The Phoenix Futures Forum

28 Issues Advanced by the Futures Forum

1. Forum-generated GSPED (Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development) is the major economic development framework for Arizona;

2. Forum-launched efforts and Forum volunteers continue to improve the electronic communication and education linkages between Arizona's government offices, universities, community colleges, elementary and secondary schools, and businesses .

3. The City of Phoenix is now focused on neighborhoods--city departments were consolidated for that purpose;

4. Neighborhoods, historic districts, art & cultural districts and urban villages are now provided with signage to promote identity and pride;

5. City Hall agendas and department processes are more accessible through "Phoenix at Your Fingertips" terminals and the Internet;

6. City business is more easily understandable because all official City notices are now consolidated on a "City Page" in the newspaper;

7. Individual Council and board votes are now recorded and available to the public;

8. The General Plan of the City is more clearly focused on the urban village concept;

9. The City's curbside recycling program has been boosted to a city-wide program, with the regular collection of hazardous household wastes;

10. Bike racks are now installed on all city buses.

11. Bike paths through the city, and the uses of canal banks for bike and walking trails, were pushed ahead dramatically;

12. The joint-use of parks, schools, and other public facilities is now common;

13. Desert landscaping is now used for city lands and streetscapes -- a relationship was forged between the Parks Department and the Desert Botanical Garden;

14. Methods of facilitated group decision-making developed by the Forum are now used extensively by a new industry of trained facilitators (The Community Forum, for example, uses these techniques extensively in neighborhood empowerment projects);

15. Water conservation programs were advanced, including the mandatory use of recycled water on golf courses;

16. The destruction of affordable urban housing was reduced and linked with the city's housing programs;

17. Desert adaptation techniques such as architectural self-shading, and the use of cool towers and misting systems were reintroduced to the region;

18. Today's working relationship between the City of Phoenix and ASU was forged through loaned executives and joint projects;

19. Hundreds of people of all ages, many of whom have stayed active in the community, were introduced to public policy work and civic action, informed by the best urban thinkers in the U.S;

20. Direct access was provided between citizens and public officials, resulting in more sensitivity to the needs of people. Wheelchair access issues, for example, are now more well understood by planners;

21. A new system of design standards for streets is now in place, so that residential streets and industrial streets (for example) now have different aesthetic and engineering requirements;

22. "Traffic calming" strategies for residential areas were introduced;

23. City ethics policies and programs have been adopted, and elections are now required to fill council and mayoral vacancies;

24. Desert preservation issues were advanced, including the exclusion of motor vehicles from unpaved roads in the Preserves and the acquisition of more desert lands;

25. Urban infill programs were endorsed to reduce sprawl;

26. The Indian School was identified as a park site, and Forum volunteers organized to successfully promote that use;

27. Community policing ideas, including bike patrols and police officers living in beat areas, were advanced successfully;

28. Schools were promoted as the focal point of social service delivery and business sponsorship.