Hey! Have You Heard of This Movie?



The Force Awakens?
Apparently, it’s some sort of science-fiction story.
Spaceships, people in funny white suits, that sort of stuff.
Anyway, there’s a new international TV spot for it, which means that we get approximately 3.6 seconds of new footage and some pretty snazzy Simplified Chinese subtitles.

New lines of dialogue to consider:
Rey (to BB-8, after it answers her question “where are you from?” with a series of beeps): “Classified? Really. Me, too.”
Han (to the Millennium Falcon, ostensibly): “Come on, baby, don’t let me down!”
The Falcon (after crashing into snow): “SMMMMMSHHHHHFFFFFFFFF”
http://www.wired.com/2015/12/force-awakens-international-trailer/

68,871,910 people have already watched this official 2:24 You Tube trailer
https://youtu.be/sGbxmsDFVnE









PLAYING LOCAL IN MESA STARTING ON THU 17 DEC:
Cinemark 16 @ 7:00, 10:35 and 1:50
3D @ 8:00 p.m. and 1:55

AMC Mesa Grand 24

East Valley Partnership Names Gilbert Mayor John Lewis President and CEO

PHOENIX (Dec. 9, 2015) After conducting a thorough search over the last four months that drew candidates from across the country, East Valley Partnership has named Gilbert Mayor John Lewis President and CEO.
Lewis succeeds Roc Arnett, who served as President and CEO of East Valley Partnership for the past 13 years.

Formed in 1982, East Valley Partnership is a regional nonpartisan coalition that actively advocates in areas such as economic development, education, transportation and infrastructure, healthcare and others to improve the business climate and overall quality of life in the East Valley. Phoenix East Valley communities are leaders in Arizona economic development that is driving advanced business expansion, specialized job growth, higher wages, and innovation.
http://www.evp-az.org/

Lewis has served as Mayor of Gilbert for nearly seven years and has 28 years of private sector business experience. He spent 19 years with Apollo Group (parent company of University of Phoenix) and nine years with Ernst & Young in various roles including information technology management, leadership development and management consulting.
Lewis and his family have lived in Gilbert for 30 years. He serves on regional boards and committees for the Arizona League of Cities Executive Committee, Maricopa Association of Government (MAG) Regional Council and Economic Development Committee, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport Board, Greater Phoenix Economic Council and Arizona BrainFood. He earned his MBA from the University of Houston and a bachelor of science degree from Brigham Young University.

East Valley Partnership’s leadership is currently working closely with the Town of Gilbert on a transition plan for Mayor Lewis to assume his new role as the President/CEO during the summer of 2016. East Valley Partnership’s Project Manager, Mike Hutchinson, will serve as interim President and CEO until Lewis assumes his new role.

Hutchinson was a long time senior executive for the City of Mesa serving as the City Manager from March of 2000 until his retirement in 2005. He has worked at the East Valley Partnership managing a variety of projects since May of 2008.
He helped shape and develop Mesa into a place of great neighborhoods, outstanding cultural institutions, vibrant and bustling businesses and a place where civic leaders from both the private and non-profit sector pulled together in times of need. In 2012 he was named Mesa Man of The Year

This Just In From The Governor > Need A Ride?

Hi,
I’ve talked a lot about 21st-century innovation in 2015, and the need to transform Arizona into a 21st-century economy. 
We've let rideshare drivers operate freely in our state. That's allowed Arizonans to make an honest living, and thousands to utilize this convenient service. 
And microbreweries that faced caps on their production, can now expand, serve more customers and hire more workers. 
Take a look at our latest videos below highlighting the work we’ve done for Arizona this year – and stay tuned – we’re just getting started!

Thanks!

Doug

https://twitter.com/dougducey/status/674982872533499908

Q2 Data from Bureau of Economic Analysis

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has issued the following news release today:
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 46 states and the District of Columbia in the second quarter of 2015. Overall, U.S. real GDP by state grew at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the second quarter of 2015 after increasing 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2015. Finance and insurance; professional, scientific, and technical services; and wholesale trade were the leading contributors to real U.S. economic growth in the second quarter.Finance and insurance; professional, scientific, and technical services; and wholesale trade were the leading contributors to real U.S. economic growth in the second quarter.

Mining decreased 17.9 percent and subtracted from growth in 49 states in the second quarter of 2015.
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_state/qgsp_newsrelease.htm

Mesa Now #35 - Merry Main Street > Chris Brady Reporting

Now doing on-air reporting from the Winter Wonderland Skating Rink next to City Hall Plaza - 
Here's television reporter Chris Brady who's now anchored three shows on Channel 11
just two guys playing sportscaster-bros on the sidelines??
What could they be up to?
Mayor John Giles -all dressed-up in a suit-and-tie - on City-owned Channel 11 . . . can you tell there's a re-election campaign?
Gotta wonder if these two bros will continue to use taxpayer-funded publicly-owned media to promote individual election campaigns

COMPASS > Who Points The Way To Go??

This could get embarrassing . . .maybe the title of this publication, put out by the Mesa Chamber of Commerce and published by Republic Media, gets it all wrong.
3 people who want to make themselves the center of attention on the front cover of
COMPASS
Mesa, Arizona Resource Guide 2016
It's out now for all next year . . . in what direction are we headed with this bald-faced self-promotion of three certain individual??? [one is now out of the picture due to a recent scandal]
Transparency + Accountability = WhatWorksMesa

REAUTHORIZATION! It Happened “FAST”

When the wheels begin to turn, sometimes they turn quickly, or in this case “FAST”. 

That’s the name of America’s newest transportation authorization, meaning “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation” (FAST).
Readers will note that Congressman Matt Salmon voted NO
s
A previous post here concentrated on two important items to build supply-chain logistics potentially with  $32.2 billion dollar impact in Arizona exports.
Funding was not included [see that article for details]
The FAST act, approved by Congress (*see how Arizona’s delegation voted below) and signed by President Obama on Friday, December 4, 2015, is a five year authorization.

According to a hot topic report from the Arizona Transit Association here are some excerpts from the terms of the authorization, starting with what Obama had to say: “This bill is not perfect, but it is a commonsense compromise, and an important first step in the right direction,” Obama said in a statement ahead of the bill signing on Friday.  “I look forward to signing this bill right away, so that we can put Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and transit systems, reauthorize the Export-Import Bank that helps our companies compete around the world, and give local and state governments and employers the certainty they need to invest and hire for the long term,” he continued. “As we applaud the kind of bipartisan compromise that was reached (last night), we should also recognize that we still have work to do.”
That’s enough of a history.  More importantly, what are the terms and conditions of this new authorization?  Has it emerged without controversy, competition, and compromise?  Knowing that the authorization primarily addresses half of the country’s four major transportation elements (highways and transit), this authorization was hoped to address two important components:  infrastructure maintenance and growth, and sustainable yet growing funding needs.  [Readers please go to report for more details]
Other items to note:
• A new pilot program is added, codified at Section 3005(b) of the FAST Act, for “Expedited project delivery for capital investment grants.” This seems to be the continuation of a pilot program previously authorized at Section 20008(b) of MAP-21.
• the USDOT believes it’s not enough to address transportation needs.  Secretary Foxx says the bill still falls far short of the $400 billion over six years that is necessary to keep traffic congestion from worsening, and it puts off the difficult decision of how to pay for transportation programs in a way that’s sustainable for the long term;
• there’s already debate about some of the details, and how they will be interpreted as part of the 1300 page bill. See more about the bill at:  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr22/summary
• it does not raise gas taxes to help pay for transportation projects where buying power (inflation) and better fuel economy has reduced the value of the current tax.
• there remains question on whether the $70B additional revenue will materialize, and with each annual appropriation, that will become clear.

*The House vote was 359 – 65.  The Senate vote was 83—16. 

Here’s how Arizona’s Delegation voted:

In the House:
• Kirkpatrick (D) - Y
• McSally (R) - Y
• Grijalva (D) - Y
• Gosar (R) - N
• Salmon (R) - N
• Schwikert (R) - N
• Gallego (D) - Y
• Franks (R) - N
• Sinema (D) - Y
In the Senate:
• McCain (R) - Y
• Flake (R) - N