Imagine Greater Tucson
Phase I Data Gathering
| Arizona Small Business Association | ||
| ASBA Office – 4811 E. Grant Rd., Tucson | ||
| Date of Conversation: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 Time: 8:30 – 10:00 AM | ||
| Facilitator: Deborah Knox Recorder: Patrick Hartley | ||
| Number of Tables: 1 Number of Participants: 9 | ||
| Theme 1. Weather | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Weather | ||
| Climate | ||
| Weather | ||
| Weather | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| We are safe from natural disasters | ||
| Also, the landscape - you can drive up Mt. Lemmon (it's the proximity of different geographies) | ||
| Contributes to the lifestyle - spending time outdoors | ||
| Brings tourism (especially this year with all the snow elsewhere) | ||
| Can spend time outdoors | ||
| We manage the heat well | ||
| You don't have to shovel it | ||
| Great for health (arthritis) | ||
| Theme 2. Sense of Community | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| The small town sense | ||
| Friendly | ||
| Small town feeling | ||
| Sense of community | ||
| Friendliness | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| I travelled to Florida after 1/8 and people around the country were so impressed with our community | ||
| It's not just the perception of our community - it's reality | ||
| Very microbusinesses soloprenuer | ||
| It's healing | ||
| "Need a hug, move to Tucson." | ||
| Gives us a sense of support from our networks | ||
| Business is done here through personal interaction | ||
| Nice to see people I haven't seen in years- like at the Collabomixer | ||
| It adds to a sense of security | ||
| Makes us more polite and friendly | ||
| Came from Houston and I felt so anonymous there. Here I always run into people I know | ||
| Theme 3. Image | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| The negative publicity | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| An example of our image is the road side shrines that have spread just because they are a part of the local culture (see the white bicycles) | ||
| We take stories of violent crime seriously, because it's not just something that we pass by on the freeway, like in other big cities. We are not divided by a freeway in this community | ||
| There is some division at River Rd in the north | ||
| Sometimes larger cities become callous about violent crime - that is not the case in Tucson | ||
| It really ticks me off when I hear about crime - it violates my sense of safety | ||
| Things like SB1070 pop up and impact our image | ||
| We should take the IGT approach to elected officials | ||
| Even the reporters that were here, were so impressed with the community | ||
| A positive image helps with tourism. The snow birds keep returning | ||
| 1 1/2 weeks after the shooting there were still Fox News trucks in the area | ||
| We are collaborative and cooperative - our own conversation illustrates this | ||
| It's really hard to get positive news in the media | ||
| The 1/8 news was the rare example - it was positive, sustained coverage of our community | ||
| It was a natural , spontaneous response to 1/8- our 'small town' community | ||
| I am a 25 year native of this region, and I was never so proud of Tucson as after the shooting | ||
| When reporters focused on Tucson's response to the 1/8 shootings the image really shifted - we were no longer just "part of Arizona" and are separate from the "big basin in the middle of the state." | ||
| Theme 4. Education | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| UofA | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Education (primary and secondary) | ||
| Education | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| When we speak of educators and politicians, we shouldn't generalize. Remember that they are people too. | ||
| We have a beautifully diverse community | ||
| Educators don't know how to use the tools that they are trying to push on us | ||
| Lack of understanding of where kids are coming from (tech savvy advanced and kids from non-English speaking backgrounds) | ||
| Education develops the labor force | ||
| TUSD doesn't know how to be good bureaucrats - not understanding the population they are serving - they don't understand how to use the data they have (they take teachers away from the primary needs area) | ||
| The teachers only have so much time, and they can't commit as much to the students as is needed | ||
| Business people won't move here if there is no education for their children | ||
| Lack of support and resources for individual classes in the classroom | ||
| It's our future | ||
| Theme 5. Sustainability and Clean Energy | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Use of solar power | ||
| Electric car charging stations at Bookman's | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Food supply and gardening | ||
| Water | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| This could be a meca for developing solar panels - but we don't want to use them (we are overly concerned about views and architecture) | ||
| We have yet to figure out how to compromise and merge solar panels and wind turbines with our views and architectural heritage | ||
| Wind turbines could cut into our mountain views | ||
| Sustainable technology has strong economic implications- it could be an economic driver (do we want to sacrifice our views to it?) | ||
| I'd like it to be able to not change | ||
| We've got the sun and the wind - we should harness it | ||
| Responsibility | ||
| I like tacos so I'm not prepared to leave this place - there's another generation | ||
| Theme 6. Outdoors | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Beauty | ||
| Love | ||
| Outdoor recreational opportunities | ||
| The Sonoran Desert - being able to see the horizon | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Sustainability | ||
| Theme 7. Lifestyle and diversity | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Cultural diversity | ||
| Lifestyle - informality, casual | ||
| Theme 8. Scalable Transportation Options | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| No freeways | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Traffic flow - lack of bus pullouts | ||
| Transportation system | ||
| Traffic is bad | ||
| Continue to enhance bike transportation | ||
| Air travel - more direct flights | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| Need more park and rides - the transportation system needs to be more user friendly | ||
| Accessibility to the airport is important because big businesses won't want to locate here if the executives can't fly in and get to where they are going easily | ||
| Street car should go out to the airport | ||
| Need more accessibility to public transit for citizens as well as visitors | ||
| The bus system (routes and times) need to be better communicated (through the internet or another source) | ||
| The economy falls down | ||
| We need to walk and bike everywhere (for the health of it, and to experience the beauty around us more personally) | ||
| Without transportation we don't get anywhere | ||
| Theme 9. Health care | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Medical excellence | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Access to affordable healthcare | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| Redistribute wealth so health care is available to all | ||
| What about access to mental health care as well? | ||
| SMI people get nothing AHCCCS | ||
| AHCCCS needs to stop dropping people from the rolls | ||
| $2.6 billion was spent on illegal aliens, would that help fund El Rio? | ||
| Due to senior population, we have good healthcare | ||
| Affordable healthcare at El Rio/St. Elizabeth (they are facing funding challenges) = lack of awareness | ||
| No health, no life | ||
| Theme 10. Leadership and Governance | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Business unfriendly policy | ||
| How to deal with the small town mentality given our growth | ||
| Need more small business attractions | ||
| Elected officials - leadership | ||
| City control of non-residents (People that live in the county can't vote) | ||
| Leadership | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| Simplify/streamline the business application process | ||
| We are unable to see other solutions, we only want to see our own solutions to the problems | ||
| There is no systematic way to ensure competence in our elected officials | ||
| Looking at the future is important - we get too caught up in fighting fires today; crisis management | ||
| We are always reactive, not proactive | ||
| There is too much "I want," and not enough what we all want. We are divided into groups | ||
| Theme 11. Economy | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| State budget | ||
| Low economic expectations | ||
| The attention on Phoenix vs. Tucson (in terms of culture, economy, education, etc.) | ||
Thursday, February 24, 2011