Meet your neighbor, Pam Goronkin
Hopes to parlay problem-solving skills into seat on Tempe CouncilBy Don Kirkland
It was only a two-year stint, but Pam Goronkin says her term on Tempe’s Human Relations Commission yielded what amounted to a lifetime of experience, including the simple knack of involving people at all levels as a key to community problem solving.
Now, three years after her commission appointment ended, the Warner Estates woman says it’s time to apply some of her combined government/business experience to a broader range of issues.
The vehicle for that new challenge: a hoped-for seat on the Tempe City Council.
Goronkin has until Dec. 12 to gather the 1,200 signatures that would ensure her a spot on the ballot of the March 12 primary. To guard against any possible invalid signatures, her goal will be 1,600—a number that, Goronkin says, doesn’t so far appear to be unattainable.
A onetime secretary who rose through the ranks to become manager of technical services for Motorola’s Strategic Electronics Division, Goronkin was born and reared in the Valley.
She moved to Tempe in 1969, in the days, she says, when “it was a small college town where everybody seemed to know everybody.”
It was under astute bosses at Motorola, Goronkin says, that she learned “how to get the best out of people, a style that requires involving them in the decision-making process.”
“Knowing how to do this comes from having a vision where management walks the walk, not just talks the talk,” Goronkin says.
In addition to honing her management skills, Goronkin says her Motorola experience taught her the intricacies of diversity.
She developed what ultimately became a mentoring program for women concerned with the glass ceiling phenomenon, a program that emphasized a collaborative effort with senior male managers.
“As time has shown,” Goronkin says, “we have evolved to a more global economy, and the strength of diversity is more important than ever.”
Now, as a prospective City Council candidate, Goronkin says she’s hoping to apply some of her business skills to wider government issues.
Among those, she says, are what she calls “a sense of north Tempe versus south Tempe. We sometimes forget that we’re one community.”
Part of her campaign theme, not surprisingly, is “It’s Our Tempe.”
Although she says that while such problems aren’t widespread, they do exist in various neighborhoods throughout Tempe. “It’s a mistake if you live in south Tempe to pretend that those problems don’t exist, and vice versa.”
Although neighborhood issues are of interest to Goronkin, they aren’t the centerpiece of her campaign, however.
“The focal point (of my campaign) will be resetting the course,” she says.
“We have benefited from a brilliant long-term vision for our community, and with any long-range process there are going to be bumps along the road. That doesn’t mean you throw out the baby with the bathwater.”
Goronkin says there are some in Tempe who feel the vision of the current leadership is wrong.
Says Goronkin:
“Some have voiced concerns that Town Lake has been a big waste of money because development has failed to materialize, that light rail will be a folly that no one will utilize.“In other words, they have pandered to people’s fears about change.
“I personally believe that it is easy to say this can’t work or isn’t working. It’s easy to be a Monday-morning quarterback, but that’s not leadership and it doesn’t solve problems.”
Goronkin and her husband Herb, a member of the research and development staff at Motorola, have been married for 21 years. Goronkin has three adult children from a previous marriage, all career professionals.
In her early days in Tempe, Goronkin was involved with Beta Sigma Pi, an international social sorority. She was among those who helped establish Tempe’s Sister City program, Oktoberfest and other community activities.
She is a graduate of Tempe Leadership and chaired a group that founded the Estate La Colina Neighborhood Association.
She currently serves on the steering committee for a visual and performing arts center at Tempe Town Lake.
