Can WE Get Real?? Re/Image of Cycling = Not Urban Hipster

Readers will notice the use of THE BIG WE in the headline of this post.
That phrase came from a chance impromptu chat with Natalie Lewis, who was volunteering on a City of Mesa holiday - Veterans Day - at the all-veterans music performance @ Mesa Arts Center supporting the city's initiative to provide housing for homeless vets.[previous post here "Keeping The Promise"]. Also see image from performance + updates about housing homeless vets initiative thanks to Natalie Lewis.
One topic quick-fire led to another as yours truly was trying to wrap his head around what it takes to regenerate the New Urban Downtown Mesa.
Natalie forcefully and assuredly said THE BIG WE . . . More about that later when the conversation with her can get expanded.
For now in this one post to show the dynamics of engaging in The Big We: the city comes out with a press release spoon-fed to the media who stenograph and publish it. Why? ... because it's easy, it fills the pages and mainstream reporters get paid for it - it's their job.
Case in point: compare the two images in this post

Bike share to start in Mesa this spring
East Valley Tribune on Sunday, Nov 8, 2015
Yes this is nice and all that -it's rolling out in many cities all over the world; Phoenix for a year and Mesa next Spring.[Image to the right from EVT article link]
Let's be honest. Who's this commercial Grid Bike Share Program operated by a company called Cycle Hop http://www.gridbikes.com/ for? ... with initially 100 3-speed bikes available next Spring for a daily rental of $8 or by the hour. The company originally planned for 250 in Mesa in 2015.
How does it work for all you cool dudes and dudettes "saving the planet"?
Simply hop on your web-enabled mobile device, desktop computer, or visit a hub to reserve a bike. Ride to your destination and lock it to any hub or public bike rack. [additional fees may apply] It’s that easy! 
During  a month-plus break from driving, your MesaZon blogger finds a different reality every time boarding the bus or light rail - there's always a bike rider getting off his/her bike putting both on public transit.

Everyday bikes  @ Main Library

For everyday people now using public transit - both bus and light rail - bikes are a necessity.The actual environment for biking in downtown Mesa is not what "city leaders" or "city planners" perceive to be an asset for urban gentrification - everyday people, the vast majority here middle and low-income and minority/or not, use bikes for survival and purposeful riding for their own transportation in a car-centered infrastructure, frequently using bus or light rail public transit to fill in the distance gaps from where they are to where they need to go.
As a colleague, Brian G.Donnelly in Toronto that writes a blog called Architect This City notes in an email today, "Public transit can often suffer from what is known as the first mile/last mile problem. This is a problem where riders find it difficult to get to the nearest transit route from their departing point or to their ultimate destination once they exit transit."
So-called city leaders and city planners are once again "leading from behind" and taking credit for it > at least catching up with a practical and cost-effective, self-empowering to maintain, healthy and affordable way to get around that's  a necessity for the vast majority already using bikes in the human infrastructure.
The data's just not there about why and how everyday people use bikes.

Your MesaZona blogger has been riding bus and light rail public transit during the last month seeing and talking with  wide spectrum of bike riders - only two were all tricked-out in high-priced cycle gear and high-tech bikes.
 
City of Mesa Special Projects Manager Niel Curley gets excited about data.
According to what's reported by Shelley Ridenour, "The bikes are also “smart,” he said, and equipped with a GPS-enabled solar-powered panel . . . Curley is especially excited about another GPS feature on the bikes. City officials can track where the bikes are ridden to discover the most popular routes. That information will allow for better decisions about whether to add more bikes, more hubs or to relocate hubs, he said."

If you want to use the jargon in the urban redevelopment toolbox It's the utility of point-to-point travel in inter-modal connections.

 Concert @ MAC on Wed Nov 11

Congress will be voting on a final transportation bill within just a few days…
We need a flood of emails to Congress asking for the highest funding possible for public transportation.

Tell Rep. Sinema and Senators McCain and Flake you’re watching and that you expect a real investment by Congress to improve and expand American public transportation.
Go >> http://voicesforpublictransit.org/actioncenter.aspx


Thank you!
Mantill Williams
Voices for Public Transit Community Coordinator

The Whole World Is A DataSet > Huh?

It's a little crazy, but the story begins over 50 years ago with the launch of the first generation of U.S. government photo reconnaissance satellites.
And today, there's more than a handful of the great, great grandchildren of these early Cold War machines which are now operated by private companies. It's not in outerspace anymore either - if you travel anywhere, or to get down to the local level traveling on Valley Metro the sign clearly says "Smile you're on camera"

Some people call it BigBrother or surveillance or location-tracking, national security, or just "data" or "metadata" . . Got a good chuckle the other day while in Heat Sync Labs here on Main Street with a group of techies when one of them said to another - surprised and jumping up from his laptop - How many databases or datasets do you have?
The City of Mesa has recently announced via a Twitter Poston the City Manager's twitter account the internal appointments from City Hall to start the first Open Data Portal bringing transparency and accountability for the first time to benefit residents thanks to partiipating in Bloomberg's WhatWorksCities . . . keep an eye on that, dear readers.

 It's a little out-dated but take a look at this official TEDTalk 9:44 video seen by over 770,000 people with Dan Birkenstock that what posted in Fb 2014 + rated Informative, Ingenious
https://youtu.be/7pVPmmwSeJQ

Why you should listen and watch

Dan Berkenstock is an entrepreneur and engineer from Chicago, who fell into a classic tale of Silicon Valley innovation while taking a graduate entrepreneurship course at Stanford. That class led him and some others to found Skybox Imagingm[now part of Google], of which Berkenstock is executive vice president and chief product officer.




Here's a link to the complete transcript https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_berkenstock_the_world_is_one_big_dataset_now_how_to_photograph_it/transcript?language=en

The Grand Opening That Wasn't > There's More To The Story

 . . only two [2] people showed up on Friday Nov 6.

That didn't phase the owner of the new business Polk Barn Primitives on S Center Street.
Lisa Sorenson and her daughter Matti were busy in the shop and waiting for a new big sign to get installed on the front. [just yesterday they got email notification that the sign plans had been approved by P &Z - this lady moves fast]
Yours truly happened to be walking by today, getting into a brief spontaneous chat with Lisa while the sign was put up on the front by Todd Tate, owner of Sign Art whose motto is "A business with no SIGN . . . Is a SIGN of no business". 

Pole Art Primitives now has both a sign and an experienced business owner who just relocated with her family to Arizona in April - six months later she opens a business enterprise in the New Urban Downtown Mesa!

Holy Speed Limit "BatMan"! How To Cover A Collision On Main Street



Heard some sirens, emergency vehicles and first-responders racing to  a scene on Friday, November 3 while at the Farmers Market. Heading of to do other errands on Main Street your blogger walked onto this scene captured in an image below of a collision on Main Street between a big SUV and the front of a Valley Metro Light Rail train.

Not wanting to sensationalize an unfortunate and possibly negative-publicity incident here downtown, no report was posted even though it was recorded on a cellphone . . . yours truly now has second-thoughts about that.

Re/Branding Falcon Field > Part 2: Historic Zone



Backtracking to a press release #598 from the City of Mesa Newsroom announcing an online survey with responses that were to be returned by November 6, 2015 for proposed actions by the city to develop an historic zone at the newly-rebranded Falcon Field. Veterans Day, a one-day celebration today November 11th, gets all the public attention it deserves with a downtown parade attracting by estimates about 40,000 people.

Your blogger is expecting to hear back from City of Mesa falcon Field Project Manager Kurt Krause about how many persons responded to the survey and how the improvements get funded https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FalconFieldHZ

City of Mesa intends to define, design and construct improvements in Historic Zone area of Falcon Field Airport (Airport). The Historic Zone includes Falcon Field Park, Falcon Drive, Fighter Aces Drive, the t-hangars, the historic World War II hangars, and the terminal parking lot.

The project’s vision is to create a unique character, sense of place and destination for the Historic Zone using Falcon Field's history and future goals - and we need your input! 

Apart from delivering the vision, new utility infrastructure expansion to benefit economic development in the area is included in the improvements.

1. Proposed improvements consist of:

• Reconstructing Falcon Field Drive and Fighter Aces Drive to accommodate additional landscaping, wider pedestrian sidewalk system, and wayfinding signs.
• Improvements to the McKellips Road intersection including turn lanes, striping and traffic signal to accommodate the modified Falcon Drive.
• Reconfiguring terminal parking lot to improve access and circulation.
• Conceptually designing Falcon Field Park to upgrade the facility amenities and integrate the overall project character and history with aviation theme.
• Creating two public viewing areas to create an aesthetically attractive and family-friendly aircraft viewing area.
• Site signage and wayfinding throughout Historic Zone.
• New Falcon Field entrance monument sign at McKellips Road intersection.
• Aesthetic improvements:
   o Exterior treatments for existing "T hangars".
   o Enclose dumpsters in T-Hangar areas with aesthetic screen walls.
   o Aesthetic treatment for existing WWII hangars that highlights heritage and history.
• New utility infrastructure (water line, sanitary sewer, storm drains, etc).

 

Airbase Arizona has been based at Falcon Field nice 1978. It is the largest unit of the Commemorative Air Force. According to a press release on November 6, 2016 celebrations and honors for the men and women who served the country started the next day and are extended to November 13 at Airbase Arizona.

Take Me Home Huey is a sculptural installation created by Steve Maloney from the remains of a U.S. Army Huey helicopter shot down in 1969 during a medical rescue in Vietnam. It will be exhibited at Airbase Arizona until late January 2016.

Steve Maloney, like many vets has been diagnosed with PTSD. Read ands see more of his story >> https://takemehomehuey.org/

Thursday, Nov. 12: Media Preview of the Take Me Home Huey installation from 11:00am – 2:00pm. Continuous screening of the project’s documentary film (8 minutes) with the artist Steve Maloney and Debbie McKinion, the Executive Director of the CAF, available for questions and interviews.

Friday, Nov. 13: The Take Me Home Huey art installation and self-guided tour via individual mobile phones at the CAF will be open to the public from 10:00am -4:00pm daily.

 

Friday The 13th [2nd Fridays Night Out] Word >> Heard On The Street [1st Mesa Music Fest Nov 13-15]

What a week we're in - 40,000 people expected for the Veterans Day Parade & Events on Wednesday and who knows how many for the usual 2nd Friday Night's Out on Nov 13 + First Mesa Music Fest for three days Nov 13-15 + a big two-day attraction Reptile Expo at the Mesa Convention Center - if  this is gonna kill Mesa's reputation as  a boring place, let me go from excitement, exhaustion and pleasure. Happily