Rancho Ventura Neighborhood Association

I wanted to express my concerns about the parade of people hanging outside of the Desert Palms Shopping Center...I have already express in a letter via the Governor, Wal-mart, Home Depot, Walgreens, etc. about the situation taking place there. If this continues I have a great concern about someone getting hurt. A few months ago my mother who is close to eighty years old, went to Home Depot, several men jumped in the bed of her truck, along with entering her cab of her truck which scared her to death....this has got to stop, this is getting to the point that someone is going to get hurt, this should not be allowed. I don't like to see anyone out of work, but this is real problem in this area, I have gotten to the point where I even hate to go to Wal-mart, because everytime I step out of my vehicle someone approaches me for money, it is just a matter of time before someone goes overboard and then there will be one big fat lawsuit against the shopping center, and the State of Arizona for allowing this to continue. It is real threatening to have people approach your vehicle even before you open the door and the fact that the stores in this area have continued to allow this to happen on their private property is really a very sad situation, along with the fact that if these individuals are illegal, they should be deported, not allowed to camp out in our neighborhood. I really hope someone does something about this before it is too late. We really need to clean up our area, it is getting really bad, guns go off on a nightly basis, and I think all the apartment complexes on 40th Street & McDowell area really have added to the deterioration of our neighborhood. I would like to see someone come in and bull-doze the complexes, and rebuilt them like the nice complex on Oak and 44th Street or turn the apartment sites back into residential type homes, I think this would eleviate alot of the problem in the neighborhood. It used to be you could walk down the street on Palm Lane, with no concerns, now you take your life into your own hands attempting to walk in a neighborhood most of us grew up in. It is really sad to see what has happened to what used to be a very nice middle-class type neighborhood. I would also like to see the owner of the car wash on 40th Street & McDowell area, clean it up, it is totally disgusting, razor blades all over the lot, etc...it is a real eyesore, we need some neighborhood volunteers to start pitching in cleaning up our businesses on 40th Street & McDowell, they are only devaluing our property values in the long run. Thanks for listening, a very concerned neighbor who has lived in the area over 40 years.

illegal and loitering

could not agree with you more. As an RVNA neighbor it is sometimes hard to get volunteers motivated before they do any thing. Like maybe a roof rat would have to bite them in the A-- before they help clean up. Our neighborhood President is doing what he can and I notice we are getting good information on what's up in the neighborhood. As you know we now have day workers, roof rats, loitering among other things. We have lived here only a short time and truly enjoy the neighborhood and the neighbors. Perhaps one of the better ways to address some of these issues is at the RVNA meetings. We meet every 2nd Thursday of the Month with a pot luck at 6:30 and 7:00 pm meeting over at 8:00