Urban Land Institute in Town

There are a couple of articles in today's AZ Republic that detail the work of an outfit called Urban Land Institute, or ULI. This is a think tank based in Washington that was hired to come and assess the economic development of the Gateway area. The Mister explained to me that they start off knowing very little about the area, study facts before arriving, and interview a gazillion folks before making their impartial observations and suggestions. You will not be surprised to hear that The Mister (a farmer, pilot and developer all at once!) was one of the gazillions interviewed; he spent some hours on Monday doing something he does so well - opining and enlightening. The ULI will give some preliminary conclusions in a public meeting tomorrow, and then they will go back and write up their reports.

One of the articles goes into quite a bit of detail about the ULI, and you can read it here.

The other article views the history of the area through the economic generators of agriculture, the Air Force and the GM Proving Grounds. The Mister's older brother is quoted in this one, as an agricultural land owner:

But the road to closure for the "big three" had been paved years earlier when it became evident that the Valley's sprawl would soon beat a path to their boundaries and farmland's biggest cash crop was real estate, not agriculture.

"Before the conversion of new land uses, when Gilbert's population was about 1,800 we were rural enough that it was unusual and somewhat of an exciting opportunity to go to Mesa," said Richard Morrison of Gilbert, a landowner and attorney.

"We recognized that one of the unique qualities was that we could be farmers and not feel crowded, yet we were 30 minutes away from major sports events, places to shop and the seat of government. It is a feature that most people would crave today and not find."

As an aside, it always startles me to see The Mister or one of his brothers quoted in a newspaper. In our early married life, there were plenty of quotes from Morrisons in newspapers and even on TV, but they were quotes from the elder generation, the grown-ups, so to speak. Now the quotes are from our generation, and it underscores how subtle the movement is from "youngster" to "grown-up."

I'll try to summarize the results of their report when it comes out. It should prove interesting for Gilbert's long-term plans.