Money Mag: Mesa = Best Big City in The Southwest

THE 5 BEST BIG CITIES Ian Salisbury @salisburyian 

In addition to the usual list of top towns, Time Inc-owned Money Magazine this year crunched the numbers on urban centers with more than 300,000 residents—63 in alll. Mesa has 461,000.

Phoenix New Times has this to say: "This population requirement quickly rules out the majority of Arizona's 91 cities and towns, including Tempe, Gilbert, Glendale, Chandler, and even Scottsdale, . . . Speaking of people, here are a few associated with Mesa who are all too familiar to locals: Russell Pearce (the recalled ex-state Senate President who thought it would be cool to forcibly sterilize women on Medicaid), Ryan Giroux (the white supremacist who shot six people in Mesa last year), and Travis Alexander (the man Jodi Arias murdered in his Mesa home) . . . "

As with their Best Places list, big city rankings put a premium on a robust job market, affordable housing, and ­factors such as accessibility to health care, culture, and open space. they also gave extra points to places with low crime and strong public schools [or strong compared to Arizona standards]

Here's the news put out by the Newsroom for the City of Mesa yesterday:
Mesa ranked Best Big City in the Southwest 
Post Date:08/18/2015 3:04 PMAccording to the press release, City Manager Chris Brady had this to say "“For those of us that have chosen to make Mesa our home, these rankings come as no surprise . . . However, it is always gratifying to receive third party endorsements and acknowledgement.” 
Mayor John Giles was quoted as saying: “I agree, Mesa is the best big city in the Southwest and we are only getting better,” . . . Mesa is a great place to live and raise a family. Mesa Arts Center and our Parks and Recreation Department are national leaders while Apple, Inc. and the new light rail extension make our city attractive to the millennial workforce.”

Go to link >> http://www.mesaaz.gov/Home/Components/News/News/422/

Here's what Phoenix New Times had to say about that on Monday 24 Aug:

NO, MESA ISN'T THE SOUTHWEST'S BEST BIG CITY

Readers of this blog will note that affordable, transit-oriented and form-based zoning projects were the subject of a previous post back in March, as well as other posts on investment, smart growth, arts/culture, and creative place making on July 7, and August 1, 5 and 6.

Your MesaZona blogger isn't going to nit-pick over details and sources of stats or quibble with shortcoming - let's just call it some welcome good news that comes with other good news posted on this site.

Yours truly did want to get back to some 411 from last year with the source and a link to the article in the middle of the excerpt:

"Hands down, Mesa, Arizona, is the most conservative city in America, one of the last great holdouts in conservatism among American big cities, and life there is pretty good."

"Across the nation, conservative Republican cities are often beating Democrats at their own big-city game, finding innovative ways of funding public development projects and creating great places to live."

http://www.newsmax.com/US/Mesa-conservative-Republican-cities/2014/09/18/id/595529/

Mesa is on a growth trend, according to the Weekly Standard's Ethan Epstein, who writes of Mesa and other conservative-leaning cities:
"Across the country, Republican cities are building new infrastructure and even embracing trendy liberal ideas like  NEW URBANISM all while managing to keep costs in line and municipal workforces small and cost-effective," Epstein said.

And while the big cities that have been run by Democrats, such as Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles, are having major money problems, "America's conservative cities are showing that there's another way."

Boasting a new Arts Center, the largest in Arizona; a light rail system connecting Mesa to Phoenix and Tempe; a new Chicago Cubs spring training center, and new parks and improvements to its downtown area, Mesa has avoided heavy debt by paying for these projects not with classic Democratic property tax increases as the city has no primary property tax.
Rather, the improvements are being paid with project-specific bond issues — $100 million in 1998 for the Arts Center, $170 million for infrastructure repairs, $70 million for parks, and $130 million for public safety and streets.
These measures leave Mesa with an enviable Aa2 credit rating from Moody's. The city had only a $1.5 billion debt, that's now increased  times with the last voter-approved bond issue.
Mesa City Council members work part-time, making about half the salaries Fresno or Phoenix city council members make.
City Councilman Dave Richins told Politico, "People are OK with investing in their communities. . . They trust tangible results. 
We look to the voters to say what they would like to see done in the city."
"Across the country, innovative mayors are showing that Republicans can govern urban areas effectively and innovatively — and indeed, that oftentimes they can execute traditionally 'liberal' policies with greater discipline and efficacy than Democratic-run cities can manage," Epstein wrote.







http://time.com/money/3996659/best-places-outdoor-lovers-2015/

FIESTA MEXICANA DE BEISBOL: AQUI EN SEPTIEMBRE

Promoting Bi-National Sports Tourism between Mexico and Arizona

4th ANNUAL MEXICAN BASEBALL FIESTA 
RETURNS TO THE VALLEY 
WITH A NEW HOME AND A TITLE SPONSOR 
“Mesa has a rich baseball history and an even richer Latino history and today we celebrate this combination in our city with the announcement of this event,” said Visit Mesa President and CEO Marc Garcia. “The Mexican Baseball Fiesta celebrates so much more than the talent of these incredible professional athletes. This event will truly be a cultural showcase as we welcome the players, friends and families, and the visitors that come to watch the action both on the field and off.”

The Mexican Winter Baseball League’s version of “Spring Training” will come to the valley with our new home in Mesa at Sloan Park. 
Tickets to the general public go on sale in early September online. Ticket prices are box seats - $15 and general admission - $8. 
Fans will be able to purchase tickets at www.MexicanBaseballFiesta.com, Restaurant Sinaloa, 2601 E. Bell Road in Phoenix, or at Sloan Park the week of the games. Fan giveaways and other activities are planned. 

On September 18 & 19 two of the top teams from the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico, Los Naranjeros de Hermosillo and Águilas de Mexicali, will play two “Spring Training” games. 
Mike Feder, President of the Mexican Baseball Fiesta, said “We are extremely excited to announce the move to the Cubs tremendous new Spring Training facility in Mesa, AND introduce our new Title Sponsor - Visit Mesa”.

"The Mexican Baseball Fiesta is a rare opportunity for baseball fans in the U.S. to experience authentic Mexican baseball games, which feature a festive atmosphere including live music and authentic regional Mexican cuisine. 
The Mexican Baseball Fiesta is not just a baseball game; it's a party,” said Feder. "It’s quite an experience. The pitcher is warming up, ready to pitch and the music is still playing. It's the way it's done in Mexico. Mascots are on the field for most of the game”. 


For Immediate Release August 13, 2015 
Contact: Mike Feder (520) 954-8803 
mike@mexicanbaseballfiesta.com 
http://www.mexicanbaseballfiesta.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/4th-Annual-Mexican-Baseball-Fiesta-Returns-to-the-Valley-Press-Release.pdf

Signs of the Times: Light Rail + Arts/Culture + Real Estate

Feel like shouting the news like this downtown newsboy used to do way back when :

VALLEY METRO LIGHTRAIL ARRIVES DOWNTOWN ON SATURDAY AUGUST 22, 2015

Main Street has always been "transit-oriented" in one way or another starting with streets wide enough for a 12-mule team to turn around, horses and buggies, horse-less carriages called automobiles/cars that need parking spaces and parking lots and more roads, more highways and more freeways creating more toxic emissions and air pollution and now hi-tech no-emission light rail public transit soon to glide noiselessly in two directions on Main Street connecting en route with Tempe and Phoenix. 
Find your reasons to go, get on and get off [be safe] .  .  . We're all connected and can get more connected.
Main Street is a free Wi-Fi Zone from Country Club Drive to Centennial Street and from First Street to First Avenue [information update thanks to reader comment noted below] . . . Next step is to get cars totally off Main Street [deliveries and convenient parking just behind the stores], convert Main Street into a pedestrian-friendly Central Park/Greenwayand and who knows how good it gets?

And don't forget the original natural way to transit: it's called walking.
That way you'll see Amy de Castillo's stencil jobs on the sidewalks #iheartMesa

Light rail operations and safety testing today, heading east from the Country Club/Main Station.
In the left background you can see the monumental public art work installation - it will look super-fantastic at night.

On a usual Sunday-of-rest with excessive high heat it wasn't understandably exactly a bee-hive of activity downtown. In between walking all-around, changing sweat-soaked shirts twice, hydration constantly and recharging a Li-Ion Nikon battery two times, a few images were uploaded and edited, a group made into a collage you can see to the left, with some individual images for emphasis.

The biggest - and you'll see why - change in the visual landscape was on the side of a pocket-park fronting the south side of Main Street next to The Bank of America Building on the SEC of Macdonald where an earlier historic building used to stand with the location marked with a small bronze plaque, The Noonan Building.[see plaque for information] - first post office and butcher shop on Main Street
You can see a whole series of these informational and directional way-finding markers all around town only if you walk - and they point you in the next direction to find the places and people that were engaged and active downtown.

Here's another one marking the location of Chandler Court - way ahead of its time as a pedestrian walk-in shop arcade but unfortunately the inner courtyard was filled in at some point in time. 
The colonnades and veranda revived a territorial form of architecture frequent before Arizona became a state, to provide overhead shade, used here prominently along Main Street and in central historic Chandler. 

... and what to wandering eyes appeared turning the corner onto Main Street  on Sunday morning? 
A bright visual surprise artwork-in-progress by Kyllan Maney on one of the filled-in archways - see what it looks like on Saturday.
According to Kyllan who's working with the Downtown Merchants Association in advance of the arrival of lightrail, this location will be one of a number of "selfie-stations" where people can do their social media thing, promote themselves and promote arts/culture.
Here's a link to Kyllan's website: kyllanmaney.com

That being said, and now having more familiarity with decades gone bye-bye, here's a work in progress now by muralist/fine artist Lauren Lee, whose design was selected from three submissions made for consideration and approval by a panel going through the usual official procedures.It was a chance encounter and a pleasure to talk with the artist and her assistant when work was just getting started. According to plans it will be finished just ahead of Saturday, August 22 when Light rail glides into downtown.Lauren started out in Mesa as a volunteer with the Summer Art Camp organized by Mesa Arts Center. You may have seen other of her on-site works at Republican Empanada or on the walls in the Mesa Urban Garden, a well as projects in Phoenix.

In the image to the left, readers of this blog can see the final design that will take days to finish, even with having to rent a hydraulic lift to get the project up on the wall before Saturday.

[Regular paper size in protective page cover]

Artist Lauren Lee in the image to the right from meeting and talking with her on Sunday with the mural just getting started.
You can see she's not shy about color.

Website: laurenleefineart.com

A subtle change in the color palette of the shaded verandas on a pathway from/to parking lots and Main Street. Colors added as part of downtown make-over to enhance the original work done in 1967 recorded on the accompanying bronze plaque.

Heading east on Main past Robson

Smile! ... hang on Humpty

 Visual corridor to a blank wall looking south

. . . leading north into Main Street

Green anyone? on shaded verandas

 Green like this? [almost looks like a linear park, huh?]

Follow these tracks and you run into the posterior of a dinosaur [Ooops!]

OK We have Light Rail, we have Art, and we have Real Estate, advertised for sale or for lease with signs like these in the visual landscape . . . and in the right center background we have one of Mesa's biggest attractions, The Arizona Museum of Natural History - it's quite an impressive vision to see it in this context, huh?

Hey! What about these cracked oiled-asphalt heat islands called "parking lots" ????

IN A GRID: SELECTION OF AVAILABLE COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES
All within one of two blocks of Valley Metro Light Rail Stations

Vacant Commercial Space On/Off Main Street: Available @ What Price?

Individual pictures with signs - if you want to look into the properties and call for more information, just click on or touch to open in an expanded window.

One block from Country Club/Main Station

On Morris Street One Block from Country Club/Main

Right on south side of Main Street

South side of Main Street

South side of Main Street

South side of Main Street

West side of Center, directly across from Mesa Arts Center

New Research > A Robust Role For Citizens In Determing Policy Preferences

Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. 
Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens.
An 84-page research article has just been published in the August 2015 edition of the prestigious American Political Science Review
[see link below for whole article].
It was widely cited online by The Economist in the rankings for most liberal and most conservative large cities in America.
This post today is a follow-up to an earlier one about Bloomberg's What Works Cities initiative that will help make the City of Mesa deliver better results for residents that is data-driven - but when there's no data and very little citizen expression of public opinion that creates public policy in municipal governments, Mesa we got a big problem.

Conservatism in America: Mesa #1
It is crucial to know whether city governments represent the views of their citizens, but when yours truly sees no or very few members of the public showing up for City Council Meetings or numerous committee meetings, ya just gotta wonder why they do not.
At one meeting, someone mentioned they hadn't heard a public comment [just fill out a blue card] in over ten years.
How do city governments reflect their constituents’ politics when the public chooses not to participate? . . . and a better question is Why?
The research cited here shows that institutions in municipal government have little consistent impact on policy responsiveness.
Simple institutional reforms are doubtful to enforce responsiveness.

Research Article

Representation in Municipal Government

American Political Science Review

American Political Science Review / Volume  109 / Issue 03 / August 2015, pp f1 - f4
Abstract

Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens. In the past, the unavailability of data on the policy preferences of citizens at the municipal level has limited scholars’ ability to study the responsiveness of municipal government. We overcome this problem by using recent advances in opinion estimation to measure the mean policy conservatism in every U.S. city and town with a population above 20,000 people. Despite the supposition in the literature that municipal politics are non-ideological, we find that the policies enacted by cities across a range of policy areas correspond with the liberal-conservative positions of their citizens on national policy issues. In addition, we consider the influence of institutions, such as the presence of an elected mayor, the popular initiative, partisan elections, term limits, and at-large elections. Our results show that these institutions have little consistent impact on policy responsiveness in municipal government. These results demonstrate a robust role for citizen policy preferences in determining municipal policy outcomes, but cast doubt on the hypothesis that simple institutional reforms enhance responsiveness in municipal governments.

Bloomberg's Radar? What Works Mesa > Better Results For Residents



More than eight years ago, the Mesa Fire and Medical Department began dispatching smaller, two-person trucks to low-level 911 calls, eliminating the need to send pricier fire engines to every request for help. Other cities did that also to reduce the costs of 911 emergency response.

Using a lot of indefinite pronouns like "it" and "they", two days ago KJZZ published a piece written by Phil Litzman that says 'according to Mesa mayor John Giles, it's how they got on Bloomberg's radar" for being selected as one of eight cities in What Work Cities [see a previous post on this site for more complete information about WWC]

Data Mining in Mesa Gets Bloomberg's Attention

http://kjzz.org/content/177W182/data-mining-mesa-gets-bloombergs-attention

 

 

Mesa's Community Care units have come a long way since their start as two-paramedic trucks in 2006. The initiative for Community Care Response did not originate in Mesa but was started in different cities across America, basically to reduce the billing costs for 911 calls emergency response - that alone cannot be the reason, cited in the KJZZ interview with John Giles, that the City of Mesa was selected to be included.

 

The Mesa Fire and Medical Department applied for and received a second grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] in September of last year for over $12.5 million to get a formal, three-year trial off the ground to expand a program, called the Community Care Response Initiative.
The pilot could have national implications for the healthcare delivery system.
Better patient care isn’t the only benefit. According to Mary Cameli, an assistant chief at the Mesa Fire Department, The department will do mock  billing to find out how much more these situations would have cost if patients had been taken straight to the emergency room per standard practice. She expects the data will show these programs save residents and the health care system a great deal of money.
The Mayor of Mesa at that time was Alex Finter, a former firefighter, who now holds a seat on the City Council

For details about the Round Two Grant from CMS look here:
<iframe width="310" height="352"
src="http://innovation.cms/gov/CMMIMapWidget/widget.html">/iframe>
http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/Health-Care-Innovation-Awards-Round-Two/Arizona.html

Deja Vu All Over Again: Valley Metro is Hitting Hard with Promoting Downtown Mesa

Sorry folks but yours truly is really getting tired of the word "discover" . . . it's been over-used since 1492 but since Valley Metro is taking the lead and initiative especially when they have so much "riding on the line", yours truly will join the cheerleaders (but he's got no pom-poms to shake)
BTW Thanks to Yogi Berra for his take on the catchy French-phrase, but yours truly would like to suggest: Find Your Reasons but here we go again on the big advertising push!

Discover New Destinations in MesaGet ready to discover Mesa like never before. On Saturday, August 22, Valley Metro Rail will take riders into downtown Mesa for the first time. The 3.1-mile extension will serve an additional 5,000 riders a day and help serve the growing need for public transportation in the region. The new destinations and connections riders will soon discover and the completion of a successful construction project seven months ahead of schedule is reason to celebrate.

On August 22, join Valley Metro for a ribbon cutting ceremony at Center/Main St. at 8 a.m. Then enjoy blocks of family fun at all four new light rail stations from 9 a.m. to noon.  Stop at each station to check out the showcase of local businesses and fun activities unique to the area. The station celebrations will include music, food and games. Commemorative passes will be available at all five Mesa light rail stations during the celebration. 

To learn more about the opening celebration, visit valleymetro.org/centralmesa. 

Here's a link to a little on-the-job training with the startup of a new blog written by Ann Glaser who opens like this and starting to learn after getting hired by Valley Metro how transit connects people and places ?: 

Over the past 15 years, with most of those working at a local television news program, I learned quite a bit about what the Valley of the Sun has to offer.  Despite being armed with the power of knowledge, I rarely ventured outside of my neighborhood bubble. Now that my career has taken me to Valley Metro, I’m learning how transit connects people to places and the variety of destinations that are available to anyone. One of those places is central Mesa. Take a ride on Valley Metro Rail to find those new discoveries. Mesa is the third largest city in Arizona with a population of nearly half a million. Yet, I found myself wondering, what does downtown Mesa have to offer me? I decided it’s time to discover Mesa. - See more at: http://www.valleymetro.org/inside_the_ride/detail/discovering-mesa#sthash.YLaVy5yZ.dpuf

Discover the businesses that will soon be a train ride away in this month’s blog, Inside the Ride.

Mr. Smith Goes To Harvard > Joins Class of Resident Fellows for Fall Semester

OOoops! 

Ivy League Harvard University invites ex-mayor

It's not that movie or that place - it's former Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, who will join the Institute of Politics fall class of resident and visiting fellows in September in Cambridge, Massachusetts which include Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and longtime CNN anchor Candy A. Crowley, to host study groups and office hours for students.Other fellows include: former Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Brent Colburn,  former Republican National Committee communications director Doug Heye, and former South African opposition leader Lindiwe Mazibuko.
( a lot of "formers' in the group who might get a boost interacting with the resources, people and opportunities at JFK School of Government @ Harvard University]
 

Institute of Politics Names Six Fall Resident Fellows

To read full announcement please hit this link > Harvard Crimson Announcement

Eric R. Andersen, the director of the IOP’s fellows and study groups program, said that while the topics of the study groups are still under development, they would draw from the fellows’ practical and professional expertise. Smith, for instance, will likely focus on leadership and government innovation at the local level - skills he exercised  leading the waymaking for a  transition to The New Urban Downtown Mesa.
 

Groundbreaking for Encore On First

Here's Mayor Scott Smith, in an image from the City of Mesa Newsroom in 2012, at the first privately-financed housing in downtown Mesa  in 30 years proving that governments and private sectors work hand-in-hand to deliver beneficial outcomes.
His H.E.A.T. initiatives from three years ago has incubated, delivering more results all over the new urban downtown Mesa at the present time. Valley Metro Light Rail Central Mesa Extension was started on his watch . 
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately with this opportunity @ Harvard)  he lost his political gamble to get elected as Arizona governor. Maybe he'll come back home and reclaim the office he performed so well in before . . .

Institute of Politics fellows develop and lead weekly study groups, participate in dinners, seminars, and other events at the university, and mentor students. The fellowship can serve as a pivot point in the careers of people in the political realm.

 “We’re going to focus on government that works,” said Smith, who is also a former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “In today’s world, we see gridlock, we see overall dissatisfaction with government, except at the city level—mayors are getting things done, and that’s unfortunately sort of unique in today’s world.”
 

[Let's not get carried away, Mr. Smith - some mayors are getting things down]
 

Veritas/Truth = Light

Smith also said he hoped to share with students his unique perspective as someone who entered the political sphere later in life, given his career as an accountant and real estate home-builder before serving as a mayor.