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Chance to participate

A call for proposal could mean a marketplace plan for Braun-Sacred Heart Center

Kristin Kiptiuch has studied cultural diversity in urban development in Phoenix for 15 years and has come to a conclusion: The system locks Latinos and other minorities out of city planning.

Despite Latinos comprising one-third of the city’s population, “I do think that a key feature of this city has been the White Anglo lock on the dynamics of politics and development,” says the associate professor at ASU West.

Kiptiuch and others believe that an upcoming request for proposal (RFP) for the Braun-Sacred Heart Center site is an opportunity for city government to include Latinos in the redevelopment of central Phoenix.

A city RFP to develop 19 acres on the northeast corner of 16th Street and Buckeye Road was scheduled to be issued in late August or early September, says Paul Blue, deputy director for the Phoenix Aviation Department.

Though the city has maintained there is no master plan for development of the area stretching from 12th to 24th streets and just north of Interstate 17, Blue says the RFP will mesh with the city’s vision for the district.

“We see this site as being in a Class A business park and is positioned to develop facilities that will provide, 1) support amenities for the area, 2) employment to the community, 3) services to the traveling public and 4) income to (Sky Harbor International) Airport,” he wrote in an e-mail interview.

The centerpiece of the proposal will stipulate that any developer incorporate Braun-Sacred Heart Center’s preservation into the proposal.

However, knowing Phoenix’s “exclusionary” history, Kiptiuch says she hopes Sacred Heart – built by Latinos in 1956 - can survive the development of the empty field on which it stands, a solitary monument to Golden Gate and other Hispanic barrios that were bulldozed.

“It’s the only ruin left in the area that testifies to the vital Latino community that was displaced,” she says.

CENTER OF COMMUNITY

The old church’s restoration would fulfill a decades-old city promise to leave a legacy for thousands of Latinos who were relocated.

Over the decades Braun-Sacred Heart Center has been a contentious issue between city officials and the remnants of the original residents.

Several times city officials tried to have the building torn down, while members of a small nonprofit called the Braun-Sacred Heart Center are fighting to create a cultural center to commemorate the city’s Hispanic past and serve the remaining residential population.

Abe Arvizu Jr., a former area resident, leads the committee. Sacred Heart was aptly named, he says, because like churches in any Hispanic area, it was truly the heart of the community that existed back in the early ‘70s.

Arvizu says he met in the spring with one developer: former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson and his development company, Old World Homes.

“Paul Johnson said he was going to work with us to realize our dream. We have a lot of questions that need to be answered,” he says. “There’s no question that something is going to happen in that area. We just don’t know what. But we are looking at all our options for a cultural center there.”

Johnson says he envisions partnering with Braun-Sacred Heart Center and Chicanos Por La Causa Inc. to build a Latino-themed cultural and business park modeled on Los Angeles’ Olvera Street.

Johnson’s company has built homes and condos throughout Phoenix. One of his most recent projects is building condos on the former women’s prison site at 32nd Street and Van Buren.

Johnson, who describes himself as a “Hispanic wannabe,” says as a councilperson he once voted against tearing down Sacred Heart. He was Phoenix mayor from 1990 to 1994.

“We have met with Abe and Chicanos Por La Causa. We have an agreement to potentially go after that RFP. The church is at the center of that,” he says.

He likes Olvera Street, the Mexican-style marketplace in downtown Los Angeles, because it is a magnet for Hispanic cultural activities as well as attracting tourists for retail and offering some office space.

“I think it would be exciting to try to make that (Sacred Heart) area a place for Hispanic culture and business activities,” Johnson says.

Pete Garcia, CEO of CPLC, says Johnson came to him to ask the organization if they wanted to partner in the venture. CPLC is interested in creating offices for small businesses owned by Latinos, he says.

“We’re committed to doing it,” Garcia says.

Arvizu is more uncertain. He feels a heavy responsibility that the “community has entrusted the building to us” and he wants to do the right thing.

“I don’t see that happening if we are making a ton of money for investors,” he says.

Johnson says none of the players of this potential partnership knows exactly what the RFP will require until it comes out.

When the details are revealed, that’s when he’ll decide whether it is right for his company. And that’s when the Latino community lead by Braun-Sacred Heart can decide whether it works for a cultural center, he adds.

“Not only does it have to work financially, but if we don’t have the support from the Hispanic community, then I’m not the guy to bid for this RFP,” he says.