May 19, 2011, Arizona Daily Star, By Shelley Shelton
The town councils from Marana and Oro Valley agree they need to help their towns break out of a “Tucson mentality” if they are to establish their own identities.
The two councils had another joint meeting Friday, to hear a presentation by Arizona State University students on how the towns can work together to improve tourism.
“We want to make Oro Valley and Marana a destination, not a second thought when someone comes to Tucson,” Marana Mayor Ed Honea said.
The councils also met in February to discuss ways the towns can work together.
On Friday, ASU professor Tim Tyrrell began by reading descriptions of Marana and Oro Valley from the Arizona Office of Tourism’s Arizona Guide.
Nearby tourist spots for Marana include the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Saguaro National Park and Old Tucson Studios. Tyrrell noted that none of those places are in Marana.
For Oro Valley, he read aloud about the town’s proximity to Mt. Lemmon and its Ski Valley.
“But you can’t get there from here,” he said.
For the tourism study, 42 students from ASU’s School of Community Resources and Development broke into six groups, each studying a particular area of the Marana-Oro Valley region. Five students attended Friday’s meeting.
They broke it into six districts – Dove Mountain and the West Tangerine Road corridor, Marana’s downtown, heritage and airport areas, South Marana, South Oro Valley, North Oro Valley and unincorporated Pima County islands between those areas.
They published a 13-page color brochure summarizing their findings with recommendations about aspects of each district that the towns could emphasize to attract tourists. The towns shared the printing costs, and each made a $1,000 donation to ASU Foundation to benefit the Megapolitan Tourism Research Center.
Each student group also put together a 35- to 45-page report that will be available to the council members.
They conducted a question-and-answer session Friday, during which they suggested developing the Tangerine corridor as a destination itself or installing a trolley system between the two towns or between Oro Valley and Tucson.
“What you want to do is get visitors here and have them stay here overnight,” student David Borsheim told the group.
When Marana Councilman Jon Post asked about building a large sports facility or large equestrian center, student Kendall Merritt said both towns have great opportunities for outdoor activity, and an equestrian center would complement that nicely.
The towns might want to focus more on things you can’t already do in urban areas, she said.
After the students left, the councils and town staff members remained to talk about what the next steps might be.
A bit of hullabaloo ensued when Oro Valley Councilman Lou Waters mentioned a recent trip that kept him at Tucson International Airport for more than an hour. During that time, he perused all the brochures in the racks along the wall, he said. He did not find one brochure promoting Marana, and he found one small piece promoting the Hilton El Conquistador.
Several council members expressed surprise, and Oro Valley Mayor Satish Hiremath said they needed to look into how to get brochures into the Tucson airport.
“It’s crazy not to have that presence, to be honest,” he said.
The group also discussed smartphone apps to promote the region and agreed that they need to come up with a broad and consistent theme they can use to brand the two towns and use on promotional materials.
Source: ASU College of Public Programs