Mesa mayor to view study on emerging West

The Phoenix-Tucson metro area needs to take a regional approach in future development and Washington needs to leave room for flexibility in how regions use federal dollars.

Click to view a map of the Sun Corridor

That's the message Mesa Mayor Scott Smith will be taking with him to Denver Tuesday, as a regional representative at the unveiling of a new Brookings Institution study on five emerging regions in the West.

The study examined the Sun Corridor, which covers six counties and key cities including Phoenix, Mesa and Tucson, as well as four other emerging mega metropolitan regions in the west Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

It notes how these areas need to be recognized as increasingly populous, urbanized and economically advanced in the nation. Poised to add nearly 13 million residents and more than 8 million jobs by 2040, the study underscores the need for Washington to be a more flexible federal partner.

"This study will help begin discussions on significant growth issues we are facing here," Smith said. "The Phoenix, Tucson corridor isn't joined together physically but realistically to compete in the global market, we need to join hands."

Smith added that, as the study notes, it's important for local communities to be given flexibility with money allotted, "because what works for Denver may not work for Phoenix and Mesa."

Federal transportation monies, for instance, are earmarked for specific uses, such as building highways, and that kind of constraint can be burdensome in regional planning, Smith said.

Taking a regional approach would also help give these cities more clout as a group to compete in the global market, he added.

Among some key projects being planned in the burgeoning East Valley are the Superstition Vistas project and the region around Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The neighboring municipalities have already had skirmishes over planning in this region.

"We're trying to bring the conversation to the surface , we have more in common than we realize and we need to work together and get funding for a larger vision which we can't perhaps do individually," Smith said.

The collaboration between Arizona State University and the University of Arizona in bringing together a medical school in downtown Phoenix is a prime example of the need to mesh resources together, study researchers note.

But the mayor added that the biggest challenge, more than physical barriers, is simple:

"Money," Smith said. "You're talking billions of dollars and getting enough of that is a challenge for everyone."

Smith will be representing the mayors at Tuesday's event. Other prominent leaders featured at the Denver event include Utah Governor Jon Huntsman and Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr.

Mark Muro, co-author of the report, and policy director at the Metropolitan Program at Brookings, echoed Smith's thoughts in saying that the findings reflect the regional leaders' views about how federal money is used locally.

"This region and many in it feel that it's been misunderstood or almost patronized or assumed to be a land of cacti or ranchers or forest fires, but it has also emerged as the nation's most deeply urban place," Muro said.

The study also notes the federal government's failure to help states deal with illegal immigration and the ensuing challenges it leaves, such as educational gaps.

"It's the leading example of what is wrong with Washington and the West," Muro said, adding that the issue leaves an array of frustration and takes away time for problem solving on other larger topics.

Mesa, specifically, is coming closer to becoming the core of the Sun Corridor's evolution, according to the report.

But study co-author Robert Lang, nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, said despite being home to more residents than Cleveland or Kansas City, the country doesn't realize it ranks as a large city in America.

"Mesa suffers from the same misconception that this whole region does in the national affairs," Lang said.

With the Loop 202 complete in the East Valley, it should be in position now to lobby for more money to extend light rail, Lang suggests.

Extending all the way from west Mesa to Gateway airport should be seriously considered to give the region a boost, Lang added.

Doing so would not only help commuters, but also will help urbanize the region faster, as development takes place along the rail line. It's what will draw technology companies to the eastern fringes.

"Google workers want funkier places to live in, not rooftops and strip malls," Lang said.

And the key to drive all this remains solid governance.

"Leaders may want to promote mega-scale responses to megascale problems, they are frequently hobbled because they lack the super-scaled governance institutions and networks needed to shape their futures," the study notes.