It's hard if not impossible for your MesaZona blogger to even think about taking a low-blow potshot at John Williams who took some of his valuable time as the President of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank to visit Mesa for a Creative Place Making tour organized by LISC President Terry Benelli on Tuesday, July 14, 2015.
She guided a local group for a 3-hour site visit to look into the opportunities for Creative PlaceMaking here in downtown with John Williams, the head of The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco + 25 other people, including the mayor. Here's a photo opp from that occasion three years ago and an excerpt from a post published on this blog on August 1, 2015
01 August 2015
Valley Metro Light Rail Transit > Driving Smart Growth + Re/Generating Business Development
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| Image from LISC |
In three weeks - August 22 - downtown Mesa will be transformed forever with the Central Mesa 3.1 Mile LRT Extension going into service on a regular operating schedule en route to Tempe and Phoenix with a one-hour travel time from end-to-end.
As someone who's always lived with public transit in major East Coast cities for 40+ years, your MesaZona blogger can still get excited about that here . . . It's about time!
At a milestone-event for the monumental art installation at the Mesa Drive/Center Street Station, the subject of an earlier post on this site, the mayor said the salvation of downtown Mesa is riding on this train using a phrase of biblical proportions . . . better "to under-promise and over-deliver" is one of the mayor's more congenial forms of speech . . . " [your MesaZona blogger is the third person from the right]
Link to the post from three ago >> https://mesazona.blogspot.com/2015/08
". . . We all got off the bus to stretch our legs and stand up for a foto pop" or "group selfie" on the side of what is no doubt the most visually-stunning piece of architecture on Main Street in the New Urban Downtown Mesa, apart from the $98 Million-Dollar Mesa Arts Center.
Some people might call it Pop Surrealism, rivaling the three-dimensional works by Gaudi in Barcelona, Spain, but no doubt it's an appropriate backdrop for the Creative PlaceMaking group focusing on exciting opportunities here.
Where's the mayor?
He's one in the collaborative group. John Williams is at center right in the jacket and sunglasses.
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| \IPhone group image/Site Visit 14 July 2015 |
Some people might call it Pop Surrealism, rivaling the three-dimensional works by Gaudi in Barcelona, Spain, but no doubt it's an appropriate backdrop for the Creative PlaceMaking group focusing on exciting opportunities here.
Where's the mayor?
He's one in the collaborative group. John Williams is at center right in the jacket and sunglasses.
John Williams may be one of the best central bankers—but that doesn’t mean he should run the New York Fed
"After a somewhat controversial search, the New York Fed announced in April that it had chosen the economist John Williams as its new president. From one perspective, Williams is a superb choice. His last job was as president of Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, giving him ample experience within the Fed. And he has been an intellectual leader in shaping the monetary policy climate in a period of substantial uncertainty. He even has bipartisan bona fides: Republican Fed critic John Taylor was his dissertation adviser at Stanford and remains a strong supporter. Janet Yellen, the former Fed Chair appointed by Democrat Barack Obama, was his boss at the San Francisco Fed in the 2000s. In a statement released just after the New York Fed’s announcement, Yellen[1] “strongly support[ed]” the move and described Williams as “a distinguished economist who has made major contributions to the formulation of monetary policy.”
Dig a little deeper, though, and Williams’s appointment raises more questions than it answers. Despites his impressive qualifications, he already was a central banker within the Federal Reserve System. Why, then, should he move to New York? . . .
. . . Only the implementation of monetary policy distinguishes the New York Fed from the other Reserve Banks more completely. The question, then, is where Williams is on bank supervision.
Here, again, we have some important questions, but not many satisfying answers. . .
You can read more >> https://www.brookings.edu/research
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For the record and to memorialize the occasion, these are the Speakers/Participants included [in order of schedule]
Terry Benelli, Executive Director LISC Phoenix
John Giles, Mesa Mayor
Michael Trailor, Director Arizona Department of Housing
Jeff McVay, Special Project Manager for City of Mesa Downtown Transformation
David Carrisosos, Owner Celulares Conexiones
Jaime Dempsey, Arizona Commission on the Arts
Amy del Castillo, owner Lulubell's Toy Bodega +arts/creative placemaking activist
Jen Disbrow, NEDCO, Ripple Grant Program + Creative PlaceMaking
Brian Marshall, owner Village Bloom + community organizing/events @ Sliver Lot
Augie Gastelum, NEDCO Economic Director/Façade Improvement Grant, ArtEntrepeneur Programs + Business Lending/Technical Assistance
David Crummey, NEDCO, RAIL + Mesa Urban Garden
Liz Morales, Director of Housing & Community Development for City of Mesa
Marco Meraz. owner of Republica Empanada
Eric Paine, President of Community Development Partners, El Rancho del Arte
Pat McNamara, LISC Phoenix Senior Program
Ian Linnsmen, Chief of Staff to Mayor Giles
Members of LISC Phoenix Local Advisory Board [3]
Tim McElligott, Founder Curator Engine
Tyler Boone, LISC Staff Financial Opportunity Center
Joselyn Cousins, Fed Reserve Regional Manager Community Development
Jennifer Doakes, LISC writer/founder JDD Specialties LLC
Terry Benelli, Executive Director LISC Phoenix
John Giles, Mesa Mayor
Michael Trailor, Director Arizona Department of Housing
Jeff McVay, Special Project Manager for City of Mesa Downtown Transformation
David Carrisosos, Owner Celulares Conexiones
Jaime Dempsey, Arizona Commission on the Arts
Amy del Castillo, owner Lulubell's Toy Bodega +arts/creative placemaking activist
Jen Disbrow, NEDCO, Ripple Grant Program + Creative PlaceMaking
Brian Marshall, owner Village Bloom + community organizing/events @ Sliver Lot
Augie Gastelum, NEDCO Economic Director/Façade Improvement Grant, ArtEntrepeneur Programs + Business Lending/Technical Assistance
David Crummey, NEDCO, RAIL + Mesa Urban Garden
Liz Morales, Director of Housing & Community Development for City of Mesa
Marco Meraz. owner of Republica Empanada
Eric Paine, President of Community Development Partners, El Rancho del Arte
Pat McNamara, LISC Phoenix Senior Program
Ian Linnsmen, Chief of Staff to Mayor Giles
Members of LISC Phoenix Local Advisory Board [3]
Tim McElligott, Founder Curator Engine
Tyler Boone, LISC Staff Financial Opportunity Center
Joselyn Cousins, Fed Reserve Regional Manager Community Development
Jennifer Doakes, LISC writer/founder JDD Specialties LLC
