COJONES [and Jibber-Jabber] > Word Taken Out of Context @ Economic Development Advisory Board Meeting Today

Brian Campbell

... Five women sitting on the EDAB during  this morning's meeting at 7:30 a.m. and not a single one spoke up or got offended about a phrase in Spanish for a twin-piece of the male anatomy [ "balls" in plain English/"testicles" in science] when that was used referring to exaggerated job-hiring projections or 'jacking up the numbers' contained in a draft of a certain strategic plan that was being discussed not yet made public from a group in Phoenix. 
Curious? .... you will have to wait > more later
Who said it? Brian Campbell, board member
It was also announced that two women will be leaving the board.

image from mesaaz.gov

Re: Jibber Jabber
Readers might have recognized the phrase "Quick Jab" - used in the quarterly Economic Development Newsletter for a column piece by the director for City of Mesa Office of Economic Development, Bill Jabjiniak.
Your MesaZona blogger listens to what's said at meetings and takes notes,  but I swear by people in higher places that most of the words spoken from Bill's mouth yesterday were "jibber-jabber" . . .  wanna translate that?
Some comments did make sense, for example

• his comments made about a recent trade mission to Hannover, Germany by six [or was it eight?] city officials to promote Mesa at the tradeshow. The surprise? He stated that people in Germany/Europe didn't even know about Mesa or Arizona. . . hard to believe with all the million$ spent on promotions, marketing and public relations. Usually for trade missions, there is a schedule of meetings and itinerary posted publicly, if there was one. It was reported that over the course of eight days spent in Germany there were twelve contacts made with two engaging in more discussions about Mesa.
• Bill also mentioned pursuing FDI [foreign direct investment] by Japanese companies. Not surprising at all when international major economies are experiencing uncertain global macroeconomic conditions and looking for "safe havens".
• Mesa is only one city- out of many - competing for FDI dollars. It's a very competitive environment: example the announcement one week ago that a Swiss cybersecurity company is investing in a second headquarters here in Arizona, not in Mesa. Governor Doug Ducey claimed the negotiations took only three months, while Mr. Jabjiniak stated at the EDAB meeting talks were ongoing for 11 months . . . the successful city was Phoenix Arcadia District.
• Re: Xavier University closing its doors in Gilbert Mr. Jabjiniak stated that it was "under-capitalized" at $35 Million [paid by Gilbert taxpayers] and the subject of an earlier post on this blog. When a comment was asked by another board member about financing details for the proposed ASU Downtown campus, another comment was made by Jo Wilson, recently retiring from EDAB, that BenU had invested $13 Million here for its downtown location ---- isn't that "under-capitalized" also by about three times of a smaller amount??