Four Phoenix metro police agencies have launched investigations into potential officer misuse of the ALPRs. Grand Canyon experts say flash floods there are common, but this weekend’s deadly mudslides were unusual because of where the rain fell. The Trump administration has just green-lighted a plan that could let the Navajo Nation dig up more than half a billion tons of coal by extending the life of a New Mexico mine over the next century. Plus the latest education, business, and Fronteras Desk news.
Transcript
TIARA VIAN: This is KJZZ, your news and information station in Phoenix and across Arizona. I'm Tiara Vian, and here are this week's stories you don't want to miss.
This is the podcast that's designed to catch you up on some highlights from around the region. Thanks so much for listening. Here are a few of the stories for the week of August 31st, 2026.
Automatic license plate readers made by the company Flock and others have been the subject of near daily headlines. Within the past month, four metro police agencies have launched investigations into potential officer misuse of the ALPRs, and the same number of Valley cities have shut off their systems or canceled contracts. Matthew Casey reports.
MATTHEW CASEY: Tempe officials first said the Flock brand of ALPRs were out, and a new vendor would be chosen. Then, about two weeks later, the city said it's ending all use of the technology. Apache Junction Police Chief Michael Pooley spent decades with Tempe PD.
MICHAEL POOLEY: When I came out here, one of the things that I wanted to bring out was ALPR. It's always been something very successful that we used in my prior agency. We were able to solve a lot of cases and do a lot of really good things.
MATTHEW CASEY: That was about four years ago. Pooley has since seen officer misuse of the tech. In April, a monthly system audit sparked a review that found a now-former officer had used the system to look up his ex-wife. He resigned in lieu of termination and has been referred to the state agency that can ban him from carrying a badge.
MICHAEL POOLEY: For me, I don't have sympathy for the officers that do this. They violate the trust of the community. They violate the trust of the department. And for me, my officer, when I found this out, yeah, I was heartbroken.
MATTHEW CASEY: But Pooley is not willing to copy Tempe and quit using ALPRs. Apache Junction police have also gone to weekly system audits, which Pooley says use AI to catch bad actors.
MICHAEL POOLEY: Human beings is who we employ, and sometimes humans make these bad decisions.
MATTHEW CASEY: Mounting public backlash does not sway Pooley either.
MICHAEL POOLEY: Right now, there is no Supreme Court decision. There is no decision out there that has said that this is illegal and that it is a Fourth Amendment violation.
MATTHEW CASEY: Before deciding if technology like ALPRs violates the protection against unreasonable searches, courts must determine if an officer querying the system is doing an actual search. Marc Miller is dean emeritus at the University of Arizona Law School.
MARC MILLER: They're wrestling with this very basic question: Does the Fourth Amendment apply? And if so, where?
MATTHEW CASEY: Recent Supreme Court decisions have said police using certain cellphone technology to find suspects were searches under the Fourth Amendment. Miller says a case now before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals will consider a larger ALPR system than an older case from Massachusetts, which said enough cameras in enough locations would invade a reasonable expectation of privacy.
MARC MILLER: If you wanted to have one word, single word to describe all the Fourth Amendment puzzles, the word you would choose is reasonableness. And, of course, that leaves vast room for argument.
MATTHEW CASEY: Miller believes there is a point when the Fourth Amendment applies to ALPRs. The line is when they can be used to create an intimate portrait of a person's life.
MARC MILLER: What's different with these technologies is they add up, is they go beyond what any number of police officers, in any traditional amount of effort, could conceivably do.
MATTHEW CASEY: Public demand for officials to act is moving faster than the courts, Miller says. Lawmakers have power to put in place limits he calls needed.
MARC MILLER: What we're seeing is both political leaders and citizens, not identifying themselves in the highly partisan terms of our era, expressing enormous concern about this constant collection of information and its use.
MATTHEW CASEY: At a recent forum with the Republican and Democrat nominees for governor, incumbent Katie Hobbs said it is the state's job to put guardrails on the tech, and local agencies should continue policing themselves.
KATIE HOBBS: Communities should be able to use that technology, and I trust those local officials and leaders to make those decisions.
MATTHEW CASEY: Her opponent, Andy Biggs, went further, calling an advancement in ALPR technology a gross violation in a free society.
ANDY BIGGS: We are seeing an overwhelming rejection of Flock cameras, and you're probably—the state will probably have to step aside, step in and say, "We're not going to have Flock cameras."
MATTHEW CASEY: Axon makes ALPRs, too. So does Motorola. A bill that would have made it a felony for police to misuse these systems failed. Pooley, the police chief in Apache Junction, hopes the governor signs it next year.
MICHAEL POOLEY: We want to protect the technology that is being helpful to save lives and protect people, but at the same time, we need to make sure that those that have access to it, that use it, are not going to abuse it.
MATTHEW CASEY: The senator who was the bill's main sponsor says he's unsure if he'll run it again in 2027. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: In politics and water news: The Colorado River is running dry. Last week, the federal government put out a new plan to cut back demand for water, and it'll mean big reductions for Arizona. Cities in the Phoenix and Tucson areas will be hardest hit, but utility leaders in the Valley say taps won't be drying out. Alex Hager explains why.
ALEX HAGER: This is how the Colorado River gets to Phoenix, in an unassuming canal by the side of the road. But starting next year, this ribbon of blue across the desert is going to change.
MAX WILSON: At the end of the day, there will be less water in this canal than there is today.
ALEX HAGER: Max Wilson, water resources manager for the city of Phoenix, says despite that, people who depend on this water won't notice a big difference.
MAX WILSON: The cuts that we're talking about today will not threaten water deliveries to homes. There will never be a moment where you go into your house, you turn on your faucet and no water comes out the other side.
ALEX HAGER: Under the baking desert sun, Wilson explains how Phoenix and its neighbors have seen today's shortages coming for decades and have taken steps so big cuts to the Colorado River won't drive them out.
MAX WILSON: Arizonans have been solving water problems for our entire history, and we didn't forget how to do that overnight. We're going to do it again now.
ALEX HAGER: Across the Valley, cities have backup plans. They don't just depend on the Colorado River. Utilities have diverse portfolios. Many of them also use the nearby Salt and Verde rivers. Lots have been storing extra water underground for a day like this one. Now, they'll use wells to tap into it and make up for the Colorado River water they're losing.
About 9 miles from the canal in the master-planned community of Anthem, Colorado River water is coming out of a pipe, bubbling into big holding ponds. They're owned by EPCOR, a private utility company. Water manager Doug Dunham says he's been building a plan B and C into the system.
DOUG DUNHAM: That's what we do. And that's what water professionals across the state have been doing for decades.
ALEX HAGER: Part of that redundancy means big, new pumps and pipes. EPCOR has spent a lot of time connecting different parts of its water system. So when the source for one treatment plant is short, it can pipe in water from another. But Dunham says it's not cheap, and more of that work will be needed down the road.
DOUG DUNHAM: Eventually, we're going to have to do harder, more difficult—and read into that, more expensive—things to make sure that water resources are brought in.
ALEX HAGER: In some places, those expensive changes have already shown up on water bills in a big way.
In Gilbert, this well system and major additions to a water treatment plant got fast-tracked. After the town council postponed rate increases for years, Gilbert needed to pay for those projects quickly, and since 2024, residents have seen water bills double. Water resources manager Lauren Hickson says those changes did not land well, but people are starting to come around.
LAUREN HIXSON: They're willing to understand. They're like, "Okay, this is what I'm paying for. I'm paying for that water security."
ALEX HAGER: As big, expensive water projects pop up around the Valley, Hickson says city leaders should try to spread out the price hikes that pay for them.
LAUREN HIXSON: It's really important for communities to be looking at that really regularly so that there isn't a big shock.
ALEX HAGER: But in another way, higher water rates can be part of the solution. Most Valley cities are not forcing residents to use less water. Restrictions on things like lawn watering are rare here. But Kathryn Sorensen, who researches water policy at Arizona State University, says they're not needed.
KATHRYN SORENSEN: I'm not convinced that voluntary or even involuntary water conservation measures necessarily get you a lot of water. What does work is a good price signal on what you pay for the water.
ALEX HAGER: Sorensen says Phoenix charges a lot more for water in the summer, and since the late '80s, that's helped bring down peak water use by about 40%.
KATHRYN SORENSEN: When people get that bill, they see it, and they feel it in their pocketbook. And that can be really painful.
ALEX HAGER: And water bills are likely to keep getting higher. The projects that are helping Arizona survive water cuts today cost a lot, but the ones needed tomorrow will cost even more.
Back at the canal in Phoenix, Max Wilson can see that next chapter just down the street.
MAX WILSON: What we're looking at is the confluence of the city's past and the city's future.
ALEX HAGER: In view of the canal, there's a towering crane working on a new facility that will safely clean up sewage back into drinking water, stretching out the water supply in Phoenix. It's expected to send water into city pipes in about three years and could cost more than $350 million.
MAX WILSON: When you think about the benefits and you think about the fact that our kids and our grandkids are not going to be exposed to the types of shortages that we're talking about here today, I think it's worth it.
ALEX HAGER: Those shortages will kick in at the start of next year. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: And this is The Stories You Don't Want to Miss podcast. Thanks for listening.
Every Wednesday, KJZZ offers up Hot Spots to spice up your weekend. It's delivered right to your phone. Try something new or step out of the routine. Just visit hotspots.kjzz.org to sign up.
In science news: Grand Canyon experts say flash floods there are common, but this weekend's deadly mudslides were unusual because of where the rain fell. Here's Alex Hager again with more.
ALEX HAGER: Laura Crossey, a scientist at the University of New Mexico, has seen a lot of floods while studying the canyon's geology since the late '90s. But she says these monsoon rains swept through a wildfire burn scar and went through an area with human infrastructure.
LAURA CROSSEY: That's not normally what you get in a flood in Grand Canyon. You normally have, you know, trees and maybe, you know, you know, rocks and mud and sand and so forth, but you don't usually have pieces of bridges and things like that.
ALEX HAGER: But even the huge amount of dirt and debris might not change the river too much. Experienced rafters say new rapids often form because of floods like this, and they just have to learn to navigate new obstacles. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: In business news: With state business and political leaders trading shots this week over possibly halting the growth of data centers, Gov. Katie Hobbs weighed in at a press conference Thursday. Taylor Griffith reports.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Hobbs said she won't stop data center development, despite her Democratic colleague, Attorney General Kris Mayes, proposing the idea.
KATIE HOBBS: I don't think a statewide moratorium is the answer. I think there are places where data centers make sense, and they're an important part of the high-tech economy that we're growing here. We need to make sure that they are doing that sustainably.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Hobbs says a three-year moratorium on tax credits for data center equipment should allow lawmakers enough time to craft appropriate regulations. But Mayes struck a more urgent tone earlier this week, calling for a statewide development pause and legislative plan for managing looming water shortages and higher energy costs.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, says supporters of a moratorium should be willing to give up most of the technology data centers make possible. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: In tribal natural resources: The Trump administration has just greenlit a plan that could let the Navajo Nation dig up more than half a billion tons of coal by extending the life of a New Mexico mine over the next century until the year 2136. Gabriel Pietrorazio has details.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: The Interior Department says denying this permit would be at odds with Trump's unleashing American energy agenda. It could also destabilize the Navajo Nation economy. The tribally owned Navajo Transitional Energy Company fuels the aging Four Corners Power Plant. That lease is set to expire in 2041, but the Feds note the next coal buyer is unknown. The Feds argue those financial factors outweigh a slew of environmental and other harms posed by the expansion, including the relocation of nearby families. Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: In education news: Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling was in Phoenix Wednesday, visiting one of the campuses of West-MEC, a public career and technical education school district. From the education desk, Bridget Dowd has details.
BRIDGET DOWD: Sonderling toured the West-MEC Southeast Campus and talked to students in artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing programs. He then met with local business leaders for a roundtable. Sonderling said he was impressed by how those leaders are driving the curriculum at West-MEC to fill workforce needs.
KEITH SONDERLING: That's what really we're pushing in this administration. No longer do we want students to go to school and just graduate with a lot of debt and not have the skills they need for that job.
BRIDGET DOWD: West-MEC superintendent said their model lines up with the Trump administration's workforce development plan to align education and training with modern economic needs. Bridget Dowd, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: And this is The Stories You Don't Want to Miss podcast.
In Fronteras news: Hundreds gathered in Tucson Wednesday night for a vigil honoring two local men killed outside a gay bar in what police have confirmed was a hate crime. From the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick reports.
ALISA REZNICK: Community members huddled around a small stage set up on the grass at Tucson's Catalina Park. A sea of thin, white candles twinkled in the crowd as attendees hugged each other and cried. Wiping tears from her eyes, Kate Marquez told the crowd her brother, 42-year-old Vincent Siquieros, was a proud gay man.
KATE MARQUEZ: He was brave enough to live authentically in a world that sometimes told him his authentic self was unacceptable. He chose love anyway.
ALISA REZNICK: A photo of Siquieros wearing black-rimmed glasses and a big smile was propped up against the stage. Another image showed Cameron Capara holding a camera. The 33-year-old was a local photographer who frequently documented protests in town. His father, Jeff, told the vigil his son was one of the most compassionate people he'd ever met.
JEFF CAPARA: He cared deeply about people in Tucson or those thousands of miles away, people who were marginalized, overlooked or misunderstood.
ALISA REZNICK: Tucson police have determined the shooting was a targeted LGBTQ attack. Police say the gunman was carrying a list of several LGBTQ-friendly businesses and died of a self-inflicted gunshot. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
TIARA VIAN: And finally, from KJZZ's original production, The Show: A Phoenix influencer walked from downtown to Buc-ee's. His videos reveal our lack of walkability. Here's co-host Mark Brodie.
MARK BRODIE: You might know our next guest this morning from a very viral video he made recently documenting his 18-mile walk to the new Buc-ee's all the way from downtown Phoenix.
JAMIE TRUFIN: Is Buc-ee's walkable from downtown Phoenix? Well, we're going to find out. Starting here from Central and Van Buren in downtown Phoenix, we're going to be taking Van Buren all the way down to the new Buc-ee's in Goodyear. Look at my outfit. I'm wearing all like UV material because it is very sunny today. Walk to IKEA was a little bit more enjoyable. Welcome to Buc-ee's. I love you. Now I got to go pet a beaver or something. I guess it's too hot to touch the beaver.
MARK BRODIE: That's Jamie Trufin. Trufin Sees Transit on social media, where he asks, "Is it walkable?" and then finds out. Trufin has walked from downtown Phoenix, where he lives, not just to Buc-ee's, but to IKEA in Tempe. He walks to work every day, and when we asked him to come to our studios for an interview, he walked here.
JAMIE TRUFIN: Today, I'm going to be walking to KJZZ's studio for an interview, and they'd like to interview me about my walking journey in Phoenix. They did let me know that the parking structure is open, so that shouldn't be a problem, which it isn't, because I'm going to be walking there.
MARK BRODIE: Trufin is not just doing this for social media views. He's a true advocate for walkability in Phoenix, as well as a board member for the Urban Phoenix Project and the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market. And he uses his social media to shed a light on transit in Phoenix and the region and just how unwalkable Phoenix can be. So when he walked to our studios recently, my co-host, Lauren Gilger, asked him about his goals here and where he plans to walk next.
LAUREN GILGER: Okay, so we have to start with the fact that you walked here, Jamie, from downtown Phoenix. We should say we are kind of on the border between Phoenix and Tempe here, by the Broadway Curve. There's a lot of freeways surrounding this building at Rio Salado College. I mean, are you okay? You need some water?
JAMIE TRUFIN: So for the most part, I got a lot of water on the way here. I brought my big boy water bottle, and then I drink a lot of these Sparkling Ice drinks that I like to admit that I'm addicted to.
LAUREN GILGER: Okay, okay. But it's hot out there. How many miles is that walk?
JAMIE TRUFIN: I think it was roughly, on my Strava, like over 9 miles.
LAUREN GILGER: Right. So it takes me, I don't know, 20, 25 minutes to drive in from Central Phoenix. How long did this take you?
JAMIE TRUFIN: About 3 hours and 10 minutes.
LAUREN GILGER: Three hours and 10 minutes, what a difference! Okay, so that right there, I think, gets us into the conversation about the walkability of this city, which you walk around all the time and you do on your social media. You just kind of hit it big recently with this video of you walking all the way from downtown Phoenix, where you live, to Buc-ee's, this big, you know, exciting new gas station, which is how far away?
JAMIE TRUFIN: According to Google, it says about like 18 miles. With all my stops, it was more about 20 miles with everything in between when I was tracking it.
LAUREN GILGER: Twenty miles you walked, okay, and just straight down Van Buren, basically west.
JAMIE TRUFIN: Yes, just all the way.
LAUREN GILGER: Why did you decide to walk to Buc-ee's?
JAMIE TRUFIN: So on my Strava heat map, I haven't had much of the West Side of Phoenix, so I was trying to get more of my Strava heat map completed.
LAUREN GILGER: Tell us what that is. What are you doing on Strava? And Strava, we should say, is this app where you can mark, you know, and track runs and walks and things like that, and share them with folks.
JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, so I really enjoy walking and exploring new places. I hate backtracking or going round trips. When I go hiking, I don't want to take the same way back. I want to take a different way to get out of the mountain.
LAUREN GILGER: Okay.
JAMIE TRUFIN: Same thing with walking. So I like to discover and find new places just by walking. And so I use Strava, the heat map, which can tell you where you've been already when you use the service. So I've been building up my own personal heat map to figure out where I haven't been. And I haven't seen a lot of the West Side. So I wanted to explore it and then challenge myself to see if I could go to Buc-ee's.
LAUREN GILGER: Okay, so you made it to Buc-ee's. What did you see along the way? What was this walk like?
JAMIE TRUFIN: You know, I was actually surprised, I will say, for how unwalkable Phoenix is, the entire way, all the way to Buc-ee's, essentially had a sidewalk, except for one portion that was like some farmland once you hit the Tolleson side.
LAUREN GILGER: Right, I'm surprised by that, too. How hot was it, though? My goodness!
JAMIE TRUFIN: That day it was a high of 105. For summertime, actually wasn't too bad.
LAUREN GILGER: I mean, it could be worse.
JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, when it gets really hot, I have to bring like a little portable mister system, but I had my UV umbrella, I drink plenty of water the day before, and I was prepared to do this walk.
LAUREN GILGER: So talk about that, like how do you do these incredibly long walks around the city in the middle of the summer, the hottest city in the country, right? And it's getting hotter, and not die?
JAMIE TRUFIN: So first off, I don't recommend anyone trying to do these like crazy walks. Part of it is you have to get acclimatized to the heat, which means if you haven't been outside out of your AC car or AC house going back and forth, you're not going to be able to do any of these extreme walks or be outside for long, because your body has to adapt to the heat. And it takes about two weeks to just kind of put yourself out in the heat a little bit and get used to it. But when you do acclimatize, you actually require more water.
LAUREN GILGER: Ah.
JAMIE TRUFIN: You're sweating a little bit more efficiently, so I drink tons of water the day before, the day of, and as I'm doing it. And not just water, I do electrolytes, I have a UV umbrella, and it kind of depends, like this walk, I had my UV sleeves because even though I had my umbrella, the reflection of everything was still burning me. So I have UV leggings and UV long sleeves to protect me, and I'll water myself down on my sleeves during hotter days. That day wasn't too bad, but when it starts getting 110, I have to pour water on my sleeves.
LAUREN GILGER: Man oh man, I can't imagine. So, okay, so that's like a big extreme walk, but you don't have a car in this very car-centric city on purpose. You're an urbanist, a walkability kind of advocate, right? What does this walking look like around Phoenix on normal day-to-day basis when you're not walking, you know, to Buc-ee's?
JAMIE TRUFIN: I daily about 12 miles a day of walking.
LAUREN GILGER: Wow, okay.
JAMIE TRUFIN: So I start off my morning when I go to work, I walk about 2-ish miles to work, and then 2 miles back. So it's about a 40-minute walk each way to and from work, which for me is a lot of peace time, so I get to enjoy listening to audiobooks, some music, and just enjoy being outside.
LAUREN GILGER: So I got to ask, cause I think people will be wondering, do you change clothes when you get there?
JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah. So for my work, I actually start really early. So even during the summer, like I'm not breaking sweat going to work. Coming back, I definitely do, but I'm going straight home usually. But I kind of have everything planned out, like here, you can smell me, I don't smell bad at all.
LAUREN GILGER: No, you smell fine, that's amazing, I'm amazed.
JAMIE TRUFIN: So I do have like wipes I bring sometimes for like longer walks like this so I don't smell, and then I do have a change of clothes that I usually bring. So I have like a black long UV sleeve that I wear, and then I switch into, I'm wearing my neighborhood shirt right now.
LAUREN GILGER: Right, right, okay. Okay, so let's talk about walkability in Phoenix. Like this is, as I said, a very notoriously car-centric city. Most people are going to drive or take public transit here, even though public transit, we know, can be a challenge to take here as well. What are your biggest observations from trying to just walk in Phoenix?
JAMIE TRUFIN: And I don't think this is exclusive to Phoenix, but it's just like out of nowhere you'll just get missing sidewalks, and you'll be surprised like in some areas, you're like, when I walked to Buc-ee's, that entire way was, except like one portion of it, had sidewalks all the way. But then you walk through Central City, like Midtown and Downtown, and then you're like, why are these neighborhoods that are so close to downtown just not connected? And you kind of look into the history of why some of these neighborhoods don't have that infrastructure, just south of us in some of the barrios, they purposely did not have any sidewalks, and it hurts to kind of see because there were these tight-knit communities and they don't have sidewalks to bring people together.
LAUREN GILGER: Interesting. So challenges kind of in the way the city's built. What about like trying to cross major thoroughfares or go under freeways as you probably just did coming here to KJZZ?
JAMIE TRUFIN: The one right here had, I actually, so I recorded my journey here, and I made a point that it was insane that there was two lanes, like you can take a right on red, but the thing is, there wasn't even a light. There was a light to get to this crossing, but then there was just a yield sign, and you have to cross in front of oncoming traffic taking a right.
LAUREN GILGER: I know exactly which turn you're talking about, yes.
JAMIE TRUFIN: And I was like, how is there not a light here? Like, it's already bad enough, but like just surprise that there aren't like built-in infrastructure, and it's not a surprise to me that like Arizona has over a thousand deaths in traffic incidents a year.
LAUREN GILGER: Pedestrian deaths in traffic incidents, yeah. And I want to talk about the policy changes that you think would help, right? I know you've been involved in that, you've been involved with Vision Zero in Phoenix in the past, like, what do you think needs to change fundamentally here to make it at least more friendly to people who want to walk, even if it's not, you know, walking only like you do?
JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, you know, and I think what's tough about something like that is that we have kind of built this environment where we treat our surface roads, where our communities are, our neighbors, where we meet people, we treat those streets like highways. And our highways, obviously our highways, I don't think that's the issue of how those are designed, but we apply that same idea into how we apply our local roads. So for arterials, for example, I know streets department typically has this clear zone policy where you can't have like trees, right? But part of walkability is you need trees and shade to cool off the street. So we're cutting off these trees and the visibility because we're treating it like it's a highway so we can have more visibility for drivers, not pedestrians.
LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, so these kind of fundamental ways that we approach this idea. What's the thing that drives you crazy the most when you're trying to walk around Phoenix?
JAMIE TRUFIN: Nobody yields. What drives me crazy is people are in a metal box that is AC'd, and maybe I'm just really nice as a driver, but like I just yield to people if I see someone crossing. But people will try to race you when you're using a crosswalk. So, and I do the finger wave, I try to wave to drivers to let them know, and, you know, I'm pretty reasonable with walking, but like I have the legal right to be in a crosswalk. I believe the state law is any crosswalk is a legal crosswalk, unmarked or marked.
MARK BRODIE: That's Jamie Trufin, the social media influencer who famously walked to Buc-ee's. We'll have more of his conversation with my co-host, Lauren Gilger, after the break. You are listening to The Show.
Good morning, it's The Show on KJZZ 91.5. I'm Mark Brodie. And now let's return to our conversation with urbanist Jamie Trufin. He's known on social media as Trufin Sees Transit, and he walked three hours to our studios recently to talk to my co-host, Lauren Gilger, about walkability, transit and why he chooses to be car-free in a hot city.
LAUREN GILGER: Okay, so let me back up for a moment, Jamie, and talk about what led you here, because this is not out of nowhere. You were hit by a wrong-way driver on the I-17, right? And severely injured, you had to relearn how to walk when you were in college, right?
JAMIE TRUFIN: Yes, I needed someone to stay at my—I was working as a shift supervisor at a pizza place, and the bus stopped running at I think around like 11 o'clock. And I had a car, it wasn't me that the issue was, it was my coworker, I needed him to help close. And he's like, "Hey, if I close, I need a ride home because the buses don't run." And I'm like, "Okay, I don't mind, I don't mind giving someone a ride home." I take him home, drop him off, and then I get back on—I don't remember this part, but I get back onto the highway, and I just wake up in like a two-day coma or something, I don't remember.
LAUREN GILGER: Wow.
JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, my family was like making little pizza signs in front of me. But yeah, I broke my femur, pelvis and shoulder all at one time.
LAUREN GILGER: My goodness, what was that recovery process like?
JAMIE TRUFIN: I was in like hospital for like a month, which I thought the food—everyone is complaining that the food isn't good in the hospital, I thought it was great.
LAUREN GILGER: Okay.
JAMIE TRUFIN: But apparently, like I was cracking jokes while I was unconscious to the firefighters and medics, I don't remember.
LAUREN GILGER: I don't know, I mean talking to you right now, I can guess that that would be true, you would do that. I mean, so you had to be in a wheelchair for some time, relearn how to walk. I mean, what did that do, that incident, what did that do to the way you think about driving?
JAMIE TRUFIN: You come at a better perspective of accessibility and just like understanding like universal design, which is a principle in planning where it's like you create designs that benefit not just yourself, but it benefits everybody else.
LAUREN GILGER: So, also a story we have to talk about from your past, although before any of that traumatic stuff happened, right? In high school, you became kind of famous here in the Valley for being the Watermelon Man on Camelback Mountain? Tell us about this.
JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, so I was hiking one time, and I found a watermelon in a cave, and I was like, "Oh, I want to start a tradition." I found this watermelon, we brought it to the top, and we did like this photo op with like my cousin and a family friend.
LAUREN GILGER: Sure.
JAMIE TRUFIN: And so I was like, "What if we did this like every Wednesday and like we made this like a fun, you know, activity?" So then I started doing it, and then somehow I got involved with being barefoot while doing it. Don't recommend doing that.
LAUREN GILGER: Yes, you were barefoot.
JAMIE TRUFIN: And yeah, I was young, it was probably not the smartest decision, but I did it for an entire year of my life, and I brought props and it was a fun way of like community building, and I probably didn't at that time really understand what like building community and having neighbors and friends and all this stuff that I do have now today, but I think that's kind of what led me into my direction now.
LAUREN GILGER: Right, so that's interesting, right? You're making community on top of Camelback Mountain by literally hiking up with a watermelon and sharing it with everyone. I mean, when you don't drive now, when you walk, when you take the bus or the light rail or whatever it may be, I mean, do you find community in that?
JAMIE TRUFIN: Oh yeah, I run into people all the time on the bus. I was doing a trip to Ajo on the bus, and I ran into, I think his tag is LA Guy in Phoenix, and, you know, he knows of me, and I know him, so like we ran into each other on the bus, and—
LAUREN GILGER: He's another social media influencer guy?
JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, but like we didn't plan that, it just happened. A lot of my interactions with my community isn't planned, it just happens.
LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, but it's because you're out there in the world and willing to be in a place where you're going to be around other people, and not kind of in your metal box like you described it, right?
JAMIE TRUFIN: And I think that's probably why I'm not a very angry person.
LAUREN GILGER: Okay, so where are you walking next?
JAMIE TRUFIN: So I just walked the other day to PV Mall for the IKEA. I did one video where I walked all the way to the IKEA in Tempe, and then everyone was like, "You should do the one in Paradise Valley." Fun fact, it's closed on Tuesdays, so I walked 20 miles and it was closed. But as far as my next walk, once the weather's a little bit cooler on this one, I want to do a—I want to walk all four ASU campuses from one to another, and then I still have my ASU ID, so I want to take the shuttle back.
LAUREN GILGER: Nice, you might want the shuttle back at that point!
JAMIE TRUFIN: It's not my craziest walk. I did a 24-hour walk.
LAUREN GILGER: Where?
JAMIE TRUFIN: So I started downtown, I went through Piestewa Peak, Scottsdale, I took the canal to Scottsdale, there's the Crosscut Canal, I went to Tempe, then followed that all the way to Mesa, and then looped all the way to Gilbert, Chandler, and then followed the canal back to Tempe, and then to Phoenix. It was 57 miles of walking in one day.
LAUREN GILGER: Did you eat along the way?
JAMIE TRUFIN: Oh yeah, yeah. It was a lot of walking. I think that's the most walking I've done was 57.
LAUREN GILGER: What shoes did you wear?
JAMIE TRUFIN: I wear Skechers. So I found this type of Skechers that I really like. I'm a pretty simple person, and I don't really like buy crazy stuff, but I just bought the same shoes in different styles, and that's kind of what I wear. They do melt the bottoms pretty often because it's so hot, so the grip on the shoes aren't the best, not because of the shoes, but just because they literally melt off.
LAUREN GILGER: So, okay, you've got your heat map, you know where you've walked and where you haven't, but I'm sure you covered a lot of the Valley at this point. Where are your favorite places to walk?
JAMIE TRUFIN: So while Phoenix is well known for being just unwalkable, I think we don't give enough credit, and frankly, we don't build enough towards them, is our canal system. We have so many canals that you can kind of like sneak through Phoenix without a car if you really wanted to, especially like if you have an e-bike or just a regular bicycle, you can really get around Phoenix without a car using the canal system. And they've been just getting better and better. I think there are some gaps, especially towards like the West Side, but I used to take the canal, I'd bike up 3rd Avenue, take the canal over to 15th Avenue and Indian School to go to the Shamrock Food Service when I would do bulk food shopping over there.
LAUREN GILGER: Well, it sounds like a great adventure and more to come. Jamie Trufin, an urbanist, Urban Phoenix Project board member, he's also on the board of the Phoenix Farmers Market and online influencer advocating for urban issues and walkability and more. Jamie, thank you so much for coming on the show, I really appreciate it.
JAMIE TRUFIN: Thank you for having me, appreciate it.
TIARA VIAN: And this has been The Stories You Don't Want to Miss podcast, made possible in part by the Katina Foundation, BASIS Charter Schools, Palo Verde Generating Station, SRP, and the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. Thank you for listening and for your generous support. I'm Tiara Vian. This is KJZZ. Listen more, learn more online and on the KJZZ mobile app.
