Who's Having Fun in The New Urban Downtown Mesa???

Chalk-on-Blackboard > front of LoFi Coffee

On/Off Main Street anyone taking a walk can find some surprising great stuff that's slightly to the left and off-center and outside the official Chain-of-Command that approves and funds public art installations or wayfinding signage, appearing on blackboards or in empty lots ... like these two.

They may not conform to the official line drawn for public art on the sidewalks with all the bronze statues of a pig, Mormon town founders, a bear, frogs, dinosaurs and Humpty Dumpty located around town, but ya gotta admit they are "charming" and quite "innovative" in the eyes of some people with a sense of humor and delight.

On the stretch of Main Street between Robson and Country Club your blogger could find only one source of information to point the way to find businesses located downtown - see image to the left.

If you take a close look at the base you'll see a colorful extraterrestrial on the base of the drum from which rises an over 12-foot tall support for arrows with names of downtown businesses pointing in the directions to find them.

If you're wondering what purpose that big empty wall in the background has other than marking off the side of a building, it's used as the screen for a series of night-time family-oriented movies that take place in an empty lot in downtown close to a new lightrail station at Country Club Drive called The Sliver Lot.

Valley Metro provides some funding for these outdoor movie showings to make The New Urban Downtown an attractive place for families who want something to do at night. It's part of the Neighborhood Community Series.

Link here:  
Mesa Diversity Office Community Cinema

Noted In Passing: Urban Picnic is Closed

-----------------CLOSED---------------

Everybody loves it when two new businesses open up downtown, but it goes with little notice or fanfare, except for 112 Yelpers on Yelp, that a business on Main Street has closed down.

It' hard to say if Urban Picnic just didn't deliver on its promise to create and give meaning to seriously sophisticated fast food at a reasonable price for the hip modern-day on-the-go person who is health-conscious, or there were issues with management, the quality and prices of the food, or customer service, or maybe its location in  close proximity to a national franchise Subway right across the street and a national franchise Taco Bell within a block.

This Notice of Business Closure, issued by Maricopa County Department of Environmental Services,  has been posted on the door.

Notices like this are usually done as a last resort when then are serious violations of of the health code standards for food establishments that must be corrected within a certain amount of time. Failure to do so results in this action if the violations are not corrected or removed.

From reviews of Urban Picnic posted on various sites, there were numerous negative comments about food quality, sanitation, and infestations of ants, as well as bad reviews for employee attitude/service and high prices.

The block on Main Street between Robson and Country Club Drive, where a new Valley Metro Light Rail Station will be open on August, is way overdue for some attention by all the property owners and planning offices in City Hall.
It's the only block west of Center Street that does not have verandas overhead to create shade on the sidewalks for pedestrians.
There's a mix of retail shops, like Fiber Factory, a gallery named Two Hawks specializing in Native American art, an aesthetics and cosmetology institute adjoining the Yoga Studio on Robson, and a number of churches, an auto repair shop, and a pawn shop as well as other established businesses like Mezona Inn and Il Viniao - quite a mix.

The now-closed Urban Grill on the left side of this building next to The Fiber Factory might be in a good location close by what is probably the highest-density residential housing in all of downtown, an early mid-rise apartment building that's taller than City Hall.
Robson Villas, a condominium complex, is on the other side of it @ 225 West First Street.

Still A Long Way To Go Mesa: Segregation, Civil Rights, Discrimination + Social Justice

Movie Poster from IMDb

Arizona, once part of The Confederacy in its early history was the Cotton capital of the World, and Mesa was a major producer. The cotton workers and their families lived downtown in segregated housing, just a short distance north of Main Street. Black pilots training at Falcon Field were also housed there in for World War II.

The documentary "North Town", made in 2011 by Bruce Nelson who was born and lived here, explores the once segregated black community in Mesa from in the early 1900's to the 1980's. North Town has become known as Washington -Escobedo Park Neighborhood. 

[See below to see City of Mesa Heritage Wall story about this]

It's now the ground area for Phase 2 of Escobedo @ Verde Vista that's rising where some of the original buildings are part of an office and cultural history exhibit.

[Readers can scroll down to an earlier posting on this blog from March 2, 2015 to see details]

Here is a link to a preview trailer for this documentary where Bruce Nelson examines this small community and visits with some of the residents past and present to discover their experiences and connection to the national Civil Rights Movement, local politics, church life, segregation, discrimination, prejudice, bias and racism in Mesa, Arizona and America.  

Written & Directed by Bruce Nelson

Hit this link to see the trailer >>> http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi617719577/

"North Town" was shown @ The Nile Theater back on February 11, 2012 and at the Tempe History Museum on February 26 of this year.
On Wednesday, June 17th the 65-minute documentary returns to downtown Mesa with a screening that will be shown at Mesa Arts Center. Admission is free and open to the public.

6:00 pm

Film screening and panel discussion with Q&A

Dobson Lecture Hall

Go to this link for details from City Of Mesa Office of Diversity http://www.mesaaz.gov/residents/diversity-office/community-cinema-series

Community Cinema is a national documentary screening series sponsored locally by The City of Mesa Office of Diversity, City of Mesa Human Relations Advisory Board, Mesa Public Library, Eight Arizona PBS and the Independent Television Service (ITVS).  

 

Historian Jay Mark wrote a special report on the showing of this documentary that was published in The Arizona Republic on June 11th. As he writes, " It's a subject people still don't want to talk about these days . . . "
You can link to the article here >>> When Mesa faced discrimination and segregation

The City of Mesa has for a long time tried to "white-wash" its questionable history of discrimination that continues to this day. 
It's an issue that certain people still don't want to face by putting consideration of a city-approved nondiscrimination ordinance "on hold", instead of demonstrating the needed leadership that the private sector has long supported. The City Council has been dodging this issue for months.

Here's some information from the City Hall Plaza Heritage Wall: 
Land in the original Mormon townsite could not be purchased by either Mexican-Americans until 1916, and not until 1920 by African-Americans - looks like there weren't any Civil Rights Acts or Fair Housing Laws back then.

1916: Escobedo Neighborhood
In 1916, the Verde Vista subdivision was created, offering Mexican Americans their first real opportunity to buy homes in the Mesa area. Located north of University between Sirrine and Pasadena, Verde Vista grew rapidly in the 1920s. The center of Mesa’s Mexican-American community, it was home to a mixture of residences and small businesses. Later it was called the Escobedo neighborhood, after a local housing project of the same name built in the 1940s.


1920: Washington Community 
African Americans came to Mesa starting in the early 1900s, but discrimination kept them from owning homes in the original townsite. The first housing subdivision to welcome them as buyers and residents was the Mitchell Addition, created in 1920 on land north of University and east of Center. Together with another subdivision, Tuskegee Place, it soon became known as the Washington neighborhood, after the school of the same name.

Yes, A Charming Town > What's Missing? Clue = PEOPLE

Mostly MainStreet Images: People Seen: Mimes@MAC, teens on the sidewalk, lunch@ Margarita's

PICTURES ARE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
 Upper Left-hand Corner: Mesa Tribune Headline: TRUTH

An Important Part of A Downtown Vision = People

re·vi·tal·ize

verb: A verb is used to signify the performance of an action. 
Every verb needs a noun to perform its action.

One noun and one verb are the minimum needed to make a complete sentence—for example:

• People left.
• Committees plan.
• Sidewalks wait.

verb: revitalize; 3rd person present: revitalizes; past tense: revitalized; past participle: revitalized; gerund or present participle: revitalizing; verb: revitalise; 3rd person present: revitalises; past tense: revitalised; past participle: revitalised; gerund or present participle: revitalising

imbue (something) with new life and vitality

"a package of investments to revitalize the economy"

synonyms

:

reinvigorate, re-energize, boost, regenerate, revive, revivify, rejuvenate, reanimate, resuscitate, refresh, stimulate,   breathe new life into: LIKE THIS WITH PEOPLE  . . . Light Rail, no cars, green zone, people on the streets, activities, mid-rise buildings with vertical gardens, water-harvesting, urban gardens, solar roof panels: THAT'S A VISION for The New Downtown Mesa

Must Be Done Online by Monday, June 15th: Nominations in Maricopa County

Image Mosaic On The Streets in The New Urban Downtown Mesa

A sampling of some of the small and big and wonderful and surprising expressions of people that don't come from a Chain of Command - people are spontaneously Creating their own Place-Making - no committees to get permission from, no bureaucracy, no politicos who take six months to come up with a vision - these are the visions created by everyday people using their own resources and talents.

Starting from Upper Left and going Clock-wise by rows

• Portion of a huge mural seen on the back of a building on Hibbert Street just above Broadway - close by Mesa Grain & Feed.
• Artist signature from 2006 - anybody know who the artist is?
• A detail from the same mural - what's with those cows parachuting?
• Panoramic view of entire mural with Grain Elevator way in the left background
• Mural on the East side of Department of Economic Security building that faces McDonald
• Rear of building next to VFW Post on McDonald & First Avenue, in back of the newly-opened Prime Cut Barber Shop & Boutique
• On the Blackboard @ LoFi Coffee - who's the Fun Guy [artist?] doing that stuff?
• Sidewalk Sculpture for Welding Shop
• Larry in front of LoFi - streetlife is getting colorful, The Mad Hatter with the WOW
• Back of what-used-to-be O.S. Stapley Store - big graphic on the alley
• First vertical gardens in Downtown Mesa: happy to see these [first in bloom and second with new plantings]

UPDATE on Rancho del Arte: Stunning Artwork Changes Streetscape of New Urban Downtown Mesa

Mandalas by Mesa Artist Zarco Guerrero

Your MesaZona blog first did an online report of this construction project way back in March - you can scroll down in Flipcard view to read those details.
In fact it was the second posting that started me off highlighting new infill development that is regenerating the original downtown as transit-oriented affordable living attracting new residents along the path of the Valley Metro Central Mesa Lightrail Extension.

The image to the left was snapped on Monday, June 8th after many times this huge installation caught my eye going out of town or returning watching as construction by Icon Builders was progressing in the last couple of months.  
It is eye-catching on a macro-scale with its monumental size announcing the name of the building as well as the composition incorporating the universal mandalas designed by long-time resident and local artist Zarco Guerrero who spoke highly of the investor/developer Community Development Partners CEO Eric Paine for his initiative to involve the work of a Mesa artist in the ironwork design with a series of meetings to talk about the project that's part of the regeneration of the New Urban Downtown Mesa.
 

Mesa Artist Zarco Guerrero in his studio

Your blogger took the time yesterday, Friday 19 June, to get together with the local artist inside his design studio.
The image to the right shows Zarco with some designs of what he calls "mandalas" - only one of which was used in the monumental ironwork. Universal symbols from other cultures and indigenous peoples inspire his work. His family has been in The SouthWest for centuries and he lived in Japan for a number of years.
This artist has a fertile imagination and artistic drive not usually expressed in iron on such a big scale, but obviously a successful crossover to other media.  He works in different media: in paper clay making fantastic masks, huge "calaveras" of Frieda Kahlo and Katrina, creates works for theater performances, and collaborates with one of the owners of Main Street gallery "Two Hawks" making drums.
There are plans in the works to have more of Zarco's designs installed in both some of the interior public areas and the exterior garden.
The project was originally just called the kinda bland "El Rancho Apartments" that replaced an urban eyesore blighted motel to create an arts-inspired building.  The name change to El Rancho del Arte came from Eric Paine that gives this project a certain Zing.
The construction super Tom took time to take me around for a quick tour on the ground floor.

Little did your blogger know that the next day there would be an organized Pre-Opening Tour for neighbors and local businesses and maybe they didn't find in time too.

Readers can go back to the previous post from March 02 for details about the amenities programmed into this building: I was particularly impressed by the indoor parking under the building and the street level community and activities room for residents of the 2 & 3-bedroom apartments.
Information from March about applications for renting were posted there. As the opening date approaches, one source tells me that only  25% of the units have been leased; usually almost all applications for leasing apartments like these @ Rancho del Arte are processed closer to full 100% occupancy
719 East Main Street has a small neighborhood market right next door, a Walgreen's Drugstore next door to that, , the El Rancho Super Market a few steps away across Horne Street and other shops/services right across Main Street. Convenient, affordable, and arts-inspired - with a swimming pool.