A blueprint developed by Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities is as good an economic development plan as Tucson has had.

It calls for all the right things: high-paying jobs, educational excellence, revival of downtown, private-public collaboration and building a livable community.

Platitudes, some will say. Heard it all before. Too obscure, too general, others will opine.

But it’s a good plan. It focuses on what needs to be focused on in this community, which has struggled mightily for a direction.

So now we have a direction, a road map, if you will.

But a road map is just that; it’s no good without a driver to move the vehicle down the road.

Success for the TREO plan, then, came not in its unveiling in a ceremonious gathering Wednesday afternoon at the Fox Theatre.

The key to success will be in the carrying out. And the key to the carrying out will be leadership.

Who will lead? In this town, governmental leadership often has proved itself lacking.

Business leadership, then, is the answer.

From where will it come?

Over the years, Tucson has had many economic development plans from an alphabet soup of economic development agencies. The problems are well-known, and today are not much different than they were last year or last decade.

What must change is the post-blueprint execution. And while many of the problems may lie at the feet of government – high crime rate, low educational achievement, outdated transportation network – business leaders must step up to lead change.

It is not encouraging that of TREO’s budget, just $3 of every $10 are from the private sector, with the rest coming from government. If businesses won’t support an agency charged with economic development, what leads anyone to think they will get behind that agency’s initiative to develop the economy?

TREO leaders say one key will be an annual report card they will produce showing how much – or how little – has been accomplished on each specific goal.

That, of course, is needed. But the important point of evaluation is more basic: Are Tucsonans ready to step up and drive the type of changes enumerated in the TREO blueprint? If not, this blueprint will be little more than one more report for the shelf.

It took two years of complex, sometimes secretive and often acrimonious negotiations among multiple affected parties.

But on Tuesday evening, the City Council approved a big-box store on the South Side – a vote that launches development of 350 acres that will include retail, housing, a hotel and a bioscience park for the University of Arizona.

It is a boon to residents of the area, which has long been underserved with retail options. It also promises to bring upscale housing and well-paying jobs to an area of town that has had few of either.

The development will encompass the entire area bounded by South Kino Boulevard and Park Avenue, Interstate 10 and East 36th Street.

The most controversial part of the project was The Bridges of Tucson, a 110-acre area along the southern fringe of the property, abutting I-10.

A developer putting together the Bridges wanted it anchored by a big-box store, presumably a Wal-Mart Super Center. But a city ordinance bans construction of such stores if more than 10 percent of the floor space is used for groceries.

It is not clear how division of interior retail space improves or degrades a large store. And residents of the area overwhelming asked for an exception, saying they wanted a nearby low-cost shopping option.

The council this week went along, as it should have. The big-box ordinance was designed to protect neighborhoods. If those most directly affected are solidly behind the retail development, the council should not throw up onerous roadblocks.

This entire project needed the commercial aspect in order to succeed. And the commercial area needed the big-box store to be viable.

Now the excitement can begin. A land swap between UA and KB Home will allow development of the 65-acre Arizona Bioscience Park along South Kino Boulevard. KB Home will build houses in a wide variety of prices on 130 acres.

The tech park expansion is projected to bring 9,000 new jobs. Thousands of other jobs will be created in the bioscience park and in surrounding businesses.

As part of the big-box approval, the developer will spend $2 million for job training, business-assistance programs, grants to nonprofit groups and improved roads and pedestrian access.

Good for the council – and especially Councilman Steve Leal, who represents the area and took the lead – in working through difficult negotiations and coming up with an agreement that is good for all.

Years from now, Tucsonans will look back at this week’s City Council vote and consider it a meeting that set the South Side on a new and exciting course.

If you had enough foresight to establish a fund for emergencies, it would be foolish to tap it to buy groceries or pay the monthly rent. Those are recurring bills that could easily have been anticipated.

It’s the same way with Arizona state government. Those running the state wisely set aside money to be used in case of an emergency – something such as the catastrophic financial downturn that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Now the Legislature is moving to raid the fund to build highways and schools. Those are expenses that should have been anticipated in the nation’s fastest growing state.

Through smart budgeting, prudent spending and financial discipline, Arizona has been able to establish a healthy nest egg.

There is about $650 million in the budget stabilization fund, commonly known as the rainy day fund. That’s not a huge amount – less than 7 percent of what the state plans to spend this fiscal year.

But if – or rather, when – the economy turns sour, those savings would be the difference between the state making crippling service cuts and being able to continue smooth operations.

Now some legislators want to drain the emergency fund for some nonemergency uses.

A bill that would take $450 million from the fund to speed the construction of highways is advancing in the state Senate. And there is another bill that would take $199 million from the fund to build schools.

That would leave $1 million in the rainy day fund – enough to fund state services for about 53 minutes at current spending rates.

Arizona is growing. More people translates into the need for more roads and more schools – needs the Legislature knew about but failed to budget for. That’s not an emergency.

Or as Gov. Janet Napolitano succinctly put it this month in a meeting with the Tucson Citizen Editorial Board: “It’s not raining.”

The rainy day fund is tempting to legislators who would rather rely on the frugality of their predecessors than make the tough spending decisions of today.

There is no emergency. Keep your hands off our emergency fund.

Yes, Arizona needs to build more highways. And yes, Arizona needs to build more schools. There is a far better way to pay for them then draining the rainy day fund.

Gov. Janet Napolitano has suggested that the repayment period for highway construction bonds be lengthened from 20 to 30 years. That’s the same as a homeowner refinancing a mortgage to take out some cash for bills.

And she has proposed that schools be built using bond money – borrowing for construction instead of paying the entire cost in current dollars.

Some legislators blanch at the idea of borrowing for school construction. But it is likely that none of those legislators paid cash for their homes.

Bonding makes infinite sense when it is used to pay for something that will still be in use when the bond is repaid. That applies to roads and schools.

It is unfair to current Arizonans to make them pay the entire cost of something that will be in use for decades to come. But by selling bonds that are repaid over many years, future Arizona residents “buy into” established facilities that they will be using.

Too much debt is, obviously, a bad thing. For an example of that, see the federal budget.

But there are instances when incurring debt makes sense. Borrowing to build highways and schools is among those instances.

Mayor Bob Walkup has often been described in his seven years in office as Tucson’s best cheerleader.

His comments prepared for today’s annual State of the City address will keep that description intact.

Walkup’s prepared remarks, for a speech that in essence is the opening salvo of his 2007 campaign for election to a third term, were long on cheers and platitudes and short on substance and specifics.

A couple of exceptions to that are worth noting:

● The mayor laid out a clear, two-pronged vision for Rio Nuevo and downtown redevelopment that for the first time from a public official demonstrates a hint at true leadership.

Walkup said downtown “should be a source of community identity and pride” and “should be an economic engine that serves the entire city and region.”

● He put forth a three-point plan to meld city government, public education and business interests into one cohesive strategic spearhead aimed at improving education in Tucson and the region.

But in other important areas, Walkup resorted to the hackneyed political excuse that he and his fellow elected officials had inherited bad situations from their predecessors.

“As Tucson began the 21st century, we inherited” shortcomings in funding for public safety, for the water system, for transportation and for parks and recreation, the mayor lamented.

Problems were inherited seven years ago
That was seven years ago, Mr. Mayor, right after you took office. What have you been doing since? And why are these problems still so great that they must be at the head of your agenda in 2007?

Most important, where are the specifics about how much expanding the police force and Fire Department staffs will cost the taxpayers?

Where are the details on the price of adding 26,000 hours to parks maintenance work and 21,000 hours to children’s recreation programs?

And how will the beleaguered taxpayers cover those costs?

Speaking of which, Walkup took credit, and offered some to the City Council, for unanimously approving a “smart” city budget in June for fiscal 2006-07 that “invests in long-neglected city services.”

No question about it, and this newspaper approved at the time.

It is important to note, however, that the mayor in taking this credit did not mention that he and the City Council achieved the budget passage via a major increase in garbage collection fees, with no offsetting reduction in other taxes.

And they were able to add other spending to the budget by offloading the library system to Pima County, again with no offloading of city taxes that had gone to support libraries.

TREO is long on praise, short on results
One other topic worth noting from the mayor’s cheerleading effort today is economic development efforts. There again, lots of smoke, little or no fire.

TREO – Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities – was formed by local municipalities, the county, the university and other entities two years ago to consolidate and coordinate economic development efforts.

Walkup still is praising that consolidation effort, but he had little to say about specific results, because there haven’t been many.

With or without the cheering, Tucson is a great place to live. It is not yet a great city, and what it needs to become one is great, visionary leadership.

If Walkup has that in him, he didn’t demonstrate it with his prepared remarks today.

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2007 State of the City address

From opera and mariachis to poetry and paintings, the Tucson area has a unique culture that deserves to be enhanced, expanded and preserved.

To that end, the Tucson Pima Arts Council is asking the community for its insights so it can craft a cultural plan, funded by a National Endowment for the Arts grant plus city and Pima County funds.

Our region has a rich culture and heritage because of its diverse population.

Likewise, a varied cross section of our community is needed now to ensure that our culture and heritage are cultivated to even more enriching levels.

Speak your piece at one of the following meetings:

● From 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave.

● From 1 to 3 p.m. Friday at the City Council Ward 2 office, 7575 E. Speedway Blvd.

● From 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Pima Community College-Northwest Campus, 7600 N. Shannon Road, Room A207

● From 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, 101 W. Irvington Road, B Building conference room

Take the time to share your thoughts.

Gov. Janet Napolitano on Monday introduced a novel plan to link local governments’ growth planning with transportation dollars.

We welcome the smart strategies she outlined in her State of the State address for 2007, seeking to bolster Arizona’s roads network, water supply and land preservation and to coordinate growth planning.

Her plan – which calls for no tax increases and a continuation of permanent tax cuts – is precisely the palliative needed to coordinate planning and development as Arizona’s population explodes.

As expected, Napolitano’s top issue was education. And rightly so. Arizona must have a well-educated populace in order to secure a bright future for our state.

Napolitano wants to raise the mandatory age for school attendance from 16 to 18, a move that should have been made long ago.

She also wisely recommends implementing end-of-course testing so educators can identify and address students’ problems quickly. Results of AIMS tests now are received long after the school year has ended.

The governor also would require four years of math and three years of science in high schools. While that idea has proven controversial, it only makes sense in our high-tech, global economy.

We also support Napolitano’s proposal to extend road financing bonds from 20 to 30 years to generate $400 million for faster construction. And we appreciate her order to the Department of Transportation to quickly analyze mass transit options.

The Growth Cabinet now is to develop an implementation plan for smart growth and development.

We’re intrigued by the governor’s most innovative idea – that local governments should participate in that plan in order to receive discretionary funds. But we want to see more details on the extent of compliance required – and to what extent such participation legally can be required.

We strongly support her call to let communities restrict wildcat subdivisions – a serious problem in the Tucson area – and to limit development where no water supply is assured.

And in a groundbreaking move we applaud, she would withhold state trust lands from market for anything but conservation unless given local consent.

Napolitano’s visionary plan for “One Arizona” would provide the critical bird’s-eye view needed for statewide coordination of transportation, water, development and land conservation while allowing local governments more authority as well.

We applaud her for a sensible but progressive blueprint for Arizona, and we urge legislators to further the push solutions in our quickly evolving state.

General Motors may have problems selling cars. But the company scored a big financial coup last week with an Arizona land sale.

GM sold its longtime proving ground in Mesa for $265 million. The 3,200 desert acres once were miles from homes but now lie in the heart of a burgeoning urban area. The land was bought by a company known for high-end home developments.

In 2004, GM sold another 1,800 acres of the proving ground to a Phoenix developer. This sale completes disposition of the land.

The GM proving ground opened in 1953, the first of several test sites in Arizona. There were 100 miles of roads, including a five-mile circular track. In 2000 it employed 400 full-time employees, now is down to 220.

GM officials said the testing area will be relocated to a more rural spot, perhaps in Mexico.

GM this year has cut tens of thousands of jobs and bled billions of dollars in red ink in the car business. Dabbling in Arizona real estate will offset some of those losses.

After all, $265 million is a lot of Chevrolets.

Growth brings more clout in Congress and jobs. But it also stresses roads, housing, schools and Arizona’s water supply.

What is the meaning of last week’s U.S. Census Bureau announcement that Arizona has overtaken Nevada to become the nation’s fastest-growing state? Is that a jewel in our crown or a thorn in our side?

Yes and yes.

To the optimist, there are benefits to rapid growth. Arizona gained two seats in the U.S. House after the 2000 census and will gain at least one and possibly two more when the 2010 count is completed.

More members in Congress translates into more clout for Arizona. That would be a good thing when it comes to winning a larger share of the federal pie.

Growth also brings more and varied jobs for Arizonans. The state’s economy has been expanding and growth is needed to keep that happening.

But with rapid growth also comes many problems.

City and county streets as well as state highways are over capacity statewide. Last year, state legislators added $345 million to speed road construction, but that is too little, too late.

Tucson and Pima County alone have more than $6 billion in unmet transportation needs – a figure that will climb rapidly as the state’s population does.

Housing is another casualty of rapid growth. In 2000, the state Department of Housing said 47 percent of renters and 27 percent of homeowners pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing – a guideline for affordability.

Since then, it has become worse. Arizona housing costs have increased by 74 percent, while median family income has gone up by only 15 percent.

Rapid growth also means rapid school construction. The state paid for 31 new schools last year and there is no chance that will slow in upcoming years.

Growth also brings with it added environmental pressures as cities and towns struggle to find enough land to accommodate the newcomers.

Plan for it or not, people have come and will continue doing so. It is fortuitous that Gov. Janet Napolitano has said that growth will be a major focus of her State of the State speech Jan. 8.

“We’re going, to grow,” Napolitano said recently. “The question is how we grow.”

Napolitano said she will urge the Legislature to tackle transportation, affordable housing, the declining water supply and how growth can come without despoiling the state’s environmental wonders.

Pima County is on board. Chuck Huckelberry, the county administrator, recently said that before rezonings are approved for new construction, the effects on groundwater for surrounding areas must be analyzed.

That is the kind of attention that must be paid to the myriad issues affected by growth. If we address these matters head-on, growth can be constructive instead of catastrophic.

The City Council wisely voted to get Tucson Origins started, but also to hold back on other projects for more information.

Money is like manure, someone once said: When it’s spread around, it does a lot of good. But if it’s left in a big pile, it just stinks.

Tucson City Council members didn’t exactly decide to spread around $550 million in Rio Nuevo money this week. But they did take a significant step away from leaving it in one big pile.

The council wisely voted to get a couple of key projects going in the Rio Nuevo redevelopment project for downtown and the near West Side, approving $53.7 million in projects for Tucson Origins.

That will allow planning and construction next year to re-create the adobe buildings of the Mission San Agustín complex and immediate engineering work on roads and a bridge across the Santa Cruz River.

With the same wisdom, council members decided not to rush spending decisions on other projects until they get a good look at feasibility studies and needed infrastructure costs to support it all.

They, in essence, put on hold ideas from various factions to spend most of the money on projects west of the Santa Cruz. Included were the University of Arizona’s plans for a science center.

This doesn’t mean projects such as the science center won’t be built. It means the city will take time in deciding how to spread around Rio Nuevo’s largesse.

Tucson is full of skeptics and cynics who believe that the city will squander the opportunities of Rio Nuevo and offer little benefit to the people who are putting up the money for it – we taxpayers.

City officials thus are under scrutiny to make sure we get our money’s worth. This week’s decisions met an important first test of that scrutiny.

These and future decisions must lead to a revived downtown with opportunity for private business, civic and cultural venues and, by extension, everyone in the metropolitan area. That’s because a vibrant city core is key to an economic development strategy.

Business development downtown, including more residential construction, is a must. But it can’t come about with the current infrastructure, so getting an infrastructure study done early, followed by decisions to spend Rio Nuevo money on the needed upgrades, will enhance business opportunity.

That, in turn, will drive more money into the Rio Nuevo pot, which is filled by apportioning a share of sales tax revenues collected in the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District.

As that develops, city officials can study and make decisions on how much to allocate to the UA science center proposal, relocation of the Arizona Historical Society Museum, various other proposals and plans for a new convention center arena.

Tuesday’s City Council meeting at which the go-ahead was given on funding for Tucson Origins included this comment to the council by Donovan Durband, executive director of the Tucson Downtown Alliance, a business advocacy group:

“Passage of Proposition 400 (the Rio Nuevo proposal on the 1999 city ballot) does not imply full funding for any project.”

Excellent point. Spread that money around where it will do a lot of good, and nothing about this will stink.

A new downtown arena seating 12,000 and costing $100 million to $200 million seems to be a grand idea.

But what will be its use?

The University of Arizona men’s basketball team and other UA teams won’t play there, UA athletic director Jim Livengood said this week.

Will minor league sports teams and big-name concerts make it economically feasible? It’s doubtful.

Thus, city officials need to study and plan carefully, lest a new arena becomes an economic boondoggle.

Gov. Janet Napolitano challenges the Legislature to focus on all aspects of growth during the 2007 session.

Gov. Janet Napolitano’s challenge to the Legislature to focus on growth during its 2007 session is a visionary decision that encompasses a wide range of challenging state issues.

In a preview of her Jan. 8 State of the State speech, Napolitano said she will make management of growth and preservation of the state’s natural beauty a cornerstone of her second and final four-year term.

“We’re going to grow,” Napolitano said during a meeting with city and county officials. “The question is how we grow. To me, we are at a critical juncture in Arizona history.”

Napolitano said her plan calls for:

● Accelerating transportation funding, without new taxes or borrowing, to speed up projects.

● New government incentives for building affordable housing.

● Increased consultation with American Indian governments about development within their land and nearby.

● Authority for rural governments to require that new developments have a water supply before being built.

● Increased attention to preserving the state’s landscapes and natural wonders.

Napolitano took steps to assuage mayors and other local officials that she does not want to undermine local control of growth but instead will urge that growth be managed and directed regionally.

However, she rightly noted that municipalities can no longer operate in a vacuum. “We’re far beyond the idea where cities are isolated communities around the state,” she said.

Arizona is the second-fastest growing state in the country, with more than 6 million residents.

From 1990 to 2000, Arizona’s population grew by an astounding 40 percent. And in the first half of this decade, the state’s population grew by another 15.8 percent – a rate three times the national average rate.

Despite that, Arizona remains sparsely populated with 45 people per square mile, compared with a density of 80 people per square mile for the nation.

But Phoenix and Tucson are marching inexorably toward each other to form a “megalopolitan” area that will stretch more than half of the state’s length.

Much of the growth is coming in rural areas, such as Pinal County, which may be ill equipped to deal with or plan for it.

Pinal County is growing so rapidly that it is set to surpass Pima County as the second-most populous county in the state.

Arizona has tried to deal with growth on an issue-by-issue basis. There has been attention paid to transportation, water supplies and state trust land. But rarely has a governor or a Legislature tried to look at how growth affects the breadth of life in Arizona.

We must act now to keep Arizona a place that we want to live in and others yearn to visit.

Napolitano has laid out a thoughtful and comprehensive road map for legislators. It deserves their utmost consideration.

A recent proposal by Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry seems to be right in line with what Gov. Janet Napolitano is proposing.

Huckelberry has proposed that before rezonings are approved for new construction, the effects on groundwater for surrounding areas must be analyzed.

Huckelberry noted that the Arizona Department of Water Resources has jurisdiction over groundwater use. But that agency doesn’t sufficiently analyze the effects of groundwater pumping on surrounding areas.

Huckelberry and Napolitano are on the same page when they talk about giving local governments more authority over development and its impact on water.

Confronted with drought and rapid growth, Pima County is wise to integrate comprehensive planning for land and water use.

Pima County’s relentless growth soon could face limits based on how new developments affect water supplies.

A county policy being considered would require that before rezonings are approved for new construction, the effects on groundwater for surrounding areas must be analyzed.

Because growth and groundwater are inextricably linked, the county is wise to move toward integrating its comprehensive planning for both.

And because new development can have severe effects on surrounding residents’ water supplies, such a policy is only fair for all residents.

The Arizona Department of Water Resources has jurisdiction over groundwater use.

But that agency doesn’t sufficiently analyze the effects of groundwater pumping on surrounding areas, notes County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.

Several factors now underscore the importance of more comprehensive county coordination of growth and groundwater use:

● The state’s Growing Smarter Plus mandates that a county’s comprehensive plan must gauge the demand for water that will result from future growth, as well as how that demand will be met.

● The region’s long-term and ongoing drought prompted Pima County to adopt a drought response plan this summer.

● Water conservation ordinances for new construction were presented to members of the county Board of Supervisors last month for consideration.

● And finally, a report on water resources in the county says supplies are adequate until 2025 if conservation is accelerated and use of Central Arizona Project water and treated wastewater is maximized.

After 2025, however, the prospect of sufficient water is dubious.

As such harsh realities confront jurisdictions throughout the Southwest, Pima County must behave responsibly – even if proactive new policies result in deterring some development.

Home builders undoubtedly won’t relish the prospect of a policy that precludes rezoning for major groundwater-pumping developments. And slowed growth would have profound effects on our economy and employment.

Nonetheless, good land- and water-use planning is critical to protect county residents.

And the new policy under consideration would spur developers to engage in creative efforts to secure sufficient water supplies.

Ultimately, all desert dwellers must depend on the protection and maintenance of our aquifer, proactive efforts to secure sufficient allotments of Central Arizona Project water, conservation of the water we already have and expanded use of treated wastewater wherever possible.

Water always has been at a premium in the Southwest. But now that Arizona is the second-fastest growing state in the nation, the pressure to preserve, conserve and protect is stronger than ever.

Under such pressure, the responsibility for prudent long-range planning is more critical than ever.

Tucson’s artist district is a key component to our downtown renewal, and its loss would be a horrendous blow to that effort.

The state no longer has any transportation need for Tucson’s historic Warehouse Arts District, so its move to evict artists there – albeit twice delayed – is counterproductive at best.

By contrast, the city’s effort to help artists save the district, and spare their eviction, is commendable.

Downtown Tucson, now being revived via private investment and the Rio Nuevo tax-increment financing district, is home to 29 state-owned warehouses.

The state has targeted the two northernmost of those – the Steinfeld, 101 W. Sixth St., and Zee’s, a block away at 1 E. Toole Ave. – for eviction, set for March 31.

The vague reason given by the state Department of Transportation is that the sites need to be “reintegrated into the community.”

From our view and that of city officials, they’re integrated just fine, thank you.

Granted, the buildings and tenants have some vulnerabilities:

● The warehouses, at about 100 years old, undoubtedly need improvements if they are to pass the city inspection process for continued occupation.

● The tenants have been renting space month to month since the arts district began to materialize in the late 1980s, so no ironclad leases protect them.

Nonetheless, state plans for the Barraza-Aviation Parkway no longer require the land in this district.

Indeed, ADOT’s push for eviction seems absurd as Rio Nuevo strives to integrate more arts and culture – not less – into downtown Tucson.

The threat also materializes as a slap in the face to those who transformed these abandoned spaces into a rich and vibrant cultural community.

With a warehouse group seeking ownership, the city – which has first right of refusal – agreed to assist the artists to preclude them from having to go through an open auction process for the properties, says Lou Ginsberg, manager of real estate special projects for the city manager.

Now, architect Corky Poster, who wrote the area’s 2004 master plan, is evaluating the Steinfeld renovation needs, and structural engineer Jerry Cannon also will update his report on the Steinfeld.

As the city’s transportation officials try to support the warehouse artists, both hope that a workable plan will emerge to save the district.

We urge the state to renege on its most recent eviction notice and instead join with city officials and warehouse tenants in this effort.

While the land at issue has little value for ADOT, it is extraordinarily important to Tucson’s arts community and to our downtown renewal efforts.

Its loss would be a horrendous lurch in the wrong direction.