I questioned John Giles, "Wasn't there already a lot of money already spent on another idea for this same site just a few years ago?".
[Bigger's note: according to Gary Nelson's report there were already four]
True, he was elected the 40th Mayor of Mesa, Arizona in August, 2014 inaugurated in January 2015 starting to hold the office with his vision for downtown calling it NextMesa.
What he didn't appear to know or didn't recall was that more than $75,000 had already been spent [public monies taken out of the budget for Parks & Recreation to fund a plan for private developers] to hire three consultants for a proposal that hasn't got off the ground at all. That ground is covered with asphalt used as a car parking lot for city government employees.
[ Readers, please note the use of italic, bold, and underline are added to the original ]
Plans back then were bold, so much so that one councilman said they reminded him of the futuristic streetscapes in “The Jetsons” cartoon show of a half-century ago.
John Giles used to say that downtown Mesa was "Mayberry" . . .
Goes to show the points of reference in the thinking for members of the Mesa City Council - pure fiction television shows.
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| Pie-In-The-Sky Plaza? ...Piazza in Italian |
Pie-in-the-sky plaza
by Gary NelsonThe Republic | azcentral.comThu Jan 30, 2014 10:35 AM
"Daniel Burnham might say downtown Mesa needs a little work.
Burnham, who put together the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and all but invented the field of modern urban design, would notice, especially, that the area next to Mesa’s main municipal office building is nobody’s idea of beautiful.
There’s a bit of nice landscaping near the north entrance and some grass around the city buildings along First Street. But mostly it’s an asphalt desert dissected by Pepper Place, a narrow street that funnels cars into the parking lots.
Mayor Scott Smith thinks Mesa can do better than that.
He has been to Chicago and seen Millennium Park, a downtown oasis that has sparked massive private redevelopment in the neighborhood. He has seen iconic plazas in other cities around the world. And he thinks Mesa should have one, too.
He believes Mesa urgently needs such a space because when light rail comes through downtown, the city no longer will be able to block off Main Street for big events. Last year, in fact, the Arizona Celebration of Freedom moved to the north side of City Hall when rail construction tore up Main.
The 2012 park-bond election gave Mesa a chance to at least begin brainstorming how those parking lots could look if they were redesigned as a public gathering space. Bond money will cover preliminary design, but future funding would be needed for construction.
While Mesa awaits designs from three firms it recently hired, it already has four concepts in hand. They came from students in Arizona State University’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and the Herberger School of Design and the Arts.
The students were asked to create an architecturally and artistically stunning place that could accommodate up to 25,000 people at one time.
Four teams presented their ideas this month to City Council members in two sessions at Mesa City Plaza. To say the least, they were bold — so much so that one councilman said they reminded him of the futuristic streetscapes in “The Jetsons” cartoon show of a half-century ago.
All four would preserve the eight-story former bank tower that became City Hall in the 1990s.
Mesa has three other buildings within the block under consideration:
All four concepts envision privately financed new buildings around the plaza, most with both business and residential tenants. And all would replace the Jimmy John’s sandwich shop on the block’s southeastern corner with what planners like to call a “higher use.”
Among the suggestions:
Jeff McVay, now with the glorified title Director for Downtown Transformation who works in Mesa’s development and sustainability department and is coordinating the project, said the students were told not to worry about the final price tag. ???? The point now is to explore ideas.
“One of the big goals of all this is to get people thinking and excited about all the possibilities,” he said.
Smith didn’t flinch during the Jan. 14 presentation when some of the students said downtown Mesa, for all its recent redevelopment efforts, still lacks nightlife and an identity.
“There’s a stereotype (of downtown),” he said. “A lot of that is reinforced by reality. That’s why we’re having you do this. We wanted something that was unique enough that people wanted to come (downtown).”
Smith noted that all the designs contain some form of elevation.
Sam-Guangyu Cen, a design student from Guangzhou, China, said that was intentional.
“Different elevations create differentiations for all the experiences,” he said. “People want to experience different things.”
Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh said the designs include ways to configure the plaza differently for various purposes, as well as landscaping for cooling and ambience.
“It sort of reminds me of ‘The Jetsons’ that we old guys used to watch when we were kids,” Councilman David Luna said. “Now we’re actually seeing that sort of happen.”
Burnham, who put together the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and all but invented the field of modern urban design, would notice, especially, that the area next to Mesa’s main municipal office building is nobody’s idea of beautiful.
There’s a bit of nice landscaping near the north entrance and some grass around the city buildings along First Street. But mostly it’s an asphalt desert dissected by Pepper Place, a narrow street that funnels cars into the parking lots.
Mayor Scott Smith thinks Mesa can do better than that.
He has been to Chicago and seen Millennium Park, a downtown oasis that has sparked massive private redevelopment in the neighborhood. He has seen iconic plazas in other cities around the world. And he thinks Mesa should have one, too.
He believes Mesa urgently needs such a space because when light rail comes through downtown, the city no longer will be able to block off Main Street for big events. Last year, in fact, the Arizona Celebration of Freedom moved to the north side of City Hall when rail construction tore up Main.
The 2012 park-bond election gave Mesa a chance to at least begin brainstorming how those parking lots could look if they were redesigned as a public gathering space. Bond money will cover preliminary design, but future funding would be needed for construction.
While Mesa awaits designs from three firms it recently hired, it already has four concepts in hand. They came from students in Arizona State University’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and the Herberger School of Design and the Arts.
The students were asked to create an architecturally and artistically stunning place that could accommodate up to 25,000 people at one time.
Four teams presented their ideas this month to City Council members in two sessions at Mesa City Plaza. To say the least, they were bold — so much so that one councilman said they reminded him of the futuristic streetscapes in “The Jetsons” cartoon show of a half-century ago.
All four would preserve the eight-story former bank tower that became City Hall in the 1990s.
Mesa has three other buildings within the block under consideration:
- the former City Hall at 55 N. Center St.
- Mesa City Council chambers at 57 E. First St.
- the former city library, now an information technology building, east of council chambers.
All four concepts envision privately financed new buildings around the plaza, most with both business and residential tenants. And all would replace the Jimmy John’s sandwich shop on the block’s southeastern corner with what planners like to call a “higher use.”
Among the suggestions:
- A pedestrian bridge stretching across the plaza, connecting a residential tower with the light-rail station to be built on Main Street.
- A “mist curtain” to provide cooling and a creative atmosphere under the bridge.
- Portable “event modules” — wooden platforms with configurable sides and roofs — that could be moved around to serve as vendor booths or stages for a wide variety of activities.
- An amphitheater in the center of the plaza.
- Enhanced pathways connecting the i.d.e.a. Museum with the Mormon temple district and the Mesa Convention Center with the Mesa Arts Center. These would converge in the plaza, the symbolic heart of Mesa.
- An elevated promenade that would offer art installations, event space and views for sightseeing.
- A large parking structure with an electronic wall that could be activated by smartphones or other devices as people collaborate on games or art projects.
- Controlled entryways for use during concerts and other paid events.
- A sunken orchard with fruit trees.
Jeff McVay, now with the glorified title Director for Downtown Transformation who works in Mesa’s development and sustainability department and is coordinating the project, said the students were told not to worry about the final price tag. ???? The point now is to explore ideas.Smith didn’t flinch during the Jan. 14 presentation when some of the students said downtown Mesa, for all its recent redevelopment efforts, still lacks nightlife and an identity.
“There’s a stereotype (of downtown),” he said. “A lot of that is reinforced by reality. That’s why we’re having you do this. We wanted something that was unique enough that people wanted to come (downtown).”
Smith noted that all the designs contain some form of elevation.
Sam-Guangyu Cen, a design student from Guangzhou, China, said that was intentional.
“Different elevations create differentiations for all the experiences,” he said. “People want to experience different things.”
Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh said the designs include ways to configure the plaza differently for various purposes, as well as landscaping for cooling and ambience.
“It sort of reminds me of ‘The Jetsons’ that we old guys used to watch when we were kids,” Councilman David Luna said. “Now we’re actually seeing that sort of happen.”
