inside tucson business 10/19/12

Back in the saddle againNew home builders singing a new song

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Downtown diners to eat more ‘local’Duo wants foods with local connections

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Ahwooga.com courts car buff sOnline portal for auto parts gears up

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Your Weekly Business Journal for the Tucson Metro Area

WWW.INSIDETUCSONBUSINESS.COM • OCTOBER 19, 2012 • VOL. 22, NO. 20 • $1

LIVING IN A MATERIAL WORLD ... OF PLANTS

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Sonoran Gardens digs business of outdoor

landscape construction

Ballot propositions refl ect the nation’s mood By Daniel B. WoodTh e Christian Science Monitor

Proponents call it “direct democ-racy,” opponents call it “vigilante democracy” — and political scien-tists call it a vibrant part of American democracy. Arizona’s nine proposi-tions on the Nov. 6 ballot, are among a total of 174 propositions going be-fore voters in 37 states — the most in six years, though well below the re-cord numbers of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Th e slate of initiatives points to several trends across American poli-tics.

For one, the number of initiatives

put on the ballot by citizens (as op-posed to legislatures) has dropped, suggesting the weak economy is hampering grass-roots eff orts.

Meanwhile, in “a symptom of the polarization in American politics,” 12 popular referendums qualifi ed for the November ballot, noted Jen-nie Drage Bowser of the National Conference of State Legislatures to Governing magazine. Referendums and initiatives serve as a Rorschach test for what is on voters’ minds.

Medical marijuana initiatives will take another step this year when vot-ers in three states — Colorado, Or-egon and Washington — consider making them the fi rst in the nation

to legalize marijuana for recreation-al use. Polls in Colorado and Wash-ington indicate the measures have majority support.

An eff ort in Maine is attempting to make that state the fi rst to legalize same-sex mariage by ballot initia-tive.

Among propositions in other states:

• Oklahoma voters will consider a measure that would prohibit dis-crimination or preferable treatment based on race, sex, ethnicity, and national origin. It would undercut some affi rmative-action programs in the state, similar to a measure that’s already been passed in Arizona and

four other states.• In Massachusetts a proposition

would allow a person diagnosed as terminally ill by physicians to be given a lethal injection. Washing-ton and Oregon have passed similar measures.

• For the third time, a California proposition will try to prohibit union dues from being used for political purposes without explicit authoriza-tion of members. Similar measures were defeated in 1998 and 2005.

• Another California proposition would abolish capital punishment in the state, converting existing death-row sentences to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

DataDrivenUA Research Data Center revs up university’s computing power

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2 OCTOBER 19, 2012 INSIDE TUCSON BUSINESS

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NEXT GENERATION

Impacts of UA Research Computing Data Center could go beyond academics

By Patrick McNamaraInside Tucson Business

In the early days of the Internet, some commentators proclaimed the age of the supercomputer had died and the age of the personal computer was ascendant. But as more data gets digitized and compiled, supercomputers might become more rel-evant today than ever before.

Th e University of Arizona has unveiled its updated supercomputer facility, the Research Computing Data Center, which

has greatly increased the capacity in high-throughout computing, high-performance computing and data storage.

“Research computing here on campus has gone from less than a teraFLOP to 50 teraFLOPS and in 2013 will be over 300 teraFLOPS,” said Joellen Russell, associate professor in the Department of Geoscienc-es at the University of Arizona.

Russell also heads the Research Com-puting Steering Committee, which is charged with establishing a governance plan for the center.

For the uninitiated, teraFLOPS refer to a measure of computer performance called fl oating-point operations per second or FLOPS. In supercomputer speak, one tera-FLOPS means the capacity of a computer to perform a staggering 1 trillion opera-tions per second.

It’s that computing capacity that has researchers like Russell and others at UA excited.

“As with everything, technology has become a dependant factor in research,”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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Computers at the University of Arizona Research Data Center stand on display behind glass. The new center has greatly increased the university’s research computing capacity.

UA ranks No. 19 in basketball spending

Th e University of Arizona spent $6.9 mil-lion in 2011 on its basketball program and took in $21.2 million in revenue, according to a study by the Memphis Business Journalof data compiled by Equity in Athletics.

Th e amount of money spent puts the UA at No. 19 in the nation. Th e UA’s record that year was 30-8, one game short of making it to the NCAA’s Final Four.

Th e study found that the amount of money spent on basketball doesn’t neces-sarily correlate to a successful program. While the UA’s program is successful, Ari-zona State University spent $6.2 million on its basketball program in 2011 and took in $8.5 million but ended up with a won-loss record of 12-19.

Duke University, which lost to the UA in the Sweet 16 in 2011, spent the most on its basketball program that year, $13.8 million.

Univ. of Phoenix to cut 300 jobs in Arizona

In an eff ort to save $300 million, Univer-sity Phoenix says it will close 115 campuses and learning centters and eliminate 800 po-sitions. Parent company Apollo Group Inc. said the campuses aren’t necessary because a majority of its 328,400 students nation-wide take classes online.

Th e learning center at 870 W. Shell Road, Nogales, is among those that will be closed. And while the Southern Arizona campus, 300 S. Craycroft Road, and the learning cen-ter, 555 E. River Road, will remain open, the company said that just under 300 of the 800 positions to be eliminated will be in Arizona.

After the closures take eff ect, Univer-sity of Phoenix will have 112 locations in 36 states.

Th e centers that will remain open are those that require hands-on learning pro-grams, such as nursing and counseling. On Tuesday, Apollo Group reported that for the quarter ended Aug. 31 it had net income of $74.2 million from $996.5 million, which was down $183.9 million in income from $1.1 billion in revenue for the same quarter a year ago.

Th e quarter marked the end of the fi scal year for Apollo. Total income for the year was $417 million on $4.25 billion revenue, down from fi scal year 2011’s total of $535.8 million income on $4.7 billion revenue.

Total enrollment was down 13.8 percent.


Ahwooga.com seeks share of auto parts sales with online portal

NEWS

Joe Chirco, left, owner and founder of Ahwooga.com, and Patrick Wood, project manager, have relaunched their direct buy online marketplace for auto parts.

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By Clayton R. NormanInside Tucson Business

Disgruntled with paying high listing fees and dealing with clunky processes to sell items on eBay, Tucsonan auto-parts dealer Joe Chirco launched his own online marketplace, Ahwooga Automotive Mar-ket. Last month, he streamlined it and re-launched it.

Chirco originally launched the site — www.ahwooga.com — in early 2010 and built it up to about 5,800 merchants and buyers but with that volume the site’s per-formance suff ered.

“Th ings were going great and then the site performance began to go down,” Chir-co said. “We realized we were totally on the wrong platform, so we decided that there was only one way to fi x this thing and that was to rebuild the entire platform knowing what we can do with it now.”

Th e new site, released Sept. 26 after six months of reworking, is focused on ease-of-use for sellers as much as buyers.

“If you don’t have any sellers you don’t have any buyers,” said Chirco who charges no membership or listing fees. Th e site col-lects 4 percent of the total cost of each or-der, including shipping.

As of the beginning of this month, Ah-wooga had 53 “garages,” individual seller’s pages, including listings for vintage auto

parts, snowmobile accessories and water-craft parts.

Chirco said the site is dedicated to auto-motive parts and accessories, or “anything that moves you.” He expects to have 350 to 400 “garages” added to the site by the end of the year.

Ahwooga also includes social network interfaces so users can share “likes,” wish-lists and comments via Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus as well as an Ahwooga blog embedded in the site with regular “car guy” themed updates.

Th e site is a “direct buy” site with no eBay-type auctions and, Chirco says, easy and direct lines of communication for sell-ers to connect directly with their buyers.

Patrick Wood, project manager for Ah-wooga, said sellers should appreciate fea-tures like bulk upload and item editing tools and a feature for creating shipping tem-plates which were missing from the site’s beta run.

“Not only can our users easily connect with other buyers and sellers, but they can also see who else is interested in those same products, it’s all integrated within the site,” Wood said.

To address the site performance issues in the beta run of Ahwooga.com, Wood says the new site is hosted using Amazon’s cloud computing service.

“Th is way we have endless expansion

when we need it,” said Wood. “And the cus-tomers feel that too, when they want to bulk upload or bulk edit their stuff . Th ey don’t have to do it one item at a time like they had to on the old site.”

Th e U.S. Department of Commerce re-ported that aftermarket auto parts sales to-taled between $62 billion and $78 billion in 2010. Th e same report noted that the auto parts sales industry accounted for some 462,300 jobs nationally in 2010.

Figuring the auto parts sales market in the U.S. is somewhere between $150 bil-lion and $200 billion annually, Chirco and Wood say they want to capture about 0.25 percent of that by facilitating $400 million in annual transactions.

Given Ahwooga’s 4 percent transaction fee, that translates into $16 million in annu-al revenue for the company. Th ey estimate eventual traffi c-driven advertising revenue at a potential of $8 million annually.

Chirco said the next step for Ahwooga.com is to hit the trade show circuit with a marketing booth to start drumming up community members. At the end of this month, he said they will be attending the Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas.

“You don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to start a marketplace,” Chirco said.

Th ree large industrialproperties in escrow

Th e 261,000 square-foot manufacturing facility built for Weiser Lock and last used by Pella windows, and two other large indus-trial properties are in escrow and expected to close by the end of the year.

Two commercial real estate companies confi rmed the pending sales but said the buyers are not being publicly identifi ed at this point.

Th e largest facility, at 6700 S. Pella Drive off Valencia Road west of Interstate 19, has been vacant since Pella Corporation shut down its vinyl door and window manufac-turing operations there in November 2008. Th e building was part of the 25.7-acre site Pella had purchased two years earlier. Th is time it was on the market listed for $9.9 mil-lion.

Also in escrow is the 85,000 square-foot call center building at 3350 E. Valencia Road that had been used by American Airlines, which shut down the Tucson call center in August. Th e building is part of a 14.47-acre site.

American had opened the building in 1991. It was listed for sale at $7.286 million.

Th e third property is a 19,980 square-foot manufacturing building at 6393 S. Camp-bell Ave. that formerly housed LeTourneau Technologies, which specialized in the min-ing, steel and forestry markets.

Th e three sales are positive indicators for the region’s commercial real estate market. As of Sept. 30, there was 35.5 million square feet of industrial space in the Tucson-area market.

If all three sales close, the transactions will about double the absorption of all the industrial space year-to-date. Th at total is 329,079 square feet, according to CBRE.

Entrepreneurs invited to IdeaFunding Pitch

Entrepreneurs seeking capital, custom-ers or exposure for their ideas are invited to attend IdeaFunding’s Pitch Arizona on Oct. 25 at Tucson Marriott University Park, 880 E. Second St.

IdeaFunding works to advance and stimulate entrepreneurial opportunities through networking, business integration, and knowledge-sharing. Pitch Arizona is an event that helps entrepreneurs fi nd the right resources, partners, and capital to ex-ecute their business ideas.

Pitch Arizona is known for its large turn-out of investors, mezzanine lenders, corpo-rate venture capitalists, executive managers and entrepreneurs.

Th e event begins at 1 p.m. and will fea-ture a discussion with David Allen, execu-tive director of Tech Launch Arizona, at 5:15 p.m. Register online at www.regonline.com/PitchArizona2012 or (520) 621-4823.


NEWS

New downtown restaurants to expand the ‘eat local’ philosophy By Patrick McNamaraInside Tucson Business

A pair of Flagstaff restaurateurs looking to expand have picked downtown Tucson for their new eateries.

Derrick Widmark, owner of Diablo Burg-er, and Paul Moir, owner of Brix and Criollo, each plan to open restaurants in the Rialto Block on Congress Street, adding to the burgeoning dining scene downtown.

Widmark plans to open a second Diablo Burger and a bar in the Rialto Block called Th e Good Oak Bar.

Moir plans on opening a restaurant called Proper. Both intend to open by the spring.

“Trying to fi nd a space in Phoenix was tough, it’s really competitive and it’s a huge market,” Moir said.

Widmark, too, had diffi culty in the Phoe-nix area, putting 10,000 miles on his car driving around and looking for a location before he decided to head further down In-terstate 10 to Tucson.

But it’s more than just choosing Tuc-son over the Phoenix area that makes what they’re doing remarkable — it’s the philos-ophy both owners have when it comes to food and supporting the local economy.

“Our intention is to connect community to place and to the landscape through food, and we do that by forging relationships with the best local producers,” wrote Widmark in an email. Widmark requested to conduct an interview via email.

For several years restaurants across the country have increasingly looked to nearby farms, ranches and fi shermen to fi ll their menus with foods that have some connec-tion to the local economy.

In other places such as San Francisco, New York and the Midwest where agricul-ture and animal husbandry are common, the local food movement has been easy to tap in to. But in Southern Arizona, it can be a challenge to source local food products. Th e largest agricultural product by far in Southern Arizona remains cotton.

Widmark said restaurants in other ar-eas of the country can easily source most of their ingredients from within a 50-mile radius. Th e vastness and relative scarcity of agriculture in Arizona has required Diablo Burger to expand its defi nition of local to include a 250-mile radius.

True to the local ethos, Diablo Burger uses beef from a partnership of two ranch-es east of Flagstaff called the Diablo Trust, which Widmark described as one of the most “progressive and impactful collabora-tive conservation groups in Arizona.”

“Th is is landscape-scale conservation that you can taste, and the importance of

supporting producers who are good stew-ards of our lands is critical to DB,” he said.

Diablo Burger has begun to build rela-tionships with other small-scale, conserva-tion-minded ranches in Southern Arizona as well. Th ey plan to source beef from pro-ducers like Dennis Moroney’s Sky Islands Brand, the Malpais Borderlands Group, the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance and Double-Check Ranch.

To this end, both Widmark and Moir have sought help from Gary Nabhan, a re-search scientist at the Southwest Center of the University of Arizona and local agricul-ture advocate.

“Within easy reach of Tucson, we now have Sleeping Frog Farms, Avalon Gardens, Harris Heritage Farm, Cross-U Ranch, Double Check Ranch, La Querencia Organ-ics and my own orchard, Almunia de los Zopilotes, which alone off ers 70 varieties of fruits and nuts,” Nabhan wrote in an email in response to questions from Inside Tuc-son Business. At the time of the interview, Nabhan was travelling outside of the coun-try and unable to speak on the telephone.

Nabhan has written and edited numer-ous books on regional food and agricultural traditions.

Part of advocating for local products, Nabhan said, means supporting local busi-nesses and improving the local economy.

“Study after study has shown that link-ing new food micro-enterprises to inde-pendently-owned bakeries, farms, or-

chards and ranches is the quickest means of stimulating economic recovery in com-munities like ours,” he said.

C.J. Marks, one of the people behind Sleeping Frog Farms, a growing force on the local agriculture scene, said interest in local products has been on the rise.

Th e farm expanded last year from its few-acre plot on the northwest side to a 75-acre parcel along the San Pedro River near Cascabel. Along with the expansion has come an increasing repertoire of restau-rants and community-supported agricul-ture programs the farm serves with heir-loom and specialty vegetables not usually found in grocery stores.

“Th ese are products the big commercial farms aren’t going to spend their time on,” Marks said.

He said that supporting local agriculture not only can help locally owned businesses like Sleeping Frog Farms, but help to in-crease food security by lessening the reli-ance on products grown in foreign coun-tries or areas distant from Tucson.

Moir agrees that supporting local agri-culture can increase food security, but said there’s a much more practical reason to buy local.

“I just think it’s better food,” Moir said. “It’s just more interesting.”

Contact reporter Patrick McNamara

at [email protected] or (520)

295-4259.

Clay Smith harvesting at Sleeping Frog Farms near Benson.

BIZ FACTS

Sleeping Frog Farms4510 N. Cascabel Road, Benson(520) 212-3764sleepingfrogfarms.comCriollocriollolatinkitchen.comBrixbrixfl agstaff.comDiablo Burgerwww.diabloburger.com

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This Week’s Good News Openness in government

Th e City of Tucson has begun an open government initiative that seeks to provide better and faster access to public records and increased transparency.

Th e eff ort includes compiling records from specifi c departments into searchable databases. Th e fi rst of these will include transit information, crime data, business licenses, traffi c incident locations and city employment records.

Th is is a good development not just for those of us in the media, but for residents ev-erywhere who want to know how local govern-ment spends their money but might not know where to begin looking for the information.

The Tucson

INSIDERInsights and trends on developing andongoing Tucson regional business news.

Lodging looking up Some positive signs for the hospitality in-

dustry. Although market reports indicate room occupancy rates for the month of Sep-tember were some of the lowest ever seen by some establishments — did someone say the economy is recovering? — October numbers are showing a definite uptick.

It’s also interesting to note that developers planning a couple of smaller hotel projects, one next door to the Marriott University Park Hotel near the University of Arizona and an-other at the east end of downtown, say they have interest from multiple brands. When asked to expand on that, one developer said he could probably get at least five good proposals from well-known brands, some already in the market and others that would be new.

Airport traffi c Despite Frontier Airlines’ ending all service

in May and a signifi cant reduction in available seats by US Airways, passenger traffi c at Tucson International Airport is still running slightly — just. 0.2 percent — ahead of 2011 through the fi rst eight months of the year. But the crystal ball gets a little fuzzy looking to next year.

As part of preparation for its fi scal year bud-get, which took eff ect this month, the Tucson Airport Authority asks airlines to estimate plans for the coming year. No airline forecast a major increase in service but most said they anticipat-ed relatively minor adjustments. United, how-ever, told airport offi cials it anticipates a double-digit percentage cutback.

Airport offi cials, caution against reading too much into the estimates. Th e airlines aren’t held to them. Th ey’re really used to calculate a balanced budget for the airport’s operations.


NEXT GENERATION

PUBLIC NOTICESSelected public records of Southern Arizona bankruptcies and liens.

BANKRUPTCIESChapter 11 - Business reorganization Sierra Industrial Park Delaware LLC, 4750 N. Oracle Road, Suite 210 (principal assets at 7109-7245 E. Golf Links Road). Principal: Ebby Shakib, managing member. Estimated assets: More than $1 million to $10 million. Estimate liabilities: More than $1 million to $10 million. Largest creditor(s): Schedule not fi led. Case No. 12-22496 fi led Oct. 12. Law fi rm: Mesch Clark & Rothschild

26 Palms Delaware LLC, 4750 N. Oracle Road, Suite 210 (principal assets at 7109-7245 E. Golf Links Road). Principal: Ebby Shakib, managing member. Estimated assets: More than $1 million to $10 million. Estimate liabilities: More than $1 million to $10 million. Largest creditor(s): Schedule not fi led. Case No. 12-22498 fi led Oct. 12. Law fi rm: Mesch Clark & Rothschild

FORECLOSURE NOTICES Shannon Partners LLC 37 acres at Cortaro Farms Road and Shannon Road, known as Villas on Shannon Ridge (not built) 85704Tax parcel: 225-54-0010 through 225-54-5020Original Principal: $55,000,000.00 Benefi ciary: Cole Taylor Bank, Burbank, Ill. Auction time and date: 10 a.m. Dec. 31, 2012 Trustee: John S. Craiger, Quarles & Brady, 2 N. Central Ave., Phoenix

Stone Canyon LLC 14330 N. La Cholla Blvd., Oro Valley 85755 Tax parcel: 219-15-0010Original Principal: $300,000.00 Benefi ciary: Textron Financial Corp., Alpharetta, Ga. Auction time and date: 2 p.m. Jan. 4, 2013 Trustee: Kevin J. Morris, Greenberg Traurig, 2375 E. Camelback Road, Suite 700, Phoenix

Hilltop Haven LLC 16740 N. Twin Lakes Drive, Catalina 85739 Tax parcel: 222-10-0450Original Principal: $651,000.00 Benefi ciary: Wells Fargo Bank, Phoenix Auction time and date: 11:30 a.m. Jan. 4, 2013 Trustee: Wade M. Burgeson, Engelman Berger, 3636 N. Central Ave., Suite 700, Phoenix

LIENSFederal tax liens Hunter’s Tile Interiors LLC and John Perquiera, 4115 W. Ironwood Hill Drive. Amount owed: $24,771.31. KGVY LLC, PO Box 767, Green Valley 85622. Amount owed: $56,687.00. Pizzeria La Ferlita Inc., 446 N. Campbell Ave., Suite 100. Amount owed: $148,059.50. Montgomery’s Irish Pub and B&E Kline Properties Inc., 9155 E. Tanque Verde Road. Amount owed: $45,961.33. Al-Munt Corporation, 3720 W. Ina Road, Suite 134. Amount owed: $4,426.78. Innovative Landscapes Inc., 7709 N. Jensen Drive. Amount owed: $1,586.49. Wa:K Snack Shop and Simon J. Ignacio, 1909 W. Koli Ki Wog. Amount owed: $5,390.72. Checkered Flag Construction LLC and Armando R. Rico, 3042 W. Camauba St. Amount owed: $3,340.12. CDK Enterprises Inc., 10645 N. Oracle Road, Suite 121319, Oro Valley. Amount owed: $1,791.39. Plants of Distinction Inc., 6930 E. Tanque Verde Road. Amount Owed: $7,439.15. Southern Arizona Air LLC and Mahmood Basharat, 702 E. Fair St. Amount owed: $9,108.48. Meyer’s Creative Concepts Paint & Body LLC and Michael Holmes, 2550 E. Grant Road. Amount owed: $46,599.39.Floors To Go of Tucson LLC and Suzanna T. Harrison, PO Box 89655, 85752. Amount owed: $149,783.26. Tortilla Factory De Tucson and Juan M. Villalva and Maria I. Villalva, 1755 W. Ajo Way. Amount owed: $8,239.41.Tami’s Personalized Care and Tamra Diaz, 8670 E. Olympic Club Circle. Amount owed: $4,644.05. Cray’s Mobile Home Service and Richard J. Cray, 2465 W. Placita Algodem. Amount owed: $1,957.61.F&J Restaurants LLC and Jeffrey Fuld, PO Box 262, 85702. Amount owed: $13,462.58.

State liens (Liens of $1,000 or more fi led by the Arizona Department of Revenue or Arizona Department of Economic Security.)Romisco Sign Systems LLC, 214 Tacoma St., Sierra Vista. Amount owed: $5,425.11. Chandler Hill Partners, 2450 N. Pantano Road. Amount owed: $1,218.21. Parties Plus Tucson LLC, 3510 S. Campbell Ave. Amount owed: $6,476.55. Unicorn Sport Lounge and Lazy B&G Ent LLC, 8060 E. 22nd St., Suite 118. Amount owed: $1,391.44. TBJ Construction LLC, 5951 E. Linden Place. Amount owed: $16,056.51. Vistoso Golf Course LLC, 955 W. Vistoso Highlands Drive, Oro Valley. Amount owed: $26,746.86. Amado Mini Market and Karissa G. Nava, 2403 E. Second St. Amount owed: $27,207.90. IRI Sabino Springs Golf Course LLC, 1700 Country Club Drive, Plano, Texas. Amount owed: $5,933.37. San Ignacio Golf Course LLC, 1700 Country Club Drive, Plano, Texas. Amount owed: $3,049.29. Boca and Boca LLC, 828 E. Speedway. Amount owed: $8,593.84. Pappoule’s and Pappoule’s Electra Investments Inc., 4500 N. Oracle Road, Suite FC06. Amount owed: $42,124.17.Guiseppe’s and CVR Holdings LLC, 6060 N. Oracle Road. Amount owed: $26,674.94.

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

Able Tucson 362, 702 E. 17th St., against Southwest Fiberglass LLC, 4798 S. Julian Ave. Amount owed: $8,486.29. Able Tucson 362, 702 E. 17th St., against Southwest Fiberglass LLC, 4798 S. Julian Ave. Amount owed: $8,493.69. Brown Wholesale Electric, 3425 E. Van Buren St., Suite 140, Phoenix, against Sierra Bravo Properties, 3230 W. El Camino Del Cerro, and Farwest Development & Construction of the SW LLC, 2231 W. Ina Road. Amount owed: $40,821.23.Smith Pipe and Steel Co., 735 N. 19th Ave., Phoenix, against Central One Inc., 5735 N. 25th St., Phoenix, and Walmart Stores, 2001 SE 10th St., Bentonville, Ark. Amount owed: $4,542.00. Smith Pipe and Steel Co., 735 N. 19th Ave., Phoenix, against Fidelity National Title Agency Inc., 4549 E. Fort Lowell Road, and Rancho Sahuarita Village, 15455 S. Camino Lago Azul, Sahuarita. Amount owed: $4,100.00. Tucson Winnelson Co., 1057 E. Mill St., against Southwest Fiberglass LLC, 4798 S. Julian Ave. Amount owed: $15,337.15. Qualifi ed Mechanical Contractors, 1001 S. Euclid Ave., against Southwest Fiberglass LLC, 4798 S. Julian Ave. Amount owed: $188,285.45. Bates Paving & Sealing Inc., 3225 E. 44th St., against Crown Mediterranean LLC, 95 Argonaut, Suite 160, Aliso Viejo, Calif. Amount owed: $7,440.00. Ferguson Enterprises Inc., 111 E. Buckeye Road, Suite 2, Phoenix, against Desai Family Trust, 2510 N. Castle Rock Drive. Amount owed: $11,209.00. Barker Morrissey Contracting Inc., 3619 E. Speedway, Suite 101, against Southwest Fiberglass LLC, 4798 S. Julian Ave. Amount owed: $762,671.00.Ace Asphalt of Arizona Inc., 4030 E. Michigan St., against Plaza De Vista LLC, 9920 S. Rural Road, Suite 108 PMB 77, Tempe. Amount owed: $2,999.51. Ace Asphalt of Arizona Inc., 4030 E. Michigan St., against Partnership for Quality Affordable Housing #5/ Centurion Management and Speedway Land Holdings LLC, 8585 E. Bell Road, Suite 104, Scottsdale. Amount owed: $1,535.77. Abracadabra Restoration, 4814 N. Shamrock Place, against Sarmad Albanna, 3158 N. Avenida Del Clarin, and Sundt Mortgage Group, 4810 E. Camp Lowell Drive. Amount owed: $11,009.89. Cutting Edge Fabrication, 8317 S. Camino De Cafe, against Sierra Bravo Properties, 3230 W. El Camino Del Cerro. Amount owed: $22,760.00. JMAC Electric LLC, 4455 S. Park Ave., Suite 106, against Sierra Bravo Properties, 3230 W. El Camino Del Cerro. Amount owed: $87,167.06. HD Supply Facilities Maintenance Ltd., 10461 Scripps Summit Court, San Diego, against Palo Verde Property LLC, 5251 S. Julian Drive, and Choice Hotels International, 10750 Columbia Pike, Silver Springs, Md. Amount owed: $11,589.66. Superior Plus Construction Products Corp., doing business as Winroc, 4225 W. Glenrosa, Phoenix, against Southwest Fiberglass LLC, 4798 S. Julian Ave. Amount owed: $1,913.17.

said Michele Norin, chief information of-fi cer and executive director of University Information Technology Services. “Hav-ing an asset like this furthers that research work.”

As more and more information be-comes digitized, the challenge of sorting, storing and making sense of information grows greater.

Russell, for example, works in climate research and modeling, which involves running large and complex mathematical calculations or computer codes.

Th e computing capacity the new cen-ter provides is relevant to researchers across most of the hard-sciences includ-ing those in astronomy and planetary sci-ences, biological sciences and agriculture because supercomputers, like those at the Research Computing Data Center, can process massive calculations and help re-searchers analyze data in ways that would not be possible using conventional com-puters.

Th e power of large-scale computing systems like that at the University of Ari-zona is so great as to be almost incompa-rable to a standard PC.

Home computers typically have about two processors, which works fi ne for nor-mal functions. Th e machines at the Re-search Computing Data Center hold the equivalent of 6,000 processors and have the capacity for expansion.

Th e storage space available at the new center also dwarfs that of a home or busi-ness computer. Storage on a PC is usually measured in terms of gigabytes, while at the UA center storage goes into petabytes, or more than a quadrillion bits of data, ac-cording to the research computing web-site.

By comparison, that’s more than 500 million mp3 songs or enough storage to hold a 26-year long playlist of high-defi -nition movies, also according to the uni-versity.

“Although I haven’t been here long, it’s clear to me that the University of Arizona has a distinct strength in large-scale com-puting,” said David Allen, the university’s new executive director for Tech Launch Arizona at the Offi ce of Technology Trans-fer.

Allen said the center’s capabilities es-tablish the university as a player in the fi eld of large-data processing and man-agement.

Th e computers themselves, housed in the basement of University Information

Technology Services building on Highland Avenue near Speedway, sit behind glass in climate-controlled room. With multi-colored lights fl ashing, miles of cables and chilled-water cooling system, the rows of computer towers certainly evoke images from science fi ction fi lm and literature.

But the larger Research Computing Data Center isn’t fi ction, in fact, it holds real-world implications for the university and the region.

“Th is isn’t bigger because I want a big-ger lab, it’s bigger because I want to teach better students and increase the pie for everyone,” Russell said.

She said the increased computing capacity could help to interest more re-searchers to the university, attract better students and pull in more grant money.

“It can be an attracting factor,” Norin said, adding that many researchers and students will choose a university based on the technological assets available at the school.

Russell also sees the new computing capacity as helping to increase collabora-tions with industry and more transfer of technologies into the market.

Th e entire industry of climate consult-ing, which is closely related to Russell’s fi eld, almost didn’t exist a decade ago, but today has become a multi-billion dol-lar industry, she said. Th at could provide more opportunities for collaboration be-tween the university and industry.

“We’d like more spin-off s to come out of our university,” she said. “We’d love to see more partnerships with local busi-nesses and tech startups.”

How or in what form any partnerships would take remains to be seen, Norin said, but thinks it could certainly happen.

Another benefi t of the new center is that it eliminates the need for UA research-ers to outsource their research computing needs to other universities or organiza-tions or to purchase smaller data centers and manage them on their own.

Th e centralized research data center will be accessible for all UA researchers along with support services.

Next Generation is a monthly feature

of Inside Tucson Business profi ling

Southern Arizonans on the cutting edge of

developing their ideas. If you’ve got an idea

or someone you think should be profi led,

contact reporter Patrick McNamara at

[email protected] or (520) 295-4259.

Correction

Each time over the last 32 years that voters have been asked to approve road and street bonds — three times in the City of Tucson and fi ve times in Pima County — they have been approved. Voters have rejected four proposals transportation improvement projects fi nanced through sales taxes, but not through bonds. An article in the Oct. 10 issue about Proposition 409 on the Nov. 6 ballot confl ated the two types of fi nancial mechanisms.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3


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SALES JUDO

Why do we hate the car buying experience so much?As clichés go, the sales experience

consumers most hate is buying a car. I have never entirely understood why this is so because I haven’t had any really bad experiences. I research what I want to buy on the Internet, including options, then call around for pricing and make my purchase either from a dealer or a broker.

Th e only unfavorable experience I remember was dealing with a fi nance and insurance manager who was intent on trying to cross-sell me on a number of services and products. It was the only time I felt as though I was dealing with a shark.

(And I may have been. A Tennessee outfi t called Reahard and Associates trains fi nance and insurance managers and if you want to see the stereotypical look of a salesman who thinks you’re about to become his next meal, check out the photo of the CEO on the company’s home page — www.go-reahard.com. You almost expect to see the gleam of a gold tooth.)

So, besides the fi nance and insurance

department, why do we feel the way we do about the car buying experience? David Weliver, a personal fi nance expert who runs a blog named Money Under 30 — www.mon-eyunder30.com

— did a piece early this year titled “5 Big Car Buying Mistakes” in which asked a focus group about their biggest fears when they think of buying a car. Out of more than 50 responses, the majority shared a theme:

• Getting ripped off on price• Overpaying because I am a woman

and the salesman would take advantage of that.

• I am not good at negotiating.• I didn’t want to get screwed over on

the price.• Getting ripped off by a salesman.

• Th at the salesman would try to intimidate me into paying too much or push me into (buying) something I didn’t want.

“Th is is how we all set out to buy a car…with our guard up and feathers out,” writes Weliver.

Michael Royce, a former car salesman himself, has a site called Beat the Car Salesman — beatthecarsalesman.com/ — that includes a section that has emails expressing the views of car sales people, such as:

“…Car buyers expect a sleaze ball, that’s our reputation. Showing the consumer that you are there to help them buy a car, and are sincere about it, goes a long way! You don’t have to trick a customer in order to keep a decent profi t on a vehicle…Show the customer that you care about them, before, during, and after they buy the car, and people will WANT to buy a car from you again (and tell their family and friends to buy from you) and just might be willing to pay a little extra for your knowledge and courtesy.”

“I have been a car salesman for a little over a year… I have a 4 year degree from Purdue…I deal with (diffi cult) people all day long. I just want to know, when you go to a dealership, why do you act so angry and put on such a big show? I mean it’s really something!... I’ve had people throw the paper (bid) at me after I showed them numbers. Is it because you can’t aff ord the car or you’re mad at yourself for going to the dealership without doing your homework?! I mean it’s just busi-ness, and I’m just curious why some people don’t realize it’s a business just like every other (one) in this country. ..”

“I am a female working on the sales fl oor ...and I am appalled by this entire website. YOU are the reason my job is hard; YOU are the reason I get beat up at work every day by consumers; and YOU are the reason everyone hates car salespeople…Have you ever thought about this? When you go to the grocery store, do you walk up to the counter with a gallon of milk and say, ‘I’ll give ya two bucks for this milk?’ NO! Th e milk company has to make a profi t. WELL, I CAN’T WORK FOR FREE, and I’m sick and tired of people coming into my place of business and beating…(me up)…because of people like you.”

I know a well-educated (MBA) and ethical young man who loves cars and went to work as a salesperson for Jim Click Ford. I bought a car from him without a hitch. When I asked him what it was like to sell cars, he explained that, while he loved the industry, a lot of customers were really hard on the

SAM WILLIAMS

SALES

Turning down the volume By Sam WilliamsInside Tucson Business

In my last column dealing with why so many of us dislike sales people, I wrote about how the techniques of carnival barkers were being used by TV pitchmen like Billy Mays and Vince Shlomi.

Viewers may be interested to know that eff ective Dec. 13, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM Act, goes into eff ect requiring the Federal Commu-nications Commission to ensure that TV commercials are no louder than TV programs. You can thank U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., for having introduced the legislation.

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salespeople. Th ey came into the dealer-ship with highly defensive attitudes and seemed to believe they were perfectly justifi ed in misleading and mistreating salespeople.

So, could it be that we, as customers, are part of a dysfunctional feedback loop with car sales people? Sure, there are some bad apples out there, but could we actually a part of the problem? I’m not saying that we should all go out and hug a car salesperson today, but might it be that, per the late Walt Kelly’s famous quote from his comic strip, Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!”

In my next column I’ll explore still more reasons for hating most sales people: 60 cheesy and manipulative closing techniques and why they think they should use them.

Contact Sam Williams, president of the business-to-business sales consultancy fi rm New View Group, at [email protected] or (520) 390-0568. Sales Judo appears the fi rst and third weeks of

each month in Inside Tucson Business.


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TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

Smartphone email business etiquette: Is there any?

Business people you care about are sending you email from their smartphones and getting your emails on their smart-phones. Smartphones make up more than half of all mobile phones now and more than 90 percent of smartphone users check their email on their phones, often before they even read it on their computer.

In fact, one June 2012 study suggests that smartphone email now surpasses traditional email in volume.

Th is sudden change means that email users will change some of their best practices for email use and adopt some new ones.

Th e fi rst set of changes apply to email you send. Two simple steps help. One, shorten your subject lines to fi ve words or less and punch them up to get people’s attention.

Never mind that Outlook encourages you to write more than a Tweet in your subject line alone.

Also, don’t bother attaching a 52-page PDF unless you’re sure the recipient can view the PDF later, on a computer.

Next, as a sender of smartphone email, be professional. As a fi rst step, customize your signature line (sig) so it does not simply promote your iPhone or BlackBerry, as in “Sent from my iPhone.”

Here’s another step. Don’t make excuses.

A smart phone email sig that caught my attention was identical to the sender’s computer email sig line with the additional statement, “Please forgive typos.”

True, business people haven’t adopted many conventions or rules of etiquette yet for the use of a smartphone to send email, but you don’t have to be one of them.

While you think about the smartphone rules you wish other people would follow, here are some guidelines to consider.

One: Doing so proves that you’re considerate, with it and technically capable.

Two: Recognize that sending email from a smartphone is diff erent than using your Mac or PC and diff erent from sending a text message.

One obvious diff erence is that smart-phone email tells the recipient you were not in your offi ce when you sent the email. If you were, you’d use your computer. Given that assumption, if your sig line does not include your mobile phone number, what does that tell the recipient about you?

Th ree: Arguably a smartphone email may have some similarities to texting (urgency, brevity), so abbreviations may be OK, but typos aren’t – at least, not many. Th at’s going to be especially true going

forward, with the latest and greatest smartphones off ering spell check — that’s right, true spell check, not “word comple-tion.”

Four: Identify for yourself what your personal rules are for when you

email someone with your phone as opposed to waiting until you’re in your offi ce. Is smartphone email friends and family only? Is your goal to seem highly responsive to your staff ? To your custom-ers?

Interestingly, research indicates people use their smartphones to read, and respond to, email before they get their computer turned on. Th at suggests conventional email rules must change. Shorter emails become more important, or if the email must be long, try an executive summary up front, with details coming second.

For starters, you may want to start by asking yourself who is getting your smartphone email. Do they like it? Does it make them feel like you are highly respon-sive or sloppy? Ask them. You can also survey your VIP folks and ask them whether they tend to read your email more on their phone or on their computer.

Whatever choices you make, the trend is clear: millions of people are converting to smartphones, smartphone email is getting easier to use all the time (some phones enable dictation of email), so the role of smartphone email will continue to grow much faster than we can imagine.

So now it’s your turn. Email me — at [email protected] — your suggestions or comments. What aggravates you? What pleases you? What doesn’t faze you?

I’ll compile the results and email them back to you as a thank you. You don’t have to use your smartphone to send the email, but if you do, you can be sure I’ll be reading your sig line.

Contact Dave Tedlock, president of the

website development and marketing company

NetOutcomes, at dave.tedlock@netoutcomes.

com or (520) 325-6900, ext. 157. His Technically

Speaking column appears the third week of

each month in Inside Tucson Business.

DAVE TEDLOCK

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MEDIANetwork TV viewing patterns show changes are taking placeBy David Hatfi eldInside Tucson Business

With two weeks of data in, the new fall TV season already has its fi rst cancellation — CBS’ “Made in Jersey” — but more im-portantly for local affi liates it appears view-ers may be changing channels.

For the fi rst time in nine years, NBC na-tionally is the No. 1-rated network among the targeted 18-49 age group, up 11 percent over the fi rst two weeks of last season. CBS is down 23 percent, Fox is down 21 percent and ABC is down 13 percent. Overall viewership among 18-49 year-olds is down 11 percent.

At NBC (KVOA 4) new shows performing well include Matthew Perry’s “Go On” (8 p.m. Tuesdays), “Th e New Normal” (8:30 p.m. Tues-days) and “Revolution” (9 p.m. Tuesdays).

CBS (KOLD 13) has just one hit so far among the new series, Dennis Quaid’s “Ve-gas” (9 p.m. Tuesdays).

Showing more comitment than network of-fi cials have had in recent years, Fox (KMSB 11) has already given the green light for full-season productions of sitcoms “Th e Mindy Project” (8:30 p.m. Tuesdays) starring Mindy Kaling, and “Ben & Kate” (7:30 p.m. Tuesdays). Neither could be described as a bona fi de hit yet.

At ABC (KGUN 9), “Nashville” (9 p.m. Wednesdays) premiered impressively Oct. 10 and “Th e Last Resort” (7 p.m. Th ursdays) is showing some promise.

New shows that are already in trouble in-clude Fox’s “Mob Doctor,” ABC’s “666 Park Ave.” and “Th e Neighbors,” CBS’ “Partners,” and NBC’s “Animal Practice” and “Guys With Kids.”

Wildcats TV At last, Wildcats football fans won’t need

their night vision goggles in Arizona Stadi-um next weekend. Th e Oct. 27 game against USC has been picked up by ABC/ESPN for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff . In this part of the coun-try, the game will be shown on ABC (KGUN 9) and outside of the Pac-12 it will be on ESPN2. Th is Saturday’s (Oct. 20) Family Weekend game against Washington kicks off at 7 p.m. with TV coverage is on the new Pac-12 Networks.

Names for honorsTh e Voice of the Arizona Wildcats Brian

Jeff ries was inducted into the Arizona Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame Th ursday (Oct. 18) in Phoenix. He has been involved with broadcasting games since 1980 when he started out as a sideline re-porter working for radio station KMGX. He became the play-by-play voice in 1987. Jef-fries has called more than 2,000 Wildcats football, basketball and baseball games.

He’s now the director of broadcasting for UA sports with IMG, which means he oversees all of the Wildcats broadcasts, in English and Spanish and on radio and TV. Jeff ries started his career as a disc jockey in 1975 in Yakima, Wash., later moving to Boise, Idaho, before coming to Tucson.

Meanwhile, the Rocky Mountain South-west Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences — who hands out Emmy awards — this month inducted KOLD 13’s Barbara Grijalva into its Silver Circle, which honors people who’ve been in the broadcasting industry for at least 25 years. A native Tucsonan, Grijalva has been at KOLD since 1983 and before that worked in local radio.

For the sake of closure, a morning show on a Florida radio station won the Country Music Association award for best personali-ties in a medium market. Buzz Jackson, af-ternoon personality on KIIM 99.5-FM, was a fi nalist for the honor. It was three against one. Th at hardly seems fair.

Th e Emmy goes to ...Tucson TV stations came back from this

year’s Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards this month with plenty of hardware — 13 awards in all.

Both KGUN 9’s Erin Christiansen and KOLD 13’s Aaron Pickering won Emmys as weather anchors, KOLD’s Dave Cooneywon one as sports anchor and KVOA 4’s Ryan Recker won one for sports reporting. Additionally, KOLD’s 4 p.m. weekday news-cast won an Emmy for best daytime or eve-ning newscast in a medium-sized market.

As for how two people could win an Emmy for best weather anchor, the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences explains that theirs is not a competition in the traditional sense of competing against each other. In-stead, each is judged individually on its own merit against a standard of excellence. So congratulations to both Christiansen and Pickering and to Cooney and Recker; Tucson has two Emmy Award-winning weather an-chors and sports talents this year.

Other Emmys went to KGUN reporter Claire Doan and photographer Alfonso Sa-hagun; KOLD photographer/editor Edgar Ybarra and KUAT-TV 6 producers and edi-tors Luis Carrion, Th omas Kleespie, Tony Paniagua and Mitchell Riley; and videog-rapher Cooper James.

All totaled, KUAT-TV brought home six awards, KOLD got four, KGUN got two and KVOA received one.

Contact David Hatfi eld at

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

Inside Tucson Media appears weekly.


Gaetano Donizetti is sung in Italian with English subtitles. Perfor-mances are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Th eaterArizona

Th eatre Compa-ny’s second production of the season “Lombardi” begins a week of preview performances Saturday night in anticipa-tion of the opening next Friday (Oct. 26). Th is Southwest premiere looks inside the world of famous Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi during a pivotal week in 1965. Th e play was written by Academy Award winner Eric Simonson based on the book “When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi.” Performances continue nightly except Sundays and Mondays through Nov. 10 at the Temple of Music and Art, 330. S. Scott Ave. Th ere are also several matinees scheduled, including each Sunday. Single show tickets are on sale online at www.arizonatheatre.org or through the Tucson box offi ce at (520) 622-2823.

Contact Herb Stratford at herb@

ArtsandCultureGuy.com. Stratford teaches

Arts Management at the University of Arizona.

He appears weekly in Inside Tucson Business.

HERB STRATFORD

ARTS & CULTURE

Th ere are a couple of musical off erings of note coming up — one jazz and the other chamber music.

Th e third concert in the Tucson Jazz Society’s Jazz Under the Stars is titled “Cool and Hot” and is at 7 tonight (Oct. 19) at Tohono Chul Park, 7366 N. Paseo Del Norte. Th e hot part features Matt Mitchell’s Hot Club of Tucson perform-ing Django-style Gypsy Jazz and the cool part features Eric Hines and Pan Dulce. Tickets are $30 at the door or buy them online — tucsonjazz.org — for $25, or $20 for jazz society members and military with an ID.

Next week the world famous Julliard String Quartet performs two diff erent concerts, one at 3 p.m. Oct. 23 and the other at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24 in the Leo Rich Th eater in the Tucson Convention Center (TCC), 260 S. Church Ave. Th e perfor-mances will include late works by Beethoven and Mozart. Tickets are $31 each with student discounts. Buy them online from the from Arizona Friends of Chamber Music at www.arizonacham-bermusic.org.

OperaArizona Opera’s fi rst production of the

season “Lucia di Lammermoor” takes the stage at the Tucson Music Hall at the TCC this weekend. Set in the Scottish highlands of the 17th century, staging for the tragedy features gloomy castle sets and ornate costumes. Th e opera by

Musical off erings: Cool, hotjazz and Julliard Quartet

OUT OF THE OFFICE

MICHAEL LURIA

MEALS & ENTERTAINMENT

Giving is a 2-way street; restarauteur needs help

As a former restaurateur and now executive director of the Children’s Museum Tucson, I have been on both sides of the street when it comes to giving and receiving for causes.

Restaurateur Brian Metzger, owner of Jax Kitchen and the Abbey, is among those who has contributed countless gift certifi cates as fund-raisers. Now Metzger could use a little help himself as his twin brother, Jay, fi ghts Guillain-Barre Syn-drome, a paralyzing neurological disorder.

At 6:30 p.m. Monday (Oct. 22), Metzger will host Jay Day Dinners simultaneously at both of his restaurants to help his brother pay mounting medical bills.

Th e menus include coctails, three-course dinners and wine — all donated — along with the labor from the staff s of the two restaurants so the entire $150 per person can be donated to Jay Metzger and his family. Make reservations directly with the restaurant of your choice.

• Jax Kitchen, 7286 N. Oracle Road — www.jaxkitchen.com — (520) 219-1235; or Th e Abbey, 6960 E. Sunrise Drive — www.theabbeytucson.com — (520) 299-3132

Celebrate CosechaDos Cabezas Wine Works in Sonoita is

celebrating the end of harvest with a Cosecha festival Oct. 27 and 28. Cosecha, the Spanish word for harvest, gives proprietors Todd and Kelly Bostock an opportunity to share the fruits of their labor

(pun intended) from their two vineyards.

It’s a ticketed event where guests are treated to a special barrel tasting tour, including newly released wines and unreleased-unblended wines.

Also included is a lunch from Cafe Baratin, an acclaimed Scottsdale restaurant owned by chef Charleen Badman, who once worked at Café Terra Cotta.

Tickets are $50 each and can be bought from Dos Cabezas website. For those not up to commiting the entire event, wine tasting tickets can be purchased for $12 and a la carte lunches are $15.

Winemaker Todd Bostock says this is a particularly good year to celebrate. “After subjecting us to two years of meteorologi-cal brutality, Mother Nature fi nally let up and allowed the vines to not only load up on fruit, but also ripen it,” he said.

• Dos Cabezas Wine Works, 3248 Highway 82, Sonoita — www.doscabezas-wineworks.com — (520) 455-5141

Contact Michael Luria at mjluria@

gmail.com. Meals & Entertainment appears

weekly in Inside Tucson Business.

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Sonoran Gardens a growing business, through close designer relationshipsBy Alan M. PetrilloInside Tucson Business

Growing a business may seem like a natural metaphor for a landscaping company, but doing so in a diffi cult economy and keeping the services provided at a high level to meet expecta-tions are a couple of the growth elements that occasionally keep Chris Niccum, president and owner of Sonoran Gardens Inc., up at night.

However, insomnia notwithstanding, Sonoran Gardens is fl ourishing at a time when competing businesses have shut their doors. Niccum says the core business focus of Sonoran Gardens has been designing outdoor living spaces for residential customers since the company’s inception in 1996, and the company’s expansion into a Custom Care division a few years ago has given it a boost that has fueled a part of its growth.

Sonoran Gardens also has just complet-ed the purchase of the Contained Garden-er, a company specializing in potted plants for residential and commercial customers, that Niccum said fi ts neatly into the Custom Care division mold of providing landscape maintenance and service, pool care and handyman services.

“Our core business is still the design and building of outdoor living spaces,” Niccum said, “which is how we survive as a company. But balancing that with our Custom Care business means we have become much less construction depen-dent.”

Niccum said Sonoran Gardens was “pretty much a residential construction landscape company in 2008,” but that after revenues dropped 50 percent in 2009, “we knew we had to do something diff erent to survive that downturn.”

And survive it did, becoming a bigger company today in terms of people and revenue than it was in 2008, Niccum said.

“We have 16 employees now, including the four family members who make up the management team of Sonoran Gardens,” Niccum said. “Th at’s the big change in the last few years — I’m the CEO now with a strong focus on fi nancial management and working on new opportunities.”

Niccum’s wife Jean serves as bookkeep-er and offi ce manager. Th eir son Matt manages the construction side of the business and builds all of the outdoor living spaces, and their daughter, Kira Niccum-Pritzl, is the operations manager, schedul-

ing all jobs, ordering materials and assisting the Custom Care manager, Roberta Braegelmann.

Niccum, who holds a bachelor’s degree in ornamental horticulture from Purdue University, said his goal is to double the size of Sonoran Gardens in terms of revenue over the next fi ve years, hoping to take

the business over the $3 million mark annually.

“Our landscape construction business continues to grow and a lot of that is due to the marketing we do and the close relation-ships we’ve developed with designers,” Niccum said. “We have two designers who work for us as contract employees, but still maintain their own design fi rms.”

Niccum says Sonoran Gardens won’t do a landscape construction job without fi rst having a design developed, calling it the “fi rst step in the job, where the designer meets with the client and gets the project going.”

He believes one of the biggest innova-tions in the landscape construction business is that most of the marketing is done on the Internet. For instance, when he gets an initial phone call from a client, Niccum fi rst calls up a Google Street View of the residence and takes a bird’s eye look at the house to get a fi rst impression of the scope of the job.

“Using technology is the wave of the future in every business,” he said. “From the design side, there is a lot of software

bofstGrfi

BIZ FACTS

Sonoran Gardens4261 W. Jeremy Place http://sonorangardensinc.com(520) 579-9411

Kira Niccum-Pritzl, left, Jean and Chris Niccum review a Sonoran Gardens landscape design plan.

Alan

M. P

etril

lo

being developed that allows you to sit in front of a client with a laptop and show them in 3-D what their project will look like when its done.”

Technology comes into play on the service side of the business too. Th e Sonoran Gardens service technicians have iPads with estimating software loaded into them, Niccum noted, “which means he has an offi ce in his pocket where he can access the internet and maybe have a look at an owner’s manual if necessary.”

He sees one of the biggest challenges to all residential construction companies as the diffi culty clients are having in obtaining money.

“Th e decline in the housing market has been a big hit for everyone,” Niccum observed. “It’s diffi cult for people to get home equity loans for construction projects because many don’t have much equity left in their houses. But the market is starting to change and we’re seeing some banks loosening up on their lending standards, which has been refl ected in more residential custom home work for us.”

He also believes that one of the chief reasons Sonoran Gardens recovered so quickly from the recession is due to marketing.

“We fully understand the value of marketing and spend money to do it well, and right,” he said. “We’re constantly updating and changing our marketing tactics, and even with the economic downturn when we cut costs, we never cut back on our marketing budget. We want to be out there always trying and doing new things ourselves.”


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SPECIAL EVENTS

Eighth Annual Tucson Record ShowSunday (Nov. 11) 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Las Cazuelitas Event Center 1365 W. Grant Road Contact: Bruce Smith [email protected] or (520) 622-0104Cost: $4Dealers from all over the Southwest will be selling vinyl, tapes, CDs and music memorabilia. Dealer tables are $35.

Tax-Free Trust of Arizona Annual Outreach MeetingTuesday (Nov. 13) 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.Westward Look Resort 245 E. Ina RoadContact: Al Stockman [email protected] of (602) 820-1859www.aquilafunds.comAnnual outreach meeting feature speakers include Arizona economist John Lucking, who will provide an economic update for Tucson and Arizona, and Todd Curtis, portfolio manager of the Fund.

REGULAR MEETINGS

Inside ConnectionsSecond and fourth Wednesday, 7:15 a.m.Home Town Buffet5101 N Oracle RoadRSVP: Eric Miller at (520) 979-1696

Institute of Management AccountantsThird Thursday, (September through May) 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.Old Pueblo Grille60 N. Alvernon WayRSVP: Gale McGuire (520) 584-3480 or [email protected]

“Real Estate Investment Plan”Keller Williams Southern Arizona1745 E. River Road, Ste. 245Third Tuesday at 6 p.m.Workshop for individuals considering investment RSVP by noon Mondays (520) 909-9375

Kiwanis Club of Oro ValleyWednesdays, 7 a.m.Holiday Inn Express 10150 N. Oracle RoadInfo: [email protected]: $8

LeTip MidtownEvery Tuesday, 7:01 to 8:31 a.m.El Parador Restaurant 2744 E. BroadwayRSVP: (520) 296-9900Cost: $10

LeTip TucsonExecutives Chapter meetingEvery Tuesday, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.Macayo’s Mexican Kitchen 7360 N. Oracle RoadRSVP: (520) 299-9600, [email protected]

LeTip International I-19 Business NetworkersEvery Tuesday, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.Amado Territory I-19 exit 48Information: (520) 591-5500Cost: $15

CALENDARLions Club – Weekly BreakfastEvery Wednesday 7 to 8 a.m.Radisson Suites6555 E. Speedway Information: [email protected]

Marana Chamber of Commerce BreakfastsFirst Wednesday, 7:30 a.m.Taste of Texas 8310 N. Thornydale RoadRSVP: (520) 682-4314Marana Chamber of Commerce MixerFourth Tuesday of each month5:30 to 7:30 p.m.Locations vary

Information: www.maranachamber.com

Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors BureauFirst Tuesday Monthly Luncheon11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.Arizona Inn 2200 E. Elm St.RSVP Required: (520) 770-2131 or www.visitTucson.org/PartnerRSVPCost: $25 MTCVB Partners; $30 Others

NAWBO Monthly Mixer Third Thursdays 4 to 7 p.m.Locations vary

Info: [email protected]

NAWBO Monthly BreakfastFourth Tuesdays, 8 to 9:30 a.m.Locations varyInfo: Morella Bierwag, (520) 326-2926 or [email protected]

NAWBO Monthly LuncheonSecond Tuesdays 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.Locations varyInfo: Morella Bierwag, (520) 326-2926 or [email protected]


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THE

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GET ON THE LISTNext up: Chambers of commerce, Business and trade organizations

Inside Tucson Business is near the final weeks of gathering data for the 2013 edi-tion of the Book of Lists. Categories that will be published in upcoming weekly issues of Inside Tucson Business are:

• Oct. 26: Women-owned businesses • Nov. 2: Chambers of commerce,

Business and trade organizations • Nov. 9: Telephone service providers,

Telecommunications equipment provid-ers, Teleservices firms

• Nov. 16: Tourist attractions in Southern Arizona

• Nov. 23: Hotels, resorts and guest ranches; Travel agencies

If your business fits one of these cat-egories, 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 busi-nesses can create 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.

NEW IN TOWNGrand opening Saturdayat Furrier’s 13th store

Jack Furrier Tire and Auto Care will have a grand opening Saturday (Oct. 20) for its 13th Southern Arizona location in Marana near Interstate 10 and Cortaro Road.

Th e store, 8051 N. Casa Grande Highway, is on the eastbound I-10 frontage road south of Cortaro Road.

Like Furrier’s other locations, the Mara-na store is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays and 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Th e phone number for the new location is (520) 744-4800.

Started in 1960 as Western Tire Center, the Tucson-based retailer says it now has 12 locations that are within fi ve minutes of 95 percent of the population of the Tucson re-gion. It also has a location in Sierra Vista.

Th e company’s website is: www.jackfur-riers.com.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Commerce Authority CEOchoice narrowed to one

Th e interim CEO of the Arizona Com-merce Authority (ACA) has been named the sole fi nalist to permanently lead the state-wide economic development agency.

Sandra Watson has been serving as the interim CEO since Don Cardon resigned the position early this summer. She had been the chief operating offi cer and with the state Department of Commerce since 1996.

According to Nicole McTh eny, spokes-woman for the ACA, the next step is to work out a contract with Watson. She is cur-rently being paid an annualized salary of $218,000 as interim CEO. Cardon’s salary was $300,000.

Th e ACA was established last year as a public-private agency to replace the Ari-zona Department of Commerce. It receives $10 million from the state but is run by a board made up mostly of CEOs of private fi rms named by Gov. Jan Brewer.

According to the Arizona Capitol Times, the ACA spent $75,000 on the search for a new CEO.

ENTERTAINMENT/SPORTS4 MLS teams to returnto Tucson in February

Building on the success of the past two years, four Major League Soccer (MLS) teams have accepted invitations to come to Tucson to pay in the third annual FC Tuc-son Desert Diamond Cup next February at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, 2500 E. Ajo Way.

Additionally, NBC Sports Network, for-merly Versus, has announced it will show the event’s fi nal game live.

“Tucson has become the ‘Western Hub of MLS Pre-Season’ and we look forward to celebrating the world’s game with our

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friends and family all around the region, in-cluding northern Mexico,” said Greg Foster, managing member of FC Tucson, in making the announcement today (Oct. 11).

Th ree of the teams — the New England Revolution, the New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake — are returning from this year’s Desert Diamond Cup and will be joined by the Seattle Sounders.

Th e 2013 FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup will take place over four day, consecu-tive Wednesdays and Saturdays, Feb. 13, 17, 20 and 23. Th e tournament championship fi nal will be played at 6 p.m. Feb. 23.

LEGALAZ Voter registration law to be heard by high court

An Arizona law requiring proof of U.S. citizenship before allowing someone to register to vote will be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Passed in 2004 as Proposition 200, critics say the law imposed a substantial burden on the ability of citizens to register and cast bal-lots. A 2006 lawsuit argued the requirement clashes with a 1993 federal law – the Nation-al Voter Registration Act (NVRA) – that set the terms for voter registration nationwide and did not include a requirement that pro-spective voters show ID proving citizenship before being permitted to register to vote in a federal election.

State lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to reverse an 8-2 decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked en-forcement of the Arizona proof-of-citizen-ship requirement against those using the federal NVRA form to register to vote.

HUMAN RESOURCESConvergys seeks to fi ll 285 new jobs

Looking to add 285 jobs, Convergys Cor-poration will hold a job fair from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Doubletree Hotel by Hil-ton at Reid Park, 445 S. Alvernon Way.

Convergys, 3760 N. Commerce Drive, operates a customer service center. New employees will provide inbound customer service support to a client in the healthcare industry. New hires will also have the op-portunity to earn a pharmacy technician certifi cation, the training for which will be fully covered by Convergys.

Th e company is also accepting applica-tions online at http://careers.convergys.com.

Potential employees must have exem-plary customer service skills, computer literacy, and candidates should posses some sales experience, according to Dan McKelvy, site leader for the Convergys cen-ter in Tucson.

BRIEFS


FINANCEYOUR MONEY

What to do with 401(k) if you leave your job

If you leave your job where you have contributed to a 401(k) plan you will have three options available to you: cash out the 401(k), keep it in the current plan or move it into another qualifi ed retirement account.

A qualifi ed account could be your new employer’s 401(k) plan, a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA. When you transfer your 401(k) to another qualifi ed retirement account, it’s called a rollover.

Th e fi rst option, cashing out your 401(k), is usually the worst thing you could do. Not only will you be taxed on the withdrawal, but the withdrawal may also push you into a higher tax bracket. Additionally, if your under 59½ years of age, you are subject to a 10 percent early withdrawal penalty.

For example, let’s assume a combined federal and state tax rate of 35 percent, a $100,000 premature withdrawal from a 401(k) could cost you $45,000 in taxes and penalties leaving you with only $55,000.

Keeping your 401(k) in the existing current plan does have some benefi ts.

If the 401(k) has a lot of highly appreci-ated company stock, from the company you actually worked for, you may want to take advantage of the net unrealized appreciation tax break.

Net unrealized appreciation is the diff erence between the value of the company stock at the time it was put into your 401(k) account and the time of distributions, or transferred out of the 401(k). So the only part of your company stock subject to your ordinary income taxes is the value of the stock when it was fi rst acquired by the 401(k) plan.

To summarize, because of the net unrealized appreciation tax break, it may be benefi cial for you not to roll over your company stock from the 401(k) to an IRA.

Mostly likely, though, you want to roll over other assets that don’t receive the net unrealized appreciation tax break for continued tax deferrals on past and future growth.

Here is an example: Joe is 57 and has company stock in his 401(k) plan. Th e original cost was $200,000, but now it is worth $1 million. Th is example is assuming Joe immediately sells his stock.

Not rolling into an IRA 35% income tax on $200,000 = $70,000 15% lower capital gains tax on $800,000 = $120,000Total tax $190,000

Rolling into an IRA35% tax on $1 million = $350,000 Total tax $350,000

If you plan on working past 70½, 401(k) plans don’t usually force you to take a required

minimum distribution as IRAs do. Addi-tionally, 401(k) plans have loan provisions allowing you to borrow against them without taxation or penalties. Th ough, any amount not repaid is treated as a taxable distribution. Lastly, your current 401(k) may have lower fees than an IRA.

Th e last option is to do a rollover of your 401(k) to an individual IRA or a Roth IRA. A rollover into a Roth IRA does increase your taxable income and potentially bump you into a higher marginal tax rate.

If you are not sure if a rollover into a Roth IRA is benefi cial for you, you can always transfer your 401(k) into a tradi-tional IRA and then, later do a partial or full conversion into a Roth IRA. Limitations and restrictions may apply.

Rollovers to traditional IRAs are tax-free and benefi ts include: more investment fl exibility (into such things as stocks, bonds, CDs and even real estate) and continued tax deferral on past and future investment gains.

If you elect to do a rollover into an IRA, make sure your employer makes the check payable to the investment company you’ve chosen. Th is is called a trustee-to-trustee transfer and it helps avoid the 20 percent automatic tax withholding.

After your transfer is complete, you want to invest it appropriately in a well-balanced and diversifi ed portfolio with low corre-lated asset classes including diff erent types of bonds and equities. Please consult a fi nancial/tax advisor that specializes in retirement planning to protect yourself, your family and your retirement nest egg.

Contact Drew Blease, president and

founder of Blease Financial Services, 7358 N. La

Cholla Blvd., Suite 100, at drewblease@

bleasefi nancial.com or (520) 299-7172.

DREW BLEASE

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

Company Name Symbol Oct. 17 Oct. 10 Change52-Week

Low52-Week

HighTucson companiesApplied Energetics Inc AERG.OB 0.03 0.03 0.00 0.03 0.69CDEX Inc CEXIQ.OB 0.30 0.01 0.29 0.01 0.24Providence Service Corp PRSC 11.35 11.44 -0.09 9.56 16.87UniSource Energy Corp (Tucson Electric Power) UNS 42.32 41.40 0.92 34.62 27.02

Southern Arizona presenceAlcoa Inc (Huck Fasteners) AA 9.18 8.71 0.47 7.97 17.60AMR Corp (American Airlines) AAMRQ 0.37 0.38 -0.01 0.20 9.24Augusta Resource Corp (Rosemont Mine) AZC 2.79 2.70 0.09 1.48 7.02Bank Of America Corp BAC 9.44 9.21 0.23 4.92 3.61Bank of Montreal (M&I Bank) BMO 60.84 59.77 1.07 50.95 19.10BBVA Compass BBVA 8.67 7.60 1.07 5.30 19.78Berkshire Hathaway (Geico, Long Cos) BRK-B* 90.50 88.73 1.77 72.60 7.10Best Buy Co Inc BBY 17.59 17.80 -0.21 16.25 80.09BOK Financial Corp (Bank of Arizona) BOKF 58.39 59.55 -1.16 48.36 45.55Bombardier Inc* (Bombardier Aerospace) BBDB 3.79 3.67 0.12 3.30 50.78CB Richard Ellis Group CBG 19.31 18.45 0.86 14.12 5.64Citigroup Inc C 38.43 35.14 3.29 23.30 7.08Comcast Corp CMCSA 37.12 35.16 1.96 20.90 14.38Community Health Sys (Northwest Med Cntrs) CYH 28.09 27.93 0.16 15.97 5.43Computer Sciences Corp CSC 32.42 31.33 1.09 22.19 17.88Convergys Corp CVG 16.35 15.84 0.51 9.86 40.11Costco Wholesale Corp COST 96.78 101.56 -4.78 78.41 58.36CenturyLink (Qwest Communications) CTL 39.33 39.58 -0.25 34.06 12.76Cvs/Caremark (CVS pharmacy) CVS 46.65 48.06 -1.41 34.28 61.45Delta Air Lines DAL 10.19 9.84 0.35 7.08 38.27Dillard Department Stores DDS 78.51 73.53 4.98 42.54 13.73Dover Corp (Sargent Controls & Aerospace) DOV 56.01 55.22 0.79 50.14 20.17DR Horton Inc DHI 21.56 20.73 0.83 10.11 46.48Freeport-McMoRan (Phelps Dodge) FCX 42.31 40.22 2.09 31.08 13.90Granite Construction Inc GVA 29.56 28.65 0.91 20.78 90.55Home Depot Inc HD 61.39 59.74 1.65 34.58 45.94Honeywell Intl Inc HON 61.89 60.24 1.65 47.85 31.03IBM IBM 200.63 205.82 -5.19 176.17 43.21Iron Mountain IRM 37.69 34.35 3.34 27.10 8.99Intuit Inc INTU 60.91 59.64 1.27 48.91 134.25Journal Communications (KGUN 9, KMXZ) JRN 5.60 5.33 0.27 3.40 32.04JP Morgan Chase & Co JPM 43.32 41.77 1.55 28.28 33.15Kaman Corp (Electro-Optics Develpmnt Cntr) KAMN 36.43 35.27 1.16 26.10 4.80KB Home KBH 16.76 14.86 1.90 6.17 47.47Kohls Corp KSS 52.81 50.14 2.67 42.72 26.29Kroger Co (Fry's Food Stores) KR 25.01 23.30 1.71 20.98 20.70Lee Enterprises (Arizona Daily Star) LEE 1.49 1.47 0.02 0.49 60.89Lennar Corporation LEN 38.13 36.78 1.35 14.87 24.80Lowe's Cos (Lowe's Home Improvement) LOW 32.79 30.89 1.90 20.34 4.77Loews Corp (Ventana Canyon Resort) L 42.69 41.55 1.14 35.59 17.88Macerich Co (Westcor, La Encantada) MAC 59.33 58.77 0.56 43.30 24.50Macy's Inc M 40.84 39.00 1.84 28.69 38.41Marriott Intl Inc MAR 38.79 38.38 0.41 27.53 38.22Meritage Homes Corp MTH 41.55 40.53 1.02 16.43 20.84Northern Trust Corp NTRS 48.21 46.80 1.41 34.87 29.88Northrop Grumman Corp NOC 70.60 68.21 2.39 52.69 10.79Penney, J.C. JCP 26.58 24.15 2.43 19.06 24.35Pulte Homes Inc (Pulte, Del Webb) PHM 17.44 15.89 1.55 4.24 66.08Raytheon Co (Raytheon Missile Systems) RTN 56.66 54.81 1.85 42.00 62.23Roche Holdings AG (Ventana Medical Systems) RHHBY 50.06 48.30 1.76 36.50 37.21Safeway Inc SWY 16.33 16.29 0.04 14.73 13.59Sanofi -Aventis SA SNY 45.08 42.75 2.33 31.61 4.87Sears Holdings (Sears, Kmart, Customer Care) SHLD 61.47 59.36 2.11 28.89 56.30SkyWest Inc SKYW 11.45 10.36 1.09 6.25 45.19Southwest Airlines Co LUV 8.95 8.77 0.18 7.37 6.83Southwest Gas Corp SWX 44.72 43.75 0.97 37.05 23.94Stantec Inc STN 35.59 34.96 0.63 22.41 41.59Target Corp TGT 63.04 62.66 0.38 47.25 106.06TeleTech Holdings Inc TTEC 17.53 17.14 0.39 14.04 18.56Texas Instruments Inc TXN 28.47 27.17 1.30 26.06 12.73Time Warner Inc (AOL) TWX 45.66 45.34 0.32 32.09 29.48Ual Corp (United Airlines) UAL 20.62 20.18 0.44 15.51 29.53Union Pacifi c Corp UNP 123.73 120.93 2.80 90.56 52.46Apollo Group Inc (University of Phoenix) APOL 21.40 28.10 -6.70 21.34 20.95US Airways Group Inc LCC 11.62 11.34 0.28 3.96 27.00US Bancorp (US Bank) USB 34.20 34.60 -0.40 23.72 32.85Wal-Mart Stores Inc (Wal-Mart, Sam's Club) WMT 77.03 75.42 1.61 55.68 16.34Walgreen Co WAG 35.83 35.63 0.20 28.53 68.66Wells Fargo & Co WFC 34.47 35.23 -0.76 23.19 81.20Western Alliance Bancorp (Alliance Bank) WAL 10.78 10.47 0.31 5.46 7.23Zions Bancorp (National Bank of Arizona) ZION 22.06 21.86 0.20 14.52 26.84Data Source: Dow Jones Market Watch

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


THE PULSE: TUCSON REAL ESTATE

10/8/2012 10/1/2012

Median Price $150,000 $129,500Active Listings 4,507 4,454New Listings 392 475Pending Sales 367 319Homes Closed 170 169Source: Long Realty Research Center

MONTHLY BUILDING PERMITS: SEPT. 20122012 2011 2010 2009

Pima County 31 41 43 93

Marana 29 20 17 26

Tucson 35 10 17 33

Sahuarita 9 15 23 48

So. Pinal 11 15 16 14

Oro Valley 33 0 3 7

Total 148 101 119 221

Source: Bright Future Real Estate Research

YEARTODATE BUILDING PERMITS: SEPT. 20122012 2011 2010 2009

Pima County 436 412 579 574

Marana 385 230 288 153

Tucson 247 175 276 282

Sahuarita 211 149 279 445

So. Pinal 144 133 147 131

Oro Valley 103 35 39 43

Total 1,526 1,134 1,608 1,628

Source: Bright Future Real Estate Research

INSIDE REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

By Roger YohemInside Tucson Business

For the fi rst time in at least six years, new home builders are singing a new song. Like Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, they are “Back in the Saddle.” In September, building permits passed the total volume for 2011.

Year-to-date, 1,526 permits have been issued compared to 1,438 for all of 2011, to which Ginger Kneup, owner of Bright Future Real Estate Research, simply sang praises of “good news!”

After the housing and mortgage crash, builders had to “take the long way home” a la Supertramp. Th ey struggled to fi nd their way back to profi tability amid a market of “dis-chord,” blasted by foreclosures, shadow inventory and mortgage fraud.

To exceed the 2010 total of 1,865 would require an average 113 permits a month for the rest of the year. Although new construc-tion typically slows this time of year, Kneup said, “Th is is a possibility. We expect Oro Valley to continue strong through the fourth quarter.”

Lennar, Meritage Homes and Richmond American Homes soon will have new proj-ects humming in the Rancho Vistoso area, she explained.

During September, the city of Tucson “topped the charts” with 35 permits, fol-lowed by Oro Valley with 33 (see chart). Sa-huarita had the least at 9 permits.

Year-to-date, Pima County has issued the most permits at 436, followed by Marana at 385. Th e fewest permits were in Oro Valley at 103. However, that total is almost a 300 percent increase over 2011, an economic boost that puts the town “on the road again” to recovery.

Commercial real estate Consider it a sign of the times, the still

uncertain yet optimistic economic times. Now that the 2012 third quarter has

closed, commercial real estate brokers are eagerly looking forward to several planned projects for 2013.

In the offi ce sector, all eyes are on the much-anticipated construction of a 124,000 square-foot mixed-use building downtown. In industrial, there is 175,000 square feet of new product in the pipeline. In retail, Wal-mart is driving most of the 377,000 square

Home builders singing ‘Back in the Saddle’

feet of space under construction. Th e bottom line? Th e third quarter per-

formance was just kinda… there.“Economic uncertainty continues to

stall the offi ce market rebound. As a result, Tucson’s offi ce market recorded its second straight quarter of negative absorption,” said David Montijo, fi rst vice president at CBRE.

In the third quarter, the offi ce market lost 45,838 square feet of occupied space. Th at pushed the overall vacancy rate to 17.6 percent from 17.1 percent in the second quarter, according to Montijo. CBRE tracks non-owner occupied properties larger than 10,000 square feet.

Rick Kleiner, a principal with Picor Com-mercial Real Estate Services, pointed to three “signifi cant distressed buys” that closed dur-ing the quarter. Th e highest-priced parcel was Southwest Professional Plaza, 2122 N. Craycroft Road, that was bought at auction for $4.85 million by a California investor.

Corporate Center Broadway, 7750 E. Broadway, was purchased for $2.8 million by the Easter Seals Blake Foundation. And Pima County bought the former HUD Build-ing at 160 N. Stone Ave. for $635,000, he said.

Th e industrial sector recorded its “larg-

est occupancy gains of the year,” said Tim Healy, vice president at CBRE. “Th e best performer was the southeast submarket.”

Overall, there was about 150,000 square feet of net absorption in the quarter.

Although the sector has scored three consecutive quarters of gains, the year-over-year vacancy rate is basically fl at, currently at 10.9 percent compared with a year ago at 11 percent, according to CBRE.

With several large properties in escrow and the arrivals of Accelr8 and Integrated Technologies to the market, “we expect a strong fi nish to 2012 in terms of activity and absorption,” added Stephen Cohen, another principal with Picor.

Lastly in retail, the holiday shopping sea-son can’t start fast enough.

During the third quarter, about 19,000 square feet of space was vacated, “ending a streak of fi ve straight quarters of positive gains,” said Nancy McClure, fi rst vice presi-dent at CBRE. During those fi ve quarters, 372,795 square feet of space was absorbed.

Occupancies are still stronger compared to last year. Th e third quarter ended with a 10.2 percent vacancy rate compared with 12.4 percent a year ago. Total retail inventory now stands at 21.4 million square feet, she added.

Looking ahead, McClure captured the optimism of her peers: “As available space in the prime retail hubs diminishes, more new development will likely occur.”

Contractors’ treatMartina and Alvaro Leon, who will open

their second Dairy Queen Treat Shop in December, typify the small business own-ers who grow the local economy. Th eir new $1.1 million restaurant will create up to 15 construction-related jobs and once open, up to 30 retail jobs.

Th e 2,000 square-foot building at 6550 S. Midvale Road will feature a modern design concept that will off er drive-through, dine-in and outside seating. Th e architect/engi-neer/general contractor is KBP Architecture LLC/Kevin Petrick & Associates, 11635 E. Tanque Verde Road.

Opening a southwest location was impor-tant to Alvaro because he lived in the area as a teenager. Th e Leons also own and operate a Dairy Queen at 6780 E. Tanque Verde Road.

Sales and leases• TMC Holdings purchased 1,500 square

feet at 5200 E. Farness Drive, Suite 100, for $105,000 from Paul and Maureen Lichten-stein, represented by Andrew Sternberg, Oxford Realty Advisors. Th e buyer was rep-resented by Rick Kleiner and Tom Knox, Pi-cor Commercial Real Estate Services.

Email news items for this column to

[email protected]. Inside Real Estate &

Construction appears weekly.

WEEKLY MORTGAGE RATES

Program Current Last WeekOne

Year Ago12 Month

High12 Month

Low

30 YEAR 3.63% 3.875%APR 3.63% 3.875%APR 4.95% 4.95% 3.50%

15 YEAR 2.88% 3.125%APR 2.88% 3.125% APR 4.22% 4.22% 2.88%

3/1 ARM 2.75% 3.00%APR 2.75% 3.00% 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 • 520-324-0000MB #0905432. Rates are subject to change without notice based upon market conditions.

10/16/2012


So now, not only do we have to fi gure out which candidates to vote for and how to vote on the propositions, the new dynamic is when to vote. Do it too soon and you might cast your vote for somebody who is later found to have kicked a puppy. But the longer you put it off , the longer you’re faced with a barrage of robocalls and junk mail.

By the time this column hits the printed issue of Inside Tucson Business, probably about one out of fi ve of us who will vote in the Nov. 6 election in Pima County already will have mailed back their completed ballots. Th at’s according to trends from previous elections. In the Aug. 28 primary, 60 percent of ballots were cast by mail and 40 percent of those were returned within the fi rst 10 days.

For the Nov. 6 election, the bulk of the county’s early ballots arrived in mailboxes last Friday (Oct. 12).

Th ere’s plenty of upside to voting early. As soon as Pima County Elections offi cials receive com-

pleted early ballots they remove them from the outer enve-lopes and mark off the name of the voter who has returned the ballot. Th e ballots, which are still inside another envelope, are then sent to the counting area where they are held, unopened, until they are counted.

Th e important part is that once you’re checked off as having voted, you’re no longer an infl uenceable voter in the eyes of a campaign. Th ey stop phoning you and they stop the mailings. At least the sophisticated campaigns do.

On the other hand, these last weeks before Election Day is when campaigns pull out all of the stops to dig up dirt. Voting too early might mean voting for a candidate who has done something bad. Or maybe somebody will fi nd an unintended consequence on a ballot measure. For my money, a candidate who gets so desperate that he or she needs to lie to try to get elected is a sure “no” vote.

Th ere’s also the matter of evaluating endorsements. We at Inside Tucson Business last week outlined our recommenda-tions for the propositions and this week’s editorial lists the candidates for Congress and the Legislature who will work for the best interests of businesses and the economy. More endorsements are planned for next week’s issue.

Th e choice is: Vote early, get it over with and enjoy the peace and serenity of fewer phone calls and junk mail or continue gathering information? If you wait, know that others are doing the same. In the Aug. 28 primary, about 9 percent of ballots were turned it at polling places on Election Day.

Getting the newspaperMy column two weeks ago about my frustrations in getting

a newspaper delivered to a hotel room garnered some interesting responses, including from hotel executives. It turns out discontinuing newspaper delivery was a cost-saving move for most hotels. However, executives from two of Tucson’s top resorts said they both have systems in place to deliver a newspaper to a room for a guest who really wants one.

I should have stayed in Tucson.

Contact David Hatfi eld at dhatfi [email protected]

or (520) 295-4237.

EDITORIAL

DAVID HATFIELD

BIZ BUZZ

To vote now or to vote later?

EDITORIAL

Elect clout for Southern Arizona At a time when Southern Arizona’s economic and

business interests can be overwhelmed by the wants of Maricopa County or lost in political partisanship, deciding which candidate is best in this election can boil down to who gets us clout in Congress and in the Legislature.

So we at Inside Tucson Business are taking a diff erent look at the candidates this year, with an eye to endors-ing those who stand the best chance of listening and then doing something good for Southern Arizona.

Congress • U.S. Senate: Richard Carmona. Th ere hasn’t been

a Tucsonan in the U.S. Senate since Dennis DeConcini left 18 years ago. Although he’s running as a Democrat, Carmona has been an independent and thinks that way, which could make him a crucial decision-maker depending on how the political make-up of the Senate after this election.

• Congressional District 1: Jonathan Paton. In his time in the Legislature, Paton proved to be diligent listener and, more importantly, someone who will work with others to see a solution through. He would be a voice of reason within the Republican majority in Congress.

• Congressional District 2: Martha McSally. As the fi rst woman to command a U.S. Air Force fi ghter squadron and at age 46, Republican McSally is the person who can start working now to regain clout for Southern Arizona in Congress. Her opponent, who is also new to the job, is a 67-year-old career bureaucrat and can’t possibly get clout before he retires.

• Congressional District 3: Raúl Grijalva. Facts are facts, one of the most liberal members in Congress will be reelected because, unlike two years ago, Republicans don’t have a serious challenger.

Legislature • Legislative District 2: Oddly, considering this

district includes the Republican stronghold of Green

Valley, there’s only one Republican candidate running for any of the three seats: Chris Ackerley (his name is John Christopher Ackerley on the ballot), a teacher who knows the value of education which would make him an important asset to a Republican majority caucus.

• Legislative District 9: He may be a Democrat but Steve Farley has always been approachable and willing to work with anyone — even Republicans — who has good ideas. For the House, Ethan Orr is the epitome of the kind thoughtful Republican who can make a diff erence for Tucson.

• Legislative District 10: Talk about a clout quandary. Th ere’s Republican Frank Antenori, a man who will meet with any constituent but who can be frustrating to business interests, including the Tucson Metro Chamber, when he says, “I’m not their little butt-boy,” as quoted in the political Yellow Sheet Report. Some Republicans have even started to distance themselves from Antenori. In a district with a Democratic registration edge, David Bradley should have an upper hand. He’s an amiable fellow who has Legislative experience. His passion is healthcare. Th e choice for the House is easier with two incumbents of diff erent parties who’ve proven their abilities at consensus-building: Republican Ted Vogt and Democrat Bruce Wheeler.

• Legislative District 11: While Republican Al Melvin looks to have the upper-hand at re-election, he too (like Antenori) has lost some business support, including the Tucson Metro Chamber because he’s unwilling to work with them. Democrat Jo Holt, a scientist, is an intriguing candidate because she’s willing to listen before acting. For the House, two newcomers show promise: Republican Adam Kwas-man, who has a degree in economics, and Democrat Dave Joseph, who has been a TV broadcast executive and worked for the Pima Association of Governments.


OPINIONWAKE UP, TUCSON

Two views redux: Th e employee and the boss, 2012 version Instead of getting into a version of

“Dueling Brandos” with Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry and his employees on the Board of Supervisors, we’d like to reintroduce you to an old favorite. You may recognize yourself as a business owner and an employee, who with their families are counting on you to make payroll. Hopefully, there will be a few shekels left to pay your bills.

Now, let’s sit down with a typical buisness owner and an employee to talk about the Nov. 6 election. Tell us about yourself and what you do.

Business owner: “I started my business 12 years ago. We sell furniture. I put my life savings into opening. I built the company to two locations and 18 employees. Th e hours are long but I love the independence.”

Employee: “I work for a furniture store. Th ey treat me good but I haven’t had a raise in two years. If I could fi nd another job I’d probably leave.”

Have you worked on a candidate’s campaign?

Owner: “I’m so busy trying to stay open I don’t have much time to help on campaigns.”

Employee: “I’ve walked the neighborhood for the Democratic party. Th ey have pizza.”

Do you fi nancially support candidates?Owner: “Why should I contribute to a

pro-business candidate? It won’t make a diff erence. I don’t like my name on any donor lists”

Employee: “I donate $20 here and $50 there. I get out and help where I can.”

Do you support political organiza-tions that make the community better?

Owner: “I joined the chamber of commerce. I think they are involved in politics and electing pro-busi-ness candidates but I’m not really sure.”

Employee: “I am the vice president of the Pima Mountain Quail and Lizard Hugging Association.”

Who best represents your interests at the federal level?

Owner: “Nobody really. I’d like to see

someone run against Congressman Raúl Grijalva. He really hurt business when he called for a boycott of Arizona.”

Employee: “I am proud to be represent-ed by Raúl Grijalva. He stands up against corporations and it was right that he should tell the world not to come Arizona.”

Have you ever gone to a Tucson City Council or county Board of Supervisors meeting?

Owner: “Where do they meet again?”Employee: “I go all the time. I speak out

against fat-cat business owners who don’t pay their fair share to build low-income housing and fund the arts.”

What do think about the condition of the roads in Pima County?

Owner: “I keep hearing the state reduced HURF funding to all municipali-ties. But why do the roads in Maricopa County, Marana and Oro Valley look so good when ours look like downtown Kandahar?”

Employee: “Th ose fascists at the state Capitol took all the money! Th at’s what my Pima County Board, the Tucson paper and Tucson Council people told me.”

Do you vote?Owner: “No. Like I said earlier, it doesn’t

make any diff erence.”Employee: “I always vote by early ballot.

I also help collect other early ballots for a

bunch of my neighbors and deliver them.”Did your property taxes go down when

your property values went down?Owner: “No. My property taxes went up,

even though my property value went down 17 percent.”

Employee: “I rent so I don’t pay property taxes.

How have you been making it through this economic downturn?

Owner: “It’s been tough. I’ve been losing money. I can’t sleep. I’ve had to cut employ-ees’ hours in half just to try to keep it going.”

Employee: “My lousy boss cut me down to 20 hours a week.”

So how do you see your future in Tucson?Owner: “After 12 years in business, I’m

not sure I can make it much longer. My kids graduated from the U of A and moved to Austin. I may join them.”

Employee: “Th e place where I work is talking about closing, but I’ll fi nd something. I’d like to get a job with the county or the city.”

Vote bravely in the Nov. 6 election or you might be closing in December.

Contact Joe Higgins and Chris DeSimone at [email protected]. Th ey host “Wake Up Tucson,” 6-8 a.m. weekdays on Th e Voice KVOI 1030-AM. Th eir blog is at www.TucsonChoices.com.

SPEAKING OUT

Prop. 121 would change the way we do primary elections Proposition 121 on the Nov. 6 ballot would

change the way we do primary elections in Arizona. Under our present system, voters in each political party votes for the candidates from within their party to go on the general election. Th is proposition would have all candidates, regardless of party, appear on a single ballot and the top two vote-getters would go on to the general election.

It would apply to all elections in Arizona, except those that are already non-partisan and for the election of U.S. President and Vice President. It would apply to our elections for U.S. Senate and Congress, to statewide offi ces including governor, secretary of state and attorney general; the Legislature, and county offi ces.

If it’s approved by voters, the new “top two” system, as it’s called, would go into eff ect Jan. 1, 2014.

Th e change would have special signifi -cance for the City of Tucson which is the only city in the state that holds partisan primary and general elections. Th at would be changed to this new system.

Proposition 121 drafters say that in the present system, a small number of highly partisan voters vote in the primaries. Th ey believe the top two primaries result in more

moderate candi-dates who would advance to the general election. Th ey say the expected result would be increased voter turnout — es-pecially among independent voters — in primaries and election of

candidates who better represent “the broad majority of voters” who are moderates.

Th e states of California and Washington already have passed similar initiatives. Oregon voters in 2008 turned down the idea.

Political activists believe “Arizonans want change. It appears that our elected offi cials are beholden to political party bosses and lobbyists rather than to the voters who elected them. Partisan political bosses set the agenda and handpick candidates to run. What is needed, they say, is a ‘sensible center’.”

Opponents of Proposition 121 say that “ultimately this will reduce choices voters have in the general elections. Voters in some districts where one party has a large

majority will fi nd themselves with only a choice between two candidates of the other party in the general election.”

However those who support the measure believe “this system will level the playing fi eld, forcing all candidates to meet the same qualifi cations, play by the same rules, and appeal to the same voters in the primary election.”

Critics note that “independent and minor party candidates will be unlikely to advance to the general elections (where most voters participate) and cannot present their ideas to the electorate.”

Th ose in support argue that “since independents are one of the largest growing political groups in Arizona, even if independent candidates don’t make it to the general election ballot, it would still give them more clout to elect moderates in the general election.”

Supporters believe “this is a voter’s choice initiative. Th ose on the ballot will have to reach out and cross party lines. Party labels will be less important. It is the responsibility of the voters to do their homework on the candidates. Th is is a fair system to all.”

Some Democrats argue the proposition

could reduce the ability of minorities to elect candidates of their choice. Yet, at least two prominent Hispanic groups have signed arguments in favor of the initiative: Chicanos por la Causa and the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

A news opinion piece argues that Propo-sition 121 “would take power away from the parties and put it back in the hands of the voters” where it belongs. “It gives voters rather than a few party zealots the right to have a say about which candidates advance to the general election.”

Th e news account indicates that in other states where top two primaries are the law, there hasn’t been a larger turnout in primary elections. However, the citizens group spearheading Proposition 121 cannot be faulted for wanting more accountability from elected offi cials.

Voters can now decide if Arizona primary elections should change.

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

JOE HIGGINS

CHRIS DeSIMONE


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

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InsideTucsonBusiness.com

Next week’s poll: Have you already voted early by mail?

• 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.

Make the news

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Yes, 49% No, 51%

OPINIONGUEST OPINION

My commitment: Solutions to get people working again Th e American economy is suff ering

from a severe case of the “Uns” — unem-ployment, underemployment, unfunded mandates, unaff ordable health care, and unsustainable debt. Congress is adding to the problem by creating uncertainty by failing to address these challenges in a bi-partisan, thoughtful, pragmatic way.

We have had the longest stretch of high unemployment (43 months above 8 percent) since the Great Depression. Gross Domestic Product is growing at an anemic pace. Th e median net worth of American households declined 35 percent between 2005 and 2010. Median household incomes declined by 8 percent between 2007 and 2011. Four million Americans lost their homes to foreclosures and 9 million more have been served notices.

Seniors are suff ering from low interest rates that diminish the value of their hard-earned savings for retirement. College students are graduating with huge debt and moving back in with their parents unable to fi nd a good job. Our debt recently topped $16 trillion, equating to $50,000 for every man, woman, and child. And we continue to run more than $1 trillion defi cits. Addition-ally, Medicare will be insolvent in 2024 and Social Security in 2033.

Although the causes of the initial recession are complex, the recovery has

been hampered by a failure of leadership. Washington, D.C., should be charged with dereliction of duty. Democrats, Republicans and independents all agree the country is on the wrong path but instead of

solving problems and bringing certainty to the tax, regulatory, spending, and debt environment, they pick petty partisan fi ghts.

Businesses are justifi ably hesitant to invest or hire since there is no confi dence of future tax rates, government mandates, and penalties such as the unaff ordable health care program. Banks are not lending due to unknowns over regulations and small business owners are struggling to get credit.

Th e looming “fi scal cliff ” created by Congress adds even more uncertainty, further disincentivizing growth, investment, and job creation. Due to the failures of Congress, we all face tax increases on all incomes plus deep cuts in defense and domestic programs. Th is will put America into a deeper recession while risking our national security.

Congress is more concerned about their next election than the next generation.

Washington is broken and the economic uncertainty they have created is wrong.

When I see something is broken, I fi x it. When something is wrong, I stand up to make it right. We need to change Washing-ton by changing the people we send there.

We must get our economy going again and put people back to work. Small busi-nesses are the engine of growth, creating seven of 10 jobs. We need to reform the tax code, simplify it and bring corporate rates down to bring jobs back to the U.S. We need to roll back suff ocating regulations. We need to access our energy resources and improve education and job training. We need to reduce government spending and ensure our military is ready to protect us.

My opponent Mr. Barber voted against multiple bi-partisan legislative initiatives that would help small businesses and bring certainty to the economic situation. He voted against legislation that would put a moratorium on new regulatory burdens on small businesses. He voted against the “No More Solyndras Act,” the failed stimulus program that put taxpayers’ money into failing companies. He voted to rob $716 billion from Medicare to pay for the government take-over of healthcare that increases taxes and penalties on small businesses. He voted against streamlining the permit process for American energy

development and simplifying the tax code. Finally, he voted against a bi-partisan

plan to avoid “sequestration,” the devastat-ing cuts that will risk our national security and result in thousands of lost jobs here in Southern Arizona.

Due to my commitment to fi ght for economic growth, small businesses, and putting middle-class people back to work, and Mr. Barber’s anti-small business and anti-jobs voting record, I have been endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, U.S. Chamber, Mational Association of Wholesalers, of Commerce, National Association of Home Builders and Associated Builders and Contractors. All groups supporting small and large businesses nationwide.

I will bring the leadership, guts, education and a results-driven mindset to Congress to lead eff orts towards bi-partisan solutions that bring certainty to the economy, empower small businesses, and put our middle class back to work. Too much is at stake and I am committed to champion thoughtful, pragmatic solutions to cure us of the “Uns.”

Martha McSally is the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representa-tives from Arizona’s Congressional District 2. Here website is http://mcsallyforcongress.com

MARTHA MCSALLY

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When You Vote, Make SureYou Finish the Ballot

It’s easy to cast an informed vote on whether to retain judges. Just log onto www.azjudges.info or read the state pamphlet on propositions and judges mailed to your home.

Before you vote, find out about each judge’s ability, integrity and impartiality based on independent surveys of jurors, witnesses, lawyers and others who have direct experience with our judges.

Remember to Finish the BallotArizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review

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2012

W i

DON’T MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO CONGRATULATE THESE RECIPIENTS at the 2012 Women of Infl uence breakfast celebration!

EVENT DATE: Friday, November 16th | LOCATION: Tucson Marriott University Park

REGISTRATION: 7:00 am | BREAKFAST & PRESENTATION: 7:30 am – 9:30 am

$50 per seat or a table of 10 for $500

RSVP by noon on November 12, 2012

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Read all about this year’s 20 Women of Infl uence in the October 26th

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