Set to tackle problems

New city manager takes a no-nonsense approach to the job

Two words that curl, swirl and meander across the screen of Mike Hein's computer monitor will move with him from the county building to City Hall.

The slogan on Hein's screensaver, "Abandon pride," was inspired by an E.M. Forster short story, said Hein, who expects to be officially functioning as Tucson city manager by April.

In the story, the young protagonist can see and ride to heaven a horse-drawn vehicle that is invisible to academics, experts and other pretentious adults because their pride obscures their vision of such things.

Circumventing pride and egos to focus on the gist of a problem is the key to solving it, Hein said. That no-nonsense style of tackling problems earned him a new job: Last month, the City Council unanimously voted to offer Hein the position of Tucson city manager. He'll succeed James Keene, who announced his resignation in October to head the California Association of Counties after a four-year tenure in Tucson. Hein has said he'll be paid $185,000 - $7,000 less than Keene was - to oversee a $1 billion budget and more than 5,900 employees.

Prominent local business leaders lobbied the council to drop its national search and select Hein, who hadn't even formally applied for the job. Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup said that rather than caving to pressure from business leaders, council members "came together on their own," recognizing Hein as the best person for the job.

Hein, 38, who lives in Oro Valley and has three children, has more than 14 years of experience in public service, including stints as Nogales' assistant city administrator, South Tucson's interim finance director and Marana's town manager and as a Pima County deputy administrator.

The Star asked a group of people who represent a broad spectrum of the business community - not those that backed Hein at the outset - to provide questions they'd like Hein to answer. He responded to those questions during a face-to-face interview last week.

Q: How would you as city manager help to speed up the process of bringing more economic development to Downtown? -Fiore Iannacone, owner, Enoteca Pizzeria Wine Bar

A: The first thing is you've got to figure out what people expect as far as speeding up. Second of all, I think the new REDC, or whatever it will be named, will help facilitate the idea of cooperation so that there is a one-stop shop.

When people don't know who to call for an answer, that in and of itself can delay decisions getting made. Hopefully, if you're co- located with all the assets in one spot, it should facilitate a quicker turnaround for some of those questions.

I think the city has been heading in a good direction as far as trying to foster economic development, especially Downtown.

Q: How is the city going to position itself to bring in more affordable residential development, and are you in favor of variances and zoning permits to achieve that purpose? - Damion Alexander, Realtor, Long Realty

A: That's one thing that I've been concerned about, not only in my capacity at the county but when I was back with the town of Marana, because you can build wonderful communities and you can require certain levels of infrastructure, and all that does is drive up the market price for some of the units. You can build resorts and you can bring in some of these economic engines, but if the work force doesn't have affordable housing, all you do is exacerbate some of the other social woes that may exist and push affordable housing into the outskirts.

I worry very much about Pinal County growing as a market for the affordable housing for the labor force of some of these jobs.

I think we have to first identify what exactly the problems are that lead to the lack of affordability.

We're kind of on the cutting edge when it comes to Pima County and the housing trust fund. The county wanted to avoid inclusive zoning, because it can be kind of stigmatizing. If you earmark, if you will, every 10th unit and say "this lot will be affordable in perpetuity," I'm not sure that's a cost-effective way to get to the underlying problems of providing wealth-building for the community. So I think the notion of giving people down-payment assistance, giving people the opportunity to reach the dream of home ownership, investing in the community and having a foothold in the community, is an important one.

I think even in Marana we explored opportunities for sweat- equity exchange. Sometimes the down payment makes or breaks the ability to move into an entry-level home. It's not the monthly payment. They qualify for the monthly payment but they don't have the means to come up with the down payment, so if you can help them get into their first unit and have them exchange that for volunteerism in the schools or something else, that weaves a very strong social fabric and invests people into the community over the long haul.

Q: I've been in Tucson 20 years and the freeway in Tucson has serviced my needs during the business day once in those 20 years. What can we do to get a good cross-town thoroughfare in Tucson? - Mannion.

A: I think that's a question best asked to the Regional Transportation Authority and the technical committee. & What I'm told is that as early as next month, a plan from the technical committee may be brought to the citizens committee for some public vetting.

Clearly, in all the experts' minds and even in the minds of people like myself that are not experts in transportation, they realize that they need to enhance the capacity of an east-west thoroughfare.

Q: Do you see Downtown revitalization as a top city priority? - Michael Keith, owner, Contemporary West Development

A: I think it's one of the top priorities, certainly. If anything, I'll benefit from the momentum that was built before I go to the city. It's not something that needs to be kick-started. I think it's already under way. Some of the planning that has been undertaken over the last couple of years with the parking garages and the UA Science Center and the discussion of the arena, those things have already been contemplated, so they'll be moving forward.

Susan Mannion owner, The Marketing Place

Q: Do you support the concept of consolidation of aspects of city and county government?

A: I think whenever possible there absolutely has to be some cooperation. Now, as far as consolidation, I think there will be a lot of exploration about how many services, if any, do overlap and if there are opportunities for consolidation. ...What we're talking about is really transferring control to the authority that is going to have a dedicated funding source. I think you're going to see short-term discussions along those lines about which governmental entity will be best in overseeing those resources, and I think in the future, yes, you're going to have more discussions ... about opportunities to harmonize efforts. I know, for example, in talking to some of the people in the information technology department, that there are discussions of IGAs (intergovernmental agreements) over sharing common systems and networks, instead of duplicating.The natural ones people talk about as areas for consolidation are procurement and parks and recreation.

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Lea Marquez-Peterson chairwoman, Pima County Small Business Commission

Q: Communication between the City Council and the Small Business Commission has been a real challenge. How will you rectify that?

A: One of the things we look to do is emphasizing the role of small-business development and expansion in the economic development policies and programs for the (Regional Economic Development Commission). I think there is a growing realization that that is where the growth in the economy actually comes from, when you take small, local businesses that have a few employees to start, and then you add a few employees and the wages go up and soon there is a benefit package. I think that's the key and the cornerstone to true economic growth in the local community. & I see one of the holes in the overall economic development strategy being concentration on small-business development and expansion.As far as communication, I think that can be fostered not only through the City Manager's Office but directly through city leaders and the board of the new REDC.

Donovan Durband executive director, Tucson Downtown Alliance

Q: Do you think Rio Nuevo is on the right track?

A: I'm not really in a great position to opine as to whether or not Rio Nuevo is completely on the right track, but what I get a sense for and what I talked about publicly is the notion that there needs to be public investment, meaning the community needs to buy into Rio Nuevo in order for it to be prosperous and successful.Tucson isn't necessarily a community where you can send a bunch of engineers into a conference room with foam-board plans on the side and then call that public outreach, because only a select portion of the population is going to choose to go to those things. I think we have to go out to the community. I think we have to solicit ideas from the community and incorporate those into some of the plans so that people do feel invested into the process and therefore into the outcome.

David Cantrell owner, Crescent Tobacco Shop & Newsstands

Q: The police response to break-ins at our store used to be very good, but just in the last year, it has gotten terrible. It has taken 30, 45 minutes, even an hour, for police to respond. What can you do to change this?

A: I think the first thing I can do is talk to the police chief and find out what the history is and what the context is and if there is indeed a problem.I don't know that I've talked to anybody in the community who doesn't think that the Police Department may require more resources and more personnel. I'd be curious to see if in fact response times are down in the Downtown area or other locations and why.