Innovation America

Dec. 13, 2006

Transcript:

Michael Grant:
Tonight on Horizon, the city of Goodyear hopes this site will be the future spring training grounds for the Cleveland Indians. Goodyear makes its bid to the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority for funding. Governor Janet Napolitano is leading a national task force to find ways to keep America competitive in the world. --the innovation America initiative. Those stories next on Horizon.

Announcer:
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Michael Grant:
Good evening, I'm Michael Grant, welcome to Horizon. The city of Goodyear -- 20 miles west of Phoenix -- is in the contest for limited public funding from the state Sports and Tourism Authority to host a cactus league team. Another west-valley city -- Glendale -- has the Los Angeles dodgers and the Chicago White Sox on deck. Goodyear has the Cleveland Indians and is seeking a second team from Florida. The city wants to build a 10-thousand seat, $118-million dollar stadium complex near Estrella Parkway. In a moment we'll talk about some of the details with Goodyear Mayor Jim Cavanaugh, first, Merry Lucero tells us what is planned for the Goodyear Complex.

Merry Lucero:
Now it's a field of alfalfa. But the city of Goodyear hopes this land will soon be on its way to becoming a different kind of field.

Corri Spiegel:
April of 2008 you will see five full major-league sized practice fields, a half field and agility field. When the giants aren't here using those fields they'll retain one half of the fields year-round but the other will go back to the city to use them year-round.

Merry Lucero:
The dirt field across the street is the site for the big project, a spring training stadium for the Cleveland and a mixed use complex tagged as a new concept of environment. -- development.

Corri Spiegel:
The stadium is something you probably can't even visualize if you visit any of the other facilities in metro phoenix it's not going to be like them. In comparison there'll be bleachers and drink cups and home base and all those things. But if you walk on to the private concourse you'll be walking into a private development. So instead of walking through a concourse and going to concessions or parking lot you'll be walking to a Starbucks or office building or perhaps an office condo. So it's going to be a little different feel. It's going to be more dense. We really intend it to be a community park inside of a private development.

Merry Lucero:
Part of what makes this site unique is its proximity to other planned city amenities.

Corri Spiegel:
Just to the east of the site, phoenix good you're airport is doing a master plan one of the larger airports in the state. A new entrance will probably come off of bullet, a new corporate entrance. Gateway all of the land around the airport is being master planned into a commerce park. So potentially within two miles of the site we could have 30 or 40,000 employees here during the day. City center is just north and west of the site. The city owns 40 acres plus an adjacent 100 which is a city center park. The rest of the property is owned by -- they're master planning no property right now. But that will be the heart of the city so to speak. Municipal operations will be there. We're in discussion with liberal arts colleges to be part of city center as well as private development. So it will be the melting pot and heart of the city.

Merry Lucero:
The project has been several years of planning for the city, the surrounding community and developers. Goodyear is pegging a lot on funding from the sports and tourism authority.

Corri Spiegel:
The S.P.A. is the instrumental piece. We went out and got the landowner and the land. We went and got the team and the Indians. Going to the state we've asked for what every other city has gotten. If we don't get that support, I don't know if the project is truly viable. Because the community is making a big step in forward financing the project for the next 12 or 15-years. And that's our commitment to making this a success. If the state can't participate, the city needs to decide what's in the best interests for the future citizens. And if we have the capability of funding it but we would have to give up some other things that may not be in the best interests of the community. So that's probably the most important thing to happen in the next three weeks.

Merry Lucero:
Goodyear is expecting to hear from the S.T.A. by the end of the month. That is when the commitment from the Cleveland Indians expires.

Michael Grant:
Here to talk more about the proposed complex in Goodyear, Mayor Jim Cavanaugh. Jim, that's a pretty fascinating concept.

Jim Cavanaugh:
It definitely is. And we have really put this package together of baseball and mixed use, residential, commercial, industrial, hotels. They all go together in this package. Also we just added probably two or three universities that want to be in the same area. So this area which will be a fair mile or so is the focus for the future Goodyear. That was planned in the 80's. They didn't know there would be universities there or a stadium there. But they had the foresight to know it was important. And what you saw out there was barren land. And when this stadium comes in '09 it's not coming by itself. Other things are coming out of the ground at the same time. So it's not going to be lonely. It's going to be a good place, starting in '09-'10 and that's the future for us.

Michael Grant:
Is this an either or for the authority? Either the Goodyear Complex or the Glendale Complex?

Jim Cavanaugh:
The entering argument on that I would say yes. But I think it's changing. We had understood, as had they, I'm sure, that there was only enough money for one facility remaining. And we now believe that the estimates for revenue in the future have been adjusted. I think they're more realistic. They're still conservative, by the way, but they're more realistic. There may be money for two facilities is what I'm understanding from the S.T.A. That isn't firm. It has to be resolved within days. But it may be possible to do both.

Michael Grant:
Because one of the other competitive elements that is going on here, as I understand it, is we're still renovating some older existing facilities so. There's also that competition from those dollars or that impact that gets factored into this equation as well.

Jim Cavanaugh: That's very true. But Michael, again there's been a recognition that we don't touch those moneys. The S.T.A. has committed those moneys to those cities largely on the east side. Scottsdale, I think Tempe, there may be one or two others. Renovations are planned and the funds are committed. This is not affecting those at all.

Michael Grant:
Okay. Now, Tucson is starting to get a little miffed, though. [Laughter]

Michael Grant:
You're pulling for Tucson?

Jim Cavanaugh:
I believe in Tucson. And I think having three teams in Tucson is a minimum to make it viable down there. Four would be better. In my view and I think others would agree with this, if Tucson is going to remain a viable entity in the cactus league it needs at least three teams. If the white sox are coming north they have to be replaced. They have to be back filled or Tucson -- I don't think Tucson will meet the cactus league requirements.

Michael Grant:
There may or may not be some fuzzy going on down there. But i know for at least a period of time the white sox have to deliver a replacement team down there if they leave and come up here to play with the dodgers. Is that your understanding as well?

Jim Cavanaugh:
Yeah. And I understood that it was 2013. That at that point they can walk from their lease and their requirements are no longer valid. But there's more to it than that. If the white sox leave there, I think the state has a commitment to understand the Tucson issue. It is a big issue. If they lose a team, what are the Rockies going to do? They're not going to hang down there.

Michael Grant:
The Rockies will come up here.

Jim Cavanaugh:
Why wouldn't they? Would you stay down there with one other team?

Michael Grant:
It could get boring.

Jim Cavanaugh:
Yeah and the players might get bored of the bus ride north. Tucson has a right to be concerned if my view.

Michael Grant:
Let's get back to the Goodyear complex. You've made the pitch to the authority and they promised you an answer by the end of the year. Because you need that for the Indians, right?

Jim Cavanaugh:
Good question. We submitted our application on three October. Our application demonstrates what they asked of us: commitment of a team, commitment of land. These are absolute commitments. And rock solid financial. So we're good to go. We're ready to go. Everything is on the table. We've spoken with all but one of the S.T.A. members individually and he just wasn't available. And we've met with one of their subcommittees. We are to meet with the S.T.A., the group headed by Larry Landry, the chair who's been very fair with us, sometime hopefully next week. It has to be done before the end of the year. Whether we meet with them or not, I don't know if that's crucial. Certainly I'll live here and we'll meet with them. But they have to make a decision by the end of the year.

Michael Grant:
By December 31. Now, is the thinking that you get the facility lined up, you get these commitments lined up, you obviously have the Indians lined up. Then if you get all of that in a package you can go trolling for a second team in Florida.

Jim Cavanaugh:
That's absolutely correct. We've got one in hand. Let's not lose. It it's good for the state, good for Goodyear. Let's not lose this by delaying this because they could very well go back to Florida. We have to sign them up. We have to keep them in hand. We can only do that by getting a decision by the end of the year. Once that decision is made certainly other teams are competitive. The grapefruit league is more competitive now. The state has given much money for rehab. The world has changed.

Michael Grant:
They've lost 4, 6 to us in the past 12 years or so?

Jim Cavanaugh:
Probably fewer years than that. Certainly Peoria is about that time frame. So that's probably a good estimate.

Michael Grant:
So it's go west, young man. We're playing on the same team.

Jim Cavanaugh:
But what's important to note is that next rash of leases which expire are here.

Michael Grant:
Oh, right. Yeah. And somebody will be raiding us.

Jim Cavanaugh:
Is there a personal opportunity there?

Michael Grant:
Possibly so. Mayor Jim Cavanaugh thanks for joining us. Best of luck on the proposal to the authority.

Michael Grant:
Governor Janet Napolitano leading a bipartisan group of governors and business and academic leaders who are overseeing efforts to maintain the country's competitive position in the world. National governors association has announced an innovation America task force. The group will consider a number of issues such as the role the education is going to play from the 21st century economy. The association launched the task force last week in phoenix.

Janet Napolitano:
Why innovation? Because it is clear that in the United States we have an edge here but we are losing that edge. And that if we don't take this up with a national agenda item and say, almost in the mode of sputnik of many decades ago, this has to be a top priority. It will generation and Americans will suffer for it. I could go through the statistics on the test scores. But suffice it to say that they are not acceptable. We are not succeeding compared to our students around the world. Although we are investing huge amounts of money in education on a per student basis. Varies of course from state to state but huge amounts of money are being spent. So this is partly a matter of urgency but partly of matter of thinking where do we target those dollars to produce a more 21st century ready work force?

Tim Pawlenty:
We've all observed, heard, read about, of course, that we live in a hyper competitive global economy and ultimately a hype ever competitive global market place. Market places are driven by dynamics in a market size. Market size matters. America is not the biggest place. We do have 300 million people in our country. As of now we're competing against places as you know like china that has 1.3 billion people. They have more people under the age of 18 in china than we have in our whole country. They'll be transitioning more people from subsistence agricultural in rural china to their version of Chinese middle class consumers in the next 25 years than we have in our whole country times two. That doesn't begin to address places like India and other places. So clearly the measurements of how are we going to bring a value-added proposition, something that's going to be a difference maker an advantage, a continuing relative advantage in this hyper competitive global economy our size isn't going to be the difference maker. Then you ask what about price and cost? Can we in a hyper competitive global market place undercut other competitors? The answer to that is no. We're not going to compete in areas particularly things that are labor-intensive against places like china and Mexico. Even if we could, why would we want to? That would be a serious erosion and degradation of our quality of life. If we're not going to be the biggest or cheapest we have to be the smartest.

Kathleen Sebelius:
I'm also here as the mother of two 20-somethings. I have two college graduates, one 22 and one 25. They are looking at a very different world and very different challenges than their father and I faced and certainly than their grandparents faced. And I'm very much aware of the world in which they live and the challenges and opportunities they have. So I'm here also representing that generation in hopes that we can find pathways for them to have an opportunity to really be leaders in this new global economy.

Shirley Jackson:
And we often speak of those who are left out. I prefer to speak of the fact that we need to tap the complete talent pool. And that means women and so-called under represented minorities that are often referred to as the underrepresented majority. And if we keep that in mind then we know that we have to deal with the whole thing. And it is important as well to think about the fact that we have to develop human capital, provide infrastructure, and support where appropriate basic research, and have a focus on entrepreneurship.

Michael Crow:
It's about whether or not we have the capacity to evolve from this level of achievement to higher levels of speed to faster levels of innovation between institutions and also do we have the capacity to engage our entire society in this rather than the fragments of our society that have led to these things where we have such great capability. So to me it's about finding ways to advance speed and organizational innovation. And it's something that we need to be very, very careful about. If we focus too much on the fact that it's about math teaching of this or. This it is about those things. But it's about how we do those things. Ba we know what to do. We don't yet know how to organize ourselves to do it.

Michael Grant:
now from the governor's office -- joins us now is Darcy Renfro from the department of economic development. Darcy Renfro, Who's running on very little sleep.

Darcy Renfro:
As I was explaining to you earlier, as economic policy advisor we try to get high-paying jobs into Arizona. So I had flown out to another state and another city trying to close a deal on a big number of jobs. We hope it works out.

Michael Grant:
And turned around and flew right back.

Darcy Renfro:
For this today. Yes.

Michael Grant:
Since you guys kicked the media out right after that -- what we saw there, what did go on in the task force meeting after that?

Darcy Renfro:
What went on after that was a free-flowing discussion between the task force members that included governors as the clips indicated as well as business leaders, CEOs and higher education representatives. We're talking about what do we want to do with this initiative? What is this initiative about? What do we hope to see happen with this and how do we expect states to compete in the global economy. So we were trying to form and frame the initiative in a way that's going to be most useful. This governor, not only is she the first woman to ever be chair of the national governor's association, she's the first governor as chair to include other people in a task force on an initiative other than governors.

Michael Grant:
I was going to say. It was not only being comprised there of elected politicians and staff, it was also pulling in others from the private sector, obviously Michael Crow, ASU. So a mix. It's kind of unique for most governor association things.

Darcy Renfro:
It is very unique. And in a way it's an example of innovation and one of the elements of innovation. Bringing together different people at the table, combining different points of view to come to different new solutions, new models, new ways of thinking. That's a lot of what's going on with this initiative.

Michael Grant:
Is the focus exclusively on education?

Darcy Renfro: No. There are really three components to the initiative. There's a k-12 component which is your science technology, engineering math education. Increasing the amount of rigor that we have in our schools -- but also making it more relevant and modernizing the delivery of that education. It's about colleges and universities and how do we embed them in a better, more productive way. The research and development that goes on at those universities translating into useful technologies that can help support state economies. And then the third piece is the economic development component which is looking at new governance models and looking at how the government can work with the private sector. And how can we support and grow regional assets for states and between states so that we can compete -- we can grow the assets regionally and locally but compete globally.

Michael Grant:
Now, give me a for instance on a regional asset. I mean, try to --

Darcy Renfro:
Well, economic development has sort of moved from the cluster set. And it's really an expansioning of the cluster strategy. But it's not just focusing on one type of industry. So you may have an optics research development strength and next door you may have an information technology research string. How do those two technologies talk to each other? And maybe together they can provide a whole new solution to something we haven't even thought of.

Michael Grant:
All right. Now, where does the p-20 council fit in this? Because they made some recommendations.

Darcy Renfro:
Well, the p-20 council fits in a couple different ways. It's really the local application of what we're trying to do with the national initiative which is looking at how are we going to create individuals and students, how are they going to graduate ready to compete in the 21st sen industry?

Michael Grant:
Graduating from high school.

Darcy Renfro:
Correct. P-20 started with two different things. One was Governor Warner when he was the head of the national governors association two years ago his initiative was high school reform. His model was the p-20 model which is aligning graduation requirements with industry needs are. We creating a continuum with industry.

Michael Grant:
Obviously p-20 looking at structural things like they were talking about adding the additional year of math to two years of math currently. Ultimately I want to say in about a decade, 12 years or so going to four years of math. Is that too much math?

Darcy Renfro:
The idea is that freshman class, the class that enters in 2012 will be the first-class that we hope to have the system alignment and these enhancements done and completed. And four years of math -- and people, this is a discussion we had yesterday at the p-20 council meeting. Four years of math doesn't necessarily mean you have to take calculus or trigonometry. But you need some element of math during your entire high school education experience and make it relevant to what you're going to be doing in the real world.

Michael Grant:
The argument being, I think, stay in the groove for all four years.

Darcy Renfro:
Absolutely.

Michael Grant:
But math doesn't work for some students. Do we work against ourselves?

Darcy Renfro:
Well, what we found when we took a look at this issue and actually right after the governor formed the p-20 council we commissioned an alignment study. We asked that question. We picked industry sectors that are high demand industry sectors that always have been like tourism and construction-related occupations and industries and also those we want to grow in the technology sector and bioscience. And we took a broad look at some occupations where the standard of living was -- our measure was, can this person -- does it pay a wage that will afford you a house anywhere in Arizona? So we took those okay occupations and we looked at them and talked to employer groups and asked them what do you want from your employees. And time and time again we heard over and over again we need more math and science schools and students who know how to apply those skills. So not only are we looking at increasing the number of years of math and science in high school but new pathways, new ways to get there and deliver that education. Modernizing the delivery of it so it's more modern for students and they understand why they're doing it.

Michael Grant:
Well, thank goodness I'm not back in high school. Darcy Renfro, thanks very much for the information. For gosh sakes go get some sleep.

Darcy Renfro:
Thank you.

Michael Grant: To see video of this and other Horizon segments via the internet you can go to our website. You will find that at azpbs.org. And click on Horizon. You can also get some transcripts and you can find out about upcoming topics.

Larry Lemmons:
A change of leadership in the phoenix office of immigration and customs enforcement. We talked to the new special agent in charge of ice in Arizona. The new charter school in Tucson was recently named the best new school in the country. Learn more about this and other issues channel 8 on horizon.

Michael Grant:
Of course on Friday at this not so very roundtable we will have the Journalists' Roundtable wrapping up the week's news events. Thank you very much for joining us on this Wednesday evening. I'm Michael Grant. Have a great one. Good night.