**2010 Golf Season is Here! Golf Free in Prescott…Because Prescott Rocks! April 1, 2010 to October 31, 2010. Package includes a minimum of 2 nights stay at participating hotels, two rounds of golf with cart. Package rate Midweek $240, Weekend $280. Call Antelope Hills Golf Course to schedule Tee Times @ 928-777-1888
PRESCOTT - Depending on the weather this weekend, as many as 5,000 kids could converge on the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza for the community’s annual Easter egg hunt and Egg-Stravaganza.
Prescott Special Events Coordinator Becky Garvin reports that the city will conduct its 11th annual Egg-Stravaganza from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday, April 3, at the Courthouse Plaza.
While last year’s snow, rain and sleet kept the numbers down to about 1,000, Garvin said previous Easter egg hunts have attracted upwards of 4,000 participants.
“This year, I’m preparing for the larger crowd,” Garvin said. “I think it’s going to be great weather.”
New this year will be special prizes and gift certificates that some of the eggs will come with. When children turn in their collected eggs in exchange for candy, Garvin said, some of the eggs will have markings that indicate a winner.
“We try to make it larger every year,” Garvin said of the event, which includes multiple egg-hunt opportunities, along with crafts, inflatables, and carnival games, face painting, and a balloon artist.
To add to the fun, about 30 downtown businesses will participate by handing out prizes to participating children.
While the egg hunt is free to the public, those who want to participate in the other events will pay a $5 fee, which will cover items such as a backpack, toys, stuffed animals and other prizes from the participating businesses. The participating children will get an Easter backpack, which they will be able to fill with the prizes.
In addition, the $5 cost includes activities such as inflatables, train rides, and carnival games.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity will once again help conduct the free Easter egg hunt on the plaza, in coordination with the city’s Egg-Stravaganza.
Garvin said about 30 fraternity members regularly help distribute plastic eggs on the plaza.
Those who want to participate in just the egg hunt should bring their own baskets, Garvin said. They also can pay a per-ride rate of $1 per ride.
The event includes:
• Two rounds of egg hunts - at 11:30 and 1:30. Age groups include up-to-5; 6-to-8; 9-to-12; and 13 and older.
• Easter backpack to decorate.
• Games such as an egg toss, hula-hooping, and sack races.
Along with the scheduled events, Garvin said a photographer will be on hand at the plaza bandstand to take photos with the Easter bunny, offering packages for $5 and $10. In addition, a roaming rabbit will be circulating on the plaza.
The event will cost the city about $5,000, some of which the $5 fees help to offset.
“We want to give our community a family-fun event that’s affordable,” Garvin said. “It helps our local businesses, and lets people know what’s in the community.”
The continued existence of the Prescott Lakes community golf course may soon come to a vote.
Representatives of golf club members and the course developer are working on another proposal for members to vote on, with the course’s future hanging in the balance.
It comes down to residents either voting for an offer to keep the course active or voting it down and possibly watching it turn into open space.
Bill Brownlee, managing member of M3 Companies, announced the temporary closure of the golf club effective next week.
Brownlee said the closure begins March 1 and he anticipates it will last for 60 days or until property owners vote on the proposal for the Prescott Lakes Community Association and Arnold Palmer Golf Management to control and operate both clubs jointly on or before the end of April.
“If the vote fails, it will be closed permanently,” he said. “The golf course does not make economic sense to continue to operate.”
Brownlee said residents got a letter Wednesday explaining the outcome of a meeting this past week with the community’s golf advisory committee.
Jeff Davis, who announced in late January that he is parting ways with M3 while still keeping an equal interest in the golf club, declined to comment.
Prescott Lakes Community Association board member Dave Hackathorn said Arnold Palmer Golf Management and the community association eventually will borrow about $2.6 million to go toward additional amenities and contract with the golf management company to manage it if voters support it.
“We’ve already talked to banks and stuff and we know that we are likely to be able to get the money that we need,” he said. “I think what we’re trying to work through is just that we have all the details and then be able to come back and present that to the homeowners.”
According to Hackathorn, it will take weeks to put all the pieces together, present it to residents and get ballots out and count them.
In the meantime, developers are asking golf members to continue to make their monthly payments and that money would go to maintaining the course, according to Hackathorn, who said golf members will end up paying greater monthly fees, which would vary on the type of membership package they have.
Hackathorn said it also gets M3 out of the community.
“To me, that’s the biggest value of the whole thing: If we can do this, then (M3 is) out of it both from the homeowners’ association perspective and from the golf club,” he said. “If we don’t pass it, then they’re going to continue to own the athletic club and they will continue to control the homeowners association.”
Although the athletic club will continue to operate normally, Brownlee said the golf industry is really taking it on the chin right now.
“(The) Prescott Lakes golf club is really not unique with its situation; it’s not a stand-alone problem - it’s a problem that a lot of people in the industry have,” he said. “We view it as a great opportunity for the athletic and golf clubs and the community at large.”
The letter states that if people vote against the proposal, the club will cease operations and explore “repurposing” parts of the property, including residential and commercial development options.
“We are looking at various options right now, but the focus needs to be on Arnold Palmer and Prescott Lakes Community Association plan,” Brownlee said. “We just don’t want to do anything that would take away from their ability to be successful with that plan because that’s what we see as being best for the community is for them to be successful.”
Hackathorn made a similar comment.
“What we’re looking for really is to find something that everybody can get behind and agree is the best solution.”
Source: The Daily Courier
Source: The Daily Courier
According to Prescott High School government teacher Mark Gologoski, it is the responsibility of citizens to “pay attention to what the government is doing.”
For most people, paying attention means watching network news. However, C-SPAN offers an alternative.
On Feb. 19, the C-SPAN bus stopped at Prescott High School on its national tour to talk about civic education. The bus is fully equipped as a news station. At one time, C-SPAN newscasters used it for interviewing and reporting. Today, the company uses it mostly for educational programs.
Senior Aubree Schuenman, a member of Gologoski’s Accelerated Program civics class, has watched C-SPAN but did not know all the channel’s facets.
“I didn’t realize it was non-biased and nonprofit,” she said.
During a presentation to the students, marketing representative Jennifer Curran explained that C-SPAN chairman and CEO Brian Lamb created the cable channel for televising sessions of the U.S. Congress and other public affairs events and policy discussions.
Lamb presented his idea for the new cable network to corporations, but only cable industry pioneer Bob Rosencrans provided $25,000 in seed money to get it going.
According the Curran, C-SPAN has remained true to Lamb’s initial vision. It receives no money from any government source, has no contract with the government and does not sell sponsorships or advertising. It strives for neutrality and a lack of bias in its public affairs programming.
C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network) went on the air March 19, 1979, broadcasting a speech by then-congressman Al Gore. Today, C-SPAN2 covers all live sessions of the U.S. Senate.
PHS senior and AP civics student Jordan Vickstein was impressed with C-SPAN’s video library.
“I appreciate how they archive all their footage. That is not cheap,” Vickstein said. “They have this information for people to use.”
Curran said part of the reason of the national tour is “outreach to students, to tell them about our online resources, such as the video library.”
The C-SPAN video library is not copyrighted and is free for educational purposes.
“It is cool that they came to Prescott and that they are trying to get high school students involved in government. Students should be involved in what is going on,” Schuenman said.
C-SPAN marketing representative Steve Devoney said students really seem to be excited about the video library.
“There is a point when talking to students that you can almost see a light bulb go off in the mind. They understand that C-SPAN is a straightforward, primary source for news, with no commentary.” Devoney said. “We have taken the flashy stuff out and removed distractions.”
C-SPAN does not point fingers at other networks, but “we ask people to look at what is being covered and why,” he said.
Unfortunately for students such as Vickstein, C-SPAN broadcasts only on a “federal level. There is nothing statewide. Watching C-SPAN now might not make a difference, but when we get older it will. We will have created a habit.”
Students are excited when the C-SPAN bus pulls in.
“They are impressed. We hope it is because of our resources, but in reality, it’s the bus,” Curran said.
Freddie Mac CEO: Housing Is Near Bottom
The inventory of foreclosed houses still hampers the recovery of the housing sector, but overall, the U.S. housing market appears to be at or near bottom, Freddie Mac CEO Charles Haldeman told the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday.
He predicted that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate would remain between 5 percent and 6 percent through 2010.
“The big downside risk to all this is a large wave of homes now in foreclosure potentially hitting the market at prices that are destructive,” Haldeman said.
Source: Reuters News, Soyoung Kim (01/26/2010)
The 10 Most Undervalued Housing Markets
Nationwide, only 87 markets are in the overvalued category, according to a newly released 2010 report compiled by IHS Global Insight and PNC Financial Services.
That means 242 of the 299 largest U.S. housing markets are selling for prices that even bankers think are less than fair market value. The judgment is based on a comparison of median home prices, local interest rates, population densities and income, plus historic premiums or discounts.
Here are the 10 most undervalued areas, according to the study:
Las Vegas, -41.4 percent
Vero Beach, Fla., -39.8 percent
Merced, Calif., -37.7 percent
Cape Coral, Fla., -36.8 percent
Houma, La., -34.6 percent
Port St. Lucie, Fla., -33.3 percent
Warren, Mich., -32.3 percent
Vallejo, Calif., -31.9 percent
Modesto, Calif. -31.8 percent
Stockton, Calif., -31.8 percent
Source: CNNMoney, Les Christie (01/27/2010)
New home sales plunged to a 9-month low in December, according to a government report issued Wednesday.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home sales dropped 7.6% to 342,000 last month, compared with a revised rate of 370,000 in November, the Census Bureau said.
Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com had expected December sales of new homes to hit an annual rate of 366,000.
“This is not a very encouraging number,” said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research. “You’ve got aggressive competition from banks and lenders trying to unload foreclosures, and many people are going to the existing home market because that’s where the bargains are.”
Prescott (Yavapai: Wiikwasa Kasikita) is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. Local inhabitants prefer to pronounce the name PRES-kit in a way that rhymes with “biscuit.”
According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 41,528.[2] The city is the county seat of Yavapai County.[3] In 1864 Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona Territory, replacing the temporary capital at Fort Whipple.[4] The Territorial Capital was moved to Tucson in 1867. Prescott again became the Territorial Capital in 1877, until Phoenix became the capital in 1889.
The towns of Prescott Valley (7 miles east) and Chino Valley (16 miles north), and Prescott, together comprise what is locally known as the “Tri-City” area. This also sometimes refers to in general central Yavapai County, which would include the towns of: Dewey-Humboldt, Mayer, Paulden, Wilhoit, and WIlliamson. Combined with these smaller communities the Tri-City area as of 2007 has a population of 103,260. Prescott is the center of the Prescott Metropolitan Area, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as all of Yavapai County. In 2007, Yavapai County was estimated to have 212,635 residents by the U.S. Census Bureau, making Prescott the third-largest metropolitan area in Arizona, after Phoenix (4.2 million) and Tucson (1 million).
Metro Prescott’s four-season climate is generally mild, owing to the altitude of 5,354 ft (1,632 m), being significantly cooler than the lower southern areas of the state and yet without the harsher winters found at higher altitudes.
The Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe reservation is located next to, and partially within, the borders of Prescott.
Source: Prescott Arizona on Wikipedia
The following info for Prescott Arizona was obtained from Trulia.com.
Prescott Zip Codes: 86301, 86302, 86303, 86304, 86305, 86306, 86313, 86330
Average Listing Price: $431,704
Median Sales Price: $243,750
Avg. Price sq/ft: $134
PRESCOTT VALLEY - This past week’s storm triggered the spill of 1.25 million gallons of untreated sewage from the town’s sewer plant Thursday and Friday into the nearby Agua Fria River, Utilities Director Neil Wadsworth said.
A power spike tripped the outside generators at the sewer plant and shut the plant down, Wadsworth said.
The power failure lasted from 7 p.m. Thursday until 7 a.m. Friday, and recurred from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday.
