MesaZona > Table of Contents : Here's The Menu. Enjoy: March 2019

31 March 2019

The 10 DUMBEST CITIES in AMERICA

Phoenix ranks 9th

Published on Mar 28, 2019

Views: 47,316 [at time of upload to this blog]

In order to rank the dumbest cities in America, we had to look at which cities have the highest high school dropout rates as well as which cities have low college graduation rates.

This is a pretty good indication of where people live who don't have educational backgrounds.

Additionally, we measured how many libraries are in each city, as a ratio versus number of places to party.

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Our goal is to combine recent data, fun videos, and thoughts about local culture into bite-sized snacks of shareable information. We call it bite-sized regional infotainment. We try to paint a picture of what’s happening in a region based on “Friday Night Science” — how’d you argue at a bar. To do that, we gather data from around the web to help determine a wide array of factors about where you live, things like safety, desirability, and culture.

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https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/...

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https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College...

https://www.latimes.com/local/educati...

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-con...

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Blow-Jobs In Baltimore Come Back-to-Bite David Stringer

Whoa! What did it take to clear-out one more legislator here in the Arizona State House? Fearless and relentless investigative reporting by one journalist and one source. After months of dilly-dallying slack efforts by every mainstream media outlet in Phoenix.
Cheers for Steven Hsieh and Lawrence Lanahan to crack it open - thanks to microfiche records for uncharged crimes.
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Phoenix New Times reporter Steven Hsieh started if off with an email back in December and got a fast reply
https://twitter.com/stevenjhsieh
"We would not know about David Stringer's past if not for @llanahan. I emailed him in December. Four days later he walked out of a courtroom with the microfiche that led to today's revelations. . . "

. . . and three months later Stringer is out

Lawrence Lanahan did the research
https://twitter.com/llanahan

Read it for yourself:

David Stringer Molested Children, Including ... - Phoenix New Times

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/report-david-stringer-molested-children-incl...

David Stringer Mocked 'Diversity' - Phoenix New Times

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/david-stringer-mocked-diversity-asian-stude...

23 hours ago - In addition to newly revealed details of David Stringer's past sex crimes, the report released on Friday also describes a previously unreported ...

David Stringer Resigns After New Times Investigation | Phoenix New ...

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/david-stringer-resigns-after-new-times-invest...

4 days ago - Arizona State Representative David Stringer resigned from office on Wednesday after refusing to cooperate with an ethics investigation into sex crime charges he faced in 1983, including child pornography, which were first revealed by Phoenix New Times in January.

David Stringer Must Make Sex-Crime Records ... - Phoenix New Times

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-legislature-david-stringer-sex-crime-...

Mar 20, 2019 - Since the disclosure of his State Rep. David Stringer's sex crime charges, the state representative has made a concerted effort to keep ...

PhoenixNewTimes on Twitter: "Rep. David Stringer strikes again. https ...

https://twitter.com/phoenixnewtimes/status/1006968530808418305?lang=en

Find us on Facebook and Instagram: PhoenixNewTimes .... Some other things to know about Rep David Stringer: He thinks teaching doesn't requires any ...

Theresa May: An Obituary

Pie in Top-form at it !!!

Published on Mar 29, 2019

Views: 418,226 [at time of upload to this blog]

Theresa May falls on her sword...and misses.
For tickets to see Jonathan Pie: The Fake News Tour go to http://jonathanpie.com

Here In Mesa: Truth-or-Dare In Accounting > Just The Data

It's that time again to another look at data from another source as the budget presentations are getting heard and discussed in a series of public meetings in front of the Mesa City Council that has already started just this past week in Thursday, March 28, 2019:
Truth In Accounting
Readers of this blog might remember that when anyone - including any Mesa City Councilmember who dared to question the data or forecasts and predictions made by Candace Cannistraro, City Manager Chris Brady or the staff of the Office of Management & Budget - got verbally attacked and derided during the meetings over the course of weeks from February through May. How dare they question anything?
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SNAPSHOT BY THE NUMBERS Mesa's Bills Exceed Its Assets [*in the millions]

Assets * $4,097

Less: Capital Assets * $2,892
Restricted Assets * $132
Assets Available to Pay Bills * $1,073
Less: Bills * $1,885
Money Available (Needed) to Pay Bills * ($813)
Each Taxpayer's Surplus (Burden) ($5,800)

The Bills Mesa has Accumulated

State Bonds * $1,797
Other Liabilities * $267
Less: Debt Related to Capital Assets * $1,658
Unfunded Pension Benefits * $830
Unfunded Retirees' Health Care Benefits * $648
Bills * $1,885

https://www.statedatalab.org/state_data_and_comparisons/city/mesa https://www.statedatalab.org/state_data_and_comparisons/city/mesa

News: 2019 Financial State of the Cities

January 28, 2019

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TIA Data

2017 Financial State of Mesa (Released 1/29/2019)

Mesa's Taxpayer Burden.™ is -$5,800, and received a "D" from TIA.

Mesa is a Sinkhole City without enough assets to cover its debt.

Decisions by elected officials have created a Taxpayer Burden™, which is each taxpayer's share of city bills after its available assets have been tapped.

TIA's Taxpayer Burden™ measurement incorporates all assets and liabilities, including retirement obligations.

Mesa only has $1.1 billion of assets available to pay bills totaling $1.9 billion.

Because Mesa doesn't have enough money to pay its bills, it has a $812.5 million financial hole. To erase this shortfall, each Mesa taxpayer would have to send $5,800 to the city.

Mesa's reported net position is overstated by $175.3 million, largely because the city delays recognizing losses incurred when the net pension liability increases.

The city's financial report was released 186 days after its fiscal year end, which is considered untimely according to the 180 day standard.

Prior Years' TIA Data
2016 Financial State of Mesa
2015 Financial State of Mesa
Other Resources
Mesa Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports
Publishing Entity: Mesa City Hall

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Download the new report here.

On January 29, Truth in Accounting released its third Financial State of the Cities report, a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal health of the nation's 75 most populous cities based on fiscal year 2017 comprehensive annual financial reports.

This year, the study found that 63 cities do not have enough money to pay all of their bills, and in total, the cities have racked up nearly $330 billion in unfunded municipal debt.

The study ranks the cities according to their Taxpayer Burden or Taxpayer Surplus™, which is each taxpayer's share of city bills after available assets have been tapped.

Check out the data for your city at the State Data Lab.

Bloomberg Equality Summit Town Hall

Published on Mar 29, 2019

Mar.29 -- Speakers from the Bloomberg Equality Summit take questions from the audience at the Bloomberg Equality Summit in New York.

Introduction - Excel Crash Course Part 1 of 7 | Corporate Finance Institute

Published on Mar 26, 2019

Views: 1,095 [at time of upload to this blog]

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Heavy-Handed Police Tactics Caught Again On Video

Gone so wrong again here in Arizona after multiple incidents of officer-involved excessive use-of-force.
In Mesa there were killings and lawsuits. In Chandler the police busted through the door of a family home, without a warrant, pointing guns to force their way into the family’s home in the middle of the night last month when they were denied permission to enter for "a welfare check".
We should all be outraged by these paramilitary SWAT tactics in a civilian context - it's out of control. The Chandler father, in this incident, provided a home-security video of police breaking down the door of a family’s home for a DCS-requested welfare check of a child with a spiking fever, after parents refused to give police permission to enter their home, saying their toddler son was fine. ( Courtesy of Chandler father)

This time around it's all about parental rights, vaccinations and child welfare. But let's not get side-tracked by the main issues that there is a need for civilian oversight of excessive use-of-force paramilitary tactics by police departments - it's nation-wide and not only in Arizona Weapons and tactics of war are getting used domestically.

Rep. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, attended a juvenile hearing to see if the Department of Child Safety violated the rights of a Mesa mother and father when taking custody of their child. (Photo: Dianna M. Náñez)

A couple failed to hospitalize their unvaccinated child. Police broke down their door

Dianna M. Náñez, Arizona Republic

_________________________________________________________________________The story is taken from this source, https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/nation 28 March 2019

30 March 2019

Head-Over-Head For Hyperlocal News: The Metrics

Whoever said Mesa is boring?
In a city known for its wide streets and narrow minds, there's plenty of room in 'The Old Donut-Hole' for different perspectives and points-of-views from every angle.
MesaZona: Table of Contents/Everyone is invited to the table
A new milestone has been reached

Pageviews all time history

225,514+

29 March 2019

Grande Vita: "Aging-In-Place" In A $300-Million BioCity Enterprise Here In Mesa

O Yeah! High-End Assisted Living!

This certainly looks like the future kind-of-place that might appeal and get sold to well-off Senior "Golden-Agers" - a 20-acre, multi-use, high tech and innovative environment medical campus-style community at Crismon Road and Hampton Avenue.

[Blogger note: images are inserted from public sources]

GrandeVita’s concept and design has been developed with the intent of creating a unique campus atmosphere with a world-class resort feel.

The campus is nearly 700,000 square feet of independent and assisted living, hotel rooms, multiple dining options, medical offices, a luxury tower and luxury condos, nursing school and rehab clinic. . .

[see details/links farther down in this post]

Conveniently located to the north is the Mountain Vista Medical Center, making the site an ideal location.

A Marriott Hotel is close by

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Note these upward revisions of published claims just three months ago:

150 more lobs
$10 Million more generated in wages

". . . The $300 Million project called Grande Vita, will create an estimated 476 jobs and generate 38.6 million dollars in wages.

Groundbreaking for Grande Vita will take place on May 21^st, 2019.

Brycon has already been on site since last year and completed the first part of the overall project, which is the Residence Inn by Marriot, which is on site.

That extended stay hotel will open to the public in May of 2019, just ahead of the official ground breaking on the campus. . ."

[see chart to left for Land Use Summary]

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“There is substantial demand for a high-end, assisted living community like GrandeVita,” says Kelly Copeland, COO of BioCity Enterprises. “Khangura Development and BioCity Enterprises are excited to build a property that will revolutionize the current model this kind of facility. It will be unrivaled when it’s completed,” continued Copeland.

Mesa Mayor John Giles emphasizes GrandeVita’s positive impact on the City of Mesa. “GrandeVida is an excellent addition to southeast Mesa,” Mayor John Giles said. “Their innovative approach to building a senior community with integrated healthcare, recreation and resort living will change the way we think about aging.”

Mesa approves $200 million GrandeVita project

Real Estate | 17 Dec, 2018 | AZRE

"On December 10, the City of Mesa moved forward a plan for a 20 acre, multi-use, campus-style community . . . A 127-room Residence Inn by Marriott is the first project to be completed on the campus and will be open in January of 2019.

When completed, GrandeVita will create

an estimated 326 jobs with an average wage of $45.25/hr
and generate $28.6 million dollars in wages.

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More details from AZ Big Media 28 March 2019

Brycon Construction joins $300M Grande Vita project

Real Estate | 17 hours ago | AZRE

There's A Big Sucking-Sound From That Tax Credit & Jobs Act

. . . and it ain't going to JOB CREATION, folks.
From Axios https://www.axios.com/newsletter 3 hours ago
1 big thing: Buybacks could exceed 2018's record high
U.S. companies are on pace to buy back more of their shares than they did during 2018's record binge, data shows, despite — or perhaps because of — mounting political opposition.

Through March 15, American companies had bought $253 billion worth of their own stock, according to data compiled by Michael Schoonover, COO of asset manager Catalyst Funds.

That total is about $18 billion more than at the same period last year, when company stock buybacks passed the previous record by hundreds of billions of dollars.

Why it matters: Companies are continuing to choose buying back their stock to reduce the number of shares outstanding and boost prices over investing in long-term capital and labor expenditures. Last year, companies spent more buying back their own stock than on capex for the first time since 2008, according to Citigroup. . .

What's next? The impact of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act on the real economy is expected to recede this year, but Schoonover tells Axios he is expecting it to continue to boost stock buybacks for years to come, as companies have already shown that's how they will use the tax cut windfall.

Further, as of September 2018, only $143 billion of the more than $2.5 trillion held overseas by U.S. companies had been repatriated to the U.S., which was a major part of the tax bill.

Mesa City Council Study Session Thu 28 March 2019

Too bad if you've a short-attention span - this is 104 minutes. It's part of the run to the finish in the annual round of budget presentations.
Are readers of this blog on their mark, and ready-set-go for all the dashes to the finish line some time at the end of May?
Once again notice all the empty seats in the Lower Chambers.
Looks like politics here in Mesa is a spectator sport, but when hardly any members of public are even watching, it is sad

It takes due diligence and efforts ahead of time to get informed on what's on the agenda for this study session when the meeting details were made public late in the day on March 26th. That's really not sufficient time - about one day - to access, review and study all the items on the long agenda for this early morning session. Some things can easily slip through the cracks that appear in open, transparent and accountable government when information is first of all either late or for some reason kept out of the public sphere.

So the session starts with a groggy John Giles asking if the Police Chief is present to sing him Happy Birthday - such gravitas, huh? Then D5 David Luna first asks about a crash that damages a bus shelter [really important, huh?] and D2 Mark Freeman next cues in on just one contract for Fire Department equipment in an long list of awards adding up to millions of dollars. . . .
Oh, and by the way there will be 'several presentations' on budget stuff. It was a surprise to see this uploaded on the same day since there's no reason not to do that on a regular timely basis - at the time of upload to this blog there were 27 views in a city of over 475,000.

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