The Metropolitan Pima Alliance will take people for a ride this week, a "wild" one at that.

The alliance will host an inaugural "Wild Ride," a bus tour around different residential and commercial developments in the southern and southeastern areas of Pima County. The theme is "Are We There Yet? Jump Starting Development."

The alliance consists of small business owners, banks, landscaping companies, real estate agents, homebuilders, biologists, planners and consultants in Pima County.

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According to the promotional materials from the alliance, the event is designed to put government leaders in direct contact with private sector developers to discuss key issues in development.

"The idea of this is for people to get out and see the developments and see what is going on and what it takes for a development to come up out of the ground," said Kathleen Longnecker, executive director of the alliance. "The purpose here is to create the how's, the why's and the when's of development and create a dialogue."

Longnecker said the goal is to take tour attendees on a behind-the-scenes trip to see all the steps of development and discuss the possible impacts on the economy for any development in the area.

"This really hasn't been a tough sell," Longnecker said of the sold-out tour. "This is a great opportunity for people to see some aspects of development that they don't usually see and maybe this will help them understand and discuss issues surrounding development."

The ride begins at 7:30 a.m. at the Desert Diamond Casino, south of Tucson on Pima Mine Road, and includes stops at Rancho Sahuarita, Rancho del Lago, the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park and the Interstate 19 at Irvington commercial development. There will be a panel of speakers at the conclusion of the event - a luncheon - highlighted by keynoter Mark Winkleman, Arizona state land commissioner.

"I was asked to speak, I would imagine because the state of Arizona is the largest owner of undeveloped land in Pima County," Winkleman said. "We have a very big role in development in the area and I would like to associate with the key people in the area and try to develop some positive relationships."

Also scheduled to speak are Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry; Tucson City Manager James Keene; Col. Cesar Rodriguez from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base; Bruce Wright, UA associate vice president for economic development; Ken Abrahams, executive vice president of Diamond Ventures; and Luther Propst, executive director of the Sonoran Institute.

Speakers on the bus will give "little-known" facts about each development and the program will have graphics and project summaries for attendees.

David Woodburn may be contacted at dwoodburn@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4239.