The local media have paid much attention to a nascent technology cluster in downtown Phoenix. Most recently came an Arizona Republic story headlined, "What's Driving a Downtown Phoenix Tech Boom." It reads in part:
A San Francisco tech company that announced an expansion from Silicon Valley to downtown Phoenix last week cited a lively business climate and a light-rail stop as primary factors in choosing the city.
Representatives of a semiconductor packaging company moving its corporate headquarters in May from California to south of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport said the city is cost-effective and has the workforce they need. These recent examples are part of what Phoenix leaders say is a flood of tech industry leaders and startups looking to open in the city. Mayor Greg Stanton highlighted the growth in his State of the City speech on April 25.
Stanton said the number of tech companies downtown has nearly quadrupled in the past five years. He credited adaptive reuse projects in the Warehouse District and new tech hubs as a source of the success.
Good for Phoenix. I hate to be the one who suns on the parade, but a reality check is necessary. For one thing, the top of the story lacks that basic of journalism, "How big is big"? As in, a quadrupling of companies from a baseline of one leaves us with not too many firms. Also, what is "tech"? When metropolitan Phoenix gets credit for technology jobs, they usually turn out to be call centers or back-office operations. Most pay poorly. By contrast, Seattle's tech jobs are actually undercounted because the tens of thousands of well-paid Amazon headquarters positions are classified under retail by statisticians.
Further down, we read more specifics:
Since 2012, the number of tech companies in the roughly 4-mile stretch (in the central core) grew from 67 to about 260, said Joseph MacEwan, research assistant for the Community and Economic Development Department....Over the same time period, technology jobs in that area increased from about 1,800 to more than 7,000." (According to the Census, the city had 124,000 firms in 2012 — this context from me).
That sounds impressive, and maybe it is. But this counts firms with five or more employees, so many of these are very small and I go back to what is "tech."
The Greater Phoenix Economic Council claims that 66,000 are "qualified software workers" employed by "the information and communications technology sector." This is across the entire metro area and no doubt sweeps in many call center and back-office jobs. It's not a classification used in basic U.S. Labor Department counts. So we're back to "How big is big?" For example, the invaluable database of the St. Louis Fed has no software publishing category for metro Phoenix. They total more than 58,000 in Seattle and 7,000 in Denver. Indeed, there are no "all employees information" data categories for Phoenix at all.
Computer and electronic manufacturing jobs — none, as far as I know, in downtown — totaled 27,400 for the metro area in March, down from a peak of more than 56,000 in 1998 and continuing a downward trajectory.
Beyond the numbers, a "tech boom" requires abundant venture capital. Phoenix has badly lagged its peers in this category for many years. And this ties into a chain of funding needed for startups to succeed, beginning with angel capital, as well as the expertise that the best VCs bring. Phoenix needs a world-class university computer science institution. ASU claims its program ranked 31st nationally, but that's not world class nor is it in downtown Phoenix.
Attracting and retaining top young talent remains one of the metro's biggest difficulties. For example, a recent study ranked metro Phoenix 60th in adults older than 25 with bachelor's degrees of higher (Peers: Austin ranked 9th, Seattle 10th, Denver 17th). Only 26.7 percent had BA degrees or higher in 2015, below even the national average. Here, Phoenix is especially held back by the state's intolerance and reactionary politics and legislation, as well as the lack of the kind of authentic downtown that attracts talent. (Pro tip: Championship golf and sunshine aren't enough).
The top performing metros are at the headwaters of innovation and advanced industries, where the top executives and most talented people work. For example, Seattle benefits from the headquarters of Amazon and, in suburban Redmond, Microsoft, as well as a huge cluster of startups and other tech firms such as F5 (this company just signed a lease for all of a new downtown skyscraper). These attract talent and capital from around the world. The University of Washington provides a pipeline of engineers and coders from a top, well-endowed computer-science program. The South Lake Union innovation district adjacent to a vibrant downtown is a huge asset.
Phoenix also faces macro forces. America is creating far fewer startups today than in decades past, and the successful ones tend to happen in the "technopolis" cities with the broad ecosystem that allows them to survive and expand. With industry consolidation and a few huge players such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon having so much market power, "unicorns" are few. Most startups fail; most of the survivors are snapped up by the giants (e.g. LinkedIn bought by Microsoft). On the other hand, a new study shows Phoenix could be among the "next 25" in metro areas as the tech economy spreads out from such cities as San Francisco and Seattle — in theory, at least.
And don't forget a little history. Arizona has a very hard time staying focused, especially amid successive real-estate binges. The solar power industry was born in Phoenix in the 1950s. Now it's research center is in Germany. The advanced-industry clusters that the state promised to pursue after the 1990 crash withered as population growth and an-acre-an-hour tract housing picked up in that decade.
There is constructive news, especially the old buildings being rehabbed and the support from City Hall. Downtown has the spec developers and leasing agents against it, steering companies to the suburbs. Why not have downtown open marketing offices in LA, the Bay Area, and Shanghai? GPEC is not downtown's friend. Neither is Phoenix's balkanization of city council districts. Downtown should be the easiest place in the city to start a business, with speedy permitting, incentives, etc. Also, emphasize livability: downtown needs plenty of shade trees and grass. And look for best practices in successful cities and apply them where possible. Another need; more international flights including to China
I'll repeat the same plea I've been making for more than a decade: Leverage TGen and the downtown biosciences campus. The "meds-and-eds" strategy is viable, but Phoenix is far behind where it should be (see, for example, the Mission Bay Campus of UCSF). The campus needs a hospital and private phrama firms. Surrounding areas could be great sites for biomedical manufacturing.
I write this not to bring you down, but it's critical to know the competitive landscape. Play in the Big Leagues — Phoenix already is, it just doesn't act like it.
———————————————————————————
Read more about downtown successes, transit, and urban issues in the stories on Rogue's City Desk.
Expectations, (Speaking of)
When I first started following Jon while he was at the Republic, many, many moons ago, I naively thought the following:
This guy, Jon, has so many common sense ideas that would be so good for the community that the people in power must be reading his stuff and they can't help but be convinced to implement his suggestions for the wonderful benefit of the city, the county and the state.
Like I said, naïve.
Then I witnessed the real world reaction to Jon.
Then it was adios, Jon.
Fast forward to now as I witness the "in your face legislation" coming out of our capital. Since I'm not good with big words, I'll have to stoop to my level to describe the human scum who now occupy the governor's office and all the republican legislators who pretend to represent the interests of the state.
They are sticking it to the poor, the teachers, the whole education system, the environment, the economy and they do it so gleefully that their actions are beneath contempt. These piece of shit humans even name bills with titles that are opposite of what the damage will be to their intended targets.
I was recently asking myself, what are the conditions in this state over the past quarter century that would allow these right wing, pseudo christians to have such a free reign in this state.
Then it hit me, so I did a little research and I truly believe this is the bottom line. (and there is no solution)
38% of our population is native born.
That means that 62% are from "back home" in white Kansas, white Iowa, white Minnesota, white Wisconsin.
Two thirds of our population are here temporarily, they could care less about AZ. They built their communities back home. They raised their kids back home. Arizona, they could give a rat's ass about your kids.
As long as two thirds of our population doesn't give a shit about AZ, Ohioan Ducey, New Yorker Kavanaugh, and all the rest of the carpetbaggers are emboldened and empowered to do anything their sick, twisted anti-christian minds can come up with.
Sick, rotten, bully, bastards.
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 03, 2017 at 09:06 PM
Phoenix needs a farm team before it can be a major player. Start with a great materials science department at ASU. That might cost $10 million, not $10 billion like meds.
Materials science extends recent engineering advances into unknown applications: New fabrics into sportswear, waffle spikes into footwear, aggregating cable into cable networks (driver of Denver area). The likelihood of ever creating anything original is remote, go with the percentages in job creation. For more check this out:
https://wordpress.compostessentialfacts.net/3456
When Phoenix achieved income parity with the rest of the nation for a brief time in the mid 80s it was by supplying hardware to makers of original devices (OEMs), not originating the devices. When Arizona failed to strengthen engineering programs at the universities as was promised to major players with plants in the Valley, they pulled the plug when consolidating facilities.
That’s when call centers started looking good, then fiber optic cable made call centers possible in India. Today care workers employed by hospice agencies are the economic drivers in the area; just check out recent employment stats. The need for Soylent Green could end this employment band aid.
Posted by: Ed Dravo | May 04, 2017 at 03:08 AM
Excellent comment from Ed Dravo.
Seattle is smaller in size than Phoenix but it's an alpha city whose importance is vastly more consequential. On the other side, Phoenix is much more affordable. The global marketplace has picked its winners and the evidence on the ground is fairly obvious. You don't opt out of this new economy even if you voted for Trump. Indeed, you should be happy there are deep-blue cities in America creating the wealth that keeps Dogpatch afloat. The right is helping out by proposing deep health-care cuts that would cull its own herd. Sadly, you can't make America great again if you're dead, but it's the thought that counts.
Phoenix is exactly where it should be given its own uncertain relationship to reality. On the one hand, it required federal money just to be born. On the other, it understood that being a mecca for aging white victims would prime the real-estate market. These victims didn't want their hard-earned tax dollars going to universities where things like science are taught. You don't elect people like Jan Brewer and Doug Ducey governor unless your middle finger is planted squarely in the face of modernity.
Phoenix will survive in a back-office economy where the real players are on the coasts. That's not a terrible fate and it even suggests an accommodation to economic reality. There will even be start-ups here and there, which the media will puff up into a thunderhead of epic overcast. The rain, when it comes, will stay on the periphery but there's no mistaking a heat island this large. The rainmakers here may as well be faith healers in the cancer ward.
Posted by: soleri | May 04, 2017 at 05:49 AM
Ruben and soleri, I do believe there is a morality factor working against Phoenix becoming truly big.
Phoenix, being almost completely mercantile to the point of shunning basic morality (Christian and otherwise), gains the blue population's--and the world's--opprobrium for its base behavior.
In an interconnected world, Phoenix and Arizona's self-serving conduct is well-known (if only through Sheriff Joe shooting the state in the foot) around the globe.
I posit basic morality versus base desires is what separates most of us politically. The left views the right as greedy, immoral, and base. The right views the left as "weak" and "soft" in their desire to "give back" and "level the playing field."
I personally have NO tolerance for the religious hypocrisy of the conservative "faithful."
This control-oriented mentality of strongly wanting any investment to conform to its quasi-authoritarian extreme right-wing politics ensures Phoenix will remain in the economic minor leagues. Jon has alluded to the Phoenix and Arizona "kingmakers" being okay with their stunted "growth."
And so it will continue....
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 04, 2017 at 06:50 AM
Remember, the subject matter is a "tech boom" downtown specifically.
As for Ed's comment, ASU has plenty of good farm teams. It's turning this into talent that stays and, thanks to tech transfer, companies that grow, has proved the age-old problem. (And Boeing is seeding a breakthrough advanced materials cluster in the Puget Sound region).
Also, steady progress on the downtown biomedical campus wouldn't cost $10 billion. But, again, my focus here is downtown, or at least the central core.
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | May 04, 2017 at 08:31 AM
My apologies if my post went off on a tangent, which it did.
However, I would like to ask, how do you have a "tech boom" in a cultural and educational wasteland?".
Now retired, but during my career in Scottsdale in the high risk insurance business, the only way we were able to boom was by hauling in talent from around the country. The Arizona work force was unable to read, write, do math and think for themselves. The headhunters in our industry had to go to NY, NY, Atlanta and CA to find bodies.
I can see where a bunch of 5 to 10 person outfits move to downtown from other places and it could be a nice fit, especially with the housing being built.
But the 200 to 400 person outfits are not going to happen. I know the mayor wants to set up a tech corridor out in the west valley, but, IMHO, no workforce.
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 04, 2017 at 10:54 AM
Well I hate to paint on "Downtown's" parade but the greatest designs are in Phoenix alley ways.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=murals+in+alleys+in+downtown+phoenix&qpvt=murals+in+alleys+in+downtown+phoenix&qpvt=murals+in+alleys+in+downtown+phoenix&qpvt=murals+in+alleys+in+downtown+phoenix&FORM=IGRE
Phoenix is NEVER going to be Seattle, NY, Shanghai or ever a MEGA city. It's always going to be a dusty spot in the great Sonoran desert,
The part that isn't paved over.
https://www.desertmuseum.org/images/AZUTucMts32.jpg
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 04, 2017 at 01:56 PM
A "tech boom" will almost automatically require a culturally diverse talent pool.
As if Phoenix is a welcoming environment for those who are culturally "different..."
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 04, 2017 at 04:11 PM
Insofar as a "downtown" with the urban cachet appealing to the techies, I see Phoenix as not having one. This is because there are so few brick buildings that can be sandblasted and refurbished/repurposed. This process doesn't work so well with stucco.
But I think the more relevant issue is this: The power brokers would rather have a smaller, more politically reliable (read: conservative) business community over a larger, more diverse, and possibly more liberal commercial sector if a large influx of tech operations were "allowed" in.
Phoenix will likely remain at best a second-tier high tech metropolis.
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 04, 2017 at 06:21 PM
Restructure the Arizona University System to provide greater accessibility, affordability, and accountability to a public university education for many more Arizonans, including Greater Phoenix:
http://PSUandAzTech.blogspot.com
Posted by: Sanjeev Ramchandra | May 04, 2017 at 07:05 PM
Sanjeev, U R aware that Michael Crow may be ASU president but he really is pretty powerless against Arizona's die-hard cult power brokers.
Here is a little something that came to me as I strolled the Sonoran summer nite desert.
"Berlin is a dumpy, dusty town on the desert floor inhabited by sagebrush and mesquite. Survival is dependent upon a small college offering education while living on the edge of silence. Founders and donors of the likes of Carson, Goodall, Douglas, Muir and Leopold envisioned an education away from the bright glaring noisy bigness of major cities. Its environs have produced monkish disciplined environmental oriented like minds without the intrusion of organized religion. A place of solitude away from the big cities spawning of catatonic clowns. Some students envision being the first to colonize a distant planet. Others seek to live in quieter places. A few wander back into the mega cities of "great" destiny, hoping to bring revolutionary awareness to the blind rats that populate those places".
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 04, 2017 at 09:57 PM
Soleri, I think you summed it up perfectly when you said, "The global marketplace has picked its winners and the evidence on the ground is fairly obvious."
The US needs B and C-list cities, at all levels. Our elected officials won't campaign on such a title ("Phoenix: There are Worse Places in the Southwest!") but, overall, the status of a city with 60+% transplants (per Ruben) is outside of local control. You can give tax breaks and RE credits and try an approach of "build it and they will come" -- but how is PHX ever going to compete with other big cities of the west to attract talent and industry when the place is hot, dry, and hours from the nearest destination city?
Phoenix can never offer the towering trees or morning sea air of the Bay Area. It will never have the beaches of LA. It will never have the bike-friendly climate of San Diego nor the mountain air of Denver. If I'm a coder and my location is effectively irrelevant, how can anyone beat these cities? Phoenix cannot offer more, so it must offer value. Value in housing means 2,500SF beige stucco boxes. Value in landscaping means crushed gravel and wiry palo verde trees in the medians. And, years ago, it meant an abundance of cheap unskilled and low-skilled labor.
Could Phoenix be better? Absolutely. Should it be? Again, absolutely. But does Phoenix have to pass rent-control legislation because housing prices are so inflated that hospitality workers have to commute 90 minutes or that teachers at Central High can't live in their own district?
Why Phoenix chooses to try to compete for tech firms in a crowded marketplace of would-be "tech hubs" instead of just playing to its strengths (cough, solar, cough) is obviously a mistake but, just as the light rail is an over-priced "sexy" alternative to dedicated bus lanes, chasing tech is an easier sell than actually looking in the mirror and just playing to our strengths. So, while the leaders in Phoenix may not see what this city is, the global marketplace sure has.
Posted by: blaxabbath | May 05, 2017 at 04:28 AM
Good bye NY, Hello Arizona??
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39808446
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 05, 2017 at 10:48 AM
FIRE category includes call centers and real estate. Few well-paid jobs for AZ.
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | May 05, 2017 at 11:57 AM
Blaxsabbath, good comment.
I know more than a few people who love Phoenix. A lot of that is the weather. Given that people would sooner be warm than cold, that is easily understood. But the deeper reason is simply the ease of living in a city with fairly cheap rents and ease of driving. But I knew someone who was forced to relocate to Dallas, a city with supposedly most of the virtues of Phoenix, and he hates it there. I can only recall one specific criticism, which asserted Dallas didn't have a Scottsdale nearby.
Posted by: soleri | May 05, 2017 at 11:58 AM
Dallas is a butt ugly city, NOT IN THE DESERT. Last time I passed through the JFK memorial was filthy with pigeon shit and poorly maintained.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 05, 2017 at 01:18 PM
Cal, I haven't been in Dallas since I was a kid in the military. One interesting thing transpired then: I was walking down the street near Dealy PLaza and who passes and nods at me but General Edwin Walker, the man who was fired from his NATO command for preaching John Bircher stuff to the troops. Later he was arrested for leading riots at Ole Miss when James Merdith was trying to desegregate it. RFK wanted him committed to an insane asylum! Still later, Lee Harvey Oswald tried to assassinate him at his Dallas home in April of 1963. Looking back at this period, Seven Days in May almost seemed like non-fiction.
Is Dallas really that bad? I don't really know although the pictures make it look fairly dynamic. The Highland Park neighborhood appears quite posh. There's a lot of wealth in the city, a big if less-than-vibrant downtown, and major cultural institutions. I guess the winters are fairly bleak and the summers not that much better than those in Phoenix.
If Phoenix were really a desert city, it would look much different than it is, maybe closer to Tucson in scale and design. We probably both agree that sprawl is its most salient feature, and it has been an unmitigated disaster both for the civic form and soul of the city. I've made my peace with Phoenix but understanding it as the inescapable manifestation of economic determinism. I'm a bush-league Marxist in this way. Phoenix traveled the fastest route to wealth it could find and it shows. Had Phoenix been a much more substantial city in 1900, like say Denver, it would have been blessed with an urban form befitting the nation's fifth largest city. But everything that happened in Phoenix happened from exigencies we could never litigate. We are greedy automatons who behave unthinkingly from an appetite for more. Always, more.
I used to be a cheerleader for downtown back in the 1970s and 80s. Sadly, time played a cruel trick on Phoenix. It made it too small at a critical time in its growth, and when the city suddenly got big, the larval downtown was incapable of guiding the monstrous urban form that metastasized in the old farm fields. Phoenix is what it is. It will not change significantly for the better. On the other hand, if you like the sun, Mexican food, proximity to the stunning (if disappearing) desert, Phoenix is nice. Not great, however. Just nice with a big asterisk for the day the climate plays the final hand and Phoenix is history.
Posted by: soleri | May 05, 2017 at 03:23 PM
If it's any consolation to the local Chamber of Commerce booster types, when the climate makes Phoenix unlivable, it will also put many of those hated "liberal" coastal cities at least partially under water.
By then, much of our farm land from to coast will be decimated by climate change, whatever hasn't already been ruined by various pipeline disasters.
So, there's your future in a nutshell. Well, maybe not yours, but certainly your grandchildren's.
But by all means, let's keep burning those fossil fuels until there's not a drop left. Drill, Baby, drill!
The only thing that might save us, is an educated, engaged populace.
In other words, we're screwed.
Posted by: B. Franklin | May 05, 2017 at 04:26 PM
Franklin, I will sell U Duncan Idaho's old still suit.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 05, 2017 at 04:58 PM
I landed at the old Dallas Airport in 62 on my way to Lackland Air Force Base. Dallas seemed different than now. My kids live in Austin, a much better place to visit. In 95 as I was back packing across the US on my way to Earth Day in DC I stopped in Highland Park and ask the Presbyterian church if I might pitch my small tent on a piece of their vast grass. I got two rungs up the administrative ladder but finally got turned down. I should have told them I was Ross Perot’s long lost kid. As I trudged on towards SMU where the following night I was to stay in a dorm with my Attorneys daughter, I was stopped by some fireman across from the Church. They asked me what I was doing and I said walking across American. I got a steak dinner and a bed for the night.
Phoenix will eventually succumb again to bacterial necrosis but this time we will have screwed the planet and ourselves for a comeback. No more Phoenix rising unless Paul Aterides children can save us.
A giant succumbs.
https://bugwoodcloud.org/images/768x512/1473209.jpg
and
The fighting Saguaro
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/saguaro.asp
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 05, 2017 at 05:54 PM
Dallas has much going for it. Downtown and many of the older neighborhoods have great bones and have revived nicely — or never went down at all. It has the largest light-rail system in the country. Generations of oil money have created world-class cultural assets. The azaleas along Turtle Creek in the spring are magical.
The DFW Metroplex (it coined the term with the usual Texan understatement) contains one of the most powerful economies in the entire nation.
Fort Worth has its own charm and a very different vibe.
Of course, the city of Dallas has been hurt by terrible sprawl (places such as Plano, Los Colinas, etc). And it's Texas. And it has the blot of reaction with the likes of the Hunt brothers. But I have many fond memories of Big D. I can't get all excited about Austin considering its inability to develop a real transit system.
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | May 05, 2017 at 11:40 PM
I think Arizona will never invest much in education because it will create many more intelligent, and, therefore, questioning minds.
The quasi-oligarchs in Arizona maintain their power by whit of an easily-led and unquestioning herd of sheep. These lockstep conservatives vote on their pocketbooks. They also, in their selfish mindset, seldom consider the ramifications of their shortchanging the educational system.
This dumbing-down has its natural outcome in the lack of "new economy" business investment in Phoenix and Arizona.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 05, 2017 at 11:48 PM
I guess that's why Kevin Wiley (also) left the Arizona Republic and moved to Dallas. To be an editor for the Dallas News because nig oil men are exciting. But i think she has since moved on to a Small Texas college and found something better than a rich oil man.
A quite and more peaceful place.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 06, 2017 at 07:26 AM
Another piece of context:
http://variety.com/2017/biz/features/tech-companies-portal-a-downtown-la-1202028616/
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | May 06, 2017 at 09:19 AM
Mega cities my ass. “I will tell you where (I) you went wrong”.!
“The faucet in the kitchen always becomes the reality we believe”.
Trust me it’s a “fantasy”.
“Lotka’s principle of maximum power states that the systems expand to devour the Maximum power available. In short a city grows until it consumes everything it can find to sustain its growth and very existence”.
In quotes from Charles Bowden’s, Killing the Hidden Waters.
Eventually the rats hold up in their tiny bunkers in the big cities will die of starvation and diseases from living in their own shit. Or maybe they will get lucky and go quickly when the mega bombs of WWIII hit.
All the drill baby drill big oil men in the world are not worth one proficient hunter gather that lives with the land. For the wandering scavenger will survive the fate that will come to men in big cities.
The time will come when man breeds himself to the place that all the drill-able resources are gone. The other mammals and forms are life are virtually extinct. If anyone survives it will be the meandering hunter gather.
Europe’s big shitty cities come to the Americas:
“It's striking that Native Americans evolved no devastating epidemic diseases to give to Europeans, in return for the many devastating epidemic diseases that Indians received from the Old World” Jared Diamond.
In my humble opinion, No citified man made art equals nature’s creations. No Wagner opera is equal to the howl of a coyote or the groans of a saguaro on the desert wind.
“Wilderness. The word itself is music.”
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire.
Personally, I have always preferred a place where you can take a piss off the front porch.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 06, 2017 at 09:36 AM
The AZ legislature just passed a budget that says loud and clear: we are a state of petty politics. Move your tech business here at your own risk.
(cal, I have a porch that you described. However, don't ignore the prevailing winds.)
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 06, 2017 at 10:29 AM
Phoenix and Glendale like many big American cities have really ugly Stadiums. Maybe they should have hired Albert.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-complicated-architecture-of-albert-speer-jr?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(167)&CNDID=48614199&spMailingID=10962624&spUserID=MTc5Mjg4MTEyMTI0S0&spJobID=1160471010&spReportId=MTE2MDQ3MTAxMAS2
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 06, 2017 at 10:35 AM
As I maintain, attracting startups and the associated venture capital starts with and in the heart.
Arizona, being squarely over Phoenix politically, has shown its heart to be less than welcoming or tolerant of cosmopolitan, worldly "difference."
That's because the far right wing has predetermined those "different" as potentially undermining the predominant conservative religion and dogma.
Inherent in this conservatism is a pronounced bias against education, the arts, human rights, and the environment.
It is this hostile, intolerant, and unwelcoming political undercurrent that informs those considering doing business in Arizona, Phoenix, or the city core.
Be open (minded), and people come. Otherwise, they go elsewhere.
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 06, 2017 at 10:50 AM
Three sayings come to mind: You get what you pay for, You got to pay to play, and Penny-wise and pound-foolish.
I'm not just talking about money here.
I'm speaking of the social currency of goodwill and being generous from the heart.
The conservative majority in Arizona is very motivated by "fiscally responsible," but much less interested in social and truly moral "justice."
THAT message gets a telling response....
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 06, 2017 at 11:37 AM
Bradley, Chicago is the largest cow town on the planet. Right wing money from Chicago has screwed up many parts of the US. Your liberal whines are disingenuous. Mr. suburbanite.
Posted by: Mayor Byrne | May 06, 2017 at 11:45 AM
Bradley, Chicago is the largest cow town on the planet. Right wing money from Chicago has screwed up many parts of the US. Your liberal whines are disingenuous. Mr. suburbanite.
I'm not quite sure what this means since the snark is a bit worse than the bite.
Our political divisions are largely urban vs rural now. It didn't use to be this way, as anyone over 60 can remember. Oklahoma sent a left-winger to the US Senate named Fred Harris. Idaho gave us Frank Church. The South gave us J William Fulbright and Al Gore, Sr. Even Utah sent a Democrat to the Senate named Frank Moss. Arizona, of course, had Dennis DeConcini, who was hardly a liberal but still...
What's different today is that economic issues have become subordinate to cultural affinity. The right made a cudgel out of evolving social norms and millions of otherwise sane Americans decided to coalesce into a tribe of white victims. It hardly matters where the money comes from. Chicago is home to the far-right Heartland Institute, a major purveyor of climate denial propaganda. But much of their funding comes from Wichita, where the Koch brothers ruinous right-wing empire is headquartered.
The cold civil war is largely about issues that can be politically exploited but not politically solved. In fact, that's the insidious genius here in trying to politically litigate culture. Donald Trump, it goes without saying, is a moral cipher who doesn't care one whit about Jesus or fetuses. Yet, here we are as a nation split down the middle with Trump's capacious girth on the side America that believes itself victimized by modernity.
The culture war began long before Trump ran for president. To be sure, he is its most toxic manifestation.He's also the personification of its utter vacuity. I can think of any number of reasons why someone might not love freedom and democracy, particularly is you're a dead-ender living in the Midwest and strung out on opioids. But do you really hate this country so much that you want to destroy its republican institutions? George Will is ready to have a stroke because of you!
Phoenix is caught in the culture clash that is America's official fever dream. One way or another, the new will triumph over the old. It usually does except in places like the Middle East where reactionary fanatics hold tenaciously to power. The beauty of America is that while half this country is composed of witless rubes who voted for a TV personality for president, they are not immune to the allure of the new. They don't mind Donald Trump at all, in fact. He's bold, daring, and nearly as stupid as they are. What's not to like? Their solution is a time machine that takes them back to 1955 before civil rights, rock 'n roll, transgendered folks in the bathrooms, and Muslims bowing to Mecca. That's where our national project is stranded. Right-wing operatives can't invent anything like a time machine but they can stir the pot of discontent and nostalgia in service of their real aim: plutocracy.
Posted by: soleri | May 06, 2017 at 03:34 PM
Mayor Byrne, Please say something coherent that makes actual sense. Chicago is a Democratic city that is far more tolerant than anything in Arizona short of Bisbee or Tucson. Any right-wing money probably originated with Governor Rauner, but he's quite outnumbered here in Chicago.
There is nothing whining about my comments, just disgust over the conformism demanded by the Arizonans' overly conservative and religiously hypocritical culture. I was more than happy to leave that staid and oppressing waaaay behind me in my need for a more accepting and worldly environment.
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 06, 2017 at 08:38 PM
soleri,
What I have a hard time tolerating is the willfully ignorant behavior by white "uhhhmuuhrriKKKuhh" over their alleged "victimization."
It is the whites that paid for the Africans brought over here to be sold as slaves. Then, after America had destroyed its foreign competition in WW2, went out and bought all those foreign made goods--which took the manufacturing jobs overseas. Finally, it is the Anglos who employed the "illegals" for housekeeping, landscaping, homebuilding, and produce-picking. In so many ways, "Joe six-pack" victimized himself. But I doubt self-recrimination is something Trump's "storm troopers" are capable of.
Trump is merely selling a "snake oil" remedy that will soon be revealed as a massive hoodwinking. The only question is whether those Trump worshippers will ever see the forest from the trees.
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 06, 2017 at 09:37 PM
Rogue Columnist, If Arizona ever wants to be forward-looking, the powerholders will need to pull their collective heads out of the quicksand of being stuck in the past with their uber-conservatism.
If that actually happens (I'm not holding my breath), there may actually be a chance for Phoenix and its central core to get a good chunk of "new economy" jobs.
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 06, 2017 at 10:06 PM
Choosing which industry makes us "look" like a winner isn't the way to go
Posted by: Amy | May 08, 2017 at 09:18 AM
Simply know what works and go with it and where or where is an Apple Store if I were an international traveler I'd need one next door
Posted by: Amy | May 08, 2017 at 09:19 AM
Thanks Jon
Posted by: Amy | May 08, 2017 at 09:21 AM
Apple store? Even International travelers have to eat. A hunter gather needs no watch band computer to survive and is able to observe the real world rather than stumbling into others while Texting while walking.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 08, 2017 at 09:40 AM
Cal, how many "connected" folks have the wherewithal to actually look someone in the eye--or between the eyes???
Therein lies the conundrum of our society, actual connection on a real--not virtual--level. Face to face, eye to eye, on the same level, and, most importantly, as equals not dependent on status, income level, title, or any of that other BS.
With all due apologies, Rogue Columnist, tech separates us from that most important human trait--contact that is immediate, in the moment, and at its most visceral. Naked and not hiding behind zeroes and ones.
It's called being real, not on a keyboard, and putting it out there for all to see. I hate doing it this way, but I do like this blog.
Gotta go, gotta be me, gotta be actually, physically, humanly present--and off this keyboard.
Posted by: Bradley Dranka | May 08, 2017 at 06:13 PM
Brad, take care of your self,
"the rest will work its self out".
Wisdom from the campfire.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 08, 2017 at 08:47 PM
AZ is scrapping the bottom of the educational apple barrel on purpose. There is no recovery from this for years if not decades.
As for tech booms, Motorola is long gone, Honeywell Engines is having the marrow sucked out of it as we speak, and Compound Photonics might be gone by the end of this year. Should these startups grow, they will leave as soon as possible.
Posted by: eclecticdog | May 08, 2017 at 09:50 PM
Electicdig, long time no hear?
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 08, 2017 at 10:57 PM
I'm a little shell-shocked by the events of this afternoon. Did I think Trump was better than this? No, but I didn't see it coming either. There's the obvious comparison to Watergate, which is apt up to a point. Where it stops is Congress, which will not investigate Trump, let alone curb his more fascistic impulses.
Part of me wants to whine once again about the the maturity of our electorate. We may be at an inflection point in America's descent into authoritarianism. Most of the Bern-outs have left this space, but I wonder if they still think there was a valid point in helping scuttle Clinton's chances because of insufficient purity. The consequences here may will be far-reaching and possibly definitive. When you vote to self-congratulate or to preen your imaginary hipness, you're insulting every sacrifice better people made to keep this nation democratic and non-violent. Shame on you.
Posted by: soleri | May 09, 2017 at 08:44 PM
This has becoming since 1988 when Trump first thought he should be king. His white supremist bigoted philosophy and belief in authoritarian nationalism has always been obvious. In runs in the family. The GOP will let him run until they think they don't need him anymore. But it may to be late even for them as they find the are on the short end of the rope with the likes of Bannon and Kurshner pulling the trap door lever.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 09, 2017 at 10:08 PM
Note, Comey's firing is the day before Trump is scheduled to meet with the Russian Ambassador. Putin is delivering a message on who his sock puppet should make the new FBI director.
Oops misspelled Kushner.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 09, 2017 at 10:17 PM
I kind of like Mark Cuban's analysis of Trump. He said Trump is kind of like chemo for a very, very sick country and political system. As you know, chemo will do one of three things. It will cure you, it will prolong your life for X amount of time, or it will kill you. Based on the behavior of the patient (the body politic), the current prognosis is leaning towards extend or death. Cure is not currently in the picture.
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 10, 2017 at 10:24 AM
If America is sick, I'd suggest it's more in the area of induced derangement. That is, Republicans making sure that low-information rubes blame government for their bad life prospects, Mexicans, uppity blacks, and change itself.
We have one clear and compelling agency in which to address difficult life circumstances: effective government. If you trash it like Donald Trump (and let's be honest: most Republicans), you will not change anything for the better. Donald Trump is clearly not a conscious agent of anything beyond his personal interests. If you think burning down the house is a good home ownership strategy, please: stop voting.
Posted by: soleri | May 10, 2017 at 12:06 PM
Effective government:
Bomb, kill maim innocent citizens around the world, then go oops.
Enable corruption in the finance industry.
Enable the polluting of our country and the world.
Destroy public education.
The list is endless.
AND it goes on under Dem or Repub control. party doesn't matter. it goes on and on.
How about YOU stop voting. How can you even see the ballot with the blinders you wear?
I repeat for your poor vision..........IT GOES ON WITH BOTH PARTIES.
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 10, 2017 at 12:41 PM
There isn't anything dumber than the false equivalence. Yes, Democrats are human. No, they don't create hysteria in order to distract citizens from actual problems only effective government can address. Lo and behold, only one party is anti-government, anti-human, anti-science, anti-empirical, and anti-environmental. That party wants you to be stupid and certain. Look in the mirror if you're unsure if you fit this description.
Posted by: soleri | May 10, 2017 at 01:33 PM
It is true that money has corrupted our politics. And both sides end up feeding from the same trough.
But it is also true that one party wants to do something about the corruption and the other openly wallows in it.
In the same way, one party believes in equality, public education, health care for all, regulating Wall Street, maintaining the public commons, voter's rights, and a level playing field. And the other party does not.
To believe that they're "all the same" is to overlook those pesky things called facts.
Posted by: B. Franklin | May 10, 2017 at 02:35 PM
Mirror mirror on the wall.
Only one party wants to do something.
Open your eyes, guys.
Mr. Obama, how many bankers did you put in jail? Uhhhhh, zero.
Wall Street, "Mr. Obama, here is $400,000 for your past support." There's plenty more where that came from.
Mirror mirror on the wall.
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 10, 2017 at 05:11 PM
Wall Street and Drones will always haunt Obama's history.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 11, 2017 at 09:27 AM