El Independiente

              by DAN MACY
South Thcson officials hoping for a
local community center have had their
eye on a privately owned building that
stands vacant and deteriorating at
South Sixth Avenue and West 29th
Street, bearing a sign In black paint
reading, "South Tucson Convention
Center.
But this month. as the property
falls back into the hands of bankruptcy
creditors. attempts to resurrect the
lot as a social hail are stalled.
The 80,000 square-foot building
was once home to a grocery store, and
later a five-and-dime. For a brief time
'Miracle on 31st Street'
Local resident organizes
party, dinner for kids
by JUL!ETTE JORDAN
When Santa Claus visits Ramon Gonzalez's house
on Christmas Eve, 2,000 children will be there to greet
him.
From 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Gonzalez's home at 405
w. 3 1 st St. will be the hub of "Christmas Party Central"
for South Tucson children.
This Is the 22nd year that Gonzalez has organized a
pre-Christmas party for local children.
"Every year was going to be my last year," Gonzalez
said. "But it just kept growing, and thank God people
started helping."
Friends anive early to blow up helium balloons and
bag sweets , Gonzalez said.
"Kids are kids only once, " he said. "Ifthey dont enjoy
their childhood right now, when are they going to enjoy
it?"
With thatin mind, Gonzalez arranges afree children's
party that gets bigger every year.
"I had fun the first year, so I figured, Why not do it
again?" he said, adding that he never dreamed it would
go on for more than two decades.
Gonzalez spent $ i 25 hosting the fIrst party in i 970,
when 25 kids showed up. Last year, Santa drove in on a
see PARTY page 6
in the late 1980s the building hosted
several celebrated boxing matches,
when prominent boxing promoter Gil-bert
Mariscal operated it as the South
Tucson Convention Center. In 1989
Mariscal and seven others were con-victed
on drug charges and the center
closed.
The parcel, at 1900 S. Sixth Ave.,
has since fallen into a bankruptcy trust.
Now, city officials hope to see
perennial efforts to revitalize the build-ing
take any viable form.
Director ofEconomic Development
Mike Hein said the city hopes to see
any kind ofdevelopment at the site, not
j ust a convention center.
by JULIEYI'E JORDAN
CuandoSantaClausvlsitelacasade Ramón Gonzalez
esta Noche Buena, 2,000 niños le darán la bienvenida.
De las 10 a.m. a las 2:30 p.m., la casa de Gonzalez
en 405 W. 3 ist St., será la central festiva de la Navidad
para los niños de Tucson del Sur.
Gonzalez ha organizado una fiesta Navideña para
niños locales por 22 años.
"Cada año iba a ser ml último año," Gonzalez dijo.
"Pero siglo creciendo, y gracias a Dios la gente empezó a
ayudar."
"Los niños solo son niños una vez, " el dijo. "!,Sl no
disfrutan su juventud hoy, cuando la van a disfrutar?"
Con ese pensamiento, Gonzalez organiza la fiesta
gratis para niños que crece cada año.
"Me diverti el primer año y dije, ',Por que no hacerlo
otra vez?" él dijo, añadiendo que nunca soñó que seguría
por más de dos décadas.
Gonzalez gasto $125 en la primera fiesta en 1970,
cuando 25 niños asistieron. El año pasao, Santa Claus
llegó en un camión de bomberos y la policía cerró las
calles alrededor de la casa de Gonzalez mientras 1,700
niños bailaban en la calle.
vea FIESTA página 6
While "a convention center would
be nice," he said, "anything that would
develop it and make it a viable struc-ture
would be good. Its kind ofa physi-cal
eyesore right now."
Although the best chances for the
blighted structure 11e in private invest-ment,
city officials are prepared to pro-vide
some financial backing, according
to City Manager Bill Ponder. He de-dined
to say how much the city could
help. -
Ponder said the city Is willing to
help "because that particular parcel
makes up a very prominent part of the
city's landscape. To have It in its cur-rent
condition, thats not a good signal
_\.,._:*
Local children gather for the festivities at Ramon Gonzalez's annual Christmas party on Dec. 24.
Niños locales se reunen para la fiesta Navideña anual de Ramón Gonzalez el 24 de diciembre.
Re sidente organiza
fiesta, cena para niños
traducido por ELIZABETH BARKER
for the community."
Although no loans have been ap-proved
by the city council, the city has
made its most recent gesture of en-couragement
toward a Tucson-based
concert promoter, KAB & CS Produc-tions,
Inc., which purchased the build-ing
earlier this year.
But that company Is now amidst
Chapter 1 1 bankruptcy proceedings,
and its sole asset, the property, has
moved from a bankruptcy trust to the
hands of KAB & CS Production's credi-tors.
Ponder said in a telephone inter-view
in late October that the city had
see CONVENTION CENTER page 3
TaInted soil removal
leaves Pima County
with $425,000 bill
by ROBiN WRIGHT-GORDON
Pima County is paying nearly half
a million dollars to remove and replace
tainted soil from the former site of the
Pirna County Hospital in South
Tucson.
The property, located on the west
side of South Sixth Avenue between
39th and 40th streets, Is owned by
South Tucson.
It will cost the county about
$425,000 to do the voluntary environ-mental
hazardous clean-up project,
said Robert Healey, director of risk
management for the county.
When the county owned the prop-erty
years ago, it was used also as a
maintenance facility with three fuel
tanks, he said. The fuel tanks were
removed in i 958, but soil was contain!-
nated with petroleum hydrocarbons.
Healey said contamination of
groundwater was not a concern be-cause
of the shallow depth of the con-tamination
and the fact that there is a
layerofcaliche between the soil and the
water table. Caliche is a crusty under-ground
layer ofcalcium carbonate that
is nearly impenetrable by liquids.
'When we have an envi-ronmental
problem, we
are going to address It
and take care of it. These
things, unlike wine, don't
get better with age."
-Robert Healey,
Pima County
director of risk
management
But Healey said . 'When we have an
environmental problem, we are going
to address it and take care ofit. These
things, unlike wine, don't get better
with age.'
The contaminated soil is being
hauled to Pima County's Tangerine fa-duty.
The clean-up plait was approved
by the Arizona Department of
Enviromental Quality and exceeds state
requirements for petroleum hydrocar-see
TAINTED page 2
DECEMBER SOUTH TUCSONS BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER i 992
Efforts to build convention center stalled, again