INSERT: The City of Mesa has dubious plans to purchase 111 West Main Street, a building that was in foreclosure and vacant for many years.
The site was once the location for ZENO's Cooperative Mercantile and Manufacturer in 1890. ZENO, a character form the Book of Mormon of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was an early, and brief, name for Mesa. . .Like Lehi, Mesa also valued common wealth for the common good. An adobe schoolhouse was built in 1882 and The Zenos Cooperative Mercantile and Manufacturing Institution store by 1884. The 300 residents incorporated a city government in 1883.
Early Mesa pictured about 1883 shows the A. F. Macdonald home and gardens at lower left and at right the “relief society hall” (bishops storehouse? with flat roof), a hotel and store (on corner) and new city hall and jail (pitched roof). Macdonald, Mormon Stake President and first mayor, was sent to Mesa from Utah to iron out difficulties. He left in January 1885 to establish a colony in Mexico.
Mesa to move on downtown business incubator
The state’s next big chip maker may get its start in downtown Mesa if City Council approves a new economic development project.
Potato chip maker, that is.
The city is planning to move forward on a partnership with economic development nonprofit First Local Arizona to open a food business incubator at 111 W. Main St. in Mesa.
The vacant building is next to the Nile Theater and once housed a Catholic Books and Gifts store. The “Newsboy” statue stands on the sidewalk in front of the building.
Mesa’s Downtown Transformation Manager Jeff McVay is slated and will ask Mesa City Council tomorrow, May 16, to approve a purchase of the property for $1.6 million.
At a discussion session last week, McVay said the city will use American Rescue Plan Act funds to buy the property and renovate the building. The city estimates the total cost of the project, including the purchase and remodeling, will be $3 to $3.5 million.
The city plans to have the space ready in a year to a year-and-a-half, at which point the city will lease the building to Local First Arizona and let the organization manage the incubator.
The idea is to provide new food businesses based in Mesa, such as restaurants, caterers or food manufacturers, with a commercial kitchen, classes and other resources for growing their companies. . ."
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A Route Fifty examination found that while the funds are being used for a variety of Covid-19-related reasons, including replacing lost funds during the pandemic and addressing health and housing issues, money has also been used for such things as building African American history museums and renovating state buildings.
“In light of reports of [recovery] funds being used in states and localities for things seemingly unrelated that have nothing to do with responding to the public health emergency … or with making necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure, what controls in Treasury have been established to ensure that reported expenditures by states and localities abide by the restrictions on uses put in place in ARPA?,” the Republicans, led by Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, the top Republican on the committee, asked GAO.
> The senators also want the GAO to look into whether states are complying with an ARPA requirement that the money not be used to fund tax cuts or bolster pension funds, and whether states and localities have made reporting errors.
The Treasury Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment."
Looking At Public Art #5: TRUTH OR FOG JUICE?
Gotta say that the many installations of public art here in The New Urban DTMesa most certainly make "the original one-square mile" a Creative Place . . . it's not so square or for that matter conservative any more.
If you need a reason to take a walk, looking at public art might be a good one to exercise your body and brain at the same time, with plenty of stops for a good brew, water or coffee/tea, ice cream, a snack or sandwich or lunch.
We've enjoyed the many figures cast in bronze all over the sidewalks for years - everything from figures of founding pioneer families and early settlers and business leaders, to bears, salmon, boys playing baseball, girls reading, people sitting on benches talking or waiting, horses, a huge fat pig, dinosaurs, a boy-and-girl playing with the world's deadliest killing weapon and ducks getting fed crackers [both at City Hall], a climber, a newspaper boy-on-a-bike with dog running alongside, neon-inspired aerosol art on the sides of historic buildings, design lab mini-murals on the fronts of buildings along Main Street, move-able panels by Creative Catalysts, a big pink chair, a big high-heeled shoe, a gold Humpty Dumpty, the super-sized "Desert Rose" [ sub-titled New Generations/Nuevas Generations ], Sunset Park in 1st Street, monumental Valley Metro Public Art at all three light rail stations and transformer stations along the Main Street line extension and this one in front of The Drew Building.
While there's a new emphasis on interactive public art [Twilight Garden @ Morris Park + Musical Shadows @ Mesa Arts Center, this one is "a silent shout" about the news and how we get it - or not.
The big headline = TRUTH in capital letters . . . juxtaposed in the background is FOG JUICE.
A fog machine, fog generator, or smoke machine is a device that emits a dense vapor that appears similar to fog or smoke. This artificial fog is most commonly used in professional entertainment applications, . . . Fog machines can also be found in use in a variety of industrial, training, and some military applications. . .This fluid (often referred to colloquially as fog juice) vaporizes or atomizes inside the fog machine. Upon exiting the fog machine and mixing with cooler outside air, the vapor condenses resulting in a thick visible fog.
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