One Picture Says It All

PRESS RELEASE: Maricopa County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                             November 10, 2018

Maricopa County updated results at 5 p.m. About 198,000 ballots left to process
PHOENIX—The Maricopa County Elections Department updated results today at 5 p.m., and has approximately 198,000 ballots left to process for the 2018 General Election. Election Officials estimate about 195,000 of these are early ballots, provisional and out-of-precinct ballots that voters cast or dropped off on Election Day.
Additionally, about 3,000 early ballots that the Elections Department received before Nov. 6 must be tabulated.
Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes expects tabulation to continue for several days. Officials will update the results daily at 5 p.m. 
Election results for Maricopa County are available at www.Maricopa.Vote. Precinct-level data is available here: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/electionresults/.

Honoring "One of Our Own" ?? What Does John Giles Mean By That Phrase?

It's just a reminder from our Honorable Mayor John Giles about who rules here in Mesa: The Latter-Day Saints.
In their short-sighted version of history, "They" arrived here in the Mid-1850's on a mission sent from Salt Lake City,Utah to expand what they think is their corner of The Kingdom Deseret - The New Zion - by claiming rights-to-lands and waters in The Salt River Valley (Rio Salado) flowing in pre-existing canals in what was to become The Arizona Territory. 
With a population of 350 lost souls living among thousands of First Peoples, they staked their claims to the original One-Square Mile, right among more than thousands of First People who have lived on the lands for centuries and generations before they got here.

Chief Executive Officer
and Mesa City Manger Chris Brady

With that said, who did the mayor take the time to honor at a recent Mesa City Council Meeting as "one of our own"?
Is he an elected city councilmember? No
Is he a hired employee inside City Hall? Yes
Was he educated at Brigham Young University? Yes
What was the honor bestowed on him?
(It's from BYU honoring 'one of their own', but they don't tell you that detail - you'll have to watch the uploaded YouTube streaming vid inserted below . . . it was a painting by a former teacher in Public Admin)
Blogger Note: Like so many of those elected here in Mesa and those getting hired and receiving taxpayer-funded salaries and so many others - including the mayor, the city attorney, and the city manager - they are all alumni of Brigham Young University. Many have served as Bishops and Presidents in LDS Stakes in a network of closely connected friends-and-families.
They effectively monopolize and control Government/Politics, Finance, Insurance and Real Estate here in the City of Mesa. THEY OWN THE CITY OF MESA: Lock, Stock + Barrel
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For your MesaZona blogger it's a Barrel-of-Fun!
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Mesa City Council Meeting Mon 05 Nov 2018

First of all notice all the empty seats. An invocation and a trio of Boy Scouts for the Pledge Allegiance. Followed right away by Mesa Mayor John Giles saying he is excited to honor "one of our own" - City Manager Chris Brady. What honor was it? Has anyone even heard of - or know about - some of these not-so-prestigious awards given to Chris Brady??

A dire need to bolster his reputation . . . no press release from the City of Mesa Newsroom

Watch it right here in the first few minutes: it's been especially staged for your viewing:

 

 

Urban Fantasy/High Fantasy/Fantasy Fiction: The Political Consequences of Technology & The Power of Imagination

Did I lose you with that headline? Nah. I hope not - just chill for a couple of minutes: it's about a book and a new word "scriving".
"In a city that runs on industrialized magic, a secret war will be fought to overwrite reality itself--the first in a dazzling new fantasy series from "City of Stairs" author Robert Jackson Bennett.

Robert  Jackson Bennett Uses Magic To Make Sense
Of How Technology Shapes Our Lives

from an interview with the author of Foundryside

"In Robert Jackson Bennett's critically-acclaimed new novel, Foundryside, a scrappy thief-cum-spy explores a world where items can be "scrived" to think for themselves and bend natural laws. The role scriving plays in this alternate reality is powerfully analogous to how software defines so many aspects of our own lives, and the four merchant houses that dominate Bennett's fictional society map closely to the tech monopolies that are accruing more and more power every day in the real world.
In the following interview, we discuss the political consequences of technology and the power of imagination.

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How does scriving extrapolate the social implications of the internet?

"The superficial comparisons to software and technology are fairly obvious in the story: magic functions as instructions, which must be carefully written by some very educated people in order to achieve amazing results — only instead of using pattern recognition to identify hidden, unrealized value in large datasets, the programmers in this world smash things together and blow stuff up. So, a bit more dramatic.

Things are a bit more interesting when you start to consider how using this technology allows people to reshape reality, both directly and indirectly.
This method grants certain kinds of people a great deal of power, which allows them to dictate how the world works — much like how the political and economic schemes of our world are increasingly viewed through the lens of the internet, in the world of Foundryside, everything is shaped by scriving. They cannot imagine living without it, and they can't imagine not using it to get what they want. It's just too easy to colonize and conquer."

Foundryside is a story of revolution. What are the most misunderstood aspects of real world revolutions? If we want to empower ourselves to make a difference, what should we do and what should we pay attention to?

Revolution is examined much more closely in the sequel, but I would say that it's important to realize that a revolution is not a singular event, but a violent series of tug-of-war that has actions and reactions.

THE BIG DIG at The Downtown Mesa LDS Temple Continues + The City Wants To Seize Using Eminent Domain More Properties

Sorry, folks, but your MesaZona has more than just a few concerns about all the plans that for-profit investment affiliates of The Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter-Day Saints have for a Massive Mormon Makeover for the LDS Temple Area Transformation.
It's been controversial from the get-go when plans were 'revealed' back in May and June after we learned they had been working behind-the-scenes with city officials for years.
It got fast-tracked approvals zinging through normal process.

If demolitions of homes in the Temple Historic District weren't already enough to raise our eye-brows six months ago creating a series of public controversies going on for months in front of the Planning & Zoning Board and in front of the Mesa City Council,, we have even more reasons now to raise a little more ruckus about an item on the Tentative Agenda for next Monday, November 19th at 5:45 pm.

City of Mesa File #18-1312 . . . even more actions in behind-the-scenes negotiations with city staff:
Staff has successfully negotiated purchases on 90 parcels (67 property owners) and continues to negotiate with the remaining 38 parcels (25 property owners) but have not yet been able to acquire the property. 
In order to avoid construction delays, authorizing and directing staff that fee title, easements or other interests in and possession of certain property be acquired by the City of Mesa through eminent domain as a matter of public necessity. (District 4)
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File #:

18-1312

Type:

Resolution

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council

On agenda:

11/19/2018

Title:

Staff is requesting approval to continue negotiations to acquire certain property pertaining to a necessary street improvement project located along Mesa Drive, from 8th Avenue to Main Street, and along Broadway Road, from Wilbur to Lesueur.  Staff has successfully negotiated purchases on 90 parcels (67 property owners) and continues to negotiate with the remaining 38 parcels (25 property owners) but have not yet been able to acquire the property.  In order to avoid construction delays, authorizing and directing staff that fee title, easements or other interests in and possession of certain property be acquired by the City of Mesa through eminent domain as a matter of public necessity. (District 4)

Attachments:

1. Council Report, 2. Resolution, 3. Exhibit A - Parcel Map, 4. Parcel Spreadsheet

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THE NEXT REVEAL IN THE INTERSECTION OF FOR-PROFIT RELIGION AND POLITICS HERE IN MESA
Now that some of the crew has been working behind-the-scenes and some of the props are ready, it's time once again  to lift the curtain TO REVEAL SOMETHING.
The suspense has been building for the next act about to appear before your very eyes. And once again, whoever said that "Mesa is boring" was trying to take our eyes off just how exciting and thrilling the powers-that-be inside City Hall and the salaried talent working in city government can be if you really take a good look.

Today's drama is a just a Sneak-Peek Preview of actions scheduled on the 34-Item agenda for The Mesa City Council on November 19, 2018.
No financial details were ever made in May/June 2018 
Time is of the essence

Here's a mapping of the area that encompasses about 20 acres where for-profit investment affiliates of the Mesa Mormon LDS have stakes.
Indeed this was one of the first areas outside the original one-square mile boundaries of downtown where an increase in population of Latter-Day Saints in organized geographic areas they call stakes and wards demands expansion into another area.
These planned expansions then require extensive support and water/sewer/energy infrastructure, access roads and transportation connections. Fire/Medical and Police follow.
There was first a Kimball Addition and a Stapley Addition.
The area additionally benefited from water/sewer lines installed on First Avenue in a post-Depression era WPA project in 1938-1939 that created jobs here in Mesa.
Southside Hospital here in downtown was also another WPA project
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It's all about city officials using that shameless tool in the old Urban Planning-Tool-Box called EMINENT DOMAIN to seize and acquire title to private property rights.
It's what city officials and city staff want to use again - what they say ingenuously  "is a matter of public necessity".
Hard to believe city officials are trying to pull off this stunt again after the debacle and fiasco 10 years ago trying to seize Bailey's Brake Service by using Eminent Domain. That blew up big time when Mike Wallace exposed it nationwide on the Sunday Night Prime Time investigative reporting show Sixty Minutes.

Blogger Note:
There appears to be a kink in the plans of the For-Profit investment affiliates of The LDS Church to capitalize on a Massive Mormon Make-Over around The Temple Area Transformation in Downtown Mesa.  
You can use the Searchbox in the upper left-hand top corner of this site to see a number of posts during the last six months for more background and details for what was about four acres than has more than doubled in size at the same time that the temple structure is closed for renovations.
  
 

The Heartland?: The State of the Heartland: Factbook 2018

As defined here in a report, the Factbook  was developed through a partnership of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution and the Walton Family Foundation and was prepared to support the Walton Family Foundation’s inaugural “Heartland Summit.” Their version of "The Heartland"  consists of 19 mostly inland states sprawled across nearly 1.1 million square miles—roughly one-third of the U.S. landmass. 
Here's a link to the interactive site > http://factbook.theheartlandsummit.org/
The factbook adopts a modern, state-based definition of the Heartland (developed by the Walton Family Foundation) that begins with the classic Midwest and includes parts of the South, but excludes both the original 13 American colonies and the Intermountain West.
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Map the region

Visualize how Heartland states and metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural areas compare with one another across an array of indicators.

JobsJobs at young firmsGDPAverage wageProductivityStandard of livingPoverty rateMedian earningsEmployment rateShare of jobs in advanced industriesExport share of outputPopulationYoung adult populationBA attainment shareR&D spending share of gross productNumber of top 100 universities for tech transferHome valuesShare of population without high-speed broadband access

Most recent yearChange over time

StatesMetropolitan areasMicropolitan areasRural portion of states

Selected place

States

Heartland avg.

Non-Heartland avg.

Jobs 2017 (thousands)

5,365 to 5,932

4,296

2,782 to 3,018

1,540 to 1,937

414 to 1,371

In total, the Heartland economy is bigger than Germany’s and just a bit smaller than Japan’s.
Focused on how the defined region’s economy has been performing since the recent financial crisis, the factbook provides both encouraging and trying news for the region. 
The good news is that the region is doing better than is sometimes portrayed, particularly on measures of tradable industry presence. With that said, the Heartland is variable in its prosperity and serious deficits in human capital and innovation capacity pose challenges to future prosperity in many areas.

Downtown Transformation Here In Mesa: Free Music, Free Beer (Opening Night) + Venues In Vacant Buidlings

Looks like after three years Main Street in Downtown Mesa does come alive in another one of those POP-UP short-lived three-day events.(Organizer is from New Jersey) 

Listen to the Mesa Music Fest artists on Spotify

Open Spotify 

Arizona's Premier Emerging Artist Festival

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November 8th – 10th, 2018 in Mesa, AZ 

VENUES

The Mesa Music Festival features live performances in both indoor and outdoor venues along Main Street in Mesa, AZ.  Venues include both  traditional and non traditional stages in local businesses in Downtown Mesa

FREE ADMISSION
The Mesa Music Festival is, and always will be, 100% FREE TO ATTEND.  All aspects of the Mesa Music Festival are open to the public and are absolutely free of charge.  Space for certain events is limited, so be sure to arrive early if there’s something you definitely want to attend
Additional Information:

For festival information, please contact info@mesamusicfestival.com
For artist information, please contact artists@mesamusicfestival.com

For sponsorship information, please contact:
602 Higgins Avenue, Unit 294
Brielle, NJ 08730
ph: (732) 203-7787
fax: (732) 203-7124
email: info@motormediausa.com

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Special Guests

Henry Rollins

Musician, Author, Actor

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Bob Gruen

Legendary Music Photographer

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Jay Baumgardner

Legendary Producer, President of Muso.AI

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Geordie Gillespie

Unleashed Music, Sony, Virgin, Disney

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Ross Ojeda

Notable Artists, A&M Records

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Paul Insinna

PopTrend Music, Entertainment Law & Artist Management

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Joel Feinberg

De Wolfe Music USA

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Alex Gilbert

Artery Global

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Poppy Kavanagh

Producer/Engineer - British Grove Studios

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Ed Masley

Music Editor, Arizona Republic

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Jim Colletti

The Listening Room Phoenix

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Event Details

The Mesa Music Festival is a free admission music and arts festival that celebrates the culture of Downtown Mesa. With performances by over 200 artists from around the country, the Mesa Music Festival is the premier emerging artist festival in Arizona! This music festival is November 9-11th, each day offers something different. Make sure to check their website at http://www.mesamusicfest.com for more details! Event is at various locations on Main Street from Center to Country Club.