By Mark Carlisle

Independent Newsmedia

Glendale will consider renaming a portion of Bethany Home Road near University of Phoenix Stadium to Cardinals Way.

City Council will discuss the change and will likely make a decision in its next workshop, 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13.

Bethany Home Road would become Cardinals Way between 99th and 83rd avenues while maintaining its old name on either side of the two-mile segment.

Mayor Jerry Weiers introduced the idea as an item of special interest during a June 2017 Council meeting, requesting city staff research the cost and logistics.

“I think that (the Cardinals) have become very good partners with the city, and I see a great future working with them and certainly we need to take advantage of that,” he said in the June 2017 meeting. “You know, branding is everything and why aren’t we taking advantage of that when we could?”

The change, which will consist entirely of replacing street signs on arterial roads and highways to point fans to the stadium the Cardinals have called home since 2006, will cost $80,000, according to Glendale’s Transportation Department. The Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority has pledged assistance with the cost should Glendale undergo the change, but ASTA has not specified how much it will chip in.

Glendale’s City Council had planned to discuss and rule on the item in its Tuesday, Jan. 23 workshop, but the workshop was canceled. The road renaming was one of two items on the agenda. Council still plans to hold its evening meeting on Jan. 23, which begins at 5 p.m. Instead, the topic will come before Council during its next workshop, 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13.

Beginning this month, Glendale’s Council’s regular schedule will be to hold two meetings every other Tuesday, twice a month. The extra week between the Jan. 23 and Feb. 13 meetings is due to January having five Tuesdays.

Green thumbtacks indicate signs along Loop 101 that the Arizona Department of Transportation would need to change and red thumb tacks indicate signs along Bethany Home Road the city of Glendale would need to change in order to rename a two-mile stretch of Bethany Home Road to Cardinals Way. [Source: City of Glendale Transportation Department][/caption]Most of the cost of the change — $75,000 — will come from the Arizona Department of Transportation replacing 12 signs along Loop 101, which Glendale would pay for, possibly with help from ASTA. The other $5,000 will come from Glendale replacing five street signs along the route between 99th and 83rd avenues.

Cardinals Way would not be the first street of its kind in Glendale. The Cardinals’ neighbors, the Coyotes, have a street named after them — Coyotes Boulevard, which runs through Westgate Sports and Entertainment District — less than a mile north of Bethany Home Road.

“I hope everybody would agree with me,” Mayor Weiers said in the June 2017 meeting, “We have one of the largest employers in Glendale that typically gets us on television nationally all the time, along with Super Bowls and everything else, and that would be the Cardinals.”

While his fellow councilmembers have not yet voiced their opinions on the matter that will soon come before council, one councilmember has reached out to the public for input on the proposed Cardinals Way name change.

Councilwoman Joyce Clark of the Yucca District, which contains University of Phoenix Stadium, posted an informational blog post on her blog, joyceclarkunfi ltered.com, along with a poll. The results showed strong opposition. Of the 47 votes recorded at deadline, 44 voted against the name change. Among eight comments on the topic, seven spoke against the change, all saying it was a waste of money or at least that the money could be better utilized elsewhere. One comment hypothesized that one Cardinals’ home game would bring in enough in hotel and food taxes to cover the $80,000.

The Mayor pointed out in the June 2017 meeting that there wouldn’t be an issue of residents’ addresses changing because there are no residences along that stretch of Bethany Home Road. One of the commenters on Ms. Clark’s blog theorized that additional costs would follow the initial $80,000 because maps would need updating.

When the matter comes back before Council Feb. 13 — presented by Transportation Director Trevor Ebersole — Mayor Weiers and Council will discuss and determine if the name change is worth the $80,000 price tag.

Mark Carlisle can be reached at 623-876-2518 or mcarlisle@newszap.com.