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Glendale’s Community Newspaper
Vol. 79 No. 5
INSIDE
This Week THE VOICE OF BUSINESS
NEWS ........... 8
Arts and culture programs to receive historic funding
February 2, 2023
www.glendalestar.com
PUSD appoints new clerk of the board BY JOE MCHUGH
O
Glendale Star Staff Writer
n Jan. 12, the Peoria Unified School District Governing Board appointed Heather Rooks as the new clerk of the board. Serving in her first term as Clerk of the Board, Rooks is dedicated to furthering the education of Peoria Unified schools and holding the board accountable to making positive change in Arizona education. “I’m ready to shake things up,” Rooks said. “I’m ready to solve some issues that are go-
ing on right now. I’m ready. I’m very excited.” Replacing Cory Underhill, Rooks is coming in with a head of steam. Rooks has been active in the community for the better part of three years, and has been vocal about her opinions, driving her to run for the Peoria Unified board. Of the two seats available, Rooks received over 42,000 votes, good enough to secure the most votes in the state. “I was elected by our community members, our taxpayers, and I ran on that with my
campaign,” Rooks said. “I will hold transparency, I will hold accountability, I won’t be afraid to say something, to ask something and get to the bottom of what is actually going on versus what I’m being told.” Being heavily involved with the community helped Rooks formulate her goals that she will be looking to accomplish in her four-year term. She will take a no-nonsense approach at board meetings. “For too long, it seems to be Heather Rooks is the new clerk we don’t want to have a hard of the board at the Peoria UniSEE ROOKS PAGE 9
fied School District. (Submitted)
Glendale prepares freeways for Super Bowl BY JOE MCHUGH
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Glendale Star Staff Writer
FEATURES ....24 24
Glendale Arts & Culture Fest set to showcase area
OPINION .................... 10 BUSINESS .................. 18 SPORTS ..................... 20 CALENDAR................. 22 FEATURES.................. 24 RELIGION ................... 28 YOUTH .......................30 CLASSIFIEDS .............33
ith the masses flocking to Glendale for the highly anticipated Super Bowl featuring the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, the city will have to be firing on all cylinders. From the infrastructure side of things, fans will be piling onto the freeways to get to the big game, but the city has built a blueprint for traffic to be streamlined, making the Super Bowl experience even better. “I’ve worked with a great group of people up here,” Glendale city traffic engi-
neer Tony Abbo said. “Whether it was in building permits, whether it’s with Glendale PD, we’ve had fire that meet quite a few people with DPS also, so it’s a great group of people, and we’re all focused on one thing: to make the Super Bowl a success and one that that everybody would be proud of.” The city has had its hands full with preparations for the big game, but no factor more important than managing traffic. With the population of the metro area about to see a jolt upward, Abbo and the city have come up with ways to make its effect as minimal as possible.
Ride share
Abbo stressed the importance of ride sharing as a key factor to limiting traffic on freeways. In 2015 when the Super Bowl was last in Arizona, the ride-share business was at its youth, making its use minimal in the grand scheme of transportation to State Farm Stadium. Now with the rise in companies like Uber and Lyft, they have become a reliable way for people to transport around town and to the big game and the surrounding amenities. “I can’t stress enough, there is very limited general parking in the area,” Abbo said. SEE SUPER BOWL PAGE 9
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