Will Spur Citizen Participation and Involvement Statewide

TUCSON, AZ — The state’s three CEO groups have joined forces to expand Arizona Voices Institute‘s innovative online collaboration platform, azvoices.gov, urging residents statewide to participate in civic discussion and involvement. The effort is a combined initiative of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council (SALC), Greater Phoenix Leadership (GPL) and Northern Arizona Leadership Alliance (NALA).

“Civic engagement by the citizens of Arizona is a key to our state’s future,” said Ron Shoopman, president and CEO of Southern Arizona Leadership Council. “SALC is proud to partner on the Arizona Voices project because it provides the people of Arizona easy access to pending legislation and an opportunity to share their opinion directly with Arizona’s legislators and governor. We encourage everyone to get involved at azvoices.gov.”

Arizona Voices is the first civic engagement platform of its kind, where voters can rate pending legislation, discuss the issues and policies that impact our state with fellow Arizonans and propose innovative ideas to the elected officials. The site lets Arizona registered voters follow, discuss and instantly rate active legislation on a six-degree scale from “strongly oppose” to “strongly agree.”

GPL’s President and CEO Neil Giuliano agreed. “This is a very exciting development for both GPL and the Arizona Voices Institute, with the three statewide leadership organizations coming together to advance this impressive platform to promote civic and public policy engagement of our citizens across our state. We want to encourage more open dialog and input from Arizonans about the future of our State as we tackle the important issues of education, job creation, fiscal stability, transportation infrastructure and growing of our economy.”

NALA CEO T. Paul Thomas added, “NALA feels it is important to make sure that Arizona voters are engaged with the lawmaking process. That’s why we are proud to be partnering with the GPL and the SALC to provide this service.”

The initiative has received bi-partisan praise for advancing civic dialog and involvement across the state.

Sen. Bob Worsley from District 25 in Mesa came up with the idea for the platform as a way to streamline, consolidate and automate constituent input, which comes from random sources such as email, regular mail, fax, phone, social media, in-person meetings, and formal Senate hearings on bills. He believes the site will help legislators get a better picture of their constituents’ concerns and encourage broader participation both by registered voters and the public in the legislative process The new site offers a 24/7 forum for all Arizona citizens to voice their opinions.

In addition to indicating support or opposition on current bills, registered users can post ideas on various topics and begin dialogs about how to improve the state and address issues confronting the state. Upgrades to the system include a weekly summary of all bills and votes sent to legislators, and the Request to Speak system is now integrated on the site as a resource to help facilitate placing comments and opinions on the official record of the State Legislature.

Advocacy and constituent organizations are invited to collaborate with Arizona Voices by emailing [email protected] for more information on how to become involved.

Los Angeles — CBRE Group announced that Melina Cordero, a retail analyst, consultant and researcher has joined the company as head of retail research, the Americas. Cordero will work closely with CBRE Retail business-line leaders and professionals to generate innovative, in-depth research and analysis to inform CBRE clients about the ever-changing retail and shopping center industries.

“Cordero’s work at CBRE will be a key component of our multifaceted strategy for serving retail clients,” said Anthony Buono, executive managing director of retail, the Americas for CBRE. “CBRE will combine her keen analysis with our superior technology for selecting retail sites and our team of hundreds of professionals trained in the art of retail to provide a comprehensive suite of services for our retail clients.”

Cordero was previously director of analytics at path intelligence, a U.K.-based data and customer-analytics technology firm. In her latest role there, she oversaw the creation of the company’s North American division, working with a large portfolio of retail clients across the continent. Prior to Path Intelligence, Cordero worked as a global industry analyst tracking the retail and consumer-goods industries at Euromonitor International in London. Before that, she worked in urban planning and business policy research at the U.K. Parliament.

“We are very pleased to add Melina to our research team, which tracks many commercial real estate asset classes and industries across several continents,” said Spencer Levy, head of research for CBRE’s Americas. “Her deep international experience will enrich our team’s docket of in-depth reports on retailing trends, which covered luxury retail last year and will examine other trends important to both retailers and owners/investors in the retail space under Melina’s leadership in the Americas.”

Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.

Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 254.56 points, or 1.6%, to 15,660.18. The average had been down as much as 411 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 22.78 points, or 1.2%, to 1,829.08. The NASDAQ composite fell 16.76 points, or 0.4%, to 4,266.84.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell for the sixth day in a row, sliding $1.24, or 4.5%, to $26.21 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, dropped 78 cents, or 2.5%, to $30.06 a barrel in London. Natural gas fell 5 cents, or 2.5%, to $1.99 per 1,000 cubic feet. Wholesale gasoline was little changed at 94 cents a gallon and home heating oil was flat at 98 cents a gallon.

Yellen: Fed Not Likely to Reverse Course on Rates Despite Risks “Tightening financial conditions and uncertainty over China pose risks to the U.S. recovery, but chances are slim the Federal Reserve would need to reverse the rate tightening cycle it began in December, Fed Chair Janet Yellen told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday. Global risks have intensified and could slow the U.S. economy, but ‘I don’t expect the (Federal Open Market Committee) is going to be soon in the situation where it is necessary to cut rates,’ Yellen said.” (Reuters)

Executive Bonuses at Issue in Brixmor’s Admission of Altered Results “Bonuses could be behind the misconduct to which a real estate investment trust has admitted, resulting in the resignations of several top executives. On Monday, Brixmor Property Group said the company smoothed income items to achieve consistent growth in a metric called ‘same property net operating income.’ While that’s not a number that matters, according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the standard for public companies, it is one that is paid attention to in the REIT business.” (MarketWatch)

Is a Home the New Luxury Item? “As finances and bad credit prevents homeownership for many, a single-family home may soon be considered a luxury item. Almost half of those people who don’t own a home said their financial situation is standing in the way, according to a report by Bankrate.com released Tuesday. Additionally, 29 percent said they can’t afford a down payment and 16 percent said their credit isn’t good enough to qualify for a mortgage.” (CNBC)

These Renters Were Hit the Hardest by the Financial Crisis “The financial crisis turned a lot of Americans into renters, because they couldn’t keep paying their mortgage, or because high unemployment and stagnant wages in the ensuing years forced them to put off home ownership. A new report from real estate website Trulia seeks to identify the groups that lost the most purchase on the dream of home ownership during the recession.” (Bloomberg)

Developer of Controversial Super-Tall Condo Tower Faces Foreclosure “The developer of a proposed supertall condo tower in Sutton Place that has drawn opposition from residents in the tony Manhattan neighborhood is facing foreclosure by one of its lenders. Gamma Real Estate, a real estate investment and lending firm operated by N. Richard Kalikow, has started to take steps to seize the project, located at 426-432 E. 58th Street and owned by Bauhouse Group. Gamma holds as much as $128.8 million in loans against the property, including mezzanine debt.” (Crain’s New York Business)

San Francisco Real Estate Looking Like it did Before Dot-Com Crash in 2000 “Surging rents, skyrocketing real-estate prices and a booming tech sector. Sounds like San Francisco in 2016, right? It also describes the city just before the tech bust of 2000, according to a recent report. John Burns Real Estate Consulting of Irvine, Calif., and Pacific Union, a San Francisco real-estate brokerage, say that based on the appreciation (and apparent correlation) of venture-capital deals and rent prices, the Bay Area’s rapid property-value and rental-cost appreciation today is looking more like a repeat of the dot-com bust of 2000.” (MarketWatch)

America’s Emptiest and Fullest Cities “The start of the spring housing market is days away, but anyone pounding the pavement or putting up the for sale sign knows there is not a lot out there. Great for sellers, not so much for buyers. What about vacant homes? These may be the best bargains available. Sure, they’ll need some loving care in a lot of cases, but if the price is right, the work will come.” (CNBC)

Richard Meier on the Buildings He Wishes He’d Designed “WHEN YOU’VE WORKED as an architect for half a century, as Richard Meier has, finding new frontiers can be a struggle. In an interview, Mr. Meier—who’s produced so many achromatic spaces he rivals Moby-Dick when it comes to branding white—offered insights on an unexpectedly colorful painting in his home, arrogant buildings and the commissions he wishes he’d gotten.” (Wall Street Journal)

These 5 Buildings Could Become Chicago Tech’s Next Merch Mart “When you visualize the key spots on the Chicago tech map, you picture the Merch Mart, home of 1871, Motorola, Braintree, and Rise Interactive, or the Civic Opera House, which holds Tech Nexus and the ITA, or the spacious lofts in River North or the West Loop. Basically, you picture buildings that were once known for one thing – fashion, music, meatpacking, etc. – and have since been converted into hip, tech-friendly properties. So, what existing, stale buildings in the city will be the future homes and hubs of the industry?” (ChicagoInno)

Whole Foods is Undergoing a ‘Fundamental Transformation,’ Says Co-CEO “If you want to see the future of Whole Foods, go check out the first of the company’s new 365 line of stores when it opens in Los Angeles in May. The company has signed a total of 13 leases for the 365 chain, which executives say will ‘leap frog’ ahead of the flagship in areas like smarter service and technology.” (Fortune)