Gloria Halas, a shelter lead with the Phoenix St. Vincent de Paul Society, was overseeing one of 17 city-operated cooling centers in the Sunnyslope community on Friday. About 50 people, some with pets, sat quietly until 4:30 p.m., when the center closed for the day.
“It’s just a place for them to rest their heads, maybe take a nap,” she said.
Pat Courtney, 55, and Sherry King, 60, had secured a spot near the door with their dogs, Lacy and Bella. Courtney moved to Phoenix from Orange County, Calif., about five years ago to work as a roofer.
“I hate it here. It’s too hot,” he said. The trade-off is steady work in one of the nation’s fastest-growing metro areas.
With the clock ticking toward closing, the pair began repacking their belongings for another night out. They planned to go to a city-owned sports complex about two miles away that on normal summer nights would host softball and soccer games on manicured fields. There’s a bathroom building, a dog park and plenty of lighting.
“We go there pretty often,” said Courtney. “It has sprinklers.”
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2023. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Daniel Cusick covers climate change adaptation and resilience. He joined E&E News in 2003 and has filed news stories from South Florida to Northern Minnesota. He has reported from more than a half dozen hurricane recovery zones and documented climate change impacts, resilience and energy transitions in East Africa. He lives in Minneapolis.
