Many made Embraer groundbreaking possible

by Mesa Mayor Keno Hawker
July 2007

Some days it just feels like everything comes together.

I experienced a great example of this earlier this week when, in the same morning, I participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of Loop 202 from Power to University and then, two hours later, welcomed Embraer, a new executive jet service center, at Williams Gateway Airport.

The groundbreaking for Embraer was a great example of the power of synergy, as representatives from all of the Airport Authority’s partners—Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek, the Gila River Indian Community and Phoenix—joined with the Arizona Department of Commerce and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council to welcome this premier employer. Congressman Harry Mitchell, Senator Thayer Verschoor and many other Valley leaders were also on-hand to celebrate the occasion.

Embraer held the first-rate event in a tent on their site and, although it was mercifully air-conditioned, I couldn’t help but wish we could use the tarmac instead because there were a lot more people I would have liked to invite. Namely, everyone who was part of the synergy that created that day.

The guest list would have included dozens of administrators and faculty from Chandler-Gilbert Community College, ASU Polytechnic and other schools, as Embraer explained that the aircraft maintenance courses offered on-site contributed to its decision to locate at Williams Gateway.

The fact that adequate transportation infrastructure was also a key factor in Embraer’s decision to locate at Williams Gateway Airport leads me to my next important group of invitees, which includes the thousands of Valley residents who voted for the 1985 regional transportation tax and the Prop 400 transportation tax renewal in 2004. The funding approved by these measures made it possible to build the transportation infrastructure that made Williams Gateway truly accessible. Of course, I’d also want to invite the hundreds of municipal, county and state transportation planners and construction crews who, in the last year alone, completed construction of the SanTan Freeway, widened the U.S. 60, improved Ellsworth Road and built the SuperRedTan Traffic Interchange.

Then there are the past elected officials—prior mayors like Peggy Rubach—who believed in the former Air Force base’s potential to become a world-class employment hub that could raise Mesa’s jobs-to-housing ratio. There are the council members, both past and present, who stood their ground and refused to let residential development encroach on Williams Gateway’s airspace. There are the employers—Boeing, Silver State Helicopters, International Simulation and Training Systems, and dozens more—that offer high-quality jobs on the airport. There are pioneer airlines like Vision and Allegiant that kicked off commercial passenger service. And there are developers like Fred Himovitz and Wings Valet who build the office space and hangars that quality employers are looking for.

Embraer’s decision to locate in Mesa can be attributed to all of these synergistic partners. Each contribution, no matter how small or large, created the unrivaled opportunity that exists at Williams Gateway Airport today. Everyone should be a part of the celebration.