Quirky LDS Conservatives > Mixing-Up Politics + Real Estate?

Probably any image could have been selected to start off first for this post, but this for some unexplained reason caught the attention of your MesaZona blogger.
Notice who endorses who in this close contest for Arizona State Senate, District 25 Republican Primary in 2014.
Bob Worsley beat Ralph Heap by 1,646 votes out of 29,300 cast and went on to win the General Election by 70.5%.

Two years before, Worsley won election in the 2012 election for Arizona State Senate District 25 defeating former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce in the Republican primary by 3,666 votes out of 30,734, winning in the general election with 66.6% of votes.
In the general election held on November 8, 2016, incumbent Bob Worsley ran unopposed in the Arizona State Senate District 25 general election winning with 100% of 69,914 votes to bolster the LDS control of the AZ State Legislature.
Apparently, he's now answering "a higher calling" to continue the mission to expand the legacy of The Mormon Pioneers for a New Zion - complete with plans for a Mesa version of Temple Square in Salt Lake City and a choir hall of sorts.

Still working on ways to finance that, the hive in Mesa politics is buzzing all the way from elected public office in the Arizona State Capitol to Mesa City Hall in fields of schemes for real estate development right here in downtown, where politician State Senator Bob Worsley, who first approached the city as un-named "private developer" and got the Mesa City Council to approve a Memorandum of Understanding, registering a new corporate LLC just six days before, for a proposed project atop a parking lot after quietly buying 29-35 W Main Street [and at least 8 other properties] in undisclosed deals to control the downtown real estate market when sellers agreed to a price of around $100/square feet. The new LLC named MACDevco, together with an associated entity called "Ranches of America' lists their 5,300+ sq ft home in the citrus groves on N Val Vista Drive here in northeast Mesa as the business address.

This image to the right of the proposed project, located behind public charter school Heritage Academy [in the dark spot at the center], across Drew Street, might be built on top of a 103-space parking lot with a footprint of less than an acre of land.
It is currently being used as free parking for customers and employees of six businesses fronting on the south side of Main Street between Drew Street and MacDonald.
Located within 300 feet of a school, it could be problematical to apply for a liquor license on the premises.
Plans also call for 'a food hall', a hotel with 75 rooms, and 75 "above-market rate" apartments . . .

Arizona State Senator Bob Worsley and Kent Lyons are partners in the development, described by an AZ Central reporter as "a subsidiary of Habitat Metro"
http://www.azcentral.com

Addicted? Here's Your Daily Dose of Mormonism

#1 Elder Holland withdraws Church News missionary story (Deseret News)
A very interesting development, and something I can't remember seeing in recent memory. Elder Jeffery R. Holland spoke on June 27 at the Mission President Seminar at the MTC in Provo, where he shared a story of a missionary rescue.

Obviously, many outlets ran with it - I'm pretty sure we did as well. However, Tad Walch of the Deseret News writes "Elder Holland withdrew it Monday and said in a statement that he had learned from the family that the story contained inaccuracies." Elder Holland issued a 3 paragraph statement giving context to the story and concluding it by stating "As a courtesy to me the family contacted my office, wanting me to be aware of the inaccurate parts of the story and offering their help in avoiding any perpetuation of those elements in the account I heard. I am deeply touched by their humility and courage in doing so, and as an equal courtesy to them, I am withdrawing the story completely and request that it not be shared further." I'm impressed. You don't see this often, and credit where credit is due to both the DesNews and Elder Holland for focusing on accuracy.
#2 BYU ranked for religious students, being sober, unfriendliness to LGBT community in Princeton Review (Herald Journal)
This should come as a surprise to no one, though I know some won't be happy with it.
The 2018 Princeton Review just released some of their "alternative" university rankings, and LDS-owned BYU held on to its Stone-Cold Sober ranking for the 20th consecutive year as the university that consumes the least alcohol by their student body. BYU was also #1 in the "Scotch and Soda, Hold the Scotch" rankings (which evaluates hard liquor), #1 in the "Got Milk" rankings, #8 in "Best-Run Colleges," #4 in "LGBTQ-Unfriendly," #8 in Conservative students, #2 in Most Religious Students, and #2 in the Top 25 Entrepreneurship Undergraduate colleges. So raise a glass of milk, or something

#3 Surprising survey reveals Americans are changing their minds about polygamy (Gallup)
Interesting news from Gallup today: "Polygamy, a practice that President James Garfield once said "offends the moral sense," is now seen by 17% of Americans as "morally acceptable," up from 14% in 2016 and the highest rate on record dating back to 2003." Credit to Gallup, who tried to answer the question as to why the increase has happened: "In short, there is little reason to believe that Americans are more likely to know or be polygamists now than at any other time in the past. But there is one way Americans may feel more familiar with or sympathetic to polygamy: television."
More > http://www.theculturalhallpodcast.com

You're Invited: Open House & Ribbon-Cutting

The Mesa Chamber has moved! Be sure to update your records with our NEW address:

Mesa Chamber of Commerce

165 N Centennial Way, Suite 208
Mesa, AZ 85201

PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS JUNE 2017

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, Tuesday, August 1, 2017

PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS JUNE 2017
ANNUAL UPDATE: 2014 THROUGH MAY 2017
Source: https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/pinewsrelease.htm

Personal income decreased $3.5 billion (less than -0.1 percent) in June according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $4.2 billion (less than -0.1 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $8.1 billion (0.1 percent).
Real DPI decreased 0.1 percent in June and Real PCE increased less than 0.1 percent.
The PCE price index increased less than 0.1 percent.
Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.1 percent.

The decrease in personal income in June primarily reflected decreases in personal dividend income and personal interest income that were partially offset by an increase in compensation of employees (table 3). The June decrease in personal dividend income reflected a return to prior levels after a notable increase in May.
The $4.5 billion increase in real PCE in June primarily reflected a $10.0 billion increase in spending for services that was partially offset by a decline of $4.4 billion in spending for nondurable goods and a decline of $2.3 billion in spending for durable goods (table 7). Within services, the primary contributor to the increase was spending for health
care. Within goods, gasoline was the leading contributor to the decline.
Detailed information on real PCE spending can be found on NIPA Table 2.3.6.

Personal outlays increased $14.1 billion in June (table 3). Personal saving was $546.4 billion in June and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, was 3.8 percent (table 1).

Annual Update of the National Income and Product Accounts
The estimates released today reflect the results of the annual update of the national income and product accounts (NIPAs) in conjunction with preliminary estimates for June 2017. The update covers the most recent 3 years and the first 5 months of 2017.
For more information, see information on the “2017 Annual Update” on BEA’s website. Additionally, the August Survey of Current Business will contain an article that describes the results in detail.
Updates
Revisions to the personal income and outlays estimates reflect the results of the recent annual update of the national income and product accounts (NIPAs). These updates, usually made each July, incorporate newly available and more comprehensive source data, as well as improved estimation methodologies. This year’s update covers the period January 2014 through May 2017.

Revisions to annual estimates of personal income and outlays for 2014 through 2016 are shown in table 12.
Revised and previously published monthly estimates of personal income, DPI, PCE, personal saving as a percentage of DPI, real DPI, and real PCE are shown in table 13. Revised and previously published annual and quarterly estimates are shown in table 14.
Personal income was revised up $8.5 billion, or 0.1 percent, in 2014; $94.5 billion, or 0.6 percent, in 2015; and revised down $58.0 billion, or -0.4 percent, in 2016.

* For 2014, revisions to personal income and its components were generally small, and primarily reflected a $21.6 billion downward revision to nonfarm proprietors’ income that was partly offset by a $15.8 billion upward revision to personal dividend income.
* For 2015, the revision to personal income primarily reflected upward revisions of $68.7 billion to personal dividend income and $64.5 billion to personal interest income that were partially offset by a downward revision of $71.7 billion
  to nonfarm proprietors’ income.
* For 2016, the revision to personal income primarily reflected an upward revision of $100.8 billion to personal interest income that was more than offset by downward revisions of $94.3 billion to compensation of employees and $91.0 billion to nonfarm proprietors’ income.

DPI was revised up $9.9 billion, or 0.1 percent, in 2014; $95.2 billion, or 0.7 percent, in 2015; and revised down $57.2 billion, or -0.4 percent, in 2016.
The percent change from the preceding year in real DPI was revised up 0.1 percentage
point to 3.6 percent in 2014, revised up 0.7 percentage point to 4.2 percent in 2015, and revised down 1.2 percentage points to 1.4 percent in 2016.

Personal outlays was revised down $2.9 billion, or less than -0.1 percent, in 2014; revised up $50.5 billion, or 0.4 percent, in 2015; and revised up $60.9 billion, or 0.5 percent, in 2016. Revisions to personal outlays primarily reflect revisions to PCE.

The personal saving rate was revised up 0.1 percentage point to 5.7 percent in 2014, revised up 0.3 percentage point to 6.1 percent in 2015, and revised down 0.8 percentage point to 4.9 percent in 2016.
QCEW Data Included in the First Quarter of 2017
BEA’s data on wages and salaries for the first quarter of 2017 were based on expedited information from state employment offices across the country. BEA acknowledges the special efforts by the Bureau of Labor Statistics with the assistance of these state employment offices in providing preliminary data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)

AGENDA for Today's Economic Development Advisory Board Meeting

Meeting Notice & Agenda

Economic Development Advisory Board
City Council Chambers 57 E. 1st Street, Lower Level
Tuesday, August 1, 2017 7:30 AM
HERE'S YOUR MESAZONA BLOGGER'S TAKE-AWAY:
Following all the scheduled presentations in discussions opened up by Bill Jabjiniak, GPEC board member Rich Adams nearly startled everyone in the room to say Mesa is still looking for A Sense of Place - much like Tempe Town Lake re-generated downtown Tempe. What an imagination!

An ambitious agenda to start on the first meeting of the new fiscal year after taking a month off, with one new appointment to replace Terry Benelli [absent at this meeting] and two re-appointments to the voting members. Agenda items outlined a correction to approved minutes from May ...Bill has some guests, Patrick Murphy from the City's sustainability office makes a presentation, Kaye O'Donnell and JD Beatty talk about metrics

Here's a group-selfie of some of the board members and dinner guests last night posted on Twitter yesterday



Power lunch! #MesaAZ #EconDev meeting w reviewers & partners for @IEDCtweets accreditation program

See Item 4 on the agenda below








Voting and non-voting members attending this morning's meeting listening to the AEDO presenters who have been here for three days doing an evaluation for accreditation.

TODAY'S AGENDA
    
1. Chair’s Call to Order
      
2. Items from Citizens Present

3. Approval of Minutes from June 6, 2017 meeting 
    • Note: EDAB minutes change for May 2nd, Councilmember Winkle was removed from   guests present

4. Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) - Bill
    • Introduction of guests
    • Explanation of program

5. Imagine Mesa Presentation – Patrick Murphy

6. Metrics and Data of Economic Development Projects – Jaye O’Donnell and JD Beatty

7. Director’s Update
       
8. Other Business

• Next EDAB Meeting-September 5th or 12th 
9

Re: That Little Group REPORT MESA CORRUPTION

Here they go again! 
Your MesaZona has no idea - and is not even curious about - who's in this group. With that being said from the get-go, nearly nothing they post on Facebook appears to get any traction yet they keep pitching wildcard scenarios that are less than credible until they can score some starting-points that go beyond unsubstantiated hearsay and rumors.
Some free advice: do your homework and get information before you go online
This is the little group's most recent post from about 23 hours ago on Facebook: What are they even saying???
Just asking more questions when they can find answers

"Ok, I need some more information. The City of Mesa, as lead by Lying John Giles has ok'd and authorized the payment of an outside attorney (Giles' close friend and rotary buddy, Chas Wirken of Gust Rosenfeld) to "prosecute" Winkle as accuser, judge and jury that is not a legal court case? How was this attorney procured?

According to the city charter something must be voted on by city council if it is an expenditure over $25,000 and an RFP must be issued. According to azcentral, in May and July alone Chas Wirken has rung up $36,000. That is about 91 hours of work. What are they so diligently documenting? Can most of this information be obtained for free since it is public information?

The case is well documented on the news, by body cam and by police report. When the mayor decided to put this on the agenda and the council voted to start disciplinary proceedings, was this the yes vote for Wirken and Co to start draining tax payer funds from the city? Is there a limit or cap to the spending on this investigation? Does Winkle get to hire an outside attorney? I'm assuming Winkle will come out of his own pocket for his defense
Quit using our tax dollars for your political games Mayor and council! I know you and the others are reading this. Any one of you council-members, our so-called Mesa leaders, could at any time stop this misuse of public funds. Let the voters decide. If his district doesn't want Winkle they will recall him. We're looking at you Thompson and Luna. We all live in your districts and you can believe we are going to remember this and we will all put time and money into making sure people know your priorities of wasteful spending and denying rights to voters. We can barely get you guys to spend money on code enforcement and public amenities but you'll blow $60,000-$100,000 on a council personal matter? Wasn't it you Thompson that complained about spending $60,000 on childhood education? That's the rumor anyway. Get your Mayor in check! He's got you all blindly involved in his political games. 

SEE FOR YOURSELF

Report Mesa Corruption at City of Mesa, Arizona Government. 22 hrs ago 

Facebook Page Link https://www.facebook.com/ReportMesaCorruption/ 

Why does this city council want to spend tax payer money on this garbage?
 
 

Senator Jeff Flake: "It has driven our politics apart." | Jul 31, 2017

Making the rounds to peddle his new book that he wrote "in secret" . . . looks like he had a lot of screen-coaching and practice ahead of time to get his public script down pat

. . . does this guy with the pasted-on smile - have a clue what a conservative Republican is??? [other than the fact not mentioned in this Charlie Rose show that he and Mike Pence ran conservative THINK TANKS
Flake is now saying that politicians can choose via software and computer mapping their voters - their base - instead of the other way around? Flake is up for a contest to get elected and not winning too many points on his brain-power
Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said under the leadership of President Donald Trump the Republican Party had “lost its way” and argued the party needed “to go back to traditional conservatism.”
Flake said, “I think similarly today the party’s lost its way. We’ve given in to nativism and protectionism, and I think that if we’re going to be a governing party in the future a majority party, we’ve got to go back to traditional conservatism, limited government, economic freedom, individual responsibility, respect for free trade. Those are the principles that made us who we are.”
He continued, “If you look at the politics of today, the tape from last week at the White House and the language that was used, we’ve seen unfortunately too many examples of members of Congress and other elected officials using language referring to your opponents in ways that you would have never done before, ascribing the worst motives to your opponents and assuming that other Americans are the enemy, and that is just not the way it used to be. I don’t think it can be that way in the future.”
He added, “Now we’ve, I think, taken up a banner that is not familiar to us. Its one of intense nationalism, nativism and sometimes xenophobia.”

Published on Jul 31, 2017

Views: 394

Senator Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) on how redistricting has destroyed bipartisanship