O Yeah Mesa Plays . . . Mesa Plays Taxpayers For Fools

Mike Hutchinson, former Mesa

City Manager praises Mesa Plays

Two years ago voters here in Mesa got informed and smart enough when they REJECTED taking on more debt by defeating the bogus Yes1Mesa ballot proposition in the 2016 November General Election. City Manager Chris Brady and other officials inside and outside of City Hall have now re-packaged a $196-Million Spending Spree as 'a grab-bag of goodies for everybody'. Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff writer, got the story right in today's Sunday East Valley Tribune when he wrote "A Mesa City Council meeting resembled a rally for the proposed Mesa Plays soccer complex, . . the campaign appeared to launch almost on cue as speaker after speaker touted the sprawling project . . . " 
Once again the stage to influence voters is getting set.

The hitters who were called to appear on cue: Former Mesa City Manager Mike 'EVP Hutch', Rick Kelsey (President of AZ Youth Soccer Association), and Rich Adams (GPEC non-voting member of Mesa's Economic Development Advisory Board ....), who's quoted as saying: "The buzz is already out there. If we build it, these things will happen. This is an opportunity to become a leader in sports." 

Not so over-enthusiastic taking on more debt, was District 2 Mesa City Council member Jeremy Whittaker who spoke up at the City Council Study Session just before the Regular Meeting on Monday, July 2, 2018:

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Clearly, EVT writer Jim Walsh recognizes that Whittaker has been consistent questioning the city's spending using more bond debt financed on the backs and out-of-the-pockets of taxpayers, a heavy reliance by the Enterprise Fund generated with hikes in fees/charges for utilities, and the need for taxpayers to pay up later. . . he's quoted as stating "If we want to save our money and build Mesa Plays, that's an honest conversation." Earlier he made a convincing argument questioning the city's budget presentations  for the next fiscal year based on principles on his website www.jeremywhittaker.com

 

Whittaker questions and criticizes vocally a number of issues: The city's projections that both the proposed downtown ASU campus and the Mesa Plays project will pay for themselves, " . . if you look back, that's not the case. . . "  and Inclusion of a 2-acre downtown park in the Parks Bond Issue that's a requirement of the city's contract with ASU where the cost estimate has increased from $5.3 million to $7.7 million making it one of the most expensive parks projects, excluding any plan to athletic fields in other sections of the city. 

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BLOGGER NOTE: In reference to a proposal by Marc Garcia for the same sports complex before it was cleverly called Mesa Plays, this post was featured here on this blog site on Wed 30 Dec 2015: 

$PORT$ = Big Biz > Play Ball! The Game Is On, but ...



Marc Garcia/VisitMesa

Amateur sports? Wanna play? Who's gonna pay?
How can The City of Mesa - in a league of its own in many respects - even think about pitching a foul ball to taxpayers to fund the estimated [??] $54-57 Million Dollar cost  for a year-round "youth and amateur sports complex" to be located on part of 1,146.3 acres formerly called Spook Hill Park [anybody else gettin' spooked already] for the larger indoor basketball tournaments and volleyball and cheer and gymnastics and wrestling and  weight-lifting and Taekwondo proposed to a study session of the Mesa City Council recently by Marc Garcia, head honcho for Visit Mesa, a DMO for the City of Mesa?
The operating budget for VisitMesa largely comes from bed-tax revenues [about $1Million] levied on Mesa hotels, motels and short-term lodging for overnight visitors to the area.
It was reported on October 7, 2015 that Grand Canyon University had dropped its plans for expansion in the same area.

Chris Brady, City Manager

Will taxpayers get asked to foot the bill again for floating another municipal bond bill by more increases in sales taxes and increased utility charges?? Probably unlikely since $5.7 Million was pulled designated for parks and recreation and kicked into funding for the Mesa Historical Museum
Short on cash, Mesa stalls parks projects [video and transcript with reporting by Maria Polenta on Oct 20,2015]

The new proposal for youth-and-amateur sports complex got the full press-play last week:

East Valley Tribune
Massive sports complex planned in Mesa by Shelley Ridenour updated on Dec 22
Mesa Independent
Soccer complex proposed by Richard Dyer H. Dyer on Dec 21
KTAR.com
Phoenix suburb getting serious about plans for large sports complex on Dec 28
Arizona Republic
Will Mesa Pay To Play?  by Maria Polletta on Dec 15

The Nations Group whose project groups include charter and private schools, commercial, higher education, and sports-and-entertainment, were hired by VisitMesa to do a
*NEW* City of Mesa Sports Complex Market Feasibility & Economic Impact Study for VisitMesa to promote the DMO's proposal