Mayor Georgia Lord
City of Goodyear

A frenzy of fans and tourists have returned to the Grand Canyon State for a fun-filled time of year that arrives with the anticipation of the holiday season:

Another spring training season has begun as thousands of fans are converging in Arizona to see their favorite Major League Baseball Team.

A tradition that began with the Cleveland Indians and New York Giants more than 65 years ago, half of baseball’s teams – 15 – today call Arizona their spring training home.

Spring training has boomed into one of the state’s largest tourism draws, generating $422 million a year in annual revenue just during the baseball season alone, according to the results of an economic impact study conducted by Elliot D. Pollack and Company and released by the Cactus League and the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority in December. Overall, spring training facilities around the Grand Canyon state generate $632 million a year, that’s including the off-season events held at the facilities.

Goodyear Ballpark – home to the Cincinnati Reds, baseball’s oldest professional team, and the Cleveland Indians – the first team in the Cactus League, was voted the best place to see a spring training game by readers of the Phoenix New Times two of the last three years.

So, while baseball fever is catching on, catch a game in the Cactus League and see all there is to see in the Grand Canyon State.

Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers
City of Avondale
National League of Cities (NLC) President

I was honored and thrilled to be in the House chamber Tuesday night listening to President Obama’s State of the Union address with the First Lady, and I want to thank them for the opportunity.  I was inspired by  President’s dedication and focus on federal action to help cities address key issues they are facing: the economy, investment into our education, job creation in America, and immigration reform. I wholeheartedly agree with President Obama when he said stronger families make stronger communities, which makes a stronger America, which we strive for everyday in our cities.

I along with many of my colleagues across America urge Congress to quickly take up these efforts to help cities and our families.  These are pressing issues that have been put off for far too long. As the President asserted throughout his speech, stronger communities equal a stronger America. We look forward to working with our Congressional members on behalf of the constituents we collectively serve as we invest in our future.

Mayor Doug Von Gausig
Town of Clarkdale, AZ

If you’re a resident of northern Arizona, you may have recently seen the Verde Valley be named among The Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Destinations in the U.S. for 2013. Those of you who have kayaked down the Verde River or explored our local vineyards through the Verde Valley Wine Tour know the beautiful vistas and spectacular tastes these attractions have to offer, as well as how proud they make the residents of our region.

Coupled with the local economy, scenery and your neighbors, these sites are part of what make you call your community home.” They’re why you choose to put down roots and why thousands visit our region each year. But, what probably didn’t come to mind when thinking about these regional treasures is the role your local government had in attracting and retaining these businesses for the betterment of our community and local economy.

While you may recognize some of your city council members’ faces or names, you may not be aware of the many things they and city staff do when they’re not speaking up on the dais. Sure, you’ve heard us talk about policy issues and different projects, but it’s the quiet, everyday services that often go unnoticed and overlooked that make our communities great places to live. Understandably so – in our busy lives, we’re often just focused on getting from point A to point B, helping our children make it to soccer practice on time and ensuring the report your manager requested yesterday is on his or her desk by 8 a.m.

While all of that is happening, our job is to provide the basic services residents depend on to make life in the desert livable. On Tuesday mornings, your garbage is picked up. When you turn on your faucet, water comes out. When you arrive at a stop light, a green signal tells you when it’s safe to proceed. When you want to celebrate a birthday, have a picnic or jog along a trail, a local park provides the space. When you want to read the latest installation of a J.K. Rowling series, your local librarian will help you check it out.

You may be aware of some of these services, but there are assuredly a host of others right at your fingertips, if you just know where to look.

On this site, we invite you to explore the many services cities and towns are entrusted to provide, as well as the innovative programs we’re developing to make your city or town an excellent place to live, work and play. We invite you to become involved and learn more about your local government.

After all, it’s your town. Watch it work.

Glendale residents can follow the city of Glendale’s budget through a comprehensive tool, Follow Your Money, available on the website.  This easy-to-use budget tool enhances transparency and allows users to access the city’s expense and revenue financial data to see clearly what’s coming in and what’s going out.

In 2010, the Arizona State Legislature passed Arizona Revised Statute (A.R.S.) §41-725, which established online comprehensive financial reporting requirements for Arizona and its local municipalities.  Although Glendale was in compliance with the statute through the publishing of its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report on the city website, the city’s Information Technology and Finance departments took the statute requirements for the state as a guide and created Follow Your Money to further promote transparency.  The first phase of the tool was released to the public July 2012.

“With Follow Your Money, we have attempted to make a very complex financial system extremely easy for anyone to use and understand,” stated Diana Bundschuh, deputy chief information technology officer. “We wanted something that people would use, that provided full transparency to the public and the ability for them to see every detail of the city’s spending.”

The first phase of Follow Your Money provided users the ability to easily search and download the current year’s expenditure data as well as the previous three fiscal years. Searches can be conducted by fund, department and citywide spending along with vendor spending.  The tool provides a graph that shows total expenditures of the search and users may select how much data to view at once and how it is sorted, alphabetically or by amount.  Users can also access spending on a specific date or payments to specific vendors; and Follow Your Money is updated every 24 hours.

Well done, Glendale!

Text from Bloomberg website:

• Best Place to Raise Kids in Arizona: Oro Valley
• Population: 40,422
• GreatSchools city score: 9
• Median family income: $83,409
• Housing costs as a percentage of income: 19.1%
• County unemployment rate: 7.1%
• Nearby city: Tucson

This Arizona burg isn’t just for snowbirds escaping the cold North—it’s become a major base for biotech firms, fueled by research at nearby Tucson’s University of Arizona and the town’s own Innovation Park.

http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/2012-12-17/the-best-places-to-raise-kids-2013#slide4

Congrats, Oro Valley!

Check out this letter that Chandler Municipal Utilities Director, Dave Siegel, received in early January from a resident. It is regarding some assistance the resident received from one of Dave’s employees who works as a Utility Systems Operator in our Wastewater Collection Division.

Job well done!

The city of Sedona lives up to its vision to “be a city that is animated by the arts” in a variety of ways, including its Artist in the Classroom program. Funded by the city since 1989, it provides quality arts education to students of all ages. The program pays an hourly stipend to a roster of approximately 25 local artists and funds an arts education coordinator to organize and monitor the program. Projects include dance, sculpting, creative writing, origami, drumming, mural painting, cartooning, and storytelling, just to name a few.

Image: Mural at Sedona Red Rock High School created by students in the Spanish Club.