By Mike Sunnucks | Rose Law Group Reporter
Brian Friedman gets a lot of work done before 6:30 in the morning. Friedman is the Economic Development Director for the City of Glendale and has worked for the city for 19 years.
He’s been at the helm for some Glendale’s major economic development efforts and achievements. We caught up with Friedman who documented a very early and very busy recent day.
4:00 am – Inappropriately set alarm goes off. Great time to start drafting e-mails and text messages to then wait until a reasonable hour and hit send.
5:00 am – Still have over 100 e-mails to go over…
5:45 am – Check-in with Glendale Chamber’s all-star CEO Robert Heidt as he’s up and texted already…
6:00 am – Hit send on all the e-mails and texts. Send, send, send, send, send. You get the idea…
6:30 am – Still on the phone on call number five to east coast, jump in and out of the shower, chat with Assistant Director Jessi Peterson on the day ahead, grateful for speakerphone.
6:45 am – Make breakfast, lunches and pull out the vitamins. Ensure sons are up and at least slowly getting ready.
6:55 am – WhatsApp call with Austrian business partner discussing Red Bull development progress.
7:20 am – Wave goodbye to teenage son as he backs out of the garage with his younger brother in tow on their way to school. SCARY.
7:30 am – Ensure Bluetooth is connected and hit the road headed to GPEC.
8:30 am – Arrive at GPEC’s offices but still on the phone so stay in the garage to finish the conversation.
8:40 am – I am due upstairs, colleague calls to check on my status.
9:00 am – Enjoy participating in a panel on Foreign Trade Zones alongside some superb individuals. Julie Pettit, president and owner of Arizona Gateway Logistics; and Daniel Seiden, Director of Arizona government affairs for Intel Corporation.
10:30 am- Panel ends, time for a chat with attendees.
11:00 am – Head to City Hall
11: 30 am – Arrive at City Hall
11:35 am – Ran into someone in the development services counter that needs help with French translation and end up translating at the counter for 10 minutes.
11:45 am – Catch up with the team before departing for a lunch meeting.
12:05 pm – Arrive just a couple mins late for client meeting at Westgate.
2:00 pm – Back at City hall to prep for council meeting and two separate development agreements up for consideration at the public hearing.
2:30 pm – More time with the team to go over projects and updates and enjoy being in the company of some truly exceptional colleagues.
3:00 pm – Head to Executive team meeting. Just realize on the way upstairs that I have been double booked and have a second lunch meeting at 3:45 in Downtown Glendale.
3:45 pm – Still planning my exit and find a way to excuse myself and head to Off the Cuff Restaurant to meet with a prospective hotelier looking to build the 12th hotel in the Glendale Sports and Entertainment District.
3:50 pm – Make it to the meeting and place my order, its only polite, right but not easy on the scale?
5:15 pm – Done with the meeting and call my sons to check-in as I walk back toward City Hall before running down the hallway to speak with Planning and Building Safety colleagues on a few projects in motion.
5:25 pm – Walk into Council Chambers to meet clients on this evening’s agenda.
5:30 pm – Meeting called to order.
6:22 pm – Get called to present on the two development agreements and get a question I don’t have an answer for out of the 114 written responses we had prepared for, so I look back at Jessi for the answer. She’s always on point, teamwork is priceless.
6:27 pm – Items pass 7-0 YESSSSS!
7:06 pm – Meeting is adjourned. Time to head home and dish up meal in the crockpot. While at the dinner table, tackle the homework that is still pending and quiz the kids on their upcoming tests etc.
8:00pm – Head to the park to throw the football with my youngest son who never tires of the game, but my arm does.
8:30pm – Arrive home for some chill conversations and all prep for lights out.
9:45 pm – Back to work on some e-mails to cap the evening.
11:00 pm – Fall asleep with phone on my face.
