedly pierces the state’s prosperity.

Arizonans have been divided in their feelings about growth and what to do about it, especially during the past two decades. To complicate matters, the debate over the best responses to growth has been drawn along overly simplistic lines—the economy versus the environment. Arizonans who follow the myriad issues related to urban growth closely are becoming convinced that the discussion needs to be recast in a new light.

Scholar Leo Marx coined the phrase “the machine in the garden” in 1964 to describe the relationship between nature and technology. Considering much of the writing about Arizona’s growth, it seemed an apt title for this volume of Arizona Policy Choices. "The Machine in the Garden" presents growth policy choices for Arizona along a continuum: Yesterday’s Growth—the policies that have been used in the past; Today’s Growth—the “smarter” approaches from around the country; and Tomorrow’s Growth—cutting edge thinking about the economy and experiments in urbanism and governance.

This report brings together the results of a survey of 1100 homeless people living in and around downtown Phoenix in 1996 with the results of a similar survey conducted in 1983. In addition to providing a snapshot of the homeless population in Phoenix, the data and comparative information presented in this report also reveal the complex and intractable nature of the homeless problem in general.

Believing that voters might support transit if they felt like an integral part of the transit proposal decision-making process, the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce's Valleywide Transit Task Force set out in early 1995 to initiate a bottom-up process which would enable people to say, "here's what we want." The Task Force agreed that the first step in the process was to initiate a new dialogue. the Morrison Institute for Public Policy was asked to write a briefing paper, which would re-invigorate the transit debate. The resulting report, "Transit in the Valley: Where Do We Go From Here?" painted a bleak picture of the Valley's existing transit system and challenged many long-held conventional wisdoms. The dialogue had begun. The report was then presented to the citizens of 17 Valley cities and towns for their consideration in 16 public meetings sponsored by cities and their local Chambers of Commerce. In community forums conducted between October 1996 and February 1997, more than 500 Valley residents discussed the Valley's transit future. This document summarizes the questionnaire responses by 501 people who attended the forums.