Historic Hispanic Properties Study

Feb. 15, 2007

Transcript:

José Cárdenas:
Good evening, I'm Jose Cardenas, welcome to "Horizonte" take." places helping to give an overview to phoenix, learn about a study identifying properties of historical significance for Latinos. And we'll talk about what happened on Governor Janet Napolitano's recent trip to Mexico . These stories coming up next on "Horizonte".

José Cárdenas:
The city of phoenix historic preservation office finished a study of Hispanic historic neighborhoods and properties last year. Their survey identified the locations of Hispanic associated historic properties through out the city and documented their significance to the community. Joining us now to talk about the study are Barbara Stocklin, historic preservation officer for the city of Phoenix . And Frank Barros community outreach specialist for Athenaeum public history group. Thank you both for joining us on "Horizonte." Barbara we actually talked about this project a couple of years ago on "Horizonte". Give us just a real brief refresher on the project and the funding for it.

Barbara Stocklin:
In 2005 the city council authorized a citywide study to document the Hispanic heritage of the city and historic sites and properties that might be eligible for designation on our Phoenix historic property register. And so we did commission that study. It was funded through historic preservation bond funds from the city, as well as from a state grant from the state historic preservation office. We did hire Athenaeum Public History Group they finished the study in the fall of 2006.

José Cárdenas:
Now this is not the only study that I understand has been conducted. Tell us which ones have been completed and what's currently going on.

Barbara Stocklin:
In 2005 we finish a similar study on African-American heritage. And right now this year we're finishing a study on Asian American heritage, and next year we will do a study on Native American heritage.

José Cárdenas:
Frank tell us about Athenaeum, what their role is and specifically what your role is on this project.

Frank Barrios:
We were primarily a group of historians that wanted to look at the history of the Mexican people of Phoenix , and interview the people whose family heritage goes way back. My particular function in there was the outreach person, to get - I come from a pioneer family here in Phoenix that came in the 1870's. And a lot of the people on our team were folks who were born and raised in the inner city and the Mexican neighborhoods that we were going to analyze. We knew the people we wanted to talk to, and we went out and, like I said, part of my job was to be the outreach to go out and talk to the folks that had that history to tell us.

José Cárdenas:
Frank, what are you doing, if anything, to get the rest of the community involved in this project?

Frank Barrios:
We had, at the end of the project, at the beginning we had several kickoff sessions. Then we advertised. We were given at the kickoff session, there was a lot of names of people that wanted to be interviewed. It was interesting because once the community heard about this, they wanted to be heard. They wanted to tell their story and their history. We had no shortage of people wanting to be interviewed by us. They brought us pictures, artifacts, all the things that made up the history of Phoenix .

José Cárdenas:
Barbara, what can you tell us about the scope of the project?

Barbara Stocklin:
The project documented Hispanic history starting from 1870 thru 1960. So those were the focal years. And it looked at everything from cultural history, religious history, political history, residential neighborhoods, agricultural life and looked city wide. I mean the study looked at agricultural communities in south Phoenix , barrios in immediate south Phoenix , commercial areas in the warehouse district where we still have some Hispanic commercial businesses left. Cemeteries, there were a couple historic cemeteries that were identified by the study. So the team looked at all of these properties. They would talk to the community and they would say, oh, I remember this place or I remember this place. And so the team went out and some of those places weren't there anymore. But some of them still were. So they basically compiled a list of all of the properties. Basically the list came down to 42 properties that best exemplify the heritage of Hispanics in Phoenix .

José Cárdenas:
And as I understand it, this truly is a citywide project because the Hispanic community itself has become so diverse and spread throughout the valley.

Barbara Stocklin:
Right I mean because we were looking citywide, so agricultural areas are in the south, barrios are in other parts. We were very open to, looking at any type of story that anybody had in any part of the city.

José Cárdenas:
We've got a number of pictures we'd like to look at and have you comment on. Some of them will be coming up shortly, but as I understand it, these are pictures of sites that will be in the project. Now this first one, Frank, Barbara what can you tell us about it?

Frank Barrios:
I'll start it off. That's a photo of Adam Dias. He is still alive. He's 90-some years old, and he was the first publicly elected Hispanic city councilman in Phoenix . He was elected in 1954. Just real quickly, there's a long list of the Hispanic people were not part of the political party until the late 40's and early 50's. And Adam Dias started it for the city council of Phoenix , started the Mexican involvement in politics.

José Cárdenas:
Now we've got some buildings coming up. What's this one?

Frank Barrios:
That's Post 41. That was the veterans' post, it is the Hispanic Mexican-American community post. After Second World War this post was started. It became very, very involved in social issues, civil rights issues. And there's just a long list of changes that were made because of the veterans that came back from the Second World War.

José Cárdenas:
As I understand another very prominent family in the Hispanic community was the Arvizo family. We've got up pictures. Is this the grocery store?

Barbara Stocklin:
Right, this grocery store is at 310 east Buchanan Street in what's commonly known today as the warehouse district. This was the center of an area where there was a lot of worker housing. A lot of Hispanics worked in the produce warehouses, on the railroad and lived in this area in tenement housing. All of that is gone. There's just two buildings left around where the area where the Hispanic-- there was a Chinese barrio, or a Chinatown , and this was the center of the Hispanic barrio, and you can still see the grocery sign on the building.

José Cárdenas:
Now we talked about prominent figures in Hispanic politics, and certainly this gentleman Raúl Castro former governor of Arizona is one of them.

Frank Barrios:
Yes. This was in 1974, I believe he was elected governor of the state of Arizona . A man born in Mexico , and became a citizen and elevated to the height of governor of the state of Arizona . Something the entire Hispanic community is very proud is the fact that somebody like Raúl Castro who is also still alive became governor of the state.

José Cárdenas:
Another historic landmark is Friendly house.

Frank Barrios:
That Friendly House began in the 1920s. 80-some years of involvement with the Hispanic community.

José Cárdenas:
That continues to this day.

Frank Barrios:
To this day it's still doing the work, helping, working right in the center of the historic Mexican areas.

José Cárdenas:
We've got another interesting picture coming up, this one of some school children. Barbara what can you tell us about it?

Barbara Stocklin:
This was the Grant Park School and unfortunately, the school is no longer there. But the grant park neighborhood was one of the earliest Hispanic barrios just south of the river. And the school was a focal point of that community. And Frank, one of the interviews, one of the last oral interviews of the project was the last principal from the grand park school. So it's no longer there so its not a site that we can designate, but there's still a good story there.

José Cárdenas:
Well and the stories really almost literally go cradle to grave in this next picture. The cemetery is one of those.

Frank Barrios:
That's St. Francis' cemetery. One of the things that was so prominent with the Hispanic community is their Catholic faith. Immaculate Heart and many of the churches in central Phoenix , but also the Catholic cemetery St. Francis started in 1890. Almost all of the people that had an impact on the history of the Mexican community and of Phoenix are buried here in Saint Francis cemetery.

José Cárdenas:
Where is it located, Frank?

Frank Barrios:
On 48th street , between McDowell and Thomas

José Cárdenas:
Now, we talked about the importance of the Catholic Church to the Hispanic community. We've got a picture here of one of the landmarks. What can you tell us about it?

Frank Barrios:
That's Sacred Heart Church , it was built by Father Albert Brawn who by himself is somebody that has a fantastic history. But he came into Phoenix after World War II, one of the survivors of the Bataan death march, and went into one of the poorest barrios of Phoenix, golden gate. The tail is that he asked everybody to bring him one brick, and he would build them a church. And that's the church that he built with people bringing him a brick at a time. The entire barrio is gone now because of the airport, but the people would not let them teardown that church. So the church still stands as a monument to the golden gate neighborhood and to the faith of the people of that area.

José Cárdenas:
Now we've got one more religious edifice. Barbara what can you tell us about it?

Barbara Stocklin:
This is the Saint Francisco Xavier mission, and it's at 2814 E. South Mountain Avenue . Built in 1940. This is one of the properties that's in far south Phoenix . A lot of the Hispanic who worked agricultural jobs didn't always have the ability to go to town to go to church on Sunday. There were little Chapels that sprung up into the outskirts of the community. This is one of those.

José Cárdenas:
Barbara, last question . This has been fascinating seeing the pictures. And knowing that the study is being done. How is it actually going to be used?

Barbara Stocklin:
The study is available on the city's website, at www.phoenix.govhistoric so anybody can read it. We are working on several projects we've been talking to museums about potentially doing an exhibit. We're also looking at doing a brochure and we're a also have been talking to some of the school districts about doing educational curriculum for kids and integrating some of this information into fifth grade curriculum for kids in Phoenix.

José Cárdenas:
Barbara Stocklin, Frank Barrios thank you for joining us on "Horizonte."

José Cárdenas:
Immigration, trade relations between Arizona and Mexico , border security and a meeting with new President Felipe Calderon and his cabinet members was the focus of Governor Napolitano's trip to Mexico last week.

Janet Napolitano:
Several things, one is it's a new administration in Mexico and just making those one-on-one connections with the cabinet level secretaries with the president, to understand who we're dealing with. Even as important so they understand Arizona and our deep ties with Mexico , and the amount of trade commerce jobs that really traverse our border. We also want to talk about immigration and border security. Big issues for Senora big issues for Arizona . We want to establish an ongoing process by which we continue to stay in communication, in order to help alleviate some of the miscommunication that goes on obviously.

José Cárdenas:
Joining us now to talk about what happened in Mexico is Jorge de los Santos . Jorge is secretary of the Arizona - Mexico commission and also advisor to the A-S-U president. Jorge it's good to have you back on "Horizonte". In your prior appearances we talked about the upcoming elections and then the election itself. And now Governor Napolitano has gone to Mexico to meet the new President, Felipe Calderon. Tell us first what was the overall purpose of the trip?

Jorge de los Santos :
Well the governor wanted to introduce Arizona to a new administration. So she met with different secretaries with the president, also with companies there, and she lend delegation of CEO 's, university presidents, and also of the universities over there. So the governor really wanted to talk about four areas of Arizona : infrastructure, security, trade, and economic development.

José Cárdenas:
I want to talk about some of the specific issues she dealt with while she was there. But tell us generally how the governor and her delegation was received in Mexico City .

Jorge de los Santos :
Well I think this is the first time a governor from the United States goes there to work. I mean we had Schwarzenegger there about a few months ago --

José Cárdenas:
He attended the inauguration.

Jorge de los Santos :
But he went to the party, you know he didn't go there to work. And Governor Napolitano actually took the delegation folks the and she was working over there. So she met with different secretaries. We as universities for example met with the secretary of education. Also we met with folks of the Mexican national science foundation, and also the companies met with counter parts over there.

José Cárdenas:
And the governor met with the secretary of agriculture. What did they talk about?

Jorge de los Santos :
Well they talked about how they can increase and speed up the movement of goods from Mexico into the United States . How you can send goods from Mexico but in a very secure way.

José Cárdenas:
I understand there was a specific discussion of a cattle processing facility in San Luis?

Jorge de los Santos:
Yes, indeed.

José Cárdenas:
How did those discussions go?

Jorge de los Santos :
Well it went very well. What the governor tried to in most of these meetings, but one, was to actually introduce Arizona to a new administration, the one relationship that she developed before was with a new attorney general Medina-Mora who she knows from about four years ago. They actually discussed some on going initiatives between Arizona and Mexico .

José Cárdenas:
Now an important issue or area of discussion for Arizona is transportation. I understand she met with Secretary Tellez to discuss that.

Jorge de los Santos:
Yes. Well as you know, I mean we really need to increase the capacity that we have here in the ports. Most of the goods that come from Mexico they come from knowing Nogales . And also Arizona exports about 5 billion dollars to Mexico . So there is not enough capacity in the Mexican side to take on all these different goods that we're sending from Arizona into Mexico . So we really need to work with the Mexican government, especially with the secretary of transportation so they can build more roads and ports in the Mexico-Arizona border.

José Cárdenas:
What did Governor Napolitano talk to President Calderon about?

Jorge de los Santos :
Well it was about all of these issue, it was how we can create economic development. As you know the governor is the chairman of the national Governor's association right now. And she's pushing innovation America , one of her main initiatives in the United States . Wants to see how she can engage the Arizona , Senora region and make it really a truly competitive region in the world. So you see the folks doing what they are doing in China , what their doing in Korea , what their doing in India , and maybe we can do the same thing in Arizona northern region. And create technology clusters and economic development opportunities here.

José Cárdenas:
Now we know that immigration would have been a topic of discussion under any circumstances but how were those discussions colored by the killings of three Mexican migrants last week?

Jorge de los Santos :
As you know the government of Arizona and the one from Senora too, they cannot have any powers and they cannot change any immigration laws. But what they can do, they can lobby and push the federal government here in the United States and the federal government in Mexico to do something about it. So Governor Eduardo Bours and Governor Napolitano both push for immigration reform both in Mexico and also here in the states.

José Cárdenas:
In the sense at least in the media here was that the governor's reception in Mexico at least initially it was pretty hostile, at least from the Mexican press. Did that change over the next few days over there?

Jorge de los Santos :
Just going there, it says I'm here, I want to talk about how we can make it work, how we can create economic development in Mexico . Because at the end of the day that will be the only solution to the immigration problem. How we can create economic opportunities in Mexico and also in Arizona .

José Cárdenas:
Now how important was it to have Governor Bours, the President of Sonora there with her? He is from a different part so is that a plus or minus in developing relationships with the Calderon administration.

Jorge de los Santos :
He's well regarded in Mexico . People like him, especially the new administration. So he actually we think he actually helped us to open a lot of doors in Mexico .

José Cárdenas:
Now the last time we had you on the show we were talking about the Calderon administration and whether the turmoil surrounding the election would actually make the difficult for the president to concentrate on relations with border states such as Arizona . What's your assessment right now as to how things are going?

Jorge de los Santos :
Well it seems like Calderon's government now is taken off. And we'll need to see in the next year or so how he does. But it seems that Mexico is really transformed itself into a real and full democracy right now. And so you have people from the PRI working with people from the PRD and people from the pan so it's tough, when you have three different parties. But as we learned from the United States , also Mexico we can do it.

José Cárdenas:
There were tremendous fears that Lopez Obrador would establish as he promised to do, a kind of a shadow government and that that would cause problems. Has that materialized?

Jorge de los Santos:
No.

José Cárdenas:
What do you expect will happen in terms of further concrete steps in the development of the relationship between Arizona and Mexico , beyond Sonora ?

Jorge de los Santos:
Well, if we can create something within Arizona and Sonora, and really create something unique a new national technology lab or bring companies for example GE to invest in both Arizona and Sonora, I think we can truly set an example for what can be done between Mexico and the United States. So we need to start regionally first and then we need to convince the governments in Mexico also the United States to do it.

José Cárdenas:
I want to talk little more about the economic development focus of the governor's visit. Let's talk first about who the business people were who were in her delegation.

Jorge de los Santos :
We had the chairman of -- we had the chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase, we had Jerry Moist from Zeus Transportation there, we had CEO Pat Queen from Qwest also, and we had other C.E.O.'s in the delegation. For example we had the head of Astatic here in Arizona large Canadian company that actually went to Mexico too to see if they wanted to open some new companies over there. So it was a very strong delegation. In addition, we also had two university presidents, we had university president of U of A and also..

José Cárdenas:
Robert Shelton

Jorge de los Santos :
Exactly and the president of NAU too. And representatives also from ASU we had also we had the vice president of global engagement from ASU and also Bruce Wright from the University of Arizona .

José Cárdenas:
Now I understand perhaps one of the more interesting meets was with the third richest man in the world, in Mexico . Tell us about that.

Jorge de los Santos :
Well the governor actually took a large group to meet with Carlos Slim Helú, the third richest man in the world, the richest man in Latin America , what she actually asked him was to, you know we want you to invest in the Arizona Sonora region, can you do that. He says he's going to take a look at it. And probably invest in the Arizona Sonora region.

José Cárdenas:
Now do you expect that there will actually be anything coming out of that? I mean he's very powerful in Latin America . What do you expect to see coming out from that.

Jorge de los Santos :
I think the difference here is it was not just the governor asking him to invest in Arizona , there were two governors. One from Mexico Eduard Bours, and also Governor Napolitano asking him to both invest in the Arizona Sonora region.

José Cárdenas:
Jorge , Arizona has historically enjoyed what some would consider a disproportionate influence in Mexico , I think it's traced in large part to the establishment by Governor Fannin of the Arizona-Mexico commission now more than 40 years ago. But that image seems to have taken a hit in recent years because of incidents such as the one last week. How would you characterize the staining that Arizona currently has in Mexico City ?

Jorge de los Santos :
Well it's tough. But what we can do is talk about the opportunities. For example, Arizona sends $5 billion, spends I mean earns $5 billion in sending things to Mexico . We make $5 billion in exports to Mexico . We also create about 60,000 jobs here in Arizona because of the relationship with Mexico . And that's something that a lot of people, both here in Arizona and in Mexico don't know. So we really highlight that real economic impact that some people say is about $60 billion that that relationship with Mexico has with Arizona . I think we can change a lot of these perceptions that they have here in Arizona and in Mexico . But the issue here is let's talk about economic development and what we can do between the two countries, and the governor took a very important step there and went there to Mexico and said, you know, I want to work with you, let's increase economic development and competitiveness of the region and lets do it together.

José Cárdenas:
Well and as I understand Arizona is already the fourth or so largest trading partner for Mexico . Bigger than most countries in the world.

Jorge de los Santos:
It is. It is.

José Cárdenas:
But it seems that with the deaths in the desert, the immigration, the militia gathering on the border, and you've got the attorney general in his efforts in terms of transmittals to Mexico which are very important to the economy there that that has caused problems, did you hear any of that while you were there on this trip?

Jorge de los Santos :
We really wanted to target our energies and really talk about economic development and innovation. Let's propose something that can change the current situation instead of talking about the symptoms. We think immigration is just a symptom but if you really look at the cause is economic development both in Arizona and also in Mexico .

José Cárdenas:
Well what can we expect to see going forward in terms of more proposals, a tightening of the relationship?

Jorge de los Santos :
Well, what we see here is that Arizona as a state is definitely link the with Mexico in a lot of different ways. We really need to be open with Mexico about how we can secure the border, how we can create new economic opportunities. Also how we can increase the competitiveness on not just with Arizona , but of Mexico . Because you know sometimes we see it as Arizona or the United States and Mexico . But we need to see it as a region sometimes. We have Asia for example. You have China , Korea , and India working together to create these economic clusters. You have the European Union also working together so I think that the idea here is also to work together in North America .

José Cárdenas:
So you're talking about perhaps the border states both on the U.S. and Mexican side getting together and strengthening their position in both countries.

Jorge de los Santos :
We can be an example for North America . If Arizona and Sonora work together well, we can be an example for Mexico and the United States of how two states can work together, and hopefully the federal governments, too.

José Cárdenas:
Jorge de los Santos , final thoughts on this trip and its importance both to the governor and to the state of Arizona .

Jorge de los Santos :
I think something unique is the governor took a lot of people with her from different organizations. You have companies, CEO 's there from companies, you had universities, you have also other governmental officials all working together trying to create economic development opportunities in Arizona and in Mexico. And I think that's a very unique step. That was a first governor that did that.

José Cárdenas:
Jorge de los Santos , Thank you for joining us on "Horizonte."

Jorge de los Santos:
Thank you José.

José Cárdenas:
For more information on our show go to our website A-Z-P-B-S. org and click on "Horizonte." That's Horizonte for tonight. Thank you for watching. I'm José Cárdenas for all of us at Horizonte. Have a good evening