Jivin' John Giles: All The Good News

For the self-described 'non-partisan' kind-of-guy that the mayor calls himself, conservative Mesa Mormon Republican Mayor John Giles is no doubt thrilled and excited at the prospect of creating more wealth for his friends-and-family - the FOG - who stand to capitalize and enrich themselves in risky rampant real estate speculation to the tune of $300-400 millions of dollars here in downtown Mesa.

Looks like he's added up the potential windfall in unrealized capital gains that his friends [FOG=Friends of Giles] might benefit from personally if he and City Manager Chris Brady can only somehow snowball the City Council into approving deals with private developers and trick the voters and taxpayers into approving behind-the-scenes profiteering with little or no public benefits. He's starting to lose control ...

 

That's in spite of the huge staff in three departments (whose salaries are paid by taxpayers)

• for his own Mayor's Office of Public Information,
• for the City of Mesa Newsroom Mesa Now headed up by Kevin Christopher and Steven Wright
• for the Mesa City Council's Public Relations/Media Office headed by Randy Policar.

That's all 'insider reporting' paid for by taxpayers. Outside of City Hall there are at least two corporate-owned media who publish news that's sometimes Spoon-Fed by the insiders to their staff who write 'the news': One is Lily Altavena. Another is Jim Walsh.
Now there's more balanced writing in both The Arizona Republic and East Valley Tribune.
The heat is for both the current Primary Election and questions put on the Ballot for the November 2018 General Election where taxpayers can vote to reject or to approve more debt for pet projects to benefit private real estate speculators closely connected with the mayor and his friends inside and outside City Hall   

This from Jim Walsh where transparency is a key word - IMAGINE that here in Mesa!!
WHAT'S THE REACTION?

First-term Mesa Councilman Jeremy Whitaker has caused a furor with some of his colleagues by accusing them of corruption for accepting campaign donations from developers whose projects come before Council. Some of those developers also contributed to his campaign in 2016.

• Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer

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Mesa councilman stirs colleagues' anger with accusations

Image credit: Kimberly Carrillo/EVT

 

That neophyte 'wild card' and independent, elected to the Mesa City Council in 2014 representing District 2, has consistently challenged the city's financing practices while at the same time vehemently opposing and clashing with John Giles over taxpayer-funded $100-million to finance one ASU building downtown and other projects based on public debt financing for special interests based on questionable projections provided by the city.            

You can read the entire report:
Jim Walsh/East Valley Trib 29 July 2018
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Blogger Notes:
1. You can read all the hits and takes published on this blog about John Giles and Jeremy Whittaker by using the SEARCH BOX on this site https://MesaZona.blogspot.com 
2. BTW Thank you for over 195,000 Page-Views
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This from Lily Altavena yesterday about the confusing mess inside "The Bag of Goodies" packaged by Mesa City Manager Chris Brady and his Office of Management & Budget that have been carefully crafted in a confusing conundrum in not just the six BALLOT QUESTIONS but it's now ballooned with two more for another $300 Million Dollars in Public Debt Bond service obligations financed on the back of taxpayers:
How to deal with? It's easy for Mesa taxpayers to avoid getting played for fools and tricked again: JUST VOTE NO on all 8. They want to make U confused by stacking the ballot

Lily Altavena takes a different tack into the headwinds, going back to some non-relevant episode when people were less smart.
At the same time she wants to tell you what YOU NEED-TO-KNOW IF YOU CAN BELIEVE IT:
"Mesa is gearing up for a stacked November ballot with eight local questions totaling more than a half of a billion dollars in school and municipal asks. 

The hefty amount raises some speculation over voter fatigue, with the possibility that conservative Mesa voters could tick "no" the entire way down their ballot. . . "

Are Mesa voters in for ballot overload? What you need to know

AZCentral.com-Aug 7, 2018

Mesa is the third-largest city in Arizona and growing. The city's economic development department estimates it will grow to more than 534,000 residents by 2022, ...

Lily Altavena/AZCentral 07 Aug 2018