Make-Believe Mesa: "Bottom-Up" Government

Imagine that assertion, dear readers, friends and neighbors. Let's get played for fools all over again! Say what?  We have all been "Mystified"  . . .There's a civic tech app for that -  "crowd funding" development. All done by manipulating click fixes when a group named Neighborlands, a 3rd Party contractor hired by the city, launched Imagine Mesa, a digital forum for community engagement.

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Quick Blogger Comment: (1) Wearing sneakers-and-shorts is the City of Mesa's Director of Downtown Transformation Jeff MacVay. (2) In the right foreground are The Strothers, husband-and-wife owners of a sandwich shop downtown, who were named in January 2019 as the private operators of the Mesa Farmers Market & Flea . . .scratch your head about that!   

"The City made the public’s ask for a farmer’s market downtown a reality, offering use of a city park, selecting a market operator and providing marketing assistance."

(3) There's already been a farmers market downtown for years that fizzled-out scheduled on a Friday when the biggest employer downtown is closed to enjoy a 4-day workweek, and a Farmers Market at Fitch Farm on N Center Street. (4) The difference now is that the city spent over $12M to renovate Pioneer Park (original budget $6.9M) and really needs to justify that overblown expense to attract some people to a public park close to the Temple Area that's currently a construction site for a Massive Mormon Make-Over just blocks away from downtown. 

THE OTHER REALITY >  

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“We want Mesa to be a bottoms-up community. The seven of us [on the City Council] are not sitting here because we are the smartest people in the city or because we’re the ones who have the best ideas in the city. That’s not the case. We have a very capable community that has lots of talent and resources, and we want to draw on that. This approach helps us be better at what we’re doing.” – Mayor John Giles

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What the Double-Talk Is Jivin' John Giles talking here >

real estate trends and hot housing markets across the country 

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The City of Mesa City Council, led by @MayorGiles, asked residents how to improve their city – now they're investing $300 million together.

Here's a case study on how they did it.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/imagine-mesa-dan-parham/ … #wh 

 

- Twitter post by Dan Parham, CEO of Neighborlands 14 March 2019

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Imagine Mesa

Published on March 14, 2019March 14, 2019 • 17 Likes • 1 Comments

Dan ParhamFollow

CEO, Neighborland

HOLD ON! What the hell happened after this third-party paid contractor jiggered all the data collected and made outrageous claims?  

"Over the course of 2017 and 2018, the City of Mesa engaged over 67,000 participants on their strategic planning and capital improvement budgeting process. Imagine Mesa was led by Mayor John Giles, the Mesa City Council, and an Advisory Committee of local leaders. In November of 2018, voters approved $300 million in municipal bonds to bring these ideas to reality. . . Forums were organized by areas where the City had enough local control to make ideas a reality,

> The campaign resulted in over 250,000 minutes (5,000 hours) of participation, generating 465 ideas and 6,000 votes

> The targeted online campaign involved 137 social media posts which appeared in 238,000 social media feeds.

All of this engagement cost the city less than $1 per resident. HOW MUCH????

> The most popular idea on Imagine Mesa was to encourage Arizona State University to expand to downtown Mesa . . . . . . Blogger Note: that's in a city of over 475,000 people and a BIG HYPE at best It turns out that one guy - Sean Huntington - managed to pull that one off by pulling in less than 450 responses from August-October. That's not much but look how city officials used that non-representative sample of the entire population to wage a public relations campaign to overturn what taxpayers REJECTED just two years earlier. . . The Mesa City Council approved a master plan to design and construct a 5 story building and 2–3 acre open plaza with the sale of excise tax bonds. 

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Here's what we get two years later:The latest buzz-phrase catching fire in planning and technology? Smart city concepts.  ????????????????????????????????

 

This is the way smart people work better

From Property Lines* (see below)

Tech is fostering civic engagement—by letting citizens suggest their own development policies

The various strains of reactive infrastructure and efficient transportation that make up these new ideas for smart cities suggest a cleaner, less crowded, and more clever version of urban life is right around the corner.

How civic tech can steer development and create smarter cities

Civic-minded techies are finding ways to digitize, demystify, and improve local government

By Patrick Sisson Apr 9, 2019, 1:48pm EDT

 

 

*Property Lines is a column by Curbed senior reporter Patrick Sisson that spotlights real estate trends and hot housing markets across the country

Source: https://www.curbed.com/2019/4/9/18302285/civic-tech-app-crowdfunding-development

 

Salt Lake City Investors Pour Millions Into Mesa for Class B Assets

At least we know some details about the financing on three transactions:
1. Bridge Investment Group of Salt Lake City has purchased the Verona Park apartment community at 1666 S. Extension Rd. in Mesa for $43,750,000.00. 
The Utah investor plans to complete modernization of the 304-unit development, which is located in a popular infill area.

“This asset provided a terrific value-add opportunity for investment,” says Cindy Cooke, senior executive vice president of Colliers International in Arizona.  “The property is located adjacent to the recently redeveloped Fiesta District and in an area surrounded by expanding tech companies. 

Verona Park was partially updated by the seller and the buyer will benefit from completing renovations in an environment of rising rental rates.”

Bridge Investment Group purchased the property from Millburn Company, also of Salt Lake City.  Cindy Cooke and Brad Cooke of Colliers International of Arizona represented Millburn Company in the transaction and Bridge Investment Group was self-represented. 

Verona Park consists of 19 residential buildings totaling 248,224 square feet.  The community was built in 1981.  The community features one and two-bedroom units averaging 817 square feet each.  Twenty-five of the units have been renovated, leaving the remaining 279 apartments with classic interiors for future upgrading. 

Verona Park is located within a submarket that experienced 9% rent growth in 2018.  The property is situated next door to the Fiesta District, where $425 million has been invested.  The community’s appealing infill location features18,000 jobs within a one-mile radius.
Source: https://azbigmedia.com

2 Bridge Investment Pays $70M for Phoenix Community

The seller of the 460-unit Class B asset purchased the apartments in mid-2014 as part of a nearly $170 million portfolio deal.

The P.B. Bell Cos. has sold the Laguna Village Apartment Homes, a 460-unit Class B community near Phoenix, for $70.3 million, according to Yardi Matrix.
The buyer, Bridge Investment Group, financed the acquisition through a Fannie Mae line of credit from Wells Fargo Bank.
The asset last changed hands in July 2014, when Standard Fund sold the community to P.B. Bell as part of a $168.5 million portfolio transaction. The sale included more than 2,700 units, all in the Phoenix metro area. . . Nearly 20 miles east of Laguna Village, Atlantic Development & Investment traded an affordable community in January, for $22.5 million.
The property sold through a 1031 tax-deferred exchange.
Source: https://www.multihousingnews.com

3. Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, has facilitated the $30 million sale of Modern on Gilbert, a 265-unit community in Mesa, Ariz.
According to Yardi Matrix data, the deal was subject to a $24.8 million loan, held by Freddie Mac. 
Senior Managing Directors Cliff David and Steve Gebing represented the seller, a joint venture between Modern Residential Co. and Henley USA, and also procured the buyer, S2 Capital.
Last summer, the same team facilitated the nearly $23 million sale of a 173-unit asset in Tempe, Ariz. 
Located at 1800 E. Covina St. on 19 acres in the North Mesa submarket of Phoenix, Modern on Gilbert—formerly known as Sonoma Villas—is very close to downtown Mesa, with both the Riverview shopping center and Falcon Field Airport within 6 miles of the community.
Source: https://www.multihousingnews.com


  

The Rise of the Right.

Here, there and everywhere

Published on Apr 16, 2019

Views: 281,377 at time of upload to this blog

Are there really Nazis in the House of Commons?

For tickets to see Jonathan Pie: The FAKE NEWS Tour go to: JonathanPie.com

Pig's brain function restored hours after death

What an  achievement!. . .
Are people next and what are "the ethical implications" - if any when your brain gets revived. Questions get raised about consciousness  

Published on Apr 18, 2019

Views: 521 at time of upload to this blog

Scientists have restored some functions in a pig's brain hours after it died - challenging assumptions about the irreversible ending of brain function following death.…
READ MORE : https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/18/p...

Mekong Plaza: How Did I Not Know About This Mall? | Retail Archaeology

Dunno. Did a post on this blog back in November 2018. . . it's definitely NOT dead. Thanks to you, almost 12,000 people now know!

Published on Apr 12, 2019

In this episode we take a look at Mekong Plaza, a mall in Mesa, AZ that I discovered a few months ago

Samso's environmental mastermind

Very ambitious. A world leader in sustainable energy, over the past decade Samso has transformed itself from being a fossil fuel importing island into an exporter of renewable energy. The island now produces more "green energy" than it consumes

Published on Apr 12, 2019

Views: 85 at time of upload to this blog

When it comes to reducing its carbon footprint and implementing climate friendly energy solutions, the Danish island of Samso is a poster child. Euronews spoke to the man behind Samso's energy revolution, Soren Hermansen.…
READ MORE : https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/12/m...
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The Transcript: 

When it comes to reducing its carbon footprint and implementing climate friendly energy solutions, the Danish island of Samso is a poster child. A world leader in sustainable energy, over the past decade Samso has transformed itself from being a fossil fuel importing island into an exporter of renewable energy. The island now produces more "green energy" than it consumes after developing a complex network of small and large wind turbines, solar PV panels, heat pumps, sustainable district heating systems and energy saving measures in both public and private buildings.
The island's energy revolution has not gone unnoticed internationally. Each year, hundreds of so called 'eco-VIPs' from across the world come to the Samso Energy Academy. Soren Hermansen is the man behind it. Euronews' Hans von der Brelie met him in the Academy's futuristic looking building, a low energy construction with thick insulation topped with solar panels. 
Euronews: "You published very ambitious targets. Why aren't they being met completely?"
Soren Hermansen: "In the very beginning our first target was to become a 100 percent self-supplier with renewable energy. The first ten years we made a very ambitious plan - and we actually met those goals successfully. After ten years time we were producing more energy than we consumed. (...) Our next target is even more ambitious: To be 100 percent fossil free by 2030, which is 20 years before the Danish ambition being independent of fossil fuels and to get a fossil free society...
Euronews: "How did you bring on board a majority of the local community when it comes to going green?"
Soren Hermansen: "We have this approach that if the community not as a whole is participating, then we would create a lot of resistance against new technologies. Now we have ensured that everybody, rich and poor, can participate in this (energy transition) by asking the banks to provide ownership documents. They banks gave loans to everyone who approached them, they just had to sign the ownership document. The banks keep the ownership document until the wind turbine or the solar panel has paid back the cost of the bank loan. (...) It is a kind of holistic feeling of ownership."
Euronews: "But there are still huge problems to struggle with...
Soren Hermansen: "The challenge of today is to meet the numbers. For energy savings, we have already met 20 to 30 percent energy conservation in houses, which is the lowest hanging fruit on the tree. If we climb a little higher it becomes more expensive per kw/h saved, even more insulation, even better windows... it is an extra investment we need to do here. (...) Regarding transportation: We still depend on ferries and trucks to deliver and to distribute goods and people want to travel around. We bought a new ferry, a 200 million Danish Kroner hybrid ferry to the mainland, which is running on LNG gas - which is a kind of forerunner of our own production of carbon free fuel in the future, biogas, methane... But the market price, the global market price on gas is low, which means that our production price is high (...). - Regarding electric cars, the population hesitates because of the capacity, the range of most electric cars is still below 200 kilometers and the electric cars are more expensive compared to similar cars with combustion engines. For me it is very hard to convince people to buy an electric car instead of a combustion engine with a high level of efficiency. (...) Regarding windpower, the capacity of windpower is going up today. Now we have one MW wind turbines, which people like, they are good. The next generation of wind turbines, if we want to repower, will be three times bigger or more. And then we go up in numbers again and the investment will be tremendous and we need to find a lot of other investors, because this kind of money is not here on the island. (...) - Regarding solar panels, we had a period where people were putting nice solar panels on their own roofs, but if you want to meet the UN development goals, you need to speed up capacity, which means on the field megasized solar panels covering many hectars of land... And again: We like the little PV plants, but the bigger PV plants are kind of challenging us, because they are spoiling the visual impact. (...) These are some of the problems we are struggling with to meet the ambitions of 2030."
Euronews: "What about the legal framework needed, be it on an European, be it on a national level?"
Soren Hermansen: "To make this work we need an European context, we need a very direct legal framework, we need to bonus the good stuff and to punish the bad stuff. In Denmark we had a high carbon tax for using fossil fuels. (...) This money was reinvested into green technologies. This is how you can finance the next infrastructure generation. (...) We need political help to do that. This is not for a local little market to handle that situation alone."
Euronews: "What is the main problem, the main obstacle?"
Soren Hermansen: "Low gas prices. (...) The threat is that the market will run us over and flatten us completely, because we can not compete gas prices from Putin or anybody else. (...) I live in a very beautiful community, we know each other, we shake hands, we meet, I can call anyone to come and to help me. We have a high social wealth here, we are socially a very strong little community. That is very important (...), so we can fight low gas prices, because if we only talk about market and economy then we get grumpy little narrow-minded people who do not believe that the community is valuable. (...) We want to fight for a greener community and I think the gas price will go up, the electricity price will go up too, that's everybody's prediction in the market and it will happen quite soon. So we need to be prepared for that."

Fast Jammin' Today For The Mesa City Council: A Public Hearing, A Study Session + A 17-Page Agenda For The Regular Meeting

It's hard if not impossible to get a handle on all these 'items' up in front of the public and the Mesa City Council today starting at 5 o'clock.
There have already been two public study sessions on what is now the Final 17-page Agenda for tonight's regular meeting - and it's the first item again for review at the Study Session. The second item is a presentation, and the third is an announcement [and appointments to] a new Task Force.

Let's get the links to Item 2-a and 2-b for the Study Session @ 5:00 p.m. posted here if you want to take a look beforehand. The scheduled time allotted is 45 minutes - and that's after any discussion about all the important items on the BIG Final Agenda for the regular meeting!
Up first is a 13-slide Power Point Presentation
> Development Services Proposed Fiscal Year 19/20 Budget
[Please take a look - didn't see any budget numbers, just some graphs about how fast the phones get answered, numbers of walk-ins, number of pageviews, etc.] 
> Mesa Achieves Higher Education Task Force
Blogger Note: There are only administrators or city officials who have been appointed to this group by the mayor
Establishing the Task Force is a clear recognition of the fact that Mesa Public Schools have failed to deliver basic outcomes for educational achievements for years - and now there might "a plan", piggy-backed onto Achieve 60AZ
The Appointment Memo is reproduced farther down in this post.

File # Agenda # Type Title       19-0406 2-a Presentation Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on the Development Services Department budget.                                                          19-0487 2-b Appointment Creation of the Mesa Achieves Higher Education Task Force and appointments to the Task Force.

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PLEASE NOTE: You can access and review all these meeting details Click Here 
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PUBLIC HEARING is at the very end of the regular meeting's agenda Item *7-a and *7-b
You need to scroll down 16 pages to find them
7 Discuss, receive public comment, and take action on the following ordinances:
19-0305 ZON18-00933 (District 6) 
Within the 10800 to 11600 blocks of East Williams Field Road (south side), the 6000 to 6300 blocks of South Signal Butte Road (east side), the 6000 to 6300 blocks of South Mountain Road (west side), the 6000 to 6500 blocks of South Mountain Road (east side), and the 6000 to 6300 blocks of South Meridian Road (west side).  Located south of Williams Field Road east of Signal Butte Road
 203± acres
Rezone to modify an existing PAD; and Site Plan Review. 
This request will allow for the modification of the PAD for single residential development. Applicant: Sean Lake, Pew & Lake, PLC

Owners: 3
Groh Revocable Trust,
Demuro Properties, SB CLB 18, LLC,
Tres Points, LLC

Staff Recommendation:  Approval with conditions
P&Z Board Recommendation:  Approval with conditions (Vote: 7-0)
*7-a
(Page 16 City of Mesa Printed on 4/11/2019 )

19-0374 ZON19-00016 (District 6) 
Within the 7100 to 7600 blocks of East Elliot Road (north side) and the 3100 to 3500 blocks of South Sossaman Road (west side).  Located north of Elliot Road and west of Sossaman Road
187± acres)
Rezone from LI-PAD-PAD and PEP-PAD-PAD to EO to create the

Red Hawk Employment Opportunity Zone. 
This request will establish zoning to guide future development of employment and industrial uses. 
Applicant: W. Ralph Pew, Pew & Lake, PLC

Owners::
MBR Land I, an Arizona General Partnership
MBR Land I, LLP
B&K Land Investment Co., et al
Morrison Ranch, Inc., owners.
Staff Recommendation:  Approval with conditions
P&Z Board Recommendation:  Approval with conditions (Vote: 7-0)
*7-b

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APPOINTMENT MEMO:
April 15, 2019
TO:  CITY COUNCILMEMBERS FROM: MAYOR JOHN GILES
SUBJECT: Mesa Achieves Higher Education Task Force
The following is an overview and my recommendations for appointments to the Mesa Achieves Higher Education Task Force.
Purpose
The Task Force will be responsible for developing the City of Mesa’s Achieve60AZ action plan for the purpose of improving higher education outcomes. Through examination of nationwide programs and best practices, the Task Force will determine the strategies necessary to elevate Mesa’s educational attainment.
The Task Force will meet monthly throughout 2019 and bring any proposed recommendations to the City Council.
Background
Through Achieve60AZ, Arizona has set an ambitious goal for the State’s future.
By 2030, the goal is to ensure 60% of Arizona adults, aged 25-64 have at least two years post-high school attainment such as a certificate, license, or degree.
This is critical for meeting future business workforce needs. 

Task Force Members
The following individuals are being recommended to serve on the Task Force: Councilmember Francisco Heredia, Co-Chair
Councilmember Jen Duff, Co-Chair
Dr. Richard Haney, Mesa Community College President
Jonathan Schmitt, ASU Assistant Vice President – Educational Outreach & Student Services
Dr. Ember Conley, Mesa Public Schools Superintendent
Elaine Miner, Mesa Public Schools Governing Board President
Dr. Shane McCord, Gilbert Public Schools Superintendent
Vince Yanez, Helios Education Foundation Senior Vice President of Community Engagement
Mike Hutchinson, East Valley Partnership Executive Vice President
Deanna Villanueva-Saucedo, Mesa Community College Community Engagement Director Jaye O’Donnell, City of Mesa Assistant Economic Development Director

Fiscal Impact
Creation of this Task Force has no fiscal impact on the City of Mesa. Any fiscal recommendations proposed by the Task Force will be brought to the City Council for consideration.