Pie Gets A Good-Go at Everything In The News It's snowing!

Bitter cold and potty-mouthed

Published on Mar 3, 2018

Views: 95,902

Pie wishes he was in Australia.

Arizona = #39 BEST STATES 2018

Arizona #39 . . . Anyone else Freaking-Out about this??? This post is getting uploaded to help you, dear readers, stay informed and get some reliable data and information when all the hype and spoon-fed news here in The Great State of Arizona and in every city or town you live in - and where you pay taxes - tries to tell you otherwise. BE LESS STUPID - ask questions if the people paid  to deliver positive outcomes for you the citizens are failing miserably year-after-year.

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Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. The data was provided by McKinsey & Company’s Leading States Index - it measures outcomes for citizens using more than 75 metrics.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states 

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Are you satisfied with your incomes and quality of life? Healthcare? Education? Opportunities?

Here a sampling of the ratings for Arizona by McKinsey for USA Today:

Details: Go here > https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/arizona

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Quick Stats:

37% college educated, $305,849 Million GDP, Median Income: $27,153
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The Best States ranking of U.S. states draws on thousands of data points to measure how well states are performing for their citizens. In addition to health care and education, the metrics take into account a state’s economy, the opportunity and quality of life it offers people, its roads, bridges, internet and other infrastructure, its public safety and the fiscal stability of state government.

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/

More weight was accorded to some state measures than others, based on a survey of what matters most to people. Health care and education were weighted most heavily. Then came state economies, the opportunity states offer their citizens and infrastructure. Crime & corrections followed closely in weighting, followed by measures of government fiscal stability and people's quality of life. This explains why Iowa, ranking No. 1 in infrastructure and No. 3 in health care, occupies the overall No. 1 spot in the Best States rankings. And it explains why Minnesota, ranking No. 2 in quality of life and No. 3 in opportunity for its citizens, ranks No. 2 overall in the Best States rankings.

At a time when the federal government is attempting to hand more responsibility for spending and policymaking to the states, these rankings offer the first comprehensive view, state by state, of how some states already are performing best. This highly interactive platform enables users to explore thousands of important benchmarks and easily draw state-to-state comparisons. Build a chart. Share it. And ultimately learn what all the states can learn from one another. The site also delivers a freshly updated menu of reporting and analysis on state trends and developments, making it a must-read source for anyone interested in what’s happening nationally.

The data driving these rankings were drawn from extensive and reliable governmental and private sources as well as proprietary data including a national survey of what matters most to citizens around the country. Among the eight main categories measured in the Best States rankings, more than five dozen subcategories of metrics are taken into account.

What follows is a deep dive into all 50 states. Let the Data Explorer lead your way.

How Does Arizona Compare?                 

See Full Arizona Profile » https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/arizona

Rich Mesa Mega-Millionaire AZ State Senator Wants to Freeze The Minimum Wage Hike + Increase Gas Taxes?

The Great State of Arizona has been Ground-Zero for "old-fashioned political-games" far too long when those in public office get caught using the faith in the integrity of the public trust to enrich themselves privately: Charles Keating, The Keating Five and the Savings-and-Loan Crisis stands out, as well as some Mesa office-holders like Governor Meacham forced to resign and Russell Pearce who faced a re-call election for other than double-dipping. For some reason Arizona politicians get it their way for awhile with one-hand in the public-front and another behind-the-back.

The public is kept in the dark until politicians and legislators get caught, by hook or by crook.

Worsley's squeaky-clean, conservative and religious public image took a drubbing just days ago in this State House scandal: Who's ex-boyfriend is whose?

Worsley, Business Partner Behind Alleged Revenge Porn In Montenegro Texting Case

 

Arizona State Senator Bob Worsley texted Holford the night of January 31, 2018: “We would love to talk to you. Can you make this work?”

By: Loretta Hunnicutt February 23, 2018

"A press conference held by attorney Tom Ryan, regarding CD8 candidate Steve Montenegro and his relationship with a former Arizona Senate staffer has left reporters with more questions than answers. . . "
READ MORE > click here

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It's fair game to look  into the private fortunes of publicly-elected officials if they use their influence while holding public office for their own personal enrichment or for their friends. Exchanges of money for influence or so-called "pay-to-play" does not need to be made hand-to-hand nor in cash. There are others ways and means: originating or support funding for "pet projects", patronage jobs for friends-and-family with benefits, appointments or getting hired to salaried positions in government, public institutions and industries, job contract awards, and contributions to political action committees or election campaigns, just to name a few that provide support to a lawmaker or holder of public office. 

Following the paper trail of corporate formations, registration and business associations can be a daunting task to say the least
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Heads up everyone who lives and votes here in Mesa: If State Senator LD25 Bob Worsley's actions taken in the Arizona State House during this session are any clue whatsoever to worst case scenarios on workforce development [good jobs] his recent votes to freeze and limit minimum-wage increases for both lower-income and middle-income wage earners - and to increase gas taxes - could give you a clue that he robs from the poor and gives to the rich.

In public office Worsley is Chairman of the Transportation Committee, and a Member of the Judiciary and the Commerce & Workforce Development committees. True that he brings both entrepreneurial successes and friends-and-family business connections with him to the Senate: after acquiring a BA in Accounting at BYU in 1980, he began his career as a CPA with Price Waterhouse, became an audit manager before he left to start ExecuShare with former Mayor Scott Smith of Mesa (now the CEO/President of Valley Metro). Lightrail service through the Central Business Extension started in August 2015 laying the tracks for increases in property values along the line of the Main Street corridor. 


8 properties in the real estate acquisition

It's reported in this AZ Legislature Profile that Worsley has long had plans as a private real estate developer to somehow launch a world-class "Lincoln Center West" in Mesa, a concert hall, that didn't get too far off-the-ground on the old 10-acre Brown & Brown Chevrolet site demolished by the city in June 2018, while making moves to corner the commercial real estate market on Main Street here in downtown Mesa during the last two years in a one-time package to property owners with a  low-ball offer-to-purchase storefronts mostly on Main Street -100,000 square-feet - at fixed-prices totaling about $8M.  

In June of last year State Senator Bob Worsley partnered with his legislative campaign consultant Kent Lyons and Habitat Metro in this private $130,000,000 blockbuster proposal for a towering 15-story 75-room luxury hotel and 75-apartments "above market-rate" apartments atop less than a 1-acre parking lot on Drew Street.
A memorandum of understanding was reached with the City of Mesa in June and a Development Agreement was inked, signed, sealed and delivered in November 2017.
The proposed tower height is way out of proportion and way out of balance with 1-or-2-story buildings in the historic district.

At a Mesa City Council meeting this week he came out as a real estate wheeler-and-dealer/developer who has shown his cards running-the-table changing hands in various LLCs and holding companies to make sales transactions in private real estate holdings speculation gambling with "a bet" of $20,000,000 after he got inside information from John Giles that he had the votes in his council in favor of an IGA with ASU's Board of Regents for "educational facilities" here in downtown Mesa with an expiration date in December 2018 after the November General Election. Worsley's $20M gamble to acquire what might be a fortune in real estate works if  and only if,  the city council approved the ASU IGA  [it did 5-2] and his friend mayor John Giles and their close cohorts in the Old Boys' crony political machine can somehow convince Mesa voters to approve a $75,000,000 tax increase in a ballot proposition in the 2018 General Election to finance their schemes.
More than 80,000 voters REJECTED any tax increases for an ASU "satellite campus" downtown - SAYING NO to that Yes1Mesa public relations fiasco in 2016.
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RELATED CONTENT:

Arizona Lawmakers Pass Gas Tax Decision To Counties

By  Holliday Moore, Howard Fischer   

Published: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 - 9:20am

Updated: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 - 9:29am

Carefully not wanting to get scarred politically or take the heat for raising taxes, “The gas tax needs to be addressed at some point,” Worsley tried to convince his colleagues.
But, without support for a gas tax hike by fellow Republicans or the governor, he has conceded this year to leave that decision at the local level.
“This means we're not raising taxes here," Worsley said. "But we let the counties do it if they feel like they need to."
Source: KJZZ A Higher Gas Tax Won’t Fix America’s Highways

With greater fuel efficiency and electric cars, another source of revenue is needed.

By Mark Niquette @mniquetteMore stories by Mark Niquette 

‎March‎ ‎2‎, ‎2018‎ ‎5‎:‎00‎ ‎AM Corrected ‎March‎ ‎2‎, ‎2018‎ ‎6‎:‎51‎ ‎AM

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says raising the gas tax, which hasn’t increased in 25 years, is the simplest and fairest way to generate money for roads and bridges. But key Republicans, including John Barrasso of Wyoming, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, are opposed. And so are billionaires Charles and David Koch, whose fortune comes from oil and who spend heavily to influence government policy. Opponents say the tax is regressive, putting a bigger burden on lower- and middle-income families. . . raising any taxes is simply off-limits for many Republican lawmakers. .
Source: Bloomberg News

Did Mayor John Giles Find His "Think Spot" Today Preaching to The Choir?

This post is in three different segments:
> one alternative POV from your MesaZona blogger
> one official media event staged by MesaNow
> one 01:38 Mesa Channel 11 Streaming video
If you don't know what that is, dear readers, it is the City of Mesa's Newsroom.  
The occasion at 10 o'clock this morning was the opening of the $350,000 3-months-late and half-finished THINK SPOT at the Mesa Main Public Library located at 64 E First Street here in downtown Mesa, filmed on-the-spot by Mesa Channel 11.
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First here's the edited video from the event starting at 10:00 am that lasted about 45 minutes.... amazing that it took five days to get uploaded to YouTube
Mesa 11's streaming videos can be found >

Published on Mar 6, 2018

Views: 30

Part of the innovation district, THINKspot at Main Library is now open.
To learn more: www.MesaLibrary.org/THINKspot

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Months before the over-hyped buzz words "Innovation District" entered into the vocabulary of city officials to be the public-relations-mantra for the latest "Make-Over" and Transformation of downtown Mesa as "The Rise of Mesa's Innovation District", CBDG federal funds and money from The Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community became available for another maker-space following the proven success of shared-workspace Heat Sync Labs over the past four years right here on Main Street.
Nonetheless, Mayor John Giles, the last speaker on the program, took to the podium to preach to the peanut gallery filled with a faithful congregation of City Hall employees appearing in supporting roles, while Mesa Channel 11 producer Lily King-Cisneros and the film crew worked behind-the-scenes to bring the news to you - the public and residents of Mesa whose tax dollars finance how "the news" gets programmed for broadcast consumption.

Giles took advantage of his time-in-the-spotlight to launch into more value-added "talking-points" heavy-handed public relations campaign promoting Pie-In-The-Sky proposals for ASU he can't figure out how to pay for, at one time pointing out that D1 Councilmember Mark Freeman after walking around downtown said that he could estimate over $500M invested downtown already 
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Here's the media release today from the City of Mesa Newsroom

THINKspot opens at Mesa Main Library, key component of Downtown Innovation District

March 1, 2018 at 10:56 am

"THINKspot, a high-tech makerspace, is now open at the Mesa Main Library, 64 E. First St., in the City's emerging Downtown Innovation District. THINKspot offers residents, entrepreneurs, educators and students tools to work on individual projects or collaboratively share their ideas. . . "

Reality Check from images captured at Today's opening:
How many "tools" and resources do you see?

 All the speakers read from prepared scripts provided with the favorite most-frequently-used phrase in nearly every single one of the city newsroom's media releases:

"I am excited"

"THINKspot at the Mesa Main Library adds a perfect element to our growing Downtown Innovation District," Mayor John Giles said. "The resources available at THINKspot can help bring any idea to life and give students, tinkerers and businesses the ability to create without having to invest in expensive equipment."

THINKspot has more than 2,900 square feet of space. It includes two 3-D printers; a wood carving machine; a vinyl cutter; two state-of-the-art sewing machines and a photo/video studio that includes a green screen, a Canon digital camera and an iMac with video and audio editing software installed.

Blogger Note: About 1,450 square feet or half of the space for the Teen Think Spot were dark with doors closed and and lights-off for this opening.
That space is to the left side in this rear-view image of the mostly city employees called to the Mesa Main Public Library in supporting roles for this morning's festivities.   
The image below is just minutes before the start

"I could not be more excited" that THINKspot has come to the Main Library," Councilmember Chris Glover said.
"This will truly be a point of pride for our residents here in Downtown. It is high-tech, state-of-the-art and a really fun and innovative addition to our area. I know the impact it has had at Red Mountain and I expect nothing less here at the Main Library."
THINKspot will offer free online and hands-on training for all the equipment, which will be available for anyone 12 years and older to use.
For a listing of trainings and programs offered, visit www.mesalibrary.org/THINKspot.
"THINKspot is a great way to cultivate innovation in our community by providing the resources to make dreams become reality. Since 2013, THINKspot at Red Mountain Library has been a national model of how libraries can transform communities and we know THINKspot at Main will do the same,"
- Mesa Public Library Director Heather Wolf
Funding for construction of THINKspot at the Main Library was from the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and federal Community Development Block Grant funds. Money raised from the sale of used books will be used to furnish and equip the room.
Public Information and Communications
Contact: Kevin Christopher
Tel. 480-644-4699kevin.christopher@mesaaz.gov
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Source:
http://mesanow.org/news/public/article/2058

Be A Localist

Wealth Inequality and The Fallacies of Impact Investing

"If we’re truly motivated to deconstruct the wealth inequalities that have ravaged and extracted wealth from rural, indigenous, and majority people of color communities, then we must rid ourselves of the power dynamics, biases, and culture that got us here in the first place. . . "

. . . 2015, Ford Foundation president Darren Walker penned a powerful essay arguing that formal philanthropy achieve not only generosity, but justice, calling for a new charter of philanthropy, a 21st century “Gospel of Wealth” that would accomplish what Andrew Carnegie’s proselytizing could not: address the root causes that perpetuate human suffering, wrestling not just with what is happening in the world, but also with how and why.

READ MORE > https://medium.com/balle/wealth-inequality-and-the-fallacies-of-impact-investing-eea902924309

 

No | Comment

More Spoon-Fed Make-Believe News From Mesa Mayor John Giles

QUESTION: Why can't the City of Mesa do it's "homework" before trying to pull off another goofy stunt spear-headed by the brilliant mind of Mayor John Giles and his close cohorts?

Another half-baked Pie-In-The-Sky Scheme & Fantasy from the FOG (Friends of Giles) for a murky vision of that not-so-virtuous reality that failed 2 years ago in 2016 when over 80,000 voters JUST SAID NO two years ago in the Proposition called Yes1Mesa. 

Here's the headline in the next stage of sell-it-to-the-public featured the day following a controversial Mesa City Council on KJZZ, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting in Salt Lake City:

Mesa Moves Closer To Developing New ASU Building -

. . . or is it  "close but NO cigar"???

By  Austin Westfall   

Published: Tuesday, February 27, 2018 - 5:00pm

Updated: Tuesday, February 27, 2018 - 5:07pm

"Mesa voters rejected a proposal in 2016 that would have brought a branch of ASU to downtown Mesa. Voters did not want the tax increase needed to pay for the project, but now another proposal is in the works. . .

Or so they thought trying to hoodwink the public one Mo' time when they can't do their "homework" to crunch the numbers of a life cycle cost-benefit analysis ahead of time.?

The spoon-fed report goes on in what was  a not unanimous vote of 5-2 in a controversial meeting on Monday February 26, 2018, the City Council approved the first steps Monday in building an ASU development in downtown Mesa.

The plan, which would not increase taxes ??????? for Mesa residents, would include a new building to house programs like film, gaming and virtual reality.

GAMING? Well then, let's play on and get down to the Real Nitty-Gritty:

Who's gonna pay for this?

 

Austin Westfall's make-believe news report goes on, after your MesaZona blogger injects

QUESTION: Is this half-assed and stupid or what?

"The council’s approval means officials can now look into financing. Mesa Mayor John Giles voted to advance the proposal. . . "

"Do we want to engage in that investigation and engage in that due diligence to possibly take advantage of this opportunity?

I think saying no before we do that homework is not the best route for us to go," Giles said.

Blogger Note: The mayor uses the word "engage" twice.

Giles has publicly admitted on numerous occasions that one of his weaknesses in office is his failure to engage the public.

Who's the "we" he's referencing?

That “homework” will involve figuring out what the project will cost and how it will be paid for.

Mesa officials and ASU will now produce a budget and lease agreement that will require council approval.

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Link to the audio > KJZZ.org