31 August 2018

Mesa Police Department In The News For All The Right Reasons

 BUZZFEED NEWS: Reporting To You
This Police Department Has A History Of Violent Incidents Caught On Video. Now The FBI Is Reviewing It.
"I'm angry and I'm deeply disturbed by what I saw on those videos, and it needs to stop immediately."
Posted on August 31, 2018, at 7:10 p.m. ET
No police department wants to be caught in the public spotlight amid scrutiny over a violent encounter with one of its police officers. For the Mesa Police Department in the suburban city of Mesa, Arizona, it's a troubling position in which it has repeatedly found itself.
In February, there was the 84-year-old grandmother, unarmed and tossed on the ground by a police officer when they responded to her home.
There was the 15-year-old boy who was handcuffed, screaming in pain as officers raised his arms behind his back toward his head, in May.
Days later, there was also Robert Johnson, who was unarmed and beaten after officers asked him to sit down.
Then late Wednesday, Mesa Police Chief Ramon Batista announced the FBI would be looking into two of the violent arrests — of Johnson and of the 15-year-old — involving his police officers.
For the suburban police force just east of Phoenix, it was just the latest inquiry into the actions of the sworn police force of about 750, including internal investigations and outside investigators looking into the culture, practices, and training of officers who have repeatedly found themselves in hot water over the past two years. . .
Benjamin Taylor, an attorney who is representing Johnson, said the decision not to charge the officers was disappointing but not surprising, and questioned the impartiality of Scottsdale police.
"We believe that Scottsdale had a hard time finding [Mesa police] officers guilty because they're a neighboring city," he told BuzzFeed News. "They work together, they talk to each other, and when you have two cities who work together, it's hard to find each other in violation."
He was, however, "ecstatic" that the FBI will be reviewing the case.
"Hopefully, they can come and conduct a true and independent investigation," he said.
Taylor added that the review will hopefully expand to include other incidents involving Mesa police.
> Another incident under review by the FBI involves officers responding to an armed robbery and taking a 15-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl into custody on May 17.
> On Wednesday, Batista announced the FBI was not only doing an inquiry into the two incidents from this year but that the bureau had also contacted the department over two other fatal police shootings from 2016 and 2017._______________________________________________________________________
BLOGGER NOTE: Use the Search Box on this site to look up more information in posts about Daniel Shaver or Philip Brailsford that go back to January 2016.
There are a number of pending lawsuits against the City of Mesa that could add up to claims for over $150,000,000
One of the shootings involved Daniel Shaver, a 26-year-old who was shot while crawling to police, sobbing and begging officers, "Please don't shoot me."
________________________________________________________________________________
> The FBI is also looking into the deadly police shooting of Scott Farnsworth, a US Army veteran, after officers received a call of a man waving a gun near Skyline High School.
>

AZ Big Media > When Your Package Meets The Pouch

Looks like AZ Big Media is looking for 'a screen-grab' to size up its rating so here we go with this lifestyle news into the locker room using advanced date-driven analysis all about underwear. Readers may be interested in reading more noting that Lululemon, the company that manufactures those see-through yoga pants for women is on the list for the No Boxer Boxer. Also on the list from the least likely place you can imagine is Bamboo Boxer Briefs by Cariloha, Salt Lake City, UT.
Whoot! Whoot!   
Here are the best boxer briefs of 2018
Lifestyle | yesterday |
Rave Reviews, the innovative ranking site that creates entertaining write-ups using advanced data-driven analysis, has published its ranking of the “19 Best Boxer Briefs for 2018.” The ranking is available at https://www.ravereviews.org/men/best-boxer-briefs/.
Boxer briefs are now the most popular style of underwear for men. Undoubtedly, they are the best answer to the question made famous by Hanes and Michael Jordan (“Boxers or briefs?”) by combining the best of both worlds.
Beyond the recognizable names of underwear brands that have been around for decades, the ranking features several companies new to the scene. Many of these newcomers are innovating boxer briefs with game-changing features.
As Thomas Pettus-Czar, author of the Rave Reviews ranking for Best Boxer Briefs, explains, “I never thought that there would be much you could do to improve upon a staple product like a pair of boxer briefs, but then my package met the pouch, and now I’ll never wear pouch-less underwear again.”
Link >> https://azbigmedia.com/here-are-the-best-boxer-briefs-of-2018/

Aretha Franklin - Freeway Of Love (Video)

Let's go!

30 August 2018

Unofficial Election Results: Primary Election For Mesa City Council

In this Primary Election Candidates for 4 out of 6 seats on the city council were decided by voters. There was no contest in Distict 6. In the other three districts, only one candidate received more than 50% - David Luna in District 5 with 57.9% beat out his challenger with 41.9% in a fairly close campaign. In District 3 Francisco Heredia did get the most votes with 38.0% of the ballots cast with challengers Mark Yarbrough at 21.2% and challenger Christopher Bohn at 18.9%. 
In District 4 there is a BIG SURPRISE with no clear winner when these unofficial election results from all precincts in each district were published.
An exact tie in the ballot counts with 1,467 votes each for
  • Jake Brown @ 36.7%
  • Jennifer Duff @ 36.7%
(The third candidate Robert Scantlebury, a retired police officer received a respectable 1,041 @ 26.1%
__________________________________________________________________________
What's the Take-Away?
This could be a major turning-point in the generations-old entrenched political machine that has controlled this city for far too long. Obviously an endorsement from the current two-term incumbent D4 Councilmember Christopher Glover, who just happens to be Jake Brown's second-cousin, wasn't enough to stack the outcome in Brown's favor to deliver what used to be victory-votes from that  'friends-and-family' closely-connected network.
Just because Jennifer Duff managed to garner the same number of votes doesn't mean anything unless and until she wages a robust campaign in the General Election to inspire voters to maximize turn-out by presenting reasons to believe she is the candidate who doesn't represent 'special interests'.
Aside from qualifications or experience, one other factor in her favor is diversity: she's a woman who has now entered what promises to be a tough campaign for election that's been ruled mostly by men in the entire history of Mesa.
She does need to mobilize a movement, however, beyond what's gender-based to inspire and attract the entire spectrum
of people who live here in District 4. No doubt about that.
________________________________________________________________
Please Note: (Information refreshes automatically on the newsroom website)
From the City of Mesa Newsroom http://mesanow.org/election 
August 28, 2018, Primary Election
Unofficial Election Results (Includes Early Ballots) 
 
A STATISTICAL TIE IN DISTRICT 4
Councilmember - District 4
Polling Places Reported: 13 of 13 (100.00%)
Brown, Jake1,46736.70%
Duff, Jen1,46736.70%
Scantlebury, Robert1,04126.10%
Write-in Candidate190.50%
________________________________________________________________________________
Councilmember - District 3Polling Places Reported: 12 of 12 (100.00%)
 
Bown, Christopher1,22618.90%
Denison, Stephen76811.80%
Heredia, Francisco2,46538.00%
Lavender, Marc6369.80%
Yarbrough, Mark1,37621.20%
Write-in Candidate210.30%
________________________________________________________________________________
Councilmember - District 5
Polling Places Reported: 17 of 17 (100.00%)
Farnsworth, Verl5,38241.90%
Luna, David7,43757.90%
Write-in Candidate280.20%

Surveillance & Facial Recognition: Questions + Statements From Experts

Our core concern is that policing in the United States today functions without effective oversight or accountability. There’s a real deficit of trust. And in that ecosystem, it’s really hard to see how any legal requirement could be applied in a way that would truly protect people.
Image result for facial recognition regulation
That's one of the concerns in a report from The Verge yesterday
How should we regulate facial recognition?
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/29
Facial recognition is everywhere — airports, police stations, and built into the largest cloud platforms in the world — with few federal rules to govern how it’s used. That’s been true for years, but a string of embarrassing stories in recent months has driven home exactly how dangerous the technology can be in the wrong hands, and it’s led to new calls for regulation. Even Microsoft, one of the largest providers, has called on Congress to place some kind of restriction on how and where the technology can be used.
How should we regulate facial recognition?
We asked the experts
That leaves reformers with a difficult question: how can we fix facial recognition?
We put the question to five leading figures on both sides of the policy fight.
Is it time to regulate facial recognition?
> Alvaro Bedoya, executive director of the Center for Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law. The Center’s Perpetual Lineup project includes a model bill for regulating facial recognition, focused on restricting police access to driver’s license and mug shot databases.
> Brian Brackeen, CEO of the facial recognition company Kairos, an outspoken advocate for regulation in the industry.
> Evan Selinger, philosophy professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Together with law professor Woodrow Herzog, Selinger has called for a complete ban on the use of facial recognition, in both public and private use cases, out of concern that the technology is being normalized
> Benji Hutchinson, VP of federal operations at NEC America. A leading vendor for federal facial recognition contracts, NEC has resisted calls for federal restrictions on the technology.
Should police use facial recognition?
> Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts. The ACLU has called for a moratorium on government use of facial recognition.

6 News Reports: FBI To Review & Assess Use-of-Force By Mesa Police Department

Questions - and earlier actions from January 2016 in the killing of Daniel Shaver - are being looked into by the FBI according to at least six reports in the last 13 hours by both national and local news sources:

Story image for mesa arizona from NBCNews.com
NBCNews.com-8 hours ago
The FBI will assess the use of force by police in two arrests in Mesa, Arizona, including one for possible civil rights violations when a man was punched by ...
Story image for mesa arizona from NBCNews.com
NBCNews.com
U.S. News & World Report-12 hours ago
MESA, Ariz. (AP) — The FBI has notified Mesa police that they are assessing possible civil rights violations in the alleged use of force by officers during two ...
 
Story image for mesa arizona from NBC2 News
NBC2 News-2 hours ago
The FBI will assess the use of force by police in two arrests in Mesa, Arizona, including one for possible civil rights violations when a man was punched by ...
 
Story image for mesa arizona from News One
News One-55 minutes ago
... unconscious at an apartment complex in Mesa, Arizona will not be charged. ... “The FBI will assess the use of force by police in two arrests in Mesa, Arizona, ...
 
AZFamily-13 hours ago
The Scottsdale Police Department conducted an investigation of the incident and cleared the officers involved. (Source: Mesa Police Department) ...
Story image for mesa arizona from FOX 10 News Phoenix
FOX 10 News Phoenix-13 hours ago
According to a statement released Wednesday, Mesa Police was notified by the FBI late Tuesday afternoon that they will assess the use of force incidents ...

29 August 2018

Opportunity Zones: The Latest Insights from Across the Nation


Published on Aug 29, 2018
Recorded live on August 28, 2018
Views: 8

Join the Enterprise team and guest Katie Kramer from the Council of Development Finance Agencies for a 360-degree update on Opportunity Zones.

We discuss:
• Who’s launching Opportunity Funds and our strategy for creating a platform of funds;
• Updates from the Hill and the latest on additional guidance from the IRS; and
• How cities, regions, and states are planning for investment and engaging local stakeholders.

Plus we share information on the tools and resources available to you on our website, including how to access free 25-page reports for every Opportunity Zone in the nation.

Update To 2nd Avenue Southwest Key Detention Facility For Unaccompanied Minors

Just like the two neighbors mentioned in a report from Nevada KNPR one hour ago living on 2ndAvenue across the street from the Southwest Key facility here in Mesa for unaccompanied minors, your MesaZona blogger wondered when first seeing the abandoned vacant building just two blocks away from the LDS Temple a couple of years ago, What the heck is going here?
 (Could Cornerstone Properties be another For-Profit LDS enterprise???) 
First of all - this from the report one hour ago:
Mesa police records show officers went to Southwest Key, a government-contracted shelter for migrant children, almost 150 times in about 26 months
NO ALARM BELLS GOING-OFF FOR THE MESA POLICE DEPARTMENT WITH ALMOST 150 CALLS MADE TO THIS ONE DETENTION FACILITY FOR UNACCOMPANIED MINORS WHO ARE HERE IN THIS COUNTRY ILLEGALLY????????? . . .A government-contracted "shelter"
owned by a for-profit private corporation that rakes in billions!
_________________________________________________________________________
This curious blogger was more interested in why what appeared to be a new 5-story apartment building was then abandoned, surrounded by cyclone fencing, derelict and empty. One report said it was a nursing home and this report one hour ago from Nevada says "it used to be apartments for seniors".
Here's the post published on this blog from June:

16 June 2018
Episode 2 > Every Building Tells A Story:
Detention Facility For "Unaccompanied Minors" Here In Downtown Mesa
Per usual practice of your MesaZona blogger, curiosity sometimes get me going. Like about three years ago getting-around just by chance noticing an empty neglected boarded-up building on 2nd Avenue that looked there was an original size-able plan and investment for it that didn't quite work out as planned. . . The image to the left shows how it appears today - just this morning as a matter of fact. It was a mystery until getting an article in a newsfeed months ago and bookmarking it for future reference.
Asking around, no one knew anything about it. . .
THE LOCAL CONNECTION: Here in Mesa there are not one, but two SWK facilities
05 March 2016: Southwest Key, which operates a federally funded "holding and education area" on the southwest corner of Country Club and Brown roads for unaccompanied minors who have entered the U.S. illegally, has been approved for an additional facility at 723 E. Second Ave. that will house 280 to 320 children. . .
. . . Reese L. Anderson, of Pew and Lake PLC, represented Cornerstone Properties and Southwest Key at the meeting.
The development will be in a former assisted-living facility in four buildings on 2.54 acres, according to a justification document filed by the applicant . . .
This is the existing, old – and it has been vacant for a year-plus – Greenfields Assisted Living Facility. It’s a five-story building,” Mr. Anderson said at the meeting. . . "What this proposal is, is to take this older building and put a great use in it now. The federal government operates what is called the unaccompanied minors program. It’s administered through the Department of Homeland Security Office of Refugee and Resettlement. This is where minors who are here in this country illegally are housed, they’re educated, they’re taken care of medically, mentally. They have schools. They get check-ups. This is where they’re taken care of by the federal government. They’re here for an average time of two to six weeks as the government works to reunite them either with family here in the states or back in their country of origin,” he said. .
The Mesa Board of Adjustment voted 7-0 at a meeting March 2 to approve a special use permit to allow a group home in the RM-4 zoning district.
________________________________________________________________________________
Story image for mesa arizona from KNPR
KNPR-1 hour ago

Aug 29, 2018 by Matthew Casey

Mesa police records show officers went to Southwest Key, a government-contracted shelter for migrant children, almost 150 times in about 26 months. The calls ...

The Intercept: Nine Years of NSA

SIDtoday is the internal newsletter for the NSA’s most important division, the Signals Intelligence Directorate. After editorial review, The Intercept is releasing nine years’ worth of newsletters in batches, starting with 2003. The agency’s spies explain a surprising amount about what they were doing, how they were doing it, and why
(Entire releases from The Intercept in link below)
Aug. 15 2018, 11:00 a.m.
The Intercept's largest-ever SIDtoday release, with 328 documents, is published alongside stories about an NSA "worker bee" who was fed up with how corporate the agency had become and rallied other frustrated spies to his cause; about the NSA's environmentally-driven spying; and about some of the virtual private networks the agency cracked into, and why. Other highlights from this release, which covers the first half of 2006, touch on Iranian influence in Iraq, the attitudes of NSA staff toward the countries where they are stationed, and much more.
MORE INFORMATION AND DOWNLOADS > https://theintercept.com/snowden-sidtoday/
______________________________________________________________________________
Aug 15, 2015 - Newly Disclosed N.S.A. Files Detail Partnerships With AT&T and .... 2003-11-19 SID Today FAIRVIEW and STORMBREW: 'Live' On the Net p.

Snowden Archive: The SIDtoday Files. ... Join GitHub today ... This repository contains SIDtoday articles released by The Intercept, in PDF format and organized ...

 

28 August 2018

Millionaires in Mesa Take Over Transit-Oriented Development

Three years after taxpayers agreed to a hike in sales taxes to expand public transit, a group of Mesa Mormon Republican Millionaires have hijacked "The Salvation Train" to overtake the economic development platform of Local Initiatives Support Corporation Phoenix for affordable housing to build their own private wealth creation.  

< Yes our future is on the line. It really looks like here in the Ozone all along the three-year extension of the Valley Metro Light Service into the Central Business District, millionaires and Mesa Mayor John Giles have taken over the transit-oriented platform of LISC Phoenix for their own wealth creation: Whatever happened to the words  EQUITABLE + AFFORDABLE in transit-oriented development?

Time for another wake-up call?
Phoenix on the Verge
The Metro Area including Mesa might have been on the verge two years ago when 
political leaders and developers embraced transit-oriented development, known as TOD, a term for sustainable, higher density walkable communities, organized around affordable mass transit.
“At the outset, there were zero units of affordable housing along the light rail,” says Benelli. Now there are 2,100. “LISC was able to get in there and help our partners build using tax credits, when nobody else could.”
Compared to the 100,000 needed, of course, 2,100 is a drop in the bucket . . . building affordable housing in the city center in the urban core puts people near jobs,schools, culture, and all the other amenities that everybody deserves, across the entire income spectrum that's inclusive and affordable for everyone
www.lisc.org/our-stories/story/phoenix-on-the-verge 05 April 2016
______________________________________________________________________________________
“. . . If there was a silver lining to the foreclosure crisis, it’s that it was a wake-up call,” says Terry Benelli, director of LISC’s Phoenix office. . . "
"Twenty miles to the south-east of central Phoenix, you can step off the light rail at Center and Main Streets in Mesa, across from the dazzling façade of the Mesa Arts Center and neat rows of shops and restaurants—and feel you have arrived in a village that’s home to families from across the income spectrum. A directional sign on Main Street lists local shops and restaurants and notes the time it takes to walk to them. A block to the north is the IDEA children’s museum; a block to the south, volunteers water vegetables in raised beds against a backdrop of murals by local artists at the Mesa Urban Garden. . . . 
Tim Mello, a transplanted New Yorker who came to the valley after 9/11 to be near family, is emblematic of the Mesa residents who want to see their city become an inclusive transit village. Mello lives at Encore On First, an affordable senior housing complex built with LISC investment, appointed with solar panels, a reflecting pool and native plantings. A few months ago, he got rid of his car—an act that would have been unthinkable just last year, before the light rail opened.

“There are still a lot of conveniences that need to be built into the downtown, and there aren’t enough amenities for people,. . . he says, citing the themes he expounds at city council meetings and in daily blog posts. “But I can walk to the farmer’s market, Food City is 15 minutes away on the express bus, and there’s the 99 cent store for bargains. Mesa is on its way.”
In spite of the progress around TOD in the Phoenix area, there’s much more to be done, Inclusionary zoning laws have stalled in the legislature, . . NOBODY'S TALKING ABOUT INCLUSIONARY ZONING HERE IN THE OLD DONUT-HOLE where deep-pocket millionaires are well into rampant real estate speculation for high-end housing in the distressed neighborhood downtown Mesa has become  
_______________________________________________________________
HERE IN MESA There's a new crisis in affordable housing
> 06 August 2018
Here We Go Again > The NEW HOUSING CRISIS
Yep - that's from NPR just a couple of hours ago in a report from Boise, Idaho that you can scroll down to read with a link to hear a 06:23 podcast.
QUESTION: It's Primary Election Time. Are any of the candidates running to get elected or re-elected for seats on the Mesa City Council even mentioning or promoting affordable housing here in Mesa? . Nope. Instead we have 'upscale, above market-rate luxury housing' and rampant downtown real estate speculation by millionaires.
Let's hyper-localize this with links to two more reports about THE NEW HOUSING CRISIS in The Phoenix Metro Area and Maricopa County. Solutions? Not many . . .
Jul 24, 2018 - Modest incomes in a metro area of rising home prices, pricey new apartments and spiking rents make it harder to afford housing in our ...
 


Apr 13, 2018 - A nationwide affordable-housing crisis deepened across Maricopa ... in 2017, according to court data obtained by The Arizona Republic
 
> 16 August 2017
THIS IS REAL: Affordable Housing Crisis of UnPrecedented Proportions
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE
Worst-Case Housing Needs Increase
In 2015, 8.3 million households had worst-case needs, approaching the record high of 8.48 million
BLOGGER NOTE: Reproduced and posted here almost in its entirety from this source: http://www.housingfinance.com               
The number of very poor unsubsidized families struggling to pay their monthly rent and who may also be living in substandard housing increased between 2013 and 2015, according to a new report released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
We are experiencing an affordable housing crisis of unprecedented proportions
 
WORST CASE HOUSING NEEDS 2017 REPORT TO CONGRESS LINK> https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/Worst-Case-Housing-Needs.html


> 15 April 2016
Crisis In Affordable Housing > Rising Rents // Inclusionary Zoning
The Affordable-Housing Crisis Moves Inland
Rents are up and pay is the same, prompting cities across America to explore inclusionary zoning as a solution.
Article by Patrick Clark April 15, 2016 — 4:00 AM MST
Inclusionary housing emerged from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in the early 1970s to meet two goals:
Create affordable housing at low cost to local governments and mix/integrate housing reserved for low- and moderate-income residents with higher-priced market rate rentals and for-sale units [condominiums, for example]

> 25 March 2018
GOOD NEWS! 12.5% increase For LIHTC Affordable Housing Initiatives
YAY! Let's make it local and hyper-local here in Arizona
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE
LIHTC Increase Included in Spending Bill
The housing credit would be expanded by 12.5% over four years.
Note: This story was updated on March 23, 2018.
The low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program will receive a 12.5% increase for the next four years under a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending plan agreed to by Congress
Cantwell, who has been pushing to expand the LIHTC program for several years, cited how the recent tax reform bill harms future development of affordable housing. Although the 2017 tax legislation retained the housing credit program, several other measures in the bill are expected to significantly reduce the number of affordable homes built in the nation
_________________________________________________________________________________