Tempe: one of the three most affordable, fun places to live in America

Just about all of us have our favorite places, those wonderful, reliable places where everyone you know is sure to have a good time. It’s where we take our out of town family and friends, where we go when we really can’t decide what else we want to do, or the place we pick because we love it so much.
Downtown Tempe is that place for so many people and has been so for generations. Now, it’s officially statistically one of the best places in the country. According to Bloomberg Business, Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate and real estate data provider Onboard Informatics, it’s one of the three most affordable, fun places to live in America.

Who would think you could quantify fun?

To select the country’s most affordable places, Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, along with its data partner Onboard Informatics, analyzed 6,106 Zip Codes nationwide where the median home price was within 20 percent of the state’s median. It then selected the zip codes with the greatest number of bars and restaurants as of July 2011.

Tempe, thanks to Mill Avenue, topped nearly every city in the country. Only Ocean City, MD and a section of Honolulu ranked higher.

We in Tempe have understood for years that lifestyle and community are more important for echo boomers and knowledge workers. Affordable places with active downtown areas and a cool atmosphere are vital to attracting the current generation of home buyers. They are also important for companies looking to locate businesses and for people choosing locations for vacations and conferences.

The mix of a great downtown located on the light rail line and next to a major airport, Arizona State University and Town Lake, has made Tempe a very popular destination. More than 2.8 million people visit the Mill and lake area each year. It didn’t happen haphazardly. This has taken investment, good planning and hard work by city officials, developers, staff, business owners and community groups. It has taken work by our city staff in events, public relations, planning, economic development, and so many more. It’s required work by the Downtown Tempe Community, the Tempe Tourism Office, ASU and so many more.

What has been required more than anything is responsible forward thinking – innovative approaches to reaching our end goal – being the city of choice for current and future businesses and residents, tourists and students, workforces and people who just choose to be here for the fun of it. We want to be a desirable place. We’ve worked hard to become fun.

And even with all the perks of a great lake, a fabulous downtown and one of the nation’s best universities, home and apartment prices remain within the reach of most.

People can live at our newest apartment community, West 6th , and still have money to enjoy a night at the movies, to go to our newest breakfast place, NCounter, or to Monti’s, a restaurant that is housed in our county's oldest building.

We strive to provide all who come to Tempe with a great quality of life, and really, that’s what this designation is about.

I’d invite you to come to downtown Tempe and see it for yourself. If you can’t get here soon, here are a couple of interesting videos about Mill Avenue that you might enjoy:

Music and Fun on Mill - shows the ambiance and music on Mill
Evolution of Mill Avenue - shows how Mill Avenue has grown from a flour mill and ferry to one of the nation's top destinations

Building from history

On March 29, we honored seven women who had served on the Tempe City Council, including the first woman council member, Dorothy Cooper Nelson.

Nearly 100 people attended the luncheon at the Tempe History Museum. The first council women to serve, which also included Beverly Hermon, Barbara Sherman and Pat Hatton, treated us to stories about their time on council and the accomplishments they have seen as a direct result of their efforts.

Once again, I must thank the Tempe Historic Society and the Tempe Historic Preservation Foundation for sponsoring this event as well as Jodie Heisner and Michael Monti.

When I am at City Hall, I can thank Dottie Nelson. She voted to build Tempe City Hall here on Fifth Street and Mill Avenue. She also voted on building the Tempe Public Library complex.

Former councilmember Barb Carter was also acknowledged for her years of service. She was on council when the vote was cast to build the Tempe Center for the Arts. Former councilmember Pam Goronkin, also honored, was one of the people who celebrated its grand opening with us.

Nearly every council member has the opportunity to decide about building public facilities. There are so many functions that government serves – new police and fire stations are needed as a community grows. Multigeneration centers serve the needs of a diverse community with programs from senior care to computer service, wellness programs and recreation classes.

Balancing the needs of community development with the economics of a budget is one of the toughest and most important roles of a council member. Prudent use of taxpayers dollars is so necessary. We leverage local and federal funds, as well as grants and review whether we have funds to operate our facilities once they are open. We must assess that we are getting top value for the money of which we are stewards.

During the coming months, you will see the finish of the construction of the Pedestrian Bridge over Tempe Town Lake. This is another one of those projects that required planning and approval by the Tempe City Council. This bridge is going to cool and shade the bladders that make up the Town Lake west end dam. More than that, it’s a beautiful way to cross the lake.

The choices we make today result in the concrete and steel developments of tomorrow. They become the memories of our residents and visitors – our community. I’m proud to be part of the discussion and decision making process.

This Friday, the Technology, Economic and Community Development Council Committee meets at 10 a.m. On the agenda are items including wifi for our city, green waste composting, construction recycling, grease recycling, policy progress for community gardens and programs for business start-ups. Agenda: http://bit.ly/eRDDdE

Be part of our future history. We hope to see you there. 

Photos: 1) Leading Ladies Luncheon at the Tempe History Museum. 2) From left: Dottie Cooper Nelson,  Barbara Sherman, Beverly Hermon and Pat Hatton share their experiences 3) All current and former council women who were present at the luncheon. Missing are Linda Spears and Carol Estes Smith. From left: Shana Ellis, Onnie Shekerjian. Robin Arredondo-Savage, Pat Hatton, Dottie Nelson (seated), Barbara Sherman, Beverly Hermon, Barb Carter and Pam Goronkin.   



Tempe improves technology to serve you better

Innovation is important to society. By improving the processes and technologies we use, we can become more efficient and solve problems to make our world more comfortable and healthy.

In Tempe, many of our businesses are technology-based. We appreciate the future-oriented outlook they bring to our community. We can learn from these companies and embrace some of the ideas and concepts they offer.

As a city, it is important that we utilize the tools of the day to connect with those who live here, work here, go to school here or visit us. As a city, we want to be responsible with the revenues we receive and make the most of those dollars. In 2011/2012, Tempe will roll out three new advancements for our community:

• Tempe 311
• Our new tempe.gov website
• A new utility billing system

Each of these is designed to help you get the information you need faster and to help make the city more efficient.

One Call to City Hall
Tempe 311 is a centralized call system that should minimize the number of times a caller needs to be transferred to get to the appropriate person. When it launches late this year, Tempe will likely be the first city in the Valley to offer a comprehensive system that will address questions and issues from residents, businesses, visitors and students. Some city departments have already switched over with great success. We will continue to add other departments until all are onboard.

Beyond reducing wait times for callers, Tempe 311 should streamline the process from the initial call to the resolution in the field. The system allows Tempe to track its responsiveness for the first time and make improvements to work flows and staffing, if needed. Your call to City Hall will be monitored from the moment you make it until your issue is resolved.

Find Online Information Faster

Many people prefer to get their information online rather than calling. The city’s website, www.tempe.gov, is also undergoing a major revision. The website will be much leaner, requiring fewer clicks to get to the answers you need. There will be more ‘how to’ videos, more transparency and the structure of the web should be very logical for most people.

Make Paying Utility Bills Easier

The forthcoming utility billing system will allow people to go paperless or set up recurring payments for their City of Tempe utilities. The phone version of the system will also be improved.

These are just three ways that we work toward being innovative, efficient and service-oriented for our community. If you have ideas, I’d love to hear them. Contact me at onnie_shekerjian@tempe.gov.

Prioritizing for success

Opportunities abound in Tempe and there are so many ways to spend time and energy to improve our community. It’s hard to choose among them without some sort of process to sift and prioritize.

It took time and reflection to determine how to conduct my activities as a councilmember for the City of Tempe. Here are my three guiding principles. Each coincides with a component of the Technology, Sustainability and Economic Development Council Committee that I chair:
• Preserve our Quality of Life – Economic Development
• Respect our Resources – Sustainability
• Promote Open and Accessible Government – Technology


• Preserve our Quality of Life – Economic Development
Tempe’s quality of life is very high. Our services are among the best in the state and rank nationally in many cases. The services Tempe provides are not always just for residents – they are open to the visitors in our community and our workforce. The vibrancy of our downtown, Tempe Town Lake and our special events draw people from around the globe. Economic Development is a key to the ability to offer excellent services. Our high quality of life attracts businesses – our businesses allow us to continue to offer a high quality of life. It is my desire to continue to attract new businesses, to retain the great companies already in our community and to look for new ways to help our businesses be successful.

• Respect our Resources – Sustainability
Some consider recycling and sustainability efforts as very ‘granola’ things to care about. What most don’t realize is that sustainability is really just another way of being frugal and being good stewards of the resources with which we have been entrusted. If we can reuse, recycle or repurpose our resources, we can save money and time while doing good things for our environment.

Tempe will someday be known for its green parks. Our city is composting usable waste to fertilize neighborhood parks. Not only does this allow us to keep that waste out of landfills, it saves money that would be spent on chemicals. Times are tight. When can be efficient without sacrificing services we should choose to do so.

• Promote Open and Accessible Government - Technology
A democratic government does not happen in solitude. Tempe is made of a multitude of voices and this makes us a better community. As such, people need to be able to be involved and informed. Technology can help us with this goal.

As a result of this committee, we continue to move forward with new communication tools, including social media. We are also renovating our tempe.gov website to be easier to navigate. One of the plans is to put our checkbook and contracts online so that people can see how their taxes are being spent at any time with just a click. We will continue to use online forms to gather opinions of those who cannot attend many of our brainstorming sessions and to survey people about our services. Soon, we will be unveiling a new 311 system that I think will revolutionize the way our residents reach us by phone. As tools are created, we will explore them to see how they could benefit our community.

These are my guiding principles and how they are at work right now. I’d love to hear from you as to how we can continue to build a better city. Reach me at onnie_shekerjian@tempe.gov

Here's the agenda for Friday's Technology, Sustainability and Economic Development Council Committee meeting. Hope to see you there.

January work begins with CityCamp Arizona, Tech Venture and more

With January comes the New Year. The holidays are over. The rush of shopping, parties and extended-family visits slows down, and once again, we return our focus to the priorities of our daily lives.

For the Technology, Sustainability and Economic Development Council Committee, our year is moving quickly already. Our next meeting is this Friday, 10 a.m., Third Floor, City Hall – 31 E. Fifth Street.

I love that this committee has such a broad range of topics, yet they intertwine so much. I’ve been invited participate in CityCamp Arizona, an unconference scheduled for Feb. 15 in downtown Chandler. http://www.citycampaz.com/

 

This event seeks to create innovative and practical solutions to make cities and other local communities more open and “user friendly.” The stated goals for CityCamp Arizona are:

 

• Bring together local government officials, municipal employees, experts, programmers, designers, citizens, and journalists to share perspectives and insights about the cities in which they live
• Create and maintain patterns for using the Web to facilitate local government transparency and effective local governance
• Foster communities of practice and advocacy on the role of the Web, mobile communication, online information, and open data in cities
• Create outcomes that participants will act upon after the event is over

 

These goals are right in line with what this committee has been working toward for years. I can’t wait to be part of the conversation. I’ve invited key staff to attend as well.

 

Technology and economic development are closely entwined. Tempe is a major provider of technology jobs in Arizona. New concepts lead to new companies, which, in turn, provide more jobs and revenue for our city.

 

To help innovators take their concepts and turn them into viable companies. The City of Tempe offers the FastTrac Tech Venture program. This 10 week intensive entrepreneurial training course starts Feb. 7 at 5:30. The cost is just $150 for materials. Registration: http://stealthmode.affiliate.fasttrac.org/

I encourage anyone interested in starting a tech company to take advantage of this program as well as the training at Arizona State University and our community colleges.

 

We will be talking more about Escalante Community Garden and community gardens in general. I would invite you to attend Tempe Leadership’s fundraiser hosted on Jan. 27 at Quiessence at the Farm at South Mountain. You can find more details here: http://www.tempe.gov/newsroom/Archive/201101/21498484-560D-4FDB-8A70-5314BD7540FF

 

The State Press wrote a great article about the impact of community gardens locally. If you are interested, read more here: http://www.statepress.com/2011/01/17/group-proposes-first-tempe-community-garden-on-public-land/

 

 

 



Growing our future, one leaf, one company, at a time

We've only had two meetings, but already, a theme for this council committee has emerged - growth.

Unlike most cities, Tempe cannot sprawl. We are landlocked. Our city is as large as it will ever be. But this does not mean that we cannot grow and prosper, that our residents, our workforce and our companies cannot flourish. In fact, we expect them to become their best, more than they may have originally thought they could become. After all, Tempe is a place where impossible, outlandish ideas become realized, successful - and normal.

We change the world in Tempe. For the better.

At the last Technology, Economic and Community Development meeting, we approved the work plan we are submitting to the entire Tempe City Council for approval.  It is a full agenda. I don't expect that we will accomplish everything on it. In fact, you will see the word "explore" in front of many of the items.

Not everything on our list will be implemented. Some items may turn out to be impractical, too expensive, too cumbersome or just not right for Tempe. We want to explore everything, though, and see which ideas are right for our city.

This committee is commited to growth. We want to grow technology companies - and business opportunities in general. We want to innovate ways to help these companies succeed and refine our procedures to ensure continued prosperity. A healthy business community contributes significantly to providing quality city services and to the economic success of our workforce and resident base.

Growing companies isn't easy. Tempe is fortunate to be surrounded by colleges and universities filled with students and professors who have new concepts for products and services. Launching those ideas takes time and money as well as professional guidance. Angel investors, incubators and community programs can help people take their fledgling products and turn them into Fortune 500 companies.

Some communities invest hundreds of thousands of dollars - sometimes millions - into incubator programs and coworking spaces. After nearly two years of work, technology expert Fred von Graf presented his incubator, LaunchSpot, to our committee.

LaunchSpot is a combination of an incubator and a coworking facility. Located in 14,000 square feet in west Tempe, LaunchSpot will provide seed money to several software development companies in hopes of helping them become the next "Facebook." Work has begun on the space and the facility could open in just a couple months. We could see several new companies sprout in Tempe in 2011 as a result of Fred's efforts.

Garin Groff of the East Valley Tribune wrote an excellent article detailing this project: http://bit.ly/eAG2Wb

When I talk about growth being the theme of this committee, I am being literal. We will be growing vegetables, fruit, flowers and more. One of the many items we will work on this year is a plan to encourage community gardens. We are working with Tempe Community Action Agency (TCAA), the neighbors near the Escalante Center and Tempe Leadership to create a community garden in Escalante Park. Some of the fruits of their labors will fill the food pantry operated by TCAA. Some will be given to those who tilled the soil. Some of it may be sold at farmers markets to buy seeds, tools, fertilizer and the like. If you would like to find out more about this project, TCAA is hosting a fundraiser to benefit the garden this New Year's Eve. For details, visit http://bit.ly/fTn8cK.

This will be a case study for us, as we watch the garden go through its seasons, so we can learn how to best help these projects succeed. Our Community Development Department is working on guidelines that will help to create more opportunities like this one.

There is so much to be learned in a garden. It's healthy for us to go outside, smell the good earth beneath our fingers, plant seeds and watch them grow. We nourish ourselves with exercise and fresh food. We learn to take care of what we plant, to hope for a good harvest, and to cherish the earth we all share. A green patch of ground is respite for us in this busy, urban environment. I look forward to the work our committee will do in this area.

Our next committee meeting happens on Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. at Tempe City Hall, 31 E. Fifth Street. We meet on the third floor. I hope you can join us in our smart growth efforts.

Committee Meeting on Friday

The next meeting of the Technology, Economic and Community Development Council Committee happens on Friday, Dec. 17 at 9:30 a.m. in the City Manager's Conference Room on the third floor of City Hall.

We will be finalizing our work plan for the year, talking about community gardens, the streetcar, and an incubator coming to Tempe.

You can see the agenda here: http://documents.tempe.gov/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=332&doctype=AGENDA


You are welcome to attend this meeting. I am interested in your ideas and feedback.