FIVE LEADERS IN SEARCH OF A FOLLOWER

posted by Michael Chihak

The annual conference of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns presented both an opportunity and a challenge for us at Arizona Week.

A roomful of politicians, all and always with plenty to say, especially in these difficult times for local governmental officials.

We lined up five mayors from around Arizona, from cities and towns big, medium and small. University of Arizona journalism senior Melanie Huonker, as an Arizona Week intern, did the yeoman's work of making the arrangements. Melanie also did the majority of the background research work on the issues, both generally and for each participant's municipality.

All five showed up as promised, and we dove into what turned out to be a sustained, 32-minute interview covering a wide range of municipal, financial, economic and political issues.

Bottom line: They played well together. To see for yourself, go to azweek.com.

HOW ARE AZ CITIES STACKING UP AGAINST THE ECONOMY?

posted by Melanie Huonker

University of Arizona economist Marshall J. Vest projects Arizona’s economic outlook to rise 45.5 percent by 2015 through personal income, retail sales and employment. That’s a sign for economic prosperity in the future, but how do cities stack up in the economy and job growth now, in 2011?

Friday’s Arizona Week broadcast will address that question with a panel discussion of five mayors reacting to an address by Gov. Jan Brewer at the League of Arizona Cities and Towns Annual Conference as well as discussing their local economic and public policy issues.

Arizona Week most recently confirmed Mayor W.J. “Jim” Lane’s participation in that discussion. A recent editorial in The Arizona Republic written by the mayor illuminates his confidence in Scottsdale’s ability to control the budget amid the financial crisis. Lane is so convinced of his city's ability that he thinks “Washington could learn a thing or two from Scottsdale.”

Others who confirmed for the program earlier this week are Mayor Byron Jackson of Eloy, Mayor Fernando Shipley of Globe, Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers of Avondale and Mayor Sara Presler of Flagstaff.

In early August, Avondale approved an expansion of the Phoenix International Raceway. The City Council said the move would bring new employment and national marketing exposure. Avondale also made a leap to increase small-business productivity through a partnership with Chandler’s Gangplank Collective, a non-profit organization that gets businesses on their feet without having to pay overhead costs.

Other cities like Eloy and Globe are looking to “lock up” to increase local job opportunities. Mayor Jackson told TriValley Central that the city’s four private prisons are good business. Despite high unemployment, Jackson said “the jobs are here.” While, Mayor Shipley was pro-prison for Globe, his city was divided. Added agreements if Globe housed a private prison would have drawn business into the community, Shipley said to TriValley Central.

In Flagstaff, Standard and Poor’s dropped the economic outlook for the city from “stable to “negative.” Despite the drop, Flagstaff sold $15.9 million in general-obligation bonds.

For more on AZ cities’ economic and job outlook and to hear from the mayors of each city, watch Arizona Week this Friday.

AZ MAYORS GATHER TO ADDRESS ECONOMIC, PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES

posted by Melanie Huonker

Mayors from across Arizona will gather for the Arizona League of Cities and Towns Annual Conference this week at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort. The conference will provide a series of workshops for mayors to address their local economic and job outlook, local budget and services issues, taxes and trust in government.

Gov. Jan Brewer will speak at the conference Thursday, Sept. 1. Following her address, Arizona Week will interview five Arizona mayors in a panel discussion to get their reactions to the governor.

So far, Mayor Byron Jackson of Eloy, Mayor Fernando Shipley of Globe, Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers of Avondale and Mayor Sara Presler of Flagstaff have confirmed their participation in the discussion.

That discussion will air on Friday night's episode of Arizona Week.

FINDING AGREEMENT AMONG THE DISAGREEABLE

posted by Michael Chihak

From the truth is stranger than fiction department: A half-dozen organizations with widely different and conflicting points of view came together and agreed on something.

Not just anything. Something significant. In this era of I'm right and you're wrong and never the twain shall meet politics, this isn't just any news. This is big news.

As Tucson's Morris K. and Stewart L. Udall Foundation describes it, the groups agreed on a plan to jointly restore forest ecosystems in a method that will reduce wildfire threats and strengthen local economies in four of Arizona’s national forests.

The agreeable groups include the timber industry, environmental organizations, scientists, recreational interests, local governments and officials of the four national forests.

Now here's even bigger news: What they agreed to is working. Parts of the forests that have been restored in the manner prescribed in what is known as the Four Forest Restoration Initiative were the least damaged in this summer's record-setting wildfires in Arizona.

The agreement was reached in February and will be rolled out over the next two decades. At the time, it got some publicity but not the kind of fanfare that would point up the bigger picture of what this means.

That is, how did this agreement come about? Through hard work, listening, open mindedness, willingness to compromise for the sake of true solutions.

The cynic in me wants to say that the key factor was that likely, no elected officials were involved. You know, those folks with one eye on the next election and the other on their intractable dogmas.

Let’s hope enough of them noticed this and took note of what the makings of it were. Perhaps it will lead them come up with all manner of solutions to significant issues that the country faces.

IN AFTERMATH OF FIRES, MUCH WORK TO BE DONE

posted by Michael Chihak

How can Arizona get its vast forest lands in shape to prevent a repeat of the devastating fires of nearly a decade ago in the White Mountains and Santa Catalina Mountains, and repeated in an even bigger way this summer in southern, central and northern Arizona?

Friday's Arizona Week broadcast will strive to answer, via interviews with up to five experts in forest management, fire history, forest ecology and the political will to bring together divergent interests.

We will focus on the causes and aftereffects of the Wallow Fire in the White Mountains and the Monument and Horseshoe 2 fires in Southern Arizona, including a look at long-term strategies for preventing such fires in the future.

The program's lineup of experts:

-- Cathleen Thompson, interagency coordinator for the Coronado National Forest Burned Area Emergency Response operation.

-- Rob Griffith, soil scientist with the Coronado National Forest working on post-fire conditioning to minimize erosion.

-- Stephen Pyne, Arizona State University fire historian.

-- Molly Hunter, Northern Arizona University forestry ecologist.

-- Maggie McCaffrey, program manager for the Udall Foundation's U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution.

WILDFIRES: CAN WE AVOID ANOTHER SUMMER LIKE THIS ONE?

posted by Michael Chihak

Cooperation among disparate and often competing individuals and interests and customized, strategic approaches to forest management are the long-term keys to minimizing undesirable monster wildfires, experts say.

Friday's Arizona Week will include an update on the big fires that swept through huge swaths of northern, eastern and southern Arizona this summer and look at the politics, science and economics behind controlling wildfires.

Not all wildfires are undesirable, and not all will ever be controllable, knowledgeable experts say.

"I think we have to accept that in Arizona, particularly the White Mountains, fire is inevitable," Steve Pyne told Arizona Week in an interview for Friday. Pyne is a wildfire historian and a professor at Arizona State University.

"As long as we keep this as public land and we want to keep it in a quasi-wild state, fire is going to happen," Pyne said.

Besides Pyne, Northern Arizona University forestry Professor Molly E. Hunter will appear on the program. Hunter will discuss a Southwestern forest where rehab work has made a positive difference in minimizing unwanted wildfire damage.