Public servitude & the world of urban governance

Seeing as how my internship was with the City Manager's office, everything that we did was done as public service in the form of urban governance. All of the various city departments, together, worked to give the citizens of Casa Grande what they needed from their government. I worked on projects that involved surface streets and funding, interstate exits, economic development, public safety, the legalities surrounding the airport and its tenants...the list goes on and on. 

Everything that I found myself working around was done for the public. And it made me incredibly happy, every day. Some people grow up wanting to be business professionals, or athletes, astronauts, or writers. I have always wanted to work for the public good. One could say my public service motivation ranks fairly high. 

Watch and tell me what you think.

I'm sitting in Los Angeles mulling over how to increase civic engagement. I'm reading articles, watching municipal meetings, racking my brain trying to figure out how to solve the feelings that people have with their governments.

And then this comes up. I think Russel Brand is brilliant, I think the complexities in his mind go far beyond what he gets out in these interviews. But I want to know what other people think of this video. It's almost 11 minutes, but I think it's interesting and has something to take away from it.




I think it's important to note, I believe in voting. I don't agree with his approach in this video, but I do think that he shares a very common opinion. How do we confront this issue when this is how people feel?

Airports and the early morning

Rise and shine beauties, it's a gorgeous Sunday morning! I've already been up for a few hours so I could catch a flight back to Los Angeles after a few days in Phoenix. My trip was a full two days with school, work, friends and family.

Now that I am sitting at Terminal 4 at the Cartel Coffee Bar, I'm enjoying the people watching and the experience of sipping my dirty chai as the sun comes up higher in the sky. I love people watching in general, I mean, psych undergrad, hello. While I was waiting the other day for my friend to pick me up there was a slew of interested homecomings to witness. But first thing on a weekend morning is a completely different experience.

I was getting dropped off at the curb a little bit after 6 this morning to check my bags and I was lucky enough to get stuck behind a long line of musicians piling out of one of many escalades and tahoes. I'm not sure if it's from the State Fair or what other event was taking place, but there were instrument cases EVERYWHERE. I was able to jump ahead of them, seeing as I only had two bags. As I made my way to security I was stopped for the hand residue testing, told to go into the business line, and made my way to the C gates.

As you (may, should, probably) know, ASU kicked some serious butt last night in the homecoming game against Washington. So imagine my delight as I walked up to my gate, directly next to Cartel, and I pass a whole flight full of sad looking Washington fans! I was going to just sit and work on homework and revel in the win in silence, but it was just way too easy when a couple fans came up and started a conversation. They had to catch their flight but it was a little fun to discuss the loss and the fantastic win of the Sun Devils homecoming!

Study Session...or weekend

Do you have that one thing that helps you focus? That you turn to when you have to get work done, study, lock yourself away and come out with a masterpiece? For me there are three things that I can jump between when I need to get down to business.

• Harry Potter movies
• Law & Order SVU
• Classical music

Weirdest combination of things, right? 

I'm not so great with silence. Thus libraries have never been my lock-in when I've had a major test or paper coming up. I need mindless chatter, enter the harry potter movies and SVU. Don't get me wrong, I am a child of the 90's and love all things HP, but it's because of this love that I can do so well with it on in the background. I know this plot line backwards, forwards, inside and out (I'm a hufflepuff in Pottermore, do you know your house?). But despite knowing it quite well, I still don't get bored with it. I can have it playing and know that I have something in that I enjoy, I know, but it doesn't distract me.

SVU is simply that it's always on in marathons and however many hundred episodes are on netflix for instant streaming. You can put it in and let it go, never having to worry, and I've probably seen the episode already anyways.

But classical music has always been there. It's something that I find relaxing, stimulating, captivating and enchanting. There is nothing to really distract me with and take away my focus, so I can let it play while I let my fingers type pages and pages of assignments.

So this weekend, despite it being fall break (which I didn't realize until I logged onto the Library homepage for external sources) I locked myself away with my dog in my apartment to plow through a long list of homework assignments. The next few weeks are going to be quite chaotic and I didn't want to fall behind or worry about deadlines. I made a pretty good dent in the work load AND managed to finish all of the harry potter series, bake cookies, spend some quality time with my pup, and build some furniture. Talk about productivity at its finest! I still have quite a few assignments to go, but I know I'm ahead of the game, so I don't have to stress quite as much! 

*EDIT: You know whats the greatest? When Classical for Studying Radio plays HP songs every other song. Pandora really does know me.

What do you do? 

The desert versus the western coastline

I'm an Arizona baby, through and through. I love the desert rain, summer sunsets, and the saguaro  cactus in the background of my surroundings. I grew up hiking the trails of the Superstition mountains and Sabino Canyon. So when I found myself back in Phoenix for class, and stranded due to car troubles for 10 days, I made sure I took a trip out into the desert for a little soul TLC.

As much as I love my desert home, I have always been quite partial to Southern California and the beaches when I needed an escape. It's a 5 hour drive or an hour long flight to find yourself kissing the pacific ocean from my home. Family vacations were often spent in Newport, Balboa, or Huntington beaches and I've escaped to Venice and Santa Monica countless times with friends. So now that I find myself living a mere 12 miles from the coast, and worked less than a mile from the PCH, I'm blessed to make much quicker excursions.

Tuesday was such a clear day that I could see the waves of the Pacific from the fourth floor conference room as we sat in a phone conference. I decided that I needed to be down in the sand after work so I made a detour west, instead of heading home inland in KTown. 

Wednesday was another coastal adventure a little bit further south. Travis and I ventured down to University of California San Diego for their Graduate school fair as representatives of the School of Public Affairs. After a four hour fair and some interesting interactions with some students, we packed up to leave. It was forecasted to be a rainy day, something strange for those living in SoCal. As Travis put the boxes into the car the rain had started. Regardless, we headed to the cove for some salt air. 

Whether I am by the waters edge or next to a 300 year old saguaro, I am so happily at peace that it makes it hard to declare a favorite. I am so excited that I have the ability to be in one place one day and the other the next. True blessings to be thankful for!

Leadership. Is it a thing?

I think that the current 'Government Shutdown of 2013' is an interesting time to be thinking about leadership, specifically leadership in the public setting of the government. Although, I think that there are a few things that need to be differentiated between what is going on in the federal setting and the role of municipal government. 

There are many who lump government together as one entity...POTUS and the City Mayor are the same, your council members are to blame for what takes place in the house, etc. Civic engagement is something that I am spending a lot of time looking at in my current position and it's fascinating to see how few people pay attention. Right now, the whole world is looking at the United States and are in an uproar about what is taking place. But still people have absolutely no clue about what is going on (take note with this lovely example). 

That snip it aside, the public reaction can be summed up in one statement: Our leaders aren't leading for the People.

What is leadership? Peter Decker said "management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." In this instance, our federal leaders aren't really appearing to be managing and they certainly aren't leading. Yes, there is a need to make sure that what passes is correct for the constituents, however, being stubborn isn't the answer either. 

That is one of the things that I find so wonderful about being involved at the city level. Leadership and management take on a different role. Sadly, citizens don't get involved enough to know the difference. 

In Casa Grande, I truly believe that the city is run by leaders. The Council and the Mayor run in a way that benefits their constituents and the staff works in the same manner. I was given ample opportunity to showcase leadership skills through the freedom and flexibility I was provided in my time with the City. The freedom, as an intern, to be allowed (and expected) to do my job, and do it well, however I saw fit for the task at hand, allowed me to put my experience as a leader to use. I was surrounded by individuals who did their job not just because it was "in their job description" but because they were civically minded with their citizens best interest in mind. 

Hey, I want to be you someday!

Seeing as how I am not placed in my internship anymore, I can't exactly do a winning interview. However, it only took a few days of observing Jim Thompson's office to know that I would really enjoy a career in city management. 

My first introduction to Jim, I won't even try to deny that I was incredibly nervous afterwards about my ability to do anything in a city manager role. Not because he's an intimidating, mean man. Rather, he's brilliant and I wasn't sure I had what it takes. My first time meeting him I was observing a budget meeting and he knew specific numbers that weren't on the print out in front of him. And I mean, to the dollar, in big budgets. He is so knowledgable and has so much experience that he is spectacular at his job. 

Jim Thompson is city manager of Casa Grande, Arizona. He has worked for various cities in Washington, Colorado and Arizona in his career. He received his bachelors from Indiana in the realm of finance and business. He has his masters, as well as his PhD which he received for organizational behavior. He is responsible for overseeing the operations of the City of Casa Grande and is the liaison between the council and Mayor and the cities departments. He works with the financial department to create an operational budget for each of the departments, oversee's the requests of the city needs and works for the citizens and the staff. His job isn't easily wrapped up into a nice, neat job description. His task is to take the resources available to the city and extend them to make Casa Grande the best version of itself. He has been with Casa Grande for a number of years and has a good relationship with the council and staff. 

Like I said previously, I was at first intimidated and briefly thought I would not be able to do the job of a city manager. But there were a few things he said after the budget meeting that quickly brushed away the fear. He stated, in so many words, that the job of the city manager isn't to always be the nice guy. It's to be the person who sometimes says no, but know that you are doing it because you have to. You won't always be favored for your decisions because everyone feels that their department needs something more importantly than another, you can't always give everyone everything. Instead, know your numbers, know what your city needs and work with that in mind. Say no, but work with them to give them everything they need to succeed. When they succeed, so do you.

I don't need to have a photographic memory to be a city manager, I have different skills that will benefit me and any agency I work for. But I do have to have the drive and the service state of mind. If I retain that, I can do well with whatever I decide to do.