Arizona’s newest road leads straight to the Obama White House.

Construction began when Gov. Janet Napolitano endorsed Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy on Jan. 11.

As most readers know, one fork on this road is likely to lead Napolitano to Obama’s cabinet. Even as the other fork is being mapped, it’s pedal to the metal.

Arizona State University President Michael Crow is among those regional leaders who see that at fork as leading to federal investment in Arizona’s transportation, water, education systems.

Crow told the Tribune’s editorial board last Tuesday that he had scheduled a meeting with Napolitano on Wednesday to ask her to use her influence with Obama to put ASU projects on the new administration’s map.

All the planning work was done. Crow said he just needs money.

Crow’s comments came on the same day that Obama opened the door wide to including state and local infrastructure in his economic stimulus package.

At his third press conference since the election, Obama said this when asked about what he could do for governors and mayors whose budgets are in desperate straits:

“We are going to have to make sure that we are investing in roads, bridges, other infrastructure investments that lay the groundwork for long-term economic growth. A lot of that goes through our states and our local governments….

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Mayor Scott Smith is a rock star and Mesa is hot.

Don’t believe me?

His booking agent is hopping. Smith sat on panels at two heavy duty conferences this week week alone and the audience paid attention.

The first, at ASU in Tempe, brought economists, politicians and business leaders together to talk about what Arizona needs to do to prepare for a population of 10 million in 2030. The focus was on transportation, energy generation and delivery, water and other infrastructure issues.

The second one was in downtown Phoenix on Friday. It was at once more regional and Washington-focused and included Gov. Janet Napolitano, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, Arizona State University President Michael Crow, and representatives of the Washington D.C.-based Brookings Institution.

The Brookings Institution has been studying growth in what it calls the Mountain Megas–Central Arizona (aka the Sun Corridor) and Denver, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas areas. Brookings believes to reach its potential the region needs to join together and assert itself with Washington for federal-funding for infrastructure development.

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Had she achieved anything? I ask Gilbert School board member Elaine Morrison.
“You’re here,” she answers.
She had me. I was here at the Gilbert Historical Museum at 10 S. Gilbert Road and it was because of her that I was here at the museum.
At the school board’s Nov. 4 meeting, the board handed Morrison a defeat and voted to reconsider naming the district’s fifth and newest high school Campo Verde.
“I think a trip to the Gilbert Historical Museum might be in order to get a sense of what it used to be like out here,” Morrison said.
Morrison had championed the name and initially won the board’s support, but that support evaporated as critics mobilized.
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Ah, for the good old days when Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano waged her crusade for state-funded kindergarten and the Republican state legislature led by Russell Pearce waged its campaign against Arizona businesses and illegal immigration.
Arizona was flush with construction and development jobs. Growth was never-ending. Unemployment was low. State leaders could push agendas near and dear.
And jobs wasn’t at the top of the list.
Oh, there was some dabbling with job development in a trendy sort of way. You know, San Diego and Boston have biotech, we should, too.
Then, Google came to town and Napolitano was front and center on the jobs development bandwagon.
And then Google announced it was leaving town. Oops.
What we all know now is that when the marketplace shifts, it’s too late.
Had the state worked harder for job development when it seemed like the whole world wanted to live in Arizona, would our economy have been more diversified and the landing softer?
That’s a rhetorical question. The wistful answer is, “Of course.”
Maybe this recession will serve as a wake-up call. Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn hopes so.
No Arizona city has had more success in job development than has Chandler. Years ago city leaders developed a plan, knowing that quality jobs, not strip malls were the key to creating a livable and sustainable city. And they stuck to the plan. .
Had they not, the Price Corridor would be lined with houses, because the pressure from developers was that great, said Dunn over lunch in Chandler’s hip and getting hipper downtown.
And it continues. On Tuesday rocket-maker Orbital Sciences announced an expansion that will bring 300 more jobs to Chandler. In October Avnet opened a $26 million technology center that employs 250, and in March a technology products and services company (CDW Inc.) announced it will open a center at the city’s municipal airport that will employ 450 people.
So why don’t we see more of this going on in Arizona?
“The primary driver of job development in Arizona is cities,” said Dunn. “We get little help from the state. The state has to step in. We just need help.”

“Every Saturday—free to the public” said the Mesa Arts and Culture Festival brochure.

What better way to spend a Saturday in November than strolling down Main Street, talking with artists and looking at their sidewalk exhibits.

And it’s absolutely free.

With some free time on my hands after a morning meeting last Saturday, I decided to check out the art festival.

I walked the south side of the street from McDonald to Center, talking to a few artists, including one who had once been in the circus. I circled around to the north side of the street when a print caught my eye at one of the exhibits.

It is from a painting of a Roadrunner.

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I don’t think many people at City Hall put much stock into what a Tribune survey found last winter when we asked whether voters would support a property tax for a public safety bond package.

The Trib survey, conducted by Behavior Research Center, not only found support for a dedicated property tax, it found a lot of support.

The poll showed a so-called secondary property tax for police and fire would pass by 64 percent. That’s less than three points away from the 66.9 percent vote that the ballot issue received on Tuesday.

Last winter, even pollster Jim Haynes was surprised by the survey results.

“Typically, people are highly opposed to any tax, especially property tax,” Haynes said at the time.

Here’s a link to that story:

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/110422

Mesa City Councilwoman Dina Higgins was all smiles on the day after the election when we met at Red, White and Brew in East Mesa.

Voters had just handed her and other Mesa Council members a vote of confidence and the means to improve city services by approving a property tax to fund two bond issues. The bond issues will pay for $170 million in public safety and street projects.

Just two and a half years ago, voters shot down big time a ballot measure that would have given the city a property tax to help fund city services. The margin in that election was 3-2 against the property tax.

I dug out the Tribune’s editorial following that defeat, and it suggests we were spot on. Here is an excerpt:

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