MAG (Maricopa Area Governments) is the organization, made up of mayors from the cities and towns in Maricopa, that largely directs or advises on planning for all areas of the county. This includes transportation planning, like the Prop 400 initiative to add a half-cent sales tax in the county to pay for the next 20 years of transportation improvement. This is the group that felt it was more of a priority to plunk down 2.3 BILLION in tax revenues for a trolley through downtown Phoenix than it was to make our trade routes safe and efficient for businesses and homeowners. Yes, this is the group that put widening of I-17 in the last phase of build-out (scheduled for 2026, folks, no kidding), essentially assuring the literal choking out of all movement of goods to and from Maricopa county to the rest of the country to the north. Bizarre sense of "logic", it seems. But, then you take a look and realize that this group didn't have representation from this area of the county. Yes, it is true. They do have ONE non-city person that represents all unincorporated Maricopa county. Unfortunately, that county supervisor is from a far off part of the county. So, we had no one "at the table" when the plan for spending all of that sales tax for transportation (prop 400).
What does this have to do with my title "great head count of 2005" anyway? Well, we have an incredible opportunity to put ourselves on the map for transportation and many other important planning issues that MAG deals with. MAG has engaged in a special census for Maricopa County to gather information about fast growth areas that were not even in existence during the last census in 2000 (think Anthem, much of Desert Hills and all of Tramonto and Foothills, etc.).
Why is this news worthy of a BLOG entry? Because they will only send these special census forms to 1 in 13 homes. That means if you throw yours away, you are discarding the voice of about 13 homes full of adult taxpayers and their 2.6 children per household. You have an incredible opportunity if you receive one of these forms. You also have an immense responsibility. Please fill it out and send it in. They claim it will only take 6 minutes to complete. It is very brief compared to the regular census.
So, please make sure all of our heads are counted in this special census! Pass on this information so your friends and neighbors will know that this census is a real thing and not some kind of marketing gimmick. We are all a little jaded these days, I realize. Expect the census to arrive in mailboxes on or around September 1st, 2005.
Once you prove you exist, I can make more waves than I already do in order to fight for more of the county tax dollars you are sending in!
