http://www.imaginegreatertucson.org Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:14:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.imaginegreatertucson.org/values/land-use/americans-prefer-walkable-communities/#comment-166 brooke fawcett Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:14:57 +0000 http://www.imaginegreatertucson.org/?p=1227#comment-166 Such a great point, Gerry! I know a lot of issues about companies moving to the region boil down to the education system, medical facilities/doctors, and supporting industries. Being at a loss for a comprehensive solution, I am putting a lot of faith in what IGT is going for - this community effort of speaking up (directionally and in volume)so we can have some changes made. Hopefully. :) Such a great point, Gerry! I know a lot of issues about companies moving to the region boil down to the education system, medical facilities/doctors, and supporting industries. Being at a loss for a comprehensive solution, I am putting a lot of faith in what IGT is going for – this community effort of speaking up (directionally and in volume)so we can have some changes made. Hopefully.

]]> http://www.imaginegreatertucson.org/values/land-use/americans-prefer-walkable-communities/#comment-33 Gerry Loew Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:08:46 +0000 http://www.imaginegreatertucson.org/?p=1227#comment-33 The idea of an improved city center, with affordable housing and locally owned businesses, shopping, dining, and entertainment is attractive and good for our region. However, because of our reliance on a handful of economic drivers (construction, mining, military) and the mostly low wage hospitality industry/tourism, we will continue to see state and local governments making concessions to developers to reinvigorate construction and mining, which are boom or bust businesses and not conducive to attracting a younger, white collar work force to the area. Without top notch schools, the high tech companies of the future won't be interested in setting up corporate offices here. It's time to change the variety/type of economic drivers in the Tucson area to provide diversification and shelter us from the next catastrophic recession. If this happens, the urban landscape you refer to here will fall into place naturally. The idea of an improved city center, with affordable housing and locally owned businesses, shopping, dining, and entertainment is attractive and good for our region. However, because of our reliance on a handful of economic drivers (construction, mining, military) and the mostly low wage hospitality industry/tourism, we will continue to see state and local governments making concessions to developers to reinvigorate construction and mining, which are boom or bust businesses and not conducive to attracting a younger, white collar work force to the area. Without top notch schools, the high tech companies of the future won’t be interested in setting up corporate offices here. It’s time to change the variety/type of economic drivers in the Tucson area to provide diversification and shelter us from the next catastrophic recession. If this happens, the urban landscape you refer to here will fall into place naturally.

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