Tag Archives: economic development

Political Bites: Local Public Transit

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

What, if anything, can cities do to lessen the impact of transit budget cuts on residents?
Most cities are facing their own budget issues and probably are not in much of position to shoulder the impact on behalf of their residents.  [...]

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Political Bites: Legislative Session Grade

Posted on May 8, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

The Legislative session was expected to wrap up April 29. What letter grade would you give lawmakers for this year’s session, and why?
I think they deserve an F.  Their inability to balance the budget in a timely fashion and in [...]

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Arizona Town Hall Session III & IV

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

Yesterday I asked for feedback on Sessions I & II.  Today I am asking the same for Sessions III & IV.  I will be posting the questions for discussion here in hope that you will respond back to them [...]

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Make Up of a Arizona Town Hall Group

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

Someone asked me how groups were selected for Arizona Town Hall.  Frankly, I have no idea.  I am putting my group listing here so that people can get an idea of what the make of a group looks like diversity [...]

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Arizona Town Hall Session I & II

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

Ran into @szylstra and @kimberlanning tonight at the Arizona Town Hall.  So here is the 10 second overview.  About 150 people are selected to participate in the Town Hall.  They are then broken in to groups by the organizers.  The [...]

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Arizona’s Economic Competitors

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

The following five states are seen as competitors to Arizona for economic development. (I listed them in order I personally feel are most competitive to least competitive)

Oregon
Utah
Colorado
New Mexico
Nevada

I think that Portland, OR and Boulder, CO are two cities that are [...]

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The New Economy: A Guide For Arizona

Posted on April 24, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

Getting ready for the 96th Arizona Town Hall, I am reading their report Building Arizona’s Future: Jobs, Innovation & Competitiveness.  It references a 1999 paper from the Morrison Institute The New Economy: A Guide for Arizona.  It lists eight principles [...]

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Arizona Economic Development Can’t Seem To Get It Right

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

It looks like Arizona Legislature is trying to get business friendly.  I applaud that they are trying to do something.  I just think they don’t get it.  Why is this state hell bent on simply attracting a multi-billion dollar manufacturing/production [...]

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Shop Local vs Shop Local Get the Picture?

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

Arizona is definitely in a financial crisis and as part of that there has been a lot about shopping locally.  This is seen as a primary way to help stimulate the local economy.  I have noticed that many metro area [...]

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Encouraging Institutional Innovation By Changing How We Educate

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Derek Neighbors

John Hagel’s Edge Perspectives has an excellent article on challenging mindsets from reverse innovation to innovation blowback. It reinforces our mindset in why we are passionate about how Gangplank is structured and why concepts brought out in Gangplank Jr [...]

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