Free Write: Tour of the Phoenix Convention Center

 One of the most memorable parts of my internship has been getting the opportunity to tour the Phoenix Convention Center. Recently, there has been events held that have drawn a lot of attention to the city. This has made the properties valuable to Phoenix.

The convention center administers two additional properties—including the Orpheum theatre and Symphony Hall—and has dedicated planners to be there from start to finish of an event. Each of the venues has a seating limit that goes a long way to determining how suitable it is to the event. If there is a need for technological equipment, there is the latest available.

Food service is a major component to the center in that it requires the most real time logistical management. The time requirement, seating, service, and food quality all go to make it a complicated task for any event. There are many supervisors and managers who make it their business to cater an event with minimal problems.

For those who do not have their event catered, there are full service restaurants that can be opened when needed. These places offer a great variety of food to suit many tastes.

Phoenix has done an amazing job in creating a space that can host many different events while still being profitable. This potential to become a top tier convention location has prompted the city to continually invest into the center, keeping it relevant and attractive. It is an impressive place to visit and I would definitely give it my recommendation!

Career Service Post #2

For this assigned post, I chose to submit my resume and a generic cover letter to one of my professors for review.

Prior to submission, my resume and cover letter were developed in ENG 301 Writing for the professions at ASU. In this class we evaluated the styles that work best for our career fields. For mine I used a simple and straightforward example and over the course of a few weeks was able to create most of my application materials.

Using the completed documents, I chose a potential job posting and applied my cover letter. That letter, resume, and job posting were submitted for review with my professor.

She was able to get back to me relatively quickly and give her suggestions. I am extremely grateful for her comments because she picked up on some errors that I overlooked. One of these errors was keeping all of my accomplishments in the same tense. After a correction, my resume looks much better then before.

I think after this experience, getting suggestions/comments from people like a professor will be more of a priority. After looking at my updated documents, they look so much better that it makes me wonder why it took me so long to get them reviewed!

Free Write: My Observations of Law Enforcement and Fire Upper Management

I have been pleasantly surprised and impressed by the way upper management of police and fire manage to be the link between their respective organizations and city management. They are professional and always put off a great appearance, to include well rounded attitudes/personalities.

The addition of specifically placed officers, who act as liaisons, has allowed staff to utilize them as permanent points of contact. Personally, the officer for the city hall has been tremendously important to a few constituent issues I was tasked. He was effective in helping me by being able to suggest solutions that I would not have thought.

Fire chiefs have act along side city officials to provide solutions for Phoenix residents by supporting flood abatement issues. Also, they have plans in place for residents to attain and fill sandbags to protect their property.

Their leadership has taught me a great deal when talking about how to effectively communicate between different sections in a government organization.

Organizational Strengths

 It is apparent that the past and present city employees have positioned the city to adapt and adjust to the changing conditions it faces. Leadership, structure, accountability, and efficiency are some of the great strengths I have seen in my time at city hall.

Specifically, I know the city council runs extremely ethical when it comes to open meeting laws. This fact cannot be taken lightly in that it is essential to prevent petty corruption and serves the best interests of the city’s residents. 

If I could, I would make the overall climate in city hall more positive. As in some of my previous positions, there is sometimes a negativity that is a result from customer service. Especially in planning and zoning, I have found this occurs between some of the front desk people and newly arrived customers. This is not to say that it is a serious problem, but it seems like there is an area of improvement. I would evaluate the moral and satisfaction of the employees, paying attention to improving upon those two areas. It is my belief that this kind of improvement can make interactions between government employees and constituents more of a positive experience.

Lastly, processes and procedures need to be displayed in a format that a layman without knowledge of government may be able to quickly understand. There have been many times where questions or concerns have been addressed that could have been resolved by all parties involved having a better understanding. Realistically, what I have seen is a well run city government.

Free Write: Open Accessibility to City Government

The City of Phoenix is surprisingly accessible in terms of being able to speak to officials personally. Of course there is a particular way of going about it, but it is not too much trouble.

An example is speaking with city planning. There is a clear and concise way of moving through lines quickly to speak with a representative to get proper permits and ask any questions.

The city has a great website that is easy to navigate and also very informative. There are bright big areas to link all kinds of information to the public. This was a big factor for me to intern here because I believe the government should be very open in its operations. On the homepage, there is direct access to schedules for all meetings and takes place of public posting of these meetings. What is also really nice about this calendar of events is the links I provides to all documentation needed to be educated about the particular meeting.

The way the city organized its tabs makes it to where residents of Phoenix can look up their areas of interest well before physically having to come to city hall. I have seen that it makes for less time wasted and a better atmosphere in the building.

Most importantly, the adherence to closed-meeting laws is extremely prevalent in this organization and is shown especially between council members in the city council meetings.

From this screenshot of the Phoenix website, city business is clearly shown to the public.