El Independiente

              Facelift for Sixth 3
E1 Idepedicnte
State gives S. Tucson
improvement grants
by DAN MACY
Goy. Fife Symington awarded
grants to the city of South Tucson
and a southside neighborhood as-,
sociation last month to improve
housing, provide job training, and
rid neighborhoods of drug abuse.
The grants, totalling $303,640.
were part of a state program known
as Project Intervention: Reclaiming
Arizona's Neighborhoods, intro-duced
last November by Symington
to give local urban organizations
more control over efforts to fight
illegal drug and gang related activity
in neighborhoods around the state.
Symington presented the checks
during a 30-minute press confer-ence
August 29 at the home of
Mercedes Maytorena in the 100 block
of West 28th Street,
SouthTucsonreceived $201,633.
The South Park Neighborhood As-sociation
(SPNA) received $160,937
Police refute
S. Tucson's
unsafe image
by TANYA PLANAGAN
South Tucson police revealed sta-tistics
they say prove that crime in the
area Is not out-of-control, contrary to
the beliefs of many living outside the
city limits.
'The department does operate ef-fectively,
said Sgt. Cayetano Baviche.
Baviche said the department func-tions
much like any other. A compari-son
of the Tucson Police Department's
downtown station revealed that both
agencies use the same system when
detennining the severity of in-coming
calls. 'IPD Sgt. Robert Lehner of Plan-ning
and Development said 'l'PD uses a
scale that places these calls in one of
five priority categories. The South Tuc-son
Police said they use the same scale,
The criteria for each category of
priority rails are as follows:
Priority 1--This refers to any life-
See POLICE page 4
by KIM TANNER
Last April. a teenager was killed and
another injured in a drive-by shooting
on South Sixth Avenue. Since then.
police patrols have Intensified on the
popular cruising street.
'We're constantly on top of people to
keep them moving," South Tucson Po-lice
Lt. Richard Vidaurri said. 'When
they congregate, there tend to be prob-lems
with drinking and arguments."
Since the crackdown, action on the
Ballet Folklorico 7
in grants through the Tucson Urban
League.
'Today we put neighbors back in
charge of their neighborhoods,"
Symington said inaprepared speech.
'Through local vision and local con-trol,
Project Intervention promises a
hope for success where the direc-tives
from the ivory tower have all
failed,"
Earlier that week, Symington
presented funds totalling $393,839
to three Phoenix-area neighborhood
organizations
in his speech, the governor iden-tified
three objectives as being im-portant
to neighborhoods afflicted
with drug and gang activity in-creased
employment, revitalization
of depressed areas, and substance
abuse prevention. He siso said that
the funds provided by Project Inter-vention
were intended to allow local
popularweekend strip has cooled some-what,
but cruising Is still a popular
pastime.
Eighteen-year-old Jason Polit says
he has stopped cruising Sixth but he
knows people who still do.
"l've heard soin, scary things, but
the mourning stops and you go about
your life. lt makes you think, though."
he said. "I guess people don't forget
completely."
Others have decided to abandon
cruising South Sixth all together.
traducido por
ELIZABETH BARIOER
EI Gobernador Fife Symnington
les dio concesiónes a la ciudad de
Tucson dei Sury a una asociación de
comunidad en el sur de la ciudad
para mejorar unidades vecinales,
proveer entrenamiento vocacional y
librar vecindades de la droga.
Las concesiónes. por más de
$303,640. son parte de un programa
estatal llamado "Project Intervention:
Reclainringárizona's Neighborhoods"
que fue introducido en noviembre
del año pasado por Symington para
ayudar a organizacIónes en sus
peleas contra drogas illegales y
actividad de pandillas.
Symington presentó los cheques
en una conferencia para la prensa
que duró 30 minutos. La conferencia
fue el 29 de agosto en la casa de
Mercedes Maytorena en la cuadra
100 de West 28th Street.
Tucson del Sur recibió $201,633.
"I avoid lt at all costs now," former
Sixth Avenue cruiser Tammy Costrini,
21, saId. "I wouldn't go there if my life
depended on it."
Costrini said lastspring's shooting is
Just one reason she avoids the street.
"I almost got side-swiped out there
by some guys once because my friends
and I wouldn't go to a party with (the
guys in the other car)," she said. "I can't
go out there anymore. I feel really un-comfortable,
not sale."
Costrini drives a bright metallic blue
Sports league 12
Concesiónes ayudarán
a mejorar a S. Tucson
La asociacton vecinal de South Park
recibió $100,937 en conseciónes por
parte de la Tucson Urban League.
"Hoypusimos a nuestros vecinos
acargode nuestrasvecindades," dijo
Symington en un discurso preparado.
"A través de visión y control local,
Project Intervention promete una
esperanza de éxito donde los
directivos de la torre de marfil han
fallado."
Más temprano en la semana,
Symington presentó $393,839 a tres
organizaciónes vecinales de Phoe-nix.
En su discurso, el gobernador
identificó tres objetivos importantes
para vecindades affectadas por las
drogas y pandillas: aumentos en
empleo, revitalización de arcas
deprimidas y prevención del abuso
de sustancias. Tambien dijo que el
intento de los fondos proveados por
Project Intervention era permitir que
Vea GRANT página 2
Fatima Vielma, Melanie Martinez, and Aurora Carton danced at Saturday's Norte(io festival. More pictures on
page 4. (Photo by Kimberly Abram)
Cruisers' opinions of South Sixth differ
mini truck that has won several awards
at car shows. She only takes her truck
to East Speedway Boulevard now be-cause
"It's 10 tImes safer there.'
"On Sixth It's bumper-to-bumper the
whole way." she said. "Everyone Is go-ing
20 or 25 miles an hour. On Speed-way
they at least go 35 or 40. On Sixth.
sometimes you have to wait for two or
three lights before you can go through
an intersection. With trafile that packed
together, you're bound to get rear-
See CRUISING page 2
SEPTEMBER SOUTH TUCSON'S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 1992