White House impressed

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Arizona Daily Sun
Oct. 2, 2009
By JOE FERGUSON
http://www.azdailysun.com

Key members of the Obama administration have been touring the country seeking to redefine what the federal urban policies should encompass.

They've been to Chicago, Philadelphia, Kansas City and Denver. And on Thursday morning, it was Flagstaff's turn. The director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, Adolfo Carrion, brought with him officials from the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Energy, looking for a better way to spend federal dollars.

As part of a new White House office, Carrion is charged with coordinating 16 separate government agencies in an effort to foster smart-growth urban planning policies.

Carrion said he was particularly impressed by the "ethos and ethics" of the community members he met over the past two days, especially their commitment to the environment.

"We are having discussions with communities all across America about smart solutions and creative partnerships that are happening in the absence of smart policy," he said.

MORNING TOURS

The group of federal officials spent Tuesday morning touring the business incubator, Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies, and Southwest Windpower's manufacturing warehouse.

The tour ended with an invitation-only community meeting at Northern Arizona University's Applied Research and Development building that drew about 200 business and community leaders.

Appointed in February, Carrion told the audience what President Barack Obama told him about the newly created position.

"He said, 'I want to recognize that the federal government needs retooling, we need to coordinate our investments, that there is a lot of redundancy and waste,'" Carrion said.

City officials championed the success of the small business incubator, built with $3.2 million in city funding and a $2.5 million pass-through grant from the economic development administration.

Russ Yelton with NACET said in the first 10 months of operation, the 11 resident clients and the 30 affiliate members of the incubator have raised more than $30 million in private investment and $18 million in government grants.

80 NEW JOBS

He said the investment in the fledgling companies has created 80 new jobs in the community, with an average salary of $92,000. He said some researchers with doctoral degrees were getting six-figure salaries.

"Some are making over $200,000," Yelton explained, but declined to cite specific companies.

He said strong support from the city and local private businesses were critical to the success of the incubator.

"We couldn't have done that without the partners at the table," Yelton said.

Also touted as a success in the community was the small wind turbine manufacturer Southwest Windpower.

CEO Frank Greco told Carrion that federal financial support for its research was critical to the design for its residential wind turbine, the Skystream.

Mayor Sara Presler, whose "persistent invitations" helped bring federal officials to Flagstaff, said "We can serve as a model of what we can do, we've figured out a way to drive change," Presler said, referring to partnerships with NAU, NACET and various local businesses.