New Fire Chief

Sept. 7, 2006

Transcript:

Jose Cardenas:
Tonight on Horizon, immigration continues to be a hot topic for western governors such as Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. We will talk to Governor Napolitano about that issue and others.

Jose Cardenas:
Plus meet the new chief of the Phoenix fire department. That's next on Horizon.

Jose Cardenas:
Good evening. Welcome to Horizon. I'm José Cardenas in for Michael Grant. In today's news, Phoenix police make an arrest in the Baseline killer case. 42-year-old Mark Goudeau of Phoenix was arrested and charged in one of the sexual assaults linked to the Baseline killer. However, police have not linked Goudeau to the other 22 Baseline killer incidents and said evidence tying to the assault of two women is not the same as 11 of the Baseline killer cases including eight murders. Goudeau was arrested yesterday in a traffic stop near his home in the area of 28th street and Thomas. It's a block and a half away from the last Baseline killer crime where Carmen Miranda was abducted from a carwash and killed. Police held a news conference this morning about the arrest. Here's an excerpt.

Jack Harris:
After investigating thousands of tips, leads, and other information sources, investigators from the Phoenix Police Department developed probable cause to arrest 41-year-old Mark Goudeau yesterday for the sexual assault of two victims that occurred on September 20 at 3100 W. Vineyard. As many of you know there are 23 incidents attributed to the Baseline rapist serial case. Again, this suspect has been arrested for the sexual assault of two victims in one case only, and is not connected to any of the other offenses in this series at this time. Members of the Phoenix Police Department Special Assignments Unit arrested Mr. Goudeau during a traffic stop just after 5:00 p.m. yesterday. He was taken in to custody without incident and taken to 620 W. Washington. All I can tell you at this time is that there is forensic evidence tying Mr. Goudeau to this specific case. The evidence was obtained by police department investigators and processed by both the Phoenix police department and Arizona department of public safety crime labs. Mr. Goudeau came under suspicion based upon information from the public in the middle of July of this year. Investigators worked on investigative leads along with many others on September 2, Mr. Goudeau was identified as a possible suspect in one of the sexual assault cases. Of the 23 incidents in this serial case, 11 of the 23 incidents have not -- have been connected by forensic evidence that is not the same evidence as that which is involved in the case for which Mr. Goudeau is now in custody.

Jose Cardenas:
Immigration continues to consume a lot of attention of Governor Janet Napolitano. He is urging congress to pass a comprehensive immigration package before they adjourn. She held a joint conference with Bill Richardson to talk about a Borders Governor's Conference to focus on immigration. I will talk with the Governor about immigration and other issues but first here is an excerpt from that news conference.

Janet Napolitano:
We met at the end of last week with the other two border governors from the U.S., Governor Schwarzenegger and Governor Perry as well as the six border governors from the six northern most states of Mexico. These meetings are a combination of formal and informal. They are informal amongst the governors themselves where we discuss very frankly amongst ourselves what needs to happen to have a safe and secure borrowed tore protect our border communities, to facilitate lawful trade and tourism and the passage of people lawfully through the ports of entry. We talk about things from pandemic flu to environmental cleanup to issues affecting water and water rights between our states and between our countries. That's the informal part. The formal part involves signing of protocols and so forth. We did sign a major protocol amongst ourselves on border security. It creates a bi-national task force to enhance the law enforcement presence at the border. It provides for information sharing between our states and the states of the north of Mexico. This is similar to what Arizona already has been doing with the state of Sonora and it calls for both federal governments of both countries to enact legislation criminalizing the underground tunnels that are being used for drug and human smuggling between the United States and Mexico.

Jose Cardenas:
Here is Governor Janet Napolitano. Thank you for joining us on Horizon.

Janet Napolitano:
You bet.

Jose Cardenas:
Immigration is in the news but there are other things happening in Arizona and let's start with some of those things particularly the education proposals. Can you tell us how those came about and what you think is going to be implemented?

Janet Napolitano:
Right. Well I establish what we call the P-20 Council about how we align our entire educational system, how we increased the rigger of our curriculum, how we increase the number of teachers we have, particularly in areas like math and science, E.L.L. and Special Ed. And really how we prepare students for the 21st century, which is a different question than passing an aims test. This is a much more substantive question requiring whole bodies of knowledge and really focusing on the content of the subject matter that we teach. So I met with them. They are putting together some recommendations for me but I said I would like a plan for how we get every eighth grader in Arizona able to take algebra. I would like to talk about raising the dropout age to 18 but if we are going to do that we need to set up a school system so that kids have lots of avenues to stay in school and graduate, or stay in school until they are 18. So lots of things going on in the education front. We made some strides last year in the legislature. We got the all-day kindergarten funded. We set aside $100 million for teacher pay raises. But we really have even more work to do if we are really going to prepare our students for the future.

Jose Cardenas:
What will be the process for implementing these recommendations?

Janet Napolitano:
Some probably can be done administratively or by executive order. Some will have to be sent over to the State Board of Education to be acted on and some will require legislative action and appropriation.

Jose Cardenas:
Governor, a few other education-related activities. One is the new medical school will be dedicated in a couple of months. What can you tell us about the progress on that front?

Janet Napolitano:
Oh, I think we are making great progress. This is a new medical school. It's a joint venture between U of A and ASU and it will be located downtown on the same campus as the translational genomics. We are talking about what clinical presence will be on the campus. We needed a second medical school in Arizona. Phoenix was the largest metropolitan area in the country without a medical school and so we have made really rapid progress over the last 18 months. I am delighted to say so we will dedicate it in October. They have already begun the faculty hiring process and the idea is to have the first students report for class next fall.

Jose Cardenas:
Another education-related matter. It's one I am involved with and that's the Flores case so let me just ask you to give us an update on where that stands.

Janet Napolitano:
The federal court of appeals sent it back to the trial court saying to the trial court in Tucson, we don't want to tell you whether, what -- the conclusion we reached was right or wrong but before you can reach a conclusion you needed to hold a hearing and take some evidence. And so the case got bounced back yet again. The court now has scheduled a four day evidentiary hearing for the beginning of January, which I think is good because hopefully then we can get some results for that, from that in time to do something during the legislative session.

Jose Cardenas:
Governor, another Arizonan was in the news, an appointment by Governor Bush of Mary Peters. What can you tell us?

Janet Napolitano:
Governor Bush and President Bush.

Janet Napolitano:
Yes. He's had both jobs. I think it's great. She was a very effective head of the Arizona department of transportation. She has experience as the head of the federal highway administration. And I think as an Arizonan, I am proud that she will be back there and I am hopeful that when she's back there she will remember Arizona because our transportation needs are pretty high, and we haven't gotten quite our share of funding.

Jose Cardenas:
Now, Mexico. And before we get to immigration there are some very significant developments this week on the presidential front. What's your thought on that and how it will impact Arizona?

Janet Napolitano:
Well, obviously, some concern that even with the final pronouncement that Calderon is the president that the allegations of massive voter fraud were not found to be based in fact after a sampling of the ballots. His opponent, Obrador, is still contesting the election and is intending to file or have almost a contrary government formed and the concern I have, of course, is that we need to have a relationship with Mexico that allows us to improve trade, to improve commerce between our two countries, certainly between Arizona and Mexico and Mexico is our largest trading partner, largest trading partner but also one of the reasons we have the immigration fix that we are in right now is because the federal government and Mexico was ineffective at dealing with immigration issues in Mexico as has our federal government in Washington, D.C. has been ineffective. And we really need both nations' capitals to engage and I am concerned that with what's going on in Mexico, I am not sure that the opportunity will be there for that.

Jose Cardenas:
Have you had any communications with the President-elect?

Janet Napolitano:
Yeah. I called President-elect Calderon several weeks ago to give him my congratulations. This was after he was preliminarily announced as the president. And to say that I hope when all is said and done and after he's sworn in, hope to be able to meet with him to discuss Arizona's relationship with Mexico.

Jose Cardenas:
Now, there's been some analysis indicating that because of the closeness of the election results, because of the opposition of the -- of Lopez Obrador's party that the Calderon administration is likely to be Fox like, that he is not going to do a whole lot of things different than Fox and may not be as effective. Any thoughts on those opinions?

Janet Napolitano:
I think that's hard to say. He definitely has a challenge in front of him. He definitely has been able to form coalitions given the makeup of his congress. On the other hand, I think there is a desire in Mexico to grow their economy, to have more jobs, to grow their G.D.P., to grow their per capita wages and that requires the federal government to be firmly in control. So, you know, he's got to have a lot of challenges. I am not saying that. But I do think there's a desire in Mexico to get this thing settled.

Jose Cardenas:
Governor, the video clip weigh saw of you with Governor Richardson really relates back to the border governors' conference between the U.S. border governors and the Mexico border governors. Tell us what was discussed there and what accomplishments you think was made there.

Janet Napolitano:
This was a meeting in Austin, Texas, of all border governors, the six from Mexico and four from the United States, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. I find those conferences valuable because, first of all, there are several periods during that conference when the 10 governors go to a room by ourselves with no staff, and really speak very forth rightly about some of the issues that we are confronting. And then it also gives us the opportunity to formally sign some documents, agreements we sign a major one on border security, as I said at that press conference. One of the most major things that came out of that, quite frankly, was from the four United States governors and we often were -- we were sitting here in border states being unduly impacted by the amount of illegal immigration, and yet Washington, D.C. continues to delay, delay, delay, getting to a table and resolving the piece of legislation. So we wrote a letter to the head of the senate and the speaker of the house, and we basically said, quit holding hearings and get to the table and we would like a bill by the end of this year before this congress adjourns.

Jose Cardenas:
So a bipartisan effort. Two Republican governors and the two Democratic governors.

Janet Napolitano:
Right. And the news conference was really great because Governor Schwarzenegger got up there and said as only Governor Schwarzenegger really can do; congress has to get its act together. We are tired of waiting. And I think he spoke for all of us when he said that.

Jose Cardenas:
Now, do you anticipate that the four border governors, U.S. border governors will actually be meeting with officials in Mexico City to discuss these issues further?

Janet Napolitano:
Yes, I do. Whether we do it at the same time or whether we go one or two at a time that's always a function of scheduling and logistics but I think all of us have the desire to work with the new administration in Mexico because our states are really on the front lines. And we are working very closely, all of us, with our neighboring states in Mexico. And I think that's important to realize. My administration is in touch with the governor's administration in Sonora almost on a daily basis not just on immigration but matters of other law enforcement issues and also on matters of trade, of commerce, on tourism, things that our states can really benefit from jointly.

Jose Cardenas:
Can you give us some examples of kinds of cooperation offered by the Mexican governors as a group, the six Mexican governors?

Janet Napolitano:
Well, for example, we had jointly assigned people to look at financial crimes particularly the money laundering that goes on with the syndicate, the trafficking of human beings. We have exchanged telecommunications equipment so we can communicate on real time basis and some of our databases so we can share that information as well. They are putting on their highways, leading into the United States, check points, state-operated check points, Mexican state-operated check points to see if they can deter some of the illegal immigration that's coming across the border. Those are a few examples.

Jose Cardenas:
I want to come back to immigration stuff in a moment but when you talked with economic relationships with Mexico, recently you opened or dedicated fast lane at the Nogales port of entry.

Janet Napolitano:
That's great. Something we've been working on for several years. It was not fast to get the fast lane but basically it's a separate set of lanes at the Mariposa gate in Nogales which is where all the commercial trucks. It's billions of dollars of commerce through that gate, about $10 billion of commerce through that gate but we added these lanes so trucks, whatever, that are pre-certified and pre-sealed can come on through the lanes and don't have to go through as lengthy or lengthy inspection and documentation process that trucks or vehicles coming through the non-fast lanes do. So it allows us to expedite the routine business of commerce through the Mariposa gate.

Jose Cardenas:
Now, focusing more on Washington now and immigration issues, you recently as I understand it delivered another bill to the federal government for the cost to Arizona of incarceration of people here without the proper documents?

Janet Napolitano:
Right. There's a federal bill that says if somebody is here in the country illegally and they break a state law so they are in our state prison system we are supposed to get reimbursed the cost of their incarceration and we have only ever gotten pennies on the dollar. I've started the process of sending the federal government a bill and tacking on late fees. Other governors have joined me. We are not going to get paid, I don't think but we want to keep making the point to winds and to our own taxpayers that this is a failure of the federal government to do the job it is elected to do.

Jose Cardenas:
Is there any expectation that we will see any immigration legislation at the federal level this year?

Janet Napolitano:
I don't think there's any before the November elections. And then after the November elections probably depends on knowing what the results of the November elections are. And then they will say, well, we are almost to the end of congress, the most, you know, -- the most do nothing congress we have had I think in, certainly in this century but in the long, long time before that. But more than that, then they will say, they will go in the next year and they will say now we are in a presidential election cycle so we can't do an immigration bill. I mean, my experience with this has been that congress, they just don't want to work this out. And quite frankly, the nation is suffering as a result. This has to happen in the congress of the United States.

Jose Cardenas:
Governor, one of the things I cited as an example of things that they were doing was conducting these hearings. You were critical of that and why is that?

Janet Napolitano:
Because they weren't hearings. They weren't hearings to get information. And by the way, we have had this problem long enough if they don't have the relevant information shame on them. They have lots of information. They have hearings designed for delay to make it seem like they were still considering legislation. Well, if they were still considering legislation they should have scheduled immigration for the congressional agenda for this fall. And you look at congressional agenda for this fall and you don't see immigration on it.

Jose Cardenas:
Governor Janet Napolitano, thanks for joining us on Horizon.

Janet Napolitano:
Thanks a lot.

Jose Cardenas:
Bob Khan, Phoenix's fire department chief, was sworn into office one week ago. He's been on the job for a moment he was promoted to the position early they are year and took office in early August after former fire Chief Alan Brunacini retired. What plans does he have? Before we begin, a look at fire department.

Nadine Arroyo:
The Phoenix fire department was founded in 1887. Since its inception it's been growing at a fast pace. Along with the city it serves. Chief Bob Khan, the Phoenix fire department's new leader, inherits a department with nearly 2,000 firefighters and civilian staff. With an operating budget of $220 million. The department has 52 active fire stations, 32 of which are recent developments. And to keep up with the city's growth, two stations are under construction, and an additional six are in the planning and design stages. On average, the P.F.D. responds to 160,000 9-1-1 calls a year. As for the future of the department, a city bond passed in March allows for funds to be used to develop three new centers for the P.F.D., one for fire training, another for command training and the 30 a modern 9-1-1 center.

Jose Cardenas:
Chief Khan, welcome and congratulations.

Bob Khan:
Thank you, sir.

Jose Cardenas: You are stepping into the shoes of a legislate agenda. Chief Brunacini nationally recognized. Let's talk about him for a little bit before we talk about the new regime that we are going to be seeing.

Bob Khan:
Absolutely.

Jose Cardenas:
What can you tell us about -- he had a national reputation. What was the particular basis for that?

Bob Khan:
Still does. He's an incredible person. He set the bar in the fire service. He I think next to Ben Franklin is one of the most notable people in the fire service. A lot of it is --

Jose Cardenas:
The Ben Franklin --

Bob Khan:
The original fire chief. You know, Jose, he set the bar in the fire service. He is an individual that not only cares about the people in the community but the firefighters that serve them. Their safety, their training, at all levels. So what he has done is enable the firefighters to have a voice in the way they deliver service, and address who he calls, we call Mrs. Smith, our customers. And that changed the industry, truly, from the west coast to the east coast. And he's nationally known for it, continues to be nationally known. I just saw him this morning. He is doing very well. He is still training, still coaching, still a great mentor for the Phoenix fire department. And honestly, I think saying he is legendary is almost an understatement. He's a terrific character. I am a little subjective but he is a terrific character and he's done a great job for the fire service.

Jose Cardenas:
What changes will we see, though, in your administration?

Bob Khan:
It's a little -- it's a new time. The society is a little bit more complicated. We're kind of an urban peace corps. So it's not just firefighting and the rescue calls that are high profile that you see us go on. It's the social service calls, people that have the flu; there may be emotional issues involved. If you look at how complicated society has gotten with drug abuse, a lot of the homeland issues we are dealing with, we are a multiuse sort of organization and we need to address those and resources aren't just falling out of the sky so we need to take a look at the footprint that's out there for the service delivery model. That we are using and what's expected out of us and then make some adjustments with the resources we have in the system.

Jose Cardenas:
As I understand it's not just a question of scarce resources but also greater demands because of the growth of the city and questions about where you are going to be building these fire stations and so forth. What can you tell us about that?

Bob Khan:
We are looking at about eight new stations over the next six years. And those stations barely keep up with the growth on the edges of Phoenix. It's a huge demand on the system that we have. We are doing about 160,000 calls a year. Our response times are edging over five minutes which is really difficult for us in the fire service because we would like to be there in four minutes. We will address the areas of Phoenix and build those stations and inside Phoenix, different models. The best models we have come up with lately was original we have with Paradise Valley where we have a partnership with the town of Paradise Valley. We are using one of their fire stations. We are blending our resources to actually provide more service in the automatic aid system which is a huge component to this. The automatic aid system reflects over 25 fire departments that respond through a computer-aided satellite dispatch system so you have this universal sort of fire service delivery in the valley that gets you the closest apparatus. In Paradise Valley it was a hole in the doughnut and didn't cost the people in Phoenix any more money and actually was a reduction in cost to the town of Paradise Valley. We need to explore all those options that are available for us and not just build new fire stations. Challenge the system we have and look at the way we're doing things and see if there's a smarter or better way to do those services.

Jose Cardenas:
Chief, you talked before, you mentioned homeland issues. Are you talking about immigrant population and how the fire department interacts with them?

Bob Khan:
Actually, prevention and response to either natural or man made disasters, a sporting venue; issues now require a blended response from not only Phoenix police but Phoenix fire, the F.B.I., the A.T.F., the multi-agency responses you are seeing now. We need to be able to have an interoperability that takes staffing. It doesn't happen accidentally. If you look at Katrina or even the World Trade Center, the way we work on the street on a daily basis will reflect the way we perform in the event of a large disaster. So we have a bureau now that's blended with Phoenix police. We have a deputy chief and commander that actually work together with the bomb squad, with our urban search and rescue team and our special operations division on those sensitive issues.

Jose Cardenas:
As I understand it and we only have a few seconds left, Super Bowl will require the cooperation even though it's in Glendale, of Phoenix police department. What can you tell us the preparation for that?

Bob Khan:
It's huge right now. We will work with Chief Burdick out there. We will provide our services through the automatic aid system and throw everything at it we can to help the valley. It's going to be seamless to the people attending. We will do everything we can to make sure people are safe and cared for.

Jose Cardenas:
Bob Khan, congratulations on your appointment and thanks for joining us on Horizon.

Bob Khan:
Thank you.

Jose Cardenas:
If you would like to see a transcript of tonight's show or get information about upcoming topics, please visit our web site at www.azpbs.org. Once you get to our home page click on the word Horizon for more details.

Larry Lemmons:
Phoenix police announce they made an arrest. The man is charged with assault and kidnapping of two young women and the Republican candidates for governor make a final push just days before the primary. A preview of Election Day on the journalist roundtable Friday night at 7:00 on Horizon.

Jose Cardenas:
Coming up next on eight is Horizonte. The latest on the Mexican presidential election. Thanks for joining us on Horizon. I'm José Cardenas. Michael Grant will be back in this chair tomorrow night.