Economic Development Update

The Economic Development Advisory Council held its first meeting in the new training room at DMB Associates at 7600 E. Doubletree Ranch Road. Thank you DMB for letting us use your wonderful facility.

Scottsdale General Plan

Erin Perrault, Long Range Planning Manager for the City of Scottsdale, updated the group on the status of the new General Plan that is being developed for a voter ballot in November 2014. She shared the report of the Visioning Scottsdale Town Hall, a public outreach effort in which 100 community leaders were engaged to help guide the future of Scottsdale. The report represents the general consensus of the Town Hall participants. The report provides input in the broad areas of Scottsdale’s Best Features, Capitalizing on Scottsdale’s Best Features, Community Values and A Vision for the Future.

You can download a copy of the report at:
http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/Assets/Public+Website/generalplan/Visioning+Scottsdale+Report.pdf

City Possibilities – Scottsdale Possibilities
A new Scottsdale City Possibilities Initiative was presented by Ian Percy, City Possibilities Co-Founder. A first of its kind citizen engagement platform, Scottsdale Possibilities is being offered by the Chamber to promote active citizen participation – hopefully to get involvement from tens of thousands across the city to share their observations, dreams, ideas and their willingness to get involved in elevating Scottsdale to achieve its highest possibilities.

The platform was introduced at Scottsdale Forward 2013, and will be a vehicle for citizen input to the four Focus Initiative Groups that will be established as the result of Scottsdale Forward. The platform is intended to engage people in a sustained conversation about the city through “social collaboration”.
All EDAC members are encouraged to become engaged by logging on and completing the survey at www.CityPossibilities.com/Scottsdale.

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The Oasis Project Eric Larson, Board Chair, provided an overview of the success of the first reception held as part of the Oasis Initiative, which has been in the formative stage for the past 12 months. The reception on March 11 was held for delegates of the Credit Suisse Global Services Conference at the Phoenician and included a 30 minute presentation by Rep. David Schweikert, followed by a cocktail reception outside on the terrace. Approximately 150 delegates attended and had the opportunity to meet government officials on the state, county and city levels, as well as representatives of local financial services companies and members of the Oasis Initiative committee.
This first attempt to interact with visitors to Scottsdale was intended to be low key, but to give us the opportunity to expound on Scottsdale’s attractiveness as a place to do business, and to collect business cards for future follow up. The event was deemed a success, with some lessons learned to make future events even more effective.

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Scottsdale Forward – Focus Initiative Groups (FIGS) Don Couvillion, EDAC Chair, announced the chairs of the four Focus Initiative Groups (FIGs) that will be developed from Scottsdale Forward 2013, and encouraged EDAC members to sign up for one. The FIGs and their chairs are as follows:
· Reinvesting in Scottsdale – Chair, David Gulino
· Growing New Businesses and Industries in Scottsdale – Chair, Chris Cole
· Improving Access to and around Scottsdale – Chair, Matthew Wright
· The Advantages of Using the Many Resources Available in Scottsdale – Chair, Suzanne Klapp

You can sign up for a FIG by contacting Terry Finch on (480) 355-2704, or tfinch@scottsdalechamber.com.