Is Mesa City Manager Now Punching-Above-His-Weight-Class In 2019??

Back in 2012 with former Mayor Scott Smith standing behind him, Chris Brady launched one of the first hard-fisted sales pitches for what was then the biggest $200M jab on the backs of Mesa taxpayers to pay for Municipal Debt Bond Obligations for the Republican Chicago Billionaire Ricketts Family to finance their "Field of Dreams" Sloan Park.
In 2016 taxpayers rejected a low-blow hit under-the-belt. In 2018 Brady came back with a series of blow-by-blow punches to score one more huge Debt Service obligation.
_________________________________________________________________________

Now in 2019 after almost 14 years on-the-job as the highest-paid salaried official inside City Hall, wielding more power as the City's Chief Executive than Mesa Mayor John Giles, he's making the rounds again in a series of presentations before the Mesa City Council that has the power and final approval on proposed budgets: FY2019/2020 and FY2020/24.
All the figures presented as "Power Points" are from the city's OMB working with a group from ASU. There is no other outside objective independent financial analysis, except from one group named Truth In Accounting . . . Furthermore, these jumbles of numbers on slide after slide take more time than  the typical one-day or two-day release to the public for study and examination. The City's Annual Financial Reviews are, likewise, not submitted in a timely manner in the usual 180-day time periodNonethelessss, in the most review by Truth in Accounting, they find Mesa's financing troublesome. 

What the report said in January 2019
> This

and This >

 

_________________________________________________________________________

Brady has so far this year tried to stay low-key, cool calm and collected wearing shirt-and-tie. He has put other salaried city officials from the Office of Management & Budget and the City Engineer in-the-hot seat at City Council Study Sessions and regular meetings. 
He might loosen-up in public appearances wearing an open-collar shirt [no tie] for what's usual "Casual Friday" attire. 

 Readers of this blog might like to note that there is no "Casual Friday' business code-of-dress - City offices are closed in the official 4/10 workdays per week . . . mebbe city employees like 3-day weekends! They certainly haven't gone back to working the normal five-days-a-week schedule changed during the Great Recession in 2018.You might remeber at earlier budget hearings, Chris Brady got really rattled over questions of forecasting and projections in proposed budgets. Looks like he's learned his lesson when it got ugly on live stream. Can't, however, say that won't happen this year  . . .  
_________________________________________________________________________
ICYMI: Here's a post using the same image above . . .If you want to take a look again at more details than those in this excerpt you can Click Here
THE NUMBERS IN THE CITY MANAGER'S PROPOSED FY2019/2010 and FY2020/2024 BUDGETS HAVE INCREASED

12 February 2019

Time-To-Pay > The-Pied--Piper Moment for Mesa City Manager Chris Brady

What does "he who pays the pied- piper" mean?

Looks like all those Pie-In-The-Sky schemes pushed by Mesa City Manager Chris Brady and the city's Office of Management & Budget during the past four years in that big beautiful "Grab-Bag-of-Goodies" for everybody that tricked Mesa taxpayers to go into more debt in the November 2018 ballot proposals are getting a heavy dose of REALITY . . . Better late than never

East Valley Tribune staff writer Jim Walsh barely hit the nail-on-the-head or scored any points to tell the public what's really going down here in Mesa. He covered "amenities" only, not getting a grip on the tough stuff that's hard to swallow:
Mesa voters approved virtually every sort of municipal amenity in last fall's
$196-million bond issue - from a new library and public safety station to athletic fields and walking paths to new parks and even a dog park . . . One important consideration in adding the new facilities is whether there is enough money available . . . "

WHOA!! Why worry now after all their projections and cost analysis  were wrong? 

"We are concerned as we get to the later part of it, when we deliver big parks and libraries, that will put a lot of strain on the budget"

-- City Manager Chris Brady

 _______________________________________________________________________

SCAMMING THE VOTERS:

Not just so-called "amenties" - ASU is the bigger scam-scheme.

One new building ASU @ Mesa City Center estimated to cost $63,000,000 in preliminary fast-plans to get it started - a scaled -down $200-million "satellite ASU campus" that Mesa taxpayers rejected two years ago - now requires extensive investigation according to a City Council Report last week.

_________________________________________________________________________

kkk

kkk

 

Paul Ryan: A Republican With A Conservative Conscience

Just 14 hours ago in a report written by Justin Wise from MSN News  , the former Speaker of The U.S. House of Representatives, reinforces a call to Republicans to return to what is right: conscience. At the same time he predicted in March that Trump would get re-elected in 2020 due to the Democrats' leftward lurch and record of accomplishments.
Can Ryan get it right both ways?
________________________________________________________________________
Paul Ryan told GOP lawmakers he wouldn't 'defend' Trump after 'Access Hollywood' tape
"Former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) reportedly told House Republicans that they could feel free to abandon President Trump after a tape of him making vulgar comments about women emerged during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Ryan made the remarks in what was described as a rare conference call three days after the "Access Hollywood" tape emerged in October 2016, according to an excerpt from the new book, "A Hill to Die On," as reported by Axios.
"I am not going to defend Donald Trump," Ryan said, according to the book. "Not now, not in the future."
Ryan and Trump were known to have had a rocky relationship during Trump's first two years as president. Trump once asked the former Speaker why he wasn't more "loyal" to him in 2017, according to a book written by Cliff Sims, formerly a White House communications staffer.
Axios, citing "A Hill To Die On," notes that Trump said he was able to give Ryan a pass for his disloyalty "because it's life and we sort of need each other a little bit."
Ryan predicted in March that Trump would win reelection in 2020 because of his ideas and "record of accomplishment."
"We're clearly better off because of [Trump]," he tweeted. "His record of accomplishment is why he'll win re-election especially when compared to Dems' leftward lurch."
________________________________________________________________

Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios

From Jonathan Swan 11 hours ago: Link > Axios
Trump to Paul Ryan after Access Hollywood tape: "You're just a Boy Scout" 
"You'll find a trove of deeply sourced reporting in the new book, out Tuesday, by Politico's Playbook authors Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer. Here's a taste of the reporting from Trump's Washington, found in "The Hill to Die On."

Secretary of Homeland Security > The Job Is Now Open

Image is from Axios/

Add one more to the cavalcade of departures from The Donald's Cabinet:
Kirstjen Nielsen resigns, announced in what else but one more tweet:
"Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be leaving her position, and I would like to thank her for her service. I am pleased to announce that Kevin McAleenan, the current U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, will become Acting Secretary for @DHSgov. I have confidence that Kevin will do a great job!"
The source of this report about an hour ago comes from Jonathan Swan and Zachary Basu writing in Axios

Behind the scenes: A source close to DHS told Axios that Nielsen would be having a showdown with the president tonight.

_______________________________________________________________________

BLOGGER INSERT:

Here's the first DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano back in 2016 when Nielsen's former boss General John Kelly, under consideration at that time for the Secretary's job at DHS, only to be appointed later as The White House Chief, only to get fired or to resign. It's one more re-play in double-dealing by shuffling "Apprentices" into and out of Cabinet secretary seats in the Trump House of Cards that's standing in a shaky balance.
These incidents are improvised explosive devices in Trump's media con-game played-out all too often as bluffs.
________________________________________________ 

Published on Dec 9, 2016

Views: Over 15,000

Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano discusses the potential pick of retired Marine Gen. John Kelly for next DHS chief and how problems she foresaw more than two years ago.





 

MORE FROM AXIOS:
"Frustrations were building on both sides," the source said.
"She was undercut at every turn.
She's done everything she can do.
The White House is eating their own.                 
THE BIG PICTURE: It's been a tortured relationship from the beginning, with Trump blaming Nielsen for every problem at the southern border and for the recent spike in families coming from Northern Triangle countries. Trump has long felt that Nielsen isn't "tough enough" when it comes to defending the border and kicking illegal immigrants out of the U.S., according to sources who've discussed the subject with the president. . . " 
_________________________________________________________________________
Is it just a coincidence that the first DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano - a tough administrator and lawyer who served as

• the 21st Governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009
• the United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013, under President Barack Obama. has spoken out in recent days

In her new book, "How Safe Are We?," former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano reflects on how secure the U.S. has been since 9/11. According to Napolitano, the most urgent threats America faces are climate change and cybersecurity -- not a crisis at the southern border.
We'll talk to Napolitano, who implemented Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012 under President Obama, about immigration policy under President Trump, the current state of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as her role as president of the University of California system at a time of admissions scandals and free speech controversies in a podcast 08 April on KQED: Former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano Asks: 'How Safe Are We?'

In a national television appearance four days earlier with MSNBC's Ari Melber on The Beat , Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama, Janet Napolitano slams Trump for “exceeding his authority” by declaring a National Emergency to fund a border wall, because there is “no real emergency”. Obama DHS Secretary blasts Trump: Wrong on border

 

Mesa Schools For Scandals > Breaking-Down The Details on Sally Downey

Special to the Tribune

Just catching-up on this story from two days ago . . .

Don't know where East Valley Tribune staff writer Jim Walsh might be going with this new story, but the featured image opening the article with Dr.Downey reaching out to former Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, current President/CEO of Valley Metro, has this caption: "During her 19 years as superintendent of the East Valley Institute of Technology, Sally Downey made many powerful political allies, including former Mesa Mayor Scott Smith."

It is inevitable that Walsh connects EVIT and political allies  

________________________________________________________________________

Jack Sellers and Jon Kyl

Political firestorm engulfs Mesa schools, EVIT chief        

By Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff Writer

East Valley Tribune | 2019-04-06T01:30:00-07:00

A bitter election full of charges, countercharges, conspiracy theories and threats last fall soured an already tense relationship between the East Valley Institute of Technology and Mesa Public Schools.
The outcome was catastrophic for longtime EVIT Superintendent Sally Downey, who is on the verge of losing her once influential and lucrative position – possibly as early as Monday, April 8. . .
_______________________________________________________________

It didn't turn out so "catastrophic" for former Mesa Public Schools Superintendent Michael Cowan - he just conveniently got a calling to go on an undetermined mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter-Day Saints.
Here's Dr. Sally Downey [at center] with Michael Cowan at far right, and Jared Taylor, business manager of charter school Heritage Academy in downtown Mesa.
Mesa Leadership learns about challenges of local education
17 Feb 2016 Special to The Arizona Republic
Contributed by Jill Adair, a freelance journalist and an associate faculty member at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

". . . February’s Mesa Leadership class, held Feb. 5, started in the morning with speakers and a tour of the ATSU campus and concluded in the afternoon at the East Valley Institute of Technology campus, 1601 W. Main St. . . After lunch the class heard from Mayor John Giles, who recently announced that Arizona State University is planning to open a satellite campus in downtown Mesa.

ASU already has a Polytechnic campus in east Mesa, but Giles said after several months of meetings, University President Michael Crow and other officials are in the process of determining what would be a good fit for ASU downtown.

“Those discussions are fairly far along,” he said. “We’re getting close to deciding what that is, but deciding what that is, is, frankly, just the beginning of this process because then you have to figure out how to pay for it.”

Reference > https://jillbadair.wordpress.com/2016/02/17

 

___________________________________

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ

Details in Jim Walsh's story. There's more than quite a few to provide kindle to what he calls "Firestorms". How hot can it get?

East Valley Tribune : Political Firestorm Engulfs Mesa Schools

 

Jonathan Pie Gets Real Behind the Scenes

Just push it a bit...Yeah

Published on Mar 30, 2019

Views: 2,644

Backstage at 'The Vanity Project' host Vanity von Glow chats to comedian Jonathan Pie and Trump supporting burlesque artist Lady Alchemy.
The Vanity Project is a live talkshow event hosted in London by drag queen comedian Vanity von Glow. Guests from the world of politics and media collide with entertainers for conversations about politics and culture - all as guests unwind with a delicious cocktail or five.
The next Vanity Project event takes place on May 31st.

Richard Florida > Grappling with InEquality

kkk

How the 1 Percent Is Pulling America’s Cities and Regions Apart

by Richard Florida 03 April 2019

America’s growing geographic divide derives from economic inequality, especially the tremendous gains of the 1 percent

Blogger Note: Nice to see that Richard Florida takes a different approach to Inequality here in America.

_________________________________________________________________________

Coping with America’s escalating regional divide cannot, and will not, happen unless we grapple with the even larger national problem of structural inequality and its causes

_________________________________________________

This growing pattern of spatial inequality can be clearly seen in the maps below.

Commuting zone mean family income relative to the nation, 1980

(Social Forces)

Commuting zone mean family income relative to the nation, 2013

(Social Forces)

The map for 2013 is very different. Now we see many more regions shaded in dark red than before, indicating the mean family income is less than 80 percent of the national level. At the same time, there are many more—and larger—bands of dark blue. 
_________________________________________________________________________
Putting both of these trends together, the share of Americans living in either rich and poor metro areas (those where incomes were either 20 percent higher or lower than the national average) nearly tripled from 1980 and 2013, rising from 12 percent to more than 30 percent. The “middle” is disappearing, as more Americans are in one of the extremes.
But what has produced such staggering growth in spatial inequality? Manduca employs a variety of statistical techniques and counterfactual simulations to parse whether spatial inequality is a product of geographic sorting, or a product of people getting richer and poorer while staying in place..
This suggests that many of the policy strategies advocated to deal with spatial inequality—such as place-based policies to build up lagging places, people-based policies to train them with more skills, or policies to increase housing supply—may help at the margin, but will ultimately not make much of a significant dent in America’s worsening regional divide. That’s because they fail to address a key underlying driver: national income inequality and its geographic consequences, where hugely outsized gains have gone to a very small fraction of America’s places.

_________________________________________________________________________________

READ MORE > City Lab

 

 

Mad Tea Party The Mad Tea Party Presented by Residents of Mesa Artspace Lofts

O yeah! 
2nd Friday in April brings MADNESS!!
FREE community and family friendly event!*
Pretty please, join us for The Mad Tea Party from 6pm to 10pm on April 12th, 2019!
Open Mic, food, vendors and more!!
Special guest from Munich, Germany - Zdenek Kotala, will be performing at 8pm and exhibiting his art at 9pm in an artist loft.
You won't want to miss this one!
Dress up if you like or come as you are!
Hop on over after you tour some of the other downtown Mesa events and support local!