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Runway incursions -- poor, sometimes dangerous, ground maneuvers made by airplanes -- aren't a big issue in Phoenix, but they have been a problem in other cities.

That's why Sky Harbor and other airports are slated to get special warning lights. The lights turn red when an airplane could roll into the path of another aircraft.

Nationally, the number of these incidents is going down, the FAA says: 

In 2006, there were as many as 53 serious runway incursions in the U.S. Roughly half of those, 26, involved commercial aircraft. Since then, that number has plummeted. Through June 30 of FY 2008, there were just 19 serious incursions in the U.S., the agency reports.   

At Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport, a test site for the runway status lights, there were 10 runway incursions before the lights were installed two and a half years ago, said Ian Gregor, FAA spokesman.

After the lights were installed, that number dropped to three, he said. 

Crashes are rare, the FAA says. Nationally, there were no on-the-ground collisions in 2007 and a passenger would have to board nearly 4 million flights before there would be a probability of serious runway incursion, aviation officials say.

The runway status lights are part of a broader strategy to keep those numbers low. Federal officials are also using better radar technology, pilot outreach and other method to decrease risk, the agency says.   

I'm back from vacation, folks! When comes to hot topics, few downtown Phoenix issues sizzle like light rail.

On Tuesday,  Aug. 5 Mayor Phil Gordon and Valley Metro Rail CEO Rick Simonetta plan talk to the business community about the project. Light rail service starts at the end of December.

Usually, the mayor's monthly gatherings attract 50 to 75 attendees, depending on the topic, said Patty Johnson a consultant who helps to coordinate the events. So far, 100 people have RSVP'ed for next week's event, which will run from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., she said.

In fact, they’ve moved the gathering from Royal Coffee Bar at 209 W. Jackson Street,  to a larger venue. Mi Amigo’s, a restaurant in the Arizona Center is the new location, but Royal Coffee Bar will still provide coffee for the event, Johnson said.

The $1.4 billion, 20-mile light rail line will link Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix.This month, Valley Metro began testing cars in downtown Phoenix.

The Aug. 5 talk will probably be popular because there is a lot of public anticipation about light rail, Johnson said.

"People are excited about light rail, and this is an opportunity to get (future) riders' perspective," she said.

Also, as word spreads about the mayor's monthly coffee gatherings, more people come, the consultant added.

The mayor's event could attract a few critics, too.

While several downtown businesses expect to benefit from the train system when it's complete, many have been hit hard by light rail construction. The transit project ripped up miles of city streets for months and many customers stayed away to avoid traffic headaches, merchants have said. And some shop owners near light rail construction have reported a sharp drop in business.  

If you'd like to attend, send an email to mayor.rsvp@phoenix.gov.

The U.S. Small Business Administration said today that it is "re-launching" its Office of Entrepreneurship Education, which focuses on financial education. 

The office is a division of the SBA's Office of Entrepreneurial Development, which specializes in counseling and training small businesses. 

The new office will combine the SBA's online education programs and business and community initiatives under one roof. Outreach to youth will be key duty.

The revamping comes when the SBA, a federal agency that provides resources to small-business owners, is facing heat from critics over its management of certification and contracting programs.

Recent investigations have uncovered large corporations receiving federal contracts under the guise of being small. Other reports have highlighted the SBA's alleged mismanagement of programs aimed to assist minority-owned and disadvantaged firms.

An Arizona consulting firm run by Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker was the subject of such findings with the release of a report about two weeks ago that said Parker mislead the SBA to get his company certified for a contracting program. The report also said the SBA failed to verify the accuracy of Parker's application.

Such news has prompted some critics to question whether the SBA is needed. Some have called for Congress to phase out the agency.

I've met business owners who credit SBA officials in the agency's Phoenix office with helping it find crucial financing to start and grow their companies. Other's have also grown internationally with the agency's assistance.

What do you think?

Does the SBA still serve an important purpose? Should it continue revamping its program offerings as it is doing with the Office of Entrepreneurship Education? Or could its services be provided more effectively by other entities?

According to a newly updated price survey, the residential real estate slump is no longer a nationwide downturn. In other words, location is staring to matter more.

"Our national housing crisis is morphing into a series of regionalized crises," writes Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. And some regions are doing better than others.

He cited new figures for the S&P/Case-Shiller housing-price index. While the overall index was down about 0.8 percent in May from April, and15.8 percent from May  2007, prices are firming in seven of the 20 cities covered.

Boston, Dallas, Charlotte and Denver enjoyed gains at or near 1 percent in May from April, while  Atlanta, Minneapolis and Portland were up by a lesser amount.

The bad news is home prices are still falling in the other 13 cities tracked. Phoenix  prices lost 2.5 percent on average in May from April, making it the worst city tracked other than bottom-dwelling Miami and runner-up Las Vegas.

Those 13 cities still aren't showing any signs of recovery, say economists at Northern Trust, also in Chicago.

Ablin thinks several recent and ongoing moves will help things, including Congress' move to grant up to $300 billion in FHA guarantees of refinanced mortgages to help borrowers in jeopardy.

Barack Obama's speech in Berlin was a phenomenal event. For a U.S. presidential candidate to draw a crowd of over 200,000 in a foreign country to hear him speak is truly remarkable.

So, Europe likes Obama and Berliners loved his speech.

In the United States, however, the question is what does what Obama said in Berlin mean for us and for the direction of his leadership should he become president?

There were two significant points about the speech. The first is that it wasn't apologetic.

There is a strong consensus in Europe that the United States is too backward to wield the power and influence it has in the world. So, U.S. power and influence need to be constrained and directed by Europe.

Most American liberals tend to defer to the European judgment, at least implicitly. Obama didn't.

Obama anchored his speech in the Berlin airlift, when the exercise of American power prevented free Berlin from being swallowed up by the Soviet Union.

Rather than concede European criticism, Obama asserted that “just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.” And toward the end of his speech, he gave a rousing tribute to American pluralism – of which, as he acknowledged in his opening, he is a living emblem.

The left tends to blame President Bush for rising anti-American sentiment across the globe. And certainly much of the world has resented the actions and Texas swagger of this president and administration. However, rising anti-Americanism considerably predates Bush and Obama resisted the temptation to lay the blame for trans-Atlantic stresses on him. The only swipe was raising the question of whether “we,” a pronoun of ambiguous antecedent in this section of Obama's speech, “will reject torture and stand for the rule of law?”

However, Obama seemed to go out of his way to say that trans-Atlantic issues would not be resolved simply by a change of leadership in Washington.

Obama is an eloquent speaker and a compelling persona. As president, he could be a powerful voice for and defender of the American story and its values and interests. He seems inclined to be so.

The second point that stands out is the way Obama introduced himself not only as a “citizen” of the United States, but also of the world.

Now, hyperbole is a standard tool of politicians and allowances have to be made for imprecision and exaggeration in their rhetoric. Nevertheless, the speech left the sense that Obama was not speaking merely metaphorically when he described himself as a “citizen” of the world.

What it means to be a citizen of a country is pretty clear. You are a member of that country's polity with the same rights and obligations as your fellow citizens. Your membership as a citizen of a particular country is a measure of self-identification and distinguishes you from citizens of other countries.

But what does it mean to be a “citizen” of the world?

There are some problems, such as global warming, that can only be solved through coordinated global action. There are many problems, such as containing terrorism, that benefit enormously from significant coordination and interaction among nation-states.

However, Obama's view of “global citizenship,” another term he used in the speech, seems to extend considerably beyond the tactical need for coordinated action among nation-states on matters of mutual interest. Instead, he seems to see trans-national obligations on such things as income distribution, education, poverty, disease and violence.

What this means in practical terms is unclear. This is an undeveloped part of Obama's foreign policy perspective. Nevertheless, it is a powerful impulse within him, finding expression frequently in sentiment if not yet in policy when discussing America's role in the world.

John McCain sees the world in terms of traditional power politics interactions between nation-states. The goal of American foreign policy, in his view, should be to advance American interests and increase American power and influence. Obama seems to see a larger calling and obligation in international affairs.

Although this is all a bit nebulous, I think it has the potential to be a meaningful backdrop to the presidential election. Obama seems to see himself as a citizen of the world in ways that many Americans do not.

(column for 7.30.08)

Congressional Democrats are trying to rein in speculators, claiming they are significantly responsible for the run-up in gas prices. Republicans are holding their anti-speculation legislation hostage to more drilling.

But perhaps the Republicans should treat this as a teachable moment. Let the Democrats pass their anti-speculation measures and see what happens to gas prices.