2025 April Issue of InMaricopa Magazine

2025 April Issue of InMaricopa Magazine InMaricopa.com InMaricopa is Maricopa's premier local news source InMaricopa is your go-to source for hyper-local news and information about Maricopa, Arizona. Stay informed with the latest community updates, events, and stories that matter to our city. InMaricopa is the only dedicated news outlet focusing exclusively on the city of Maricopa, ensuring residents are always in the know.

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April 2025

Game of Foams Belegarth Medieval Combat Society expands its realm into Maricopa

GOVERNMENT • COMMUNITY • BUSINESS • SPORTS • HOME • MORE

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CONTENTS

LEADING OFF Editor’s letter 6 Contributors 6 HISTORY

Maricopa Accelerated Program KINDERGARTEN TO THIRD GRADE

Build the Walgreens 8 This month in history 8 GOVERNMENT We followed your representatives around the Capitol so you don’t have to 10 More apartments means more evictions. But that’s half the story 16 Permits 22 EDUCATION One started college early. The other started late. They’re at the top of their class 26 COMMUNITY Belegarth, a fast-growing ‘full-contact battle game,’ comes to Copper Sky 28 BUSINESS Briefs 32 Industrial park fills blue-collar business gap 34 Restaurant inspections 35 Sommelier celebrates six months of wine and vibes at Mandy’s 36 HEALTH & WELLNESS Medspa goes all out with sales, sentimentality for sixth anniversary 38

ABOUT US

Designed for kids and families interested in a rigorous experience that promotes critical thinking, problem-solving, and advanced reading skills so that students work above grade level.

SPORTS Golden Hawks host first varsity baseball game 40 Where are they now? The MHS girls who won a hoops chip in ‘15 42 He’s a high school teacher by day and a foosball wizard by night 46 HOME Prune your tomato plants for better yields 50 The 3 types of deeds and what they mean 51 Extreme home sales 52 The hidden obstacles to expanding your rental portfolio 53

Tuition Free Located at SADDLEBACK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (520)-568-6110 musd20.org/map

EVENTS Calendar 54 TRENDING A look at what’s hot on InMaricopa.com 63 PARTING SHOT Sparkling water 64

ON THE COVER In this photo illustration by David Iversen and Carl Bezuidenhout, Maricopa LARPer Clayton Peterson, a.k.a. Sava the Irresponsible, is armed with foam and ready to battle. The original photograph was captured at Copper Sky Regional Park Feb. 15.

InMaricopa.com | April 2025

FROM THE EDITOR

I IN CHARLOTTE IN THE AUGHTS, I USED TO PICK up the Observer every morning. When Barack Obama was running for president the first time, in 2007, I remember seeing former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on the front page. I had never heard of him. Then again, I was a grade schooler on the opposite side of the country. It was a story about immigration policy. A decade and a half later, unwittingly, I became Arpaio’s neighbor in Fountain Hills. I could walk to his house on Vía Del Sol, and I did sometimes. I ended up spending a year writing a cover story in Phoenix New Times called “Inside Joe’s Brain.” I love when things come full circle like that. For example, Brian Petersheim Jr. caught up this month with his former Maricopa High School teacher, Brad Chamberlain. Remember how weird it was running into your schoolteacher at the grocery store as a child? Imagine following him into a dimly lit Tempe foosball hall. And here’s a fun one: A couple of months ago, one of our advertising professionals happened upon some hobbyists inside a Maricopa computer repair shop. Now, one of them is on our cover. David Iversen writes about the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society. There are worse ways to escape reality than LARPing — but we all need a break sometimes. Even our state representatives and senators sometimes travel by secret passageway; Republicans escape to blindingly blue offices to sip Coke Zero away from Nerding out

Publisher SCOTT BARTLE

the chaos inside the chambers. How do we know? Monica D. Spencer spent a week at the Capitol to better understand those who represent Maricopa. And the girls who won Maricopa High School’s

Editorial Director ELIAS WEISS

Advertising Manager TAWNI PROCTOR

only state championship in 2015 love to transport mentally back to that hardwood court. Fortunately, they were willing to do so with Jeff Chew. My escape was always reading newspapers and newsmagazines like this one. Ever since I was in school, reading the Charlotte Observer every day. Whether you nerd out about print journalism like me,

Advertising VINCENT MANFREDI AMBER ROGALLA BRITTANY RUSSELL MICHELLE SORENSEN Writers AMANDA ATLER AL BRANDENBURG JEFF CHEW KRISTINA DONNAY JUSTIN GRIFFIN DAVID IVERSEN MICHAEL MCDANIEL DAYV MORGAN

or dueling Lord of the Rings-style at Copper Sky, or anything else — make time to escape into your own little world from time to time. We’ll all be here when you get back. I, for one, think Maricopa is the perfect place to return to.

BRIAN PETERSHEIM JR. MONICA D. SPENCER SHERMAN AND EUPHEMIA WEEKES

Photographers BRIAN PETERSHEIM JR. DAVID IVERSEN VICTOR MORENO MONICA D. SPENCER

ELIAS WEISS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Elias@inMaricopa.com

LITTLE TO NO WAIT TIMES • 24/7 HOSPITAL & EMERGENCY SERV ICES SPACIOUS PRIVATE INPATIENT ROOMS • PERSONALIZED CARE PLANS ON-SITE CLINICAL PHARMACY, LABORATORY & RADIOLOGY SUITE HIGHLY SKILLED STAFF & PROVIDERS • RAPID ACCESS TO YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS Your Community. Your Hospital. Maricopa's state-of-the-art Hospital and 24/7 ER is ready to serve you. uality Care Close to Home Q

Designer CARL BEZUIDENHOUT

Send your reactions with a photo of yourself at the QR code to be published in a future edition of InMaricopa magazine.

MISSION Inform readers/viewers. Enrich advertisers.

BELIEFS We believe in: • An informed citizenry. • Holding ourselves and others accountable. • The success of deserving businesses.

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VALUES

• Integrity • Accountability

• Open, honest, real-time communication • Prosperity for clients, community, company

Volume 20, Issue 4 InMaricopa 44400 W. Honeycutt Road, Suite 101 Maricopa, AZ 85138

520-568-0040 Tel News@InMaricopa.com Advertising@InMaricopa.com

JEFF CHEW A decade later, veteran reporter Jeff catches up with the only Rams team to win a state title.

AMANDA ATLER Entrepreneur and sommelier Mandy celebrates her popular wine bar’s half birthday.

AL BRANDENBURG In February, we learned how to grow ‘em. Now, gardener Al teaches us how to make the most of our tomatoes.

Published advertisements are not an endorsement of products or advertising claims by InMaricopa . No part of this magazine may be reproduced by any means without the prior written permission of InMaricopa . Copyright 2025.

WWW.EHC24.COM/MARICOPA 10960 N. John Wayne Parkway | Maricopa, AZ 85139 | 520.534.0700

InMaricopa.com | April 2025

SMILE WITH CONFIDENCE

HISTORY

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Bet the pharma Maricopa’s first Walgreens store opened at the corner of John Wayne Parkway and Smith-Enke Road in early 2004. This InMaricopa file photo depicts the storefront with a “NOW OPEN” banner hanging and fresh coat of parking- lot paint. The first location did so well that Walgreens built a second one at The Wells in 2007 — but the store spent 13 years in purgatory following the Great Recession.

“Due to the crash of the economy and an insufficient population base, we don’t feel Maricopa can currently support two Walgreens,” corporate spokesman Robert Elfinger told InMaricopa in 2010. “Let’s just say the economy needs to return.” The second pharmacy would eventually open in 2020, just in time for another generational economic contraction.

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The InMaricopa team handed out thousands of hard-to-get surgical masks to local residents who drove by the magazine’s Honeycutt Road office during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The magazine box in front of the office was transformed into an impromptu food pantry.

Native New Yorker reopened as Native Grill & Wings, but the restaurant had more than just a new name. Everything from the lights and paint to the bar top and TVs were upgraded. The interior redesign was meant to open the feel of the restaurant and appeal to a wider audience, the owners said.

An elderly woman was struck and killed by a car on Honeycutt Avenue, just west of Taft Avenue, on her way to Mass at Our Lady of Grace Church. Aurora Combs, 80, was barely breathing and bleeding profusely when she was air-evacuated to Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix where she was pronounced dead. The driver, who was not seriously injured, was deemed not at fault.

A mosquito captured in Maricopa tested positive for West Nile Virus, the first in Arizona that year. In response, Pinal County officials gave Maricopa residents free Gambusia fish to release into the city’s many manmade lakes. The fish loved snacking on infected mosquito larvae, keeping the spread of diseased insects at bay.

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InMaricopa.com | April 2025

GOVERNMENT

Above: State Rep. Teresa Martinez participates in a legislative meeting March 4. Right: Martinez debriefs with Rep. Chris Lopez in her office at the State Capitol.

District diaries We followed our representatives around the Capitol. This is what we learned about them, Democrats and inside politics BY MONICA D. SPENCER A

with a robust middle child and a younger brother just learning his role in the process. “I’m comfortable with the fact that Teresa is a great person to rally the troops, so to speak,” he said, “because it’s authentic. If I were to do something like that, it just comes off as inauthentic because it’s just not my personality, not my style. The way I operate — as an institutionalist and a lover of the process — is working, and Chris is going to find his style as well.” Keith Seaman did not caucus with Republicans. Strategists during the election cycle said that was detrimental to Seaman, the lone Democrat in a reliably red, largely rural district. “Keith is a very nice man, and he tried super hard,” Martinez said. “But I couldn’t help Keith with his bills ... I couldn’t help him with his priorities because we had different priorities.” Shope shared similar views. “I don’t have anything negative to say personally of Keith. We just had ideological differences to the extent that we weren’t able to help each other,” he said. It could have been his voting record — or the fact that Seaman failed to pass a single bill during his two years in the House, something

They move to the floor, and I head to the gallery to watch the lawmakers vote mostly in silence for nearly two hours. Now, it’s Lopez’s turn. Lopez, who was sworn into office for the first time in January — after ousting the only Democrat in Legislative District 16 — talks about the statistics, Martinez mentions all the emails and Rep. Quantá Crews (D-Phoenix) testifies about her own travels on SR 347. It is truly a bipartisan affair. We watch the screen light up green for a unanimous vote in favor of the funding and LD16 seatmate Sen. T.J. Shope sends a text message from a Committee on Natural Resources meeting. Pling! Martinez’s cellular lights up. Shope is At the same time Republicans were winning a trifecta in the federal government in November, members of that party were putting together a trifecta of their own in Maricopa’s district. Lopez, Martinez and Shope ran on a ticket together, a cohesive red-wave team that proved impossible for the Democrats to topple in the 2024 general election. celebrating the legislative victory. A loud, mad, curly-haired Virgo Latina

Shope was leading challenger Stacey Seaman by 12% on election night. Her father, Rep. Keith Seaman (D-Casa Grande), narrowly lost re-election by 3 points to newcomer Lopez. And since then, they’ve created a little Pinal County dream team. Shope said the trio was “a breath of fresh air,” while Lopez likened it to a sibling relationship. “We communicate a lot; there’s a lot of texting. It feels a lot like being a younger brother,” Lopez said. “I couldn’t ask for better mentors.” Martinez accepted that role, saying, “Sometimes you need somebody, a loud, mad, curly-haired, Virgo Latina yelling at somebody as to why in the world things aren’t done yet.” With 13 years under his belt, Shope accepted his role as the quiet older brother We communicate a lot; there’s a lot of texting. It feels a lot like being a younger brother.” STATE REP. CHRIS LOPEZ

like, ‘What is going on?’” Abeytia says. “I was googling it, wondering where is this highway even at?” The emails about State Route 347 were a conversation on repeat until we caught up with Maricopa’s other state representative, Chris Lopez, in the minutes before members assembled for a third reading of bills. One of his first pieces of legislation is up for a vote today, House Bill 2557, which would bring an additional $16.2 million to help fund widening the cursed highway. “That’s how important those emails are; everyone knows about it now,” Martinez says. “Just this morning there was another accident, so I shared with all the members the [InMariopa.com] article and headline,” Lopez adds.

How a walk so brief could be so chaotic is beyond me. As is how the sophomore representative for Maricopa has the energy for all of it every day. “It’s the Coke Zero,” she insists. We take a beat in her office, and she points to a mini fridge filled with soda cans before we leave for the House floor. “I’m going to take you the long way up,” Martinez says. But before we make it off the elevator, she’s introducing me to Rep. Anna Abeytia, a West Phoenix Democrat who you might not imagine rolling with the likes of Martinez. “You know all those emails on the 347? She’s been covering that,” Martinez tells her colleague. “Is that your district? I actually had no idea of that highway until I got here. I was

CCOMPANYING REP. TERESA Martinez through the hallways of the Arizona State Capitol feels a lot like walking through Copacabana

with Ray Liotta in Goodfellas. She’s rattling off what’s behind the doors of an underground passageway leading into the Senate chambers. That one’s the back entrance to a committee room, she says. She’s rifling through her to-do list — Oh! She had to write that speech today. And in between pointing out her favorite photos, like a 1917 monochrome print of the Capitol, are the constant salutations and “Did you get my memo?” and handshakes and times hallways become impromptu meeting rooms to quiz staffers about what’s on the agenda or whether they had a slice of king cake yet.

InMaricopa.com | April 2025

GOVERNMENT

the lawmakers were diplomatic enough not to broach in interviews. Going against the grain The passage of HB 2557 in the House Appropriations Committee is a crucial step toward the estimated $143 million needed to widen the Pinal County portion of State Route 347. But it didn’t pass by unanimous verdict. The five abstentions came from House Democrats, who all voted “present” as opposed to “yea” or “nay.” All except for Rep. Kevin Volk, the only Democrat who crossed the aisle to support the measure. It’s not the first time he’s done such a thing. The freshman lawmaker from the traditionally conservative District 17 in Tucson is a political newbie and has been getting skewered by the Left for his legislative choices recently. But he’s doing the opposite of Keith Seaman’s failed red-district-Dem playbook. Volk in February voted with Republicans in favor of HB 2606, which appropriated $50 million for the Arizona Department of Public Safety to “deter and apprehend” unlawful border crossers. It was a move that led to immigrants’ rights activists calling him a sellout and racist. His reason? It’s what his constituents wanted. And sitting on the House Appropriations Committee listening to statistics about Maricopa’s traffic, the fatalities, the impacts on home and work lives — it sounded familiar. “It reminds me of some of the fastest growing areas in my district, particularly the Marana area,” Volk told InMaricopa . A 2024 data study listed Marana as the No. 33 fastest growing city in the country. Maricopa came in seventh place on the same list. And while he and his constituents may not be directly impacted by commuting on SR 347, Volk said voting in favor of the bill was part of the “greater good.” “While we are elected to represent our district and we’re directly answerable to the constituents of our legislative districts, our charge is to serve the greater good of the State of Arizona. That includes all folks in Arizona,” he said. However, it’s also likely the votes — along with his infamous bill making “howdy” the official legal greeting in Arizona — were attempts to build rapport as a lonely Democrat in MAGA country. “I am the type of person — and I made this commitment to my voters — that I will always

Reps. Teresa Martinez and Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) speak inside the Arizona House of Representatives chambers March 4.

The Dem and the MAGA who said no to fixing SR 347 Senate Bill 1617, introduced by Shope, requests the $49 million already allocated for the Riggs Road overpass on State Route 347 be made available this year. Of the 10 members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Lauren Kuby (D-Tempe) was the lone “nay” vote Feb. 18 despite telling at least one Maricopa official and SR 347 advocates that she would support the bill. During the vote, she explained that she was concerned if the overpass funding were to “leapfrog ahead,” the Arizona Department of Transportation could push back other infrastructure projects already slated for its five- year plan. Presumably, projects in her district. She reiterated that point in an interview with InMaricopa a few days later and chalked her vote, which shocked Maricopans, up to “misinformation.” “I had some misinformation, frankly, that this was going to basically bump other projects, and it was going to leapfrog over another project that might have had a higher priority,” Kuby said in the interview. “Sen. [Vince] Leach (R-Saddlebrooke) talked to me afterwards and I got verification from ADOT, so that made me feel more comfortable.” When the bill went through the Senate for a third reading, Kuby fell in line and voted in support of it.

work together with anyone in order to get the best outcomes for districts in our state,” Volk said. “My colleagues, they all bring different experiences and different perspectives to the legislature.” Volk’s colleagues are Rep. Rachel Jones and Sen. Justine Wadsack, two extremely far- right Tucson Republicans who are part of the Arizona Freedom Caucus. Both have espoused unfounded conspiracy theories related to the 2020 election and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Jones last year introduced legislation that would have declared Donald Trump the 2024 presidential election winner even if Kamala Harris won the Electoral College. I am the type of person — and I made this commitment to my voters — that I will always work together with anyone in order to get the best outcomes for districts in our state.” REP. KEVIN VOLK (D-TUCSON)

InMaricopa.com | April 2025

GOVERNMENT

“Knowing the dangers of the intersection and that it’s one of the worst in the Southwest, it has to be a priority,” she said. In a twist, the lone “nay” during that Feb. 27 vote came from Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek). He founded the Arizona Freedom Caucus and refers to himself as a “persecuted Trump elector” on the social media platform X. Hoffman waffled in his support of the Riggs Road overpass project when former State Rep. Bret Roberts, a Maricopa Republican, introduced the original bill to fund the project in 2021. Hoffman voted for the bill during a February committee hearing, but he changed his mind just over a week later. It turned out Hoffman was chief among a group of Republicans who deemed the bill “pork” and went “against their conservative fiscal beliefs.” It was among a stack of projects the group believed “must go.” Just another day at the office Martinez’s politics may be ruby red, but her office is royal blue. That’s where we end our day. An hour has passed since Lopez’s first-ever bill, which would allocate over $16 million to widen SR 347, passed with unanimous support. It marked a dramatic reversal from the House Committee on Appropriations’ vote just two weeks earlier. The two representatives are energized. “It was a bit like passing a kidney stone,” Lopez laughs. “Actually, it was very fulfilling. I can’t tell you I enjoyed all that driving after the election to all the orientations and trainings, but when it was go time, I was so glad. It’s very fulfilling because we are making decisions for our constituents and for the entire state.” Martinez commended the bipartisan support, saying, “There are some bills that [Democrats] can say, ‘This is a good bill,’ and then we work together.” This is one of them. Now, only the budget and ADOT’s bureaucracy stand in the way. “They don’t see the road as crucial or important. They finally understand now, but they literally needed to be coerced into doing their job,” she said. Shope said he hopes the momentum continues through the session, to push the governor’s office to understand the urgency. “When you’re a legislator who has one of the most dangerous intersections in the western half of the country in your district, it’s embarrassing,” he said. “I know the patience is wearing thin ... but I hope the people know they have a good team here making sure their voice, the Maricopa voice, is definitely being heard at the Capitol.”

Rep. Chris Lopez checks emails at his office desk at the Arizona State Capitol March 4.

GETTING THEIR ‘REPS’ IN

HB 2728: Allows people convicted of driving under the influence to participate in a religious program or evidence-based psychotherapy for required court-ordered treatment. HB 2753: Allows Pinal County municipalities to assume groundwater replenishment obligations in their service area. HB 2895: Requires state departments to post task order contracts on their websites. Those are agreements where a department issues specific “task orders” for services or goods from a contractor as needs arise, without needing a new contract each time. HB 2896: Appropriates $1 million from the state general fund for municipal, county and tribal law enforcement agencies to purchase drones.

study Pinal County’s transportation needs.

HB 2235: Imposes a $200 fine for drivers left lane camping on Interstates 8, 10 and 40. HB 2340: Penalizes intentional murder of a law enforcement officer with death or natural life imprisonment. HB 2557: Appropriates $16.2 million from the state general fund to widen SR 347. HB 2700: Requires schools to include instruction on the Gulf of America. HB 2725: Increases requirements for social studies classes and re- quires 8th grade students to complete at least one civics education course before promotion. Also appropriates $1 million from state general fund for the Museum of Democracy Presidential Project.

As of publication, the following bills from Reps. Teresa Martinez and Chris Lopez have progressed to the Senate except for HB 2725, Lopez’s so-called “Pledge of Allegiance” bill. It failed during a third reading in the House. HB 2029: Requires schools to provide proof it meets digital citizenship and media literacy standards. HB 2099: Requires state, county and municipalities enforce federal immigration laws through Jan. 20, 2029. HB 2100: Requires nonresidents wanting to rent out watercraft to register the watercraft and maintain proof of insurance. HB 2234: Appropriates $500,000 from state general fund to

InMaricopa.com | April 2025

GOVERNMENT

My Strange Eviction More Maricopans are being evicted than ever before. Who are they?

BY ELIAS WEISS

She was not allowed to take custody of the items. An Arizona law makes it illegal for a landlord to demand storage fees for clothing, government documents or medical items. “It killed me,” said Michelle, a disabled retiree who has lived there since 2015. That day, InMaricopa contacted Lux Home Group at Keller Williams Phoenix, the property manager that filed the eviction paperwork in a Pinal County court. Within minutes, the website had been taken down: “There has been a critical error on this website.” On March 17, a visit to ListingsByLux.com from the InMaricopa newsroom gave this message: “Sorry, you have been blocked.” Sandoval saw the same message. A third person, however, was able to access the website. InMaricopa successfully reached Darryl Frost, the Keller Williams corporate spokesman in Austin, Texas. Once reporters mentioned the site had gone offline that day, he refused to answer any more questions. It appears he blocked us, too. “The property management people are careless and evil,” said Michelle, “and I don’t throw the word evil around easy.” Sandoval’s solution: “We’ll probably end up filing a civil lawsuit against them.” Now, if only she had the money. Not an isolated case In December 2023, four people were evicted in Maricopa. In December 2024, 22 people were evicted in Maricopa. Then, in January, the numbers kept climbing. Eviction filings in Maricopa and metro Phoenix more broadly set records that month even though the rental market had been cooling for years.

Editor’s note: Katrina Sandoval is a pseudonym. The writer’s name has been changed to protect her identity.

ATRINA SANDOVAL MOVED TO Maricopa in 2010. She rented a home on Cahill Drive in The Lakes at Rancho El Dorado. Her rent payment was $1,800

per month. No one disputes whether the mom of 10 was rightfully evicted Feb. 17 — she was. Her husband, the breadwinner, lost his job in the finance sector and couldn’t pay the rent. It’s hard for a family of 12 to save money. Fair enough. But was holding her belongings for ransom at $2,500 — the landlords cited “storage fees,” although they did not store the items — fair enough? It may be legal, according to two landlord-tenant attorneys, or such an overtly unpayable sum could burke a requirement that the storage fees be “reasonable.” “The charge you impose must bear a relationship to the cost of self-storage,” said landlord-tenant attorney Steven Warren Smollens. All the property left at the Cahill Drive home was in the garage. Does a self-storage unit cost $2,500 for 14 days? It gets worse. Among the belongings were a wheelchair and shower chair belonging to Sandoval’s disabled 7-year-old daughter. The family’s social security cards, birth certificates and medical documents. The children’s clothes. Now, things have become legally dubious. When Sandoval, 43, sat down for an interview Feb. 28, she was living in a hotel room at Maricopa’s La Quinta Inn with her husband and three of their children. Two of her relatives were paying for the room. The relatives didn’t have enough cash to release the family’s possessions and felt keeping a roof over their heads was more important, they said. A junk removal crew was at the Cahill Drive home March 10, according to Sandoval and two neighbors. Next-door neighbor Michelle, who did not give her last name, spoke to reporters through tears at her home that day. She said the crew told her they were making their second trip to the dump. She saw children’s toys and clothes, stacks of documents and the disabled child’s wheelchair in the trailer and in garbage bins, she said.

Katrina Sandoval holds her La Quinta Inn room key Feb. 28.

InMaricopa.com | April 2025

April 2025 | InMaricopa.com

GOVERNMENT

Maricopa Unified School District is Now Hiring Immediate Need for: Certified and Support Staff

EVICTIONS IN MARICOPA

“Rental prices are down from 2022,” said Dayv Morgan, a prominent Maricopa real estate agent. “The first Maricopa apartments were completed in 2021 and there’s been a lot more since then, so I think that is also a factor.” Valley rents fell between 3% and 5% annually since that year. Yet, Valley landlords evicted renters a record 87,197 times in 2024. The previous record had been set in 2005 when landlords filed to evict 83,687 renters. Experts say building more apartments is doing little to solve the housing shortage that has beleaguered the Phoenix area. Especially in Maricopa, where the few available apartments are billed as “luxury” and cost hundreds of dollars more per month than Phoenix apartments on average, according to Apartment List. Indeed, evictions have ballooned since the advent of apartment living in Maricopa, according to William Lee “Bill” Griffin, the constable for Western Pinal County who lives in Cobblestone Farms. He has observed evictions going up month-over-month since he was appointed to the office in October. Bearing the burden Roughly half of the Maricopa evictions in January were served at apartment complexes, those tenants were most often middle-income earners. The rest of the eviction filings were associated with single-family homes like Sandoval’s. “One trend that we know is happening is the rise in housing cost burden. We consider a household ‘cost burdened’ if rent exceeds 30% of your income,” said Lorae T. Stojanovic, the Eviction Lab researcher at Princeton University who is tracking data in Pinal County. “The levels of people who are cost burdened have

HOMES

APARTMENTS

TOTAL

May 2023

0 0

June July

6 5 7 4 5 4 9

7 9 8 4 5 4

August

September

October

0 0 0 4 3 0 0 0 0

November December

January 2024

13 17 10

February

14 10

March

April May June

4 8 7

July-October 2024

No data

November December

6 9

15 22 23

13 12

January 2025

was alarming, but not necessarily surprising given some baseline facts we know about residual income among renters,” Stojanovic told InMaricopa . “Even the middle class feels a crunch. It would be interesting to see whether places like Maricopa have seen larger losses in residual income or larger increases in the cost- burdened share than the national average.” The Sandovals were cost burdened. They took home $3,800 every month, meaning their rent payment represented 47% of their income.

risen to their highest levels since the Great Recession.” From 2001 to 2023, the share of middle- class renters who were cost burdened more than doubled among those making at least $45,000 annually, according to Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University tabulations of U.S. Census Bureau data in December. “I thought your observation about rising evictions in the middle class in Maricopa

SHARE OF U.S. RENTER HOUSEHOLDS (PERCENT)

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Source: Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University

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InMaricopa.com | April 2025

GOVERNMENT

Renters who divert half of their income to rent are considered “severely cost burdened,” according to JCHS of Harvard. “When we first moved into the house [in mid-2023], we were not cost burdened at all,” Sandoval said March 18. “Everything was fine for a year and a half. Then, everything went to sh*t.” Landlords filed to evict 22 renters in Maricopa from November 2023 through January 2024, according to data released by the Western Pinal Justice Court in February. Then, during the same period a year later, there were 60 evictions. Scott Davis, the Justice Court’s spokesman, said “late summer is typically the heaviest time for landlords to file their cases … winter is usually the lightest.”

U.S. CHANGE IN INCOME LEFT OVER AFTER PAYING RENT (PERCENT)

I want to be able to help somebody who’s got two mortgages that they’re now paying because somebody’s not paying their rent. At the same time, I want to help somebody who’s having a rough time. I don’t want to see you living out of your car.” CONSTABLE BILL GRIFFIN, WESTERN PINAL COUNTY What’s a girl to do? During the week, it’s $240 a night at La Quinta Inn. On the weekends, anywhere from $275 to $300, Sandoval said. That’s about $8,000 every month for the cramped hotel room one-seventh the size of the Sandovals’ old house on Cahill Drive. On March 18, they were still living there. “I’m basically hemorrhaging money to stay here,” Sandoval said. All the Vrbo listings in Maricopa were sold out Feb. 27. On Airbnb, another short- term rental service, a house in Maricopa started at $15,764 for a month’s stay. Now, with a raw eviction on their record, no one will dare to rent to the family of 12. “We’re going to have to file bankruptcy before we can even look at renting again,” Sandoval said. Two bills were proposed in January to assist renters. Senate Bill 1178 would have limited the amount landlords could charge for late fees, while House Bill 2921 would have mandated landlords inform tenants at risk of eviction about the resources available at AZCourtHelp.org. Both Democrat-sponsored bills died on the second reading. Sandoval, a conservative, had hoped for their passage. “Arizona and the Phoenix metro area are what we would consider landlord-friendly jurisdictions,” said Stojanovic, the Princeton University evictions researcher. “This is a story that is affecting more than just the very bottom portions of the income distribution.” Either the laws will change, or the renting middle class will collapse under its own cost burden. In Maricopa, the question is this: Which will come first?

MATTRESS & FURNITURE

Source: Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University

the middle class,” said Stojanovic. In Maricopa, the middle class means virtually everyone. Balancing act Unromantic as delivering court documents may seem, Griffin carries a firearm. Some evictees, especially at apartments, are truculent, he said. For an hour, he recounted horror stories from his career — one had a humorous twist, another was heart-rending. But there was something different about the Sandovals. There was love in the air. The children were happy and well fed. Griffin, a one-time sheriff’s deputy in Orange County, Calif., had to make sure he was at the right house. “This is a family with young children. One of them is disabled. I understand what they’re going through,” Griffin said. “The [landlords] wanted $2,500 for them to go back inside to get their property. I said, ‘They’re charging you?’ I did not know that was allowed.” In an unlikely alignment, the conservative Republican Griffin agreed with the tenant’s rights attorneys that the Keller Williams franchise had lodged unreasonable storage fees against the Sandovals. March 4, the constable said he was still studying the law, having returned to Maricopa from a legal training program in Kingman the day prior. He had been seeing more cases like that — middle-class, two-parent households — and fewer of the capricious encounters to which he had at one time become accustomed in low- income Southern California in the 1980s and ’90s. “I want to be able to help somebody who’s got two mortgages that they’re now paying because somebody’s not paying their rent,” Griffin said. “At the same time, I want to help somebody who’s having a rough time. I don’t want to see you living out of your car.”

Maricopa set a record in January. What does that say of the months ahead? “I would say this is really starting to affect

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MARICOPA’S DARKEST EVICTION

major point of tension within the household. It is believed this pressure contributed significantly to Thomas’s state of mind in the days leading up to his death. The medical examiner who reviewed Thomas’s case concluded his death was most likely a suicide, with the eviction serving as the primary motivating factor. Though the cause of death was a stab wound, a method rarely associated with suicides, the examiner suggested the stress of the eviction could’ve been enough to push Thomas into a state where he took his own life. Thomas had planned to become homeless, which might have deepened his despair, the landlord said. Read our full investigation into the backyard stabbing death of Makaiel Thomas:

NOW SELLING AMERICA’S NUMBER ONE MATTRESS: BEAUTYREST BLACK!

It’s been one year since Makaiel Thomas was found dead in the backyard of his Dirk Street rental home in the Maricopa Meadows. The death of Thomas

she knocked and received no response, she decided to enter through the back gate. As she turned the corner, she was met with the spine-tingling sight of Thomas’s decomposing body. The discovery was traumatic for Dos Marcos, who immediately contacted the authorities. Eviction notices had been posted on the home’s garage door for several days, the neighbors said. Thomas, who was living there with his brother, Ontwiel Lane, and other family members, had recently received a promotion at his QuikTrip job. Despite this, the family struggled financially since moving to Maricopa from Atlanta, with Lane losing his job at Amazon. The authorities noted the eviction had been a

days after his 24th birthday last April

has been shrouded in mystery. But one key factor that stood out in the investigation was the role his eviction played in his untimely demise. InMaricopa conducted an eight-month investigation into the death. It was the first time this journalist saw the word “eviction” on a death certificate. Mary Dos Marcos, the landlord, was the one who found Thomas’s body while serving an eviction notice to the occupants of the home. On the morning of April 29, she had arrived at the property to ensure the tenants were gone. When

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April 2025 | InMaricopa.com

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