InMaricopa
Redemption comes in many forms.
For Nick Sanchez, owner of Redemption Tattoo, the name of his shop reflects his journey.
The artist has built a successful business and a legion of fans who return to his chair time and again. But that success was hard-earned.
Sanchez had to turn his life around after a stint in prison. Later, he rebounded from the somewhat-sudden sale of his first tattoo shop.
Then came a journey of faith and, recently, a new family.
“I like the fact that he’s real,” said one of his fans, Ryan Kraemer, a Rancho El Dorado resident. “He’s not just a great artist, but he’s a real person and that’s what I like about him. It’s a very personal experience in there and I really like that.”
InMaricopa
For the second straight session, state Rep. Bret Roberts introduced
legislation, House Bill 2068, in January seeking $35 million
toward construction of an overpass on SR347 at Riggs
Road, the most dangerous intersection on the 13-mile
stretch between I-10 and the Maricopa city limits. Photo by Merenzi Young / Eye of Odin Studios
Roberts works to speed SR347 improvements
Bret Roberts drives the dangerous highway a dozen times a week for most of the year.
The Maricopa resident has seen serious accidents on State Route 347, sat in its traffic and witnessed people driving recklessly on the four-lane highway with three high-speed intersections, daring to become another statistic.
InMaricopa I feel my primary job
is to create an environment where everyone can succeed, whether that’s a single parent or a church or small business or a big business or a developer, says Maricopa City Manager Rick Horst. I don’t want to create the city of Maricopa’s wealth, I want to create the
community’s wealth.”
If there is such a thing as a practical visionary who can survive in government, Rick Horst may be that “unicorn.”
On his arrival as city manager in 2018, he set about to build a city without creating debt.
That economic development philosophy was honed over a 30-year career in public administration. And it led him to this city in the desert with plenty of open land to
InMaricopa
Superintendent Dr. Tracey Lopeman, seen at a September 2020 board meeting, said the district must seek a continuation of the budget override this year or begin to lose funding. Photo by Merenzi Young / Eye of Odin Studios
When voters in 2016 approved a 10% budget override for students in the Maricopa Unified School District, they had little idea just how vital the additional funding would become four years later.
Since its approval, the seven-year budget override has generated enough revenue to implement a number of initiatives aimed at improving the quality of education.
Notably, it facilitated the hiring of new teachers that decreased elementary class sizes from the mid-30s to the mid-20s.
InMaricopa
âIt all came down to the fact that we saw a tremendous need for something for the cycling community here in Maricopa,â Matt Stewart said. âWe decided to address that need.â Photo by Merenzi Young / Eye of Odin Studios
If real estate is all about location, location, location, then retail businesses are all about finding the right niche. And what could be better than finding a niche that is completely untapped?
That was the genesis of Matt Stewart launching his new business, Arizona Bike Garage, the first bike shop in Maricopa.
âIt all came down to the fact that we saw a tremendous need for something for the cycling community here in Maricopa,â Stewart said. âI had gotten my wife Katrina a bike for Christmas. Then we got bikes for our kids Kallie and Jack, and we realized that every time we needed parts for one of our four bikes there was nothing close by â I was constantly driving to Ahwatukee. So, it became pretty ap