We recently reached out directly to city officials with a hard-hitting list of demands regarding the botched drainage project next to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. The city team finally responded.

While they used a lot of smooth, comforting words, a closer look at their answers reveals exactly how they are avoiding accountability. Below is the unedited transcript of our demands, their official responses, and the real-world truth they are trying to hide.

1. The Concrete vs. Natural Landscaping

Our Demand: Stop the cement pour and use boulders or something natural for the preserve. Painting over it is a temporary trick—after two years, it’s just ugly, unnatural cement.

  • The City’s Response: Concrete channel lining is only used in limited sections where engineering analysis shows it is necessary to convey high-velocity stormwater and reduce erosion. Where possible, we use angular rock riprap and native rock. The design minimizes disturbance while meeting safety standards.
  • ⚠️ The Real-World Truth: They claim this is a “limited section” for “high-velocity flows,” but our drone footage and photos tell a completely different story. They hit massive mountain bedrock at a shallow depth, realized drilling it properly would bust their budget, and poured a flat concrete “spoon” instead. This flat design slows water down, turning the channel into a massive silt trap that will clog and flood backyards during the first major monsoon.

2. Replacing Destroyed Vegetation

Our Demand: Replant real vegetation; do not just spray cheap seed. Give us an exact number of trees, cacti, or shrubs to make this right.

  • The City’s Response: Because the project is on the side of a mountain and lacks irrigation, the project team will not be planting any trees or shrubs. We salvaged 28 cacti during the first round of construction and are looking into adding a few more.
  • ⚠️ The Real-World Truth: Read that closely. Zero new trees and zero new shrubs. The city tore up native mountain vegetation with heavy equipment, and their plan to “make it right” is to leave it bare because they don’t want to manage irrigation. Salvaging 28 cacti doesn’t replace an entire destroyed desert ecosystem.

3. Loose Dirt and Severe Dust Control

Our Demand: Cover all loose dirt immediately to prevent dust storms and erosion.

  • The City’s Response: The contractor will use dust mitigation measures. Revised plans have us line the channel, use riprap, and spray seed on disturbed areas.
  • ⚠️ The Real-World Truth: “Spraying seed” on heavily graded, loose desert soil does absolutely nothing to prevent immediate wind erosion or severe dust storms during our dry summer months. It takes years for hydroseed to take root in hard desert ground.

4. Preventing the Wash from Becoming an Illegal Trail

Our Demand: Ensure this newly graded area does not become a new recreational trail or an ATV track.

  • The City’s Response: Per the City of Phoenix Parks Department, 24th Street is not a public entrance to the preserve.
  • ⚠️ The Real-World Truth: This is a classic bureaucratic dodge. Just because the city says it isn’t an official entrance on a map doesn’t change reality. By grading the wash wide and flat, they carved an open highway straight into the preserve.

5. Future Maintenance and ATV Blockades

Our Demand: How will this passage be maintained, and how will you ensure it cannot be used for recreational vehicles?

  • The City’s Response: The city and its internal departments are discussing the best approach to this, possibly to install some kind of ‘edge protection’.
  • ⚠️ The Real-World Truth: Translation: They have absolutely no plan. They admitted they are still “discussing the best approach.” However, because our campaign gained over 5,000 views this week, the city was forced to immediately throw up a temporary gate in front of the construction zone. They are reacting entirely to the pressure we are putting on them.

What should happen -AI wants this to happen

. Mandate an Independent Hydraulic Review

  • The Demand: The city must halt the project until an independent, third-party engineering firm verifies the safety of this modified shallow concrete pan design.
  • The Reason: Because the contractors hit bedrock and stopped digging deep, this channel’s volume capacity has been severely compromised. We need a written guarantee from an independent expert—not a defensive city bureaucrat—confirming that this “spoon” can handle a 100-year monsoon event without jumping its banks.

2. Implement a Permanent “Desert-Grade” ATV Blockade

  • The Demand: Replace the cheap, temporary construction gate with a permanent, heavy-duty structural barrier that allows wildlife and hikers to pass but completely blocks motorized vehicles.
  • The Reason: A wide-open, freshly graded wash is a magnet for dirt bikes and ATVs. The city needs to install permanent “edge protection” or heavy boulder chicanes before demobilizing their equipment, not “discuss it later.”

3. Native Desert Re-Greening Partnership

  • The Demand: Since the city claims they cannot plant trees or shrubs due to a lack of temporary irrigation pipes, they must partner with the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department or a local non-profit (like Keep Phoenix Beautiful) to design a native, drought-tolerant revegetation plan.
  • The Reason: Relying on hydroseed spray on a steep mountain slope guarantees the dirt will wash away in the first rain. Planting hardy, native desert shrubs that don’t require heavy long-term watering is the bare minimum required to stabilize the soil and restore the mountain’s natural landscape.