In Mesa - City Endless? - More Cars + More $$$ For Parking Spaces ... What's Wrong With That?

. . . some thoughts from an architect buddy in Toronto  [images added  by MesaZona blogger]

Towards car-free living May 31, 2016 08:51 am Right now, there’s an apartment building in San Francisco that is trying to encourage car-free living by offering residents a $100 per month credit that can be used for Uber and/or for public transit. Prospective residents can even get a $20 credit to go check out the community. (The program is a partnership with Uber.) The reason this leasing strategy caught my attention is because we’re at a point where city builders are now trying to recalibrate themselves to this new emerging world. When I was at the Land & Development conference earlier this month, one developer brought up this exact point. He more or less asked: If you’re starting development on a new building today and you’re expecting approvals in 2 or so years and completion in another 3 or 4 years, what do you think the state of cars/driving will be at that point? Should you really be building all that underground parking? These are great question. And they highlight one of the challenges of development. It takes a long time to bring new supply to the market and a lot can change during that time period. My sense is that we are pretty clearly seeing downward pressure on driving and car ownership. That said, this isn’t the case in every city or in all parts of a particular city. I just got back from a trip to a Detroit where it’s pretty hard to imagine the city being oriented around anything but the car. But in cities like San Francisco and Toronto, car-free living is already a reality for many people and so we need to respond to that. How do you see yourself driving, or not driving, in the next 5 to 10 years? read more

Out of 100 Cities Nationwide Mesa Parks Ranked In The Bottom 10

So, how’s our city’s park system, if it’s one of the 100 to appear in the index, rank? Better or worse than you expected? Where was there room for improvement?
Just released is a report for urban park systems in the country per the Trust for Public Land (TPL)’s annual ParkScore rankings, an index that ranks urban recreational spaces belonging to the 100 most populous American cities.
Residents of Mesa will have to scroll way down - to the bottom ten - to see how the city gets ranked.
The ParkScore® index measures how well the 100 largest U.S. cities are meeting the need for parks
http://parkscore.tpl.org/

The ParkScore methodology is based on three key criteria. Park Access uses advanced GIS mapping technology to determine how far a city’s residents must walk to access the nearest public green space. Park Size takes into consideration both the median size of a unit within an individual park system and the total amount of land within a city that’s dedicated to parks.

Finally, the Facilities and Investment category combines both a city's park spending per resident and the availability of a quartet of aforementioned park amenities: dog parks, playgrounds, basketball hoops and recreation/senior centers
.
Take a look at around 7 o'clock - for Mesa it's $28.6 Millions of dollars.

Mesa = 91 out of 100

While it’s true that a low ParkScore may yield a fair amount of hand-wringing for park officials in the cities that place close to the bottom of the list, the TPL sees the rankings — described as “the most comprehensive rating system ever developed to measure how well the 100 most populous U.S. cities are meeting their residents’ need for parks” — as a tool that poorly-ranked cities can use to help better themselves in key areas and, in turn, move up the list.
Link for Mesa >> http://parkscore.tpl.org/city.php?city=Mesa

Explore an interactive map from this link

Park Facts:
Park acreage: 2,521 acres
People served per park acre: 183
Oldest municipal park: Pioneer Park, est. 1947
Largest municipal park: Red Mountain Park, 582 acres
Most-visited municipal park: Riverview Park


City Stats

• City area: 83,578 acres
• Median park size: 2.6 acres
• Park land as % of city area: 3.0 %
• Spending per resident: $69.96
• Basketball Hoops per 10,000: 2.6
• Dog Parks per 100,000 Residents: 0.4
• Playgrounds per 10,000: 1.4
• Recreation / Senior Centers
  per 20,000 Residents: 0.2
• Population density: 5.5 per acre

You can download Maps and tables here >> Access to Parks by Age and Income http://parkscore.tpl.org/ReportImages/Mesa_AZ.pdf

VIEW FULL RANKING ANALYSIS HERE
Using mapping technology and demographic data, we determined how well each city is meeting the need for parks.
You can learn more with in-depth city profiles …
… or compare multiple cities.
We scored cities in three categories. Learn more about the ParkScore^® methodology.

OTHER RESOURCES AND LINKS


New tool: http://gis.mesaaz.gov/ParkFinder/

http://www.mesaaz.gov/things-to-do/parks-recreation-commercial-facilities/parks

http://www.mesaaz.gov/city-hall/office-of-management-budget/major-funds

All The Media-Spin, Over-Hype + Hoop-La Do Not Make Downtown Transformation Real [ so sorry :)) ]

Just ask Jeff McVay [seen smiling second from right] in the image to the left] who somehow got saddled with the title  "Director  of Downtown Transformation."
Please don't get me wrong, dear readers - Jeff McVay is a nice guy [so's the mayor for that matter] but what they're attempting to do with The New Urban DTMesa is open to questions made in good faith with good intentions.
The occasion took place on October 16, 2015 [during the time Mayor John Giles said in in his SOTC 2016 speech that he had been talking to ASU for more than a year about locating a satellite campus here in downtown]. The occasion that put a big smile on Mr. McVay's face was this announcement made at that time, after the city had spent $75,000 total paid to three consultants to come up with an idea for a certain parcel of city-owned land next to City Hall. . . OOps! One problem: it didn't happen.  Now the "powers-that-be" and connections with them, are floating another idea for the same site with a sketchy proposal for a 2500-student ASU Campus - mebbe another "convincing anchor for the new city center"??? ... or is that just another Pie-in-The-Sky flat-fall at urban planning?

Rendering of Mesa City Center

Mesa City Center receives an Honor Award from AIA Arizona

Colwell Shelor+West 8+Weddle Gilmore's design for Mesa City Center took the top award (Honor award) in the urban design category at the 2015 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Arizona Chapter Annual Awards Gala, which was held in the Phoenix Art Museum this October.
A jury of architects from San Francisco AIA met earlier in the year to assess the 2015 design award submissions. The jury included Joshua Aidlin (Aidlin Darling Design), Dominique Price (Gensler), David Baker (David Baker Architects), and Rosa Sheng (Bohlin Cywinski Jackson).
Of the winning design the jury commented the “The curious and captivating organic form is a convincing anchor for the new city center. The renderings evoke a futuristic spirit, combined with a familiar, humane scale. The balance of green and hardscape creates a desirable “there” factor, and a magnet for various scales of engagement and civic activity.”
John Giles, City of Mesa Mayor; Jeff McVay, Mesa Manager of Downtown Transformation; Michele Shelor and Allison Colwell from Colwell Shelor Landscape Architecture and Phil Weddle of Weddle Gilmore accepted the award on behalf of the project team.

more information: Mesa City Center

Nice design for a City Center, huh?

Remarkably off the drawing boards in black-and-white using the same bird's-eye view high-in-the-sky is the new idea seen in the image to the left for the proposed $180 Million real estate development with less trees and less green space proposed and presented at City Council study sessions and meetings with little or any public comments and a lot of media-spin coming out of City Hall with nearly all mainstream local media say "this might be the site" or "ASU and Mesa are making progress".
The State Press in an article just a few hours ago  noted [as typical of the mayor with details] "In early February, Mesa Mayor John Giles confirmed that ASU would be establishing some sort of presence in the downtown area of his city, though the extent of that presence was not initially clear. . . "  HUH?? That's just four months after the big announcement that they wanted Mesa City Center for this same site! . . . readers might have guessed that after the residents of Mesa Royale put up a big commotion to not leave 644 W Main Street in a questionable "insider deal" land sale that would have removed them from their homes permitting the property to get cleared and bulldozed for a tentative ASU campus there, the city had to do a quick-think for other options for site selection, choosing where Mesa City Center didn't happen. This time there could be no scandal or dispute - the City largely owns the acreage.

There was another RFP in the meantime that did not work out: a privately-owned piece of land in a prime location diagonally across from City Hall, 1 West Main on the corner of Center Street directly across from the Mesa Arts Center.
All kinds of spin and hype and hoopla about that too - and a stock image of  a sidewalk restaurant shown in the image to the right from mesaaz.gov. 
It was for a 3-5 story mixed-use building for commercial, office and residential development. That didn't "fly" either, for reasons unknown.
Up now is the following site location and proposal for the NWC of Country Club Drive and Main Street on land that was in dispute over seizure by eminent domain that the City has for all intents and purposes recently purchased. Curiously enough, it's only one block east of 644 W Main Street on the Valley Metro Central Mesa Light Rail Extension that opened service in August 2015.
Just weeks ago it was publicized as about as many things the typical urban development planning tool box could produce - anything and everything anybody want.
Don't know about that "gateway" thing - but mebbe we'll be getting somewhere where the same mixed-uses for 1 W Main have been transferred to for this
Here's a press release from the Newsroom for the City of Mesa: 
Meetings scheduled to get input for major downtown development

Post Date: 05/24/2016 11:13 AM

The City of Mesa is hosting two public meetings to solicit input regarding a proposed development of approximately two and a half acres at the northwest corner of Country Club Drive and Main Street.
The meetings will be held Thursday, June 9 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday, June 16 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Benedictine University, 225 E. Main St., in the Community Room.
The June 16 meeting begins with a presentation at 6 p.m. followed by an open house at 6:30 p.m.

Representatives from Chicanos Por La Causa Incorporated and Winslow + Partners will be giving a presentation about the proposed market rate, mixed use development and will be answering questions and soliciting input from the community. Individuals unable to attend may provide feedback online at www.mesaaz.gov/downtowntransformation.  

The proposed five-story market-rate development includes 200 residential units, retail and commercial space and parking. It is designed to serve as a gateway entrance to downtown Mesa and provide easy access to light rail.

For more information, contact City of Mesa Manager of Downtown Transformation Jeff McVay at (480) 644-5379 or jeff.mcvay@mesaaz.gov.
 
Public Information and Communications
Contact: Kevin Christopher
Tel. 480-644-4699 kevin.christopher@mesaaz.govDon't

The Mayor's May 19 Media Briefing was .....Hmm, brief

Image from mayor's Facebook account

Your blogger appreciated receiving an invitation for the media briefing in City Hall scheduled for 2 o'clock.
Somewhat out of character for my punctuality usually arriving before time, I didn't get to City Hall until about 2:25 where the security station in the lobby told me the briefing was already over. Whoa! That was fast.
I had done my hours-long research on the topics ahead of time, looking forward to the Q&A, but had to settle for audio downloads from Mesa Channel 11 that were later provided @ 4:18 p.m. on the Mesa Now City Newsroom [hit the following link Mayor's Media Briefing 05.19.2015