Maggie Soffel from Arizona State University and Enrique Bojorquez-Gaxiola from the City of Phoenix continue to discuss Rio Reimagined in greater detail, following the recent report that the City of Phoenix has been working to make it a reality.

Maggie Soffel from Arizona State University talks about Rio Reimagined.  A multi-jurisdictional river project spanning 55 miles along the Rio Salado and Gila Rivers in Arizona, traversing 6 cities and 2 Native American communities.  Hear the background of how this project came to be back in 1966, the push for it by former Senator John McCain, and why it was reignited in 2018.  Hear what this project means for Arizona and how they plan to bring the river back to its glory after being ignored for so long.

Tom Bilsten tells us the importance of being agile and faster than a dog with some amusing stories in public outreach.  Tom is a well respected community outreach expert and a lifelong community builder who sat with us to tell all the crazy stories of how he gets his job done so well and how he approaches obstacles in his job.  He has some unbelievable stories with dogs at large, ungodly heat, mosquitos, guns and also wonderful people which make his job amazing.

Jackie Guthrie, AICP,  one of the first professional planners Jessica met in her career reminisces about the fun and crazy projects she worked on over the long career as a land planner working on private sector projects large and small as well as who she hired and worked with as a young planner herself.  Hear all the crazy stories of projects you may not normally hear about and how she almost because a "missing planner".

Culdesac is an innovative carless community in Tempe, AZ.  Tempe Development Director Ryan Levesque, AICP talks about how it came to be and what the City needed to do to make it a reality for the entitlements and thinking differently about their site planning and design requirements.   Hear what he says the project made them look into their code again and see what really is needed. 

Laney Corey and Lucas Jensen join the podcast to talk about building their planning careers and making connections in planning.  Hear where their careers have led them and how they have been so successful at growing their planning career.

Hannah Whitwer from The Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Joe Cable, PE from Bowman Consulting and an active church member within the Church of Latter-Day Saints joins us to talk about the ways nonprofits are trying to help address the housing and homelessness issues in Arizona.  This enormous topic is more than just a single fix, but engagement with the community and volunteers across many sectors.  Listen in and hear how nonprofits and church organizations are trying to make an impact and keep the community thriving and making strides to help prevent and address chronic homelessness.  Learn how much it takes to help not only financially but through service and relationships and also ways you can help in any way you are able.

Jen Ruby and Jamie Blakeman join Upfront Planning to talk about their experience working through the development process.  From working through municipal staff comments to dealing with neighbors and being accused of murder.  What they feel are the best practices and how we can all create better projects through collaboration.

Former American Planning Association president Kurt Christiansen, FAICP joins the podcast to talk about what its like being on the National APA Board, what life is like after retirement for him, how he decided to be a part of the National Board and what he hops for the future of the planning profession. 

Carolyn Oberholzer of Bergin, Frakes, Smalley & Oberholtzer and Lindsay Schube of Gammage and Burnham join the podcast to talk about what its like to be a zoning attorney and what even is a zoning attorney.  Learn what makes land attorneys so cool and why they need to be so different then what you may think an attorney is. Listen in as we hear about all their crazy stories as these two friends join us for a fun time which will need to be revisited for sure!