Here In Downtown Mesa: The State-Of-The-City 2019 + A State-Of-Mind

It's a shame not to let this great talent get recognized: Slow Jam with Johnny G - he sure can croon real good. This performance from Mesa Morning Live published on April 12, 2016 has been viewed about 667 times on YouTube

We're about to find out the next step in his fifth year for Next Mesa making this speech in a Breakfast at the Mesa ConCenter.  

John Giles & His "Salvation Train": Get-A-Clue + A Destination



O Yeah . . . It's another one of those "Believe-It-Or-Not" wish-prone stories of hoping or believing or what might be or what could be or what might happen.
Oh yeah - and still believing. [Jim Walsh's another story]
Three years and six months after Valley Metro Light Rail Service extended three miles through the Central Business it has failed to deliver on the promise to be "the engine" for economic development. Jivin' John Giles stated in August 2015 that "The Salvation  Train has arrived. . . "
Looking for salvation in all the wrong places?
_________________________________________________________________________

Let's get it right:
For the more-fortunate-few, public taxpayer-financed Light Rail is THE GRAVY TRAIN that delivers a windfall of millions of dollars for real estate investors and developers to drive their own private wealth-creation.
It's a risk and a gamble that's leveraged by taxpayer-funded faith that the top 10% will do the right thing to create jobs and opportunities that include and benefit everyone. 
Here in Mesa, downtown development has been taken-over by for-profit corporations of a religion where no financial details have been revealed to the public for new construction on a 9.8-acre site nearby a Light Rail station platform.
_________________________________________________________________________

So what do we get from one more mainstream-media Spoon-fed report?

A focus on  crime first!

. . . and then a guess by officials that declines in numbers of riders may involve a misperception that train stations are crime-prone:
Light rail crime – and ridership – declined in 2018        

By Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff Writer

East Valley Tribune | 2019-02-03T01:00:00-07:00

"For the first time since it started rolling 10 years ago, Metro Light Rail ridership dropped – and it may involve what officials say is a misperception that the train stations are crime-prone

What kinds of "crime" :

• 90 % of the incidents involve trespassing - people on the platforms without reason or riders without a ticket 
• The next biggest security issue, open container violations, is another transient-related issue.

Some examples of light rail-driven projects cited in Jim Walsh's report include:
[Images inserted do not accompany the original. They are intended for editorial comment]

The Mesa taxpayer-financed downtown Arizona State University campus
Two years ago the $200-million debt bond financing was rejected by voters. In the November 2018 General Election, a scaled-down "satellite-campus" - one building - somehow got approved in spite of much public controversy.
The Devil's-in-the-details: plans now proposed are for not one, but two or more buildings called for all intents and purposes Mesa City Center.

The Mesa LDS Temple renovations and new development under construction nearby
Please use the searchbox on this blog site to fill in any information gaps you might have.
Basically, City Creek Reserve, a for-profit affiliate of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, is in stages of construction for a scaled-down version of the 23-acre project they did for economic development close by Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It's doubled in size here from the original 4.6-acres to almost 10 acres.

Chicanos por la Causa’s development of a large apartment complex on the former Bailey’s Brakes site at Country Club Road and Main Street.
This plan has been either stalled, or "put-on-hold", for more than three years.
It got side-lined by shady land sales-deals at Mesa Royale.
Other arrangements for financing and choice of the developer have apparently "fallen-into-place for the time being.
_________________________________________________________________________

“This is what it costs for us to have light rail in Mesa,’’
Giles said.
“Mass transit doesn’t pay for itself, either. Transportation is not a money-maker.’’
Blogger Note:
What is a Money-Maker is Suburban Sprawl

" . . . But he said transportation is an essential service and part of having a functional, well-rounded community." 

" . . . Mayor John Giles said he still believes Metro Light Rail is worth it, because of its economic development potential."

- End of Story -  

 

Light rail crime – and ridership – declined in 2018        

By Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff Writer

East Valley Tribune | 2019-02-03T01:00:00-07:00





Brexit & The Spayed Parliament

 No one has any faith in Parliament or Prime Minister Theresa May: they're all complicit in  the Fuk-Up
We've all been betrayed by People-In-Power!

Published on Feb 1, 2019

Views: 176, 600+

Westminster has ceased to function.
For tickets to see Jonathan Pie: The Fake News Tour 2019 go to joanthanpie.com

Reality Check: Fiesta Mall Closing: One-Year Later

It's never too soon or too late to see another EYESORE here in Mesa that shows once again the schemes of real estate investors and developers gone bad.
A new streaming video upload to YouTube from a channel named Retail Archeology has been viewed over 18,250 times! The producer revisited the site with a group of "Dead Mall Enthusiasts" on January 27,2019 to get some footage from the outside.
The narrative provided in the 13-minute stream provides scanty details of the reasons for the shut-down.
It's mostly about bittersweet nostalgic details of what Fiesta Mall used-to-be while briefly bringing up the observation that there's no progress seen to turn the deal mall into an educational-medical campus by the WM Grace Company.
Those plans were the subject of posts here on this blog site over two years in-the-making for a series of plans by the City of Mesa and proposals from different groups of real estate investors, some of whom scored "write-downs" for losses incurred.  
_________________________________________________________________________
FIESTA MALL: One Year After A Dead Mall Closes

Published on Feb 1, 2019

Views: 18,253+

Comments: 240+

In this episode we return to Fiesta Mall one year after it closed it doors for good.
This episode is sponsored by my "Welcome To Siesta Mall!" livestream.
Here's a link to a playlist with all the episodes so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu2UK...
This episodes music provided by body end tag:https://bodyendtag.bandcamp.com
-=Social Media=-
Twitter: @Ret_Archaeology
Instagram: @Retailarchaeology
Facebook: @RetailArchaeology
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RetailArchaeo...

#deadmall #retailarchaeology #FiestaMall

_________________________________________________________________________ 

Take-Away News From 2019 Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting and eVTOL Symposium

Rather surprised that this 2019 Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting and eVTOL Symposium held here in downtown Mesa Jan 29-31 at the Mesa Convention Center got no local reporting that you MesaZona blogger knows about.
Let's fix that right glaring information-gap right here and now.
Occasional or faithful readers of this site might remember that a post on the 3-day symposium was published ahead of time. You can that it by using the searchbox.
What's the subject matter about? Transformative Vertical Flight:

Get involved in the
Transformative Vertical Flight Concepts Initiative
Since 2014, AHS—The Vertical Flight Society has been leading a series of workshops with NASA, AIAA and SAE on Transformative Vertical Flight (TVF), and built a community of aerospace professionals that includes technical, regulatory, and business elements, and exploring the potential for new forms of air transportation systems with innovative propulsion systems. The focus has been on systems that embody combinations of on-demand, electric and hybrid-electric propulsion, and vertiport-capable configurations and designs.
The third workshop in 2016 built on the work of the previous two by soliciting expert opinions from the participants on the work and timeframes needed to transform air transportation consistent with the TVF vision. These inputs served as a starting point for the development of an advocacy roadmap needed to generate support for TVF transportation systems, technology, and markets. The TVF roadmap has congtinue to be advanced, but requires further refinement and vetting before it will be a credible advocacy tool.  To accomplish this, small focused TVF Working Group have been establish that you are invited to join. A TVF Roadmap Working Groups website has been created to enable volunteers to join and contribute in their areas of expertise. This web portal also provides a means for TVF Working Group members to access tools like virtual meeting spaces, information sharing sites, and rosters of TVF Working Group leads and members. Please visit this website to join a TVF Working Group, and tell your colleagues who have a similar interest in transforming air transportation. Working Group members are still welcome!

Transformative Vertical Flight Working Groups:

1. Personal/Private Vehicles (Short Range)
2. Commercial Intra-city (Short Range) — Report: Status of eVTOL Technology (Jan 2018)
3. Commercial Inter-city (Longer Range)
4. Public Services

Objective: Engage industry, academia and government agencies in developing a preliminary road map that will aid in the advocacy and pursuit of emerging technologies and approaches, such as electric/hybrid power and distributed propulsion, that offer the potential to fundamentally transform Vertiport capable flight configuration designs and operational concepts. As these new configuration types cannot be modeled adequately by conventional analytical tools modeling, and do not inherently fit into the existing rotorcraft certification framework (Part 27), they require new conceptual design tools and regulations able to capture the fundamental differences in approach. This initiative bring togethers interested parties to establish a foundation from which investment can fill the gaps to achieve successful new aviation products.
Approach: Combine the mutual interests of technical organizations, government laboratories (NASA, DARPA) and industry to collaboratively explore and exploit the potential for new opportunities for Vertiport capable flight. The initiative is focused on achieving participation from all stakeholders, including new and small companies aggressively focused on this topic, as well as mature aerospace companies for whom this could enhance or augment their conventional Vertiport capable flight products.

Desired Outcomes:

1. Establish and document common stakeholder needs, areas of collaboration, and advocacy to establish methods to encourage the future success of unconventional Vertiport capable flight concept solutions that are newly enabled by technologies.
2. Assemble a community to collaborate on new conceptual design and analysis tools that permit new configuration paths with far greater multi-disciplinary coupling (i.e. aero- propulsive-control) to be investigated.
3. Establish a community to develop and deploy regulatory guidelines with potential formation of an ASTM F44 Committee Subgroup for the development of consensus-based certification standards for General Aviation scale Vertiport capable flight systems that provides fixed wing approaches that don't fit within existing FAA Part 27 certification.
4. Launch an information campaign to ensure key U.S. Government agencies understand the potential benefit and industry interest in establishing new Vertiport capable flight markets.

Organizing Organizations:

• The Vertical Flight Society (VFS) 
• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• SAE International (SAE)

With support from the following committees:

• VFS Advanced Vertical Flight Technical Committee
• AIAA V/STOL Aircraft Systems Technical Committee
• AIAA Transformational Flight Program Committee
• SAE Power Systems, Propulsion, Electric Powertrain and Energy Storage Committees
• ASTM F44 Committee on General Aviation Aircraft

Source: Suas News The Business of Drones

__________________________________________________________________________
The 21st century has seen a continued emphasis on Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) and greater autonomy and automation for both military and civilian applications. Unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft are in varying stages of development all over the world, and continue to expand into the civil and military sectors for a variety of uses.
Autonomy is being used to unmanned versions of manned helicopters for dull, dirty and dangerous military cargo missions. In addition, the operator-interface and human factors can be one of the most significant contributions to UAS safety and successful operations. Correspondingly, technologies and regulation are being developed to safely operate UAS, and integrate them into commercial and military airspace.
Meanwhile, automation and various levels of autonomy are being used in modern civil helicopter cockpits, while the military’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) aircraft will need to be optionally-manned or optimally-manned. Autonomy is also a key enabler for new classes of vehicles for civil missions — such as personal air vehicles, urban air mobility and air taxi missions — using electric or hybrid-electric propulsion (eVTOL).
This biennial meeting is an excellent opportunity to learn about and discuss with academic, industry, and military engineers from around the world the latest advancements in manned/unmanned, electric/hybrid/turboshaft-powered, and civil/military autonomous VTOL aircraft technology.
The Technical Meeting is being held in conjunction with the 6th Annual Electric VTOL Symposium, which will be held in parallel. The conference will feature technical paper presentation related to autonomous VTOL aircraft, while the Symposium will feature invited presentations, panel sessions and discussions on electric and hybrid electric VTOL aircraft, with a focus on urban air mobility.
__________________________________________________________________________

Army Futures Command to Examine Ways to Acquire, Field Systems More Quickly

By Frank Wolfe | February 1, 2019

The RQ-7 Shadow drone

MESA, Arizona — As the U.S. Army Futures Command opens its doors in Austin, Texas, one of its primary tasks will be "taking a new look at how we're acquiring our systems," Bill Lewis, the director of the Army Aviation Development Directorate, told the Vertical Flight Society's 6th Annual eVTOL symposium here.
The focus will be on "embracing what's out there" and delivering products, including unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), quickly to Army units in the field, he said. . .
Indeed, the new modernization-focused Futures Command was designed to overhaul the service’s approach to acquiring emerging technologies. One big issue in the UAS realm is whether smaller companies can still respond quickly to the new Army emphasis after their acquisition by larger firms. Boeing, for example, has acquired Aurora Flight Sciences for its UAS expertise.
In a turn about from times past, the commercial world has been driving technology development in the military. The investments by commercial industry in areas like urban air mobility, for example, and the swelling commercial UAS demand mean that quick response times to Army requirements are likely, Lewis said.
For programs like the Army's Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems, the emphasis will be on fielding what is sufficient to meet the needs in the field, not the perfect solution, he said.

For the program, the Army plans to pick Group 2 or Group 3 UAS. The autonomous tactical drone should have a minimum range of 100 km, be runway independent and able to transmit intelligence data to a Boeing AH-64 Apache. The vehicle should also be survivable in contested environments. The concept of operations is for the drones to scout out the terrain before manned helicopters arrive.

The Army plans to fly prototypes for the $100 million program by 2023.
Manned-unmanned teaming, or MUM-T, has been a singular focus for the Army since it decided to retire the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter. Instead of developing and fielding a clean-sheet replacement, service leaders decided the AH-64 Apache teamed with RQ-7 Shadow drones could perform the armed scout mission.
The Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems are to replace the RQ-7.

"Little Mikey Bloomberg" Just Might Do It . . . I Love New York!

Politics

Michael Bloomberg’s Secret Plans to Take Down Trump

Whether or not he runs for president, the former New York City mayor is building the most powerful political organization in America.

Edward-Isaac Dovere

Jan 31, 2019

Michael Bloomberg has bigger plans for 2020 than running for president. The billionaire and former New York City mayor has been openly dreaming of the White House for 25 years, and spent huge amounts of time and money four times over the past 10 years trying to figure out a way to get himself there.

But he has hesitations about this race, too. He’s not sure there is a realistic space in the Democratic primaries for his centrist record. And he almost certainly won’t run if Joe Biden does, members of his team believe.

While no final decision has been made, his aides have been working on a fallback that only a man worth $40 billion can afford. Bloomberg is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a data-centric political operation designed to ensure one goal: crush Donald Trump.

_________________________________________________________________________

Most definitely ....Absolutely......READ MORE > The Atlantic

 

Software is eating the world. And it’s only the beginning.

R U READY?

Published on Feb 1, 2019

Views: 1,370+

Are computers creating jobs or destroying them? What does our automated future look like? The software-powered world might not be so bad -- you just have to look at the big picture. As technology develops, we’re not automating individual jobs but entire industries, as we meet more of our needs through massively scalable software. It’s a huge shift in the way society works, and it doesn’t have to be a bad one.