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The experiences Peterson Zah touches on in this interview include his early encounters with traders as a young child in the 1940s, his work at the DNA People’s Legal Services program in the late 1960s, and his involvement in the non-profit organization Southwest Indian Development Inc. in the 1970s and 1980s. Zah focuses on the topic of traders and trading posts on the Navajo Nation. He discusses the growing problems created by unfair traders and how his collaboration with nine Navajo college students to create Southwest Indian Development Inc. allowed for things to change for the better. Zah recalls the dedication of the organization to provide research and compelling reports to the Trading Post Committee of the Navajo tribal council and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in order to amend the trading issues. He also discusses the hearing that the Federal Trade Commission conducted once the Southwest Indian Development Inc. requested their presence after being brushed off by the Navajo tribal council and the BIA. The interview concludes with Zah explaining the role that the DNA People’s Legal Services played in the whole trader controversy and how the actions of the Southwest Indian Development Inc. allowed for shopping centers and post offices to replace shady traders and trading posts.
In this interview, Peterson Zah discusses various trust funds and how the settlement from a 1980’s court case against the Navajo Nation paved the way for greater growth and opportunity. Zah highlights key points in the taxation case, how the settlement money was used, and the issues that arose in trying to allot the funds in a fair way that appeased the whole Navajo community. Some of the trust funds that benefitted from the settlement were the Nation Building Fund, the Navajo Tribal Scholarship program, and the Land Acquisition Fund. Zah goes into detail about the permanent fund, briefly discusses methods of income, such as casinos, and creates a dialog about economic conditions on the reservation. Also brought up in the interview are the changing social conditions of the Navajo, especially as more people move off the reservation. The Navajo lifestyle is also changing, and Zah gives examples of these changes and explains what is creating the change.
Co-chairman Bill Post and other members of the Citizens’ Finance Review Commission have identified Arizona’s management of its federal funds as an issue for consideration. To assist the Commission with its deliberations, the co-chairman asked Arizona State University to develop a very brief “think piece” on this matter. As requested, this document intentionally provides only the most basic information on this complex subject. Its primary purpose is to frame the issue for discussion by the Commission and to list alternative ways the state could better manage its substantial grant activity with the federal government each year.
Arizona is one of the nation’s most urban states, and now it includes one of 20 “megapolitan” areas in the U.S. People have predicted for 50 years that Phoenix and Tucson would grow together into a giant desert conglomerate. That possibility has been seen as exciting, intriguing, and distressing. While a solid city along Interstate 10 is unlikely given the diverse land ownership in central and southern Arizona, the two metro economies are already merging.
Megapolitan: Arizona’s Sun Corridor, one of the first reports on a single megapolitan area, recognizes a more sophisticated technique for analyzing urban growth—that shared economic and quality of life interests are more important than physically growing together.
Scholars at Virginia Tech defined the megapolitans based on economic and growth patterns.
The Sun Corridor, which cuts across six counties from the border with Mexico to the center of Yavapai County, is the home of eight out of 10 Arizonans. In the next several decades, two out of three Americans will live in a megapolitan accounting for 60% of the population on only 10% of U.S. land.
Megapolitan offers a bold new picture of Arizona’s geography and its future opportunities and “megaton” challenges. This report presents a scenario for 2035 based on current trends. It analyzes the Sun Corridor and provides insights into the region’s global potential, water, governance, sustainability, and “trillion dollar questions.” It discusses the “tragedy of the sunshine” and asks the indispensable question: In 2035, do you want to live in the Sun Corridor?
It is an oversimplification to describe the new economy as a technology revolution, something that is mostly driven by and affects business. Clearly, new technologies and business practices are central to the concept of a new economy. However, that’s the easy part to understand. The bigger challenge is to grasp—and then develop strategies to take advantage of—how public policies in the new economy can most positively affect people and places. This report is meant to help Arizonans do just that.
A follow-up to The New Economy: A Guide for Arizona, which described the new economy and provided data on where Arizona stands. This report offers a broad set of choices to help Arizona's people and places prosper in the new economy.
This publication updates the January 2004 study, New Returns on Investment in the Knowledge Economy: Proposition 301 at Arizona State University, FY 2003. Both works were launched by the report, Seeds of Prosperity: Public Investment in Science and Technology Research (2003), by Morrison Institute for Public Policy. Morrison Institute will periodically publish new material to keep you informed of the status of Proposition 301 investments at Arizona State University.
State trust lands are among the greatest public assets in Arizona’s portfolio. Set aside at statehood, the Arizona State Land Department manages more than 9 million acres of trust lands on behalf of 14 beneficiaries. The largest of which by far is Arizona Public Education K through 12.The mission of the Land Department is to maximize revenues from these trust lands. In FY 2005, state trust lands generated $115 million for all beneficiaries, of which $101 million was designated to support public K-12 schools.These amounts are increasing rapidly as more state trust land becomes attractive for development in Arizona’s urban areas.
The parcel discussed in this report, “Superstition Vistas,” stands out as the jewel among Arizona’s trust lands. Not only is it situated in the path of metro Phoenix growth, but it also borders thousands of acres of public land managed by the Tonto National Forest and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Estimates of its total value run well into the billions of dollars.
"The Treasure of the Superstitions" sets the stage for a continuing dialogue about the potential for Superstition Vistas, and indeed, all of Arizona’s trust lands. We look forward to listening to and working with our beneficiaries, citizens, counties, municipalities, real estate businesses, and other interested parties to make the most of Arizona’s “treasure.”
Nearly everyone is talking about sustainability. But what exactly does it mean—especially for Arizona? Morrison Institute and Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability answer that question and many more in this report.
A series of 51 individual “stakeholder” interviews and two focus groups conducted with members of the Pima County business community in fall, 2001, documented significantly divided opinion about the likely economic impacts of the county’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP). The results of the stakeholder inquiries were striking. Only one major finding reflected consensus, while several others revealed sharp differences of opinion in the business community about the potential economic impacts of the SDCP and associated initiatives.