UN-Covering Mesa: Light Rail Milestone

This blog doesn't attempt to cover Mesa - it's a dedicated initiative to discover the progress on The Regeneration of The New Urban Downtown Mesa.

To be clear, your blogger is not "an old root". 
He's a Latter Day transplant, somewhat like the pioneer Mormons who arrived here laying claim to the territory in the 19th Century in the original "One-Square Mile". 
Mesa today in the 21st Century is a multi-generational community evolving to become a Micropolitan area whose future will include mass public transportation.
Three articles on the extension of Valley Metro's Lightrail have already been posted here.  You can read them following this new entry. 
MesaZona blog connects with and features all different and local media that report news and information on the New Urban Downtown Mesa... here's a 1:16 minute video done by Mesa's one and only television station Channel 11 that was uploaded to You Tube on Wednesday March 25, 2015.
Channel 11's crew was on-location at the same time as your MesaZona guy on Monday from 1:00-2:00 for the Valley Metro Celebration for progress on the Central Mesa Light Rail Extension Project.
This video follows through on the theme of Old Roots New Growth - or Regeneration - as was done here in three different entries, and has live interviews with the Steve Banta, president of Valley Metro, together with Vice Mayor Dennis Kavanaugh, and Mesa Mayor John Giles who states  "The economic salvation of downtown Mesa is riding on this train" 
SAY WHAT?. . . the light rail trains are good people-movers for sure, with the Mesa Arts Center likely the biggest and best downtown attraction to bring people downtown for a few hours and then they leave

Pay attention since this video goes quickly ... and you might want to turn down your volume at the start.
                                              

What is A Bucket List?

From THE URBAN DICTIONARY: 
A Bucket List is a list of things to do 
before you die. 
[Comes from the term "kicked the bucket"] 

The main plot follows two terminally ill men (portrayed by Nicholson and Freeman) on their road trip with a wish list of things to do before they kick the bucket.... It received mixed reviews from film critics, but was a box office success, opening at the top of the box office and grossing a total of $175.3 million worldwide, easily recouping the film's considerable $45 million budget and turning a sizable profit for Warner Bros.
It's very unfortunate that since the film's release, the phrase "bucket list" has become a part of the American and British vernacular - why wait until you're terminally ill to get out and enjoy life?

Yeah! BEST OF MESA 2015: Who's on 1st? . . Who's on 2nd? and Who's on 3rd?

This blog likes to connect with and feature other media reporting on the New Urban Downtown Mesa
The East Valley Tribune has just published its annual results from voting by its readers and it looks like the bases are loaded with players from downtown! - and it's early in the game, folks.
This blog provides the names and locations of those businesses voted on by EVT readers - a few more details than what a Tweet from DMA says are "several things"

New Urban Downtown Mesa is Changing Fast: Eyes on the Light Rail Route Today

What is it?

Keeping up with improvements and changes to transform the new urban vision for Downtown Mesa , this blog  -a news, opinion and information source - featured an on-the-spot report for the Valley Metro Celebration of the station progress of the 3.1 Mile Central Mesa Light Rail Extension Project at Mesa Drive just two days ago and got it up online the same day. As you can see by the image on the left, other stations are getting their eye-catching public art installed.

People in Downtown Mesa can't miss this: Construction crews have raised another monumental public artwork as work moves ahead on the station platform at Center Street, the soon-to-be second stop in Central Mesa Light Rail Extension Project when the light rail trains start running.

Is your blogger becoming an all-in cheerleader for progress??

Downtown Mesa Now: Raising The Tent of A New Spiritual Revival. . . Oh Yeah!

Mesa, Arizona. Monday, March 23, 2015

Celebrations to commemorate the 4th Milestone of the Central Mesa Light Rail Extension took place about two hours ago, with the tone of a spiritual tent raising offered by the regional director of the Federal Transit Administration that brought smiles and appreciation to the attending crowd assembled in the shade under a big tent across from the construction progress for the new station and the installation of eye-catching public station art on Main Street and Mesa Drive. Construction is set to wrap up later this fall to complete this stage of the Central Mesa extension project.

Thank You, Forbes Magazine, but .... get to know New Urban Downtown Mesa!

This is NOT New Urban Downtown Mesa Today 2015

Your MesaZona journalist is just "a little guy" in the world of online reporting but I gotta say when a major respected publication like Forbes Magazine in an article published on March 17, 2015 http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampbarrett/2015/03/17/the-best-places-to-retire-in-2015-2/ about some of the best places to retire in Arizona - Tucson and Mesa - uses an outdated foto from Getty Images of Downtown Mesa viewed by over 19,000 people, that kind of sloppy research needs to get attention.!
So, what's wrong with the publication of this image?

The 3.1 Mile Central Mesa Light Rail Construction Pushes Forward --- Oh Yeah!

Getting ahead of the ongoing work for next week's scheduled celebration of construction progress and the installation of eye-catching stations and station art installations that reflect themes of Mesa's diverse cultures and history - Old Roots, New Growth - crews were on the ground and up in the air all around the station located on Main Street & Mesa Drive.
The bicycle rider, captured in the image to the left,  proceeded with caution traveling across the intersection which will in the future handle multi-modal transportation: pedestrians, bike riders, cars and trucks, and buses, and of course the lightrail trains running right through the middle of Main Street. [view looking West]. Lightrail future expansion is planned eastward to Gilbert Road, and beyond.

Clear Snapshots out of the Murky Downtown Vision: Rainy Days don't stop building in Downtown Mesa

While few pedestrians were on the sidewalks during the deluge today, except for office and retail store workers doing errands and having lunch, this blogger was out and about looking at the progress on two new and expanding "affordable" housing developments: Phase 1 of  El Rancho Apartments on Main Street [to be followed by Phase 2] and  Phase 2 Escobedo at Verde Vista, located on University Drive