The Clark Report
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News, Culture, Self Deprecation
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March 2009 |
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Get Your PHX at the Brockway House
Remember the Brockway House from last month's Clark Report? It was the 1909 bungalow that Greg Esser and Cindy Dach refurbished and turned in to a home/events venue. Well, we are doing something completely different for this Get Your PHX! Come see the  incredible work that Greg and Cindy did on the house and help raise a little money for the Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Yes, this is technically a low-dollar fundraiser, and a departure from the Get Your PHX norm. But this is the cheapest fundraiser you'll ever go to! Just $14 gets you endless drinks, food and a special gift.
You might recall that a glass of wine, some nosh plus tip at Hanny's can be over $20, so you are already ahead of the game at this event! And, since Dr. Geo M. Brockway had his medical practice in the house, we are doing a medical theme. I'm thinking to dress accordingly. I encourage any other such creativity. Proceeds go to support Roosevelt Row's efforts to improve one of
Phoenix's only truly home-grown walking districts. If you enjoy the art of First Friday or the many new venues downtown, much of the credit goes to the Roosevelt Row merchant and artists association. They have worked for years to make downtown what it is today. Last month, we had over 40 people attend Get Your PHX. As this is such a worthy event, can you help me encourage 60 people to attend this month? Please RSVP to me or through Facebook so I can get an accurate count. If you missed the last one, don't miss this one! March Get Your PHXThursday, March 19th from 5:30 to 7:30The Brockway House506 East Portland St.Phoenix, AZ 85004Also, if you heard my comments at the last Get Your PHX, you will recall that this is as much about you as anything. If you have suggestions for the next Get Your PHX, please let me know. Any location must be able to handle at least 40 people.
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Greening a Fixer-Upper
 I'm teaming up with the folks at AKA Green and a group of experts on March 26th at 6pm for a seminar on how to refurbish distressed or older property with environmentally friendly products, and how to make that investment pay off.
Let's say you've found a super home in this housing market and you want to "green it up." Perhaps your decision is aided by the fact that it was already gutted by the previous owners. Or, maybe you want to improve your current home now, while you have the chance.
What products can you get to make your house more Earth friendly? Will it cost much more? Is there specific financing available? Will your decision help its resale value in years to come?
These and many more questions will be answered. Join us at the AKA Green Green Building Center at 8100 E. Indian School Rd, Scottsdale Arizona 85251.
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Downtown Venue Review
Caffe Italia4201 N 7th Ave I heard from a friend how great this place was. I hate to say it, but I don't agree.  Let me qualify that and say that I'm quite picky about Italian food. I much prefer what I call "simple" Italian food over "red sauce" Italian. Red sauce Italian is what I think of as the traditional American expression of Italian food: lasagna, spaghetti, pizza with red sauce. The more simple food relies less on sauces and includes a lot more grilled veggies and greens. I think of Cibo and La Picolla Cuchina in this category. So, going in to it, I have my prejudices. The service was great, the place was clean and I'm sure they have great stuffed manicotti. But I just could not get in to it. I ordered their Quattro Fromaggio pizza. It was nice, but did not rise to the level of a couple other places I could mention downtown. For me, it's all in the crust and they just did not have it. You could put peanut butter and licorice on a pizza with the right crust and I'd still like it. : Clean restaurant, good lunch prices, "A" for effort. The Bad: Uninspiring decor. The Ugly: If your patio is going to be right on 7th Ave., I suggest some sort of sound barrier. Local First AZwww.localfirstaz.comOK, this is not a local venue, per se, but knowing about Local First AZ is the key to discovering many of the great new highlights downtown. I thought you should know a little about it, as it is a movement worth supporting. When you shop at a locally owned business, 45 cents of every dollar
stays in Arizona - versus only 13 cents of every dollar spent at a
national chain! Local First Arizona was founded in 2003 by local music purveyor Kimber Lanning as Arizona Chain
Reaction. In 2007, the organization expanded, applied for 501(c)3 non
profit status, and changed the name to Local First Arizona. Its goal is to encourage policies at the city and state level that support truly local businesses and adaptive reuse. They recently started a 501(c)6, which is a membership organization of businesses, to build an advertising partnership. They now have 1,600 members.
Look for the "Small Wonders" guide to local businesses and look for the Local First AZ decal in a storefront to know that your dollars are staying here to help our local economy.
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Real Estate
Over the last three weeks I've been inundated with people looking to buy really cheap foreclosure homes. Three times in the last two weeks the offers that we were making were in line with four or five other offers. The selling banks were trying to start bidding wars on these properties! So, let me just say it, I told you so! Despite all the doom and gloom, the market is starting to move. Here are some notes on the market: 1) It is stratified. Homes over $250,000 are still sitting on the market for a while. Homes under $200,000 are starting to see multiple offers. That will soon translate in to price changes. Homes under $150,000 are often foreclosures or short sales and are seeing sales in a matter of weeks in the case of better-kept homes. Regardless, people are still getting much more home for less money than they could have in the past. 2) Run, don't walk away from short sales. Many people want me to help them buy short sale properties because they are sooooo cheap! But they don't realize that there is little chance they will sell. Here is why: a. Short sales happen when a struggling home owner asks the bank to let them sell the house for whatever they can get, give the money to the bank and walk away with little damage to their credit.
b. The bank agrees to let them list the home, but requires that they approve the selling price with the bank.
c. The bank knows that there is little chance the house will sell, especially for what they want for it, so they let the home owner try, just to stall for time.
d. Some real estate agent tells the desperate home owner that they should list it really low, get an offer and the negotiate with the bank based on the fact that they have a offer. They are hoping that the bank will just go for it because there is actually an offer on the table.
e. In reality, the bank is just as happy letting it go into foreclosure where they will get more money. Anyway, they don't have time to deal with it because they have so many foreclosures on their plate.
f. If you are the buyer, you might put in an offer and then wait months while the bank "decides" when the bank is really just waiting for the owner to give up and foreclose.
g. You waste your time and your hopes.
3) Remember how I said last month that sales are going up? Here's more data on that. It won't be long before prices start to go up, too. There were 10,124 pending sales as of 1pm today (March 5th). More than January. More than the two highest months in 2007 and 2008. Somebody out there is getting really good deals. Source: The Cromford Report
Call me if you want to talk more about where the market is going. |
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Save the Date: Earth Day
The League of Conservation Voter's 3rd Annual Earth Day in the Garden will be on Sunday, April 19 this year.
But this year is a little different.
Instead of having just one speaker, we will have a whole series of exhibitors to tell Arizona's History of Sustainability.
We've got a great day lined up with demonstrations from Smart Car, SRP, a.k.a. Green, Goodwill, and many others. We'll have refreshing beverages, as well as free admission to the Garden (which is a huge bonus because you can check out the Chihuly exhibit after you swing by our event).
There is a formal announcement on its way, but I wanted you to get this on your calendar now. It's from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 19 - I hope to see you there!
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Suggested Reform #4 --Term Limits
This is part five of my six-part series on things we can do to reform our legislature.
So far, I've solved all of the worlds problems, at least in regards to legislative salaries, the initiative process and redistricting. Stand back and be amazed while I tackle term limits.
The Problem: Back in the early 1990s we (me included) thought that we could have better government by limiting how long people could serve. After all, it was the "lifer" at the capitol that held up the process, became corrupted by power and caused problems, right?
Well, since then two things have happened. First, the lobbyists and the staff have increased their power relative to the elected officials. Second, legislators have found a way around the limit by jumping from one chamber to the other, thus restarting the clock on their 8-year limit.
Regarding lobbyist and staff power, when you first take office, unless you are a prescient super-being, you really don't know everything about government --despite what you told the voters. You will rely on staff and lobbyist for information and perspective. Most of those folks will have been there for longer than you will ever be in office. And while most staff are neutral professionals, some will guide you to their bias --often supported by deep relationships with lobbyists.
So, how do you keep legislators accountable to the voters without giving their power away to unelected people? Part of the answer is competitive districts, but I've covered that already, ad nauseam.
A Solution: I think you should limit terms to 12 years in the legislature, as an entity; both House and Senate. You can jump back and forth between chambers every two years if you want, but your time is up at 12 years. You have to sit it out for at least one election. If you want to come back after that, as it is now, you can.
Why 12 years? Because that gives you more time to specialize and understand the issues better than staff and lobbyists. You can protect your constituents better that way. Yet 12 years is not long enough for you to become entrenched. The power structure will be such that people will know that you are not there forever and they can plan ahead if you turn out to be an egomaniacal, power obsessed jerk. (I'm not saying you are.)
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Kudos of the Month
Kudos to UPS for adding hybrid vehicles to their fleet of brown delivery trucks. Here's the cool part: they aren't battery/engine hybrids like the cars. They are hydraulic/engine hybrids, or hydraulic hybrid vehicles (HHVs).
In other words, they store energy in high pressure tanks and use the hydraulic energy like hybrid cars do at low speeds to save fuel.
As an aside, have you ever noticed how we react differently to UPS and the Postal Service?
I was working in my yard last weekend and the UPS truck stopped in front of my house to deliver a package to my neighbors. I felt a sense of expectation and excitement. I think I actually looked at him hopefully. He smiled and shook his head "no," reading my mind. I was so sad.
I don't really get excited by the postal worker.
I guess I never really thought about that exact experience before, but it's pretty obvious why: UPS brings gifts; USPS brings bills and junk mail.
Poor, unloved postal workers.
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Got any good downtown tips? Send 'em my way!
And, as always, I respect your right not to be bothered with annoying spam email. If you would like to be removed from my email list, just let me know. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Ken Clark
K. E. Clark Independent Consulting
  
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