Send In The Clowns > 17 Days Until Early Voting Starts Here In Mesa

Like they say Politics is a Fool's Game where some people can get fooled some of the time, and some times with unintended results.
Take for instance in the Primary Election where Jennifer Duff might want to send a Thank-You note to one of her challengers Robert Scantlebury, shown in the opening image, for siphoning off some votes gained on his Public Safety campaign platform away from Jake Brown that might have gotten Brown a no-contest victory just above 50% to gain a seat on the Mesa City Council occupied by his 2nd-cousin Chris Glover. It will be a close call for District 4in  the Nov 6 General Election, with early votes starting October 10.
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There's no election for mayor this year but there's a carry-over piece of baggage left over from the General Election two years ago: ASU in downtown or not
Is Mesa Mayor John Giles still as goofy as he looked two years ago when he asks
"Why would we ask again when the voters said, no I’m not interested in raising my sales tax?" 
WHY WOULD THEY ASK AGAIN?

This time around they're betting on playing all residents for fools to finance the private-wealth creation for conservative Mesa Mormon Republican millionaires forming limited-liability corporations and  investing in wait-and-see holding companies that gamble in rampant real estate speculation here in Downtown.

They have supposedly thrown $20M into the honey-pot to wait-and-see if voters agree to $200M in more debt service.
In other words, they want to leverage 10% into a pay-off for their own profits.      

Hey! They've had two years to 'set-the-stage', scrub-the-numbers, do behind-the-scenes deals, fake-the-studies and projections [all done by ASU), and clean-up-their-act for another chance to hit up all Mesa residents to finance their ill-begotten ASU schemes with a new Grab-Bag of Goodies in smaller doses.
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Here's some pieces of the puzzle and a  story (Lily Altavena May 15 2018 click here) 

The taxpayer cost to build a proposed Arizona State University development in downtown Mesa is estimated to start at $70 million. That is about $100 million less than a similar proposal Mesa voters shot down in 2016, according to the city. 

The deal is not expected to go to voters this time. BUT IT IS in six different neatly-packaged Ballot Questions . 

 

That's because city leaders would identify other revenue to pay for the project instead of the sales-tax hike voters rejected. 

City Manager Christopher Brady told council members May 10 that while the city is only committing to one, $70 million phase of development, he envisions eventually committing to the full 2016 proposal.

It's unclear how costs would stack up. . .

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Council debate has been fierce over whether the university should come downtown at all.Council members also clashed over where money would come from to pay for an ASU development. Brady said the money is slated to come from the enterprise fund, which is funded mostly by utility revenues, but that council can decide annually where to take money to pay for the construction debt. 

The mayor and other council members said the investment would bring increased economic activity, including big-name developments that hinge on the university's presence.  

"It would just be later on than what we originally anticipated,"

Brady said. 

Jeff McVay, Mesa's manager for downtown transformation, said that ASU programming planned for the building has driven its design. 

The university plans to grow its film and media programs in Mesa and might create a new major focused on experience design, which focuses on how consumers interact with a product through technology. 

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Reality Check: City of Mesa Update on Efforts To Reduce Homelessness

Sure is nice to see a presentation made by Mesa Police Detective Aaron Rain about efforts, but here's data to the left  from the Maricopa Association of Governments that clearly shows the results for the last four years.
Reality Check
Here's a YouTube upload of a recent Mesa City Council Study Session. You might be interested to hear and watch how effective your government is not: 149% INCREASE
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Please take a look at related content on the blog about the Point In Time homeless count  

Merry Main Street in Downtown Mesa

Here in the OZone

Uploaded on Sep 19, 2018

A winter wonderland of fun! The tree lighting on Nov. 23 kick's off a month long celebration!http://merrymainst.com/

Rogue Columnist Jon Talton: A Bit of Boosterism + A Smackdown For Sprawl

Happy to see another article posted online by Jon Talton three days ago. It starts up slow with taking on more 'Happy Talk' to encourage expansion here - 'No hurricanes in Arizona!' - that Talton rebuts quite fast in documented explanations about The Carolinas that have allowed unregulated development
". . . Which brings us to Arizona. Our fair state is now America's 14th most populous — the same size as Massachusetts or Washington, although it lacks their high-end assets (it does have abundant sunshine and championship golf). Phoenix is the nation's fifth-largest city, although it too lacks the assets of peer cities.

As in the Carolinas, no barriers stand in the way of development. Climate change simply is ignored. Serious assessments of water availability are either not done, are suppressed, or are gamed for fraudulent results. The immense population influx (the state held 1.3 million in 1960) and churn, along with the power of the Real Estate Industrial Complex enable the short hustle and short memories. . .
Meanwhile, amid all the "what to do about the diminishing Colorado River" (never an issue before the CAP), the most important step is never mentioned: Stop the sprawl. Indeed, roll it back.
But how do you stop people from moving here? Taxes. The funding needs are enormous, including education and rail transit to give people transportation options. And land-use boundaries.
Everything beyond the above is blather.

Arizona is ground zero for catastrophe. All the brightsiding and sales talk won't change it.
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READ MORE >> http://www.roguecolumnist.com/rogue_columnist/2018/09/no-hurricanes-in-arizona.html#more 

President Mushroom Dick

Published on Sep 22, 2018

Views: 76,179

Tickets to see Jonathan Pie: LIVE in the USA are available NOW from jonathanpie.com/live

After 9/11: The Staggering Economic and Human Cost of the War on Terror

SECRECY NEWS:Post-9/11 Costs of War Exceed $1.5 Trillion

Posted on Aug.29, 2018 in budget, Dept of Defense by Steven Aftergood

“Since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense (DoD) has obligated $1,500.8 billion for war-related costs.”

That’s the headline from the latest report to Congress on the post-9/11 costs of war, according to the Pentagon’s own reckoning. (Thanks again to Steven Aftergood)

See Cost of War Update as of March 31, 2018 (FY 2018, Quarter 2).

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PLEASE NOTE: Independent estimates of military spending that use a broader definition of the term yield a considerably higher total.

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The new DoD report provides a detailed retrospective account of post-9/11 military spending, broken down by theater (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria), by fiscal year, and by military service. A copy was obtained by Secrecy News.

The fraction of war-related funds that were appropriated to DoD in the post-9/11 period for classified purposes totaled $88 billion, the report said.

The 76-page DoD report itself exemplifies a certain financial profligacy, with a price tag that is orders of magnitude higher than one might have supposed. “The cost to the Department of Defense to prepare and assemble this report is approximately $209,000 for FY 2018,” the document states.

https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2018/08/dod-costs-of-war/

More Spoon-Fed Crap Masquerading As "News": Let's Give That MORE VISIBILITY!

GAG ME AGAIN! Yuk! Classic Robin Hood Scheme: Rob from The Poor and Give $892,000 to The Rich! Fark that!
According to what Vic Linoff said in this piece of Spoon-Fed news written by ever-reliable EV Tribune staff writer Jim Walsh, "outgoing legislator Bob Worsley is interested in restoring the buildings he owns in the area to their original appearance and adding neon signs and other traditional touches that would set Mesa’s downtown apart from others."

Here's some "neon" reality, guys!

Let's Get Real: Behind-the-façade of this so-called Façade Improvement Project lurks rampant downtown real estate speculation by some conservative Republican Mesa Mormon Republican Millionaires like AZ State Senator Bob Worsley who admitted publicly back in February in 2018 that he's gambling in brokering real estate deals while holding public office for what he says is  $20M - his own money or not? _____________Is it just a coincidence that the same 10 buildings purchased by that private wealth-creation group are the same ten privately-owned properties that will profit from almost $900,000 in public money?
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Here's some more gag-worthy comments from Jeff Robbins, a management assistant who works closely with McVay on downtown projects : "The project’s intent is to capitalize on downtown’s unique assets, which have been obscured and minimized in the past", he said. TO CAPITALIZE FOR WHOM?
“If it all comes to fruition, this will be one of the most attractive business districts in the Valley,’’ Linoff said.

Part of Mesa's hated colonnade to come tumbling down

By Jim Walsh Tribune Staff Writer Sep 20, 2018 Updated 15 hrs ago

VERBATIM: Mesa’s much-maligned downtown colonnade — a lumbering shade structure installed by the city in the 1980s in front of most Main Street businesses — will be torn down this fall to encourage redevelopment. . . Jeff McVay, the city’s manager of downtown transformation, said the project is needed to create more visibility for downtown storefronts, helping businesses attract more customers and helping landlords attract more businesses, particularly restaurants. . .   Mesa hopes it will attract a significant number of new businesses and new jobs while injecting more vitality into the area, McVay said. 

READ IT ALL FOR YOURSELF > http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/part-of-mesa-s-hated-colonnade-to-come-tumbling-down.html

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He said the project is a perfect fit with Mesa’s creation of a new downtown campus for Arizona State University in a building planned near ASU.
“Visually, it will have a great impact,’’ McVay said. “This will help landlords land new restaurants.’’

 

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Here's AZ State Senator Bob Worsley and Mesa Mayor John Giles with two of the principals from Caliber Wealth Fund and Worsley's  business partner in Habitat Metro W. Tim Sprague, who took ten years to finish a small hotel Found Re: in an already existing in Phoenix.  

Together they have plans for a $130,000,000 luxury 15-story hotel complex and another multi-million dollar Habitat Metro project - both on city-owned parking lots next to Main Street. 

 

 

Hat's off to EV Tribune Staff writer Jim Walsh - Mesa City officials and real estate developers really like what you write