Tucson - What Do We Want To Be When We Grow Up?

I have lived here for 15 years. When I ask people what they want Tucson to look like 10 years or 20 years from now, most say, "We don't want to be like Phoenix." Well ok, we don't want to be like Phoenix, so what do we want to be like?

I was directed by some business leaders to read Tucson’s Town Hall Report,
TREO’s Securing Our Future Now: An Economic Blueprint For The Tucson Region, Tucson General Plan, Pima County Comprehensive Plan, AIA’s Sustainable Development Assessment and the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan for ideas about Tucson's future.

Through reading those reports, it became obvious that Tucson does not have a comprehensive vision for the future. We do not have one unifying theme to guide our priorities as a city. We do not have a collective dream for what we want to be when we grow up.

There are over a million people in our metro area. That number will likely double in the next 20 years. We are no longer a small cow town. We have grown into the 70th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States. There will not be a better time than now to determine what unique benefits Tucson will offer to the rest of the world. Tucson has always had a reactive response to the problems we face as we grow. A unifying vision statement for our city would go a long way toward helping us become proactive in addressing everything from infrastructure, to education, to health care, to water, to housing, to budgeting and taxes.

The first thing we must do is define what it is that we are really working toward. What is our preferred future? What do we want Tucson to look like 10 years or even 20 years from now?

I am advocating that we form a vision around becoming a family friendly city.

Do we want our children to stay in Tucson after college or move to a more progressive city with career opportunities? If we want our children to raise their families here and attract the best the brightest from other cities, we must decide now to manage our natural resources to attract opportunity for those who will be living here 20 years from now.

A clear vision for our city is the first step for Tucson to take her place as a world class city.