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Arizona
New Scorecard to Reward Arizona's Quality Growth Projects With Priority Funding
Arizona has accommodated its first 6.2 million residents quite well, but to absorb another 6 million by 2030 and keep the same quality of life it must rethink how to plan and ''what kind of communities'' people want, stressed Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano at a City Hall event in Casa Grande, halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, saying her multi-agency ''growth cabinet'' is working on a scorecard, under which ''we will give priority for new discretionary dollars to communities that have really engaged in a smart growth planning process.''
Intent on local control, but ''within the context of a statewide vision,'' the process will be voluntary.
''You get rewarded for doing that,'' Governor Napolitano promised. ''You don't get penalized for not, but you get rewarded with new dollars for participating with others in a quality growth process.''
People should recognize, she continued, ''that what is decided, for example in Casa Grande, may affect what happens in the Ak-Chin Community, what happens in the Ak-Chin Community can affect what happens in Maricopa, what happens in Maricopa can affect what happens in Buckeye, what happens in Buckeye can affect everything along the west side of Maricopa County.''
It's a necessary recognition ''that we really don't have any islands anymore, that we're growing into each other,'' and that decisions have to be made accordingly.
''And, we need to have some 'transit' options -- not transportation, trans-it,'' the governor accentuated the word, because ''we can't build enough freeways'' and certainly not ''fast enough'' for the present and projected population.
Thus, the state is looking ''in-depth'' at the possibility of commuter rail between Phoenix, Tucson and ''the outermost reaches of Maricopa County'' to relieve the region's road congestion.
If done right, rail is a cost-effective and environmentally sound solution, reducing car traffic and ''that brown cloud that is hovering above us,'' the governor said, also determined to address the issue of potential uses for 9.2 million acres of state trust land, whose auctions pay for public schools.
Among other things, she would like the State Land Department to be able to ''set aside some of those lands from development so that we preserve some open space, particularly in the urban counties.''
With the governor calling Casa Grande ''the epicenter of growth in Arizona and Pinal County,'' Casa Grande Dispatch writer Harold Kitching notes that the city is already working on the growth-management and multi-jurisdictional cooperation goals she outlined on the state scale.
After ''a period of poor relations with some of its neighbors,'' he reports, recently elected Mayor Bob Jackson moved to remedy the situation and make progress in other areas.
The city's new transportation plan seeks cooperation with nearby cities as crucial, especially for connecting highways, while making clear that local subdivisions shouldn't be isolated from one another but connected by streets and trail systems. -- Casa Grande Dispatch 9/17/2007
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