Three Amigos Summit Now in Ottawa

Parks & Recreation> Mesa's Oldest Municipal Park Gets Its Due

Maybe it took a longtime - about 5years with all kinds of delays and "holds" - to put some of that 2012 $70M taxpayer-funded Parks & Recreation Bond Issue for debt obligations to good use with the 2017 deadline fast approaching [and a possible hike in new taxes included in the budget for FY2016/2017] but now the city will soon find a contractor.

See it Here

City of Mesa : 2012 Parks Bond Program

www.mesaaz.gov/about-us/city-projects/bonds/parks-bond

On November 6, 2012 Mesa voters approved the Parks $70 million Bond Program. ... Preliminary Master Plan [PDF] ... Pioneer Park ... Concept Plan [PDF]

 

Park Score 2016 >> Mesa Ranked #91 out of top 100 - scoring only 34 out of 100 points

Using mapping technology and demographic data, we determined how well each city is meeting the need for parks.
See the full ranking analysis.
Link to this interactive map right below
http://parkscore.tpl.org/map.php?city=Mesa

Park Facts

• Park acreage: 2,521 acres
• People served per park acre: 183
• Oldest municipal park: Pioneer Park, est. 1947
• Largest municipal park: Red Mountain Park, 582 acres
• Most-visited municipal park: Riverview Park

City Stats

• City area: 83,578 acres
• Median park size: 2.6 acres
• Park land as % of city area: 3.0 %
• Spending per resident: $69.96.  
• Basketball Hoops per 10,000: 2.6
• Dog Parks per 100,000 Residents: 0.4
• Playgrounds per 10,000: 1.4
• Recreation / Senior Centers
  per 20,000 Residents: 0.2
• Population density: 5.5 per acre

  
  

The Social Progress Imperative > Measuring Social Progress Not Wealth

Published on June 28,2016
Views: 157

NEWS RELEASE: GDP “NO GUARANTEE” OF QUALITY OF LIFE: MAJOR NEW REPORT

29 Jun 2016

News Release: Social Progress Imperative
Embargo: 21:00, June 28th 2016, US EDT
Contact: Olly Kendall: +44 (0)7793 224749 / olly@westminsterpa.com

GDP “NO GUARANTEE” OF QUALITY OF LIFE: MAJOR NEW REPORT

Finland tops 2016 Social Progress Index + Canada, Australia and UK also perform well

U.S. slips to 19th with “disappointing” score: joins China, Russia + Iran among weakest performers

Costa Rica, Uruguay, Ghana + Senegal exceed expectations

(21:00, June 28th 2016, US EDT) Higher GDP per capita alone does not determine real quality of life. This is according to the 2016 Social Progress Index published today by US-based nonprofit, the Social Progress Imperative. The Index ranks Finland the world’s most socially progressive country; Canada in second place tops the G7 nations.
Economic growth is not the sole determinant of quality of life
The 2016 Index finds that while social progress—which includes measures of opportunity, healthcare, education and tolerance—does tend to rise as GDP increases, economic wealth on its own does not explain social progress outcomes.
As well as measuring absolute performance on social progress, the report compares each country to 15 other nations with similar GDP per capita to establish strengths and weaknesses relative to those countries with broadly equivalent national wealth. Against this benchmark Costa Rica, Uruguay, Ghana and Senegal are among the countries classed as ‘over-performers’ on social progress this year. Costa Rica – the world’s biggest over-performer and with a GDP per capita of $14,232, achieves a level of social progress almost as high as the Republic of Korea at less than half its GDP per capita ($33,629).
Michael Green, Executive Director of the Social Progress Imperative, said: “The Social Progress Index proves that GDP is not destiny. We need more countries to be like Costa Rica, which squeezes a lot of social progress out of its modest GDP.”
At the other end of the scale, the United States—with a GDP per capita of $52,118—finishes “a disappointing” 19th on the 2016 Index and is classed as one of the significant under-performers relative to its wealth. The US is the only major Western democracy among the world’s most significant under-performers (relative to its GDP), alongside China, Russia, Iran, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. Finland ($38,535 GDP per capita) and Canada ($42,778 GDP per capita) both outperform the US across a wide range of components including on health, tolerance and personal rights despite lower national wealth. Michael Green, Executive Director of the Social Progress Imperative, said: “It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that this is yet another disappointing result for the US and that citizens are getting a pretty raw deal when it comes to translating the country’s wealth into social progress.”
We are Mongolian—average human lived experience is same as Central Asian country
The ‘average’ social progress of every citizen on the planet is equivalent to that of Mongolia. The Central Asian nation, bordering China and Russia, is the most sparsely populated country in the world. The 2016 Index measured the social progress of 99% of the world’s population. The Index assesses social progress independently of GDP and includes measures of healthcare, education, housing, policing, rights and tolerance, using a total of 53 separate indicators to arrive at a ranking for the issues that matter most to people.
The world as a whole performs best on issues such as hunger, child mortality, and primary school enrollment, showing the impact of the UN Millennium Development Goals. The world struggles most with issues of personal rights, and also tolerance and inclusion. The toughest challenges for social progress are on environmental quality and health and wellness, which do not tend to improve as countries get richer.
Social progress across the globe is worse for younger people
By dividing the world into three age groups (under-25s, over-55s and those in-between), the 2016 Index is able to examine the social progress gap across generations. Young people, overall, experience relatively low social progress, with a weighted score of 60.15 (corresponding to a rank of 93), while the oldest population group has a weighted score of 67.63 (rank of 59). The youngest age group lives in countries lagging in nearly every social progress component, particularly in ‘water and sanitation’ and ‘access to advanced education’.
Canada, Australia & UK rival Nordic model for social progress success
Five of the twelve countries that achieve ‘Very High’ Index scores are from the Nordic region—Finland (1st), Denmark (3rd), Sweden (6th), Norway (7th) and Iceland (10th=). But the Nordic model is not the only route to success. Canada (2nd), Australia (4th), Switzerland (5th), Netherlands (8th), UK (9th), New Zealand (10th=) and Ireland (12th) all achieve ‘Very High’ social progress too. Michael Green, Executive Director of the Social Progress Imperative, said: “Whilst the Nordic model of social responsibility is rightly seen as a world-beater, in fact, this year’s Index demonstrates that you don’t need to be from a Nordic nation to enjoy very high levels of social progress. Policy-makers around the world would do well to look at countries like Canada and Australia to learn what leaders are successfully doing to improve the lives of their citizens.”
David Cruickshank, Deloitte Global Chairman, said: “As the world faces an increasingly complex set of global challenges, the Social Progress Index serves as a roadmap that can guide policy investments, business decisions, and resources.” He added, “At Deloitte, we believe that business has both the expertise and the imperative to help address these challenges and improve societal well-being. Our sponsorship of SPI aligns with our belief that the business community has much to give, and benefit from, by working with government and civil society to help drive social progress and achieve growth that is more inclusive and sustainable.”
Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation, said: “The issues the Social Progress Index identifies and tracks are the very issues people around the world care about because the quality of their lives hinges on them. The SPI has proven invaluable to governments, businesses, and philanthropies like the Skoll Foundation, which invests in social entrepreneurs driving solutions to the world’s thorniest and most pressing problems. By shining a light on where we’re advancing social progress and where we’re still falling short, the SPI helps us all be more effective agents of change.”
Global highlights:

• Finland is this year’s top performing country, followed by Canada (2nd), Denmark (3rd), Australia (4th) and Switzerland (5th). Though these countries’ social progress scores are very similar, their GDP per capita varies. 1st placed Finland in fact has the lowest GDP per capita ($38,535) of the top 5 (Canada—$42,778; Denmark—$42,758; Australia—$43,219; Switzerland—$55,260), showing that higher GDP can help generate higher social progress but it is not the whole story.
• Canada (2nd) is the best performing G7 country, scoring significantly higher than the US (19th). This is despite the fact that US GDP per capita ($52,118) is considerably higher than Canada’s ($42,778).
• Brazil (46th) is the best of the BRICS, followed by South Africa (59th), Russia (75th), China (84th) and India (98th). Russia has a much higher GDP per capita ($23,293) than Brazil ($15,110) and yet ranks much lower on the Social Progress Index.
• The most significant under-performers relative to GDP are the Gulf States: Saudi Arabia (65th, $49,537); Kuwait (45th, $69,878) and the UAE (39th, $64,563). Countries of North Africa, such as Egypt and Algeria are also significant under-perfomers. Other resource rich countries perform poorly as well, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Venezuela. The US and China both also under-perform.
• In general, the EU+EFTA group of countries perform well, even relative to their high GDP per capita. The strong performance of the first wave of Eastern European countries that were once part of the Communist Bloc suggests that EU Membership has been strongly beneficial to social progress.
• Latin America and Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa dominate the list of countries that perform well on the 2016 Index relative to GDP per capita, including Costa Rica, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana and Senegal. Nepal stands out as a strong over-performer in South Asia.
• It is possible to calculate a global social progress score, as a sum of country scores weighted by population. On this measure the world as a whole scores 62.88/100 on the Social Progress Index, equivalent to Kyrgyzstan or Mongolia.
• The Index ranked 133 countries based on their social and environmental performance and, including countries for which partial data was found, measured the social progress of 99% of the world’s population—using 53 separate indicators to arrive at a ranking for the issues that matter most to people.
• The world shows a markedly strong performance on two components of the Social Progress Index in particular: ‘nutrition and basic medical care’ and ‘access to basic knowledge’. It is notable that these components encompass many of the priorities of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (now replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals) that have been a major focus of aid and development efforts for the past 15 years.
• The components of the Social Progress Index where the world fares worst are ‘tolerance and inclusion,’ ‘personal rights,’ ‘access to advanced education,’ and ‘environmental quality.’ These are issues where even the more advanced countries can struggle to score highly. ‘Tolerance and inclusion’ and ‘personal rights’ are also less correlated with GDP per capita while ‘environmental quality’ improves only marginally as GDP per capita increases.

END
Notes to editors:
2016 Results
The full, interactive dataset from the Index will be available from 21:00, June 28th 2016, US EDT at: http://socialprogressimperative.org/global-index/ . Please note that due to a variety of changes made to this year’s index, the 2016 Social Progress Index is not comparable to the 2015 Social Progress Index

Professor Michael E Porter > Social Progress Index

Balancing Past & Future > 3D Modeling/ESRI from 2012

3D model of downtown Mesa
[Notice Parking Lot Areas]

Being able to see how downtown Mesa would look with the completed light rail system and subsequent redevelopment helped the public see the benefits of having this mode of mass transit in the city of Mesa. This project has also opened the minds of city leaders and citizens to the benefits of 3D GIS analysis for standard city operations.
Source: http://www.esri.com Summer 2012 Edition
Balancing Past and Future
Using 3D GIS analysis to route light rail through historic Mesa
By Cory Whittaker, City of Mesa, Arizona
In December 2008, the Valley Metro Light Rail system debuted in the Phoenix Metro area. [Valley Metro Rail Inc., a nonprofit public corporation, operates a high-capacity transit system in this region.] In the months that followed, the City of Mesa's single station had more passengers than any other stop on the system.
When this trend continued, Valley Metro decided to expand the light rail system through downtown Mesa. This announcement was seen as a victory for revitalization efforts in the city. Neighboring cities have seen that light rail is a catalyst for transit-oriented development of nearby properties
The proposed route takes the light rail line through the heart of downtown Mesa to cultural venues such as the Mesa Arts Center and the Arizona Museum of Natural History. The route also passes through the historical center of the city of Mesa, where buildings and places of historic significance—some listed on the National Register of Historic Places—are located.
To better understand how this project would interact with the nearby historic buildings, 3D GIS visualization tools were used. These tools gave decision makers and the public a virtual view of what downtown Mesa might look like after the light rail system was completed.

Modeling Downtown Mesa
Before the light rail expansion was proposed, the City of Mesa GIS staff conducted a pilot project to assess the feasibility of modeling downtown Mesa in 3D given existing departmental resources. . . This successful pilot project provided the impetus to begin creating a 3D model of downtown Mesa.
This 3D rendering shows the proposed development intensity for residential (yellow), commercial (red), and mixed use (purple). The number of stories and lot coverage for each is shown

Working with the Community
The city needed to establish policies for development along the light rail route. Upon completion and approval, these policies would be organized into a document called the Central Main Plan. . .
The committee performed one key exercise, called the Reality Check, using the 3D GIS visualization tools to answer four important questions about the future development along the light rail route:

• Where should infill and redevelopment occur?
• What areas are off limits to redevelopment?
• What will be the intensity of the development/redevelopment that is envisioned?
• Is this achievable?

. . . With these questions in mind, committee members were asked to map where they would put 4,000 dwelling units and 1.8 million square feet of nonresidential floor space. . .
After compiling the results, city planners had a blueprint of where and how much redevelopment would be possible. Parking lots, a few existing buildings, and vacant lots were identified as potential redevelopment sites.
With the redevelopment areas, number of dwelling units, and the amount of nonresidential square footage defined for each area, city management requested a 3D GIS analysis for these areas. Calculations, based on the number of dwelling units, square footage, land use, and lot coverages, showed how tall buildings would need to be to fulfill the proposed requirements. Buildings at these heights were displayed in 3D next to existing building footprints. The three light rail stations and rail tracks associated with them were also modeled in 3D. This analysis explained complex development planning criteria to Mesa citizens in an easily digestible format that helped them envision redevelopment potential along the light rail path.
At first glance, the redevelopment areas had something in common. The majority of the buildings along the light rail route in downtown Mesa front along the street with large parking lots behind them. Because most of the proposed redevelopment is slated for these parking lots, they are a blank canvas for downtown revitalization

The historic Alhambra Hotel
shown with the adjacent proposed redevelopment

Seeing Today and Tomorrow
Preserving the historic character of downtown Mesa was a key priority. The Alhambra Hotel was built in 1893 and is located in the heart of downtown Mesa. Although it was partially destroyed by fire, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. No longer a hotel, it still has historic value and is located just south of the light rail route, next to a large parking lot that is the site of a proposed six-story building with 90 percent lot coverage. The proposed building, nearly three times taller, would dwarf the Alhambra and possibly harm its historic value.
Without a 3D GIS view, the magnitude of the disparity in the heights of these buildings would be lost. With this visualization, it was clear that caution would need to be exercised when redeveloping this site to ensure that the historic character of the Alhambra Hotel is preserved.
. . .

Did You Get The Message? Only 13 Responses from Hundred of Paid Members

Got the usual email blast @ 10:59 a.m. yesterday morning in an email inbox filter called Promotions with the subject line

Mesa Chamber Monday Morning Message: Register for Women's Networking Group, Be at Eklectic Pie Tonite and more! ... so curious about that, huh?

 

MESA CHAMBER: ASK ME ANOTHER

*JUNE QUESTION*

Helping Give You New Insight Into the Business Community

We at the Chamber wanted to find new ways to help you learn more about how your community does business.
The idea was to create a very simple and easy way for you to share your thoughts and ideas and in turn benefit from everyone else's responses as well.
We came up with "Ask Me Another". Each month, we will ask one poll question.
Thank you for the 13 responses to our May Question! Stay tuned to the Inside Business Newsletter to see the results. This Month's Question (question will change each month):
Simple quick question about how often you contact your customer base:
"How often do you send email newsletters to your customer base?"

MESA CHAMBER: TELL US ABOUT

Share Your Success

Has your Business recently won an award?

Are you a leader recognized by your industry?

Do you have a growth story you'd like to share?

Tell us about it.

The Chamber is always looking to help our members tell their stories. Email Us the Details

 

 

 

VISION 2020: RSVP TODAY FOR THE JULY 15TH MEETING

In 2014 Congressman Matt Salmon called together Faith Based and community leaders,  to discuss the reality of the magnitude of the national deficit and it's futuristic impact on those receiving federal funds for life sustaining resources. The challenge, what would you do if federal funding was terminated in 2020, to meet the needs of your community.  More importantly, what would you do now to prepare for the crisis?

Any community member is welcome to join this discussion
Reader's Note: Matt Salmon has chosen not to run for re-election, instead taking a lobbying position with ASU ... is that MEETING THE NEEDS OF PEOPLE HERE IN MESA?
Or does he have another agenda about some "crisis" of some kind?

 

 

  

 

BIG FAIL >> Million$ $pent on Education That Fail$ Arizona $tudent$

More than 60 percent of Arizona students in most grade levels failed the state’s Common Core-based standardized test.
About two-thirds of the state's students failed the reading and math portions of the test last year, the first time it was administered.

This year, statewide reading and math scores in most grades increased by single digits. Test results in eighth-grade reading and math and 10th- and 11th-grade English language arts declined compared with last year.

According to the article linked to below

"These are new, difficult tests that require students to think, ???? not memorize and regurgitate," said Joe O'Reillyn[seen in the image to the the right from a Rotary Club meeting last year], executive director for student-achievement support at Mesa Public Schools.
O’Reilly, executive director of Student Achievement Support from Mesa Public Schools and former president of the National Association of Test Directors, explained how AzMERIT performance levels were set.
The Arizona Department of Education had teachers develop Performance Level Descriptors, detailed descriptions that describe the skills and abilities that students must demonstrate for each performance level. Descriptors include four levels ranging from Minimally Proficient to Highly Proficient.
Teachers reviewed the Performance Level Descriptors, established the cut points and came to a consensus. The State Board of Education accepted the teachers’ recommendations with no changes,

Eighth-grade state math scores had the sharpest decline — 8 percentage points. This year, 26 percent of eighth-graders passed the math portion, down from 34 percent last year. 

Elementary students, particularly those in grades 3-5, maintained the highest passing rates in the state. Those were the only grade levels this year to have overall proficiency rates higher than 40 percent in reading and math.

Third-grade reading scores remained stagnant at a 41 percent passing rate. More of the state's third-graders — about 45 percent — scored in the lowest performance level of "minimally proficient" than in 2014-15.  

The state Board of Education discussed the statewide scores at a meeting today

You might want to read this online report from The Arizona Republic
Ricardo Cano, The Republic | azcentral.com 12:08 p.m. MST June 27, 2016