BUENO > Arizona-Mexico Trade Mission in Mexico City:

This post is a follow-up to one on 26 September.
Back in the 1990's when your blogger lived in New York City he was [and is] a promoter of transnational initiatives with Mexico, so very happy to see government and business leaders in Arizona getting over the right-wing conservative distortion that interrupted decades of good feelings between the two countries and the shared history, commerce, technology, education, family relations and cultures going back centuries.

Couldn't get to the conference yesterday, but the Arizona Republic did a nice report yesterday 

Image from PHX Mayor's Press Office

Read more >> http://www.abc15.com/news/state/phoenix-mayor-business-leaders-launch-trade-mission-to-mexico-show-capitol-the-real-arizona that featured the mayor of Phoenix Greg Stanton who is leading another trade mission this week to Mexico City, bringing 30 business leaders and economic development experts with him, along with the mayors of Yuma, Surprise, Mesa, Tucson and Nogales
.
According to the press release from the Governor's Office on 05 October The delegation arrived in Mexico City on Sunday. This morning they met with leaders of ProMexico, the Mexican government’s international economic development arm that recently opened an office in Phoenix. Later today delegation will tour Startup Mexico, the country’s premier tech-hub incubator, where the Arizona Technology Council will sign a memorandum of understanding to help startup tech companies in both Arizona and Mexico grow and find new markets across the border. Later Mayor Stanton will sign a similar memorandum of understanding with Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera.

Margie Emmermann on the left with Governor Ducey at right

Among the more than 30 business leaders and economic development experts who are on the trade mission are Stephen Zylstra, President of the Arizona Technology Council; Russ Yelton, CEO of Pinnacle Transplant Technologies; Tom Rainey, President of the Arizona Business Incubation Association; Lea Marquez Peterson, President of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; and Margie Emmermann of the consulting firm Molera Alvarez and former executive director of the Arizona Mexico Coalition. 
Stanton was quoted in the The Phoenix Business Journal saying "Mexico is a warm and welcoming environment for Arizona business, and we are making it known that the bad decisions of the past are not the future between our regions. . . "
Trade with Mexico is expanding.
Governor Doug Ducey, unlike the previous Republican governor, has been very active restoring relationships with our friends in Mexico after the disastrous passing of a mis-guided legislative action called SB1070. 
There are groups that have been working for years on both sides of the border to expand Arizona-Mexico connections - just to name a few: the Arizona-Mexico Commission and both the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Mexico Board of Tourism, as well as trade, finance and cultural organizations.

A Quick Proposal: Merry Main Street Makes The Rounds in City Council > on video too

 

Image from MesaNow

First there was a study session at 7:30 a.m. then there was  the press release just four hours later [that's fast times for action, Huh?]
News: Merry Mesa is returning to downtown
Post Date:10/01/2015 11:26 AM
. . . and 56 days ahead of time to propose this event
Here are some excerpts, but first take a good look at the logo for this event - is the New Urban Downtown Mesa symbolized by  a street lamp pole? [or was that just a rush-job by the graphics department?]

 

City Council has given direction  to bring back Merry Main Street, which was once the largest holiday celebration in the east valley attracting more than 35,000 people to downtown Mesa. . . . . . The original Merry Main Street began in 1998 as a winter holiday festival. In 2005, the City was forced to end the annual event due to budget challenges and businesses unable to bear the financial burden . . .

“. . . I’m excited we are bringing Merry Main Street back to downtown Mesa,” Mayor John Giles said. “This is the one event I hear our residents reminisce about each holiday season. With nearly half a million people seeing the Temple Lights and the addition of light rail on Main Street, the time is right to bring them all together to celebrate.”

• . . .  The new Merry Main Street is scheduled to be held Nov. 27 through Jan. 3 and the winter holiday festival promises to be bigger and better than ever. Among the proposed activities are an ice skating rink, community performances at the Mesa Arts Center, a downtown Main Street market place, food truck forest and a holiday tree lighting.

The City of Mesa; Mesa Arts Center; Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities and Downtown Mesa Association are partnering to plan Merry Main Street.
There are numerous sponsorship opportunities for businesses and other interested parties to participate in Merry Main Street. For more information, contact Mesa Public Information and Communications Director Steve Wright at (480) 644-2069 or steven.wright@mesaaz.gov.
Public Information and Communications
Contact: Steve Wright
Tel. 480-644-2069
steven.wright@mesaaz.gov

See the Channel 11 video on demand of the City Council Study Session >> mesa11.com/vod/?Show=1329&Mode2=Video

You'll see Steve Wright, who's mostly behind-the-scenes but on top of getting the news out in the City of Mesa Newsroom, present the proposal - your MesaZona blogger was there: it was a proposal not a done deal, with some details that  are sketchy - and no budget at all + no cost-benefit analysis.

Projected Revenue =  $175,000 for 37 days
Costs = Not Specified

Does anyone at all want to call this TRANSPARENCY  & ACCOUNTABILITY???????????

...and not a real Holiday Tree either! Mesa may be "A Green City" on paper, but . . .

Life-Long Learning > Mesa Main Library: Books + Other Media



Hands-on all this good stuff . . . Pardon me for asking, but when was the last time you read a book?
Fast times getting' you down?
Overwhelmed by information overload?
Short Attention Span Disorder?
Can't focus?
Get over it! You're invited to visit your "comfort zone" . . .
The Mesa Main Library is having a big book sale - hundreds of books either donated or withdrawn from circulation - on Friday and Saturday, October 16-17.
50% off beyond already reasonable prices . . . you can't beat that for affordable opportunities to live and learn

News Here September 14 . . . Bruce Nelson's Nile Theater Documentary Gets a Notice Today from Arizona Republic

Mesa History: Documentarian holding fundraiser as means to finish story on Mesa theater

In a contributed article by historian Jay Mark in Throwback: Thursday that's news today - and that's news posted here more than two weeks ago on September 14 - Bruce Nelson gets double-exposure for the same fundraising event at Volstead Public House this Saturday from 7-9 p.m.

If you don't have the thirty bucks to attend, contributions in any amount are more than welcome to be sent to NEB Productions at the information in the post here on September 14.

Since its opening way back in 1924 when the Nile Theater was called "the Valley’s most magnificent movie house", it's always been a prime example of Creative Place Making and continues in that direction to this day over decades in the same location on Main Street through the ups-and-downs in the local economy over 90+ years.

History's interesting and fun to know and connect us to the places and people of the past . . . Bruce will document those stories thanks to an initial Ripple Grant from NEDCO to encourage artists engaging and involving with communities for Creative Place Making.

The Nile Theater is now world famous for its current status as a live music performance venue managed by the Mantooth Group.

We can all bite into that with gusto.

Here's a link to Jay Mark's contributed article >>

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/contributed/2015/10/01/throwback-thursday-nile-theater-story-told/73006344/

Jay Mark, Special for The Republic | azcentral.com5:02 a.m. MST October 1, 2015

Momentum= Key Word @ Mayor's News Brief: September 30, 2015

City-owned Channel 11 filmed this 33:39-minute YouTube video yesterday at the 2:00 p.m. press briefing and uploaded it about five hours ago ... at the time of this post on your MesaZona blog there were zero views, but in the ongoing efforts of this blog to keep the public informed about issues and actions here in Mesa, and how elected officials have the privilege to serve the interests of their constituents, readers are encouraged to watch John Giles in yesterday's media briefing.
He starts off by saying he inherited "a pretty good situation" and is both consciously and cautiously optimistic - and bullish - in his job working on prosperity for all.
Although your MesaZona was invited to attended this media briefing by the Mayor's office, one particular item caught my attention: plans in the works for development of an urban infill project on a whole one-square block on Main Street directly on the Valley Metro Central Mesa Light Rail Extension - a prime example of the benefits of Transit-Oriented Development

Stay Tuned for Exciting Things > LISC Phoenix's 2015 Annual Breakfast Invitation

MesaZona posted this YouTube video on Facebook yesterday, but things tend to get lost there in all the streams of information, so it's getting up here as part of the one-man mission for this blog - Re/Generating The New Urban Downtown Mesa.
News, opinion, [humor/straight-talk], information and educating the public about issues - with Transit-Oriented Development high in my mind for these online pages.

Murky Data > Watch Out What's Driving Data

There's nothing like an inside track on politics in the State of Arizona or the City of Mesa. Nice work if you can get it.

Auditor claims Commerce Authority’s job creation figures are murky

By: Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services September 24, 2015 , 4:04 pm

"State auditors say the Arizona Commerce Authority needs to report whether information on  jobs, wages, and capital investment is based on commitments companies announce or the actual jobs created and capital investment made . . . but audit manager Dot Reinhard said there’s really no way to tell exactly what the authority has done.

“Its reports generally provide information based on commitments companies announce rather than the actual jobs created or capital investment made,” her report states . . . Overall, the authority claims expansion and relocation projects represent more than $3.3 billion in capital investment.
None of that, however, shows the actual jobs created. . .

Reinhard said Commerce Authority officials told her staffers that it focuses on commitments because they “more promptly and directly measure the authority’s work to add jobs and investment in Arizona.” But she said, though, that’s not an acceptable practice.
“The National State Auditors Association has developed a set of best practices for carrying out state economic development efforts that indicate that an agency should report relevant information to the public summarizing the results of its economic development program,” she wrote. “The authority should clarify in its annual report and other reports it produces whether the information presented on job created, wages, and capital investment represents committed or actual outcomes.”
But the audit report said the lack of accurate numbers is just part of the problem.
What’s also missing, Reinhard said, is a comparison of the financial incentives provided on a company-by-company basis compared to the actual economic outcome produced. She said while some information is available, the reports “lack a consolidated comparison of the incentives given to the benefits received.”
“Without clear information about the state’s return on investment, it may be difficult for decision makers to make informed decisions about Arizona’s economic development activities,” Reinhard said.
A spokeswoman for the authority said Sandra Watson, its president and chief executive, was in meetings on Thursday and could not personally comment. Nor was there a response to a request for data on actual jobs created in the 2014 fiscal year versus the commitments reported.
Watson also said in a statement, “As indicated in the responses provided in the report, the ACA agrees to implement all recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor General, and in many cases has already done so.”
She did not, however, promise to report actual jobs created. Instead she said the authority will make clear whether the figures reported are based on projections or actual activity.
Read more >> http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2015/09/24/auditor-claims-commerce-authoritys-job-creation-figures-are-murky/#ixzz3n9OFm2Iu