North Phoenix Bar Association

As you are aware, we need to move the NPBA luncheon from its current location at Catch 22.  To that end, Julie Wong and Gary Smith have spent the latter part of last week and today hunting down a new venue.  Our criteria for the new venue are:

1.                     We need a standing commitment from 11:30 – 2:00 every 2d Wednesday
                         of the month.
2.                    The room needs to be quiet and private.
3.                    The room needs to accommodate 30-50 people.
4.                    The venue needs to be in the geographic boundaries of the NPBA and
                        convenient to the NPBA members.
5.                    The venue needs to give us lunch within our budget, inclusive of tip, tax,
                         and room rental.

Julie Wong and Gary Smith looked at several potential locations:

1.                     Embassy Suites on Paradise Valley Parkway;
2.                    Stonecreek Golf Club;
3.                    Moon Valley Country Club;
4.                    Hilton Garden Inn on 19th & Pinnacle Peak;
5.                    Dave & Busters at Desert Ridge;
6.                    Orange Tree Golf Resort;
7.                    Rock Bottom Brewery; and
8.                    The Musical Instrument Museum on Tatum Road.

In each instance above, we ran against some stumbling block or another.  In most instances, the price we were willing to pay was too low.  For example, Dave & Buster’s at Desert Ridge, which has a really great meeting room, wants nearly $10 more per head than what we currently charge you. I also tried to get us into the Musical Instrument Museum, but it wants $1,000/month room rental + food.  Since we don’t want to raise the luncheon price to you, there is no work around.

The other most common stumbling block we encountered was the venues’ unwillingness to guarantee us the room each month. For example, we looked at the Embassy Suites on Tatum.  It has a lovely facility, but they won’t allow us to book more than 2 months advance at a time. Plus, they already told us we can NOT have the room in November or December.  Likewise, Rock Bottom at Desert Ridge does not have availability on the 2d Wednesday of the month.

We also looked at assorted restaurants.  Surprisingly few have private rooms large enough to fit 30-50 people, and of the ones we contacted, they wouldn’t accommodate us.  Likewise, we looked at the Orange Tree Resort, but it wanted far more money than our budget allows.

However, today Julie, Gary, Fred and I checked out the Tatum Ranch Golf Club.   The facility is relatively new, nice, roomy and quiet.  We at lunch there and the food was decent.

This location can generally accommodate us on all of our aspects.  Tatum Ranch Golf Club meets our price, our time commitment requirements, menu variety, etc.  Plus, the facility is private, quiet and gorgeous.  The only catch is that the facility is several miles further north from Catch 22.

As several NPBA members office near Shea or Cactus, we want to be sensitive to that fact and ask if anyone has a strong objection to relocation to Tatum Ranch Golf Club.  The whole point of NPBA is group participation.  So if the extra 8 minute drive time is a deal killer for too many of you, then we will need to find another accommodation (fast).   

Since we are running very close to our next CLE luncheon, we need to know ASAP if any of you are strongly opposed to relocating to Tatum Ranch Golf Club.  If you are opposed to the move to Tatum Ranch Golf Club, please email us at info@northphoenixbarassociation.org and let us know immediately.   

However, if you are opposed to Tatum Ranch, WE NEED YOU TO OFFER UP AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION; even an inconvenient location is better than none at all.   One thing is for certain, and that is that the facility at Catch 22 is just not conducive to our needs.

As those of you who have visted have seen, this website is set up as a weblog, which means that visitors have the ability to leave comments.   You have to be approved to leave a comment; this has been done simply to prevent the site being bogged down with spammer comments.  I believe that the way I have this set up, once you have posted a comment and been approved, you can leave other comments.

You can also become a Member on this site.  As a Member you will have the ability to contribute content.  That said, we do reserve administrative rights to edit, approve or disapprove of posts, even by Members.  The only reason for this is to keep the posts relevant and meaningful to the membership.

So, if you are a Member, please do contribute.

Last, in the next week or so we will have the updated website up, which will include a “classifieds” section in which Members can post items/services for sale.   So, that will be another area where you will be able to post.  Stay tuned.

Please make plans to attend the upcoming CLE/Luncheon next month.  Janet Scheiderer of the Administrative Office of the Courts will be presenting on the new e-file system being adopted State-wide in Arizona.   As always, the luncheon is on the 2nd Wednesday of the month — Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 11:30 a.m. to be specific.

As you will see in the attached FLYER, the meeting HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE TATUM RANCH GOLF CLUB. 

Here is a MAP to the new location.

We hope to see you all there to attend this important CLE/Luncheon and to provide feedback on the new location.

The North Phoenix Bar Association is planning a mixer for Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 5:30 p.m.  This event will be held in the back room of Rock Bottom Brewery at Desert Ridge Mall.

Here is a Google Map of the location.

This is an open event, so please feel free to invite your friends, colleagues and such.  Attendance is free, but you will be responsible to pay for your own beverages and food.

Hope to see you there!

Thank you to the thirty of you who were able to make it to yesterday’s CLE luncheon. Charles Dunlaps’ insights into the near-term future of Arizona real estate were no doubt grim. But as a law firm that handles workouts, I can tell you from personal experience that his advice is spot on.

Also, as we all discovered for the first time yesterday, the AC unit at our current lunch venue sounds like a jumbo jet taking off. So, I am going with Julie Wong tomorrow to visit three alternate venues (a nearby country club, a hotel, and Dave & Busters at Desert Ridge). I am going to try to keep the new venue as close as possible to the NE courthouse and will let you know as soon as possible where we will be moving the luncheons. My apologies for the relocation, but until summer hit, I had no idea about the AC problems at Catch 22.

Last, I am happy to announce that we have scheduled our first NPBA non-CLE happy hour. The happy hour is open to ANYONE, not just NPBA members, and not just lawyers. So feel free to invite friends, colleagues, spouses, etc. The point of the happy hour is to give the members a chance to mix, mingle, and do a little networking. Happy hour is Thursday, 29 July from 5:30 – ??? at Rock Bottom at Desert Ridge. We have reserved the private room at the back of the restaurant. The event is FREE (save only what you choose to purchase).

Julie Wong of Event Concierge manages our luncheons and events. You can reach Julie at (602) 569-5333 or julie@eventconcierge.com