Mesa: A Smart City? What Don't We Know About That That Hasn't Been Made Public?

At least in Toronto there has been robust discussions about plans and how they came about from the same company Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google that proposed something called Smart Cities Dive there on the waterfront that is meeting stiff opposition. Citizens there have filed lawsuits unlike citizens here in Mesa. What's at stake? Millions of dollars and more questions

Just like here with billions of dollars in real estate and infrastructure at play - and who pays and who benefits and what's at-risk - residents are pushing back.

The people in Toronto are better informed with concerns that they say could have terrible consequences for public services as well as privacy. harvesting and licensing of data, the Internet of things,connectivity, and the monetization of public data. As you can see Mesa has a slick trick >>>>>>

EVERYTHING IS SMART!

How to fund your "Smart City'?????

There are questions

Mesa City Center???

> Citizens groups in Toronto have filed lawsuits.

Here in Mesa, hardly any murmurs. Except to say that Mesa City Center has been "re-invented" . . .    
Remember this Downtown Vision fiasco 5 years ago? > Nah. Didn't happen . . . that was 2014 when the same area is now planned for a new $75-million "sattelite-campus" for ASU when city officials hadn't figured out how to finance it after trying to sell the scheme to the public after soliciting proposals, selecting three finalists in a series of presentations, and then selecting the winner.  

A New Town Square for an Urbanizing Mesa
"The new space is "characterized by generous spaces for flexible uses, inviting landscapes celebrating the Sonoran desert, and ground floor uses with public-oriented programs that draw people into and through Mesa City Center to Main Street, the Arts Center, Convention Center, and residential neighborhoods. . . " 
"The new downtown public spaces will be financed with park bonds, approved by voters in 2012. . . " 
City Hall itself may also contribute to the the sustainability of the overall design. The team proposes a 150 kW solar parasol over the roof, creating an inviting rooftop public space with great views . . ."
Reference: Smart Cities Dive.com 
________________________________________________________________________

Before you read anymore the propaganda-blitz from City Hall officials or spoon-fed media campaigns, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO LISTEN-AND-WATCH THIS 7-MINUTE VIDEO

The discussions will help readers of this blog understand what is really at stake and at issue in all this "Smart City" talk that we have only heard one side from here in Mesa

Toronto Residents Face Off Against Google over Waterfront 'Smart City'

Published on May 16, 2019

Views: 4,408 at time of upload to this blog

_________________________________________________________________________


"Smart Growth Community"

< and what about this -  ain't happening - in that vacant Valley Metro Park-N-Ride lot at Sycamore Station that used to be the end-of-the-line for Valley Metro Light rail & Public Transit. Looks like most of the plans have been included not there, but at the Mesa Drive/Main Street Light Rail Platform in a 9.2-acre Massive Mormon Makeover of Downtown Mesa injecting a small-scale version of City Creek from Salt Lake City.Mesa Eyes Smart Growth Community Plan

Posted on November 4, 2016
 by Rachel in Planning & Development // 0 Comments

"Once the end of the line for light rail, nearly 21-acres around Mesa’s Sycamore Station are poised to become a signature development area under a Smart Growth Community Plan currently under review by the city. . .
The plan intends to create a new community within a pedestrian shed of a quarter-mile radius of the station, with walkways and thoroughfares to promote multi-modal transportation and minimize vehicular traffic. By adding significant density to the area, the plan intends to create a destination local that will increase property values and spur further development. . .
The preliminary plan calls for the seven parcels to be arranged as follows:

• 2 mid-rise multifamily buildings of 300-400 units
• A Main Street mixed-use/townhouse building with 35-50 units
• A townhouse and courtyard building with 35-50 units
• A parking garage
• A 3-5 level, 125-200 unit senior living complex, and
• An extended care/educational building that may serve as a possible expansion for the Arizona College facility on Dobson.

Phasing has not been finalized for the development."
Ref: http://azbex.com/mesa-eyes-smart-growth-community-plan/ 
________________________________________________________________________

Whoopsies!  Let's take "Arizona College facility" plan and try to squeeze the possible expansion not of that, but let's make a sales-pitch for bringing a new "satellite campus" for ASU Tempe into the heart of downtown Mesa to fill in the scattered parking lots around City Hall. The first $200M-scheme for 3 new buildings failed in 2016 (even with a $500,000+ privately-financed public relations campaign) to hoodwink Mesa taxpayers who REJECTED IT.
Let's try again in 2018, with "a conceptual rendering" of an imaginary make-believe one building - a NOT so VIRTUAL REALITY preposterous presentation foisting once again for public consumption for one more sales-pitch. This time the trick worked!

Yeah. Wrap it up with public safety, and it's good-to-go tricking taxpayers with a smaller dollar amount to finance ASU when the Board of Regents could have financed the entire deal itself. 
The image you see to the right is the actual site for either a 3-or-4 story building - they haven't figured that out yet - on the NWC of Centennial Drive/Pepper Place.
It is a small city-owned parking lot with a constrained perimeter footprint in the back of the 1970's-Era old one-story City Internet Technology Building that might get an historical designation somehow.

The real site is nothing like the one shown -  virtual-imagined - and meant to inspire "pretty picture" you see inserted above.

< From Main Street looking through beyond Pepper Place, this is the parking lot next to City Hall that sits on an asphalt-covered Bureau of Land Reclamation project.
It's now been included in the 2018 General Bond Proposition, for a few more million bucks to make it "a plaza".
What's the problem?? City planners were in such a rush they never thought about all the costly upgrades for visual gaming - millions more...so they had to hire a "Contractor-at-Risk" adding about a $900,000 contract award to figure out what is needed and how much more the ASU proposition can cost.
_________________________________________________________________________
Scroll down farther and see how most of the "preliminary plans" that never got phased in or finalized, somehow got "REVEALED" last Spring by a For-Profit Affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter-Day Saints for a 9.2-acre site in the Mesa Temple Area. They stated publicly they worked with city officials for years (behind-the-scenes) to transform that site into a smaller scale version of the 23-acre City Creek development in Salt Lake City.
No financial details or disclosures were ever made public, although all the infrastructure was taxpayer-funded for the private development.
__________________________________________________________________________

(Inserted for editorial comment)

HOW IS MESA A SMART CITY??
Join the conversation!
Have a question or idea? Connect with city officials at
mesasmartcity@mesaaz.govWhat is a “Smart City”? (here's "the official story)

"In short, a Smart City is one in which the latest technologies and data-driven insights are leveraged to improve the quality of life, civic engagement, economic development, service delivery, and community vibrancy for its citizens, businesses and visitors.

A Smart City is actually about people versus tech itself.

A Smarter Mesa is where modernized communications infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT) connected smart systems and data work together to provide responsive solutions that enhance the live, work & play experiences of people in our community. . . "

Ref: https://www.mesaaz.gov/about-us/smart-city 
WHOA! Now watch-and-listen again to what citizens in Toronto are saying about the some of same stuff . . .
_________________________________________________________________________
Readers of this blog https://mesazona.blogspot.com can see all the posts that have been published about these three projects by using the SEARCHBOX accessing the underlined link.

• Smart City Mesa
• Massive Mormon Makeover of Downtown Mesa
• Mesa LDS Temple Transformation
• ASU @ Mesa City Center