This one, according to a report about eminent domain abuse published in 2006 by The Castle Coalition brings us back to a time when Mesa Mayor John Giles held a seat on the City Council for a couple of years, then leaving public office to 'get a calling' to return in 2014. He's back now as the cheerleader for downtown development for his pack of closely-connected
cohorts wanting to capitalize in the own private wealth creation schemes in rampant real estate speculation on the backs of millions more debt for public taxpayers.
This Wrecking-Ball Wreck reveals - and we need a reminder of this now - when the dubious deal made by city officials at that time with investors when down, $6,000,000 had been sunk into demolishing 63 homes.
There's one apartment complex left on the eastside on Mesa Drive (and a city well)
Blogger Note: Site 17 was once a vibrant part of downtown Mesa's Rendezvous Park.
The once-blighted and segregated [yes, the city of Mesa does have a history of Black and Mexican segregation] neighborhood north of University Drive has been regenerated with a nationally-acclaimed innovative affordable housing initiative by Gorman Construction Co.
Other innovative equitable in-fill new construction downtown includes Encore On First, Rancho Del Arte + Phase 2 El Rancho Del Sol, Encore West and Mesa ArtSpace Lofts.
_________________________________________________________________________
Inserted here is the entire Castle Coalition report with the references from 12 years ago:
Redevelopment Wrecks: Mesa, Arizona
"City officials are still debating what to do with 30 acres of land that sit vacant thanks to a failed redevelopment project that began in 1992.[1] Known to the City as “Redevelopment Site 17,” the tract once contained 63 homes that the City condemned and purchased at a cost of $6 million. A group of Canadian developers planned to build Mesa Verde, an entertainment village featuring a time-share resort, water park and ice-skating rink.
[1] Hunter Interests Reports, “Analysis and Recommendations for Development of Sites Pursuant to the Town Center Action Plan,” Hunter Interests Inc., Sept. 12, 2002.
[2] Paul Green, “Eminent Domain: Mesa Flexes a Tyrannous Muscle,” East Valley Tribune, Sept. 2, 2001; Robert Robb, “Count on City-Driven Project to Fail,” The Arizona Republic, Sept. 21, 2001.
[3] Patrick Murphy (Town Center Development Specialist, City of Mesa, Town Center Development Office), Telephone Interview with Justin Gelfand, Institute for Justice, May 22, 2006.__________________________________________________________________________________
Yesterday August 14, 2018 marked 3-years for the Extension of Valley Metro Light Rail service into the Central Business District . . . Mebbe someone might want to ask Terry Benelli, President LISC Phoenix, if this is the kind of Smart Growth she ever imagined or envisioned along the line of the light rail corridor.
Transit Means Smart Growth, Terry Benelli
On a sunny March afternoon in downtown Mesa, a rooster’s call is louder than a light-rail train’s toots, a retiree tends a plot of an urban garden wrapped in local artists’ murals, and a party of four repeat customers talks shop during a meal at a restaurant with Mesa roots […]
__________________________________________________________________________________12 years later, let's get back on-track and almost up-to-date with this story from July 2016:
Reinventing downtown Mesa: ASU students develop visions for the city core
Photo Credit: A Priceless image from Ivan Martinez @ State-Of-The-City Speech 2016. Giles needed ideas
_________________________________________________________________________
Mesa Taxpayers REJECTED 'the vision' of Jivin' Johnnie when they found out about under-handed deals and a privately-funded $500,000++ public relations disaster that operated out of the mayor's private law practice office on 2nd Street. It turned out to be "a major Screw-Up."
Except for the fact that voters are better informed > Read on
YOU CAN ALWAYS EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT-TO-VOTE
AND VOTE NO
for the Six Questions in the November 2018 General Election
_________________________________________________________________________
> LOOKING FOR MILLENIALS TO RE-INVENT DOWNTOWN:
Readers of this blog might notice that the City of Mesa has used both instructors and students at ASU to pave the way for the current schemes to locate and build a branch of ASU - one building at a cost $100 million dollars to be financed by hikes in city-wide utilities consumption fees/charges and increases in sales/use taxes at the same time under-utilized city-owned buildings with the same square-footage were not re-adapted or re-habilitated. In 2012 the city invited five other colleges or universities to locate here, prematurely calling Mesa "a college town" even before it got the full "Make-Believe" this is happening.
Once again, there's the full-time Director of Downtown Transformation Jeff McVay who was still desperately seeking a vision: ". . . At the start of the semester, the students met with Mesa planning director John Wesley and Jeff McVay, manager of Downtown Transformation. McVay posed the question, “How can we bring people to downtown Mesa — especially Millennials like you?”
Guided by course instructor Lauren Allsopp, the students got to work. . . " On April 27, the students presented their ideas to City of Mesa officials and personnel — a group that included the mayor, vice mayor, several council members, and key players in economic development as well as the city’s planning offices . . .
Mayor Giles responded with enthusiasm, . . It was great to get the students’ perspectives on how we can move downtown Mesa to the next level.”
_____________________________________________________________ > LOOKING FOR MILLIONAIRE$ TO MONOPOLIZE DOWNTOWN MESA IN A MASSIVE ORMON MAKE-OVER FOR THEIR OWN PRIVATE WEALTH CREATION:
$100 million handout to ASU by Mesa Mayor on middle class is just wrong
"There’s a ton of misinformation going around regarding the new downtown ASU project that I wanted to take the time to address. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on this issue but not to their own facts. . . "
_____
It was and is an EYE-OPENER for your MesaZona blogger to see a buzzing swarming hive created by what appears to be a home-grown generations-old culture of corruption that's as close to a Monopoly as you can get when almost everyone gets Pay-Off in one way or another.
Some of that can be 'legal-within-the-law' but can be unacceptable behavior in public office.
Outside of the bubble we live in, some cities have succeeded in kicking-out bad actors and busting up monopolies who control almost everything: Politics and government, Police & Fire Departments, Finance, Insurance and Real Estate and related industries like law firms and construction companies.
________________________________________________
Here's some information that's not "under-the-radar" any more after District 2 Mesa City Council representative asked himself some obvious questions:
Should the individuals and organizations whose issues are being voted on by a governing body also be lining the pockets of the politicians who sit on that governing body?
Is that how our democracy was intended to run, whoever has money buys the candidates then the candidates vote in support of their issues?
Or even worse should candidates be asking for political donations when individuals or organizations try to get an issue passed through their governing body? is this what our own democracy has come to?
Is this what we want to continue to have it look like?To read more >> click here
