New site to voice solutions to Arizona's economy

The state's budget crisis is jeopardizing residents' future and the Legislature is walking away from its responsibilities, says Jim Pederson, a businessman who has his own plan for getting the economy on the right track.

Pederson, CEO of Pederson Group, a Phoenix-based shopping center developer for 26 years, recently launched a Web site, www.standupfor arizona.com, that provides a public forum to recommend practical solutions for economic problems facing state and local communities, he says.

"I don't think the governor and the Legislature are taking a realistic approach to solving current problems," Pederson said during a visit to Yuma on Thursday. "The Legislature is cutting back on education funding, and if they pass the current budget, we'll be 51st (including Puerto Rico) in per-pupil classroom funding."

Pederson says state residents do not have to accept the ideological battles at the state capitol as "the way it is." Stand Up for Arizona is a communication hub offering voter education, issue advocacy and social networking, he said.

"We created the Web site as a way for people to mobilize others in their community who don't have a voice. There's a tremendous amount of pain in Arizona and people are suffering in silence.

"But we're promoting a community vehicle to let elected leaders know that decisions they're making are affecting our future in a very negative way."

According to Stand Up for Arizona, since January, the Legislature has cut $133 million from public schools, $142 million from universities and $9 million from community colleges. Because of these cuts, 5,500 teachers and 2,000 public school employees were laid off from 120 districts across the state.

It also said more than 230,000 residents lost jobs since December. To get people back to work, it is necessary to diversify Arizona's economy. Yet to attract new industries Arizona will need to prepare a qualified work force.

"Arizona historically has been a one-dimensional economy and as a result we're disproportionately affected, compared to the other states because of our overreliance on real estate development and home construction," he said.

The future for Arizona ought to ensure every child has a quality education and decent job opportunity, Pederson said, and the government has a role to provide for that.

"Look at most American communities successful in attracting jobs and you'll see the state government has been active in developing opportunities. Our Legislature has taken a meat ax to education. We want to come up with creative alternatives to defunding so we balance the budget without sacrificing public education."

Pederson cited recent layoffs of Arizona tax auditors as a false economy that has cost the state more than it has saved. Because there are so few auditors now, the state could be losing substantial revenue from businesses who may not be paying their fair share of taxes but Arizona will never know without an adequate staff of auditors.

Arizona must propose innovative options to generate new revenue streams, he said. One method he suggests is securing future revenue flows such as the lottery or the federal tobacco settlement funds.

If for example the lottery produces $10 million per year, that money could be placed on the public market, where the state borrows against it for a designated period of time. Once the economy rebounds, state revenues could pay off the indebtedness.

Gov. Jan Brewer and the Legislature have failed to release any specific plan to put people back to work or diversify the economy by bringing new industry to Arizona, Pederson said.

He discounted the governor's call for a new state sales tax to boost revenues.

"A sales tax is a knee-jerk reaction, it's always the option of last resort. Let's do this like a business and look for common sense alternatives."

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William Roller can be reached at
wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.