The City replaced living desert with metal and concrete — then refused to say who told them they could.
“Construction within the Phoenix Mountains Preserve requires approval by the City Council.” — Phoenix City Charter, Sec. 3.
In summer 2025, the City of Phoenix replaced the Piestewa Nature Trail at the Ocotillo Trailhead with a steel-and-concrete “footbridge.” No Council approval. No disclosed permit. No environmental assessment. No public comment. No notice to the Piestewa family.
On August 11, 2025, a citizens’ coalition — GOOD|GOAT, Don’t Waste Arizona, and residents Stephen Brittle, Jerry Van Gasse, Tim Sierakowski, and Jes Dobbs — filed a formal complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. The package includes the original ethics complaint of June 5, the May 28 cease-and-desist letter, formal demand letters from the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, and the City’s own engineering plans showing the Piestewa Nature Trail marked for obliteration.
“All of the improvements that have taken place, with the exception of the pedestrian walkway/bridge, were part of the approved Master Plan from about 2016.”
Seven things the City
never did.
Each item below corresponds to a step in the public process that, by City Charter, ordinance, or voter mandate, should have happened before a single bolt was driven into Preserve land. None of them did. Each one is independently a problem; together, they describe a process that did not exist.
No Authorization
No record exists of Phoenix City Council approval for a "footbridge" at the Ocotillo Trailhead — required under City Charter Sec. 3 for any construction within the Phoenix Mountains Preserve.
No Disclosed Permit
No building permit for the footbridge has been disclosed to the public or produced in response to public-records requests under A.R.S. § 39-121.
No Valid Contract
Records produced to date do not include a valid construction contract specifying scope, vendor, or cost for the footbridge project.
No Environmental Assessment
No Environmental Assessment was conducted, in clear violation of Preserve protections — replaced instead by destruction of the existing Piestewa Nature Trail.
No Parks Board Approval
No approval was sought from the Phoenix Parks Board for the use of voter-approved 3PI funds in this construction — a separate condition of how those funds may be spent.
No Advance Notice
No advance notice of the trail's obliteration was given — not to the Piestewa family, not to the public, not to the Phoenix City Council, Parks Board, or Parks Department staff.
No Accountability
No Parks Department official has acknowledged authorizing or overseeing the project. A formal complaint has been filed with the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
The City marked the Piestewa Nature Trail for obliteration on its own engineering drawings.
From the City’s 2024 Roadway Project plans (provided to the public on April 11, 2025 by Deputy City Manager John Chan): a notation reading EXISTING TRAIL TO BE OBLITERATED points directly at the Piestewa Nature Trail — named in honor of Lori Piestewa, a member of the Hopi Tribe and the first Native American woman in U.S. history to be killed in combat while serving in the military.
Voices from the trail.
It has to go to City Council because it’s on a preserve. The parks department has taken all the different steps out of this … without getting formal authorization or even informing the public of what’s going on.
We’re not getting anything from the city. They’re not being transparent in any manner about anything that’s taking place in the parks department.
They say things like this is a “mystery project” or a secret. In no way did we try to hide this.
A Preserve is the city’s promise to itself. Phoenix should keep the one it made in 2008.
Halt and Preserve
The City should halt all further construction at the Ocotillo Trailhead, fence off the affected area, and preserve all records — financial, structural, and electronic — relevant to the project.
Independent Audit
A line-item audit of the funding source (3PI or otherwise), procurement chain, and approval path for the footbridge — conducted by an independent firm and reported publicly.
Accountability & Restoration
Identification of the official(s) who authorized the work, restoration of the Piestewa Nature Trail to the maximum extent feasible, and a written policy preventing unauthorized Preserve construction from recurring.
The paper trail.
What’s happened. What we’re watching.
GOOD|GOAT documents every step. The next milestone is the Attorney General’s formal response and the City’s production of permit and contract records.
SHOW UP. SPEAK UP. PROTECT THE PRESERVE.
Sign the Demand
Add your name to the public record demanding accountability and restoration. Each signature is filed with the AG's office and the City Council.
Request the Records
A short A.R.S. § 39-121 request — your name, the document you want, the date — forces the City to disclose. We'll provide the template.
Show Up at Council
Phoenix City Council and Parks Board hearings are open to the public. Showing up in person remains the single most effective form of civic pressure.