Even as we creep toward the most challenging part of the year, weather-wise, the evenings and early mornings are still great for exploring what’s around. If it gets too hot, I usually escape to a coffee shop for some light reading. Here are some ideas for both…
Local First Indie Week. We celebrate Indie Week every year to support local businesses and keep investing in our community. If you own a local independent business, you can sign up for Indie Week here. From June 24th to July 4th, and featuring the distinct Local Business Bingo Card, Independents Week encourages Arizonans to “go local” by supporting as many locally-owned businesses as possible. Each year, traditionally over the first week of July, first-timers and returning customers across the state discover new and fun ways to support Arizona’s small, independent businesses! Official Hashtags: #IndieWeekAZ #LocalFirstAZ
Creative Saturday at the Phoenix Art Museum. June 10th, 2023 at 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM Kick-off your summer with art-making activities, performances, and hands-on experiences for the entire family! Check out fashion-design exhibition MOVE: The Modern Art of Geoffrey Beene and create wearable fashion accessories with Phoenix-based artist Kyllan Maney. Discover the mixed reality artwork, Reynier Leyva Novo: Methuselah and investigate a monarch’s life cycle, migration journey, and wing patterns with biologist and Phoenix College professor Jon Douglas. Explore Juan Francisco Elso: Por América through music. Don’t miss live performances by Bolivian pianist Masaru Sakuma featuring selections from Cuba and across Latin America. Included with general admission.
Let Voters Decide the Transportation Future. The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), made up of cities, mayors and council members of all political stripes, is asking the Arizona Legislature to approve a ballot measure that will go to the public to approve a continuation of an existing sales tax to support all manner of public transportation, from roads to mass transit. It is a feature of how things work in AZ that the legislature has to approve the language of the ballot measure before it goes to the ballot. Unfortunately, this means that some of the more radical, cuckoo-banana-pants legislators at the capitol are trying to hijack the process to exclude almost anything to do with light rail, busses, etc. That’s right, as we all know an increasingly dense area like Maricopa County needs more multi-modal options, rather than just more expensive and polluting freeways. So, please follow this link and sign on to the petition calling for the legislature to approve the language recommended by MAG.
Interpermeatte at the Bently Gallery. June 10th, 2023 at 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM. In Jake Fischer’s paintings, the word interpermeate represents the idea that light and dark are equally and mutually pervasive in defining space just as the physical environment and our mental processes are equally and mutually pervasive in defining experience. Free admission.
$6M Appropriated for Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund. On Friday, May 12, 2023, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced that she signed an $17.8 billion budget for the 2024 fiscal year that features heavy investments in education, transportation, and tax rebates. The budget also includes $6 million for the State Parks Heritage Fund and $500,000 for the Arizona Trail. View the State Parks Heritage Fund projects funded in the past two fiscal years in the map above.
The Foam Zone. The Children’s Museum of Phoenix is hosting this event seven days a week from, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM. With three floors of play experiences inside and the Foam Zone outside, a cool day of play is guaranteed! Museum admission is $17 per person. I wanna go! Do I need to be a kid?
Investment – Jobs? Who knew? If you like to see how the Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA), as well as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has been attracting investment to Arizona, have a look at the Investing in America website for an interactive tracking of what we’ve gained. For instance, on this page you can see how the $4B invested from the IIJA has resulted in a $57B multiplier effect of new investments in Arizona. As Heather Cox Richardson points out in her Substack article on the issue, the flood of investment shows that decades of tax-cutting, deregulatory, infrastructure-draining dogma from the GOP is not what inspires investment from private industry. “…it appears that Biden’s policy of public investment to encourage private investment has, in fact, worked. So far, during his term, private companies have announced $479 billion in investments under the new system…”
Insurance Migrant from California? You may have heard that two major insurance companies have pulled out of California and won’t offer insurance to homeowners, in large part to increased risks from climate change. Think about that. If you have or want a mortgage, you must have insurance. So, unless you purchase all cash (imagine that in California), you can’t get a home. Here’s an interesting discussion of the issue and whether that could happen in Arizona. I’m thinking that, at least in the short term, we could see even more people moving to Arizona from California.
Prepare for Father’s Day at the Japanese Friendship Garden. Make this Father’s Day one-of-a-kind with a crafting workshop for the whole family! Spend quality time with your family in the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix making adorable creatures using natural garden materials. General admission, plus $5 workshop fee.
Protecting Gas Stoves is anti-Woke? Here’s a great opinion piece on how the GOP has folded protecting gas stoves in to their “anti-woke” agenda. What’s crazy, of course, is that some of the most conservative areas of the country (the deep south) have the least penetration of methane gas service in the country, anyway. So, what are they protecting? Not people. Homes with gas stoves are more dangerous than homes without and electrified homes are less expensive to build.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Trivia Night. If you know where the Rose Room is at Valley Bar, you know. If you know about Always Sunny, you know. What else can be said? Hosted by Corey G & Carolyn.
