Category Archives: AZ

Brian Cole on Arizona Economic Development April 27th 2010

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Derek Neighbors

More AZ Town Hall Notes.. Brian Cole talk.
Calculating your top economic development strategies.  Statewide policy.  Community focused strategic plans.
Where are we?
Where do we want to go?
How we gonna get there?
Traditional Approach

Vision statement
SWOT analysis
Demographic analysis
What have we been doing
What do most [...]

Posted in AZ, Community | Comments Off

Joe Kalt on Arizona Economy April 26th 2010

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Derek Neighbors

More notes from Arizona Town Hall in April of 2010.  Joesph Kalt an economist from Harvard speaks…
April 2010 Facts

Unemployment rate at national average
Underemployment rate at top (300,000 jobs lost, 1 in 9)
State tax receipts down by 33%
Budget gap largest in [...]

Posted in AZ, Community | Comments Off

AZ Town Hall Flashback April 26th 2010

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Derek Neighbors

Thoughts from AZ TownHall on Economic Development.. Actually these are notes that never made it in form of prose..

Exposed weakness of state to me
Lack of diversity
Not prepared as a state
Showed we are not competitive

All Arizonians need to make Economic Development [...]

Posted in AZ | Comments Off

It’s about people. Companies saying right wage. Wrong skill set.

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Derek Neighbors

AZ Tech Council Notes April 20th, 2010
Finding lots of notes.. Don’t have time to assemble them into full thoughts, but figured would share the raw notes..

Dept of commerce reform
Wants stability.  Is AZ stable?
Grow new businesses.. Focus on renewable energy
Texas has [...]

Posted in AZ | Comments Off

Urban Forest Thoughts from CityCampAZ

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Derek Neighbors

During CityCampAZ there was a session on Urban Forests.  Some ideas that might need follow up.  I’m too busy, but someone needs to push for collaboration here…

Certification of landscapers (that they understand the desert)
Education of nurseries on right plants for [...]

Posted in AZ | 1 Comment

Desert Code Camp 2011.1

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Derek Neighbors

Saturday April 2nd @ Chandler-Gilbert Community College Pecos Campus
Desert Code Camp has opened it’s call for suggestions.  This is a great FREE event that brings together technologists of all kinds together at a single location to learn (while feeding them [...]

Posted in Agile, AZ, Gangplank, Integrum | 1 Comment

Skysong: Helping Cement Phoenix as the Place for Mediocre People

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Derek Neighbors

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council released a report touting that Skysong actually is exceeding expectations and has been underestimated.  Citing a $113 million impact which is largely calculated using salaries of people that have worked there over the last five [...]

Posted in AZ | 4 Comments

Policital Bites: Improving Education

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

What can be done to produce a more educated workforce in the Southeast Valley?
The core building blocks of innovation are chaos, creativity and collaboration.  Our current educational system places little to no value on any of these traits.  It applies [...]

Posted in AZ, Education, Political Bites | 7 Comments

East Valley Partnership Emerging Leaders Young Leaders Panel

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

Most people I know think that we need new leadership in Arizona government.  I constantly hear how so many of our elected officials are incompetent or irrelevant.  Clueless is a common adjective I hear in the banter.  I always ask [...]

Posted in AZ | Comments Off

Fighting For the Arizona We Want

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

The creative class is underrepresented in Metro Phoenix.  Our elected leaders continue to make choices that are detrimental to our future and we refuse to get organized to stop them.  It is time that we choose our battlefield and take [...]

Posted in AZ | 5 Comments