FY2015-2016 / Q1 2016 Economic Reporter Newsletter

Good Morning, dear readers and thank you for viewing this site. Your interest is appreciated.
With all due respect to the Office of Economic Development for releasing the most recent "economic reporter" newsletter, you might be curious if that quarterly publication gets the attention it deserves for all the efforts put into it.
According to a presentation for Web Analytics on the website Mesaaz.gov/economic  by Kim Lofgreen, Marketing & Business Development Manager, made at the Economic Development Advisory Board meeting on 05 January 2016, there were 654 page views for the previous newsletter Q4 2015 from Aug 13-Dec 2015 [about 4 page views per day on the average] - Mesa has a population of about 500,000 people.
Average time spent on the Q4 newsletter was 3:43 with a bounce rate of 60% [without interacting with the page]

Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage.
Typically, there's something called a dashboard [example to the right] that shows the source of pageviews, but none of that data was in the presentation.
So, you might ask, what's all this got to do with the most recent Mesa economic reporter newsletter for Q1 2016?
#1 it's published by the newsroom for the City of Mesa Office for Economic Development. Newsrooms want positive news to get out to both the public and private interests - it's their job to do that, so expect to see positive news for economic development ahead in 2016. Sweet?

Like most people, yours truly processes and understands information more quickly when infographics are provided ... I see no metrics in these economic reporter newsletters TO SEE RESULTS of "strategies" and "plans" or cost-to benefits analysis for actual results instead of "projections".
For example - take a look at the infographic from the Office of Management & Budget for FY2015-16 to the left to see where money is spent by the city: biggest expenditures are employee costs and debt service expenses for payment of principal, interest, and related service charges on obligations resulting from the issuance of municipal bonds.
Personal Services

The cost of personnel accounts for the largest portion of expenditures for the City. Personal Services consist of all employer costs related to compensating employees of the City of Mesa. This includes full-time, part-time and seasonal positions as well as overtime, benefits, specialty pay, shift differential and incentive pay. Also included are benefit expenses related to retired employees.

Debt Service [figure inserted by MesaZona blogger=$3,260+ per capita **]

Debt Service expense include payment of principal, interest, and related service charges on obligations resulting from the issuance of bonds. The City issues debt in the form of bonds in order to finance long-term capital improvements such as streets, buildings, utility systems, etc.
** Please note that figure if from FY13, outdated by two but still on City of Mesa website

If you want to compare that to per capita income of $$24,485 it's more than 12% - a significant factor when you compare any single-digit growth in figures for median household income.

Another example for seeing information is the data provided at the EDAB meeting on 05 January for Percent of Mesa residents living below the poverty line increased from 11.7% in 2009 to 16.3% in 2014 - nearly a 50% increase! . . . So, how's economic development working and developing results??                          

 

Here's a challenge for readers on this post - take the time more than a quick 3:43 to read the new issue
Hit this link >>
January 2016 Q1 Economic Development Reporter

Director Bill Jabjiniak cuts right to the qwik realizing we live in a competitive environment addressing that topic in "Quick Jab" on the front page
Advancing Economic Competitiveness

He makes these points, but take a look at the not-so-sweet at infographic for a declining growth curve in globalprofit estimates - could bd headed back to 2008 recession . . .

1. A fundamental change is underway in the practice of economic development and in the very ways in which regions compete for economic growth.
 
2. Today, competitiveness encompasses more than being low cost. Companies focus on regions with features that enhance their productivity and ability to compete in a global marketplace.
 
3.Regionally, representatives from all levels of government, academia, and industry have been discussing what key areas we should focus on for improving Arizona’s competitive position. Consensus is developing around the following principles:

• growing industries that are export-oriented and knowledge-based
• reinvesting and creating economic development tools that our competitors have and use against us
• attracting new companies
• growing existing and start-up businesses
• increasing prosperity – specifically closing the gap that exists in education inequality.

4. For Mesa, we are implementing strategies at the municipal level that will positively influence our level of success.
However, as a city, we are able to compete for significantly more projects when there are state and regional assistance programs to employ.
 
5. As a professional economic developer, the greatest concerns for our future sustainability are

• To ensure the state offers competitive economic development
• To reduce the gap that exists in education inequality which directly affects prosperity.

Continued improvement of Arizona’s economic development toolbox is a short-term solution, while solving the educational attainment gap needs urgent attention bolstered with a long-term, ongoing plan.













Some of the four site extensions showed one-day spikes in hits [40 for medical devices, 72 and 72 for tools added to website Mesa Size-Up and Mesa Site-Search for available real estate, and 85 hits looking at business district maps for the Fiesta District.

Transit-Oriented Development in New Urban DTMesa > Sunbelt Holdings Mixed-Use Urban In-Fill Project Gains Ground

Hey! This is probably the biggest news for the regeneration of the New Urban DTMesa in a long time.
Didn't see anything at all from the Newsroom for The City of Mesa.
The purchase of the whole city-block on Main Street-First Avenue and Sirrine-Hibbert was rumored for a couple of months, but now has been confirmed by Business Real Estate Weekly per an email sent one day ago . . . pardon me for getting excited about this somewhat low-key BREW headline.

SUNBELT PLANS MIXED-USE PROJECT 
ON FORMER CHEVY DEALERSHIP SITE IN MESA
It is hot news
More 411 will be filled in
Here's a link to the news from BREW
http://brewaz.com/hot-news/sunbelt-plans-mixed-use-project-on-former-chevy-dealership-site-in-mesa/

Image from AZBig Media of John Graham at Marina Heights in Tempe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sean Walters, Chief Operating Officer Sunbelt Holdings

The Latest: Kauffman Index | Main Street Entrepreneurship

The Main Street Entrepreneurship report shows that small businesses activity in the United States was on the rise in 2015, reversing a six-year downward trend. Though small businesses activity is increasing, activity has just surpassed pre-recession levels on some measures and collectively remains just above the historical norm.
Metro Phoenix [Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale]  was -2 change in rank  in the metropolitan standings from the year before.
Go here for Metropolitan Area Rankings for Startup Activity >>
http://www.kauffman.org/microsites/kauffman-index/rankings/metropolitan-area

The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurship is a new series from the Kauffman Foundation bringing together the latest data available on entrepreneurial trends nationally, at the state level, and for the forty largest metropolitan areas of the United States.
The latest report in the series, the Kauffman Index: Main Street Entrepreneurship, focuses on established small businesses and has two components:

	Rate of Business Owners: a measure of business ownership in the population
	Established Small Business Density: the number of established small businesses divided by the total population of a place

 

Phoenix Metro Business Owner Demographics can be found here >>
http://www.kauffman.org/microsites/kauffman-index/profiles/entrepreneurial-demographics/metropolitan-area?Metro=Phoenix





Media inquiries about the Kauffman Index can be directed to bpruitt@kauffman.org. All other questions about the Kauffman Index can be directed to Arnobio Morelix at amorelix@kauffman.org.

2016: The Year for Equality & Inclusion In Mesa

Phoenix New Times has picked up the ball to advance the accelerating momentum for Mesa to join the three other largest cities in Arizona that have passed ordinances to guarantee the rights of all protected classes for equality and inclusion by the force of law.
In a report by Elizabeth Stewart yesterday January 11, 2015
Best and Worst Arizona Cities for LGBT Rights
It's the same information in a post here on December 12, 2015 about the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index [MEI] that rated Phoenix, Tempe, and Tucson with a perfect score of 100. Mesa at 50.

Of the nine cities included, only Phoenix, Tempe, and Tucson have laws protecting LGBT residents from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodation. 
Equality and inclusion are not just concerns for the LGBT community - they are for everyone and all protected classes.
Half of the Mesa City Council and the seat of the Mayor will be up for grabs in this year's general election - not much diversity or inclusion there: "too vanilla' white guys mostly Mormon from the good-olé-boys crony entrenched political machine that has dominated local government for decades, no women, and the first elected Hispanic/Latino in over 135 years . . . and they say all say Mesa is diverse and all-inclusive?

Why are city laws important? Here's an excerpt from yesterday's report: "City laws are especially important, . . . because Arizona doesn’t have a statewide policy protecting against discrimination based on gender identity."

At least one city councilmember commented on what he interpreted as a "castigating tone" about the strong words used in the post here on 20 December.
With all due respect, he seemed to have the fear that guaranteeing the rights of all protected classes by the force of law with no religious exemption would interfere with his expression or freedom to practice his religion.
That's fine in private practice, but you cannot impose your religious beliefs while holding public office.

If public pressure and action is not enough to change local policy here in Mesa, businesses and corporations can take action, like the NFL and Emily's List did in a city in Indiana last year using their popular and economic clout to cancel events or expansion plans. Arizona's economy took a big hit when it held out approving Martin Luther King Day as a holiday for civil rights recognition.
In a crossposting with World Economic Forum The Human Rights Campaign published an article by Chad Griffin on January 07, 2016
How Businesses Are Standing Up for LGBT Rights
http://www.hrc.org/blog/how-businesses-are-standing-up-for-lgbt-rights
Chad Griffin, the leader of the United States’ largest LGBT civil rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), has witnessed the strength that private sector leaders can have in advancing equality. In advance of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling establishing nationwide marriage equality for America’s same-sex couples, hundreds of businesses signed and submitted amicus, or friend of the court, briefs affirming their support for marriage equality.
The progress has been staggering. . . The results show that major businesses are not merely ensuring basic workplace fairness to LGBT employees in select locales, but are increasingly upholding LGBT-inclusive policies of non-discrimination wherever they do business: 95 percent of global CEI businesses have fully inclusive, globally applicable non-discrimination policies and/or codes of conduct that include both sexual orientation and gender identity.
He affirmatively asserts: As we move forward in the new, rapid economy of tomorrow, it is increasingly apparent that equality is more than “good” for business – it is absolutely essential
Businesses and global leaders who ignore LGBT equality do so at their own peril.
No executive wants to lose the next brilliant employee to a competitor simply because the business has not caught up with the times in terms of inclusive policies.
No executive wants to have to ask, “What if?” when assessing the loss of talent.
 
 








Around the world and here in the United States businesses have far outpaced lawmakers in embracing the basic premise that the hard work and talents of all their employees – regardless of who they are or whom they love – are rewarded fairly in their workplaces.

The Homeless In Mesa > Almost Invisible



David Bowie - Lazarus > The Man Who Fell To Earth Rises Again

Taking Time-Out from posting to honor David Bowie and his wife Iman, having had the pleasures of mixing and mingling [and catering] to both on more than a few occasions: For David Bowie at the opening party for his being on Broadway appearing in "Elephant Man" and for Iman at a birthday party in the townhouse on East 62nd Street and apartment in London Terrace Towers.

John Giles Makes Another Run For Office . . . Or Uphill Ride? Or Uphill Climb To NextMesa?

Let's take a look at both the visual graphic/logo produced for the mayor's campaign-in-office and the website for Mesa Mayor John Giles mesamayor.com while in office.
This was the last entry more than four months ago on August 26, 2015 headlined [in case you missed it]
ICYMI – Mesa’s Momentum Continues!
"The last couple of weeks have been a blast in Mesa! . . ." What happened to writing and publishing anything about the city on the mayor's website the last four months?? Too busy with selfie-posing on social media or what?

On Instagram there's this:

Mayor John Giles

Elected Mayor of Mesa in Aug. 2014. Please join me in taking Mesa to the next level. www.mesaaz.gov/mayor

Here are the stats as of today from the mayor's Instagram account:

263 posts

815 followers

45 following

Is this an effective strategy for engaging the pubic/people who vote in local government or keeping them informed? 

Go to that link for the mayor's office and you see no entries for the last four months.

How are voters supposed to make an informed decision about whether to make the choice to re-elect the mayor when details are sketchy about what he's started or accomplished in his part-term in that seat for the last year riding on the tailwinds of the previous mayor who chose to make a run for higher office as governor and lost?

There was a previous post on this site looking back at John Giles in his first State-of-the-City Speech for 2015 after five months in office.

Whether accidental or not there's a shadow in the image looming larger than the mayor.

In looking at the NextMesa logo, please take a look at the slope and direction of the first trapezoid outlined -  those tailwinds might have blown John Giles uphill to a flat-line performance and then on a downhill slope.

Here's a link to the mayor - again on social media - in a 1:05 video uploaded to You Tube on December 8, 2015 from John Giles For Mayor. As of today it's had 721 views with 13 Likes. It's called "Keep Climbing" with some cautious words about "downhill coasting"

Watch it . . . it starts off with the words spoken by John Giles "I've been dealt a great hand ".

Having met the mayor and talked with him in-person on a few occasions, he didn't give me the impression that he gambles on anything - he's risk-aversive and prefers to under-promise and over-deliver to use one of his favorite phrases.

Yet with those opening words in a re-election campaign social media video, ya gotta wonder Who was "dealing the hand"  and other questions like was John Giles recruited to run for office after leaving the Mesa City Council in 2000 after only one four-year term [14 years out-of-office] and why?

Is there another candidate not entrenched or embedded in the Ole' Boys Political Machine who's going to enter the race?

In taking another look at the NextMesa logo readers might notice each flat-top mesa image has a different color and is not connected to the next - there's a gap and a change and a disconnect in the overlap.

Food for thought if anybody's hungry . . .