PHOENIX — The grim economy has driven many residents in the Phoenix metro area to turn to shelters and food banks, and the charities are feeling the pinch.

Each night, more than 300 people sleep in the parking lot of one Phoenix homeless shelter for men because there’s no room left inside of the building. Central Arizona Shelter Services, the nonprofit that runs that shelter.

And at downtown Phoenix’s Human Services Campus, the number of people who line up for a free breakfast has roughly doubled in six months. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the agency that serves meals there, had to lay off eight workers and stopped serving lunch to the needy in Sunnyslope because donations are down.

“We are doing less with less,” said Susan de Queljoe, director of community relations at St. Vincent de Paul. “Next, we are going to have to look at (cutting) programs.”

Executives at several nonprofits say it’s tough to quantify the slump in donations. Many saw a surge in generosity during the holiday season, but also helped more families in need than they did the previous year.

Since nonprofits are helping more people, there will be less holiday-donation money to sustain the groups during the spring and summer, when there are traditionally fewer contributions.

Meanwhile, the nonprofits expect even more people to seek help as the recession deepens.

“As a business, we are being very cautious,” said Terry Shannon, president and CEO of St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance. “We are being very careful with our dollars as you would at home.”

A passerby watches as a Southwest Airlines airplane takes off at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.

PHOENIX – Passengers may wait a bit longer for the Sky Harbor shuttle bus, sit in line to pay for parking or wait longer to catch a taxi or limo at the airport.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport plans to slash $15.8 million in expenses and shed 47 positions during the 2009-2010 fiscal year, which begins July 1, to cope with fewer flights and an ongoing slide in passengers.

The City Council will consider the proposal Feb. 3.

Because the city-run airport is self-supporting, it must lower expenses when revenue falls. The airport’s annual operating budget is $200 million, said Deputy Aviation Director Deborah Ostreicher. The airport had planned to increase its budget by $15 million, but the proposed cuts will keep it at the $200 million level, she said.

The airport director downplayed the reductions.

“The end result of the cuts will not significantly impact customers,” said Danny Murphy, adding that the cuts at the Phoenix airport are part of a national trend. “Airports around the country are seeing reductions.”

The proposed cuts include:

• $744,000 in airport-museum and administrative expenses.

• Reducing the frequency of a bus that takes passengers between terminals and to the airport parking lots. Wait times could increase from five to 15 minutes, city documents say. Potential savings: $3.3 million.

• Reducing the number of cashiers at parking facilities. Potential savings: $624,000.

• Scaling back the dispatching service that finds taxis and limos for passengers: Potential savings: $221,000.

All of the proposed job cuts, including about 30 custodial and maintenance positions, are currently vacant posts, Murphy said.

The news caps a turbulent period for Sky Harbor. Consumers have cut their travel budgets, and airlines cut Sky Harbor flights in response to last summer’s surge in fuel prices.

On Thursday, Sky Harbor fell from No. 8 to No. 9 on the Federal Aviation Administration’s list of busy airports. In November, the most recent month for which figures were available, passenger traffic fell nearly 13 percent.

Through November, Sky Harbor had seen 36.7 million passengers during 2008, down from 38.9 million during the same period in 2007, documents show.

The proposed cuts come on top of $8 million in reductions that Sky Harbor made in 2008. The airport has also made plans to delay $200 million to $300 million in building projects over the next five years, including a $15 million taxiway-repaving project and terminal upgrades.

Although some airport projects have been delayed, the city still plans to move forward with a $1.1 billion automated train. The 12-year project, which began in 2008, will furnish badly needed construction jobs and prepare the airport for growth, city officials have said.

When it’s completed, the airport’s 4.8-mile train system will transport passengers to the Sky Harbor’s terminals and parking areas. The first phase is scheduled to open in 2013.

The following recalls have been announced:

— Aspen Hills Inc. of Garner, Iowa, is recalling peanut butter-containing cookie dough products, because they could be contaminated with salmonella. This organism can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. No illness has been reported.

The recall includes select date codes of the following products:

— Baker Jo’s peanut butter, peanut butter chocolate chunk, and monster three-pound pails.

— Ovens of Ashley monster three-pound pails.

— Gourmet Cookie Dough peanut butter, and peanut butter chocolate chunk three-pound pails.

— Gigi’s peanut butter three-pound pails and three-pound corrugated boxes.

— Arizona Gold peanut butter and I love Peanut Butter three-pound pails.

— ABC Dough peanut butter three-pound pails.

Details: by phone at 888-273-0302.

— Rain Creek Baking Corp. of Madera, Calif., is recalling a variety of its dessert products that contain peanut butter, because they could be contaminated with salmonella. This organism can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. No illnesses have been reported. The desserts were sold at grocery, warehouse and other stores around the country. Details: by phone at 800-530-0505 or 800-621-0099.

— About 14,000 Rheem, Ruud and United Refrigeration oil-fired furnaces, made in the U.S. by the Air Conditioning Division of Rheem Manufacturing Co., of Fort Smith, Ark., because if the furnace is not properly wired, the oil burner can continue to operate when the blower shuts off, posing a fire hazard to consumers. The company received one report in which the furnace was incorrectly wired. No injuries or property damage have been reported. The recalled oil-fired furnaces were sold under the Rheem, Ruud and United Refrigeration brands and with model numbers beginning with ROBF, ROPF, TZOUP and TZODH. They were sold by contractors nationwide to consumers from January 2006 through December 2008 as part of installed systems. Details: by phone at 800-577-3960; by Web at http://www.rheemac.com or http://www.cpsc.gov.

— 2,000 stationary bicycle trainers, manufactured in the United States by Saris Cycling Group, of Madison, Wis., because a handle pin can come loose, posing a risk of the device disengaging. This puts riders at risk of falling. No injuries have been reported. The trainers were sold by independent bike stores around the country between October and November 2008. Details: by phone at 800-783-7257; by Web at http://www.cycleops.com or http://www.cpsc.gov.

— About 25,000 Tony Hawk boy’s pajama sets, made in Cambodia and imported by Mad Dog Concepts, of New York, because the product fails to meet the flammability standard and poses a risk of burn injury to children. No incidents or injuries have been reported. The recalled products include the items numbers TH005LSB, TH006BSB, TH007GSB and TH008RSB. They were sold at Kohl’s Department Stores nationwide from September through October last year. Details: by phone at 888-623-3640; by Web at http://www.cpsc.gov.

Jin-Young Kim of Pusan, South Korea, transfers from a Metro light-rail car to a shuttle bus that will take her to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The shuttle service runs from Washington and 44th streets in Phoenix to the airport.

More riders than originally expected are using a free shuttle from the Metro light rail stop to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, officials said.

The airport initially expected that a daily average of 600 to 700 people would use the new transit connection in east Phoenix.

However, Sky Harbor officials say the average is 850 people a day.

“It shows that there is a need there and even more people are using it than we thought would,” Sky Harbor spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher said.

Metro decided it would be too expensive and cause too much inconvenience to run tracks directly to the airport.

Instead, passengers can pick up the shuttle which features buses with wide doors and racks for luggage.

Four buses serve the rail stop and the airport’s three terminals. Buses are scheduled to run every 10 minutes when Metro is operating.

Canadian Alex Wihak said he had no problem finding the shuttle pickup at the airport Tuesday morning.

“I didn’t have to ask questions,” he said. “It was a quick ride here. It’s quite simple.”

Future plans call for an automated people mover connecting the airport and the rail station.

It’s scheduled to open in 2013, with service to busy Terminal 4, which handles 75 percent of the airport’s passengers.

It is expected to be finished to the other terminals and the car-rental center by 2020.

Ostreicher said there wasn’t a breakdown of how many employees were taking the train and the shuttle to work compared to travelers headed to planes.

Gooding and Company Auction attendees examine a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione on Saturday

Forget the stalled economy, an undisclosed car collector paid $4.95 million on Saturday for a 1960 Ferrari 250 California Spider at the Gooding & Co. auction in Scottsdale.

That is likely to be the top price paid this week at four Valley auctions that could top $100 million in combined sales for about 1,700 automobiles.

Gooding sold seven cars at Scottsdale Fashion Square on Saturday for more than $1 million each and reported $31.8 million in total sales for its one-day event.

“We’re thrilled,” said Gooding President David Gooding. “We were impressed that the California Spider brought a record price for an unrestored Ferrari.”

The Gooding auction, in its second year in Scottsdale, plays to a niche audience of super wealthy buyers. The much larger Barrett-Jackson auction with 1,050 cars attracts its share of the super rich and outshines the other auctions in total sales.

RM Auctions and Russo and Steele also were selling some coveted collector cars at six-figure prices approaching $1 million.

RM reported preliminary sales figures from Friday’s event at the Arizona Biltmore Resort of $18 million, down from $26.7 million a year ago.

Its top sales included a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4Belinetta that sold for $918,500, and 1954 Dodge Firearrow Sports Coupe that went for $880,000.At Barrett-Jackson, huge crowds of bidders and car enthusiasts at WestWorld in Scottsdale watched some of Saturday evening’s top sales.

That included:

• The first production Ford Thunderbird, $660,000.

• A 1970 Plymouth Superbird Custom Tribute car, which sold for $551,000, with the proceeds benefiting the Darrell Gwynn Foundation.

• NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon’s 2006 Chevrolet Monte Carlo No. 24 race car. It sold for $550,000 with proceeds gong to the Hendrick Marrow Foundation.

Barrett-Jackson topped seven figures with the sale of a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor airplane that sold for $1.21 million.

Gooding’s $4.95 million sale was believed to be the second highest in Arizona auction history. A Shelby Corbra Super Snake sold for $5 million in 2007 at Barrett-Jackson.

Goodings other top sales included:

• A 1937 Talbot-Lago Tear Drop Coupe, $3.52 million.

• A 1932 Daimler 40/50 Double Six Sport Saloon, $2.97 million.

• A 1937 Bentley Fixed Head Sport Coupe, $1.32 million.

Gooding’s sales were up more than $10 million from last year.Company president Gooding said that everyone was nervous about sales this year because of the economy.”We didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said. “The difference is that great cars bring good money.”Barrett-Jackson and Russo and Steele will end auction week today (Sunday), each with a final days of sales.Russo and Steele holds its auction of 500 cars southeast of Loop 101 and Scottsdale.

Paul Alderman (left) and Allen Faltus, both from Ellensburg, Wash., check out a 1916 GMC Stake Truck at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction on Tuesday.

Imagine a new TV reality show called Pimp My Popemobile using a 1999 Vatican vehicle that General Motors is selling this week at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale.

Used once for Pope John Paul II in Mexico City, the stretch Cadillac DeVille with an elevated throne could be tricked out with some spinner wheels, a thumping church organ and a holy-water vessel in the console. “It would make a fine grand marshal car for the Calgary Stampede parade,” said Glen Richardson, a car enthusiast who splits time between Scottsdale and Calgary, Alberta.

The papal Cadillac that GM built for John Paul II is among the approximately 245 vehicles the carmaker is selling at Barrett-Jackson. They are part of GM’s Heritage Collection of innovative and experimental cars, pace cars and other special vehicles. Cars for sale also include a pristine 1916 GMC flatbed truck and a two-tone green 1954 Oldsmobile 98 with a Rocket V8 engine and an Autronic Eye on the dash that automatically dimmed the headlights.

Greg Wallace, manager of the GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Mich., said the vehicles are among those the carmaker is willing to part with because they no longer have a business purpose, the center has more than one of the same model, or caretakers believe, if necessary, they could reaquire the vehicle.

Some in the auction, he said, are not able to be titled for driving, and others might have been sold for scrap.

GM has been coming to Barrett-Jackson since 2004, although previously had brought only 25 to 50 cars per year.

The cars are expensive for GM to maintain – Wallace estimated they cost $2,500 per year for “care and feeding” – so the financially troubled automaker took a closer look this year.

“We’re trying to be as efficient with our collection as possible,” Wallace said.

GM’s papal ride was drawing lots of interest Tuesday during the car auction at WestWorld, with visitors taking photos and chuckling reverently.

Pope John Paul II took a lap around the Estadio Azteca soccer field in the white Caddy before a crowd of more than 100,000 on Jan. 25, 1999.

The pope blessed the car, but it did not have the blessing of his security detail, which rejected it as unsafe at any speed.

The popemobile and other GM cars are among more than a thousand cars that will be auctioned through Sunday at the 38th annual Barrett-Jackson event. Wallace said a 1925 GM house truck sold for $112,000 on the first day.

Given the tough economy, he is unsure how the week will go, but remains optimistic. “We’ll know more in a couple of days,” he said.

Russo and Steele starts its auction today in Scottsdale. RM Auctions and Gooding & Co. hold their events this weekend.

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Barrett-Jackson schedule

The 28th annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event at WestWorld runs from Sunday to Jan. 18. Here are some of the scheduled highlights:

• Sunday: Family Value Day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Half-price admission of $8, children 12 and under free.

• Monday: Preview Day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Tuesday: Car auction begins at 2 p.m., with a fashion show in the evening.

• Wednesday: Car auction begins at 11 a.m. Reduced admission after 5 p.m.

• Thursday: Car auction begins at 11 a.m. Entertainment in the Garage begins at 6 p.m.

• Friday: Car auction begins at 11 a.m. Entertainment in the Garage begins at 6 p.m.

• Saturday: Top cars auctioned late afternoon and early in the evening. Garage bands start at 6 p.m.

• Sunday: Car auction begins at 11 a.m. Cox Charities Day.

WestWorld is northeast of Loop 101 and Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard.

Julio César Chávez' Campeones a 30,000 square foot restaurant and entertainment center is expected to open in June at Country Club Drive and Southern Avenue, city officials say.

Mesa is hoping to give the economy an uppercut by luring a boxing icon’s first family entertainment venue.

Julio César Chávez’ Campeones a 30,000 square foot restaurant and entertainment center is expected to open in June at Country Club Drive and Southern Avenue, city officials say.

A cross between a Planet Hollywood and Dave & Buster’s, the concept is backed by Brian Weymouth, the creator of Alice Cooperstown in downtown Phoenix, Brian Day O’Connor,the son of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and Chavez, who won a variety of featherweight and lightweight crowns and is considered one of Mexico’s biggest boxing legends.

“They were looking at Arizona overall because of the high amount of tourism from Mexico,” said Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh, whose district has been pock marked with empty big-boxes.

There is no development agreement with Mesa, but the city is working with the group in obtaining permits. The group is expected to submitting its application next week.

“It’s going to be a wonderful anchor for that whole corner,” said Kavanaugh. “A nice compliment of what we want to do with the Fiesta District.”

Campeones will include an arcade, multiple big screen televisions for sports, boxing memorabilia, authentic Mexican food, souvenir shop, and a cultural events area for concerts and celebrations that will seat 1,500 people.

Kavanaugh said it will be similar to “what you see at Hard Rock Cafe. They are convinced it will be a tourist destination.”

Mike Paredes, a Mesa economic development manager, received a call in December from the owners of restaurant about the concept.

“We were very excited from the get go,” said Paredes.

The estimated $5-$6 million venue replaces a former Home Depot, which moved down the street south of U.S. 60 and Country Club Drive. “There will be a lot of tenant redevelopment because it’s an old center,” he said.

Paredes said the location is a highly visible corner for the family center and is the second most high-traffic intersection in the East Valley.

“Julio César Chávez to millions of people is an icon. We truly believe it’s a community project that Mesa is in support of.”

SEATTLE – Dell Inc. said Monday it has agreed to a legal settlement with states that claimed the computer company made misleading financing and service offers to PC buyers.

Arizona is one of those states, and Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard says Arizona’s share of the reimbursement will be $70,000.

Dell said in a statement it will pay $3.85 million to at least 45 states participating in the settlement. A portion of the money will be used to reimburse states for legal costs.

Shares of Dell dropped 62 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $10.50 in afternoon trading.

Spokesman David Frink said Dell was contacted by the attorneys general from Connecticut and Washington, representing a larger group of states, last year.

“Consumers who sought and believed they received zero-percent financing were then ambushed by high interest rates and fees,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in a statement. “Many consumers faced unacceptable obstacles obtaining warranty service on their Dell computers and others said they never received promised rebates.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Dell agreed to give customers more information up front about what kind of financing they qualify for and allow them to cancel orders once they review final credit terms.

Dell also agreed to mail rebate payments and fulfill warranty obligations within a reasonable amount of time.

The settlement requires Dell to tell customers whether they must troubleshoot problems by phone before qualifying for in-person technical support at home. Dell must also justify claims about its customer service. For example, if it wants to use the term “award-winning,” it must have won a customer service award in the past 18 months.

In its statement, Dell said the states’ issues “represented only a very small percentage of the tens of millions of Dell consumer transactions in the states.”

Round Rock, Texas-based Dell also said it had addressed these problems with many customers directly.

People who bought a computer or service on or after April 1, 2005, and had a problem with a financing offer, rebate or service can file a claim within 90 days with their state attorney general.

The price of milk in Arizona fell 22 percent in the past three months.

Arizona food prices dropped sharply in the fourth quarter as falling commodity prices and increased competition finally smiled on consumers.

Leading the way was a whopping 88-cent-per-gallon, or 22 percent, drop in milk.

The fourth-quarter decline capped two years of price increases that saw the cost of a basket of 16 food staples jump 23 percent to $57.46 at the end of September.

The $2.71, or 5 percent, fourth quarter drop was one of the most dramatic ever recorded by the Arizona Farm Bureau, which tracks state grocery prices through its quarterly Marketbasket Survey. The unscientific survey attempts to find the best in-store price excluding promotional coupons and special deals.

“We expected a decline, but not one of this magnitude,” said Farm Bureau spokesman Julie Murphree.

The 5 percent decline in Arizona prices reported Thursday was substantially more than the 1 percent nationwide drop reported by the American Farm Bureau.

But at $54.75, the cost the 16 food items in Arizona still remains significantly above the national price of $48.19. Murphree said that Arizona prices rose faster than the national average and have taken longer to come down.

Downtown Phoenix resident Mike Butler has noticed the falling prices. He was in Safeway Thursday picking up milk, on sale for $1.58 per gallon.

“They seem to be having a lot more sales lately,” said Butler, who added that he is eating out less as a result of the declining economy.

Besides passing along the lower commodity prices, grocers are feeling increased pressure from consumers and competitors to reduce prices across the board.

“Our customers have become much more price-conscious,” said Kristie Nied, a spokeswoman for Chandler-based supermarket chain Bashas’ Inc. She said that coupon use has increased significantly over the past few months as consumers search for “deals.”

Bashas’ recently cut the price on many of its private label products and has been repackaging deli and bakery products in more economical sizes. The company also has been working on cutting is own costs to help keep retail prices down.

“We’ve switched to diesel in many our trucks and have been working to lower energy cost at our stores,” Nied said.

Of the 16 items racked by the Farm Bureau, 11 dropped in price, three increased and two remained the same.

The items experiencing the biggest drops were generally non-processed items that have few components or ingredients.

While prices are down, volume is up at many supermarkets, indicating that people are shopping more frequently and increasingly eating food prepared at home.

Nied declined to name any store traffic figures for Bashas’ but said all of the company’s market research shows that people are conserving by eating out less.

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More local food news:

EAT Tucson blog

Interested in becoming a teacher? If you can commit to teaching math, science or special education, the Arizona Board of Regents has a loan program that could help in a big way.

The regents created the Loan Forgiveness Program for Math, Science and Special Education Teachers to help students pay for their education. First-time bachelor’s degree students can get a full-coverage student loan with a 100 percent forgiveness provision for teaching at least one year longer than the number of years they received loans.

Many have already taken advantage of this program and are building their qualifications to teach in these high-need areas. Incredibly, however, there have yet to be enough applicants to fill all the available slots.

The need for quality teachers has never been greater. With the new requirement for high-school students to take additional years of math and science, the Arizona Department of Education projects an additional 400 mathematics and 250 science teachers will be needed annually.

Schools are already struggling to find qualified math and science teachers. Even with teachers moving to Arizona each year, the state’s universities still need to graduate 700 new math and science teachers. But with too few college students choosing these critical areas of study, the state is 500 short of what it needs.

“The loan-forgiveness program is one way the state can help infuse more math, science and special education teachers into Arizona’s classrooms,” said Regent Ernest Calderon. “Strong teachers, and more of them, are critical to the future success of our children.”

The regents have posted applications for the 2009-2010 academic year. Completed application packages must be postmarked between Jan. 15 and Jan. 19. For more information and to download the application, visit www.abor.asu.edu.

One bill would give homeowners associations the ability to regulate “for sale” signs in neighborhoods.

Another would protect community features such as golf courses from undergoing significant changes without a vote by nearby residents.

A third would standardize how homeowners associations revise their rules.

Those and other bills are expected to be filed during the 2009 legislative session in an attempt to strengthen communities and address neighborhood concerns.

It’s been a hard year for homeowners associations. Many are experiencing funding shortfalls as foreclosures and economic hardships cause residents to fall behind on paying dues.

With the legislative session beginning in mid-January, those involved in crafting the bills say they will help keep communities strong.

In some cases, homeowners associations have distressed residents by seeking to change the makeup of a community. Two examples: Golf courses could be turned into town homes and a 55-and-older community could be open to all residents.

One bill, similar to last session’s House Bill 2724, would make it harder for those changes to be made.

Many residents purposely buy in a community for the golf course or age restriction, said Clint Goodman of the Homeowners Institute.

Residents in the Lakes at Ahwatukee expressed concerns in November about plans to replace their golf course with townhomes.

Another bill would ease the sometimes lengthy process for a community to change its rules.

A rule change can require anywhere from half of the homeowners agreeing to the change to as much as 75 percent of homeowners giving their OK.

The idea piqued Frank Nechvatal’s interests.

When his homeowners association combined its four communities’ rules into one document, the process took about two years to garner enough support.

Nechvatal, president of the Sunbird Homeowners Association in Chandler, thinks deciding on one percentage throughout the state would eliminate discrepancies.

“No matter what percentage, it’s usually difficult,” Nechvatal said.

In any proposed legislation, he’d like to see the votes required to make a change kept to a lower percentage.

“For 75 percent, in my estimation, would make it an extremely uphill battle,” Nechvatal said.

Another bill could limit the size of “for sale” signs in communities, said Ryan Anderson, a lobbyist for Community Associations Institute.

Other potential bills include a version of last session’s Senate Bill 1162 that would bar homeowners associations from changing rules during a lawsuit.

Most of the issues taken to the Legislature deal with concerns after a homeowners association is transferred from developer to residents’ control, said Spencer Kamps with the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona.

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HOA BILLS

Here’s a sampling of bills that could be filed during the legislative session beginning in mid-January.

• A bill that would protect homeowners’ expectations for their communities. For example, if they bought in a community lauded for its golf course and weren’t told the golf course could potentially change down the road, the bill could require unanimous approval to change the amenity to something else.

• A bill that would allow only rules present at the time that a lawsuit is filed to be applicable in court.

• A bill that could potentially regulate the size of “for sale” signs.

Starting Monday, the last light-rail trains in Phoenix on most nights will finish around 11:45 p.m.

PHOENIX – Bar owners, patrons and even members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving are scratching their heads over Metro light rail’s decision to put the trains to bed at 11 p.m. rather than running them past 2 a.m. when bars close.

Starting Monday, the last trains on most nights will finish around 11:45 p.m.

Some say it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

“Absolutely ludicrous,” said David Wimberley, owner of the George and Dragon English Restaurant and Pub on Central Avenue. “What’s the point of having it? This is just going to hurt the economy. That’s tax money the city is going to lose. We spend all these millions of dollars on this bloody light rail, but nobody can use the bloody thing!”

The hours that the trains run were set to coordinate with bus schedules and peak ridership forecasts, according to Hillary Foose, spokeswoman for Metro light rail. Metro also set the schedule to allow at least three hours for maintenance overnight.

“We’re the first to admit, this doesn’t take into account the current marketplace, the current attitude about public transport, the current rising bus-ridership numbers, the fact that there’s an ASU campus downtown,” Foose said.

Foose said Metro is open to extending hours of operation on Fridays and Saturdays, depending on how many people ride the trains late at night. But as a system funded by tax dollars, trains will run when the most people will benefit, Foose said.

MILWAUKEE – MillerCoors LLC announced Thursday it will remove caffeine and three other ingredients from its Sparks alcoholic energy drink in a deal with 13 states and the city of San Francisco, which had contended marketing of the drink targeted young drinkers.

A coalition of state attorneys general, including Arizona’s Terry Goddard, had complained the stimulants reduced drinkers’ sense of intoxication and were marketed to young drinkers, who were already more likely to have risky behaviors.

Attorneys general and advocacy groups have long been targeting MillerCoors, a joint venture of SABMiller’s U.S. unit and Molson Coors Brewing Co., and market-leader Anheuser-Busch due to the making and marketing of such drinks.

As part of the agreement, MillerCoors agreed to remove caffeine, taurine, guarana and ginseng from Sparks, the leader in the alcoholic energy drink category, and not produce caffeinated alcohol beverages in the future.

The company also will pay $550,000 to cover the cost of the investigation into Sparks. The agreement does not mean the company was found to have engaged in unlawful behavior.

“I urge other companies to follow the lead of MillerCoors and voluntarily discontinue these unsafe beverages,” Goddard said in a statement. “I will continue to work with attorneys general nationwide to explore all options, including legal action, to remove these dangerous ‘alco-pops’ from the market and keep our young people safe.”

The MillerCoors settlement also includes the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Oklahoma and the city attorney of San Francisco.

The money will be split between the states and San Francisco, MillerCoors spokesman Julian Green said.

MillerCoors noted that labeling and all formulas for Sparks had been approved by the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. It said it marketed the drinks only to legal drinking-age consumers.

MillerCoors President and Chief Commercial Officer Tom Long said in a statement the changes mean the company can keep marketing and selling the brand to people of legal drinking age.

Store Director, Sam Garcia Jr. gives out free cookies to customers Carlos Iriarte and Aaron Santos at the Food City in Avondale.

Bashas’ Food City normally is jam-packed in December with shoppers who need pork shoulder roast, corn husks and spices to give tamales and other holiday dishes the sabor, or flavor, of their Hispanic heritage.

This season, longtime Food City shoppers are finding themselves shoulder to shoulder with newcomers more interested in discount prices than in the stores’ specialty: imports from Mexico and traditional Hispanic foods.

The weak economy partly underlies a subtle demographic change at the 15-year-old discount grocery stores. Food City officials also say Arizona’s legal crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers, believed to have forced many Hispanics to leave Arizona, has cut into business.

A typical newcomer to Food City is discount hunter Philip Turner of Avondale. The 20-year-old retail sales worker rarely cooks Mexican food but knows a good buy. “The prices are fantastic,” Turner said as he pushed a shopping cart around the store at 1450 N. Dysart Road in Avondale. The only traditional Hispanic food in his cart was a package of tortillas.

“Milk here is cheaper; everything is cheaper. I’d say I save $10 to $15 a trip,” he said.

Food City’s parent, privately held Bashas’ Corp. in Chandler, doesn’t release sales numbers.

But Tom Swanson, Food City vice president and general manager, said sales would be down if not for bargain-hunting newcomers such as Turner.

The employer-sanctions law “has affected our traffic,” he said.

Marketing switch

Mike Proulx, Bashas’ president and chief operating officer, said Hispanic shoppers are still Food City’s target market. But for the moment, the chain’s key outreach is to bargain hunters of any background.

In the past 18 months, Food City has increased its English-language advertising on radio stations and in print, Proulx said.

“We are reaching out to people who are going back to basics,” he said, “to people who realize it’s less costly and more nutritional to eat meals at home made from scratch.”

Proulx said he hopes many of Food City’s new customers will continue to hunt for deals after the economy rebounds.

Myra Dominguez of Avondale is the type of shopper to whom Food City has traditionally catered. She recently strolled through the same Food City store where Turner shops. With her were her son, a nephew, her mother and an aunt. Although the family was out shopping for daily groceries, they also looked at holiday decorations and tamale ingredients.

“I’m in here two or three times a week,” she said. “I love the tortillas.”

An example of the “crossover” shopper Food City intends to cultivate is Phoenix resident Virginia Johnson.

“This is really the only place I like shopping,” said Johnson, a former nurse who now lives on disability payments. Her monthly food budget is less than $150.”You can buy small quantities here and get bulk prices.”

Johnson skips buying Food City specials, like this week’s $16.99 Virgin of Guadalupe sheet cake. She cooks from scratch and appreciates Food City’s deep discounts. Her typical purchases include “stew meat, chicken, ribs, pork chops and smoked neck bones.”

Multicultural roots

It’s not far-fetched that the chain is reaching out to a wider demographic.

Bashas’ launched the chain in 1993, after Noah Billings, owner of a half-century-old central Phoenix grocery store, retired. His store, which happened to be named Food City, primarily served area Hispanics in the 1990s, but before that was a general-purpose supermarket, Swanson said.

Bashas’ bought the store at 1648 S. 16th St., then decided to expand the concept.

The company now has 61 Food City stores throughout the state. Key features are signs in English and Spanish, music from Mexico and aisles of imports like fresh cheeses, Mexican Coca-Cola, canned menudo and mole sauce mix.

Most stores have tortilla-making machines. Some have restaurants. All have full-service meat counters with offerings like tripe, head cheese and thin-sliced marinated beef for tacos or fajitas. Shoppers who want a whole catfish or tilapia can have the fish deep fried at no charge.

Bashas’ grew Food City by converting independent groceries like the one owned by Billings and another in Avondale owned by the Garcia family, which had also run a neighborhood grocery since the 1940s. Sam Garcia Jr., son of the owner of that store, now directs the Food City store where Turner and Dominguez shop.

Bashas’ also converted stores owned by bankrupt chains Mega Foods, which closed in 1996, and Southwest Supermarkets, which closed in 2001, into the Food City format.

Not for all shoppers

Food City officials acknowledge that the format is not for everyone. Shoppers who want filet mignon or a variety of apples to choose from probably should go elsewhere.

The apples and bananas that Food City sells at two pounds for $1 are smaller than the ones Bashas’ sells for higher prices in its other formats, Bashas’ and AJ’s Fine Foods. Swanson said Food City sells 2 1/2 times the meat and double the produce sold in Bashas’ other formats. But prepared foods and products with artificial ingredients are less popular at Food City than in the other stores, he said.

One critic of Food City is United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99. It has complained to the National Labor Relations Board about Food City worker pay and safety and criticized the stores’ cleanliness and food quality on a Spanish-language radio program.

Luis Espinosa, a UFCW campaign director, said he thinks Bashas’ treats Food City as a “cash cow” instead of a quality part of its business.

“Rather than focusing on solving the problems that come with buying older stores, they are focused on their profits,” he said. “As a Mexican and an Indian, I find that disrespectful. I certainly would not shop at Food City.”

‘Good corporate neighbor’

Bashas’ Inc. has responded to the UFCW’s criticisms with a defamation lawsuit, which has been working its way through the Maricopa County Superior Court system. “What we have done is grown stores in areas that otherwise would not have had representation,” Proulx said. “We bought bankrupt companies and saved thousands of jobs. And we kept stores in the neighborhoods that those bankrupt companies served.”

Luis Ibarra, president and CEO of social-services agency Friendly House, and Ray Arvizu, president and chief executive officer of Arvizu Advertising and Promotions, say they think Food City has plenty of goodwill in the Hispanic community.

The longtime Valley residents and community leaders say they shop there regularly, as do friends and relatives. Ibarra called Food City “a good corporate neighbor” and noted that the store makes frequent, anonymous donations to his agency’s programs. Arvizu said, “They have all kinds of things going on all the time. It’s a hub of the community.”

Proulx said despite the lawsuit and Arizona’s immigration issues, he remains bullish on Food City’s future as a Hispanic grocery.

“We are still right next to Mexico,” he said. “The state’s population is about 30 percent Hispanic. The up-and-coming workforce is going to be Hispanic, and they will have tremendous purchasing power. You do the math.”

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Food City

Business: Low-price grocery store that offers a full range of Hispanic foods.

Parent company: Bashas’ Inc. Headquarters: Chandler.

Chairman and CEO: Eddie Basha.

President and COO: Mike Proulx.

Vice president and general manager of Food City: Tom Swanson.

Number of stores in Arizona: 61.

Number of employees: More than 13,000 work for Bashas’ Inc.

Best-selling product: Fresh tortillas made by Food City’s in-store tortillerias; roasted chili peppers

Local competitors: Pro’s Ranch Market, Fry’s Mercado, El Super.

Bashas’ Inc. annual sales: $2.1 billion in 2007, according to Hoover’s Inc.

Source: Bashas’ Inc.

Giving back

A few examples of free community events it hosts annually

• Dia de los Reyes Magos, or Three Kings Day – January.

• Cinco de Mayo – May.

• Back-to-school immunizations – June, July and August.

• Fiestas Patrias – September.

• Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead – November.

Source: Food City

Bashas’, Food City stores cleaning baskets like cars

John Lattimore pushes shopping carts through a cart washer outside a Bashas' grocery store in Scottsdale.

MESA – The handles of supermarket carts are scummier than port-a-potties, according to a recent University of Arizona study.

The rolling basket carrying your fresh lettuce and thumb-sucking baby could be rife with bacteria from leaky packages of poultry or raw meat – even leaky diapers – according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A local grocer is trying to clean up the yuck for shoppers and the toddlers who ride shopping cart seats, touching everything and putting their germ-laden fingers into their mouths.

Chandler-based Bashas’ is piloting cart washers at four of its stores, including a Bashas’ in Scottsdale, one in Tempe, one in Chandler and at a Food City in Phoenix.

The devices are similar in name and operation to car washes. Clusters of carts can be pushed through at once, getting an all-over spray of sanitizing solution.

The vinegar-peroxide mist destroys 99.9 percent of the bacteria, said Tom Dominick, Bashas’ vice president of food safety.

Goopy stuff has to be removed by hand, he said, but at least until that happens, the caked-on gunk is not as germy.

Dominick said he’s been reading reports of bacteria-laden supermarket carts for a long time and trying to find a solution.

Bashas’, like other local supermarkets, installed containers of free antiseptic wipes near the cart corrals in the stores. But to achieve the same effectiveness as the cart washers, a shopper would have to wipe every inch of the basket, he said.

“I’ve been looking at this type of system for some time,” Dominick said. “But (other options) have been too bulky, take too much time per cart or are too expensive.”

The device the company is piloting costs about 1 cent per cart, said Kristy Nied, a Bashas’ spokeswoman.

“That’s not much different than the cart wipes,” she said. Shopper response has been positive so far, she said.

“Some customers told us they will shop at our stores because we have the system,” Nied said.

Bashas’ has another 10 cart washers ready to go pending landlord or city approvals, since they require a chunk of outside space, she said.

“We’re trying to get something at all our stores,” Dominick said.

Jean Hildebrant of Scottsdale thinks its a good idea.

“I use handy wipes wherever I go,” she said. “But babies put their mouths all over everything.”

Traci Arthur of Scottsdale, who has 2-year-old twins and a 4-year-old, isn’t convinced the cart washer will keep her kids from getting sick after a trip to the supermarket. “It doesn’t make a difference,” Arthur said. “There are germs everywhere.”

All metro Phoenix Fry’s supermarkets have antiseptic wipes at every store entrance, and the company steam cleans the carts on a regular basis, said Jim Nygren, a Fry’s spokesman.

Safeway does the same, said Cathy Kloos, a metro Phoenix spokeswoman for the chain.

“We clean all our carts quarterly, with a high-temperature, high-pressure, detergent wash, and use a sanitizing hose system more often,” Kloos said.