August 2014 ldquoPublished Monthly for SEAGO Member Entities our Strategic Partners amp everyone interested in Southeastern Arizonardquo Vol 4 No 8

Leveraging resourcesBy Arsquokos Kovach

Here in the midst of Monsoon season I am reminded of a wise Liberian proverb ldquoA wise man does not find the depth of a river with both feet at the same timerdquo This is contrary to what we learned in our youth about lsquojumping in with both feetrsquo but are they mutu-ally exclusive You will need to read the answer to this question elsewhere in the newsletter

Why Because this article is about utilizing the resources avail-able to you as a city town county or private organization We need only to read the morning newspaper top find examples of cutbacks and reduced funding so why not leverage what we have with our partners and grow bigger and faster instead

First remember to send emails Emails create a paper trail Phone calls are great except they can come at inopportune times and the idea or data you need is likely to be forgotten or misplaced

Second use a subject line you can remember like lsquoGrant for Community Gardenrsquo or lsquoTechnical Assistance Grantrsquo Make it memorable and easy to search and find in your email database

Third we all need somebody to lean on There is no shame in asking for help Does your city or town council think of your com-munity as a business If they do not - they should And just like any business with a future there must be a written plan a set of mea-surable goals attached to a timeline and a corresponding budget Sound familiar Good

With the Arizona League of Cities and Towns Annual Confer-ence coming up on the 19th the 22nd of this month this is a good time to make your wish list of data you want to gather and ques-tions you want to ask

Building an International Business Network (BIEN) will be dis-cussed at length If your community county or organization has not invested the 10 minutes it takes to sign up do so today donrsquot wait until the League Conference

Tourism is coming back strong and now is the time to make sure you know where Arizona tourists are coming from and how much is internal travel and recreation There are excellent reports

Megaregions - RPOs in Transpor-tation Planning Across BoundariesBy Randy Heiss | Executive Director SEAGO

SEAGOrsquos contribution to the Megaregions White Paper is con-tained in this report

To further enhance the critical role of the US in global trade it is essential to create partnerships across boundaries that produce economic benefits that extend beyond any one metropolitan area As a consequence transportation planners and project managers are looking for opportunities to collaborate across jurisdictional and geographic boundaries to identify opportunities to fund trans-portation infrastructure investments through related plans and programs Working on the scale of larger regions or even megare-gions can increase the economic competitiveness of metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas along major corridors identified as important for current and future freight and passenger flows This report will focus on megaregions planning and the role of rural areas in supporting transportation planning that benefits the larger region Megaregions are defined as networks of metropolitan cen-ters and their connecting land areas linked by economy culture history growth patterns and natural resources Researchers have further identified a national set of major megaregions based on population demographic and economic data While many corri-dors and regions may be important scales for transportation plan-ning this white paper focuses on the major megaregions as sig-nificant opportunities for increased economic and other benefits through transportation planning

As more regions plan their transportation for global competi-tiveness planners will increasingly need to incorporate rural areas in their large-scale planning efforts Rural areas are a critical part of the identities economies and infrastructure of megaregions These areas may be both recipients of the benefits derived from this scale of planning as well as contributors to advancing the larger goals of the region Rural planning organizations (RPOs) which serve as the designated transportation planners for many rural areas are part of the transportation networks and economies of surrounding metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions However RPOs may not be active participants in megaregions initiatives due to orga-nizational constraints New transportation legislation defines and provides the option for States to designate regional transportation planning organizations (RTPOs) encompassing transportation roles filled by other types of rural organizations

Continue Reading aContinued on Page Two

The Turning Point Monthly August 2014 page 2

One would think of all the people who should understand the nexus between transportation infrastructure investments and our economy it would be Congress Apparently not so Congress has known since February the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) would reach insolvency sometime this summer yet until recently had done nothing to resolve the issue The HTF is the account from which critical transpor-tation infrastructure such as our countryrsquos highways roads and bridges are funded The primary source of revenue for the HTF is the federal gas tax which is currently priced at 184 cents per gallon The gas tax has not been increased since 1993 and in re-cent years the amount of money generated has been insufficient to meet demands due to higher fuel efficiency vehicles increas-ing popularity of electric automobiles re-cent investments in public transit systems and of course the great recession which left scores of Americans unemployed Five years after the so-called end of the biggest economic downturn since the Great De-pression employment has still not returned to pre-recession levels and if yoursquore unem-ployed yoursquore probably not doing a lot of driving

The HTF currently generates $35 billion

annually and spends $54 billion Histori-cally when the HTF has run low on cash Congress has authorized a transfer of gen-eral fund dollars to continue transportation funding levels but with the current parti-san divisiveness in DC and the ongoing debate over the nationrsquos indebtedness the issue has remained unresolved A lack of Congressional action will require the US Department of Transportation to imple-ment cash management measures including a slow-down of project reimbursements to the states beginning August 1st If spend-ing were permanently adjusted to match existing revenue streams Arizona would lose roughly $230 million of the $675 mil-lion it receives in federal aid for our statersquos highways

While itrsquos clear that a long term fix to the HTFrsquos revenue sources is needed Congress has not been able to agree on a solution and has continued to reach to the general fund over the last 6 years They continued this unsustainable practice on July 16th when HR 5021 was passed by the US House of Representatives which would provide an additional $11 billion to keep the HTF sol-vent until May 31 2015 Early next week the US Senate will begin debate on HR 5021 but as we have come to expect parti-san brinksmanship has reared its ugly head

Highway Trust FundBy Randy Heiss | Executive Director SEAGO

Ribbon cutting welcome event celebrates US-Mexico partnership

Style decorum manners and etiquette were the order of the evening mdash but most of all there was an all-encompassing sense of joy and celebration

As guests and visitors filed in through the front doors of the new location and fresh-ly remodeled Mexican Consulate office

By Julio Espinoza amp Arsquokos Kovach

Continue Reading a

statistics and maps at the Arizona Office of Tourism website httpstourismazgov

Take a few minutes and familiarize your-self with the enormous impact tourism has on Arizonarsquos economy For example did you know that in Santa Cruz County 1960 jobs and over $271 million dollars came from the tourism industry In Cochise County tourism created 3660 jobs and brought in a whopping 348 million in revenues Gra-ham and Greenlee Counties fared well too Between the two counties 980 jobs plus 77 million in income all in calendar year 2013

But wait therersquos more Expect even more support from our Mexican Consulate Of-fice in Douglas and Nogales If you do not ask for the support you are missing out on cross border trade and tourism opportu-nities We will end on a note for funding

ndash grants and access to money that can be the difference between closing doors and brooding up windows or rejuvenation and rehabilitation Which do you want Re-member ndash SEAGO is a resource center Not just for economic development but also for senior care issues through our Area Agency on Aging (AAA) program And fresh ideas from our Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Housing programs Be sure to ask about the award winning ideas and opportunities found in the Transporta-

Leveraging resources Continued from Page One

in the form of four amendments The bill is expected to pass but previous proposals that would reduce the funding and duration of the bill a proposal that would devolve re-sponsibility for transportation investments to the states and a change that would force action during the ldquolame duckrdquo session of Congress after the election indicate that passage of an amendment is possible With only a few days remaining until insolvency this would require quick agreement be-tween the chambers and new votes in each How often in recent memory have we seen Congress agree quickly on anything

The US is currently 28th in the world in its spending on transportation infra-structure investments This hands a clear advantage to 27 other nations competing against us in the global economy If you support economic development through adequate investments into transportation infrastructure please contact Senator John McCain 202-224-2235 httpwwwmc-cainsenategovpublicindexcfmcontact-form and Senator Jeff Flake 202-224-4521 httpwwwflakesenategovpublicindexcfmcontact-jeff and urge them to pass HR 5021 without amendment and to take the lead on a long-term solution to the HTFrsquos revenue woes

Continue Reading a

The Turning Point Monthly August 2014 page 3

A passive approach to rainwater harvesting

At first glance Beverly and Ron Wilsonrsquos front yard looks like a typical desert land-scape But upon closer inspection yoursquoll see the swaths of rock gravel dirt mounds and boulders have been carefully and precisely placed to serve an important purpose

With the monsoon season now here the Wilsons are well positioned to capture rainwater and retain it on their property to irrigate their trees and plants without the aid of any water barrels Instead the couple prefers to practice passive rainwater har-vesting which they say anyone can easily

and cheaply do

ldquoThere are so many things you can do that will make a difference to both rainwa-ter and groundwaterrdquo Beverly said

The process of developing a passive rain-water system at their one-acre property on South Bannock Avenue Sierra Vista has been ongoing for the Wilsons and they encourage first timers to tackle their own projects one step at a time

Continue reading rarr

By Amanda Baillie | gallivantinggirlcom

3 Simple Steps to Receive Powerful Testimonialsby Klaudia Kovacs | MySuccessConsultantcom

M e a n i n g f u l testimonials are vital to any busi-ness career or enterprise They can and should be used everywhere On resumes cur-riculum vitaes websites social media platforms products blogs

and in press packets The following steps will guide you to using customer testimoni-als effectively

1 A testimonial can be as short as one sentence and there is definitely no need for it to be longer than 2-3 sentences Length is not nearly as important as content The

most powerful testimonials are the ones that reflect measurable results that you your company or your product have pro-duced Examples of this are frequently seen on television A womanrsquos migraine was gone in 30 minutes a man lost 10 pounds in a month and so on

When asking for success stories encour-age your customers to use measurable and result-based language

Increased sales ($) Increased revenue ( or months) Increased clients () Lost weight (pounds or inches) Gained time (hours) Etc

Continue reading a

Gila Watershed partnership introduces interim director

By Jon Johnson jonjeacouriercom

The Gila Wa t e r s h e d Partnership is in a period of transition but is still operat-ing on several projects

M i c h a e l Smith intro-duced himself to the Pima Town Council

at its July 1 meeting as the interim executive director Smith is taking over for Jan Hold-er who is stepping down from the execu-tive director position

Smith was joined by office administrator Deanna Stone who gave a quick overview of current projects to the council

The basic goals of the partnership havenrsquot changed Stone said and its biggest prior-ity remains the quality and the quantity of the water A lot of the partnershiprsquos project revolves around sediment control but two of its projects nearly ready to be put in in-volve two restrooms in Clifton and along the San Francisco River to help reduce hu-man waste into the rivers and lower E coli levels downstream

The partnership also continues to operate the Water Counts program which will help identify problem areas in residences and businesses where water loss can be fixed The group is also working to receive a grant to assist low-income housing residents to pay for the fixes with a local contractor ac-cording to Stone

Another aspect of the partnershiprsquos projects includes a collaboration with the Walton Family Foundation on restoration Continue Reading a

Regional Calendar of Events

The Turning Point Monthly August 2014 page 4

GREENLEE COUNTYEVENTS

SEPT 2014 919 Jr Rodeo Duncan FairgroundsFinals

920 and 921 Greenlee Co Mud Drag Series and Powder Puff amp Grudge Match

918-92114 Greenlee County Fair

NOV 2014 111 amp 2 Noon to 6 pmJuried Art Show and Wine Festival Galleria Coronado 253 Chase Creek Street Chase Creek Clifton

APRIL 2015 411 amp 412 Spring Rampage

425 amp 426 Greenlee Music Festival wwwgreenleemusicfestivalcom

Aug 2-3 - Salute to Buffalo Soldiers Days Tombstone Opening ceremony begins at 1000 am Parade at 1100 am Live enter-tainment to follow For info (520) 457-3511

Aug 2 - Lawrence Dunham Vineyards 5th Annual Grape to Glass Symposium Wine tasting lunch vineyardwinery tours fine art show by TRUST Art amp Design live music by jazz vocalist Joe Bourne CLICK HERE to register Facebook Event Details

Aug 5 - Greenlee County Birding Work-shop 600 am at GiMees for the bird walk and 800 am for the meeting

Aug 7-8 - Rural Policy Forum Empow-ering Rural Arizona Bullion Plaza Cultural Center Miami ARizona CLICK HERE for details

Aug 8-10 - Tombstone Vigilante Days 1000 am Tombstone 10K run street en-tertainment chili cook-off 1880s fashion show hangings concert and saloon girls For Info (520) 457-3451

Aug 8-10 - Bisbee Pirates of the High Desert Weekend throughout Old Bisbee A weekend full of pirate oriented festivitiesdonrsquot forget your costume

Aug 20 - Healthy Arizona Worksites Program Training 101 A Cochise College SBDC Event 900 am to 100 pm Free ROOM 702 Cochise College Sierra Vista campus For information please call Carol Mangen at 602-306-4000 or email her at cmangenhealthyazworksitesorg

This annual forum provides an opportu-nity for skill-building networking build-ing relationships and educating each other about the needs and services in rural Ari-

zona Activities include capacity-building sessions receptions workshops and key-note presentations culminating with grant maker roundtables - MORE

Aug 21 - International Trade Relations Luncheon 1130 am to 130 pm Sheraton Hotel 5151 E Grand Road Tucson Spon-sored by Tucson Hispanic Chamber Reg-ister here

Aug 21 - Accounting 101 A Cochise College SBDC Event 900 am to 1030 am Bisbee Community Springboard 2 Copper Queen Plaza Upstairs Classroom Cost is $20 CLICK HERE to register now

Aug 22 - REMI Economic and Policy Workshop Improving Policy and Planning for the Future Hampton Inn Phoenix Mid-town 160 West Catalina Dr Phoenix AZ

Aug 23 - Discipline with the Brain in Mind focusing on birth to age 5 830 am to 1230 pm Baptist Church in Bisbee 1173 Highway 92 Preregistration required dhe-atonarizonaschildrenorg or call Debbie at (928) 428-0711 ext 4

Aug 27 - Greenlee County Chamber Mix-er the Marketplace on Chase Creek 700 pm

Aug 30 - Willcox Flyer Bike Ride 700 am at Begins amp ends at Historic Railroad Park in downtown Willcox 66 mile 33 mile and 8 mile rides benefiting ldquoSmall Town - Big Dreamsrdquo CLICK HERE to register

Aug 30 - Sept 1 - Rendezvous of Gun-fighters Gunfight reenactment groups from around the US come to Tombstone to compete A costume parade will be held on Sunday on historic Allen Street For info (520) 457-3548

Sept 4 - Oct 9 - Nogales Border Patrol Citizenrsquos Academy class We are accepting applicants If you are interested in partici-pating in this opportunity and gain from this positive experience please contact BPA Raymond Bean raymondbeandhsgov or call 520-761-2677

Sept 9 - ADOT Presentation 1130 am to 100 pm La Casita Restaurant amp Can-tina Fry Blvd Sierra Vista Chamber mem-bers $2000 Non-members $2500 Register here or call the Chamber at 458-6940

Oct 4 - Sierra Vista Walk to End Al-zheimerrsquos at The Mall at Sierra Vista For

info 520-322-6601 or email at kraachalzorg Continue Reading a

Oct 11 - Health Fair 900 am to 600 pm Naco Sonora Municipal Plaza (See details Page 5)

The Turning Point Monthly August 2014 page 5

The Naco Sonora Government Admin-istration and The Naco Wellness Initiative are jointly sponsoring a binational health fair on October 11 2014 The vent will be held in the Naco Sonora Municipal Plaza from 900 am to 600 pm

We see this as a means of drawing atten-tion to the consequences management and prevention of health problems that we all have in common in our borderland region

There will be presentations that are infor-mational and interactive and that encour-age participation of all ages Healthcare

organizations on both sides of the border have expressed interest in participating along with the possibility of finding new ways to collaborate The goal is to work to-gether toward individual and community wellness in the broadest sense

This is also an opportunity to demon-strate binational good will at a time when there is so much media attention given to all of the negative stories from the border

For information about event details please email nacowellnessgmailcom or phone (520) 508-7561

Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Phoenix AZ View the full conference program reg-istration and hotel information here

If you have any questions or suggestions please contact League staff at leagueazleagueorg or 602-258-5786

News From Ambos NogalesBy Michael Dear

In the Mexican border town of Nogales I sat finishing my lunch when Alma a So-noran friend who had been watching the diners spoke quietly ldquoThatrsquos something you would never have seen a year ago -- Mexican men eating saladsrdquo It was she explained because of the rising awareness of diet-related health problems in Mexico especially those linked with the epidemic of obesity She added that it wasnrsquot so long ago when ordinary people could not afford to eat salads or a variety of fresh produce so vital to a healthy diet

I was visiting the twin towns of Nogales (Arizona) and Nogales (Sonora) in the company of my hosts Bob Phillips of the Border Community Alliance (BCA) and Alma Cota de Yanez of the Fundacioacuten del Empresariado Sonorense AC (Foundation of Sonoran Businesses or FESAC)

The two organizations work together creatively to promote cross-border con-nections Irsquove been to the towns on previ-ous occasions both before and after the massive boundary fortifications were con-structed by the US Department of Home-land Security (DHS) Today Mexican No-gales known formally as Heroica Nogales is booming and I wanted to catch up on what had been happening By the end of my visit I was convinced that the US is falling perilously behind Mexico in terms of bor-derland economic investment growth and development

Accepting Applications - Leadership Sierra VistaThis is a prestigious pro-

gram that aims to improve our community by providing a nine month education on area challenges and opportu-

nities to a class of 20 up-and-coming lead-ers More than 250 people have graduated

since the program began in 1998 This is a well regarded and high profile program

For more information email coordina-torsierravistachamberorg or call Kaylene Nicholas (520) 458-6940

A good day on Lower Eagle Creek

On Wednesday July 23 we de-ployed about 40 volunteers and gave Lower Eagle a good scour-ing Thank you Freeport McMo-Ran volunteers thank you Friends of the Frisco regulars who always show up thank you Crystal and Cash Noland for initiating and

By Deborah Mendelsohnsupporting this clean-up

If you havenrsquot ldquolikedrdquo Friends of the Fris-co on Facebook please do We post a lot of useful info there

httpswwwfacebookcompagesFriends-of-the-Frisco154517074566871

The Turning Point MonthlyAugust 2014 page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Last night the Senate passed a tempo-rary fix for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) However itrsquos significantly different from the what the House passed last week This is problematic as Congress is scheduled to start a month-long recess this weekend and the US Deprsquot of Transportation will start rationing funding to the states on Friday due to the shrinking HTF levels Unless the recess is delayed the House and Sen-ate have only a few days to resolve their dif-ferences and agree on the specifics for a fix prior to the rationing

The House passed $11 billion in addi-tional funding for the HTF and an autho-rization extension from September 30th to May 31st The Senate-passed bill adjusts the funding sources reduces funding to $8 billion and shortens the authorization ex-tension to December 19th The rationale for reducing the funding and shortening the extension is to force Congress to act during a ldquolame duckrdquo session between the November election and the start of the next Congress in January when conven-tional wisdom suggests that Congress will be more likely to pass a bolder transporta-tion measure and stop the current cycle of short-term funding fixes

The Arizona Dept of Transportation has indicated that they have sufficient cash re-serves to hold construction project sched-ules harmless through the end of Septem-ber in the event that the federal funding is rationed so it does appear that the state can ride out a relatively short-term period of federal rationing A longer-term delay would have significant impacts as current revenue streams are only covering about 70 of HTF expenditures A permanent reduction consistent with current revenue levels would reduce federal highway fund-ing for Arizona by roughly $230 million annually and transit funding by roughly $35 million

I will keep you posted on any new devel-opments

US House and Senate Divid-ed on Highway Trust Fund FixBy Kevin Adam |Rural Transportation Advocacy Council

New Numbers looking Good for ArizonaBy Bill Bolin |Vice President of Operations (STS)

ldquoArizona startups are helped by more than 50 accelerators and incubators that provide technical expertise mentorship and funding

bull $ 595M of venture capital was in-vested into 71 AZ companies from 2011 - 2013

bull More than 110000 direct jobs at more than 7600 establishments in 2012

bull Average wage for high-tech posi-tion in AZ was $ 89344 in 2012

bull There are more than 75000 direct

jobs in AZ as of 2012 in the IT and Software industry

bull Average wage for IT positions in AZ was $ 76650 in 2013rdquo

Source AZ Republic July 31 2014 Tech

America Foundation 2013 Cyberstates Re-port Bureau of Labor Statistics MoneyTree Report Rural Arizona can take advantage of high-tech IT Jobs

Office 480-563-8553 Cell 480-639-7138

We wanted to flag for you some misin-formation that is circulating around the Internet about the bill Senators McCain and Flake introduced a few weeks ago to speed up the deportation of the thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America trying to cross our border illegally in recent months The bill called the Chil-dren Returning on an Expedited and Safe Timeline Act (CREST Act) includes pro-visions to amend a 2008 law to speed the repatriation of these children from Central America back to their home countries far more quickly reduce the long backlog in our immigration courts increase criminal penalties on human smugglers and condi-tion foreign aid to Honduras Guatemala

By Shay Saucedo |Office of Senator McCain

CREST Act

Continue Reading a

Safe House Greenlee library receive Blue Cross grants

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona con-tinued its 75th anniversary statewide out-reach campaign ldquoArizonans First Alwaysrdquo in Graham and Greenlee counties with es-sential program funding to Mount Graham Safe House and Greenlee County Library System

Mount Graham Safe House is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing 24-hour emergency and ongoing services for domestic violence and sexual assault

victims Since 2008 the emergency crisis shelter has lacked necessary funding caus-ing it to be understaffed and unable to help as many victims as in previous years The BCBSAZ funding will allow the shelter to provide crucial services aiding victims with a quicker recovery and offering a safe haven to even more people in need

ldquoWe are dedicated to the prevention of domestic violence in the communities that

Continue Reading a

Contributed article | EA Courier

and El Salvador on their efforts to secure their borders and halt this crisis

Senator McCain strongly believes that this crisis wonrsquot end until the parents whorsquove paid thousands of dollars to smuggle their children north see planeloads of them land-ing back home ndash their money wasted The CREST Act would accomplish exactly that

ve been a few Internet postings in recent days wrongly asserting that the CREST Act would somehow outlaw the protests by citizens against the transfer of these illegal immigrants to their communities ndash in Mur-rieta CA and other places This is totally false ndash the bill would obviously do nothing

The Turning Point Monthly August 2014 page 7

Yoursquore invited to participate in

Graham County Career Fair Special thanks to

Event Sponsor-Eastern Arizona CollegeCo-Sponsor-DES Employment Services

Co-Sponsor-DES Veterans ProgramCo-sponsor-McMurray Communication

FRIDAY August 15 20149am-12pm

Gherald L Hoopes Jr Activity Center

Located at Hwy 70 amp College AveThatcher

There is NO cost to register

Employers-recruit job seekers for your business andor educate them

about career opportunitiesThis career fair is for community job

seekers and college students

RSVP Required

Please contact Kimberly Termainktermaincpic-casorg or

928-432-6932

New IRS form makes it easier to apply for tax exempt status

The Internal Revenue Service today in-troduced a new shorter application form to help small charities apply for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status more easily

ldquoThis is a common-sense approach that will help reduce lengthy processing de-lays for small tax-exempt groups and ul-timately larger organizations as wellrdquo said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen ldquoThe change cuts paperwork for these charitable groups and speeds application processing so they can focus on their important workrdquo

The new Form 1023-EZ available today on IRSgov is three pages long compared with the standard 26-page Form 1023 Most small organizations including as many as 70 percent of all applicants qualify to use the new streamlined form Most organiza-tions with gross receipts of $50000 or less and assets of $250000 or less are eligible

The change will allow the IRS to speed the approval process for smaller groups and

Continue Reading a

The Douglas Historical Society is a 501 (c) (3) organized in 1990 to conserve the Douglas-Williams House and manage it as a museum The Douglas-Williams House lo-cated on the northeast corner of 10th Street and D Avenue in Douglas Ariz was built in 1909 It contains period rooms honoring the Douglas and Williams families spaces with regularly-changed displays research library and specialty rooms These include

The Douglas Historical Society

Continue Reading a

Economic forecast summary July 2014From The Economist Intelligence Unit

Political crises have come thick and fast this year eroding economic and business confidence just as signs of sustainable growth have been appearing worldwide

The latest shock has come from Iraq where militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) have seized key cities in the north and centre potentially threatening oil production from OPECrsquos second-largest producer and increasing oil prices by more than US$4barrel in a matter of days in mid-June This crisis may place the fragile Read more a

SEAGO Coordinated Mobility Program Awarded GrantsBy Chris Vertrees Transportation program manager SEAGO

The Arizona Department Of Transpor-tation released the Fiscal Year 2014 Co-ordinated Mobility Awards The SEAGO Region did extremely well SEAGO was awarded $193150 to operate our Regional Mobility Management program and a Pilot Training Program Our region succeeded in having 7 out of 8 capital requests funded for a total of $191000 In addition 7 of 11 operating requests were funded for a total of $256000

The SEAGO Region as a whole saw an increase of $190550 in total awards when compared to Fiscal Year 2013 All Coordi-nated Mobility Awards can be viewed at httpwwwazdotgovplanningTransit-ProgramsandGrantsprogram-handbook-applications-and-awards

For those wishing to find out more infor-mation about our Regional Mobility Man-agement Program please go to httpseagoRead More a

The exceptional in our backyard By Arsquokos Kovach

Continue Reading a

Living in Bisbee is similar to living in a theme park But here the theme can change almost any day depending on which neigh-borhood you visit Some days it is all about nature spotting new birds finding a color-ful lizard or watching an afternoon Mon-soon create a waterfall

Then there are those days that just sur-prise you You meet at the SEAGO office pile nine people of varied professions and backgrounds into two cars provided by the Mexican Consulrsquos office from Douglas and head south Julio Espinoza and Sergio Figueroa (our gracious organizers hosts and drivers) explained that Naco (Sonora) sits at the gateway to the Rio de Sonora trail Our primary destination is Cananea which

By Cindy Hayostek

The Turning Point Monthly August 2014 page 8

REMI (Regional Economic Models Inc) cordially invites you to join us for a seminar in Phoenix Arizona on August 22nd from 900 am to 300 pm This event is free of charge The seminar topics will include

bull REMI Analysis Political and Eco-nomic Dimensions

bull Renaissance in US Manufacturing

bull Tax Reform Business Incentive and the Arizona Economy

bull Federal Highway Trust Fund Bust State and Local Financing Alterna-tives

bull The Graying of America

REGISTER NOW

4 ways young adults can get covered this summerYoung adults have several options for

getting covered through the Health Insur-ance Marketplace

1 Apply during a Special Enrollment Pe-riod

2 Apply for Medicaid and CHIP any time3 Get covered on a parentrsquos plan4 Consider catastrophic health coverage

Continue reading 4 ways young adults can get covered this summer

National Park tourism to Cochise County creates ~$8 million in economic benefit

A new National Park Service (NPS) re-port shows that 141665 visitors to the three parks in Cochise County spent $7907200 in communities near the parks in 2013 That spending supported 104 jobs in the lo-cal area The NPS sites in Cochise County are managed as the ldquoSoutheast Arizona Grouprdquo and include Chiricahua National Monument Coronado National Memo-

rial and Fort Bowie National Historic Site Visitors to these three sites spend time and money and help create jobs in the sur-rounding cities and towns including Sierra Vista Douglas Safford Bisbee and Willcox as well as in the communities of Hereford Palominas Pearce Sunsites Elfrida and Bowie

Juliena Campbell | National Park Service

Continue Reading a

Shortage of drivers may spark higher peak-season truck rates

Over-the-road shippers worried about peak-season capacity this fall need to fo-cus on the front of the truck not the back There will be trailers available ready to receive freight and enough trucks to pull them What may be missing is the key in-gredient in truck capacity the driver

The escalating driver shortage has be-come the leading check on over-the-road truck capacity and if freight demand con-tinues to stay above 2013 levels the short-

age is likely to lead to sharp increases in transportation pricing as carriers pull out all stops to recruit and keep drivers

Swift Transportation the nationrsquos largest truckload carrier already has signaled it will look to shippers to help finance a sig-nificant boost in driver pay raising rates by higher percentage levels than Swift was able to gain from customers in the first half of the yearContinue Reading a

FAA Grants to im-prove air quality

US Transportation Secretary Antho-ny Foxx announced a $331653 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant to Portland International Airport to reduce emissions and improve air quality by us-ing alternative fuel vehicles at the airport through the FAArsquos Voluntary Airport Low Emission (VALE) program

The grant will provide funds to pur-chase six compressed natural gas buses that transport airport passengers and employees from the terminal to parking and rental car facilities This project is part of the airportrsquos program to minimize vehicle emissions within the airport footprint

ldquoTodayrsquos announcement supports Presi-dent Obamarsquos efforts to reduce carbon pollution and increase the deployment of cleaner alternative fuel technologiesrdquo said

Continue Reading a

The Clifton Community gardenBy Steve Ahmann

Greenlee Gardens Clifton Site (Cliftonrsquos Community Garden) received approval on July 21 2014 as a certified community gar-den by the Arizona Department of Health Services Certification insures that when garden produce is properly harvested and processed it is safe for use in the school caf-eteria or other public institution

The Arizona Department of Health Services Division of Public Health Ser-vices school garden sanitarian inspected the school garden beginning the 2013-14 school year At that time the soil tests re-vealed no potential harmful substances and the garden received provisional cer-tification pending removal of the railroad ties we had used to separate plots Safford Builders Ace Hardware exchanged our rail-road ties for 2rdquo x 6rdquo lumber and the garden was certified in September of 1013

When Clifton Schools were closed ear-lier this year garden members were con-

Continue Reading a

REMI Economic and Policy WorkshopImproving Policy and Planning for the Future

Courtesy JOCcom