16 Feb 16th–Feb 22nd, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | music | cafe | film | culTuRe | NighT+Day | feaTuRe | NeWs | OPiNiON | feeDBacK | cONTeNTs | and Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, are two of the closest remaining neighbors. The university’s relationship with the church and the apartments has been peaceful — unlike with Palmer. “Unfortunately, this particular neighbor has not been as friendly as others in our neighborhood,” Romantic, the university spokesperson, wrote in reference to Palmer. “If someone does not wish to sell their property, our intent is to be a good neighbor and embrace them within the GCU community.” And many neighbors have appreciated some of the changes brought by GCU’s investment. Dieckman is among them. She values GCU’s partnership with Habitat for Humanity, for instance. But she opposed the school’s ultimately unsuccessful effort to annex a neighborhood park in 2017. “They did some wonderful things for everyone, painted a lot of houses, cleaned up a lot of yards,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean we owe our life to them.” The university’s investment in the neighborhood has made it difficult to oppose them in court, attorney Timothy La Sota said. He worked with Palmer on an unsuccessful lawsuit in 2015 challenging GCU’s plans to take over Colter Street, which had been a public road since 1926. Taking over the road was a “special inside baseball deal,” La Sota said. Yet, he said, “that part of town is considered better than it was before GCU.” GCU argued that it was the city of Phoenix’s right to give the school control over the road, and the Arizona Court of Appeals ultimately agreed. The university has also faced backlash over the growth of its campus. In April 2022, around the same time that the university sued Palmer, it delivered an unexpected eviction notice to dozens of residents of Periwinkle Mobile Home Park. GCU gave them six months — and no compensation — to leave their longtime homes. Most residents had not realized that GCU owned the property, which the university bought in 2016. Over the last 10 months, Periwinkle residents have protested and won some concessions from GCU, including an extended move out deadline and money for furniture. But the Periwinkle residents, like Palmer, want to stay. “We’re asking to keep our homes,” said Alondra Ruiz Vazquez, who has lived in the mobile home park for nine years. “We’re not asking for money or furniture or whatever else they thought we’d be happy with.” “It’s a bad part of town, there’s lots of crime, all of that,” Palmer admitted. “But poor people have to have a place to live.” ‘Plagued by Crime’ Grand Canyon University’s current case against Palmer revolves around Palmer’s four rental units. The university’s attorneys argue they are “plagued by crime” and neglected by their aging landlord. The suit asked for a judge to place Palmer’s property under the control of a court- appointed receiver. In the suit, attorneys outlined a variety of issues on the property, including several arrests over the last three years. In April 2021, the Phoenix Police Department searched one of the rental units and found “a significant quantity” of unspecified illegal drugs. The following May, the U.S. Marshals Service searched the property for a fugitive who was a friend of one of Palmer’s tenants. The wanted person was arrested. The tenant had “previously threatened to strike an individual he believed to be one of [GCU’s] students with what appeared to be a metal baseball bat,” according to GCU attorneys “It would have been irresponsible on our part if we had not taken some action on behalf of our students and employees to protect their safety,” Romantic said. The lawsuit also alleges that in May 2022, Palmer complained to a GCU secu- rity guard that three students jumped the fence to his property and that he “told two different security guards that he would shoot the minors.” GCU said they were in fact 13- and 14-year-old schoolchildren who “simply wanted to see the cows being kept on [Palmer’s] property.” These instances were hardly the first time Palmer clashed with GCU security. In April 2017, Palmer was arrested and A banner on Gail Palmer’s property greets passing GCU students. Woe from p 15 Jacob Tyler Dunn
