Since being appointed as Maricopa County Attorney 10 months ago, Allister Adel has brought a whirlwind of changes to the office to increase transparency, emphasize treatment over punishment, and reach out to groups like the business community, all with the economy in mind.  

“If we have a safe community, we have a good economy,” said Adel, the first woman to hold the position since the first county attorney, , took office in 1912 to tame the Old West. 

Adel spoke Tuesday during the kickoff of the Arizona �鶹��ýӳ�� of Commerce and Industry’s new Leadership Series. The virtual event was presented by the law firm Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie. 

She talked about the office’s many “firsts” including new prosecution integrity protocols, a new data dashboard for public viewing, expansion of treatment diversion programs, reduction of administrative red tape, and more.  

Handling high profile cases with ease  

Adel started her as a prosecutor in the County Attorney’s office where she spent seven years before taking on administrative positions in state government. Her public service prepared her well for her new role in the spotlight.

Among the cases garnering national attention under her leadership was a break in a heart wrenching cold case last week. Almost two decades after 17-year-old Alissa Turney disappeared, Phoenix police arrested her stepfather, Michael Turney, for her murder. 

Earlier this year, Adel also fired famous prosecutor Juan Martinez, who spent his career putting some of the most notorious murderers behind bars. But decades of allegations of sexual harassment by employees in the office came to an end under her leadership.  

Behind the scenes, Adel has instituted a flurry of new programs including:

New felony diversion program provides alternative to prosecution

With an emphasis on “treatment first,” a new Felony Diversion Program has expanded options for people charged with crimes like drug offenses to receive treatment in place of prosecution.

With a focus on treatment versus incarceration, offenders can continue to work, care for their families and go to school. That takes some of the burden off taxpayers and the justice system, Adel said.

“When I took office October 3, we were really looking at treating the offender and not the offense, and by that I mean people who are committing crimes — whether it is organized retail theft, whether its drug possession — because they have underlying issues of mental health or addiction,” Adel said. 

In the midst of the pandemic, more than 1,300 individuals facing criminal prosecution have been referred to the program. This new program combines what was formerly known as the Drug Diversion Program and Felony Pre-Trial Intervention Program to offer a more “robust” treatment option that addresses underlying behaviors and attitudes that affect criminal behavior, Adel said.

Eliminated diversion case fees 

Prior to the pandemic, Adel directed staff to eliminate diversion case fees that ranged from $630 to $1,200. The fees acted as a deterrent to diversion treatment programs  because many defendants could not afford them, she said. 

Home detention now option for misdemeanor DUI 

In its quest to reduce over-incarceration, the office announced on Tuesday that, for the first time in the history of the county, when someone is convicted of misdemeanor DUI, home detention will now be a sentencing option for a portion of the offender’s mandatory jail sentence. Home detention reduces and helps avoid collateral consequences associated with incarceration, such as disruption in employment, schooling, and family stability, Adel said.

New data dashboard 

Last month, the office launched a new data dashboard on its website to provide more transparency and data tracking. The new dashboard at contains information about how cases are handled.

New prosecution policies and plea procedures 

With 90 percent of criminal charges ending in plea agreements, county prosecutors now have new policies to guide how to handle these cases, and for the first time in the history of the office, the new plea policies are for the public.

New prosecution integrity program 

Adel announced the creation of a centralized process within the office to handle claims of actual innocence, potential inappropriate police conduct including alleged excessive use of force, and other claims of prosecutorial unfairness in handling cases. 

The new Prosecution Integrity Program works with defense organizations and prosecutors to review and address items of integrity and conduct.

Advisory Councils 

Adel also is reaching out to the community and businesses for input with two advisory councils, the and the .  

“Public safety is critical to ensuring a stable and growing economy for our community. Understanding the concerns of business leaders provides a perspective that is important to my decision-making process. Not only are businesses often victims of crime, they employ members of the community who may have interactions with our criminal justice system,” she said. 

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Cox Charities, Cox’s philanthropic arm, is dedicated to providing new opportunities for people and organizations in the Southwest. In Arizona, the foundation has truly hit its mark.

In late September, Cox Charities announced its selection of 108 local nonprofit organizations that would receive nearly $570,000 in grants. Since 1996, the organization has contributed more than $8 million to Arizona nonprofits.

“Cox employees are deeply embedded in the communities we serve in Arizona and are committed to supporting and volunteering to make a difference,” said John Wolfe, senior vice president and southwest region manager for Cox Communications, in a statement. “We are proud to stand behind so many nonprofit partners that are working hard to educate children and support families throughout Arizona.”

One of the recipients is , which will receive grant funding for its program “T4T on Wheels.” The service brings free school supplies from the Tempe location directly to teachers across the Valley.

Another grant recipient is  for their “Discover Your Future” program, an extracurricular mentorship opportunity for K-8 children who have been exposed to unhealthy or problematic situations. The mentors create and provide curriculum to teach youth in academics, athletics and ethics.

“The Cox funds will fund a variety of programs implemented by a vast variety of nonprofit organizations in Arizona,” said Andrea Pappas, public relations director at Cox. “We typically focus our giving on programs focused on youth and education, as this has been a focus of our company as handed down by our founder, [former Ohio Gov. James M. Cox]. In fact, Gov. Cox had language in his final wishes that requests that the company always aim to impact the communities where Cox does business.”

The organization also recently awarded Serve Tucson volunteer Mike Birrer with $10,000 for his conservation efforts in Southern Arizona. Birrer has cleaned, planted and painted roughly 50 Tucson neighborhoods and has even expanded his efforts to employ local homeless people in his restoration efforts.

Birrer is one of  for the Cox Conserves Heroes Award; he will now compete with the other finalists for a grand prize of $50,000. Through the award program, the James M. Cox Foundation has honored more than 200 volunteers and donated almost $1 million to environmental nonprofits.

“We believe we have narrowed down the finalists to a great group of volunteers who are making a positive impact in their community,” Pappas continued. “Of course, we are super excited about the work Mike Birrer and Serve Tucson are doing in our state. As you probably saw in , he started with a wish to clean up schools in the Tucson area and continues to draw more and more people into his mission, and has branched out to partner with homeless [people] in the area to put their talents to work.”

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Arizona Center, the mixed-use shopping center in downtown Phoenix, was constructed in 1990 to jump-start the city’s revitalization of its urban core.

Now, the work-shop-play hub has a $25 million renovation, transforming Arizona Center into a modern, functional destination for local students, families and businesspeople.

“When we looked at first acquiring Arizona Center, we saw what we thought was a generational opportunity to acquire a 16-acre ‘super-block’ in an urban center, and that’s very rare anywhere in America,” said Matt Root, CEO and managing partner at San Diego-based , which acquired Arizona Center in 2015.

Among the additions to the property are a 60-foot LED screen on the northeast corner of Van Buren and Third streets, all-new landscaping and water features, additional lighting and signage, new colors, more bike racks and a stage for live entertainment.

The Grotto, a three-acre park at the center of the property, features new seating and cleanly remodeled fountains; the original Arizona Center frog statues are still standing.

“People want to move to cities with a high quality of life and cities that have long-term job formation, and Phoenix is really at the top of that list,” Root said. “There’s a big growing movement to restore the vibrancy and really enhance the experience of urban life for people; that’s really what we’ve been working off of.”

The “city of the future” is one that values walkability and a variety of uses, and the “right urban mix” of utility and entertainment draws more residents, creating a denser city center, Root said.

“That density raises values, and that vibrancy attracts investment capital, and that’s what you’re seeing in downtown Phoenix today; all those things are happening,” he said.

The establishment of Arizona State University Downtown Phoenix Campus, which houses the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, was the catalyst that kicked off more than a decade of refurbishment and revitalization in the area, and a number of developments followed.

Other nearby attractions include CityScape, a high-rise mixed-use development completed in 2012; , another high-rise mixed-use project at CityScape slated for completion later this year; , an urban arts district that features local artists, musicians and food vendors at its monthly events; and the , which completed its most significant expansion yet in 2008. The Translational Genomics Research Institute (), a state-of-the-art nonprofit genomics research institute, is from the Arizona Center.

“Employees today, they desire a work-life balance and something that encourages community-building, collaboration and engagement,” Root said. “We think of that as ‘place-making’ — creating a sense of place where people want to encounter each other and share daily life; walkability, creating urban environments that people can live, work, shop, learn without having to rely on cars; sustainability — always big — and then a mix of uses.”

Several large sports, music and entertainment venues are within walking distance, including Chase Field, home to the baseball team; , home to the Phoenix Suns basketball team; Herberger Theatre; Phoenix Symphony Hall and the Orpheum Theatre.

Urban areas filled with an engaging variety of activities can generate 24/7 activity, Root said. The new-and-improved Arizona Center features “great restaurants, health-and-wellness amenities, an immersive cinema experience, amenities that really create a more personalized experience and help employers attract and retain talent and help employees want to go there.”

The new Arizona Center launched in January 2019, bringing more than 40 local small businesses and farmers to the Grotto every Wednesday from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

New tenants in the retail space include Freshii, a fast-casual nutritious food joint, Bosa Donuts, a popular local shop with locations across the Valley, and Kwench Juice Café. ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management has leased office space, too.

The AC Hotel by Marriott will in May of this year on the east side of Arizona Center. The “urban-inspired” hotel will stand 13-stories tall and comprise 199 “classic, yet modern” rooms, as well as a fitness center, rooftop bar, pool and lounge.

Palm Court Tower, a 31-story, 350-unit luxury residential complex is by North American Development on the northwest corner of Van Buren and Fifth streets later this year. About 10 percent of the units in Palm Court Tower will be designated affordable housing, according to the Arizona Center.

The existing AMC Arizona Center 24 movie theater is 90,000 square feet and has 24 screens, which Root said is an “outdated” model. A cinema about half its size will be constructed in its place, and additional retail and residential space — possibly student housing — will eventually be attached on the theater’s north side.

“We have a number of regional and national theaters right now that we’re finalizing negotiations [with], including our existing operator, AMC, to redevelop that whole footprint into a more immersive theater that changes the way we experience film,” Root said. “Think of in-cinema dining, bar offerings, reclining seats, really just a great experience to bring people together.”

Root estimates the coming development will have an impact totaling $300 million to $400 million. He said he believes the changes will create a “tremendous economic boom” for downtown Phoenix.

The key to the Arizona Center’s future success is in creating an authentic community atmosphere in a public space that makes people want to meet each other and “feel the joys of daily life,” Root said.

“You don’t want to force it; you want to make it happen organically,” he said. “You want to feel like, ‘I want to go there,’ and it’s an engaging, immersive experience, and I think that’s what’s happening at Arizona Center.”

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A vision to fill in the dusty stretches of the Salt River with teeming development, recreation and wildlife refuges is becoming a reality step by step.  

The dream was something two elder Arizona statesmen, U.S. Sen. John McCain and U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor, worked their entire careers to nurture.  

Both passed away recently, just months after a historic meeting March 31, 2018 where all the necessary parties – tribes, cities, state and federal agencies, non-profit and business groups – committed in writing to make it happen.  

Called Rio Reimagined, the project’s first year was a blockbuster.

In addition to winning a coveted federal urban waters partnership, the Corps of Engineers has agreed to help with several projects. There is broad-based public and private support.

Riverfronts are also bustling with new multi-family residential, corporate and industrial development, particularly in Tempe Town Lake and Mesa.

Residential, hospitality and beautification projects are also moving forward in Goodyear, Buckeye and Avondale.

Suddenly, investors are interested in long ignored “brownfields” along the river, former landfills, mining pits and other areas that have been cleaned up and are suitable for development, said Melissa McCann, Director of the Arizona State University Exchange that is acting as a coordinator for Rio Reimagined as it takes root.

Much of the interest is due to most of the river’s corridor, roughly 70 percent, within federally designated opportunity zones, McCann said. Approved by Congress last year, the Opportunity Zone program is designed to bring capital investment into underserved areas. Investors receive reductions on capital gains taxes.

“ for innovative solutions for those sites,” McCann said. “It’s enticing for them to think that investors are interested in brownfield sites along the river that they wouldn’t have considered before.”

Rio Reimagined wins coveted ‘river city’ partnership  

Rio Reimagined also just received a highly sought after prize. It is now one of 20 river cities involved in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Urban Waters Federal Partnership.

The Partnership offers many rewards: preference for grants, an ambassador position to coordinate the project for four years, and assistance from 20 federal agencies and 19 nonprofits that support the 19 other urban river systems. Intended to revitalize waterways and promote economic, environmental and social benefits, it also builds on local efforts to stimulate local economies and new jobs.

Arizona’s congressional delegation stepped in to nominate and win this coveted opportunity that will elevate the project’s potential exponentially. Sen. Martha McSally met with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler to promote Arizona as an ideal fit for the partnership.

Industry and non-profits help carry dream forward

Many business and nonprofit groups also are involved in supporting and assisting Rio Reimagined. The non-profit Arizona Forward, which brings together business and civic groups to promote environmental sustainability and economic vitality, held its first Sustainability Summit to get a starting framework for the project.  More than 200 experts shared ideas and developed recommendations.

“This was an important first step in a major multi-generational project,” Arizona Forward CEO Lori Singleton said after the summit. “When we brought in folks from the San Antonio Riverwalk and the Los Angeles River Revitalization and showed that these types of projects take a long time but have results that last generations, everyone got excited. We recognize this as an incredible opportunity to leave a meaningful legacy for future generations.”

Among the many groups supporting Rio Reimagined are:

Arizona Forward

Valley Partnership

Arizona Audubon

Salt River Project

Greater Phoenix Leadership

Greater Phoenix Economic Council

Lower Gila River Collaborative

Kyl Center for Water Policy

Team Rubicon

Sonoran Institute

WESTMARC

Rio Salado project’s evolution   

Rio Reimagined is the next step in the evolution of the original Rio Salado Project started in the 60s by Arizona State University Design School students and staff.

Last year, fueled by the wish of Sen. McCain, eight river communities signed a letter of intent to coordinate to revitalize a 50-mile stretch of the Gila and Salt rivers. The rivers’ path slices through eight communities: the Gila River Indian Community, Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe, Avondale, Buckeye, Goodyear, and the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community

The project has multiple objectives: public open space, environmental and water quality, housing, transportation, economic development, workforce development, community sustainability and resilience for the future.

To see a map of the river, go to:

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has granted Phoenix College nearly $1.5 million to support integrating research, mentoring and industry collaborations to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) recruitment and retention among minority students at the college. The grant comes as part of the first round of grants from the NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions program, also known as the HSI program.

“The National Science Foundation has a strong commitment to promoting the health, prosperity and welfare of the nation by broadening participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Dr. Talitha Washington, co-lead program director of the NSF HSI program.

Phoenix College had to meet a rigorous set of merit requirements to be chosen for the competitive HSI grant.

“All proposals for HSI funding go through NSF’s gold-standard merit review process that identifies which projects to support,” Washington said. “That process considers both the technical aspects of a proposed project and its potential to contribute more broadly to advancing NSF’s mission.”

Phoenix College is part of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), one of the largest community college systems in the United States. Out of a total of 10 campuses, all of which are regionally-accredited, six are now designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and more will follow.

“What is really great about our colleges is that we serve a large percentage of Hispanic students, and many of them are first-generation college students,” said Robin Cotter, professor of biosciences at Phoenix College and one of the primary project team members who authored the NSF grant proposal.

Maricopa Community College faculty used their free time to form the grant proposal in the hope that they might introduce their students to more research opportunities that will better prepare them for the workforce, Cotter said.

“Many of us come from research backgrounds, and we know that helping our students make connections with industry and university partners is key to their success as they move along that pathway toward their career,” Cotter said. “So we decided to take our free time — we weren’t paid to do this — and we worked together to develop this application. It included faculty from biology, psychology, math, geology, physics; and we all worked together to develop this proposal that then competed at the national level.”

This is the first time this particular grant has been offered by the NSF to HSIs nationwide. Among the applicants were community colleges and universities, including Research I (R1) Universities — highly competitive research institutions. The grant will fund Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for students at Phoenix College, and the program is expected to impact more than 3,000 community college students.

The MCCCD schools have teaching laboratories but no independent research labs, inadvertently withholding vital opportunities from students hoping to find careers in STEM fields. The CURE model inserts research directly into community college coursework.

“We decided that since we couldn’t give our students independent research opportunities, we were going to embed it into our curriculum,” Cotter said. “And nationwide, they’re telling us that embedding practical applications of knowledge is the best way to teach students and prepare them.”

Phoenix College is already partnering with local businesses and governments to create opportunities for students to build practical skills. At the request of industry leaders, the college is making workforce training a core part of its curriculum, putting students in touch with industry partners within the first two years of their academic careers.

“I’m really excited to say that we’re partnering with the City of Surprise and their water treatment plant,” Cotter said. “We’re going to identify ways that we can look for micro-plastics and other pollutants in our water system, and then we’re going to have the students work on ways of removing them in order to improve water quality across the region.”

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is another partner. Students who work with the USDA will look at the impact of environmental factors, including pesticides, on the survival of crop pollinators such as honeybees.

“The honeybee population is important to the agricultural community here in Arizona and nationwide,” Cotter said. “So we’re going to be working with the USDA, based out of Tucson, and the students will be studying what actually impacts honeybee health and how this can be resolved so that we can maintain these pollinators that are necessary for our agricultural community.”

One of the NSF’s goals is to gain a better understanding of how to enhance undergraduate STEM education at HSIs, Washington said.

“The HSI program seeks to increase the number of STEM undergraduate students, who ultimately will become STEM professionals,” Washington said. “It seeks to increase retention and graduation rates for STEM students at HSIs and to increase the number of STEM educators and students at HSIs that have little or no prior NSF funding.”

Phoenix College received the NSF grant as the result of faculty-driven collaboration between all 10 MCCCD campuses, Cotter said.

“We recognize the need to train our students for the workforce, and that it’s really built on community partnerships, and we encourage anybody who wants to be involved to reach out to us,” Cotter said.

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