Mormon News Report > Top Stories January 15: Bundy-Style Mormonism

" - ism" was one of Google's chosen words for 2015. 
The attention of your MesaZona blogger was recently re-directed from The New Urban DTMesa while receiving newsfeeds and news alerts and broadcast and streaming news for the last 14 days about a heavily-weaponized group taking over a property in Oregon. They've been called by mainstream media "right-wing domestic terrorists", "armed terrorists hijacking public lands", and "deluded nuts" among another things.

However, rarely brought up in world and national news broadcasts is that Clive and Ammon Bundy are disciples in the Mormon religion.
Is this another example of religions running wild with followers taking to the extreme fringes? 
[Image to the right is Ammon Bundy giving a talk at a public charter school here in Mesa last year.]
Mormons behaving badly?
Perhaps to counter-act any possible negative publicity, the LDS church is engaging in a series of internal conversations starting with a radio interview broadcast three days ago.
Listen . . . here's the link > KUER/bundy-style-Mormonism
Well worth the time 52.39
One commentator Zeke had this to say: The LDS Church has a huge problem with bitter, hateful anti-government mormons running amok.
Another commentator Tsuji wrote this: I am a Mormon and do not support the Bundy's one bit, but I disagree with your characterization.
They are deluded nuts but they think they are making a political statement . . . The Feds are wisely trying to avoid escalation.
And another johninnv wrote this: Just like in Bunkerville. The local elected Mormon leaders of the region did NOT ever say a word against what 'ol pappy Cliven and offspring were doing. Not once. Not a Bishop, nor a take President, nor the several Mormons in elected leadership positions. NOPE - and many of them indicated that they supported Bundy positions. The Mormon church needs to get over its long cultivated hatred of the United States Government.

Bundy-style Mormonism

By Doug Fabrizio • Jan 14, 2016

Thursday we’re asking if the occupation of a federal office in Oregon is a Mormon enterprise, and if so, what kind of Mormonism? The Bundy brothers leading the group are LDS, and they use Mormon theology to talk about motives and dealing with “tyranny.” The Church has condemned the tactics, and while the Bundys’ views aren’t mainstream, historian Patrick Mason says they didn’t come out of thin air. He and others join us to talk about the groups’ politics and faith in relation to Mormon orthodoxy.

Bustin' A Few Zumba Moves > Mesa #33 in 2016’s Best and Worst Cities for an Active Lifestyle



Warning: Today is Fun Day for yours truly -  just to show you what's fair game when social media selfie-posing is used so much by City of Mesa elected and appointed officials.

On an earlier post on this site from December 10, 2015 with drowsy-eyed Mesa City Manager Chris Brady and Mayor John Giles in a suit-and-tie playing BFF Wannabe Sportscaster Bros at The Wonderland Skating Rink. Maybe they are looking to find new jobs and launch their on-air talents in broadcasting and TVland via city-owned Channel 11?

Why get comic now? That's a question you, dear readers might be asking.

Sometimes "comic activism" is a more effective tool than political activism [John Stewart, Bill Maher, and John Oliver for example].

The website Wallet Hub  has recent published

2016’s Best and Worst Cities for an Active Lifestyle

Mesa rated #33 overall and #45 for Sports Facilities and Outdoor Environment

WalletHub’s analysts compared the 100 most populated cities based on 24 key metrics to identify those that help their residents stick to their health goals. The data set ranges from the average monthly fitness club fee to the number of sports clubs per capita.

Since we weren't all saints over the holidays and as we struggle to forgive ourselves for that last holiday binge of 2015, grocery stores are already tempting us with Valentine’s Day sweets — and it’s only the first week of the new year. Those who’ve ever traveled during the holidays also know how tough it can be to squeeze in an exercise routine, let alone some cardio.

Looking for forgiveness and redemption now [as we all might or not be] here's a flashback to a time not so long ago - last year with Mayor John Giles all-tricked-out in Spandex at the center of attention  to publicize a campaign for fitness and wellness, with a free breakfast.

Look for City Manager Chris Brady busting' Zumba moves in the group . . . have fun.





 

Published on Feb 14, 2015

Mesa City Councilman David Luna hosted a free "Heart Your Health" fitness and wellness fair Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Red Mountain Multigenerational Center, 7550 E. Adobe St. It included free fitness classes; information on nutrition, fitness and exercise; and a free breakfast. In the video, Mr. Luna (black shirt and shorts) works out in a Zumba class with Mesa City Manager Chris Brady (in white shirt) behind him, Mesa

Re/New-Able Energy Just Finished Another Record-Breaking Year

A news article out on January 13, 2016  by Tom Randall 11:00 MST

Go to the link to read
GOOD NEWS
The world has reached a turning point - now adding more power capacity from renewable every year than from coal, natural gas and oil combined.

Infographic tells the story
The Rise of Clean Energy Investment
2005-2015
$329 Billion

Veterans On Patrol Set Up A Command Base in Mesa > There's "A Gap" In Meeting The Needs Of Homeless Vets

The medium is the message: watch television news last night on ABC15 . . some people with "boots on ground" and those who know the real-time situation are taken to the airwaves at 4:52 p.m. last night by reporter Raquel Cervantes filming this action that readers of this blog can watch here >> http://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/mesa/veterans-on-patrol-set-up-camp-in-mesa-to-help-homeless-vets

 

 

Quality of Life: Original One-Square Mile Mesa = A Food Desert Now

Not that this fact was not evident [note the use of a double-negative]. Visiting in a small town of about 1,000 people in southeastern Arizona with a low population-density and a lower-income population, there were not one but two food markets - one "supermarket" with nearly everything operated by third-generation local owners and one small-business enterprise with mostly organic/healthy foods that recently tripled its size.
The usual metrics that big box food franchisees use to make decisions for site-selection get thrown out the window there, so why not here? That was a question raised by none other than John Williams, the head of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, during an all-day visit in the New Urban DTMesa last summer [see previous post on this site].
The red square you see in the above image covers the area from Broadway to University and from Country Club Drive to Mesa Drive, the boundaries of the original town plan.

Zero-ing on this startling and inconvenient fact is very visible and evident from food access research that was last updated  on March 11th of last year in an Atlas Index map from the United States Department of Agriculture.
More information connect to this link >> http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas.aspx

In the image to the left from the  Many Eyes website Maricopa County is doing well. The original One-Square Mile Mesa is an exception.
Thanks again to Open Data - one benefit of Peer-to-Peer Sharing in The Internet of Things [IoT] - we can see a number of things in The Food Access Research Atlas: the most where action can be taken is item #3 Data on food access that can be downloaded for COMMUNITY PLANNING . . . [and "research"] > that's all good, right?
But what about actually doing something??

Are we going to wait for action from City Hall or get the community engaged and mobilized?
Or is some smart entrepreneur making plans?
Whether or not the City of Mesa Office for Housing & Community Development is taking action on this quality of life issue remains to be seen.
Readers of this blog might want to look into if the mayor who's running in a re-election campaign has addressed this issue at all for Challenges and Opportunities in #SOTC2016.
Everybody in City Hall gives lip-service to improving the quality of life, but what have we heard about results instead of promises to do something or challenges that don't get taken on, or opportunities that don't happen?

Keep On Climbing!!

Your neighborhood affects not only the quality of your housing but also your access to affordable, healthy food.
In neighborhoods where many people choose not to drive or who don’t own cars, a trip to the grocery store three miles away might require two hours or more of traveling on public transit. It’s often easier just to pick up dinner for the family at a nearby "fast-food joint".
Fortunately - at least once a week - fresh produce is available downtown at the Friday Farmers Market. That's a positive.
A lot of people like to think health is all about personal choices; it’s not. It’s about the opportunities you have. If there are no grocery stores, how are you supposed to eat healthy?

The Food Research Atlas

• Presents a spatial overview of food access indicators for low-income and other census tracts using different measures of supermarket accessibility;
• Provides food access data for populations within census tracts; and
• Offers census-tract-level data on food access that can be downloaded for community planning or research purposes

http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert

The Open Data Revolution Is Here! ... Well, At Least for Air Quality

Not so fast -you can get an app for that or go to this link for Phoenix >> https://air.plumelabs.com/en/phoenix so you can't be "digitally-dumb". You are like that in no way at all if you're reading this blog . . .so let's all go ahead.

Mapping the Real-Time Air Pollution Wafting Over Cities Around the World

How noxious is your city?

The user-friendly World Air Map, designed by Plume Labs—a company that makes environmental software for health and well-being—offers a way to monitor the progress of long-term goals (such as the ones agreed upon in Paris) as well as short-term interventions on a daily basis.

Plume Labs helped bring attention to the air pollution problem in Paris last year, which led to the city instituting a partial ban on cars ...”The data revolution can help policymakers cut air pollution and communities take back control of their environment."

Today's report: moderate pollution, below average + it's like this 202/365 days a year

receive fresh news about the air quality around you

 

 

                                     

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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.