Phoenix is great because of our strong communities where neighbors work together and take pride in the place they call home.

What do United States Congressman David Schweikert, State Senate Majority Leader John McComish, Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCicco, Kedrick Ellison of the Phoenix Community and Economic Development Department, Kyrene Superintendent Dr. David Shauer, Tempe Union High School Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Baca, and Pangea Development have in common?

The Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning Committee will meet  at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 20 at the Pecos Community Center, 17010 S. 48th St. On the agenda is a City Council update from District 6 and an update on the South Mountain Freeway Citizens Advisory Team. For more information, visit phoenix.gov.

An anonymous donation is keeping the Phoenix gun buyback program going for one final Saturday, May 18.

The Phoenix Fire Department is giving the community a chance to get to know local firefighters by hosting an open house at four fire stations this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, including Ahwatukee Foothills Fire Station No. 43, 4110 E. Chandler Blvd.

Though she’s going to miss seeing her students grow in their love of books, Kyrene Monte Vista Elementary librarian Sue Race said it’s time for her to move on.

Editor’s note: This is part one of a continuing summer series on the proposed South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway.

Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) welcomed two individuals to its administrative team: Matthew Graber, director of marketing, and Zacory Boatright, director of sales and business development.

Seeking to keep fields accessible and available to some 4,000 kids in and around Ahwatukee, various youth sports leagues met with the Kyrene School District on Monday after add-on costs to the Ahwatukee Foothills Pony Baseball Association caused heated community concern.

It’s been eight months since I had the great opportunity to join the Ahwatukee Foothills News. Since that time we have not made radical changes to the paper or wild editorial changes to the product. What I wanted to do was listen to our readers and take note of any changes that would aid this great community.

It was a small turnout with a lot of passion at the Protecting Arizona’s Resources and Children (PARC) meeting on Saturday, May 11.

The Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department will ban open fires in city mountain and desert preserves effective Monday, May 13. In consultation with the Phoenix Fire Department, smoking and charcoal fires are included in the ban due to the extreme fire danger that the combination of low humidity, increasing temperatures and frequent high winds creates each spring. Additional information on the ban is available online at phoenix.gov/parks.

The Arizona Educational Foundation (AEF) announced that 28 Arizona public schools earned the A+ School of Excellence award for the 2012-2013 academic year including one in Ahwatukee Foothills, Kyrene de los Cerritos Elementary School in the Kyrene Elementary District. Darcy DiCosmo is principal.

Arizona’s economic recovery is flattening out statewide, with job growth outside the Phoenix metro area for this year and next predicted to be anemic.

Where are the “silver linings” for the Ahwatukee Foothills area from the proposed South Mountain Freeway?

Now that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) has finally been released by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on the proposed South Mountain Freeway Loop 202 expansion, we can start doing a feasibility check on the proposed freeway.

The persistence and determination I have shown in the past four years is about reform and getting us ready for the new world we live in. There is a bigger reason why I have been pushing so hard for change. It’s about getting Phoenix ready to compete in a global economy. If the council repeals the food tax it will be added to a long list of reforms we accomplished. There were three significant reforms toward the goal of getting us ready to compete in this new world market and getting government to operate more like your household

Now that the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) for the proposed South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway expansion has been released, local environmentalists are planning to use the 90-day comment period to tear it apart.

"Had I known about the crime problems around Arizona State University I would have never let Kyleigh move to Tempe.” Those are the words of Karen Montenegro, the mother of murdered ASU student Kyleigh Sousa.

Students ambassadors from the Everest College Phoenix Mesa campus hopped to help the Easter bunny this year by providing more than 100 Easter baskets for children at Cardon Children’s Medical Center. This marks the fourth year in a row that the Everest College Phoenix Mesa campus has helped to give the children at the medical center a surprise on Easter morning.

OB Sports Golf Vacations has three golf packages available starting at $160 per night.

The city of Phoenix and Arizona State University announced that Sun Devil baseball will begin playing at Phoenix Municipal Stadium at the start of the 2015 season.

Zack Tamburo of Ahwatukee has received the university scholarship and residence life leadership award to attend Southeast Missouri State University for the 2013-2014 academic year.