Did Mayor John Giles Find His "Think Spot" Today Preaching to The Choir?

This post is in three different segments:
> one alternative POV from your MesaZona blogger
> one official media event staged by MesaNow
> one 01:38 Mesa Channel 11 Streaming video
If you don't know what that is, dear readers, it is the City of Mesa's Newsroom.  
The occasion at 10 o'clock this morning was the opening of the $350,000 3-months-late and half-finished THINK SPOT at the Mesa Main Public Library located at 64 E First Street here in downtown Mesa, filmed on-the-spot by Mesa Channel 11.
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First here's the edited video from the event starting at 10:00 am that lasted about 45 minutes.... amazing that it took five days to get uploaded to YouTube
Mesa 11's streaming videos can be found >

Published on Mar 6, 2018

Views: 30

Part of the innovation district, THINKspot at Main Library is now open.
To learn more: www.MesaLibrary.org/THINKspot

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Months before the over-hyped buzz words "Innovation District" entered into the vocabulary of city officials to be the public-relations-mantra for the latest "Make-Over" and Transformation of downtown Mesa as "The Rise of Mesa's Innovation District", CBDG federal funds and money from The Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community became available for another maker-space following the proven success of shared-workspace Heat Sync Labs over the past four years right here on Main Street.
Nonetheless, Mayor John Giles, the last speaker on the program, took to the podium to preach to the peanut gallery filled with a faithful congregation of City Hall employees appearing in supporting roles, while Mesa Channel 11 producer Lily King-Cisneros and the film crew worked behind-the-scenes to bring the news to you - the public and residents of Mesa whose tax dollars finance how "the news" gets programmed for broadcast consumption.

Giles took advantage of his time-in-the-spotlight to launch into more value-added "talking-points" heavy-handed public relations campaign promoting Pie-In-The-Sky proposals for ASU he can't figure out how to pay for, at one time pointing out that D1 Councilmember Mark Freeman after walking around downtown said that he could estimate over $500M invested downtown already 
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Here's the media release today from the City of Mesa Newsroom

THINKspot opens at Mesa Main Library, key component of Downtown Innovation District

March 1, 2018 at 10:56 am

"THINKspot, a high-tech makerspace, is now open at the Mesa Main Library, 64 E. First St., in the City's emerging Downtown Innovation District. THINKspot offers residents, entrepreneurs, educators and students tools to work on individual projects or collaboratively share their ideas. . . "

Reality Check from images captured at Today's opening:
How many "tools" and resources do you see?

 All the speakers read from prepared scripts provided with the favorite most-frequently-used phrase in nearly every single one of the city newsroom's media releases:

"I am excited"

"THINKspot at the Mesa Main Library adds a perfect element to our growing Downtown Innovation District," Mayor John Giles said. "The resources available at THINKspot can help bring any idea to life and give students, tinkerers and businesses the ability to create without having to invest in expensive equipment."

THINKspot has more than 2,900 square feet of space. It includes two 3-D printers; a wood carving machine; a vinyl cutter; two state-of-the-art sewing machines and a photo/video studio that includes a green screen, a Canon digital camera and an iMac with video and audio editing software installed.

Blogger Note: About 1,450 square feet or half of the space for the Teen Think Spot were dark with doors closed and and lights-off for this opening.
That space is to the left side in this rear-view image of the mostly city employees called to the Mesa Main Public Library in supporting roles for this morning's festivities.   
The image below is just minutes before the start

"I could not be more excited" that THINKspot has come to the Main Library," Councilmember Chris Glover said.
"This will truly be a point of pride for our residents here in Downtown. It is high-tech, state-of-the-art and a really fun and innovative addition to our area. I know the impact it has had at Red Mountain and I expect nothing less here at the Main Library."
THINKspot will offer free online and hands-on training for all the equipment, which will be available for anyone 12 years and older to use.
For a listing of trainings and programs offered, visit www.mesalibrary.org/THINKspot.
"THINKspot is a great way to cultivate innovation in our community by providing the resources to make dreams become reality. Since 2013, THINKspot at Red Mountain Library has been a national model of how libraries can transform communities and we know THINKspot at Main will do the same,"
- Mesa Public Library Director Heather Wolf
Funding for construction of THINKspot at the Main Library was from the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and federal Community Development Block Grant funds. Money raised from the sale of used books will be used to furnish and equip the room.
Public Information and Communications
Contact: Kevin Christopher
Tel. 480-644-4699kevin.christopher@mesaaz.gov
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Source:
http://mesanow.org/news/public/article/2058