Partnership for Economic Advancement in Kingman - PEAK

05/14/2018

04/29/2018

This project will benefit the Kingman Airport & Industrial Park, all Kingman and Mohave Manufacturing Association (KAMMA) industrial businesses, Kingman Regional Medical Center, and all City residents.

04/16/2018

02/12/2018

Hoping for FORWARD-thinking, selfless candidates to step up for Kingman City Council election this year. Three seats are up for election.

I have to say that I’ve seen a lot on my political journey. That’s one reason why I began writing a book back in 2013 which catalogs my various adventures and encounters. Hopefully, y…

02/12/2018

We applaud the City Council for the work it has done and progress it has made. We sincerely hope that additional individuals announce their candidacy for Kingman City Council in the coming weeks, to continue the current momentum that Kingman has not seen in decades. To advocate for increased community amenities, jobs, and new opportunities; a stronger industrial economy; and a continued resurgence in downtown Kingman as a destination.

"What chance does Kingman have, when the good people do nothing?"

05/13/2016

Partnership for Economic Advancement in Kingman (PEAK) believes in the future of Kingman, and in the creation of additional opportunities for our current workforce and for our youth – Kingman’s future workforce.

Kingman's citizens DESERVE measurable annual progress at our Kingman Industrial Park.

The Kingman Industrial Park is a City of Kingman community asset – NOT a private asset of the Kingman Airport Authority. The County of Mohave transferred the Kingman Industrial Park to the City of Kingman decades ago as the City’s community asset. As a part of that asset transfer, the County compelled the City to also accept the County’s Agreement with the Kingman Airport Authority. Under this Agreement, the Kingman Airport Authority is supposed to actively manage the Kingman Airport & Industrial Park on behalf of all citizens of the City of Kingman. This is very similar to how the County of Mohave entered into a management agreement with the Mohave County Fairgrounds Association to manage the County of Mohave’s community asset – the Mohave County Fairgrounds – also located in Kingman.

While the Kingman Industrial Park is the City of Kingman’s community asset, it is physically located outside of Kingman’s current municipal boundaries, and unfortunately it has been treated as an afterthought by prior City Councils that perhaps did not fully understand the vital economic development importance of a healthy and vibrant Industrial Park. This historical “hands off” approach by prior City Councils as one party to the Agreement, coupled with the eye-catching lack of any performance measures whatsoever within the Agreement itself, has led to a situation where KAA operates as if the Kingman Airport & Industrial Park was their private asset rather than a community asset – as was painfully illustrated by the very unnecessarily public “black eye” of the Cives Steel check fiasco, and Dave French’s response to the idea of adopting any performance measures for progress.

As the City of Kingman’s duly elected representatives, the Mayor and City Council must assure from a business perspective that measurable performance at our Kingman Airport and within our Industrial Park is occurring and is benefiting our City of Kingman residents annually, consistent with the City’s economic development goals.

This November 2016, cast your vote for those fresh, new candidates that will fearlessly push forward with the necessary changes to put our Kingman Airport and the largest industrial park in the entire County back on a track of measurable performance and progress.

A fresh, new majority on the City Council can finally put into place a new public/private economic development organization similar to Greater Phoenix Economic Council (http://www.gpec.org/home) and Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities (http://www.suncorridorinc.com). As an example, GPEC is a public-private partnership, operating as a 501c3, non-profit corporation, with a majority of funding from private-sector investors. GPEC offers four levels of funding for private investors.

This public/private partnership would employ an economic development manager position to manage, market, and grow our industrial park asset, and an airport manager position to manage, market, and grow our City’s airport asset.

Don't forget to register to vote! This November 2016, vote for those candidates that will push forward on the longstanding, tough issues that have historically been ignored for the benefit of all who call Kingman "home" today and in the future.

We are the lead economic and business development agency for the greater Tucson area and its surrounding regional partners.

03/26/2016

Governor Ducey hit the nail right on the head! "Government doesn't create jobs, but it does create the environment in which job creators make decisions." On point.

03/26/2016

Don't let anyone in Kingman tell you that the lack of economic success in the Kingman area is due to the Recession. It's simply a convenient excuse for lack of proactive, good old fashioned hard work. With no performance measures in place for the management of the Kingman Industrial Park, it's pretty easy to just sit back and wait for companies to come to you... and wait... and wait... and wait. Do you see a theme??

03/09/2016

I think we are going to find that I-11 will become a reality much faster than some may think. It's important for Kingman to stay actively involved. Some amazing opportunities present themselves to communities where both East/West and North/South major trade routes intersect.

Here is the full article:
http://www.prescottenews.com/index.php/business/business-news/item/27178-arizona-mexico-sign-agreement-to-further-develop-binational-trade-corridor

03/01/2016

A new study from the Economic Innovation Group was featured in last Sunday's New York Times regarding the most and least economically distressed counties.

Interestingly enough, with the exception of La Paz County, all of the other counties neighboring Mohave County (who we are competing against economically) were not considered to be economically distressed. As you can see by the map, Mohave County was considered to still be economically distressed while it is surrounded by counties that are not economically distressed.

To come up with the rankings, analysts focused on seven factors: the prevalence of adults with a high school diploma, home vacancy rates, adults in the workforce, the percentage of people living below the poverty line, median income as a percentage of the state average, change in employment and change in the number of businesses.

Officially, the economy has grown every year since 2010, at an average annual rate of expansion of just over 2 percent, but there seems to be many people in Kingman that attribute our stagnation with a belief that we are still in a recession. It's simply not true, just look at our neighboring counties. This local disconnect is largely attributed to the fact that our local economic conditions in Kingman continue to resemble those seen during a recession.

We need some go-getters in key positions in Kingman to start being proactive to create new economic opportunities. Our local economic opportunities are disguised as hard work. It's lack of proactive hard work that hampers us, not "recession" with which we have no control.

02/15/2016

There were a small handful of obviously frustrated pilots in attendance at the PEAK meeting, however the PEAK meeting was not all innuendo and personal attacks.

PEAK was formed to resolve important economic development issues using an open and collaborative process based on respectful dialogue that values diverse perspectives, builds relationships, and fosters leadership development. PEAK focuses on issues facing Kingman as our community and possible solutions to those issues. There is absolutely no place for personal attacks. If that is all you bring to the table, then PEAK is not the group for you to be a part of.

To summarize the real content of the PEAK meeting:

1. Kingman Crossing is a worthy concept because, through the lens of economic development, it will assist our community's largest employers - KRMC, MCC, and businesses within the Kingman Industrial park - in their recruiting efforts for physicians, professors, and management professionals.

A public/private project delivery method will be required much like the County's administration building and jail were constructed and financed. No one at the City of Kingman has the procurement experience or sophistication (or the sophisticated contract documents) to pull it off. That is not an attack. That is simply stating a current fact. PEAK simply offered to act in a technical advisory capacity, armed with the required necessary past experience and documents, to get the project done. No fees involved. Just citizens stepping up for their community with the right combination of past experience and knowledge to help.

2. Kingman Industrial Park. We would refer you back to PEAK's original letter to the City's Mayor and Council regarding certain things that can be done NOW that would help in making us more competitive. The full letter was one of our original posts if you'd like to scroll down and read it.

I like Bob, but Bob is grossly oversimplifying that it's just that the economy is slow, that people are frustrated, but that it will get better. Rather, when opportunities aren't knocking you go out and actively start building doors. There are things we could be proactive in doing now that would produce dividends in the future.