That's THE QUESTION in my inbox in an email blast sent by Smart Growth Action Content on December 13, 2018.
First of all - and it certainly looks like it's a foregone fact-of-life here in Mesa:
Mesa Sprawls!
Here is a 32-year time lapse of urban sprawl in Mesa.
Published on Dec 14, 2016, so far the streaming upload has only received 41 views! HEY!!
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Here in Mesa it's definitely a Tale of Two Zones located in The Outer Loops that don't exactly fit the established criteria to get pre-designated as 'low-income communities' - in affluent Northeast Mesa and affluent Southeast Mesa.
Hold onto that thought for a moment to see what a new OZone report has to say after meticulously ranking and assessing 7800+ Opportunity Zones by their smart growth potential and current social equity to identify which ones are positioned to bring positive social, environmental, and economic returns
Sprawl or smart growth: the future of Opportunity Zones
Smart Growth America is on the front lines of ensuring that question gets answered the right way.
First of all - and it certainly looks like it's a foregone fact-of-life here in Mesa:
Mesa Sprawls!
Here is a 32-year time lapse of urban sprawl in Mesa.
Published on Dec 14, 2016, so far the streaming upload has only received 41 views! HEY!!
Here in Mesa it's definitely a Tale of Two Zones located in The Outer Loops that don't exactly fit the established criteria to get pre-designated as 'low-income communities' - in affluent Northeast Mesa and affluent Southeast Mesa.
Hold onto that thought for a moment to see what a new OZone report has to say after meticulously ranking and assessing 7800+ Opportunity Zones by their smart growth potential and current social equity to identify which ones are positioned to bring positive social, environmental, and economic returns
Sprawl or smart growth: the future of Opportunity Zones
Guiding Equitable Investments
Which Opportunity Zones have the most smart growth potential?
The newly created Opportunity Zones program will likely go down as the largest and most significant federal community development initiative in U.S. history, with trillions of dollars in new private investment about to start flowing into pre-designated low-income communities around the country.
The BIGGEST QUESTION TODAY IS THIS: will these investments benefit the people living in these communities now, or will they be displaced as new interest and development brings increased property values and rents? And what kind of development will this incentive bring? Unsustainable, car-dependent sprawl (the dominant growth paradigm in the United States today) or walkable, mixed-use communities with a variety of housing options for everyone?
Smart Growth America is on the front lines of ensuring that question gets answered the right way.
New research released today by LOCUS (a program of Smart Growth America) and The Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at George Washington University meticulously ranked and assessed 7800+ Opportunity Zones by their smart growth potential and current social equity to identify which ones are positioned to bring positive social, environmental, and economic returns . . .
What did they find?
This research revealed a tale of two zones. The majority of Americans in Opportunity Zones live in communities that force them to pay higher housing and transportation costs while being subjected to higher negative social and health impacts and a lower quality of life. The magnitude and scale of this tragedy is a reality check on the thought that the Opportunity Zone tax incentive will be a silver bullet. But if done right, this tax incentive could address decades of poor land use, institutional inequities, and development decisions to improve the quality of life for many Americans.
Step one is knowing which places could bring the best triple-bottom-line returns.
This new report will help investors identify which Opportunity Zones should be prioritized in order to deliver positive economic, environmental, and social returns. And it provides local policymakers and community groups with a policy framework to manage and ensure equitable, inclusive development in Opportunity Zones.
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Try like the Dickens as yours truly might, one thing that's gone missing in the City of Mesa's 11 Opportunity Zones mainstream media over-kill is wealth-creation for "angel investors" (with $25-100K) and millionaire-investors is the 2017 Opportunity & Jobs Act that was supposed to go hand-in-hand with job-creation. So far it's been mostly all about rampant real estate speculation and long-term deferred capital gains taxes to attract millions in cash standing on-the-sidelines.
Where do these two components meet in Mesa's 11 OZones?
1. Downtown Mesa:
Along the Valley Metro Light Rail Corridor
2. Northeast Mesa
3. Southeast Mesa
4. Southwest Mesa
OBSERVATION: Most of the job growth is concentrated in NE Mesa and SE Mesa
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Try like the Dickens as yours truly might, one thing that's gone missing in the City of Mesa's 11 Opportunity Zones mainstream media over-kill is wealth-creation for "angel investors" (with $25-100K) and millionaire-investors is the 2017 Opportunity & Jobs Act that was supposed to go hand-in-hand with job-creation. So far it's been mostly all about rampant real estate speculation and long-term deferred capital gains taxes to attract millions in cash standing on-the-sidelines.
1. Downtown Mesa:
Along the Valley Metro Light Rail Corridor
2. Northeast Mesa
3. Southeast Mesa
4. Southwest Mesa
OBSERVATION: Most of the job growth is concentrated in NE Mesa and SE Mesa
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