inside tucson business 06/08/12

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Concern over economic cliff UA update predictsyo-yo recovery

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Professional copper thieves?Property owners question who’sresponsible

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Your Weekly Business Journal for the Tucson Metro Area

WWW.INSIDETUCSONBUSINESS.COM • JUNE 8, 2012 • VOL. 21, NO. 54 • $1

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Apple specialist once again back on top

Pima County’s Huckelberry defends TREO trips By Patrick McNamaraInside Tucson Business

In spite of the outcry resulting from Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities (TREO) “leadership exchange trip” to San Diego, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huck-elberry is defending them.

“In my view, both the Huntsville and San Diego trips were produc-tive and have helped shape the economic development agenda for the county,” Huckelberry wrote in a memo to the county Board of Su-pervisors.

Last year, TREO took a delega-tion to Huntsville, Ala., to study that area’s defense-based economy. Huntsville is also the city Raytheon

Missile Systems chose over Tucson to build a new manufacturing facil-ity.

Huckelberry credits the 2011 trip with helping the county decide to spend $5.9 million to purchase private land south of Raytheon’s Tucson headquarters site, to act as a buff er against urban encroach-ment.

While in San Diego, Huckelberry wrote that he and other local lead-ers studied the region’s military and biosciences based sectors, its rela-tions with Mexico and downtown redevelopment.

He noted that San Diego’s mili-tary infrastructure is a substantial engine for the area’s economy that could not be recreated in Tucson,

despite the presence of Davis-Mon-than Air Force Base.

In biosciences, Huckelberry wrote that San Diego offi cials dis-couraged the TREO group to at-tempt to compete with the area’s pharmacy-based sector. Th e county administrator said he found en-couragement for the Tucson region in the areas of medical diagnostics, which has become an economic engine with Roche Group’s Ventana Medical Systems, Sanofi -Aventis, C-Path and the University of Arizona’s Bio 5 Institute.

Huckelberry also said that in San Diego, the international border with Mexico is viewed more as an eco-nomic opportunity than a problem as many in Southern Arizona see it.

“We clearly require a renaissance in how we in Arizona, particularly southern Arizona, deal with Mexi-co,” he wrote.

San Diego’s downtown redevel-opment also presented a stark dif-ference from how the Tucson region has handled the same issue.

Th e criticism of TREO’s trip to San Diego was sparked by reports of Tucson City Councilman Paul Cun-ningham making inapropriate com-ments to at least one city employee. Cunningham this week acknowl-edged he has aa drinking problem and is seeking help.

Contact reporter Patrick McNamara

at [email protected] or (520)

295-4259.

Marana Business Walk

works on retention PAGE 4

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2 JUNE 8, 2012 INSIDE TUCSON BUSINESS

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NEWS

Copper theft frustrates building owners, tenants and policeBy Roger YohemInside Tucson Business

Although it can’t be proven, copper thefts often appear to be inside jobs. Th e thieves have the professional skills and tools of someone in the construction in-dustry.

Th ere’s also the suspicious disappear-ance of appliances, sometimes just hours after a late-afternoon delivery before the installers arrive early the next morning.

Is it just coincidence? A crime of oppor-tunity? Or a coordinated eff ort?

Either way, it’s an aggravating and ex-pensive problem for commercial building owners and police battling thieves who sell the scrap for pennies on the dollar.

“It’s frustrating. Th e people stealing are smart, most have the equipment and knowledge you see on a professional lev-el. Most times, they’re not going into our properties and wildly ripping out walls and ceilings to get copper. It is not a hatchet job,” said Eileen Lewis, director of property management for Picor Commercial Real Estate Services.

In the last three years, commercial prop-erties, whether occupied or vacant, have been prime targets. It’s a costly crime that creates a damaging cycle of order, deliver, install, theft, repair, re-order, re-deliver and re-install rapidly.

Lewis laid out a typical scenario that recently occurred at Exchange Place, an industrial park at Prince and Interstate 10. Th ere are 113 small business suites at the complex, each with a separate water me-ter, and new backfl ow valves were being installed.

Th ieves promptly hit the site and took 40 valves.

“We think they were interrupted or scared away, they didn’t get them all. Th ey knew what they were doing. Turned off the water, cut the pipes, took the valves. It wasn’t just rip, rip, rip,” she said. “Th ey got

a few hundred dollars for scrap and it cost us $10,000 to replace and repair everything. Tenants need water.”

Th e issue has law enforcement just as concerned as the business community.

Pima County Sheriff ’s Sgt. Dawn Bark-man said it’s possible that professionals are stealing materials, “but nobody tracks it. It could be that they worked occasionally in construction, but there is no hard evidence of a connection.”

Another possible scenario involves drug users who “tend to gravitate to labor to steal whatever they can. And there are people who don’t want to work at all. Th ey would rather steal for their money,” Bark-man said.

Prime targets for copper are air condi-tioner coils, water pipes, telecom and util-ity equipment, and wire to light streets and parks.

As a crime of opportunity, “people seek methods to obtain a quick dollar,” said Tuc-son Police Sgt. Maria Hawke. When arrests are made, no one traces a suspect’s work history.

Hawke, Barkman and Lewis all said the weak economy is a factor. Th ousands of tradespeople are under-employed or un-employed, but still have the tools and skills to remove items they once were paid to in-

stall. But other than intuition, there is no evidence of a connection.

Th e suspicion also spills over to the ap-pliance industry. Th ere is speculation that delivery and installation crews share in-side information with friends, family or ac-quaintances about work orders. Soon after delivery, the items disappear.

Lewis knows of a local home builder who had that suspicion. After the applianc-es were received, the builder hid tracking devices in the shipment. Th e appliances were stolen the next night and later recov-ered in an appliance warehouse.

For copper scrap, metal recyclers are to verify the materials are not stolen. Hawke said that is where police focus their eff orts.

“We conduct investigations and under-cover investigations on a regular basis, as a normal course of business,” she said.

Lewis commended law enforcement for their co-operation but realizes there are many businesses buying stolen metals.

“What concerns me is the breakdown in the system,” said Lewis. “Everyone knows the copper is going to the scrap yards. Th at is the only market for stolen copper.”

Property owners also face a more so-phisticated criminal. Picor has a listing for vacant building by the Tucson Interna-tional Airport where someone with inside knowledge of the security system bypassed the alarms.

“Th ey stripped out everything they could that was copper. Th at cost us almost a half million dollars to get back up and running,” Lewis said.

To thwart thieves, new security tactics are being tried. In addition to surveillance cameras, more rooftops are being equipped with motion detectors to guard air condi-tioning coils. Also, pallets of wire, appli-ances and other construction materials are being “bugged” with tracking devices.

Contact reporter Roger Yohem at ryohem@

azbiz.com or (520) 295-4254.

Some property owners believe “profession-als” are stealing copper-laden materials.

Arizona could take $2.1Bhit from defense cuts

Arizona’s defense industry could take a hit of between a $1.1 billion and $2.1 billion, depending on the budget for the U.S. De-partment of Defense is reduced, according to the Center for Security Policy in Washing-ton, D.C.

Overall, the amount represents cuts from 9 to 18 percent from this year’s budget. Th e higher amount would be the result of au-tomatic spending cuts that are set to take place if Congress and the White House fail to agree on a plan to reduce the defi cit.

Arizona defense contractors take in $11.8 billion in government contracts, ranking the state ninth. Th e state’s largest defense industry, according to the center, is guided missile and space vehicle manufacturing, which accounts for nearly $3.9 billion in contracts. Although company breakdowns weren’t provided, Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems is one of the companies that received contracts.

State offi cials shakeup Rio Nuevo board

Jodi Bain and Rick Grinnell have been removed from the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District’s board by state Senate President Steve Pierce, R-Prescott, and will be replaced by Fletcher McCusker, CEO of Providence Service Corp., and Chris Sheafe, a developer.

Pierce was out of town and his offi ce couldn’t comment on why the change was made.

Grinnell said he thinks the moves were the result of a lobbying campaign against him and Bain by Tucson city offi cials and others.

Rio Nuevo is a voter-approved tax incre-ment fi nancing district created in 1999 to redevelop downtown Tucson but has been the source of controversy, including a 2009 audit that found that under the city it had spent $230 million but had completed little to show for it. Th e Legislature then recon-stituted the board with appointees and in recent months has been at odds with city offi cials that have included a lawsuit fi led against the city seeking millions of dollars.

Bain was the chair of the board. Th e nine member board has two other seats that are currently vacant. Sources said Gov. Jan Brewer’s offi ce was also re-evaluating one of her appointees on the Rio Nuevo board.


Marana chamber ‘steals’ Business Walk idea to retain business

NEWS

By Roger YohemInside Tucson Business

Although they openly admit to stealing the idea, Marana Chamber of Commerce offi cials say it’s justifi ed because it helps the town retain existing businesses. Th e ulti-mate goal is to have solid public policies in place that build a strong economy and job base for the town of 34,000 people.

“Business Walk” is a successful business retention tactic Marana “swiped” from the Sacramento (Calif.) Metro Chamber, with its approval. Basically, it’s a variation of speed dating. Two-member teams, made up of one chamber and one town offi cial, visit businesses for about 10 minutes to “ignite a dialogue.”

“Th e end game is to have a strong and strategic economic plan for the town and chamber that has a focus on retention,” said Ed Stolmaker, president/CEO of the Marana chamber. “Business Walk gets us business feedback.”

So far, Marana has had two Business Walks. Th e fi rst was in March when teams visited 17 designated zones and made per-sonal contact with more than 380 busi-nesses. Th e second was May 30 when teams focused on the North Silverbell Road corri-dor and Arizona Pavilions on Cortaro Farms Road west of Interstate 10.

Working from a questionnaire, one offi -cial asked questions while the other wrote down responses. Typically, teams try to spend less than 10 minutes at each place.

Th e project is comprehensive, includ-ing large manufacturing companies such as Sargent Controls and Aerospace and Laser-tel to small business including Great Clips and the Fortune Cookie Restaurant.

Chamber walkers included Mark La Bree, sales center manager at Coca-Cola; Julee Baxley, owner of Integrity Automotive; Marsha Regrutto, manager of marketing and services at Trico Electric Coopertive Inc.; Denisse Bravo, owner of an American Fam-ily Insurance agency; Jeff Bronaugh, manag-ing partner of BCE Consulting; and Loree Funk, senior service planner for Southwest Gas.

For Marana, Mayor Ed Honea led the way with offi cials including police chief Terry Rozema, town manager Gilbert Davidson, town clerk Jocelyn Bronson, councilman David Bowen; and Curt Woody, who was hired in April as the town’s economic devel-opment and strategic initiatives manager.

Together, the teams visited 228 business-es on the Business Walk.

“What can we do together to improve business? Th at’s what we ask when we walk in the door. Tell us if you have a better idea. What do you need to grow your business?”

Stolmaker said. “We also ask what’s work-ing, what do you like about doing business here?”

Once the data is collected, a quantita-tive analysis is done. Signage, roads and regulations often top the list.

“Retention is paramount for us and the

town,” Stolmaker said. “Th e businesses re-ally like Business Walk, their comments are the most important thing,” Stolmaker said.

Contact reporter Roger Yohem at ryohem@

azbiz.com or (520) 295-4254.

Mark La Bree of the Marana chamber led a team that visited David Lightfoot at Continental Ranch Self Storage (top) and Tabitha Harris at A Lotta Storage (bottom).

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Oro Valley Hospital gets ‘A’ for safety

A fi rst-ever report on hospital safety this week gave Oro Valley Hospital an “A” while fi ve Tucson area hospitals were graded at “C.”

“It’s certainly good news that Oro Valley got an ‘A,’” said Larry Aldrich of the Arizo-na Business Coalition on Health, which is part of the National Business Coalition on Health and a regional partner of the Leap-frog Group, which produced the report. “It’s arguably bad news that some others did not (receive high marks).”

Aldrich formerly was the CEO of Univer-sity Physicians Healthcare, which merged in 2010 with University Medical Center to create the University of Arizona Health Net-work.

Oro Valley Hospital, 1551 E. Tanger-ine Road, Oro Valley is part of Northwest Healthcare.

Among other Tucson hospitals, Caro-ndelet St. Mary’s, 1601 W. St. Mary’s Road, received a “B.”

Hospitals receiving “C” are Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital, 350 N. Wilmot Road; Northwest Medical Center, 6200 N. La Chol-la Blvd.; Tucson Medical Center, 5301 E. Grant Road; University of Arizona Medical Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave., and Univer-sity of Arizona Medical Center - South Cam-pus, 2800 E. Ajo Way.

Dr. Andreas A. Th eodorou, chief medical offi cer of the University of Arizona Medical Center, issued a written statement saying, “these quality or safety scores are only part of how one evaluates a hospital. Th e variety of services available or, for some patients, the availability of a specifi c service or physi-cian, go into the equation.”

Data to create the grades were taken from publicly reported sources such as Medicare and from the 1,200 member hospitals that self-report to Leapfrog.

Th at creates some concerns for Pete Wertheim of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.

“Th e thing that’s most concerning is that it’s a pay-to-play type of survey,” Wertheim said.

Wertheim said that in addition to the public information that Leapfrog gathers, many hospitals pay for membership to the organization, which can infl uence scores as it creates additional data sets for the Leap-frog to analyze.

“Th e question is, do hospitals that are not in the Leapfrog system get penalized for not reporting to Leapfrog?” he said.

Overall, however, Wertheim said the Ari-zona Hospital and Healthcare Association is supportive of eff orts to provide patients with more information about quality of care.

Based in Washington, D.C., the Leapfrog Group evaluated 2,600 hospitals across the country. It expects to issue an updated re-port in November.


NEWSUA mid-year assessment

Tucson’s economic recovery having trouble staying in gear By David HatfieldInside Tucson Business

The Tucson region’s economic re-covery is trying to stay in gear and gain traction but obstacles threatening it in-clude an “economic cliff ” coming Jan. 1 if Congress doesn’t come up with an alternative to the elimination of tax cuts and increased government spending.

That was the message to about 450 who attended the University of Arizo-na’s Eller College of Management’s 2012 mid-year economic assessment Tuesday at the Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa, sponsored by JP Morgan Chase and Co.

Marshall J. Vest, director of the Eller College’s Economic and Business Re-search Center, said it was “personally disappointing” to report that the Tuc-son region hasn’t made headway in re-gaining the 35,000 jobs that were lost in the economic recession over the last four years. Statewide, Arizona has cre-ated 75,000 jobs since August 2010 and 69,400 of those have been in the Phoenix area. The Tucson region added just 800 jobs.

And so many people have stopped looking for work that the labor partici-pation rate is the lowest it has been in three decades. Vest said that creates an unknown for the economy recovery. If those who’ve dropped out try to re-turn to the workforce and there aren’t enough new jobs for them, it will drive up unemployment rates.

UA economics professor Gerald J. Swanson said he expects the unemploy-ment rate to “yo-yo” up and down for a while.

Swanson is an expert on global eco-nomics while Vest focuses on regional economics.

Swanson said he was particularly taken by the disparity in unemployment among people who had reached differ-ent educational levels.

Only 45.2 percent of people between 16 and 65 with less than a high school education are in the U.S. workforce and 39.8 percent are employed.

Among people with a bachelor’s de-gree or more, 76.2 percent are in the workforce and 73.2 percent are em-ployed.

So while the national unemployment now stands 8.2 percent, the rate for peo-ple without a high-school diploma is 11.9 percent and just 3.9 percent among those who have a college degree.

Swanson said he fears Washington, D.C., politicians are playing a game of chicken this year with either side wait-ing for the other to blink on the payroll tax cuts and Bush tax cuts that are due to expire at the end of the year when fed-eral spending is due to increase.

He asked the audience if anyone felt Congress was preparing to address the issue. “I don’t see it either,” he said, shaking his head. “There’s not a single forecast out there that says things will get better (if Congress doesn’t act),” he added.

Additionally, mudslinging among candidates is also hurting the economic recovery because it doesn’t instill confi-dence in consumers, Swanson said.

In keeping with his projection issued at the end of 2011, Vest said he antici-pates the Tucson region’s economic re-covery will continue but at a historically slow pace due to tight credit, reduced mobility for more people to move in to the region, lack of consumer confidence and a continuing drag from the public sector. It will take at least until 2015 be-fore the damage from the recession is repaired.

Among other topics touched on by Vest at the economic assessment:

• The Tucson region’s population is now at about 991,000, still under the 1 million mark, but after two years of de-clining it is starting to show some growth and will be back pacing at about 1.8 per-cent annually by 2015 and 2016.

• Arizona’s birth rate has fallen dra-

matically in the last five years and is now stabilizing at about 82,000 a year, where it was 12 years ago. Most of the decline is among Hispanics.

• The housing market is starting to show some upward growth as investors are coming back to buy. “The feeling is prices are at the bottom and they better get back in before the train leaves the station,” Vest said.

• Home prices in the Tucson mar-ket are up 15 percent over the past six months, according to the Tucson Asso-ciation Realtors’ Multiple Listing Service but the Federal Housing Finance Agency shows that sales of existing homes is still declining.

• Inventory of homes on the market has fallen dramatically over the last year to about a 4-month supply, which Vest described as at the high end of normal.

• Retail sales grew by 7.3 percent last year, the highest since 2005 when there was a 9.2 percent gain. In February alone, retail sales were up 14.4 percent over February 2011.

• Retail sales growth is projected to slow this year to 4.9 percent as pent-up demand is satisfied.

• Restaurant and bar sales are pro-jected to jump 5.1 percent this year, af-ter increasing 3.8 percent in 2011.

Contact reporter David Hatfield at

[email protected] or (520) 295-4237.

Marshall J. Vest, left, and Gerald Swanson

UAN

ews

This Week’s Good NewsTEP honored for solar

Tucson Electric Power this week was rec-ognized as the 2012 Investor Owned Utility of the Year by the Solar Electric Power Associa-tion at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual conference in Orlando, Fla.

TEP’s eff orts were evaluated against 50 companies in terms of completion of solar projects, program direveristy, program part-nerships, innovation, leadership and support from management, community awareness and marketing.

“Last year, solar energy was the nation’s fastest growing generation source thanks in large part to utilities like Tucson Electric Pow-er,” said Julia Hamm, president and CEO of the solar association. “Th eir innovation and strong portfolio should serve as a model for other (investor owned utilities) on how to successfully embrace clean solar energy.”

The Tucson

INSIDERInsights and trends on developing andongoing Tucson regional business news

Raytheon layoffs? Th ere’s been nervousness for several

months at Raytheon Missile Systems over job cuts that could happen Jan. 1 if Congress fails to come up with a budget defi cit reduction plan by then. Raytheon and other defense contrac-tors are about to put out some hard numbers.

Requirements that employees must be notifi ed of layoff s of 50 or more employees mean the numbers will come out before the November elections.

Across the U.S., 74 percent of Raytheon’s sales come from the U.S. government, ac-cording to the Wall Street Journal. Since not a lot of other entities are in the market for mis-siles, it’s logical to assume the Missile Systems division could be hit especially hard.

Barber-Kelly race is close Voters in Congressional District 8 having

trouble getting inspired to cast their ballots in Tuesday’s special election might be motivat-ed by that fact that it looks as if any ballot could make the diff erence. It’s that close, if you believe what both sides are saying about their polls.

Republican Jesse Kelly, who came out of the primary with a 6-point lead, has seen that cut in half in recent weeks while Democrat Ron Barber has fi nally moved ahead of his opponent in a poll. Either way, both are with-in the polls’ margins of error.

If you’ve got an early ballot make sure it’s in the mail today (June 8) or take it to your poll-ing place between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday.


NEWS

TucsonLikes seeks to corral social media for businessesBy Alex DalenbergInside Tucson Business

Kevin Madden likes Facebook and other social media outlets. Lots of other Tucsonans do too.

But Madden, the eponymous CEO and founder of Madden Media, says Tucson businesses still struggle to get in front of the hundreds of thousands of local eye-balls scanning feeds and reading tweets throughout the day on social networks.

“Social media is the real deal and the fastest growing adopters are businesses,” Madden said. “But most businesses are just getting going with social media. Th e monetization and business side of servic-es like Facebook are only a couple years old.”

Which is why Madden and his compa-ny are taking a big bet on social network-ing with a new online marketing platform called TucsonLikes. Th e Web-based ser-vice is a suite of social media services and tools for businesses looking to boost their online street cred and otherwise win more friends, followers and fans.

For Madden, the numbers behind so-cial media represent an enormous op-portunity. According to the company’s research, some 400,000 people in the city are members of the Web’s biggest social network-ing site and half of those users are logging in ev-eryday.

With that many us-ers up for grabs on so-cial media — and that doesn’t even take into account other sites such as Twitter, Tum-blr and Google Plus which TucsonLikes also covers — Madden is adamant that there is money to be made on the social Web.

“Th at’s an enormous number,” Mad-den said.

To that eff ect, TucsonLikes, which of-fi cially launched at the end of February, represents a signifi cant investment for Madden. Th e 93-person company hired 13 full-time employees to head up the ef-fort from Madden’s headquarters, 345 E. Toole Ave. downtown.

TucsonLikes, which starts at $500 per month, comes in two parts. Th e fi rst is an online dashboard where businesses can manage multiple social media profi les, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Google Plus. Users can schedule posts, view statistics to analyze how well they are interacting with their followers and read

and manage comments, among other things.

Th at makes the service similar to free online apps like Hootsuite that give users centralized man-agement and analytics for their accounts. But Mad-den hopes the secret so-cial media sauce will be in

Tucson-based customer service, done by humans.

Personalized services include social media consulting including an initial sit-down consultation, plus 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. ac-cess to Madden’s social media specialists, search engine optimization services and social media training and webinars.

Much of the education component goes into teaching businesses how to ef-fi ciently and eff ectively interact on social media, said Sandy Kenny, vice president of TucsonLikes.

For example, the average Facebook post stays in users news feed for less than one hour, but if people are commenting it will stay fresh on browsers and mobile de-vices for close to an entire day.

“We want to help teach people how to create a dialogue,” Kenny said.

Starting at $1,000 per month, business-es can completely hand over the social

media reins to Madden, which provides custom content posts and tweets as well as other premium services. But overall, the idea is to give local businesses tools to better manage their social media pres-ence, which can be time consuming.

“If you’re going to be on social media you have to be on the platform consistent-ly. You have to be doing it on a daily basis,” Kenny said.

TucsonLikes is also bringing sig-nifi cantly diff erent clientele to Madden, which has traditionally focused on travel and tourism marketing, publishing glossy magazines and working tourism organiza-tions throughout the U.S. Th ere are about 20 users so far for TucsonLikes, including the Tucson Museum of Art, Chef Janos Wilder’s Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails and Biosphere 2.

Heather Murray, assistant fi rm admin-istrator for the accounting fi rm Beach-Fleischman, a beta tester for TucsonLikes, said the tool has allowed the company to cut the time it spends on social network-ing by half, from 30 minutes per day to 15 minutes per day.

“We were able to message three times the amount of useful content,” Murray said in an email. “It’s signifi cantly increased our presence and ability to engage with followers.”

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BIZ FACTS

TucsonLikes345 E. Toole Ave.www.maddenmedia.com/tucsonlikes/1-800-444-8768

PUBLIC NOTICESSelected public records of Southern Arizona bankruptcies and liens.

BANKRUPTCIESChapter 11 - Business reorganization James E. Chaffi n and Barbara D. Chaffi n, also known as Barbara Derry Chaffi n, doing business as Chaffi n’s Diner and Chaffi n’s Family Restaurant, 3001 S. Cottonwood Lane. Principal: James E. Chaffi n and Barbara D. Chaffi n, joint debtors. Assets: $482,158.00. Liabilities: $1,019,362.25. Largest creditor(s): BLC LLC/Ciena Capital LLC, Greenville, S.C., $460,517.95; and Bank of American, Greensboro, N.C., $250,607.00. Case No. 12-12060 fi led May 30. Law fi rm: Eric Slocum Sparks

FORECLOSURE NOTICES JMAZ LLC 2085 S. Alvernon Way 85711Tax parcel: 130-18-090B2Original Principal: $196,000.00 Benefi ciary: Bank of Tucson Auction time and date: 11 a.m., Aug. 10, 2012 Trustee: Ronald M. Horwitz, Jaburg & Wilk, 3200 N. Central Ave., Suite 2000, Phoenix

LIENSFederal tax liens Christian Youth Theater Tucson, 6318 E. Broadway. Amount owed: $8,945.48. WPNT-Tucson LLC, 8838 E. Broadway. Amount owed: $1,936.15. Real Estate Direct Inc., 2650 E. Broadway. Amount owed: $6,013.57.Healthquest Chiropractic LLC and Charles Spear, 4715 N. First Ave. Amount owed: $2,625.81.Gwenneth’s Shoe Repair and Gwenneth T. Sheahan, 6072 N. Oracle Road. Amount owed: $1,824.93. Game On Sports Grille LLC and Jay H. Thorpe, 4932 N. Avenida De Castilla. Amount owed: $2,881.84. Better Bodies Personal Training, 7285 E. Tanque Verde Road. Amount owed: $120,616.59. Star Auto Glass of Tucson and Urban’s Star Auto Glass Inc., 1687 W. Grant Road, Suite 101. Amount owed: $15,309.92. Robert Wolkin PC, 3301 E. Camino Campestre. Amount owed: $9,669.13. Desert Refi ned Products Transport Inc., 831 S. 59th Ave., Phoenix. Amount owed: $3,526.67.

State liens (Liens of $1,000 or more fi led by the Arizona Department of Revenue or Arizona Department of Economic Security.)Extreme Sports Group LLC, 9216 E. Colette St. Amount owed: $46,979.38.Sonora Mechanics LLC, 2501 E. 22nd St. Amount owed: $4,685.02. US Press & Graphics Inc., 7664 E. Parkview Drive. Amount owed: $20,804.67. Appliance Installations Inc., 7932 E. Shimmering Way. Amount owed: $8,907.16.Affordable Septic Systems & Excavation, 8541 E. Colette St. Amount owed: $31,522.02. Kino Building Systems Inc., 9126 E. Calle Diego. Amount owed: $15,529.89.IBA Associates LLC and Chandler Hill Partners, 2450 N. Pantano Road. Amount owed: $1,718.60. Enrichment Academy LLC, 4225 W. Ina Road, Marana. Amount owed: $1,576.38. Enrichment Academy St. Mary’s LLC, 1415 W. St. Mary’s Road. Amount owed: $2,326.38.Little\Big Noise LLC, Blue Mesa Studios and Mother Hubbard’s, 522½ E Speedway. Amount owed: $3,905.70.

Mechanic’s liens (Security interest liens of $1,000 or more fi led by those who have supplied labor or materials for property improvements.)

HD Supply Facilities Maintenance Ltd against Firm Foundations-Columbus Village. Amount owed: $7,798.74. Erickson Construction LLC against Willard C. Jones and Janice L. Jones and Dorn Homes Inc. Amount owed: $24,625.00.


continued


Mayor gives self‘A-’ on job so far

After six months as Tucson’s mayor, Jonathan Rothschild said, “I’m going to give myself an A minus” for the progress he has made on his 180-Day Plan of goals made during his election campaign.

“I think you can always do better,” he said at an event Monday commemorat-ing the 180th day. “What I’m hearing is that we’re feeling a new energy in Tuc-son.”

In particular, Rothschild said the city had made strides in jobs and economic development, environmental leader-ship, safe neighborhoods and open gov-ernment.

He noted the hiring of Maricela Solis as a business advocate in his offi ce.

Rothschild also said eff orts to elimi-nate redundancies and contradictions in the land use code are beginning to take shape with the elimination of 178 pages of regulations.

“Th ey were not really substantial changes,” Rothschild said adding that the changes were meant more to create consistency in the inspection process. “Th e problem we had is that diff erent in-spectors would say this will take ten days or this will take 15 days.”

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GET ON THE LISTNext up: Offi ce machine retailers, Offi ce furniture re-tailers, Offi ce supply retailers

Inside Tucson Business is gathering data for the 2013 edition of the Book of Lists. Categories that will be published in upcom-ing weekly issues of Inside Tucson Business are:

• June 15: Retirement communi-ties, Active adult retirement apartments, Assisted living facilities

• June 22: Office machine retailers, Office furniture retailers, Office supply retailers

• June 29: Grocery stores, Drug stores• July 6: Biotech firms, Optics compa-

nies• July 13: Package express and messen-

ger services, Moving companies, Freight services, Storage firms

If your business fits one of these catego-ries, now is the time to update your profile. Go to www.InsideTucsonBusiness.com and click the Book of Lists tab at the top of the page. New and unlisted businesses can cre-ate a profile by following the directions.

The Book of Lists is a year-round ref-erence for thousands of businesses and individuals. To advertise your business, call (520) 294-1200.

TELESERVICES LivingSocial plans call center here

The online group-buying website LivingSocial says it will establish a cus-tomer office in Tucson and plans to hire 180 people.

A job fair will be held 8 a.m.-8 p.m. June 14 and 15 at the Marriott University Park Hotel, 880 E. Second St. June 14 is for candidates who pre-applied at www.livingsocial.com/jobs and June 15 is for walk-in candidates.

The full-time call center jobs include customer service representatives, custom-er service supervisors and office manager.

A company news release said Tucson was selected because it has been one of LivingSocial’s strongest markets since it launched here in early 2011. LivingSocial partners with local merchants to provide daily discounts to products and services.

TRANSPORTATION City halfway done with median fi xes

The City of Tucson Department of Transportation, working with the land-scaping company the Groundskeeper, is nearly halfway finished with a four-month

roadway median cleanup project. Cleanup efforts are continuing over the

next month on Mission Road, Campbell Avenue, Golf Links Road, Valencia Road, 22nd Street, Speedway and Oracle Road.

INTERNATIONAL TRADEMexican trade missionhas supplier quest

A June 18 trade mission to Mexico has a list of fulfillment needs from com-panies looking for American suppliers. Interested business representatives are invited to join the Arizona District Export Council, Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Mexico Marketing Department and the U.S. Commercial Service/Arizona to visit the Sonoran indus-trial centers of Hermosillo and Guaymas.

The organizers are working with sev-eral Sonoran firms to help fulfill their supply needs for aerospace-grade met-als, plastic resins, metal plating, heat treating, packaging and wire harness assembly components, according to Eric Nielson, Arizona director with the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration.

The trade mission will explore busi-ness oppoertunities in the industries of aerospace, automotive, electronics, and healthcare technology.

BRIEFS


PROFILESimutek once again riding the crest of the Apple waveBy Alan M. PetrilloInside Tucson Business

Th ey are Apple Specialists at a time and in a city that’s crazy for Apple products — iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers among them — but what sets Simutek apart is something be-yond the hardware. It’s the service.

Located at 3136 E. Fort Lowell Road, Simutek was for years the only Apple retail outlet in the Tucson region, until Apple itself opened its own retail store in 2004 in the La Encantada shop-ping center in the Foothills. While Apple’s retail store siphoned some hardware business away from Simutek, it also caused the local company to focus more closely on what it is exception-ally good at — educating people about Apple products and providing stellar service, even for hardware purchased elsewhere.

Rich Meindl, owner of Simutek, said being designated an Apple Specialist, the highest des-ignation of independent Apple dealer, requires his store to hit higher volume targets for Apple.

“You have to account for a certain percent-age of products that you sell, you must have a service center and must maintain certain levels of training and certifi cation with Apple,” Meindl said.

Unfortunately for Meindl, Apple didn’t give Simutek a heads-up about opening its own retail store in Tucson. Th at fi rst year, 2005, af-ter the Apple store opened, Simutek’s revenue plunged 40 percent.

“We knew it (the opening) would have a dramatic impact on us, so we had to fi gure out what we would do to counter it,” Meindl said.

Th e answer lay in doing those things not available elsewhere at the time — service and education.

But while building up the service and edu-cational sides of the business, Simutek also moved into selling high defi nition televisions.

“Th ose were high profi t margin items in their day and we used those sales as our off -sets,” Meindl said. “Th en, every year after the fi rst when Apple opened its store we started to see incremental increases in revenue.”

At the time, Meindl was general manager of Simutek and was preparing to take over the business from then-owner Richard Nast.

Simutek’s heritage goes back to 1977 when Mike Gariepy began writing per-sonal computer games to sell on then-commonly-used cassettes through his software fi rm, Simulated Technologies. He later built on his expertise in writing business software by opening the fi rst Simutek retail store in 1979 at 4500 E. Speedway. At the time, Simutek sold Apple and other major brands of computers, printers, software and other computing ele-ments.

Th e business grew with Simutek with an additional retail store in Tucson plus stores in Casa Grande, Tempe, Phoenix and Scottsdale. Th at attracted the attention of Apple and in 1984 Simutek was among the fi rst retailers to begin selling Macintosh computers.

Two years later, Gariepy spun off the soft-ware part of the business into a separate com-pany and sold Simutek to Richard Nast, who was general manager. Meindl came on board in 1994. In 2009, he purchased the company, which by then was down to the single store on East Fort Lowell Road.

Before Meindl bought the business, he said he thought long and hard about what Simutek should be and determined it is a service orga-nization fi rst, and a sales and education group, second and third.

“If you buy an iPad, it’s the same no matter where you buy it, and I can’t convince you it’s a better product if you buy it from me,” Meindl said. “However, I can convince you to buy at Simutek because it is a comfortable atmosphere to shop in with knowledgeable people who take the time to show you how things work.

Meindl said his staff provides what he called “all-encompassing service” for both customers and for repairs. “We have monthly staff meet-ings about providing the highest level of service and how we can always be better. My employ-ees genuinely put forward their best eff ort every day.”

John Scott, sales manager, agreed. “We have a lot of repeat customers come in here and they tell us it’s because they feel we give them excellent service and have a friendly, open at-

mosphere so they know they’re treated well,” he said.

Scott said that while Apple products are sold in a lot of diff erent places, most other organiza-tions are unable to service them within the time frames that Simutek can.

“Typically, our turnaround time is 24 hours,” he said.

Th e education part of Simutek’s business consists of a training model where the staff performs one-on-one training on Apple prod-ucts at $25 an hour for in-store training. People can buy a 10-hour block for a discounted $125, Meindl noted.

Meindl is considering instituting a group training program, perhaps a small group of a half dozen people at $5 each, to train on the ba-sic use of one product, whether it be an iPhone, iPad or Macintosh computer. He’s looking for classroom space to make that happen in the near future.

Th e relaxed atmosphere in the Simutek shop extends to Meindl’s charitable donations through Simutek. “Every employee gets to

choose a favorite charity, and each month one of them will get a fi xed dollar amount donation based on our previous year’s revenue,” Meindl said. “We decide on a percentage to donate, divide the number by 12 (Simutek has 12 em-ployees, fi ve full-time and seven part-time), and either the money or an amount of goods is donated to that employee’s charity.”

Hope Animal Shelter, LaPosada Academy and several children’s sports teams are some of the benefi ciaries of Simutek’s donations.

In the end, it’s all about the people who walk in through Simutek’s door.

“We want people to enjoy they product they purchased and know they have a good com-munity of support here,” Scott said. “If they buy the product from us, we support them on the phone and in person for the lifetime of the computer without charging anything extra. We give people who purchase from us special con-sideration, but treat everyone with an Apple de-vice who comes to us in the way that we would want to be treated. Service and support is where we excel.”

Rich Meindl, right, Simutek’s owner, checks out a Macbook Pro laptop brought in for service by Dr. Marvin Slepian.

BIZ FACTS

Simutek3136 E. Fort Lowell Roadwww.simutek.com


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TOURISM IN TUCSON

Selling Tucson everyday from the offi cial Visitor CenterFor nearly 10 years I have been working

with an inspiring team of people who off er visitors to Tucson a variety of services — fi elding inquiries, providing personal recommendations and even doing a bit of “detective work” to fi nd answers to a slew of questions. It occurred to me recently that what we truly do at the Visitor Center is make sales calls. Th e only diff erence is that we don’t leave the building because our customers come to us.

Th e Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Visitor Center in La Placita Village downtown provides a gracious welcome and personal referrals to tens of thousands of guests each year. It has always been our mission to promote our partner businesses, hotels, attractions, restaurants or activities in Tucson and Southern Arizona. Th ese “sales calls” are well-crafted presentations with features, benefi ts and tangible results.

In assisting over 40,000 annual visitors, the Metro-politan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau (MTCVB) Information Specialists at the Visitor Center are creating a positive economic impact for our community by highlighting the many things to see and experience in our region.

For many tourists, the Visitor Center is their fi rst stop in our community. It’s their

fi rst taste of our Real Southwest hospitality and genuine enthusi-asm. More than 30 dedicated volun-teers contribute their knowledge and passion to the daily operation of the Visitor Center, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Monday through Friday and on weekends our staff of fi ve assists visitors from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Th at’s 35 sales people selling Tucson and Southern Arizona from the Visitor Center with sincere passion and a local perspective.

Our sales eff orts are enhanced by MTCVB partners who understand their presence in the Visitor Center is an integral part of eff ective marketing. Obviously not every visitor is able to make their way to every partner business during their time in Tucson, but

because of our relationships with local businesses, we are able to encourage visitors to engage in a multitude of Tucson experiences from the convenience of our downtown location. In doing so, visitors enjoy themselves more and in some cases decide to extend their stay resulting in —

TOURISM

ANNE MAXON

you got it — increased revenue to our region.

Whether it’s a couple from Alberta, Canada, staying at Lazy Days RV Park for the winter or a Scottsdale couple on a day trip to our annual Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase, we refer and recommend the places that fi t their needs and wants.

Volunteers and staff support the promotional eff orts of the tourism busi-nesses in a variety of ways including direct referrals and providing up-to-the-minute information.

One of our greatest sales tools in the attractions arena is the Tucson Attractions Passport. A collaborative eff ort between the MTCVB and the Southern Arizona Attrac-tions Alliance, the passport to attractions booklet provides discounts to all of our major area attractions. Among all of the outlets selling the passport, the Tucson Visitor Center is No. 1 in sales volume.

Visitors are also happy to discover we

carry the only offi cial “Tucson” branded items found in the community including hats, t-shirts and coff ee mugs. Also in our inventory are locally-produced treats that off er a true taste of the Real Southwest — items including Cherie’s Desert Harvest syrups, jams and mixes, the popular Adobe Rose scone mix and, new to the lineup, a prickly pear barbeque sauce from Todd’s Restaurant at Ryan Airfi eld. Our small retail component is not only another way to support our partners, but it helps defray operational costs and provides a lovely memento of Tucson.

Next time you’re downtown stop by and see what we’re all about. It would be lovely to have you!

Contact Anne Maxon, supervisor of the

Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors

Bureau Visitor Center, at amaxon@visitTuc-

son.org or (520) 770-2142. Th is monthly

column is prepared by the MTCVB.

aMwtVieOvmebt

BIZ FACTS

Visitor CenterIn La Placita Village100 S. Church Ave., southwest corner of Broadway and ChurchOpen 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Fri-day, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and SundayGot a tourist question? Speak to a Visitor Information Specialist at (520) 624-1817 or email [email protected]

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http://twitter.com/#!/azbizTwitter


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How public aff airs fi ts intoyour public relations plan

For seven years in the late 1980s and into the mid 90s, I worked in Washington, D.C., part of that time with the venerable Ruder Finn, one of the largest independent PR fi rms in the nation back in the day. Our offi ce contained the global public relations division and our clients were international, specifi cally countries having recently emerged from the former Yugoslavia.

My accounts included the governments of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as certain interests in Kosovo, fi ghting, at the time, for independence. I was also responsible for our work with the Croatian National Tourist Board, bringing journal-ists to the exquisite shores and islands of Croatia’s Adriatic coast and introducing them to some of the best regional food and fi ne wine – but that’s another story entirely.

Our role was to present their posi-tions to Washington-based audiences and positively cast public policy in our clients’ favor. Th ose audiences included Congress, the administration, media, think-tanks, and the diplomatic corps. While we necessarily had a registered lob-byist on staff , much of our output revolved around strategically communicating our clients’ messages without engaging in direct lobbying. Put another way, we were simply engaged in raising awareness and educating our audiences whose natural habitat was on and around Capitol Hill.

We used many of the tools your typical PR professional uses when promoting soap, sushi or Sedona: press releases, media advisories, event management, press conferences (the 104-year-old National Press Club was a favorite venue), speakers’ series, white papers, third party endorsements and outreach, and a host of strategic communications tactics. At the same time, we also employed tactics not always used in your day-to-day PR outreach: Congressional resolutions, one-minute fl oor speeches and collo-quies, Dear Colleague letters, calls and letters to Congress, coalition building and management, public demonstrations, and certain guerrilla tactics which I still cannot fully expound on. But because we were communicating to and educat-ing public policy decision makers (and those who inform public policy deci-sion makers such as think-tanks and the public policy press) our work took on the mantle of what we know as public aff airs.

Many folks mistakenly think (when they think about it at all) that public aff airs is actually direct lobbying or their per-ception of lobbying: back-room deals in smoke-fi lled rooms, tickets to Washington Nationals games and plentiful cocktails at Th e Palm. But simply put, public aff airs is

really a subset of public relations; it relates more to the audience than to the cam-paign or tactics used. It is a communications function which seeks to pursue a change in public policy, once

again, which very well may involve direct lobbying — or even those cocktails — but is not solely reliant upon them.

Since we are pursuing changes in policy (as opposed to promoting a person, place or thing), the value of public aff airs in pub-lic relations depends on how eff ective we are at changing our audience’s perception, keeping in mind that our audience is a tad diff erent from your standard PR campaign.

At the end, as our British friends use the expression, the value we created for our clients paid off in that we were suc-cessful in gradually creating a favorable perception among public policy makers toward our clients by using tried, true and time-tested PR tactics. Th ose same tactics, employed in a campaign for clients at a local level – whether city hall or the state capitol – will produce the successful results your clients want, namely, inform-ing, educating and ultimately changing perception, behavior and public policy. In an atmosphere where legislation and regulation has a direct impact on your business’ profi t potential, a public af-fairs strategy should play an important role as part of your marketing mix.

Back in Tucson full-time, and almost 20 years later (including a seven year stint in Macedonia and another seven go-ing back and forth), I’m still involved in the public aff airs arena for many of our clients, albeit updated with the powerful tools I did not have back then includ-ing the Internet and social media.

Our work reaffi rms the truth that public aff airs is a valuable – and in many cases necessary – component of any campaign, especially when public policy mak-ers are among your target audiences.

Jason Miko is director of account

service at Russell Public Communications

and serves as honorary consul of the

Republic of Macedonia. He is also the

internal communications chair and on the

board of the Public Relations Society of

America, Southern Arizona chapter, who’se

members produce this monthly column.

JASON MIKO

PR CORNER


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Be Creative: paint like Monet or PicassoIf you are looking for a creative outlet for

your artistic ambitions while enjoying an adult beverage, the newly opened Creative Juice Bar is beckoning. It’s an art studio with a liquor license so you can enjoy a glass of wine or beer while you let your inner artist out.

Classes are $35 per person and include your fi rst beverage (non-alcoholic options are available, too), a 16-inch by 20-inch canvas and all the brushes and paint you will need to create your own masterpiece.

Classes run about 2½ hours with a featured painting and instructors to help you replicate the artwork. If you prefer to create a custom piece of art, that’s fi ne too.

Kids between 13 and 17 can attend the adult class if they are accompanied by an adult. Creative Juice Bar also off ers separate kids classes as well as birthday parties and private functions. A schedule of classes is online.

• Creative Juice Bar, 6530 E. Tanque Verde Road, Suite 160, in the La Plaza Shoppes — http://creativejuiceartbar.com/

— (520) 271-5023 or (520) 603-9246

Fleming’s bar a la carte

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar has created a new bar la carte menu that, as you would assume, is only available in the bar. It has seven items

that are great for sharing or perhaps a smaller dish for one.

Choices include house-made burrata, salt and pepper shrimp, prime steakhouse meatballs, fi let mignon fl atbread, cedar-roasted mushrooms, a prime rib melt, and a prime burger.

One of the most unique off erings is the burrata, a fresh Italian cheese, served with grape tomatoes, wild arugula and toasted garlic crostinis. If you haven’t had burrata before it’s a fantastic cheese made from mozzarella and cream that’s signifi cantly softer than mozzarella. Burrata means “buttered” in Italian.

Even with the new menu, Fleming’s 5

(wines, cocktails or appetizers) for $6 til 7 happy hour menu hasn’t gone anywhere.

• Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, 6360 N. Campbell Ave. in Paloma Village — www.fl emingssteak-house.com/ — (520) 529-5017

Shane’s BBQfest Shane’s Rib Shack is hosting its fi rst-ever

barbecue-fest June 23. Th e family-friendly restaurant is pulling out all the stops with lots of slow-smoked ribs and free lemonade from an old-fashioned lemonade stand. Th ere also will be live country music, giveaways for the kids and free dessert with the purchase of a combo plate.

As part of the fest, there will be three diff erent eating contests where the winners receive a 4th of July party catered by Shane’s. Shane’s started in Atlanta in 2002 and opened its Tucson location last year.

• Shane’s Rib Shack, 4500 N. Oracle Road in Tucson Mall — www.shanesrib-shack.com/ — (520) 887-0790

Contact Michael Luria at mjluria@

gmail.com. Meals & Entertainment appears

weekly in Inside Tucson Business.

ARTS & CULTURE

Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. June 27 and 28; Tony Award nominee Sharon McNight makes her fi rst appear-ance in Tucson June 29 and 30.

Single tickets are $35 with discounts for

Invisible Th eatre 2012-2013 season ticket holders. Reserve seating also is available for guests dining at the Arizona Inn. Buy tickets online at www.InvisibleTh eatre.com or (520) 882-9721. Make a staycation out of it with special cabaret and room off ers from the Arizona Inn, call (520) 325-1541.

ArtTwo new exhibits open June 16 at the

Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave. “100 Years 100 Ranchers,” is a show of photographs by Scott T. Baxter of diff erent

Invisible Th eatre kicks off its 2012 Sizzling Summer Sounds cabaret series next week at the Arizona Inn, 2200 E. Elm St. It’s four consecutive weeks of two diff erent concerts a week — and most of them performed twice. Th at’s eight concerts of musical magic, if I may borrow their phrase.

First up, at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Th ursday (June 13 and 14) Liz McMahon, Khris Dodge and Heather Hardy pay tribute to the legendary Patsy Cline. Th en at 8 p.m. June 15 and 16 (Friday and Saturday), pianist Richard Glazier performs “From Ragtime to Romance” music of Scott Joplin, George and Ira Gerswhin, blues and jazz of Tin Pan Alley and silent movies’ Silver Screen era.

Coming up in subsequent weeks, trombonist Rob Boone and harpist Christine Vivona combine with Betsy Kruse Craig performing love songs June 20; Katherine Byrnes, Julie Anne Boos and Crystal Stark celebrate the great ladies of blues June 21 and 22; Walter Belcher, Jack Neubeck and Mike Padilla pay tribute to the “Rat Pack,” Frank Sinatra, Dean

Arizona ranchers. Th e large format black and white images are rich in detail and present a view of a way of life that is mostly unchanged from its earliest days. Th e second exhibit is “Tucson Collects: Spirit of the West,” which examines the representa-tion of the American West via artwork, cultural items, and other objects. It is drawn from local, private and public collections.

FilmIt’s fanboy heaven this week for lovers of

Ridley Scott’s unique science fi ction fi lm vision. His long-awaited return to the “Alien” world arrives with “Prometheus” starring Michael Fassbender, Charlize Th eron and Noomi Rapace. Also on tap is the family-friendly animated “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” with returning vocal talent by Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith and David Schwimmer.

Contact Herb Stratford at herb@

ArtsandCultureGuy.com. Stratford teaches

Arts Management at the University of Arizona.

He appears weekly in Inside Tucson Business.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Invisible Th eatre off ers musical magic

HERB STRATFORD

MICHAEL LURIA


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LOOK FAMILIAR?AfterBefore

SMALL BUSINESSSummer has arrived, time for Tucson businesses to thrive

It wasn’t that many years ago when the summer months in Tucson were perceived to be a time when business slowed to a snail’s pace.

Th e snowbirds were gone, kids were out of school and many businesses would shut down for a month, while everyone took off to San Diego or Rocky Point to escape the heat. I personally feel cheated because I never had the luxury of taking a month off , nor did I ever work for a business that did.

I’m beginning to question if that ever really happened or is it just an old fairytale.

With the exception of a few well-estab-lished professional offi ces that do take a few weeks off , Tucson businesses are grinding it out during the summer months. It doesn’t have to be a grind, however. You can do more than just survive — you can thrive during the summer months.

When I ran the Northern Pima County Chamber of Commerce from 2001-2008, I enjoyed seeing my summer networking events increase in attendance each year. Not only was the chamber growing, but members were also increasing their sales over the previous summer and continuing to raise the bar.

Similar to the way a mother lathers up her son or daughter with sunblock before letting the child in the pool, savvy business owners prepare their businesses for the Tucson summer.

I reached out to a few of these people who are long time Tucsonans that know how to make it happen for their business during the summer months. Here is what they had to share.

Patrick Lopez, president of MPG Automotive Services, which has four locations in the Tucson region, said, “Being consistent with our advertising and marketing during the summer months is critical. Staying top of mind is the goal.”

Lopez spends a lot of time educating his customers on what to watch for during this time of year such as what the dry heat does to rubber products on your car, such as tires and hoses, and your car battery.

“My industry is still very coupon-driven, so knowing what to off er at what price point is a moving target that I always keep an eye on,” Lopez told me.

M.J. Jensen, chief idea offi cer for

IdeaMagic visionary marketing, said, “My goal is always to increase activity; attend more meetings and mixers, talk to my clients and more social media activity.”

While Jensen’s competitors might slow down, she is determined to outwork them.

She also spends a lot of time in and out of her car, so packing an ice chest with fresh veggies and cold water helps her stay hydrated and keeps her energy level up.

Ron Janicki, commercial accounts manager for Northwest Exterminating, said he targets businesses that thrive in the summer months.

“A business is more likely to spend money when they are making money, so it’s important to know which of my prospects do well in the summer,” he said.

Janicki also said that being fl exible with your schedule is important. Spending time out in the fi eld during the morning hours and attending mixers in the evenings works well for him and keeps him indoors when the heat is at its peak.

Business activity in Tucson can and must thrive during the summer months; payroll still needs to be made. We need to do is reverse the mindset that business in Tucson is lousy during the summer months.

A mentor once told me that if you plan for a decrease in business, expect a decrease in business. I encourage Tucson businesses and professionals to keep their foot on the accelerator and stay on their “A” game this summer.

Let’s stick a fork in the antiquated mindset and commit to making Tucson a great place to do business year round.

Jerry Bustamante is senior vice president of public policy and oversees the Southern Arizona offi ce of the Arizona Small Business Association, 4811 E. Grant Road, Suite 262, in Crossroads Festival, phone (520) 327-0222.

JERRY BUSTAMANTE


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CALENDARSPECIAL EVENTS

Rosemont Project Update & Logistics Issues S. AZ Logistics Education Org. (SALEO)Wednesday (June 20) 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.Viscount Suite Hotel, 4855 E. BroadwayRSVP: [email protected] or 977-3626Cost: $30 ($25 members & 1st-timers, $10 students)

REGULAR MEETINGS

Tucson Hispanic Chamber of CommerceMonthly Networking Luncheon

Third Thursday 11:30 a.m.The Manning House 450 W. Paseo RedondoRSVP: www.tucsonhispanicchamber.org.Cost: $25 members, $30 nonmembers

Tucson Hispanic Chamber of CommerceMonthly Fiesta MixerFirst Thursday 5:30 p.m.Locations varyInformation: www.tucsonhispanicchamber.org.Cost: $10 members, $15 nonmembers

Tucson-Mexico Sister CitiesMonthly Board MeetingSecond Thursday5:30 p.m.Ward VI offi ces, 3202 E. 1st StreetInformation: (520)250-3901 or http://tucsonmexicosistercities.org

Tucson Presidio Rotary ClubEvery WednesdayNoon to 1 p.m.Providence Service Corp.64 E. BroadwayInformation: Jay McCall, (520) 909-9375Cost: free, lunch provided

Tucson Utility Contractors AssociationSecond Wednesday 7 to 8 a.m. Locations varyRSVP: (520) 623-0444

Tuesday Morning Business ClubLeads and networking Every Tuesday 7 to 8 a.m.The Hungry Fox 4637 E. BroadwayRSVP: Mike Ebert (520) 320-9311www.tucson-networking.com

Varsity Clubs of AmericaMidtown MixerFirst Tuesday5 to 7:30 p.m.3855 E. SpeedwayRSVP: [email protected]: (520) 918-3131Cost: free, cash bar, menu available

Alliance of Construction TradesThird Wednesday5 to 7 p.m.Hotel Tucson City Center475 N. Granada Ave.Information: www.actaz.netRSVP: By noon on Monday prior to meeting, (520) 624-3002Cost: $20

American Society of Training and DevelopmentThird Friday (excluding August) 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.Breakfast and professional development meeting El Parador 2744 E. BroadwayInformation: www.ASTD-Tucson.org

Annuity Investment SeminarsCommon mistakes of annuity ownersEvery Tuesday 3:30 p.m. Bookmans 6230 E. SpeedwayInformation: (520) 990-0009

Arizona Business Leads of Tucson NorthEvery Wednesday except the fi rst Wednesday of the month7:30 to 9:00 a.m.Mimi’s Café 4420 N. Oracle RoadInfo and RSVP: [email protected]

Arizona Real Estate Investors AssociationSecond Tuesday, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.Windmill Suites 4250 N. Campbell RoadInformation: (480) 990-7092 or www.azreia.org Cost: Free, members, $15 nonmembers pre-registered ($20 door)

Arizona Small Business AssociationSO/HO (Small Offi ce/Home Offi ce Community) First and Third Wednesdays 8:15 to 9:30 a.m.ASBA conference center, 4811 E. Grant Road, Suite 262Information: www.asba.comCost: Free to ASBA members


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MEDIARentrak Corporation is a better ‘mousetrap’ for taking TV ratings By David HatfieldInside Tucson Business

It didn’t take long after the fi rst crystal receivers got into consumers’ hands more than a century ago before somebody wanted to fi gure out how many people were using the devices. And thus ratings were born in the late 1920s.

Ever since, there’s been an ongoing eff ort to try fi nd better ways to measure the numbers of TV viewers and radio listeners.Th e latest entry comes from Rentrak Corporation, a research company based in Portland, Ore., that has more than two decades of experience tracking entertain-ment usage such as box offi ce statistics and home video. In January 2010, the company started tracking viewership in local TV markets using data collected from set-top boxes of cable and satellite companies. In the Tucson market the data is compiled from more than 15,000 households, primarily Dish Network subscribers.

“Th e industry has been yearning for a better mousetrap; something diff erent not just someone else to measure viewing,” said Steven Walsh, senior vice president of local market television for Rentrak.

Always referring to the existing Nielsen ratings company as “the other guys,” Walsh said they are good researchers but his company’s objective is to provide better and more accurate data to TV stations and advertising agencies.

One diff erence is that Rentrak’s data is measuring viewership 24/7, 365 days a year. Nielsen gathers its data from a representa-tive sample of households that are asked to write down what they watch in a diary.

In other markets, Nielsen uses a system of meters for national ratings.

As of this week, Rentrak is up to 173 client stations in 82 markets across the U.S.

Its Tucson client stations are CBS affi liate KOLD 13, Fox affi liate KMSB 11 and My Network affi liate KTTU 18.

Beyond ratings, the Rentrak data can be fully-integrated with databases of auto purchasing information from Polk, political proclivity statistics and purchasing informa-tion from Mastercard. Walsh said the data is “rolled up” so that it is kept anonymous.

As an example, Walsh explained that it’s one thing for a particular program to get a 20 percent share of the overall viewing, but through Rentrak it’s possible to match that up with Polk data and fi nd out, say, that the show has a 42 percent share against an index of Chevrolet buyers.

“Our philosophy is that this brings the advertising eco-system full-circle to be more stable, predictive and more accurate,” Walsh said.

Another advantage to the Rentrak system being available every day is that local data is now routinely available outside of Nielsen’s four “sweeps” months.

Walsh, a Syracuse Orange fan, used an example of that school but it also applies to Tucson and the University of Arizona. Syracuse got to the Elite Eight in this year’s NCAA Basketball Tournament time but currently there are no ratings taken in March in that market so the local stations looked to the nearest Nielsen metered market, Buff alo, where 9 percent of the market was watching the game. But Walsh said Rentrak data, which is available in all 210 TV markets, showed that 29 percent of TV households in Syracuse were watching the game. Similarly, Tucson stations often look to Phoenix, which is also metered, but now KOLD will be able to see exactly how many Tucson households are watching a UA game and now have to try measure up against Arizona State in Phoenix.

Rentrak numbers So with the Nielsen ratings not due out

until later this month, Rentrak numbers indicate KOLD News 13 is taking back the local news ratings crown after what Nielsen reported was a ratings dip in February.

Unlike Nielsen ratings where stations focus on 25-54 year-old viewers, the primary demographic for news, these Rentrak numbers are for overall household viewing (the fi rst number is a percentage of the Tucson market’s 442,020 houeholds and the second number is the percentage of house-holds watching TV at the specifi c time):• 5-6 a.m. Monday - FridayKOLD 13 — 4.0 / 18.4KVOA 4 — 2.9 / 13.3KGUN 9 — 2.8 / 12.9• 6-7 a.m. Monday - FridayKOLD 13 — 5.8 / 17.3KVOA 4 — 5.6 / 16.5KGUN 9 — 4.6 / 13.8

• Noon-12:30 p.m. Monday - FridayKVOA 4 — 5.0 / 13.7KOLD 13 — 4.9 / 13.3• 4-5 p.m. Monday-Friday KOLD 13 — 5.0 / 13.7KVOA 4 — 4.3 / 8.9• 5-5:30 p.m. Monday - FridayKOLD 13 — 7.5 / 13.7KGUN 9 — 6.8 / 12.4KVOA 4 — 6.7 / 12.1• 6-6:30 p.m. Monday - FridayKOLD 13 — 7.2 / 12.3KGUN 9 — 6.7 / 11.5KVOA 4 — 6.5 / 11.1• 10-10:30 p.m. Monday - Friday KOLD 13 — 9.7 / 16.7KGUN 9 — 6.9 / 11.9KVOA 4 — 6.4 / 11.0

Contact David Hatfi eld at

dhatfi [email protected] or (520) 295-4237.

Inside Tucson Media appears weekly.


FINANCEYOUR MONEY

Five strategies to help with tax-effi cient investing

One area of investing that is easy to overlook is the eff ect of taxes on a portfolio. Yet most investors can improve a portfolio’s bottom line by employing a few simple tax-effi cient investment strategies.

Higher taxes may be coming your portfolio’s way soon. Unless Congress takes action before the end of the year, federal tax rates on investment income and capital gains are scheduled to rise in 2013. Th at means it’s time to ask yourself: Are you doing everything possible to improve your portfolio’s bottom line through tax-effi cient investing?

Here are fi ve tried-and-true strategies to help lower your tax bill while improving your net return.1. Consider tax-sheltered accounts

To encourage Americans to save for retirement, Uncle Sam off ers tax incentives in the form of IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s and other qualifi ed retirement savings plans. Th ese accounts provide the opportunity to defer paying tax on contributions and earnings, or to avoid paying taxes altogeth-er on earnings, depending on the type of vehicle you choose.

By contributing as much as possible to these accounts, you can realize signifi cant savings over time. For instance, contribut-ing $400 per month to a traditional IRA will save you nearly $22,000 in taxes over 20 years, assuming a 5 percent annual return and 25 percent tax rate. Taxes, however, will be due on distributions at the time you make withdrawals.

For 2012, you can contribute up to $5,000 to a traditional or Roth IRA. And if you’re over 50, you can contribute an extra $1,000. For employer-sponsored retirement savings vehicles such as 401(k) or 403(b) plans, you can contribute up to $17,500 in 2012 and an additional $5,500 if you’re over 50.

But keep in mind most withdrawals prior to age 59½ from a qualifi ed retire-ment plan or IRA may be subject to a 10 percent federal penalty in addition to any taxes owed on contributions and accumu-lated earnings. 2. Turn to municipal bonds

In today’s low-rate environment, fi nding yield can be a challenge. Rates on high-quality corporate bonds have hovered at historic lows, and the yield on U.S. Treasur-ies has not topped 4 percent since 2008. While municipal bonds (“munis”) are no exception, they carry one signifi cant advantage: Interest paid by muni bonds is generally exempt from federal and, in some cases, state and local taxes.

Consider this: A municipal bond yielding 4 percent translates to a tax-equivalent yield of 5.33 percent, assuming a 25 percent tax rate. In other words, you would need to earn

5.33 percent on a taxable bond to receive the same after-tax yield as a 4 percent municipal bond.

However, any capital gains arising from the sale of municipal bonds are still taxable (at capital gains rates)

and income from some municipal bonds may be taxable under alternative minimum tax rules.3. Avoid short-term gains

Before you sell an investment, check to see when you purchased it. If it was less than one year ago, any profi t will be considered a short-term gain. If it was more than a year ago, the profi t will be considered a long-term gain. Th at’s important because long-term capital gains are taxed at signifi cantly lower rates than short-term capital gains, especially if you’re in a high tax bracket.

• Short-term capital gains are taxed at ordinary income rates which can be as high as 35 percent.

• Long-term capital gains are taxed at a maximum rate of just 15 percent for 2012. (Th is does not take into consideration state or local taxes.)

Considering those diff erent rates, it can pay to look at the calendar before you sell a profi table investment. Selling just a day or two early could mean you’ll incur signifi -cantly higher taxes.4. Make the most of losses

As most taxpayers know, the IRS lets you use long-term capital losses to off set long-term gains. In any given year, you can minimize your capital gains tax by timing your losses to correspond with gains. What’s more, you can carry forward unused losses to future years, and use them to off set future gains, subject to certain limitations.

You can also off set up to $3,000 of unused capital losses per year against ordinary income. So before taking a long-term capital loss, consider the timing of gains as well as ordinary income.5. Get a professional’s perspective

Keeping an eye on taxes is a prudent way to try to enhance your investment returns over time. However, tax laws are complex, subject to change and may have implications you haven’t considered.

Contact W. David Fay, a second vice

president in wealth management and

fi nancial advisor with Morgan Stanley Smith

Barney, at http://fa.smithbarney.com/

thefaymillergroup or (502) 745-7069.

W. DAVID FAY

TUCSON STOCK EXCHANGEStock market quotations of some publicly traded companies doing business in Southern Arizona

Company Name Symbol June 6 May 30 Change52-Week

Low52-Week

HighTucson companiesApplied Energetics Inc AERG.OB 0.04 0.05 -0.01 0.04 0.52CDEX Inc CEXIQ.OB 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.01 0.10Providence Service Corp PRSC 13.87 13.21 0.66 8.35 15.94UniSource Energy Corp (Tucson Electric Power) UNS 37.33 37.03 0.30 32.96 39.25

Southern Arizona presenceAlcoa Inc (Huck Fasteners) AA 8.64 8.58 0.06 8.21 16.60AMR Corp (American Airlines) AAMRQ 0.45 0.46 -0.01 0.20 6.17Augusta Resource Corp (Rosemont Mine) AZC 1.75 1.62 0.13 1.48 5.55Bank Of America Corp BAC 7.64 7.20 0.44 4.92 11.25Bank of Montreal (M&I Bank) BMO 53.50 52.56 0.94 50.95 65.79BBVA Compass BBVA 6.35 5.63 0.72 5.57 12.13Berkshire Hathaway (Geico, Long Cos) BRK-B* 80.68 78.83 1.85 65.35 82.59Best Buy Co Inc BBY 19.89 19.20 0.69 17.53 32.85BOK Financial Corp (Bank of Arizona) BOKF 54.19 55.88 -1.69 43.77 59.59Bombardier Inc* (Bombardier Aerospace) BBDB 3.79 3.86 -0.07 3.30 7.25CB Richard Ellis Group CBG 16.11 16.25 -0.14 12.30 26.29Citigroup Inc C 27.14 26.00 1.14 21.40 43.06Comcast Corp CMCSA 29.76 28.95 0.81 19.19 30.88Community Health Sys (Northwest Med Cntrs) CYH 22.16 22.38 -0.22 14.61 27.63Computer Sciences Corp CSC 26.36 26.92 -0.56 22.80 39.35Convergys Corp CVG 14.29 14.06 0.23 8.49 14.46Costco Wholesale Corp COST 87.78 85.81 1.97 70.22 92.10CenturyLink (Qwest Communications) CTL 37.33 39.25 -1.92 31.16 41.32Cvs/Caremark (CVS pharmacy) CVS 44.84 45.33 -0.49 31.30 46.22Delta Air Lines DAL 10.61 11.75 -1.14 6.41 12.25Dillard Department Stores DDS 67.12 68.41 -1.29 38.99 72.46Dover Corp (Sargent Controls & Aerospace) DOV 55.74 57.63 -1.89 43.64 70.15DR Horton Inc DHI 15.31 16.62 -1.31 8.03 17.91Freeport-McMoRan (Phelps Dodge) FCX 33.66 32.41 1.25 28.85 56.78Granite Construction Inc GVA 23.19 23.09 0.10 16.92 30.49Home Depot Inc HD 50.60 49.71 0.89 28.13 52.88Honeywell Intl Inc HON 54.66 56.20 -1.54 41.22 62.00IBM IBM 193.99 194.53 -0.54 157.13 210.69Iron Mountain IRM 32.32 28.73 3.59 27.10 35.79Intuit Inc INTU 57.69 56.20 1.49 39.87 62.33Journal Communications (KGUN 9, KMXZ) JRN 4.52 4.14 0.38 2.69 5.72JP Morgan Chase & Co JPM 33.07 32.96 0.11 27.85 46.49Kaman Corp (Electro-Optics Develpmnt Cntr) KAMN 29.08 29.87 -0.79 25.73 37.70KB Home KBH 7.27 7.23 0.04 5.02 13.12Kohls Corp KSS 44.17 48.82 -4.65 42.14 57.39Kroger Co (Fry's Food Stores) KR 21.95 22.33 -0.38 21.14 25.85Lee Enterprises (Arizona Daily Star) LEE 1.33 1.13 0.20 0.49 1.73Lennar Corporation LEN 26.29 26.83 -0.54 12.14 30.12Lowe's Cos (Lowe's Home Improvement) LOW 27.48 26.99 0.49 18.07 32.29Loews Corp (Ventana Canyon Resort) L 39.53 38.77 0.76 32.90 42.64Macerich Co (Westcor, La Encantada) MAC 57.00 56.99 0.01 38.64 62.83Macy's Inc M 37.38 38.30 -0.92 22.66 42.17Marriott Intl Inc MAR 37.55 38.28 -0.73 25.49 40.45Meritage Homes Corp MTH 27.15 29.83 -2.68 13.68 31.20Northern Trust Corp NTRS 42.39 42.85 -0.46 33.20 48.31Northrop Grumman Corp NOC 58.59 58.84 -0.25 49.20 70.61Penney, J.C. JCP 24.88 27.00 -2.12 23.44 43.18Pulte Homes Inc (Pulte, Del Webb) PHM 8.76 9.19 -0.43 3.29 10.82Raytheon Co (Raytheon Missile Systems) RTN 50.68 50.40 0.28 38.35 54.69Roche Holdings AG (Ventana Medical Systems) RHHBY 40.20 39.17 1.03 36.50 46.40Safeway Inc SWY 18.99 19.17 -0.18 15.93 24.28Sanofi -Aventis SA SNY 34.39 33.77 0.62 30.98 40.58Sears Holdings (Sears, Kmart, Customer Care) SHLD 50.48 52.34 -1.86 28.89 85.90SkyWest Inc SKYW 6.65 7.06 -0.41 6.25 15.52Southwest Airlines Co LUV 8.80 8.88 -0.08 7.15 11.65Southwest Gas Corp SWX 43.18 41.72 1.46 32.12 43.64Stantec Inc STN 29.88 30.17 -0.29 20.96 32.79Target Corp TGT 57.50 57.79 -0.29 45.28 58.95TeleTech Holdings Inc TTEC 15.45 14.70 0.75 14.04 22.39Texas Instruments Inc TXN 28.59 28.95 -0.36 24.34 34.24Time Warner Inc (AOL) TWX 34.86 34.50 0.36 27.62 39.24Ual Corp (United Airlines) UAL 23.53 24.17 -0.64 15.51 25.84Union Pacifi c Corp UNP 110.18 109.86 0.32 77.73 117.40Apollo Group Inc (University of Phoenix) APOL 34.81 32.16 2.65 30.93 58.29US Airways Group Inc LCC 11.78 12.70 -0.92 3.96 13.36US Bancorp (US Bank) USB 29.70 30.76 -1.06 20.10 32.98Wal-Mart Stores Inc (Wal-Mart, Sam's Club) WMT 65.93 65.44 0.49 48.31 66.66Walgreen Co WAG 30.96 30.93 0.03 29.80 45.34Wells Fargo & Co WFC 30.97 31.70 -0.73 22.58 34.59Western Alliance Bancorp (Alliance Bank) WAL 8.26 8.52 -0.26 4.44 9.20Zions Bancorp (National Bank of Arizona) ZION 18.34 18.74 -0.40 13.18 24.71Data Source: Dow Jones Market Watch

*Quotes in U.S. dollars, except Bombardier is Canadian dollars.


INSIDE REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTIONMay residential foreclosure notices spike to 2012 high By Roger YohemInside Tucson Business

For a fourth consecutive month, residen-tial foreclosure notices were at least double the number of distressed sales. For a mar-ket that is slowly gaining stability, May was another month of mixed data from the Pima County Recorder’s Offi ce.

In May, foreclosure notices jumped to 984 fi lings, the highest monthly volume of 2012 (see chart). Th at pushed the year-to-date total 6 percent higher than for the same period of 2011. Actual foreclosure sales plunged 34 percent over the fi rst fi ve months of 2012 compared with 2011.

May’s foreclosure fi lings were 66 more than the prior monthly high of 918 in Febru-ary. Year-to-date, 4,421 notices have been fi led compared to 4,154 for the same year-ago period. Th e comparative monthly aver-ages are now 884 notices for 2012 and 786 notices for 2011.

A trustee’s notice is the fi rst step in the foreclosure process. It notifi es owners that their property is in default and scheduled to be sold at public auction.

Since February, new notices have been is-sued at more than twice the volume of fore-closure sales. Year-to-date, 2,217 distressed homes have been sold and 4,421 trustee’s sales fi led. Th e monthly sales pace has slipped from 580 in 2011 to 443 currently.

Worst is overOn a quarterly basis, statewide foreclo-

sure sales fell 1 percent, an indication the worst may be over in Arizona’s troubled housing market.

RealtyTrac, an online database, reported 18,523 distressed homes sold in Arizona

THE PULSE: TUCSON REAL ESTATE

5/25/2012 5/21/2012

Median Price $147,068 $133,500Active Listings 4,189 4,178New Listings 367 325Pending Sales 355 421Homes Closed 318 252Source: Long Realty Research Center

WEEKLY MORTGAGE RATES

Program Current Last WeekOne

Year Ago12 Month

High12 Month

Low

30 YEAR 3.88% 4.125%APR 3.75% 4.00%APR 4.95% 4.95% 3.75%

15 YEAR 3.25% 3.375%APR 3.13% 3.25% APR 4.22% 4.22% 3.13%

3/1 ARM 2.88% 3.125%APR 2.88% 3.125% APRThe above rates have a 1% origination fee and 0 discount . FNMA/FHLMC maximum conforming loan amount is $417,000 Conventional Jumbo loans are loans above $417,000Information provided by Randy Hotchkiss, National Certifi ed Mortgage Consultant (CMC) Hotchkiss Financial, Inc. P.O. Box 43712 Tucson, Arizona 85733 • 520-319-0000MB #0905432. Rates are subject to change without notice based upon market conditions.

6/5/2012

during the quarter. Th at was 40 percent of all home sales. One year ago, there were 20,867 foreclosure sales, or 43 percent of all closings.

In Phoenix, 13,858 foreclosures sold, or 43 percent of all sales. A year ago, 16,226 foreclosures made up 50 percent of all sales.

Credit union for CatalinaBy July, the community of Catalina will

have its fi rst credit union. Vantage West Credit Union is about to complete a 2,300 square-foot branch at 16460 N. Oracle Road.

Th e $500,000 project’s general contrac-tor is Dimension Development, 1501 N. 15th Ave. Th e architect is Swaim Associates, 7350 E. Speedway. Site work began in March and the main subcontractors, all Tucson-based, include: R.W. Strunk Excavating, Brooks Associates Landscape, Concrete Done with Love, and Major Electric.

Th e Catalina location is Vantage West’s 11th branch in Pima County and 15th branch overall. Th e new branch will employ about 10 people. Branch vice president and regional manager Jamie Hernandez said Vantage West picked Catalina for its expan-

sion “to off er the benefi ts of credit union services to communities north of Tucson.”

With over $1 billion in assets, Vantage West is the largest credit union in Southern Arizona. It’s headquartered at at 2480 N. Ar-cadia Ave.

Turning the cornerFor the fi rst time since August 2010, aver-

age home prices in every region across the U.S. increased on both a quarterly and year-ly basis, according to real estate data analyst Clear Capital. Th e increases included Tuc-son, where prices “are gaining ground.”

From the fi rst to second quarter, Tucson ranked No. 12 for best-performing market with an average 2.7 percent increase in home prices. And although prices slipped 1.8 percent from 2011, the West region net-ted average gains of 1.9 percent.

Although the gains are minimal, “there are encouraging trends continuing to play out and gaining momentum,” said Alex Vil-lacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital.

Phoenix was the nation’s best-perform-ing market in both time frames, recording a 9.4 percent quarterly gain and a 17 percent yearly gain in prices.

Sales and leases• Tucson Dance Academy leased 8,366

square feet at 2850 W. Ina Road, Suite 100, from EJ Sonora Plaza LLC, represented by Craig Finfrock, Commercial Retail Advisors.

• El Dorado Internal Medicine leased 5,382 square feet at 1500 N. Wilmot Road from TMC Holdings Inc., represented by Tom Knox and Rick Kleiner, Picor Commer-cial Real Estate Services.

• Sonora Desert Off -Road Center Inc. leased 5,000 square feet at 8500 S. Old Nogales Highway from GRG Properties

LLC, represented by Dave Gallaher, Tucson Industrial Realty.

• Arbor E&T LLC leased 4,950 square feet at 655 N. Alvernon Way from Alvernon Place LLC, represented by Andrew Stern-berg and Robert Nolan, Oxford Realty Advi-sors. Th e tenant was represented by Mark Sergi, UGL Equis.

• DSF Express LLC, doing business as Snap Fitness, leased 4,500 square feet at 5095 N. La Canada Blvd., Unit D-5, from 542 Hobart-Arizona LLC and Las Tunas-Ari-zona LLC, represented by David Hammack, Volk Company Commercial Real Estate.

• ADT Security Services leased 3,750 square feet at 305 S. Euclid Ave. from Pas-coe Investment, represented by Stephen Cohen and Russell Hall, Picor Commercial Real Estate Services. Th e tenant was repre-sented by Trudy Slepcevic, CBRE.

• El Dorado Urgent Care leased 3,217 square feet at 1400 N. Wilmot Road, Suite 110, from TMC Holdings Inc., represented by Rick Kleiner and Tom Knox, Picor Com-mercial Real Estate Services.

• JB Restaurants IV LLC, doing business as Jerry Bob’s restaurant, leased a 3,000-square-foot freestanding building at 16639 N. Oracle Road, Catalina, from Ada-mo’s Inc., represented by Fred Wang, Fred Wang Brokers. Th e tenant was represented by Pete Villaescusa and Jesse Peron, CBRE.

• Misom Consulting Services leased 2,491 square feet at 3017 W. Ina Road from 3017 W. Ina LLC. Th e transaction was han-dled by Andrew Sternberg and Doug Marsh, Oxford Realty Advisors.

• Ideal Rehabilitation LLC leased 2,000 square feet at 1020 S. Harrison Road from BSH Investments LLC, represented by Buzz Isaacson and Alan Tanner of CBRE. Th e tenant was represented by Dave Hammack of the Volk Company.

• Cactus Kitchen & Bath LLC leased 1,900 square feet at 252 S. Plumer Ave. from Keller Associates Inc., represented by Paul Hooker of Picor.

• Bone Yard Dog Daycare LLC leased 1,860 square feet at 8963 E. Tanque Verde, Suite 191, from Bear Canyon Associates LLC, represented by Pete Villeascusa of CBRE. Michael Gross of Tucson Realty & Trust represented the tenant.

• Brown & Caldwell leased 1,311 square feet at 333 E. Wetmore from Aslan III 333 East Wetmore LLC. Th e transaction was handled by Rick Kleiner and Russell Hall with Picor.

• DeEsta LLC leased 996 square feet at 7187 E. Tanque Verde Road from Reseda Colonia LLC, represented by David Ham-mack of Volk Company Commercial Real Estate. Th e tenant was represented by Mark Camara of APE Realty.

Email news items for this column to

[email protected]. Inside Real Estate &

Construction appears weekly.

Notices of Trustee’s Sales Pima County Recorder Foreclosures

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012January 346 699 882 863 975 705February 276 598 1,016 982 762 918March 305 661 1,154 1,089 948 904April 300 700 1,093 985 721 910May 396 720 991 890 748 984June 377 742 1,002 862 693 July 419 721 1,063 1,111 666 August 503 814 1,130 1,067 917 September 394 782 1,008 1,090 797 October 483 921 948 1,019 816 November 540 675 859 829 754 December 475 923 1,038 876 636 Total 4,814 8,956 12,148 11,663 9,433 4,421 Monthly avg. 401 746 1,015 972 786 884


What is it about Nanny state wannabe politicians who think they always have to come up with policies and processes for how other people should live their lives?

Of all the potential ramifi cations to come from City Councilman Paul Cunningham trying to hit on a city employee at a bar one night while on a Tucson Regional Economic Opportu-nities (TREO) trip to San Diego last month, the city council talking about a process to deal with it ranks right down there at the bottom as least important.

And yet that was the lede paragraph in the Arizona Daily Star’s initial report of the event. Th e Star had little option in the matter. Whispers of what had happened were spreading but without fi rm confi rmation or details, the story wasn’t getting out to the public. Th at was until City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich suggested she thought Cunningham should consider resigning.

Hello news desk? We’ve got our story.While the details of what happened that night at the Lodge

at Torrey Pines are still not fully public, it appears that Cun-ningham did something stupid that could possibly be a workforce harassment issue. If that’s the case, shouldn’t the victim or victims be given the courtesy of having a say in how the matter is handled?

I’m at the stage in my life where many of my family members in the generation ahead of me have died. A common theme at their services is that they didn’t “have a mean bone in their body” and other sayings like that. I guess that means my family wasn’t particularly judgmental so it surprises me whenever a politician wants to talk about laws, rules or policies that should govern how people should live their lives.

I’m of the school that thinks whatever somebody else is doing is OK so long as it doesn’t harm another person. Th at’s why there are laws against murder and drunk driving. I also get why there are laws against breathing someone else’s second-hand smoke.

If whatever Cunningham did rises to the level of a legal matter, there are already laws in place. He shouldn’t have done what he did but the matter will be taken care of in due time. Either Cunningham will take care of it, or voters will. Th ere’s no need for some sanctimonious city council members squandering time trying to institute a process that may never come into play again.

Uhlich trying to seize on this situation — because she and Cunningham don’t always agree when they vote — is no diff erent than a Larry Craig, the outspoken anti-gay U.S. senator from Idaho who got caught with his pants down in an airport men’s bathroom.

Politicians should set examples but they do that by their actions, not by what they say.

In the meantime, they would better serve their constituents if they spent more time working on things to improve peoples’ lives like really doing something about creating jobs and less time interfering with how people live.

Contact David Hatfi eld at dhatfi [email protected]

or (520) 295-4237.

EDITORIAL

DAVID HATFIELD

BIZ BUZZ

Politicians should get out of peoples’ lives

EDITORIAL

Is it TREO? Or is it just Tucson?Inside Tucson Business has been as big a supporter as

any for Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities (TREO). We sponsored one of CEO Joe Snell’s earliest public addresses shortly after his arrival in 2005.

Now, sadly, some are suggesting it’s time to reassess whether TREO and its leader have run their courses.

Th e story of Tucson City Councilman Paul Cunning-ham making an inappropriate comment while on a TREO trip last month has put a spotlight on the organi-zation and its eff ectiveness — most pointedly on the value of the leadership exchange trips, which in past years have been to Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; Albuquerque and Huntsville, Ala.

Some might even argue that if Tucson were more like any one of those places — possibly excepting Albuquer-que — we wouldn’t need a TREO.

But the fact is those other regions have economic development organizations and the best among them know enough never to rest on their laurels. Austin recently launched a 2.0 version of a job creation initiative, Portland last month marked the one-year anniversary of its latest public-private economic development organiza-tion, and Huntsville provided a pointed lesson to be learned after snaring Raytheon Missile Systems’ new production plant in 2010 without much of a challenge from Tucson, the company’s headquarters city.

People who have been on the TREO trips say they’ve learned something. Th e agendas are tightly packed. Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has said some of the components in the county’s plans to development an economic development corridor near Tucson International Airport are a direct result of the TREO trip to Huntsville.

In the wake of the Cunningham fi asco, there has been criticism over TREO’s response. We understand that some within the organization felt it wasn’t TREO’s place to publicly comment on what happened because

it was a city issue and any formal complaint would be outside of TREO’s purview.

Th ere also have been demands for more fi nancial accountability because TREO is publicly funded but even that has changed. Public funding from govern-ment entities has dropped 60 percent from 2005 and more than half of TREO’s revenue now comes from private sector investors.

And then there’s Snell’s salary that tops $313,000 a year, more than any other of government offi cial makes — except as noted in the preceding paragraph TREO isn’t solely publicly funded like government.

None of this would be an issue if TREO had been able to show more dramatic results as an economic development entity but that little economic recession this nation has been through the past fi ve years hit Tucson especially hard.

Now some of TREO’s private investors are losing heart. We talked confi dentially to four that are “plati-num level” investors and all have either reduced their fi nancial commitment or dropped out.

A high-ranking local government offi cial told us that it’s the nature of the beast for economic development executives to either hit home runs or move on and this one expected that Snell would move on.

If TREO goes away it will be merely another failure for Tucson economic development organizations following on the heels of the Greater Tucson Economic Council (GTEC) and before that, Pima County Econom-ic Development Council (PCEDC).

Perhaps it’s time put economic development back under the Tucson Metro Chamber but even that raises issues. Because the chamber is privately funded, it would remove local governments from their direct responsibility to participate in economic development.

Whatever is wrong with TREO, Tucson is running out of excuses when it comes to economic development.


OPINIONBUSINESS INK

California’s business-hostile attitude should benefi t Tucson Economic development is an awkward,

high-profi le news topic in Tucson right now. Most of it is obsessed with the misconduct that allegedly took place during that Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities (TREO) junket to San Diego last month.

Not to brush aside the tittle-tattle, since the facts will come out in time, but there are many positives to be gained from a foray to California. Jobs come to mind.

Years ago, I helped Tucson Electric Power establish its economic development department. At that time and still today, there is a lot of rhetoric that rips California’s business environment. Due to the state’s harsh business policies and red tape, California is ranked No. 49 among states for its business tax climate.

Th at business-hostile attitude is why I’ve long believed a focused, face-to-face presence in Los Angeles County would pay off with a mother lode of new businesses, jobs and tax revenue for Pima County, Marana and City of Tucson governments.

It’s encouraging that offi cials are trying to temper our city’s anti-business reputa-tion. According to Th umbtack.com, and the Kauff man Foundation, Tucson ranks as the nation’s fourth least business-friendly city. Th e three worse cities are Sacramento, San Diego and Los Angeles.

California wins the bad-business booby prize.

Th at’s why businesses and investment capital are fl eeing California. Reportly the top destinations are Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.

But is that just relocation rhetoric? Where is the documentation?

It’s in the hands of Joseph Vranich, president of Spectrum Locations Solutions, who specializes in business relocations and tracks the data. Vranich makes his living in Irvine, Calif., near the epicenter of exit-ers.

California is “the worst state in the nation to locate a business,” Vranich told me. He estimates companies can cut costs 20 percent just by leaving. Using public documents so bureaucrats cannot spin the facts, Vranich said 254 companies moved some or all of their jobs out of California in 2011.

Orange County alone lost 28 companies. Seven went to Texas, three to Mexico, two to Washington and one each to 16 other states. Th ey were big name companiess, such as eBay opting to put 1,000 jobs in

Austin, Texas, instead of near its headquar-ters in San Jose Landry’s Inc., owner of Bubba Gump Shrimp and Claim Jumper, moved both chains’ headquarters to Houston. Texas took away the Tickets.com call center. And Facebook opted to expand in Oregon rather than Palo Alto, denying the city 200 new jobs.

In 2010, the exodus was 204 companies. And already this year, other notable names are bailing. Capital One is closing an 850-employee credit card center in Salinas, Calif., and moving to South Dakota.

Although none of his clients have relocated to Southern Arizona, Vranich said Tucson “has a pretty good lifestyle reputation. In initial what-if discussions, Tucson comes up in many conversations. But companies don’t make decisions based on lifestyle.”

“We get past the boosterism. Every city says they’re the best. We cut through that, relocations are data driven,” he emphasized.

Vranich should know, he is a nationally recognized relocation expert. He doesn’t hold back, citing specifi c reasons why jobs are leaving California: high taxes, regula-tory burden, excessive environmentalism, hostile legal tone, high operating expenses, provable savings elsewhere, failed public policies, uncontrolled public spending, high crime and school dropout rates, and an adversarial attitude.

“Attitude precedes action. Th e govern-ment’s contempt for business is the driving force for their treatment of every kind of business here,” he said.

Th e exodus has trashed California’s budget as tax revenues are collapsing. Tax collections have plunged 11 percent this fi scal year compared to a year-ago.

Armed with some facts, it’s true there are economic development opportunities in California for Southern Arizona. It’s not just relocation rhetoric.

To get our share, now is the time to act. Of course, that assumes Tucson business and government leaders are serious about job growth. Companies thinking of leaving California in two to three years are making plans now, Vranich said.

So here’s a free, unsolicited suggestion for the executives at the Tucson and Marana chambers of commerce: bring Vranich here to headline an economic development forum on relocation. Th ink how much more eff ective that would be instead of TREO taking 36 people to San Diego for three days.

Contact Roger Yohem at ryohem@

azbiz.com or (520) 295-4254. His Business Ink

appears biweekly and weighs in on local

political, social and business issues.

ROGER YOHEM

SPEAKING OUT

Take the pledge: I will prevent and report elder abuse Conclusion of two parts.

According to Attorney General Tom Horne’s Taskforce Against Elder Abuse (TASA), the Arizona Adult Protective Services received 9,592 reports of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults from July 2007 through June 2008. When mistreatment is reported, it gives victims the chance to receive the help they need to stop the abuse and reduce the risk of future abuse.

Many older adults are subjected to multiple forms of physical abuse, which are perpetrated in many ways. Loved ones and neighbors may see unexplained bruises, welts, or sores, plus rope or cigarette burns.

Psychological and emotional abuse is “infl iction of mental pain, anguish, or distress through verbal or non-verbal acts.” Th e warning signs include fearing to speak for oneself when the caregiver is present. Eating disorders, self medication with alcohol or prescription medications, depression, withdrawal, anger, and low self esteem may be apparent.

Sadly, only about 5 percent of elder abuse cases are reported.

Any person can report incidents of intentional physical harm and injury, sexual

abuse, or depriva-tion of basics such as food, water, and shelter. Mistreat-ment can also come from not providing adequate cooling or heating, medication, or medical services.

If the reporter feels that an

emergency exists, it is prudent to call law enforcement by dialing 911. Th e senior’s welfare will get immediate attention. Th e caller remains anonymous.

It is also important to report suspected illegal or improper use of an incapacitated or vulnerable adult’s fi nancial resources for another’s profi t or advantage.

Businesses are helping to prevent fi nancial exploitation. If an older person is accompanied to a bank by a stranger who encourages the senior to withdraw large amounts of cash, a bank teller will often question the transaction. Bank offi cials will also be wary of a senior who co-signs on a loan, or if the bank card statements are no

longer sent to the elderly person.How can elder abuse be prevented?

“Th e most important step is to acknowl-edge that no one at any age should be the victim of violent, abusive, humiliating, or neglectful treatment.”

Th e American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) off ers this advice to older Americans to prevent elder abuse.

• Remain sociable and increase net-works of friends.

• When moving to a new home, still maintain long-time friendships.

• Develop a buddy system with someone outside the home and have weekly contacts.

• Volunteer or participate in community activities.

• Continue a telephone listing; open all personal mail.

• Take care of personal needs: doctor, dentist, hair appointments

• Get legal advice now about future disabilities, including power of attorney and guardianships.

When there is confl ict within a family about issues surrounding the care of a loved one, there is Elder Mediation, a cooperative problem solving process with

trained mediators. To learn more, contact www.Elder-MediationAssociates.com or call (520) 395-0602.

Pima Council on Aging (PCOA) is developing an “I Will Prevent Elder Abuse Campaign.”

Community members can sign a pledge to prevent and report elder abuse and exploitation. Th is ensures that the commu-nity and businesses are better informed about elder abuse. It encourages reporting of any suspected mistreatment of senior adults. Most important- the promise strongly suggests that the signer will treat elders with respect and will educate others.

Why should a business sign the pledge? “It is a compelling way to distinguish an enterprise as one that takes an active role in elder abuse prevention.” In a 2009 Arizona State University survey, 70 percent of the public indicated they would patron-ize a business that had taken the “I will” pledge over one that had not.

Contact Carol West at [email protected]. West served on the Tucson City Council from 1999-2007 and was a council aide from

1987-1995.

CAROL WEST


Phone: (520) 295-4201Fax: (520) 295-40713280 E. Hemisphere Loop, #180Tucson, AZ 85706-5027 Internet: www.azbiz.com

STAFFPUBLISHERTHOMAS P. [email protected]

EDITORDAVID [email protected]

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EDITORIAL DESIGNERDUANE [email protected]

CARTOONISTWES HARGIS

REPORTER INTERNKAITY [email protected]

InsideTucsonBusiness.com

Next week’s poll: What should the Tucson region do about the future for economic development?

• Letters to the editor — Opinions on business-related issues or coverage of is-sues by Inside Tucson Business are encour-aged and will be published. Submit letters to the editor via email at [email protected]. Letters also may be mailed to Letters to the editor, Inside Tucson Business, P.O. Box 27087, Tucson, AZ 85726-7087. Let-ters must include the writer’s name and telephone number. Inside Tucson Business reserves the right to edit and may not print all letters that are received.

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OPINIONADVOCATING FOR BUSINESS

Th ree things we can (must) do to surge aheadLet’s open with a quick environmental

scan of our community:• One in fi ve families in Southern

Arizona lives below the federal poverty line.• Th ree in 10 high school students don’t

graduate.• A survey of small businesses released

in May by the Kauff man Foundation and Th umbtack.com, an online marketplace that matches consumers with professional service providers, ranked Tucson among the bottom fi ve of U.S. cities friendly to business.

• Much of the massive intellectual personal power that graduates from the University of Arizona every year goes elsewhere for their careers.

• Overgrown weeds and broken streets abound, making it diffi cult for anyone to feel “community pride.”

• A quarter billion dollars earmarked for improving our urban core is mishandled and the parties involved in fi xing the problem — the City of Tucson and the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District Board — can’t even talk to each other or fi nd common ground.

Does anyone really think this is the best we can do? Have we gotten so numb to our circumstances that we have stopped trying

to improve them? Are you sick and tired (as I am) of hearing, “Well, that’s just Tucson”?

Of course we can do better. And the recipe is simple:

1. Embrace change.

2. Elect leaders who put improving the overall community over their next re-election campaigns.

3. Convene private sector leaders with elected leaders to create a visionary plan. Th en move forward with courage.

Ben Franklin said, “When you’re fi nished changing, you’re fi nished.” Change is renewal. Change is renaissance. Plants die in the winter and bloom again in the spring.

Blight is cleared away and vibrant urban renewal takes its place. Examples of visionary change are legendary: Th e Baltimore Harbor redevelopment. Silicon Valley. Th e Oklahoma City Bricktown redevelopment. Th e Research Triangle in North Carolina. Los Angeles entertainment.

Why can’t we be the architects of a

similar future for Tucson and Southern Arizona? Is it a lack of brain power?

I suggest that it is a lack of will. Robert F. Kennedy once said, “Change has enemies.” Th at phrase is a perfect segue to the second part of the trifecta above.

Have you noticed how political candi-dates are long on promises and short on results? Candidates from both parties tell us they have it all fi gured out when they’re running for offi ce. But once they are elected, an amazing thing happens: leadership morphs into protecting one’s backside. Courage morphs into safety.

Minutia rules the agenda and the big, visionary sweeping change the community needs is ignored because “change has enemies.” Award recognition ceremonies, dog adoptions, neighborhood activism and liquor license approvals dominate the agendas with not a word on the status of the master plan to bring about real, meaningful change in the community.

As for the third ingredient in the recipe, imagine what could happen if our highest elected leaders got together with the best and brightest from the private sector and the University of Arizona and made a diff erence?

If we ignore the enemies of change, we

can get a lot done. What could Tucson’s downtown look like? How far could we go if we started working together on a common vision instead of dusting the walls of our silos?

Some say it can’t be done. Th ey’re wrong. Some say big-picture planning has been tried before and didn’t go anywhere. I say that was then and this is now.

Regional revival and renaissance is happening across the U.S. Indianapolis. San Antonio and Austin. St. Louis. Spokane, Wash. San Diego. Th e game has started, folks. It’s not too late to compete.

Th e Tucson Metro Chamber is on board, but we can’t do it by ourselves. So watch this column and other media in the future for more information about vision, leadership and strategies to move Southern Arizona forward.

Contact Mike Varney, president and

CEO of the Tucson Metro Chamber, at

[email protected] or (520)

792-2250. His Advocating for Business

column appears monthly in Inside Tucson

Business.

MIKE VARNEY

Yes, I’ll make a special effort to get down there.... 57%

Yes, but not any more than usual.... 17%

No, those businesses can manage on their own.... 27%

InsideTucsonBusiness.com

NTuec


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