Crime, economic development, rural living most on the minds of Pinal County residents, says newspaper editor/reporter
by Phil Riske | Rose Law Group Reporter
Joey Chenoweth, county editor, Casa Grande Valley Newspapers, Inc., PinalCentral.com
Born in San Jose, California, moved to Glendale attended Northern Arizona University, and graduated in 2012 with a Journalism and Political Science degree, with a business minor. Hired as a reporter for the Coolidge Examiner and promoted to editor early in 2013. As county editor, he is editor of four print publications: The Coolidge Examiner, Florence Reminder & Blade-Tribune, Maricopa Monitor, and the brand new San Tan Valley Sentinel.
What are people on the street on your beat most talking about?
Crime always gets the most attention of the stories we do, but I find what gets people talking to their small-town reporters is economic development. They want to know when a promised project is going to finally come in, and the answer is almost always “years from now.”
Joey Chenoweth
What I have found most interesting about this is that there isn’t just one opinion on economic development, especially in rural communities like Coolidge. To be sure, there are plenty of people who want all the development they can get, almost to an existential level. It’s not like it is up in the Valley, where if a Target opens, nearby residents think that’s a nice addition that will make their lives more convenient. In a place like Coolidge, if a Target were to open, it would mean the city has made it, that it has value. When the Wal-Mart came in before I arrived, people told me it changed the whole community, and how residents view their own community.
But there are also plenty of people who moved to rural communities in Pinal County because they are in fact rural. They want that lifestyle where they can ride horses around their immense property and now have to worry about their neighbors or traffic, which can often be a mile away. There is a sense of dread among these people that the progress of economic development is inevitable, and they will soon lose that lifestyle they love so much. They show up to planning and zoning meetings to express their disapproval at the latest subdivision or commercial plot that could pop up in their area.
