Gilbert Sun News; March 2015: Opinion

Town premieres the Digital State of the Town: ‘Growing Up Gilbert’

BY MAYOR JOHN LEWIS

Last month, more than 250 distinguished guests gathered at the Harkins movie theater in Gilbert to view the premiere of our Digital State of the Town. This year’s theme, “Growing Up Gilbert,” highlights various members of our Gilbert community who were educated here and are now giving back to the place that raised them.

David Tirado grew up in Gilbert and is working as a Gilbert firefighter. He loves being part of a team that’s committed to safety and getting to help people every day.

Emery Miller is a Gilbert resident and high school student who wanted to give back to kids in need so he started a teddy bear drive.

Dana Berchman, a Gilbert High School

graduate, spent nearly a decade working in the television industry in New York City and is now serving as Gilbert’s chief digital officer.

Ben Cooper, also a Gilbert High School graduate, served as a Gilbert councilman and is thrilled to be raising his family in Gilbert, where he has lived for more than 30 years.

All of these stories are part of our latest Digital State of the Town, a 15-minute, high-quality video presentation highlighting various successes in Gilbert throughout the past year. In 2014, Gilbert was named the second safest city in the country. We also received recognition as the 22nd best place to live, the third best place to find a job, and the best city for working parents in the United States.

And business is booming, too. We broke ground on Rivulon, a $750 million, 250-acre development that will create and attract multiple new business opportunities. In downtown Gilbert, we saw the grand opening of the Heritage Marketplace and started construction

on Gilbert’s first four-year educational institution, St. Xavier University.

Gilbert’s full-time employee to resident ratio continues to be the lowest in the region. The average household cost for property tax, sales tax, water, wastewater and solid waste services are all lower than our neighboring communities.

In 2015, our population will grow to 240,000, a new fire station will open, the groundbreaking of Agritopia’s Epicenter will take place and St. Xavier University will open for classes.

Whether you’re raising your family here, receiving an A-rated education or building your business, Gilbert is one of the best places in the country to do all of these things. Those who have grown up and are growing up here are all helping to lay a path for a prosperous future.

Watching our families grow, enjoying a fantastic quality of life, and preparing our community for the future—this is Gilbert.

To view the 2015 Digital State of the Town, please visit gilbertaz.gov/ stateofthetown.

John Lewis is the mayor of Gilbert. Follow him on Twitter at @ mayorjohnlewis.

No Obamacare

I’m writing because Sunday, Feb. 15, was the last day to buy your Obamacare insurance without having to pay a big fine for the right to not buy it. If you bought it, I’ll bet you are expecting a big subsidy from the Feds (your neighbor’s taxes) to help pay for it—even though that it contrary to the wording of the Obamacare law!

The federal government and its agencies are out of control. They have neither a Constitutional obligation nor right to be in the insurance business. Even if they did, do we want the same people that have squandered the Social Security reserve and flat out lied to our veterans at the VA Hospital in Phoenix to be in control of our health care?

We, the people of the United States, can impose restraints on the federal government with an Article V Convention of States which authorizes the people— through their state legislatures—to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Now is the time to tell our state Legislators to take this action. Get involved by visiting the website, www. conventionofstates.com. Email your state senator today and ask for his support.

Jeff Poulos

Gilbert AZ COS Volunteer

MAYOR JOHN LEWIS

Sound Off: WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

SOUND OFF was transcribed from our Sound Off line during the past month. Sound Off is a monthly editorial feature of Gilbert Sun News. We encourage you to participate. As long as it's not profane or libelous we will print it in our next issue. Calls are limited to one minute. Please leave your name only if you'd like it printed. Come on, get it off your chest!

To Sound Off: soundoff@gilbertsunnews.com e-mail us at: soundoff@gilbertsunnews.com leave a message at: (480) 348-0343 Option 8 visit: www.gilbertsunnews.com

A few of us at the Second Amendment rally Saturday at the capital were talking about the lawsuit U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake’s son has filed. What a joke. They were in charge and they goofed up big time. Flake has to tell his son you are on your own. I have never owned a dog and I’m a senior. I can’t believe there were many dogs in a 12-foot by 9-foot room. That’s animal cruelty.

I live a few miles from the gas station where the young man was brutally murdered by a Mexican who was in the U.S. illegally. An investigation should be done on how his wife died. Pretty unusual for a woman in her 20s to die of natural causes. This man might have been on his way to becoming a Jeffrey Dahmer.

World history for dummies: Throughout world history, one religion has persecuted another and wars occurred because of this. Religious wars are the history of mankind, folks. Just because we have religious freedom in America, doesn’t mean that (others have it.) When Obama points out the negative side of religion, he’s accused of being a Muslim sympathizer. When he points out that ISIS persecuted every other kind of religion in the territory it operates and wants world domination, he’s accused of being Muslim sympathizer. Your ignorance is showing. Americans did not invent Christianity.

Measles has been eradicated in the United States and now we have an outbreak in 15 states.

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Does anyone else see a connection between the fact that thousands of young people from Central America came illegally into our country and were allowed to stay?

Beware: If this storm Juno is like anything of the 1947 storm, when it leaves the United States it’s going to Europe again, also. Let your friends know if they’re anywhere over there.

Interesting. Why are some people willing to pay thousands of dollars for a ticket to this NFL fiasco when they cannot see without binoculars, but will never donate needed educational equipment to a school for any kid’s better education? What happened to common sense since World War II? What happened? We’re in World War III and World War IV is on the way. Nobody seems to be paying attention to it. Are we going to sacrifice the best of America again?

Aren’t these nuisance calls illegal after 9 o’clock? Someone is still looking for Robert Wolf and it’s after 9 o’clock. Can you do anything about those other annoying credit card people except answer them and scream back at them? It’s just so annoying even though the cellphone company says they

can’t do anything about it. After 9 is too late.

I worked for Republican candidates since the eighth grade, 1960. I voted for Doug Ducey in the primary and general election. Having lived in six states, I’ve seen many people win and lose. I’ve never seen anybody move so fast within the first four weeks of office as Gov. Ducey. If he keeps it up, he’ll never be a Chris Christie, Rick Perry or Scott Walker. I question his appointment as the new Department of Public Safety director. Slow down governor.

I can see why I see bumper stickers saying, “We are spending our kids’ inheritance.” I am a loving caring mother and grandmother. I gave my life to kids and grandkids. But they have gone on for only fame and fortune. No soup for you.

Can you believe that handwriting will soon be a lost art? My wife and I still take pride in our ability to use a pen to create words in a print or cursive form. Some things should always be taught in school, even when they are rarely, if ever, used. There is nothing quite like getting a handwritten letter from a loved one.—Jay

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Community Commentary

Let’s make Arizona’s future a bright one

BY DENNY BARNEY

A long time has passed since Arizona’s economy could be defined by the five C’s— cotton, cattle, copper, citrus and climate.

In more recent decades, real estate, construction and tourism powered Arizona’s growth. Even more recently and perhaps less noticeably, life sciences, biomedical, higher education and advanced technologies have emerged, particularly in the East Valley.

Supervisors.

Let’s take a closer look:

Aerospace: The military’s presence in Arizona has attracted businesses serving the defense industry, including Lockheed Martin, whose Gilbert facility manufactures the optics for the Apache helicopters built in Mesa. The Chandler Airpark is nine square miles and a magnet to aerospace businesses such as Crane Aerospace & Electronics. Crane provides products found in satellites, medical implants, missiles and unmanned aerial systems (also known as drones.)

Bio-science: In the past decade, bioscience jobs jumped 41 percent in Arizona. Heliae Development LLC in Gilbert produces industrial scale algae strains for use in the food, fuel, biochemical and health sectors. Innovations Science and Technology Incubator in Chandler offers entrepreneurs space and amenities— including laboratories—to nurture their businesses. Chandler’s incubator could very well produce the next wave of new jobs in this sector.

Medical: The numbers of health care jobs are increasing everywhere. The Celebration Stem Cell Centre in Gilbert is a private bank for umbilical cord blood and adult bone-marrow-derived stem cells. Individuals can use this cord blood later in life to help cure diseases or aid in the recovery of catastrophic injuries. Chandler Regional Medical Center is the city’s seventh largest employer and the only Level 1 trauma center in the Southeast Valley.

So what does this all mean? What does it tell us about the future? And

what should we be doing to continue the forward momentum? I’ve been talking to economists like Jim Rounds, senior vice president of Elliot D. Pollack and Company, an economic and real estate consulting firm. Here’s my take:

The future looks good. The East Valley was hit hard by the financial crisis and housing bust of 2008 but it has been successfully climbing out of that recession. We are doing well in terms of diversifying our economy into the high-growth industries that provide higher-wage jobs for residents. This trend is important because it makes us less dependent on those industries whose tanking fueled the recession. Besides, we’ll see an uptick in population growth shortly and even better job growth in home building, construction and retail.

We’re doing the important things right Our quality of life in the Southeast Valley is generally high. Our schools are well regarded. We have excellent options for higher education and high-tech skills training, which is what attracts many of the current employers in these sectors to our area and continues to fuel new investments in our communities.

Make sure we don’t mess it up. As policy-makers we need to work together to ensure the business community of two simple facts. One, we protect educational assets. For a business this means they will have the quantity and quality of workers they need in the future. Two, there exists a business-friendly culture that is responsive to business needs. A business looks to stability and predictability when making large and long-term investments. They are not just interested in equitable taxes and reasonable regulations; they want to know this will not change on a whim, or in the next cycle of elected politicians. Bad politics can drive out good policies.

Gone are the days when Arizona was known only for its pleasant golfing weather and irrigated agriculture. The East Valley is making great strides—in technology, retail, manufacturing, tourism, education, agriculture, transportation and advanced business services.

We all have a role in defining Arizona’s tomorrow. Let’s make it a bright one.

Denny Barney is a

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DENNY BARNEY: Gilbert resident and member of the Maricopa County Board of

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