$PORT$ = Big Biz > Play Ball! The Game Is On, but ...



Marc Garcia/VisitMesa

Amateur sports? Wanna play? Who's gonna pay?
How can The City of Mesa - in a league of its own in many respects - even think about pitching a foul ball to taxpayers to fund the estimated [??] $54-57 Million Dollar cost  for a year-round "youth and amateur sports complex" to be located on part of 1,146.3 acres formerly called Spook Hill Park [anybody else gettin' spooked already] for the larger indoor basketball tournaments and volleyball and cheer and gymnastics and wrestling and  weight-lifting and Taekwondo proposed to a study session of the Mesa City Council recently by Marc Garcia, head honcho for Visit Mesa, a DMO for the City of Mesa?
The operating budget for VisitMesa largely comes from bed-tax revenues [about $1Million] levied on Mesa hotels, motels and short-term lodging for overnight visitors to the area.
It was reported on October 7, 2015 that Grand Canyon University had dropped its plans for expansion in the same area.

Chris Brady, City Manager

Will taxpayers get asked to foot the bill again for floating another municipal bond bill by more increases in sales taxes and increased utility charges?? Probably unlikely since $5.7 Million was pulled designated for parks and recreation and kicked into funding for the Mesa Historical Museum
Short on cash, Mesa stalls parks projects [video and transcript with reporting by Maria Polenta on Oct 20,2015]

The new proposal for youth-and-amateur sports complex got the full press-play last week:

East Valley Tribune
Massive sports complex planned in Mesa by Shelley Ridenour updated on Dec 22
Mesa Independent
Soccer complex proposed by Richard Dyer H. Dyer on Dec 21
KTAR.com
Phoenix suburb getting serious about plans for large sports complex on Dec 28
Arizona Republic
Will Mesa Pay To Play?  by Maria Polletta on Dec 15

The Nations Group whose project groups include charter and private schools, commercial, higher education, and sports-and-entertainment, were hired by VisitMesa to do a
*NEW* City of Mesa Sports Complex Market Feasibility & Economic Impact Study for VisitMesa to promote the DMO's proposal.
Not a surprise - the paid-for study revealed that this project could have significant positive economic impact on the City of Mesa, in part by attracting more visitors and tourism revenues through additional sporting events.
Through multiple interviews and market data discovery, the study recommended:

• 24 soccer fields
• A duel-stadium concept (natural grass and synthetic turf)
• Indoor fieldhouse
• Operations center
• Restrooms
• Parking
• Concessions
• Additional amenities

Probably better to stay on game with professional sports - in just one sport baseball - and in one season - Spring - Last year for MLB Spring Training in Arizona the stats were in and they were good . . .
According to a pair of studies released by Governor Doug Dicey and members of the non-profit Cactus League Baseball Association, spring training baseball has become a driving force in Arizona's economy.
The studies estimate spring training teams and the ballparks they play in now annually generate more than $809 million in economic impact for the state.

Casey At The Bat @ MAC >> Scoring Another Run For The Arts March 2016

Press release today for immediate release: Upcoming Events > March 2016

AT THE MAC: March 2016

Contact: Casey Blake, 480-644-6620, casey.blake@mesaartscenter.com

For immediate release: Dec. 30, 2015

 

Selected Highlights for this post include:

What Works Cities > How's This Going in Mesa?

OPEN : STATES > Information Interface - Please Get to Know + Use It

The idea for the Sunlight Foundation’s, Open States Project, began in 2009. From an initial core of volunteers from several states, the project has gathered volunteer contributors from all 50 staes plus Wash. D.C. & Puerto Rico. With additional contributions of computer expertise and a grant to  build the public web site, the Open States web site is now operational.

The interface allows citizens to locate their state representatives by entering an address or clicking on online maps or entering a legislator’s name.
Short biographical information, plus some news stories are provided. Links to the bills that the legislator has sponsored and recent votes on other legislation are presented.

Summary charts of campaign contributions are provided with links to more detailed data from Use these links
followthemoney.org 
opensecrets.org  .

Bills for the current and several past legislative sessions can be searched by chamber, sponsor, status, type of bill or resolution, and subject ( free text not an index).
The full text of the bill can be called up.
Roll call votes are also accessible.
There is a tracking tool called Scout from the Sunlight Foundation that alerts you when Congress or your state capitol talks about or takes action on issues you care about.

Here's a link to Arizona State Legislature
http://openstates.org/az/

Discover politics in your state

• Find your legislators
• Review their votes
• Search upcoming legislation
• Track bill progress

Recorded webinar: “(Re)Building Downtown: A Guidebook for Revitalization”

On December 15, 2015 Smart Growth America released (Re)Building Downtown: A Guidebook for Revitalization, a new resource for local leaders who want to re-invigorate and strengthen neighborhood centers of economy, culture, and history through a smart growth approach to development. The guide lays out in straightforward language seven main steps to help (re)build downtowns and Main Streets, and is designed to be used by any community, no matter where they are in the revitalization process.

As part of the kickoff, SGA hosted an online conversation all about downtown revitalization. Participants heard an overview of the new guidebook, and discussed revitalization efforts in three different communities. A recorded version of the webinar is now available.
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2015/12/15/recorded-webinar-rebuilding-downtown-a-guidebook-for-revitalization/

Another Wrap-Up : Smart Growth America > Our Year in Review

Got a nice email from this org two hours ago:

Tim—
This was a huge year for Smart Growth America. So big, in fact, that we wanted to share with you some of our highlights.
Supporters like you make our work possible. 2015 was a banner year, . . Thank you for being part of our work this year. 

Enjoy this look back at some of our highlights from 2016.

Best,

Geoff Anderson,
President and CEO,
Smart Growth America
                  

In Downtown Revitalization, Equity Can Equal Authenticity

By Oscar Perry Abello | December 14, 2015

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/equity-made-explicit-in-new-downtown-revitalization-guidebook

God + Government | Separation of Church-State

Mesa > Have we got a problem?
Hot topic - where do we draw the line?? . . . or is the better question where does the U.S. Constitution draw the line?
This book is a collection of columns, testimony, speeches, and other writings that the author - a Reverend - has done over the past 25 years of "in-trench" engagement for the preservation of the separation of Church & State.
It updates the issues Barry Lynn has written about over the decades and shows where we have made progress, where we have lost ground, and where we have been treading water.
It's not a comprehensive history of First and Second Amendment matters . It's selective and personal and quite funny at times, Of course there are new contested issues coming up practically every day.
[Disclaimer: the author and yours truly both graduated from Georgetown University]
.

If reading isn't your choice to process information, you can listen to an hour discussion about this on National Public Radio's Diane Rohm Show that was broadcast on October 28, 2015
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-10-28/rev-barry-lynn-god-and-government



For information about religious exemption from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act ENDA, readers can go here >> http://www.civilrights.org/lgbt/enda/religious-exemption.html


George Washington the new American Republic would give "to bigotry, no sanction".