Three opened Monday, two more expected to reopen in coming days

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation reopened three rest areas along state highways Monday, removing barricades that have been in place since last fall. Sacaton (I-10), southbound Canoa Ranch (I-19) and Ehrenberg (I-10) are now open for travelers.

The northbound side of Canoa Ranch will open later this week, in addition to Meteor Crater (I-40) and San Simon (I-10), as repairs and maintenance issues are finalized. By July 31, five previously closed rest areas will again be in operations.

Four more rest areas are expected to reopen this fall.

Rest areas were temporarily closed last October as a result of the state’s budget crisis, declines in transportation revenues and a need to focus on critical wintertime safety. Those rest areas are now reopening, due to a stabilizing financial situation and through careful planning and budgeting by ADOT.

Once all nine rest areas are reopened, the total number of operational rest areas around the state will be 14. Those rest areas are: Bouse Wash (I-10), Burnt Well (I-10), Canoa Ranch (I-19), Ehrenberg (I-10), Hassayampa (US 60), Haviland (I-40), McGuireville (I-17), Meteor Crater (I-40), Painted Cliffs (I-40), San Simon (I-10), Sacaton (I-10), Sentinel (I-8), Sunset Point (I-17) and Texas Canyon (I-10).

Four additional rest areas – Mazatzal (SR 87), Mohawk (I-8), Parks (I-40) and Salt River Canyon (US 60) – will remain closed due to serious repair issues.

Each year, Arizona spends about $320,000 per rest area for maintenance, electricity and water services. Funding for these facilities comes from the State Highway Fund, which is comprised of revenue from the state fuel tax and vehicle license tax.

Rest areas are required to be funded from the same ADOT budget source as critical public safety services, like snow removal, roadway maintenance and highway crash response. This budget—ADOT’s operating budget—is the same one that also funds MVD customer service and law enforcement support. It’s a budget that is often severely constrained by a requirement to balance critical needs across the state.

Arizona is pushing for reform at the federal level to change how rest areas are funded nationally. Long-term solutions still need to be considered to keep rest areas open and operational year after year.

ADOT Director John Halikowski says states with younger infrastructure, like Arizona, need changes at the federal level to allow for partnerships to operate rest areas, or privatization. Only states with rest areas in operation before passage of the 1956 Interstate Highway Act are eligible to privatize, outsource or engage in public-private partnerships for rest areas. Arizona has none of those options, and unlike East Coast states, has long stretches of open highway, some with few driver services.

Arizona continues to work toward a program to join forces with appropriate businesses adjoining highways to designate existing establishments as state-certified rest areas. Our state also continues to work with its Congressional delegation and other states to seek changes in federal law to allow for alternative funding strategies and the flexibility to use federal highway funds to support rest areas.

Happy Birthday USA: this July 4^th there are 234 candles on that really BIG cake!  On behalf of myself, my family, and, I’m confident, my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors, here’s a heartfelt “Thank You!” to all those Americans who have or are serving in our armed forces in order to protect and preserve our democratic form of government with all the privileges we enjoy today.  I want to especially take this time to salute not only the men and women who are serving today – particularly those warriors in harm’s way in Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the world – but their families as well.  Theirs is often the hardest battle and they deserve not only our gratitude for their sacrifices but our support during these long, lonely months of separation.

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Elevate and make your Event Great with Straight to the Plate! Sue Carlisle, owner of Straight to the Plate Catering, is very passionate about her business and takes this tag line very seriously. In the last 2 ½ years, she has served over 3500 guests from small office parties and open houses to large events for 550. Each event is special, unique and lots of fun for Sue. “I get to be part of making great memories and fulfilling a bride’s dream wedding or helping a company elevate their game by providing a great catering event for their board, customers or employees.” Sue is great at listening to the desires of her clients and providing wonderful, flavorful food and excellent customer service. Last month, Straight to the Plate was honored to be 1 of 3 caters featured for the 17th annual hospitality event, “Cool off in Style” event which hosted 550 guests at the Phoenix Museum for Children.

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AK-CHIN — So no finally means yes, it would seem.

As representatives from the Ak-Chin Indian Community, Harrah’s Entertainment and the city of Maricopa joined a crowd of more than 125 on hand last week for the groundbreaking of a $20 million, five-story hotel expansion project at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino Resort, the facility’s general manager, Geoff Andres, gave a simple yet poignant anecdote to help answer an obvious question: “Why now?”

“Why would we be adding a hotel tower in a down economy? Well, I’ll tell you, my friends, we are sold out every night,” said an energetic Andres of the property’s current 140-plus-room setup. “In fact, do you guys want a room tonight? … Well you can’t have one, because we’re full!”

No, western Pinal County’s only gaming facility doesn’t have much availability, and yes, that’s exactly why the time is right, he contends, to expand.

“That’s been the story for us for quite some time,” he said. “We’re excited to be able to add these hotel rooms, we think it’s going to be a great thing for this business, and we also think it’s going to be a great thing for the city of Maricopa.”
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Maricopa – On May 13, 2010 The Maricopa Chamber of Commerce was proud to award this year’s Annual Scholarship to Jadyn Warren.  Jadyn is a remarkable young lady and will attend Arizona State University with a major in Kinesiology. Her accomplishments include, Senior Class Secretary, National Honor Society Vice President, Key Club Member, Yearbook – Senior Editor, Varsity Softball Captain, and much more all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.  Well done Jadyn, we know you will be successful in your college endeavors.

Maricopa Graffiti Abatement Team headed up by Brian Duncan Senior Code Enforcement Officer. Is currently offering the services of the Graffiti Team to the community HOA’s  and ALL business owners of the City of Maricopa, to clean, remove and or paint over any graffiti.  All they require the business owners or HOA’s is  to provide the paint that matches the walls and they will cleanup the Graffiti for FREE.

This team has committed to remove problem areas within 24 hours of reporting, if  they have the paint and color match of the buildings or walls. They have established a relationship with Sherwin Williams of Casa Grande with the assistance of Karen Moore (520.316.0745 office, 520.252.6886 cell), to purchase paint at a greatly reduced price.

Please contact Brian Duncan at (520) 568-9098 if you need to utilize this service.

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY News Release

May 4, 2010

Graduating ASU Seniors – Helping Maricopa Use “Tourism for the Public Good”

PHOENIX – An exciting partnership between ASU and the City of Maricopa is helping the City investigate ways to better their community by harnessing the power of tourism. Tourism is the largest industry in the World and this spring an ASU class in Tourism Development and Management has been researching the opportunities for its growth using the resources of the city of Maricopa.

Under the guidance of Professor Tim Tyrrell, the ASU class of 55 juniors and graduating seniors studied Maricopa as a case study in a tourism research methods course. The project looked at how eight different resources of the City could provide opportunities for future tourism development.

The findings of the research teams were presented to Mayor Smith, Vice Mayor Murphree and five members of the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce on May 4. Opportunities for the City identified by the students included serving current Maricopa residents and business travelers better, anticipating imminent growth in transportation systems, and forming stronger collaborations with the Ak-Chin community.

Terri Kingery, (Executive Director, Maricopa Chamber of Commerce) said of the project:

“The partnership developed with ASU during the development of this Tourism Project, will be instrumental in our Communities success in developing and promoting tourism in Maricopa which has become a key component in our City’s Economic Development strategy.”

Mayor Tony Smith of Maricopa said “Tourism and higher education are critical elements to be developed in the City of Maricopa.  By partnering with the Chamber of Commerce and ASU, we will accelerate our progress towards identifying the assets that promote Maricopa’s proud history and vision for a prosperous future.”

ASU Presentation

Power Point Presentation

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Arizona Office of Tourism Launches New Resource for Outdoor Activities
AOT has launched a new Web site tool to remind travelers of the abundance of travel experiences available throughout the Grand Canyon State. Whether you are a resident looking for a short-day trip to a local park or a first-time visitor wanting to experience the magnificence of the Grand Canyon National Park, outdoor opportunities are available in Arizona!

To bring attention with amazing outdoor adventures that can be found throughout the state, AOT has developed the new Arizona Parks and Monuments Web site resource listing all of the national parks and monuments, federal recreational areas, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sites, state parks, Tribal Lands, cultural and historical locations, and city parks. In fact, Arizona boasts more than 250 locations where visitors can experience the state’s exhilarating outdoor activities. The webpage can be found on www.Arizonaguide.com under the Places to Visit tab and by clicking on Arizona Parks and Monuments.  For more information on what to see and do in Arizona visit www.Arizonaguide.com.

For immediate release

Contact: LaTricia Woods, Public Information Officer
Phone: 520/316-6816

City of Maricopa Researching Maricopa Meadows Issue.

Maricopa, Ariz. (May 6, 2010) – The City of Maricopa became aware of citizen concerns regarding potential problems with the soil conditions in the Maricopa Meadows subdivision in the latter part of March of this year. Since then, staff has been working to gather and review documents from the archives of the City and Pinal County that may provide further information regarding soil conditions in that subdivision. These documents have, so far, not yielded any conclusive information about the issue in question. To better understand the issue, the City recently engaged the services of a geotechnical engineering company to prepare an independent, scientific study of the soils in that area. The results of that study are expected in approximately 30 days.

We want the residents of Maricopa to know that the City is not only aware of this potential issue but is working diligently to gather information concerning this matter. If you are concerned about this problem on your property, we encourage you to do your own additional research as it pertains to your specific home and determine what potential remedies are available to you.

We will keep the citizens of Maricopa informed of the progress of our research, the research findings and any conclusions produced on the basis of those findings. In the meantime, if you have any questions or any additional information that you feel will be helpful to the City of Maricopa, please contact LaTricia Woods, Public Information Officer, at 520/316.6816 or latricia.woods@maricopa-az.gov. If you have a question of a technical nature, please submit it to http://ask.maricopa-az.gov and a member of staff will contact you.

Terri Kingery

President/CEO

I just had the privilege of attending a speaking engagement featuring Michael Crain; who as you may or may not know is scheduled to be our May 19^th Keynote Speaker.  Needless to say I found his topic timely and right on the money!

In my position I have the opportunity to go to a lot of seminars and hear a lot of speakers so when I say that I had more than a few Ah ha moments today I really mean it!

Here are a few bullet points to outline what you can expect on May 19^th.

• How to get through the next 24-36 months by making minor refinements to what you are already doing
• Optimism is the oxygen to your possibilities and cynicism chokes it.
• How much time are you investing in YOUR development
• What type of people do you surround yourself with – Can’t & Won’t, Can’t & Willing Can & won’t  or Can & Willing’s

For more you will just have to come to the event!  Mike has been helping businesses become successful with his proven techniques for over 15 years and has written a book on customer service.

Please follow the following links for additional information.

Video

Press Release

The Program