Now Really...."Mesa: A Smart City" might end up like this

Sidewalk Labs shuts down Toronto smart city project

News11 May 2020by Smart Cities World

Google affiliate blames coronavirus and economic uncertainty for closing controversial and delayed smart city 

The abrupt announcement marks the end of a project that had been delayed several times and received strong criticism in some quarters from citizens and privacy campaigners to its own advisors. . . 

 Beset by controversy

Since it was first announced in 2017 with the backing of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and plans to redevelop 800 acres of Toronto, Sidewalk Labs has come under robust criticism from a number of fronts.
Torontonians started a Block Sidewalk campaign, legal action was launched over citizen rights, and a privacy advisor to Sidewalk Labs resigned in 2018citing the project’s unacceptable protection proposals for personal data.

While the plans moved to a more formal assessment stage late last year, it came at the cost of a significant scaling back of the project. The amount of land to be initially used was slashed from 190 acres to 12. Any personal information obtained by the development was to remain in Canada and Sidewalk Labs was forced to partner with real estate developers rather than lead construction.

In spite of that progress, Sidewalk Labs was asked by Waterfront Toronto’s Digital Strategy Advisory Panel to justify why digital approaches to citizen and business needs were being prioritised over non-digital ones.

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27 March 2019

"Smart City" Agenda For Mesa City Council Meeting Tomorrow Thu 28 March 2019

Looks like it was published late in the day yesterday, but at least it's available to the public ahead of time. . . and the same day the public also gets the agenda for the April Fools Day City Council Meeting on April 1st.Ready, willing and able to hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on the City’s SmartCity Master Plan and the use of technologiesand data-driven insights to improve the quality of life, civic engagement, economic development, service delivery, and community vibrancy?????
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QUESTION: When if ever before was 
Mesa A Smart City?
TIME TO RE-BRAND THAT! Hire a consultant 
In 2018, the City of Mesa engaged ThinkBig Partners, LLC to assist in the development of a Smart City Master Plan. Most importantly, this effort included engaging our citizens, businesses and the public as we identified the key strategies & priorities for building a smarter Mesa!

https://www.mesaaz.gov/about-us/smart-city-draft-2 .....

Results from Smart City Citizen Innovator Workshop

October 31, 2018 at 5:43 pm

Source: http://mesanow.org/news/public/article/2196 

"The City of Mesa held a Smart City Citizen Innovator Workshop Oct. 25 attended by 156 people at the Mesa Arts Center.

After a presentation about design thinking and smart cities, attendees voted on subject matters that they viewed as important to discuss as a component of smart city in Mesa."

[Press release from City of Mesa Newsroom]

The top three subjects selected were

• Transportation & Mobility
• Downtown Vibrancy
• Health & Community Development & Homelessness.

The attendees participated in a live, interactive design thinking workshop to discuss challenges and ideas to address those challenges.

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People who live here in Mesa were always wondering What's NextMesa[the campaign platform] when John Giles got a calling to fill in the unfinished term for former Scott Smith back in 2014.

At that time he admitted publicly that he needed help with new ideas and there was a problem engaging and involving the public. . . Five years later as the highest elected official inside City Hall, the mayor still doesn't have a good track record even though Mesa taxpayers fund the salary of his "handler" and Chief of Staff Ian Linnsen, an Office of Public Information for Melissa Randazzo, and an open pipe-line to mainstream media writers who publish what he wants.

Trying to compete now with Microsoft Founder Bill Gates is way out-of-his-league and out-of-his-pay-scale

Bill Gates Just Purchased an Enormous Amount of Land to Build His Own "Smart City" [2017]

Bill Gates has started laying out his plans for creating a “smart city” in Phoenix, Arizona, about 45 minutes west of downtown. Located in the far west valley, the piece of land is comprised of approximately 24,800 acres. Belmont, the proposed name for the city, will embrace and push forward innovation and technology. One of Gates’ investment firms  has already solidified the plans by devoting $80 million to the project. . . Gates is no stranger to being one step ahead of the game,

READ MORE > https://futurism.com/bill-gates-smart-city-arizona 

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Here are the meeting details taken from http://mesa.legistar.com/LegislationDetail   WHERE THIS GOING > Key Priorities: Next 18 to 24 Months
City of Mesa Smart City Master Plan
10-Page Power Point Presentation 
What is A Smart City? 
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.

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17 October 2018

Smart City Mesa? When Are Sensors Collecting Your Data - Huh?

Like the opening line in a video from a CNBC video uploaded to YouTube in February 2017 - 20 months ago -  that is included in this announcement from Mesa Now, "Chances are that some  cities may be getting smarter by the year. Chances are just as likely that some cities are not. 
This workshop is all about the city TRACKING EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME collecting data - your data that you own.

. . . You probably don't know it - this workshop will tell you what's been done already that you probably don't know.
It's true that Mesa mayor is sometimes way-out-there in his own mind with sugar-plum coated visions beyond reality of things and "Big League Dreams" to become a world-class city 
But comparing this conservative most-suburbanized city in America - with only a population of 480,000 - where we live with three of the world's greatest cities   Singapore, Dubai and Barcelona - is just not playing in the right ball park in the city's Field of Dreams.

Hey! This is way BEYOND REALITY. 
Mesa is indeed in a league of its own imagination that some people might find baffling, striking-out time and time on plans to make-over and transform Mesa into a copy-cat mimic satellite of Salt Lake City where there's little left or few allowed who look to an emerging metamorphosis that sets Mesa above what's usually put on-the-table for public consumption.
Minds like Giles and other bright minds inside City Hall consistently make Mesa more sprawling and growing-fast in the same old ways following the endless game-plans that have worked time-and-time again for the real estate industry's "master-planned communities" spreading secluded gated enclaves like a big blob devouring The Valley.

It's way beyond reality that the mayor of Mesa, large companies and City leaders all want  you to believe that Mesa is A Smart City.
It's just another one of those bogus Engage-The-Citizens 
campaigns that turn into major screw-ups.
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