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Glendale’s Community Newspaper
Vol. 78 No. 48
INSIDE
This Week THE VOICE OF BUSINESS
SPORTS ........ 12
Cactus football moves on to 5A semifinals
www.glendalestar.com
December 1, 2022
Glendale Airport gets new administrator
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BY GLENDALE STAR STAFF he city of Glendale recently named Matthew Smith Glendale Municipal Airport’s Airport Administrator. Smith, who has worked in the aeronautics field for over 20 years, joins the city of Glendale after serving as the Airport Manager at the Grand Canyon National Park Airport in Tusayan. As the Airport Administrator, Smith will oversee the day-to-day tasks of the airport and have direct oversight of the operating budget and capital improvement program. He will prepare both short and long-term plans for the airport and the open acreage on the east side of the airport. Smith will work closely with current airport tenants and prospective developers. “We are excited to bring Matt on board during what will be a very pivotal time over the next
five to 10 years for the city’s airport,” City Manager Kevin Phelps said. “His qualifications and experience are an excellent fit for the city as we get ready to aggressively pursue expansion and development of our airport and the surrounding area.” Smith spent the last four years as the Airport Manager at Grand Canyon National Park Airport where he oversaw its five-year capital improvement program, negotiated leases with various tenants and raised money for the airport with $6 million in FAA funding and $7 million in COVID relief grants. Before that, he worked in various capacities with ADOT’s Aeronautics Division, the Yuma County Airport Authority, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), America West Airlines and Williams-Gateway SEE SMITH PAGE 4
Matthew Smith is Glendale Municipal Airport’s Airport Administrator. (ADOT/Submitted)
Holly Street Studio takes pride in Downtown project BY JORDAN ROGERS
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Glendale Star Managing Editor
FEATURES .... 18 The Koffin Kats set to play at The Starlite Lounge
OPINION............................6 SPORTS ...........................12 CALENDAR .....................17 FEATURES.......................18 RELIGION ........................20 YOUTH.............................22 CLASSIFIEDS ..................24
BESTOF
2021
40 Years Serving the Central Valley
or Diane Jacobs, founding principal of Holly Street Studio, the Downtown Reinvestment Project is more than just designing a building. Holly Street Studio, a Phoenix-based design firm, was selected back in May to lead the design portion of the project. Ever since then, Jacobs and her team have been connecting with the city and its residents to understand exactly what it wants in this project. To connect with the public on a broader scale, Holly Street held a community engagement meeting at the Glendale City
Council Chambers on Oct. 26. For Jacobs, the Downtown Reinvestment Project “is in service to the citizens and businesses and visitors of Glendale.” “The other thing that’s important about the meeting is that there’s been a lot of talk about previous design schemes and ideas, which really helped to quantify things and bring the project to fruition,” Jacobs said. “But also, to clarify that the design process has only just begun and as such share with others, all important stakeholders, what the parameters are and what our scope is, and to get the community in on the ground level as we now design in earnest. “We’re not creating a study or an eval-
SEE PROJECT PAGE 4
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uation, or a what-if scenario, but we’re actually beginning that design process for (Murphy Park), this building, and this whole Downtown Municipal Center.” Holly Street Studio competed against many other firms for the design of this project, and Jacobs is proud to have been selected, especially considering her firm is local. For her, there is extra pride in having been selected for that reason. “We were educated in Arizona, we’ve been practicing in Arizona for over 20 years, and we hire directly from the higher education institutions in Arizona,” she said. Holly Street Studio prides itself on do-
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