All-In One Sunday Afternoon > New Urban DTMesa

Ex-mayor Scott Smith used to say about downtown Mesa that "Boring was OK".
Every single time your MesaZona blogger walks out the door most every day onto the streets on/off Main Street he's always excited and surprised what's in the panorama of the cityscape.
High expectations are one thing, but then again when you're feeling mellow on a sunny crisp Sunday afternoon stepping-out to see what's-there-to-see it's no problem at all avoiding crowds or dodging traffic - and finding a random act of kindness by "a group of friends" from Chandler for the homeless on the streets

Wot About Those Year-End Wrap-Ups? . . . Have You Heard from City Hall?

Here's a checklist of elected and appointed officials  who swear to open government, engaging the public, transparency, and being held accountable for what they do, and have been doing in 2015:
Mayor John Giles
City Council Members Glover, Kavanaugh, Finter, Richins, Luna and Thompson
City Manager Chris Brady
Ass't City Managers Kari Kent and John Pombier
City Econ & Development Director Bill Jabjiniak
Housing & Community Director Liz Morales
City Chief Technology Officer Alex Deshuk
Have they taken the time to inform residents and taxpayers of their accomplishment for this year? What got done - not promises, projections, challenges or opportunities.

If not, readers are invited to contact City Hall [see how easy it is]
http://www.mesaaz.gov/city-hall

Time for TED > The TED Radio Hour

Whatever happened to radio in this digital in-the-cloud Internet of Things time?
It's alive and doing very well, thank you very mucho for asking, dear readers.
Always good at this look-back/look forward time of the year to take the time to listen and lend an ear or two listening to National Public Radio's The Hero's  Journey.

From the Odyssey, to Robinson Crusoe, to Star Wars — why are we drawn to stories about heroes?
And what do they tell us about ourselves?

This hour, TED speakers explore what makes a hero's journey - and why we can find a hero in ourselves if we really take a good look.

Where do some people get started?
Find out >>
Dame Ellen MacArthur's journey began when she discovered sailing. . . Setting off in 2004, Dame Ellen MacArthur sailed 26,000 miles in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds — becoming the fastest person to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe. She was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005.
During her record-breaking solo sail, Dame Ellen came to a realization: our survival as a species depends on our reliance on a finite supply of resources.
In 2010, she launched the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which works with government and business to transition from a largely wasteful linear economy to a regenerative circular economy.
Here' a link to listen to and watch the 5:45 video >>
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/18/458508346/how-does-a-heros-journey-begin

Readers can access the whole playlist here >>
http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/

Year-End Wrap-Up > The State of Education in Arizona + Mesa

What's with these spoon-fed-to-reporters stories or videos that completely fail to report the facts? [see farther along in this post]
Please note an article by Tim Galen on 17 December 2015 in Phoenix Biz Journal 2015 In Review

Did you hear about how Arizona's poor reputation in education cost the state a few thousand jobs?

That was just one of our top stories from August 2015, as our economy reporter caught up with a handful of decision-makers from two companies that considered Arizona for an expansion and up to 3,000 jobs total. But the state lost out because of its education reputation.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2015/12/17/how-arizona-lost-3-000-jobs-new-state-slogans-and.html

Apart from Arizona's "poor reputation" [bad achievements levels are facts]  in education that's failing to educate schoolchildren - even with millions thrown at school districts for administrator and teacher salaries - the state is losing jobs.
First ya gotta be honest to at least recognize there is a big problem that's not finding a solution even after getting paid to do it --- it's NOT ENOUGH to say school leaders "want to boost test scores" . .

Readers can see the ratings for all public schools in Mesa by going to this link >> https://azreportcards.com/Map/Results?locationSearch=mesa.

Mesa school leaders want to boost test scores
By Shelley Ridenour, East Valley Tribune December 17, 2015
The article never states the test scores, and uses one source, Joe O'Reilly, with the  title of Executive Director for Student Achievement Support in the district.
Student achievement? . . . Or do you wanna call it lack of achievement or more bluntly failure to deliver results or failure to achieve basic educational goals?

The motto for  Mesa Public Schools is "Unprecedented Excellence in Education."
In November of last year voters approved a whopping $31.8 Million dollar budget override to prevent unwieldy class size, to maintain school security, and to continue teacher technology training, costing the average-priced homeowner $146 in annual property taxes.
Question = is the school system doing its job to educate kids?
AZ Merit results clearly say NO.
 

 

According to what Mr. O'Reilly says in the article, there are "large numbers of students" in lower proficiency levels across Arizona [ .       ]. . . In Mesa, not enough students are considered proficient or highly proficient."

To be clear, not enough of the 9,044 employees in one of the city's biggest taxpayer-funded employers are doing their jobs to educate children to the higher levels of achievement that can attract talent and jobs to Mesa . . . that's a problem looking to get solved.

Readers of this blog can see the entire AZ Merit Test Scores assessment in this report card for the Mesa Unified District.
Here's the Report Card from the Arizona Department of Education in this link >> not trying to hide a bad report card here, folks
https://www.azreportcards.org/Assessments/Assessments

AzMERIT is the assessment given to third- through 11th-graders in Arizona that determines how students are learning based on Arizona's College and Career Ready Standards. In November 2014, the Arizona State Board of Education voted to replace AIMS with AzMERIT In Spring 2015, approximately 45,000 Mesa students took AzMERIT assessments in English Language Arts (ELA) and math on computer or on paper. Parents received the scores at the end of November 2015.

Performance labels for AzMERIT are Highly Proficient, Proficient, Partially Proficient and Minimally Proficient. Cut-off scores for each performance label were determined based on what students at each grade level should know.

Students that do not achieve at the proficient level might not get promoted to the next grade level.

 

In the interest of being fair and balanced, here's a link to a 2:40 You Tube video uploaded by Mesa Public Schools on November 12, 2015 before test results were released https://youtu.be/zskbSaEqUC8

... and here's a link to a 2:15 You Tube video uploaded by Cronkite News on December 3, 2015 after test scores were released showing scores coming up short https://youtu.be/W138yuty3Dw

 

Here's a visual for achievements in English Language Arts for Mesa students: 33% passed.

On the Math scores 38% passed

 

ONE-day Notice from The Mesa Chamber of Commerce??



 

Business Feedback is needed!
[sent on December 17, 2015]
. . . Due to the holidays, we really do need your survey by December 18th. 
Thank you in advance for your time and support. HUH??

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07ebyosaaqihz8j80h/start 

Maybe this CEO needs to take a refresher workshop in time-management, do ya think?

Thank you,

Sally Harrison
President/CEO
Mesa Chamber of Commerce 

 

 

Nonetheless, the issue in the email deserves attention: too bad that "your valuable feedback" might not get collected in time . . .

 

Raising Exempt Employees' salary eligibility from $23,660 to $50,440 could change your business forever.

 

The Obama Administration is moving closer to changing overtime regulations that will directly impact your business - whether you are large or small.  If you have any exempt employees you need to be aware of these major changes being proposed.  Please take a few minutes to  take this survey and provide your valuable feedback.  We have an uphill battle ahead of us on this issue, even with the help of the US Chamber and fellow chambers across the nation. 

 

The East Valley Chambers of Commerce is collecting data to share with our US Senate and Congress representatives on how this regulation could directly impact the East Valley business community - their constituents.  It is mind boggling that during an era where employees not only desire but expect a level of flexibility in the workplace, the federal government is looking at sending us back to the industrial age of punching a clock. 

Fly-Fishing In The Wrong Voter Pool: 5th District Congressman Matt Salmon

Just retrieved an email from our elected official in the U.S. House of Representatives - he had "a very disappointing final week" while most of us celebrated. [see post on this site about LIHTC financing]
Is he out of sync on issues that impact his constituency?
When a state like Arizona and the local economy here in Mesa get a big boost from federal spending on things like public transit, affordable housing, housing for homeless veterans, public safety, homeland security and defense industries, and airport improvements, he says in this recent email, . . . "When I came back to Washington, I pledged to fight for a more limited form of government and shrink our spending. . . " 

HE VOTED AGAINST PASSING THE SPENDING BILL! for his own narrow and partisan reasons.
To be balanced and fair, read his own release by going to this link
http://salmon.house.gov/blog/disappointing-final-week%20

Here readers can see how the big bronze brown bears on the sidewalk at the NWC of Main and Macdonald Streets enjoy catching a salmon  

Mesa NDO On-Hold? Human Rights Campaign Report 2015

The Mesa City Council has taken no action on a proposed non-discrimination ordinance for months, in spite of a public request to put discussion on the agenda.
Perhaps a new report on December 18, 2015 from the Human Rights Campaign will increase the momentum to ensure by the force of law the rights of all protected classes.
Although mayor John Giles has publicly stated "It's the right thing to do", he has not provided the leadership to get it done, even though a majority of City Council members appear to favor it.
The question remains who will take this to the next level for approval in upcoming election campaigns where three City Council seats, and the seat of the mayor, are up for grabs?