PHOENIX, Arizona – A panel of local experts and Andrew Ross, author of “Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City,” will discuss the current state of sustainability in metropolitan Phoenix at a public forum on Tuesday, January 17, 2012.  The event, free to the public, will be held at the George Washington Carver Museum & Cultural Center at 415 E. Grant Street. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., panel discussion 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., audience Q&A 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., and reception with complimentary refreshments 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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Panel moderator will be Charles Redman, Arizona State University (ASU) Virginia M. Ullmann professor of Natural History and the Environment and founding director of the ASU School of Sustainability. The current slate of panelists (with two to be added soon) includes:

• Steve Betts, former president/CEO of SunCor Development and current Arizona District Council Chair of the Urban Land Institute;
• George Brooks, NxT Horizon Group and sustainability consultant
• Terry Goddard, former Phoenix mayor and former Arizona attorney general who now teaches a course at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus: “Phoenix and the Art of Public Decision Making;”
• Taz Loomans, architect and writer/blogger on sustainability issues;
• Eva Olivas, executive director, Phoenix Revitalization Core
• Andrew Ross, professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University.
• Silvia Urrutia, director of Housing and Healthcare Finance, Raza Development Fund

According to Susan Copeland, steering committee chair of Downtown Voices Coalition, “Issues of sustainability are paramount to the future of Phoenix. Ross’ book is a great springboard from which to begin, or continue, discussion.”

The Downtown Voices Coalition is sponsoring the event with in-kind support from the Lexington Hotel in downtown Phoenix, Four Peaks Brewery of Tempe and the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.

“Bird on Fire” is available at Made Art Boutique, 922 North 5^th Street in downtown Phoenix and at Changing Hands Bookstore at 6428 South McClintock Drive in Tempe. It is also available at Burton Barr, Cesar Chavez and Mesquite Branch libraries in Phoenix.

Downtown Voices Coalition is a coalition of stakeholder organizations that embrace growth in downtown Phoenix, but is mindful that healthy growth should be based upon existing downtown resources — the vibrancy of neighborhoods, the strength of the arts community, the uniqueness of historic properties, and the wonderful small businesses that dot downtown. For more information, visit downtownvoices.org.

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Viewers also will be able to meet one of the filmmakers of the Olmsted documentary, Rebecca Messner, and participate in a short presentation and discussion on local and national Red Field to Green Fields initiative to convert economically depressed “red” private property (residential, commercial and industrial) into public park property “green.”

The screening is a presentation of No Festival Required’s Building Community Cinema series with the support of the Speedwell Foundation, the City Parks Alliance, Arizona State University, Butler Housing Company, Phoenix Community Alliance, Phoenix Parks Foundation and the City of Phoenix.

Panel moderator will be Charles Redman, Arizona State University (ASU) Virginia M. Ullmann professor of Natural History and the Environment and founding director of the ASU School of Sustainability. The current slate of panelists (with two to be added soon) includes:

• Maria Baier, state land commissioner, Arizona;
• Steve Betts, former president/CEO of SunCor Development and current Arizona District Council Chair of the Urban Land Institute;
• Terry Goddard, former Phoenix mayor and former Arizona attorney general who now teaches a course at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus: “Phoenix and the Art of Public Decision Making;”
• Taz Loomans, architect and writer/blogger on sustainability issues;
• Kris Mayes, former commissioner of the Arizona Corporation Commission and current director of the ASU Law and Sustainability Program and professor at the ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law;
• Andrew Ross, professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University.
• Silvia Urrutia, director of Housing and Healthcare Finance, Raza Development Fund

According to Susan Copeland, steering committee chair of Downtown Voices Coalition, “Issues of sustainability are paramount to the future of Phoenix. Ross’ book is a great springboard from which to begin, or continue, discussion.”

The Downtown Voices Coalition is sponsoring the event with in-kind support from the Lexington Hotel in downtown Phoenix, Four Peaks Brewery of Tempe and the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.

“Bird on Fire” is available at Made Art Boutique, 922 North 5^th Street in downtown Phoenix and at Changing Hands Bookstore at 6428 South McClintock Drive in Tempe. It is also available at Burton Barr, Cesar Chavez and Mesquite Branch libraries in Phoenix.

Downtown Voices Coalition is a coalition of stakeholder organizations that embrace growth in downtown Phoenix, but is mindful that healthy growth should be based upon existing downtown resources — the vibrancy of neighborhoods, the strength of the arts community, the uniqueness of historic properties, and the wonderful small businesses that dot downtown. For more information, visit downtownvoices.org.

Mayor Phil Gordon and Greg Stanton to discuss the future of the City of Phoenix

The Valley Leadership Community Dialogue Series will host “Phoenix in Transition” on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011 – a conversation between the outgoing mayor of the City of Phoenix, Mayor Phil Gordon and Mayor-elect Greg Stanton (Valley Leadership alum, Class 19).

As mayor of the sixth-most populated city in the U.S., Mayor Gordon oversaw significant investment in the revitalization of downtown Phoenix including development of the downtown ASU campus, redevelopment of the Phoenix Convention Center and construction of the new Sheraton hotel. He was also a staunch supporter of the controversial $1.1 million multi-modal transportation plan which includes the multi-city light rail system.

As a city councilman, Stanton supported revitalization efforts including the relocation of the Translational Genomics Research Institute to Phoenix. After a vigorous campaign focused on pulling the City of Phoenix out of its current economic slump, Stanton earned a decisive victory and pledged to improve education and make the city’s economy more diverse. This dialogue provides the opportunity to learn more about Stanton’s vision for the future of the City of Phoenix and the challenges the new mayor will face as he seeks to implement his plan.

About Valley Leadership
Since 1978, Valley Leadership has hosted leadership development programs for adults and youth. Valley Leadership strives to provide people of diverse perspectives from both the public and private sectors with opportunities to connect, learn and lead. Valley Leadership seeks to foster dialogue, promote greater understanding of community issues and increase the capacity of individuals to engage effectively in civic action. Both Mayor-elect Greg Stanton and his wife Nicole Stanton are alumni of the Leadership Institute. For more information about Valley Leadership, call 602-952-6760 or visit www.valleyleadership.org.

Valley Leadership: Connecting…Learning…Leading.

With all the discussion groups, symposiums and conferences given on the subject, it seems the best places to create a strong community might just be the coffee house, dog park or potluck table. My own “Building Community Cinema” series is rooted in seeing a movie, but with a location conducive to an after-film chat and chew.

This column explores the roots of place, and how place can separate or enhance a community.

“Building Community: From Empty Spaces to Meeting Places” by Julian Dobson

How will community be built in the 21st century? If you want to know the lie of the land, sometimes you must literally see how the land lies and what human beings have done to it.

Ancient settlements were connected by trade routes and divided by fault lines: valleys, rivers and hills were means meeting or contested territory. This week I was in Luton, where the barriers and bridges, physical and psychological, were obvious – sometimes painfully so.

But just as physical places can create psychological barriers, they can also help bring them down.

Looking around Luton and listening to the stories of two men whose work is to build bridges between faiths and cultures, I was reminded of the kaleidoscopic complexities of building communities. But sitting with them and chatting and observing the trust between them, I came away optimistic that we can devise meetings of body and mind that can move beyond an ubiquitous blandness into a serious engagement with people’s real selves.

Read the entire article here.

-Steve Weiss
Executive Director, No Festival Required
Steering Committee, Downtown Voices Coalition

A court verdict on Monday reaffirmed the city’s decision to build a temporary parking lot adjacent to Taylor Place, rejecting an appeal filed by a downtown Phoenix resident and community activist.

Judge John Rea’s verdict said the decision at the November Board of Adjustment Hearing, at which a five-year permit for the parking lot was issued, was not “arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion.”

The verdict came over two months after the plaintiff, Sean Sweat, a capital supply engineer for Intel, had his appeal heard before Rea in July. Some downtown Phoenix community members had attempted to stop the construction of the parking lot, which opened in June at the site of the former Ramada Inn, by proposing a dog park.

Read more at The Downtown Devil.

As you may be aware, the bus operators who work for Veolia Transportation Services (VTS) and are represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433 have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. VTS has a contract with the city of Phoenix to operate 31 of the region’s 100 Valley Metro bus routes.

This week, the Public Transit Department was informed by VTS that the negotiation situation had not changed and that a strike is very possible in the near future. Due to the uncertain nature of this situation, transit users should be aware that a service interruption could occur at any time until a new labor agreement is signed.

Until that time, those who use public transit should check the status of transit service during commutes.

Information and updates will be posted to phoenix.gov. Passengers also can get updates at www.valleymetro.org or by calling 602-253-5000 to talk with a customer service representative from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. or for recorded messages after hours. During bus service hours, the city will broadcast live announcements on Phoenix buses to keep passengers informed about any possibility of a service disruption.

Please pass along this information to anyone you know who uses public transit. The situation is ongoing until a new labor agreement is signed between the parties, and transit users are strongly encouraged to check in periodically.

To our knowledge, this does not affect METRO light rail.

As we get new information, we’ll update this page as well as our Twitter feed, @downtownvoices.