Apache Boulevard neighborhood improvement group sunsets

12 years of community involvement nets big results

Tempe, ARIZ – A group of Tempe residents can take pride in the results of their community involvement – their 12 years of leadership has produced substantial benefits. The Apache Boulevard corridor has gone from one of the most blighted areas of Tempe to one with huge potential. So now the citizen group is retiring.

Apache Boulevard has a significant history. Beginning in the 1800s, the road was the main thoroughfare from Phoenix to Tucson and also to California. Apache Boulevard flourished with modern motels, service stations and fine restaurants.

But in the 1960s and 1970s, new freeways were built. Interstate 10 and US60 took tourists from the businesses along the boulevard, causing economic hardships. Within a decade, buildings had aged, been vacated and let go into states of disrepair. Crime rates rose.

Concerned neighbors and city officials took a stand to return the neighborhood to its former state of prosperity. In 1996, the Apache Boulevard Project Area Committee (APAC) was formed.

More than a decade of citizen and City of Tempe leadership along Apache Boulevard has paid off, with reduced crime rates and safer neighborhoods, new housing opportunities, new neighborhood businesses, improved street lighting and sidewalks and a vibrant education and art community. Visit www.tempe.gov/maps and click on Apache Boulevard to see the many new developments currently in process or Light Rail to see where the line runs through Tempe.

The progress is so substantial that the group feels that its formal work is done – the neighborhood is much improved. APAC will sunset on Monday at 4:30 p.m. with a ceremony at the New School for the Arts, 1216 E. Apache Boulevard.

A detailed report of APACs accomplishments is available and posted online.

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