By Sean Holstege | The Republic | azcentral.com
Bedroom community. Poster child of the housing crash. Open for business at any cost. One way in, one way out. A place you leave to go to work, never a destination.
Such portrayals of Maricopa are dated or off-base, say its leaders, and the city is poised to correct them.
Before Maricopa incorporated as a Pinal County city about 35 miles south of downtown Phoenix, 1,040 people lived there, and City Hall was a temporary trailer borrowed after Loop 101 was built.
That was in 2000. Three years later, the population shot up to 15,934, and the city decided to incorporate.
Last week, the community of now 44,956 people celebrated its 10th birthday in a new City Hall complex. It’s just one of the ambitious public works that its leaders think will usher in a lasting prosperity and an image makeover for the city, located about 15 miles southwest of Chandler and nestled between two reservations — those of the Gila River and Ak-Chin Indian communities.
