Slashdot Mirror
Advertising Hits Arizona County Government Website
Combuchan writes "Just when you thought that pages on your local government's website were the last bastion of the advertisement-free WWW, that may soon change. Maricopa County (seen on slashdot before), home to 3.4 million people in the Phoenix metropolitan area, has seen their GIS website "become an every day tool for realtors, developers, mortgage and title companies, appraisers, inspectors, attorneys and many other professionals associated with the real estate industry." As a result, they are now accepting bids for Web advertisements. As the county is one of the best-run in the nation, this could set quite the precedent."
I especially like this:
The same is true for his chain gangs which work six days a week contributing thousands of dollars of free labor to the community.
The truth of the matter is that there is quite a bit of agriculture in the Phoenix area. Mostly citrus (it's on the state seal), but you can also see corn and various other things being grown if you drive to some of the outlying areas of the city. There are also a number of lakes within an hour's drive of the city. The Salt River used to run right through Tempe (until they dammed it up for some reason or another--a number of canals run through the city). You can, however, bring your own beer and tube down the river (lasting 4 to 6 hours) at a cost of less than $20 out in East Mesa. That money goes straight to the park and is used to maintain the area. Unfortunately, Phoenix residents still really need to be a little more conscious of the litter they leave along the river.
Considering that Phoenix is one of the fastest growing areas in the country (and also one of the largest cities), they must be doing something right. But I suppose all of these little facts must have slipped your mind when you shot your mouth off. Or maybe you just didn't know. If that's the case, you really shouldn't talk like you know something about the place.
My other job, my non-geek job, is that of firefighter. Its a volunteer "on call" community. I see the fights they have go through to replace a $50 coupling let alone a few thousand dollars of hose line.
As far as I'm concerned, if NIKE wanted to put their logo on a few hundred feed of high quality inch and three quarter line, I know a whole lot of departments that would be very very happy about it.
What to a small town fire department is a huge expense, is less than sending a sales guy to a meeting for corporate America. Think of the impact that could make.
-- ME.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
Here's some stats for you on Maricopa County's water supply. The basins and aquifers contain about 175 million acre-feet of water. This is the bit the county has rights to. The county's water use is over 2 million acre-feet per year. The groundwater recharge rate is a pathetic 150,000 acre-feet per year, on average. The aquifer will be depleted in 60 years, according to Maricopa County's own, very optimistic estimates.
Now, riddle me this. Is it wise to invest in real estate in an area that will have pissed away its water supply in less than a century?
Furthermore I'd like to point out that much of Maricopa's and Arizona's surface water supply, for the bastardization of agriculture they tend to practice in that region, is piped in from the Colorado River, which aquatic system had to be ruined to support ambitious Arizona land owners, at the expense of everyone else.
Here's a nice book to read: Cadilalc Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water