Milestones of SALC’s First Decade
Proposition 200
SALC’s first engagement in a controversial public issue came in 1999, when Robert Johnston, Steve Lynn and Jim Click successfully led the opposition to that year’s Proposition 200, which would have restricted the City of Tucson from using its allocation of Central Arizona Project Water for home delivery. Voters defeated it by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent.
The rejection of Proposition 200 and the election of Bob Walkup as mayor “can be seen as hopeful signs that strong leadership is emerging in Tucson's business community,” the Arizona Daily Star editorialized. “We are not talking here of a business community that seeks unfettered growth and development … but of a business community that for once saw that it needed to become involved in creating Tucson's future.”
Charter Backlash Spurs Motivation
Two years later, SALC was less successful with another controversial issue. An effort to persuade the Tucson City Council to put much-needed charter changes on the ballot failed after critics contended that SALC was a “white-only Republican men’s private club” that was trying to be “a shadow government and dictate public policy from behind the scenes.”
Never mind that the charges were inaccurate and unfair; the damage was done and the City Council backed away from the charter changes. As is sometimes the case, however, the failure was father to future successes. After the defeat, SALC members worked harder to bring all affected groups into discussions of public policy.
Peacemaker
SALC’s next key action was as a peace-maker between the City of Tucson and Pima County. Leadership council leaders were instrumental in getting the city and county to agree to end their seven-year fight over the county’s 1997 transportation bond money – a below-the-surface struggle that kept both the city and county from creating an effective transportation pan.
TREO is Born
Economic development for years had been fragmented in Tucson, with more than 40 different organizations involved with economic development, before SALC led in reorganizing the area’s economic development efforts into the new Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities. TREO, as it is called, was created in 2005. For the first time the private sector, the city and the county cooperated under the management and leadership of one economic development organization. Steve Lynn served as interim president and CEO.
Hospital Council Created
The SALC Healthcare Task Force in 2005 was instrumental in creating the Hospital Council of Southern Arizona. Under the direction of President Stephanie Healy, the council has concentrated first on overcoming the shortage of nurses and helping create an electronic medical records exchange. In addition to heightening the focus on healthcare issues, the Hospital Council established a template for how to approach and find solutions for major challenges in our region by aligning the business community with the region’s hospitals.
RTA Successful
Nowhere was SALC’s understanding of the need for collaboration more evident than in the successful 2005-2006 efforts to pass a regional transportation plan and an accompanying half-cent sales tax to fund transportation improvements. Katie Dusenberry, Si Schorr and Rick Myers led the effort to engage the entire community in the transportation discussion. They and other proponents enlisted the aid of environmentalists and transportation activists in putting together the strongest and broadest coalition seen in Tucson to date. The result was a resoundingly successful vote – a notable feat because voters had turned down the four previous attempts to pass transportation improvements.
Creation of Science Foundation Arizona
In 2006, SALC joined with Greater Phoenix Leadership and the Flagstaff Forty in creating Science Foundation Arizona, which holds the potential to help Arizona capitalize more fully from the research capability of our universities. The foundation’s focus on grants for research with private sector partnership is aimed at generating jobs through business expansion, new startups, and keeping and attracting top talent to our state. Modeled after the organization that helped Ireland take the next step in expanding its economy by focusing on universities doing translational research, Science Foundation Arizona has garnered exceptional public and private financial support.
In related activities, SALC sponsored the Southern Arizona Bioscience Roadmap, a complement to the Arizona Bioscience Roadmap created by the Battelle Institute, with financial support from the Flinn Foundation.
Town Hall Takes Tucson
The year 2007 was especially fruitful for SALC. In May 2007, SALC took on its most public role to date when it served as the key organizer of the Tucson Regional Town Hall. The Town Hall brought together 160 Tucsonans for 31/2 days of discussion about critical issues facing the region.
The participants recognized that if we are to preserve what we all love about the Tucson region - and provide healthy futures for our children it would take creative ideas, passionate leadership and regional collaboration. They understood, too, that the Town Hall was not an end in itself, but only one step in the long journey that leads to a great community.
The Town Hall effort continues as SALC leaders work with representatives from other organizations throughout the community in putting together follow-up discussions to consider and, when possible, implement the Town Hall recommendations. During 2007, a follow-up session in October attracted 300 people for a “Community Conversation on Water” lasting from morning to mid-afternoon. Then in November, another 125 people met in a second “Community Conversation” to discuss the critical issue of literacy.
Revitalizing Downtown
In summer 2007, SALC helped create the new Downtown Tucson Partnership, which focuses on revitalizing Downtown. Rick Myers and Steve Lynn worked together on a strategy that created an infrastructure study. That study, in turn, provided the credibility and momentum that drove the effort to form the new Downtown Tucson Partnership and hire a new interim CEO. This was an example of SALC at its best: Working quietly to pull together key leaders, focusing always on action, and ultimately putting success ahad of any need to take credit.
Another Proposition 200
As 2007 approached its end, SALC was instrumental in the successful fight against another Proposition 200 – this one also about water. As in 1999, this was another ill-conceived initiative on the City of Tucson ballot to use water to restrict growth. This Proposition 200 would have threatened the aquifer, unnecessarily required curtailment of new water connections by Tucson Water and encouraged even more sprawl by irrationally forcing all new development to be in the outlying areas of the metro region. Steve Lynn emerged as the chief strategist against Proposition 200, while Stan Abrams, with help from David Lane and Ron Shoopman, raised the money for the critically important fight that ended in a resounding electoral victory of 78 percent to 22 percent.
The Struggle Continues
Over the years, SALC’s leadership has helped move the region to a new level of cooperation and set in place many tools to support a growing economy. Our progress is real and meaningful but there are challenges ahead. As of this writing, the state faces contentious fights over priorities as the governor and legislators deal with budget shortfalls. Initiatives and referendums are dominating the political landscape, challenging the traditional methods for policy development and allocation of resources. The global economy demands further improvement in our educational system to keep our region and our state competitive. And the state and region face important, expensive challenges in healthcare, transportation and water.
These are, in short, times that demand engagement, commitment and leadership – all qualities honed in its first decade by SALC. With skill, sensitivity and wide participation by its members, the Southern Arizona Leadership Council is poised to continue fulfilling its mission of improving the economic climate and quality of life in the Tucson region.
