Native Americans in Arizona

Whenever I'm not in a meeting or researching for the department, I'm updating the Native Americans in Arizona database. As discussed earlier, the big green binder is not used much but when it is is very helpful. The first assignment with the binder was preparing a document for the Mayor by using the Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation's section. Being Navajo, I was interested and started looking through the binder noticing that the Navajo Nation was not included and it was out of date. Not many tribes have an up to date website and using ITCA's (Inter Tribal Council of Arizona) information isn't much help either. I found it rather difficult to update the information without calling the tribe itself and request what I needed. Making a long distance call is hardly ever used in the department because we are charged for every minute. Since the budget is consistently cut every year, the department needs to watch where it makes unnecessary expenditures. So with the information I already had and what I could find, I rewrote almost all of it but upset that I couldn't complete the binder. I had a lot of fun learning about the 22 tribes in Arizona, never knowing the smaller ones and understanding the larger ones from the governmental side.

Federal Lobbying

I haven't posted in two weeks so now I'll catch up. Tom asked me to sit in on a conference call with one of our federal lobbyist teams, McBee Strategic. Some larger metropolitan cities are able to keep an office in Washington D.C. to conduct their own lobbying but Phoenix does not. We have two teams lobbying for issues concerning Phoenix like: Infrastructure, Aviation, Transportation, Water, and Environmental. The City hires lobbyists depending of their specialty and as we need specific or more general concerns addressed.

The conference call lasted about an hour where we simply went over the latest issues that happened since the previous call. A new technology is being used by the City called Sharepoint, that allows for people to have meetings across the country without actual meeting in person. We can make instant changes to documents on Sharepoint, view presentations, schedule future meetings through calendar, and view past notes on meetings. What I like about Sharepoint is that we are able to all see the same page and not be confused about what is being discussed.

One topic that I found interesting in the meeting was the Brownfields. At the time I did not know what they were and researched the topic. The Brownfields is a term used to describe real estate that is contaminated or perceived to be contaminated by hazardous substances or petroleum in soil or groundwater. The complexity and cost of cleanup creates an obstacle to redevelopment or reuse of the property. The cleanup and redevelopment of the Brownfields bring many economic development benefits to a community. The benefits of redevelopment include: job creation, increase of property values, reduction of potential health risks, and revitalization of neighborhoods.

To learn more about the Brownfields look here:
http://phoenix.gov/greenphoenix/land/brownfields/index.html

What is the RWC?

The Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) is an independent, multi-jurisdictional organization which manages and operates a regional radio communications network built to seamlessly serve the interoperable communication needs of first responders and other municipal radio users in and around Central Arizona's Valley of the Sun. Formerly known as the Phoenix Regional Wireless Network, the RWC has expanded to service a still growing list of 18 cities, towns, and fire districts, along with many other area entities who serve public safety needs. The RWC was formed through a governance structure founded on the principle of cooperation for the mutual benefit of all members. The RWC was placed within the Government Relations department due to the importance of its mission. The staff is small and comprised of four people who work towards improving public safety radio communications in the Valley.