Mohave Daily News: State

Contributed

PHOENIX - Approximately 150 Arizonans, including five Mohave and La Paz County residents, will gather to address the issues related to housing Arizona residents when they meet next week at the Grand Canyon.

The 93rd Arizona Town Hall, titled “Housing Arizona,” aims to propose solutions to challenges posed by the recent economic crisis. Participants also will address workforce and affordable housing, changing demographics, and how to best plan for the 21st century.

The three-day session will be held at the Grand Canyon National Park Lodges. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano will welcome participants to the opening dinner by video.

Kil Huh, project director of Pew Charitable Trusts' Center on the States, will address Arizona Town Hall participants at 12:30 p.m. Monday. Huh is the principal author of Pew's “Defaulting on the Dream: States Respond to America's Foreclosure Crisis.” Prior to Pew, Huh worked at the Fannie Mae Foundation where he served as the director of Policy and Consulting.

Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, an urban sustainability laboratory in Chicago, will speak at 7 p.m. Monday on the impact of transportation costs associated with the location of housing in Arizona. Bernstein was a founding member at the Brookings Institution Urban & Metropolitan Center and co-founded the Center for Transit Oriented Development.

The Drachman Institute at the University of Arizona, under the leadership of Director Corky Poster and Associate Director Marilyn Robinson, prepared a detailed background report to prepare participants for substantive discussions and consensus-based policy recommendations.

After the conference, the Town Hall's recommendations will be available on its Web site by Nov. 21. The recommendations also will be combined with the background report into a final report and formally published in January 2009.

Mohave and La Paz County residents include:

w Larry Adams, General Contractor, Pueblo Construction, Inc., Bullhead City

w William Ekstrom, Mohave County Attorney, Kingman

w Margaret Nyberg, Vice Mayor; City Council Member, Lake Havasu City

w Maryanne Schulte, CPA, Lake Havasu City

w Dave Wolf, Community Services Manager, Community & Economic Development Department, Kingman.