(funky theme music playing) - Good evening and welcome to "Horizonte", a show that takes a look at current issues through a Hispanic lens.

I'm your host, Catherine Anaya.

A new Phoenix Latino Cultural Center has been in the works for years with funding for the center up for a vote this November.

I'll talk to the two Latina city council members about that.

But first, here are some details about this proposed center.

The center, as I mentioned, was first proposed many years ago.

In 2016, the city of Phoenix hired a consultant to do a feasibility study.

That study was released in 2017 and interviews and surveys were done with community members, including focus groups.

In 2019, a Latino Center ad hoc committee was formed to make recommendations.

Funding for the center will come up for vote in Phoenix this November, which would earmark $22 million in bonds to fund this project.

Joining me now are Phoenix City Council members, Betty Guardado and Laura Pastor.

Thank you so much, ladies, for being here, really appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, thank you for having us.

- So this has been going on for a long time, this conversation, this topic.

Isn't it finally time that we actually make this a reality considering that the latest (indistinct) numbers show that we're almost half the population.

You have other big cities that have centers like this.

What is the issue?

- Do you wanna start or I can go.

I mean, I just think that, I mean, yes, it's been in the works for years now.

When I first came onto the city council, I was asked to co-chair the committee with council member, Nowakowski, at the time and people had many ideas in terms of what they wanted to do with the center, where it was gonna be located.

We were gonna hire a consultant to help us do some of the fundraising and then everyone else, COVID hit and then we fundraised the committee.

And for me, and for all of us on the council, we know that it's important to bring a Latino cultural center to life.

Like you said, over 40% of the people that live in Phoenix are Latinos, so we need to make sure that we make this a reality for everyone that lives in the city.

So we're very excited to be able to have this as part of the bond.

It's something that the community has advocated for.

We have so many folks that took time out of their busy days to be part of this committee.

So we're very happy to be able to make this happen this November.

- It is an exciting time because we've talked about the fact that the conversations go back way longer than probably people realize, right?

- I would say the community has been advocating it for decades and because of their advocation, we're able to now move where we are today.

With this bond money.

it will help build and make the dream come alive of the Latino Cultural Center.

47% Latinos in the city of Phoenix.

I have worked in 2000 in Chicago with museums; I used to be in museums and public schools and wrote curriculum around museums and field trips and building culture and a sense of belonging.

And that's what the community really wants is a sense of belonging and a celebration of who we are and the diverse history of Latinos from Guatemala, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico.

You name it, Puerto Ricano.

And to be able to celebrate our community of a diverse Latino population is really what we wanna see happen.

- And that's what's going to come up for a vote on November 7th with the special election.

So would you say then that there's been overwhelming support in the community at large for proposing that this finally get done?

- I mean, I think so.

I mean, we now have a full department in the city in arts and culture, full department in the city of Phoenix.

I think the community has advocated for a long time.

I think that this is incredibly important.

I think that one of the things that we are seeing is that the center is gonna help us celebrate our culture, our richness, and just so many great things that have happened in Arizona that helps us celebrate the people that came before us and then being able to prepare our leaders for the future.

How is it that this Latino cultural center can be used as a tool in our different schools so that we can continue to teach our children where they come from, what their culture is, and being able to learn a lot from everyone else and being able to do this together as a community?

Yes, there's a lot of support.

We've not decided on a location, but I do think that the community is there.

We just did another press conference yesterday with the Adelitas and they are ready for this to happen.

- Well, let's talk about what voters will be deciding on with the election.

Can you kind of break down what this bond actually means for the voter if you're gonna make it so that they understand precisely what they're voting for?

- I mean, I think there's a couple of buckets that we're talking about.

Like we said, we haven't had a bond program since 2006, so this is crucial.

We're the fifth largest city in the country and there's a lot of needs at this point.

So we are looking into infrastructure needs, making sure that we can fix our roads on our recreational site.

And we have a new aquatic center that's gonna be coming into the Maryville Community Center.

We have infrastructure needs in our police departments, in our fire department that are very important to continue to keep our community safe.

And then we have this huge asset, the Latino Culture Center, that is something that is very needed for people to be able to celebrate their culture.

So this bond is for the community.

The community has been asking for a new bond program for a very long time.

And again, we're the fifth largest city in the country.

It's a huge need and I think that we need this in order for our city to continue to thrive and for us to be able to have a lot of the programs that other states have and making sure that we can keep up with the need for everyone in our community.

- So basically voters then are going to agree to this bond program and then that money that we talked about at the top of the show would then be earmarked for this cultural center to eventually happen.

- Correct.

So there's four different questions.

There are four yeses that we need to do and one of it includes the Latino Culture Center.

Another piece includes our economic development, our infrastructure, our parks, water.

It includes everything that is needed across our city.

This is what our community needs are and this is what we have listened and heard and now have placed in their hands to vote.

So it's in the best interest of our city voters to vote yes in order to get what we need and continue to grow at the pace that we're growing.

- If it passes, what kind of timeframe are we looking at in terms of the cultural center actually coming to a physical fruition?

I know location is still debatable.

I know there have been a couple of proposals.

Can you, before you talk about, I guess, the timeframe, talk to me a little bit about where we are with the location because not everybody is in agreement on that, right?

- And the location really is gonna be, for me, determined by the community.

I would like the community to have a voice to determine where they really want the cultural center to be and be the center of.

And that will be the conversation that we have with the community.

I would say in timeline, we are anticipating it for the next five years.

The next five years for it to be find the location, address the needs of that property, and then be able to build, and be able to get the infrastructure able and programming within the next five years.

- If... Oh, go ahead.

- I mean, if I can just add to what the councilwoman said.

I mean, it has to be a location that symbolizes the richness of our community.

And I think our community are the ones that know exactly where that location is gonna be.

I think it's gonna take a lot of dialogue to be able to get there, but we wanna do it right.

And in terms of being able to get this community center up, Latino Cultural Center up and running, the most important thing is making sure that we have all the programming that the community wants in order for this to work.

So I think it's gonna take a little bit of time, but we believe that we will bring people back together, put them back in the room, and being able to talk about what is our goal at the end of the day with the Latino Cultural Center.

And I think people'll be very happy.

I think the most important part was getting the money, which is something that we were talking about for a long time.

And now that we have the money, I just think it's gonna be a lot of fun from here on out.

- If it does not pass, where do things go from there?

Because, this, like we talked about, has been something that's been part of the conversation for a very long time.

So what happens next if that's the case?

- We will continue.

We will continue.

It's a need for our community.

We will, as Latinos, we know how to be resilient and persevere and be able then to do what we need to do in order to raise that 21 million.

But I can tell you right now, with the polling and everything, it's passing.

And so we just need to make sure our (speaking in foreign language), our Chicanos, our Mexican Americans, whatever we call ourselves, show up and vote for this bond because it is for our community and everything on the bond is for our community.

- Well, and I think that a lot of advocates do stress the fact that we need this cultural center to reflect our contributions to this great state and that it's been long overdue.

- Right, and I think as leaders on the council, we have a real pulse on what the community wants and the Latino Cultural Center was at the top of the list.

And everything that you see on the bond are things that people have been telling us for years.

We need more affordable housing, we need infrastructure, we need to make sure that we give the support to our police officers.

We need the infrastructure for our fire department.

So all of these things that are on the bond are things that the community has been asking for for a very long time.

So I feel very confident that the bond is going to pass because everything that is on there are things that the community has been asking for for years.

The only thing we did was sit down with the city manager, figure out what were all the different pockets that we needed to be part of the bond.

So I feel really good about the bond passing and that we're gonna make sure.

The only thing we need to make sure now is that people come out and vote.

- I think that's-- - Absolutely.

- [Betty] --just the most important thing.

- So, presuming that it does pass then, what would you each like to see in that center?

- I would like to see theater, I like to see dance, music.

I like to see classrooms that are educating community about our culture, but also be able to do a co-op in a way of (speaking in foreign language) office there where then they can practice a music piece, where they are learning mariachi, even crafts, flowers.

I just wanna see vibrancy and I wanna see our community come together and be able to celebrate and really have a place of belonging, a sense of belonging in our city.

- [Catherine] I love that, sense of belonging.

- No, it is definitely a sense of belonging, that's why the location is critical.

When we went to Dallas and saw the center out in Dallas and all the different programming that they were doing there, I envisioned coming back to Phoenix, partnering with different partners, and being able to do a sit-down restaurant, being able to bring that for the community.

I mean, you know this, I know this, we all know this in this room; people love (speaking in foreign language).

How is it that we bring all of that to life?

Making sure that all of our moms and pops that have, that know, you know that house in the corner that does the best gorditas and how do we bring those people into the center?

How do we teach our children about the culture?

How is it that our schools are able to take advantage of that and bringing the children to learn about the different cultures?

I think that's gonna be incredibly important.

- It's a sense of community, and really, it's a place to just get all of the generations together.

I think it's wonderful and we need to encourage people to just get out there and vote.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, for sure.

- It's a sense of community, but it's also a sense of educating our generations and our kids because all of us have experienced, at a certain point in time, a generational piece with a nana, the abuela, abuelo are there teaching, cooking, and then the music comes, then the family comes, and the festivals come.

That's what we envision along with many different Latino cultures.

We celebrate many independence days within the city of Phoenix.

So they have a space now, a center to be able then to celebrate the different independence instead of all across the state.

- Well, to be continued.

Hopefully, you will both come back and we can discuss this after the election where things go from there.

So thank you, both, so much for sharing your vibrant vision and reminding people to get out there and vote.

Appreciate it.

- November 7th.

- Yes, November 7th.

- And don't forget to mail in your ballot.

- Yes, that too.

That's our show for tonight.

For "Horizonte" and Arizona PBS, I'm Catherine Anaya.

Have a great night.

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