Gary Birnbaum

Gary Birnbaum, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Program Development, recently was quoted in The Arizona Republic in an article titled “Cave Creek to pay off preserve by June 2012.”

The Aug. 1 article, by reporter Philip Haldiman, details how a property tax set up by the town of Cave Creek to pay off Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area will expire eight years sooner than expected, due to robust construction-tax revenue and development impact fees collected from 2000 to 2007, before the recession.

Birnbaum, who was appointed interim attorney by the town to help acquire the land, told Haldiman that the deal involved money that Cave Creek didn’t have. He credited Mayor Vincent Francia and Town Manager Usama Abujbarah with the ballot measure’s success.

“They spent hundreds of hours convincing the citizenry,” he said. “When we put the tax on the ballot we had a series of meetings. We went to town halls to explain this to everybody. The mayor and town manager were there every night shaking hands, asking people to tax themselves, asking them to please volunteer to pay for this area where we're going to build absolutely nothing.”

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Birnbaum is the Managing Director of Mariscal, Weeks, McIntyre & Friedlander, P.A., a general civil practice law firm based in Phoenix. He has significant experience in all aspects of commercial and real estate litigation, and has also handled business, real estate and securities transactions in various contexts. He teaches advanced courses on Private Property Rights and Advanced Topics in Business Law: Valuation of Interests in Real Estate and Closely-Held Businesses at the College of Law.