Welcome to the new and (somewhat) improved version of our member introductions. If you are puzzled by the column name, take a minute to watch the above scene from Austin Powers.
Christian Williams
City of Goodyear, AZ — City Manager’s Office
(Complete the sentence) Today is……a beautiful sunny day in Arizona! It is a cool 100°F
Your hometown? What is it best known for?
Hometown: Peoria, Arizona which is know as the spring training home of the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners.
Current City: Goodyear, Arizona. The City is named after the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company as the area was settled to grow cotton for tires. One of the city’s major roads, Litchfield Road, is lined with palm trees that would lead from the old Litchfield train station to Paul Litchfield’s home in Litchfield Park.
Describe the state of local government in your area.
From my perspective, the state of local government in my area is positive and most participation is from retiree’s; as Luke Air Force Base is a couple miles up the street and also we have a couple active adult communities in Goodyear. There is not enough involvement from people between the ages of 20-32. I see my age group as sitting back quietly/passively until something goes wrong; I would say this relates to many of the communities in in the West Valley of Phoenix. I believe there are a lot of positive things going on locally and we have a lot of economic opportunity. There are a great deal of innovative ideas floating about our community and the West Valley but we have become comfortable/complacent doing and building things the same way we always have. I hope to see more involvement in local government from the next generation of leaders.
What topics or practitioners would you like to see ELGL profile?
- Getting millennials involved and active in community and in local government.
- How local governments can foster organic place making
- Elliot Pollack
- Ken Miller author of “We don’t make Widgets”
(Complete these phrases) Best thing about the….
- 80’s was…….being born!
- 90’s was……enjoying Nickelodeon cartoons while eating grilled cheese sandwiches.
- 00’s was…..becoming a University of Washington Husky!
- Last year was….. Graduating from Leadership West and winning the Valley Metro Clean Air Campaign award for Outstanding Marketing and Creative Electronic Media.
- Today is….becoming a member of ELGL!
If you could interview anyone (dead or alive), who would it be?
- CGP Grey, he has a very creative way of explaining complex concepts
- Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona
- Jack Swilling, the founder of Phoenix
(Complete this sentence) I feel old when I……..realize that I was 6 years old when I got my first CD player and now you don’t even use CD players anymore.
What are the best things about the internet?
How fast you can bring the world to you before actually adventuring out into it.
Parent(s) can be influential in career choices of their kids. What was the career path of your parent(s)?
Nursing/Quality assurance and compliance/Performance improvement in medical and behavioral health facilities
(Complete the sentence) ELGL is……always coming up with fun ways to win free memberships such as the contest to tweet all 40 ideas in 40 minutes.
Where do you hear about ELGL?
I heard about ELGL from the Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) 2014 Conference hosted in Denver, Colorado.
Give us two ideas for attracting and retaining talented individuals to the public sector.
- Personally connecting people’s passions to the reasons to be passionate about the public sector.
- Informing people of the creative opportunities that exist within the public sector
What’s one question that we should ask the next person who completes this profile?
What gets you excited about tomorrow/the future?
(Complete the sentence) Tomorrow is…….going to be an amazing day because the only thing that can stop that from occurring is YOU!
Allow Myself to Introduce Myself – Archives
- Justyn Miller, Boone County, IL
- Liza Druck, City of Cincinnati, OH
- Sarah Bledsoe, City of Beacon, NY
- Jared Wiener, Portland Development Commission
- Nathan Mehmed, West Michigan Regional Planning Commission
