Slammed-and-Jammed Again! 2 Mesa City Council Meetings Mon 20 May 2019 (Study Session First)

Tomorrow is a turning-point for way too many items getting thrown at the both the public and their elected officials holding seats in their terms on the Mesa Council.
< Simply to put it in front of your eyes:
There are million$ of dollar$ up-for-grab$ and action to be taken - after hearing and listening to -public discussion - to approve next year's almost $2-Billion Dollar City Budget.
What's the problem? Most of the time the public is not either involved, informed or engaged in our elected government.
________________________________________________________________________

Here is more information at your fingertips to see it all . . .
Just open your eyes and take the time ...Believe me, it takes a lot of time and a lot of hard work to get the information we need as informed citizens and taxpayers living here in Mesa.
Nobody ever said it's easy . . . 
Sad to say, but most people don't even know what City Council district they live in  or who has been elected to serve their interests by listening to people. If your district representatives do not communicate with you, call them up and talk. It's their job and they get paid to do. If you don't communicate your informed opinions, they will listen to other special interests.
_________________________________________________________________________

Council, Committee & Board Research Center
You can find all the meetings, agendas and some of the "Approved Minutes" on the city calendar for the entire month of May 2019 > click or tap here
If you don't regularly pay attention to what the City Council, or the Planning & Zoning Board, and what other appointed committees are doing, you are handicapped as a citizen with duties when you choose to get "left in  the dark"...Democracy dies in darkness
__________________________________________________________________________________

For the Study Session that starts at 5:15 pm 86.7 KB
(Printed on 5/16/2019)
Roll Call
(City Council members participate in person or by telephone conference call.)

1 Review and discuss items on the agenda for the May 20, 2019 regular Council meeting.

NOTE: There are 53 Items (See details in next Agenda)
_________________________________________________________________________
2 Acknowledge receipt of minutes of various boards and committees.
2-a
File# 19-0619 2020 Census Taskforce Advisory Committee meeting held on January 28, 2019.

File #:

19-0619

Type:

Minutes

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council Study Session

On agenda:

5/20/2019

Title:

2020 Census Taskforce Advisory Committee meeting held on January 28, 2019.

Attachments:

1. January 28, 2019 Census Taskforce Advisory Committee

Here's the message your MesaZona blogger got trying to access the link
The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.
Please try again in 30 seconds

For the Regular Meeting that starts at 5:45 pm
With all the usual required information, it is 14 Pages

Meeting Name:

City Council

Agenda status:

Final

Meeting date/time:

5/20/2019 5:45 PM

Minutes status:

Draft

Meeting location:

Council Chambers - Upper Level

Published agenda:

Agenda

________________________________________________________________________________
ITEM 2

File #:

19-0575

Type:

Minutes

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council

On agenda:

5/20/2019

Title:

Approval of minutes of previous meetings as written.

Attachments:

1. April 11, 2019 Study, 2. May 6, 2019 Regular

ITEMS 3 to Item 13 > GO open the links provided on the Research Center and find out!

• LIQUOR LICENSES: Items 3a - 3d
• CONTRACTS: Items 4a - 4r
• RESOLUTIONS: Items 5a -5k
• ORDINANCES: Items 6a + 6b

________________________________________________________________________
Introduction of the following ordinances and setting June 3, 2019 as the date of the public hearing on these ordinances:
*6a 19-0539 ANX19-00066 (District 5) 
Annexing property located north of University Drive and west of Ellsworth Road and adopting comparable zoning
(13.07± acres). 
Initiated by Sean Lake, Pew & Lake, PLC.

*6b 19-0517 ZON19-00067 (District 5) 

Within the 400 to 600 blocks of North Ellsworth Road (west side) and within the 9000 to 9200 blocks of East Decatur Road (south side).  Located north of University Drive, on the west side of Ellsworth Road
(13.07± acres). 
Rezoning from RS-9 and RS-43 to RM-3-PAD
Site Plan Review. 
This request will allow for development of a multi-residential use.  Sean Lake, Pew & Lake, PLC, applicant; Ellsworth-University, LLC, owner.

ORDINANCES: Items 7a + 7b
Discuss, receive public comment, and take action on the following ordinances
*7a 18-1335 ZON18-00066 (District 3) 
The 1000 through 1100 blocks of South Alma School Road (west side) and the 1200 through 1300 blocks of West Southern Avenue (north side).  Located at the northwest corner of Alma School Road and Southern Avenue
(16± acres). 
Rezoning from LC to RM-5 PAD for 10.5± acres
Rezoning from LC to LC-PAD for 5.5± acres
Site Plan Review for 16± acres. 
This request will allow for the development of multi-residential and commercial uses. 
Adam Baugh, Withey Morris, PLC, applicant
WM Grace Development Co., ETAL, owner.
For continuance to the June 3, 2019 City Council meeting
*7b 19-0486 Amending Sections 10-4-3 through 10-4-6 of the Mesa City Code to modify

• the boundaries of the current 35 mph speed limit on Main Street from Mesa Drive to Gilbert Road
• to rescind the current 40 mph speed limit on Main Street from a point, 53 feet west of South Allen Street, to a point 211 feet east of Gilbert Road
• to correctly reflect existing boundaries of the current 45 and 30 mph speed limits on Main Street between Centennial Way/Sirrine and Gilbert Road, as recommended by the Transportation Advisory Board.

ORDINANCES: Items 8a + 8b
Discuss, receive public comment, and take action on the following annexation and zoning ordinances relating to the property located at the northeast corner of Power and Ray Roads:
*8a 19-0506 ANX18-00502 (District 6) 
Annexing property located north of Ray Road, east of Power Road
(69.3± acres). 
Initiated by VIVO Partners, LLC.

File #:

19-0506

Type:

Ordinance

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council

On agenda:

5/6/2019

Title:

ANX18-00502 (District 6) Annexing property located north of Ray Road, east of Power Road (69.3± acres). Initiated by VIVO Partners, LLC.

Attachments:

1. Council Report, 2. Ordinance, 3. Overview Map, 4. Annexation Petition, 5. Annexation Map, 6. Certificate of Mayor, 7. Certification of Map

*8b 19-0461 ZON18-00775 (District 6) 
Within the 4900 to 5200 blocks of South Power Road (east side).  Located south of 202 San Tan Freeway on the east side of Power Road and north of Ray Road
(58± acres). 

• Rezone from AG to LC-AF-PAD
• Council Use Permit to allow multi-residential, commercial entertainment, hotel, and college and commercial trade school uses in the AOA 1 and AOA 2 overflight areas in the LC District
• Site Plan Review. 

This request will allow for a mixed-use development. 
VIVO Partners, LLC, applicant
Arizona State Land Group, owner.

SUB-DIVISION PLATS: Items 9a -9g
RESOLUTION 10a
RESOLUTION 11a
CONDUCT A PUBLIC HEARING Item 12a
RESOLUTION 12b
CONDUCT A PUBLIC HEARING: Item 13a
RESOLUTION 13B
_________________________________________________________________________________


PUBLIC HEARINGS (2)
Item 12-a
File# 19-0574 There is no link

Item 13-a
File# 19-0530

Here's one item that has received attention in the East Valley Tribune for more than  a few weeks already

Any idea of what this controversial Land Auction Deal is?

_________________________________________________________________________
 

Mesa: A Smart City? What Don't We Know About That That Hasn't Been Made Public?

At least in Toronto there has been robust discussions about plans and how they came about from the same company Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google that proposed something called Smart Cities Dive there on the waterfront that is meeting stiff opposition. Citizens there have filed lawsuits unlike citizens here in Mesa. What's at stake? Millions of dollars and more questions

Just like here with billions of dollars in real estate and infrastructure at play - and who pays and who benefits and what's at-risk - residents are pushing back.

The people in Toronto are better informed with concerns that they say could have terrible consequences for public services as well as privacy. harvesting and licensing of data, the Internet of things,connectivity, and the monetization of public data. As you can see Mesa has a slick trick >>>>>>

EVERYTHING IS SMART!

How to fund your "Smart City'?????

There are questions

Mesa City Center???

> Citizens groups in Toronto have filed lawsuits.

Here in Mesa, hardly any murmurs. Except to say that Mesa City Center has been "re-invented" . . .    
Remember this Downtown Vision fiasco 5 years ago? > Nah. Didn't happen . . . that was 2014 when the same area is now planned for a new $75-million "sattelite-campus" for ASU when city officials hadn't figured out how to finance it after trying to sell the scheme to the public after soliciting proposals, selecting three finalists in a series of presentations, and then selecting the winner.  

A New Town Square for an Urbanizing Mesa
"The new space is "characterized by generous spaces for flexible uses, inviting landscapes celebrating the Sonoran desert, and ground floor uses with public-oriented programs that draw people into and through Mesa City Center to Main Street, the Arts Center, Convention Center, and residential neighborhoods. . . " 
"The new downtown public spaces will be financed with park bonds, approved by voters in 2012. . . " 
City Hall itself may also contribute to the the sustainability of the overall design. The team proposes a 150 kW solar parasol over the roof, creating an inviting rooftop public space with great views . . ."
Reference: Smart Cities Dive.com 
________________________________________________________________________

Before you read anymore the propaganda-blitz from City Hall officials or spoon-fed media campaigns, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO LISTEN-AND-WATCH THIS 7-MINUTE VIDEO

The discussions will help readers of this blog understand what is really at stake and at issue in all this "Smart City" talk that we have only heard one side from here in Mesa

Toronto Residents Face Off Against Google over Waterfront 'Smart City'

Published on May 16, 2019

Views: 4,408 at time of upload to this blog

_________________________________________________________________________


"Smart Growth Community"

< and what about this -  ain't happening - in that vacant Valley Metro Park-N-Ride lot at Sycamore Station that used to be the end-of-the-line for Valley Metro Light rail & Public Transit. Looks like most of the plans have been included not there, but at the Mesa Drive/Main Street Light Rail Platform in a 9.2-acre Massive Mormon Makeover of Downtown Mesa injecting a small-scale version of City Creek from Salt Lake City.Mesa Eyes Smart Growth Community Plan

Posted on November 4, 2016
 by Rachel in Planning & Development // 0 Comments

"Once the end of the line for light rail, nearly 21-acres around Mesa’s Sycamore Station are poised to become a signature development area under a Smart Growth Community Plan currently under review by the city. . .
The plan intends to create a new community within a pedestrian shed of a quarter-mile radius of the station, with walkways and thoroughfares to promote multi-modal transportation and minimize vehicular traffic. By adding significant density to the area, the plan intends to create a destination local that will increase property values and spur further development. . .
The preliminary plan calls for the seven parcels to be arranged as follows:

• 2 mid-rise multifamily buildings of 300-400 units
• A Main Street mixed-use/townhouse building with 35-50 units
• A townhouse and courtyard building with 35-50 units
• A parking garage
• A 3-5 level, 125-200 unit senior living complex, and
• An extended care/educational building that may serve as a possible expansion for the Arizona College facility on Dobson.

Phasing has not been finalized for the development."
Ref: http://azbex.com/mesa-eyes-smart-growth-community-plan/ 
________________________________________________________________________

Whoopsies!  Let's take "Arizona College facility" plan and try to squeeze the possible expansion not of that, but let's make a sales-pitch for bringing a new "satellite campus" for ASU Tempe into the heart of downtown Mesa to fill in the scattered parking lots around City Hall. The first $200M-scheme for 3 new buildings failed in 2016 (even with a $500,000+ privately-financed public relations campaign) to hoodwink Mesa taxpayers who REJECTED IT.
Let's try again in 2018, with "a conceptual rendering" of an imaginary make-believe one building - a NOT so VIRTUAL REALITY preposterous presentation foisting once again for public consumption for one more sales-pitch. This time the trick worked!

Yeah. Wrap it up with public safety, and it's good-to-go tricking taxpayers with a smaller dollar amount to finance ASU when the Board of Regents could have financed the entire deal itself. 
The image you see to the right is the actual site for either a 3-or-4 story building - they haven't figured that out yet - on the NWC of Centennial Drive/Pepper Place.
It is a small city-owned parking lot with a constrained perimeter footprint in the back of the 1970's-Era old one-story City Internet Technology Building that might get an historical designation somehow.

The real site is nothing like the one shown -  virtual-imagined - and meant to inspire "pretty picture" you see inserted above.

< From Main Street looking through beyond Pepper Place, this is the parking lot next to City Hall that sits on an asphalt-covered Bureau of Land Reclamation project.
It's now been included in the 2018 General Bond Proposition, for a few more million bucks to make it "a plaza".
What's the problem?? City planners were in such a rush they never thought about all the costly upgrades for visual gaming - millions more...so they had to hire a "Contractor-at-Risk" adding about a $900,000 contract award to figure out what is needed and how much more the ASU proposition can cost.
_________________________________________________________________________
Scroll down farther and see how most of the "preliminary plans" that never got phased in or finalized, somehow got "REVEALED" last Spring by a For-Profit Affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter-Day Saints for a 9.2-acre site in the Mesa Temple Area. They stated publicly they worked with city officials for years (behind-the-scenes) to transform that site into a smaller scale version of the 23-acre City Creek development in Salt Lake City.
No financial details or disclosures were ever made public, although all the infrastructure was taxpayer-funded for the private development.
__________________________________________________________________________

(Inserted for editorial comment)

HOW IS MESA A SMART CITY??
Join the conversation!
Have a question or idea? Connect with city officials at
mesasmartcity@mesaaz.govWhat is a “Smart City”? (here's "the official story)

"In short, a Smart City is one in which the latest technologies and data-driven insights are leveraged to improve the quality of life, civic engagement, economic development, service delivery, and community vibrancy for its citizens, businesses and visitors.

A Smart City is actually about people versus tech itself.

A Smarter Mesa is where modernized communications infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT) connected smart systems and data work together to provide responsive solutions that enhance the live, work & play experiences of people in our community. . . "

Ref: https://www.mesaaz.gov/about-us/smart-city 
WHOA! Now watch-and-listen again to what citizens in Toronto are saying about the some of same stuff . . .
_________________________________________________________________________
Readers of this blog https://mesazona.blogspot.com can see all the posts that have been published about these three projects by using the SEARCHBOX accessing the underlined link.

• Smart City Mesa
• Massive Mormon Makeover of Downtown Mesa
• Mesa LDS Temple Transformation
• ASU @ Mesa City Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Return of Nigel Farage!

Plenty of options Hehe.

Should We Worry About What's Next Here In Mesa?

Don't know about you, dear readers, but we've got more than just a few things to get really serious about instead of thinking about how to use the city's logo as a visual tool.
From Fortune Magazine yesterday:
San Francisco Bans Facial-Recognition Tools for Its Police and Other City Departments
By Kartikay Mehrotra and Bloomberg May 14, 2019
(It all started with automated License-Plate Readers) 
_________________________________________________________________________                   

"Concerned that some new surveillance technologies may be too intrusive, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban the use of facial-recognition tools by its police and other municipal departments.

The Board of Supervisors approved the Stop Secret Surveillance ordinance Tuesday, culminating a re-examination of city policy that began with the false arrest of Denise Green in 2014. Green’s Lexus was misidentified as a stolen vehicle by an automated license-plate reader. She was pulled over by police, forced out of the car, and onto her knees at gunpoint by six officers. The city spent $500,000 to settle lawsuits linked to her detention.

Since then, San Francisco officials determined flaws in the license-plate reader were just part of a wider potential for abuse with Big Brother-type surveillance capabilities. With new technologies increasingly making it possible to identify people, places, and objects, the city decided to impose a higher bar for snooping tools. . .

Significant Challenges

The U.S. Department of Justice said the technology is not always accurate and that implementation poses significant challenges to civil rights.

“The potential for misuse of face recognition information may expose agencies participating in such systems to civil liability and negative public perceptions,” according to a December 2017 report on face recognition by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. “The lack of rules and protocols also raises concerns that law enforcement agencies will use face recognition systems to systematically, and without human intervention, identify members of the public and monitor individuals’ actions and movements.”
_______________________________________________________________

Unmasking the Realities of Facial Recognition

By Jake Laperruque | Filed under analysis | December 05, 2018

What is facial recognition?

Facial recognition is a method of using computer programs to identify individuals based on the features of their faces. Facial recognition systems create a unique “face print” (similar to a fingerprint) based on a pre-identified photo (or set of photos) for an individual. These systems can then rapidly scan an image of an unknown face against all the faceprints in their databases, and provide an identification if there is a match. These databases can contain millions of photos and programs can scan through them to identify a match in less than a second.

Facial recognition is also a looming privacy threat. If cameras were placed near sensitive locations such as houses of worship, political rallies, protests, or doctors’ offices, facial recognition could effortlessly catalog the intimate details of individuals’ lives.

Is this something coming in the future, or is it being used now?

. . . law enforcement agencies across the United States are also rapidly adopting facial-recognition surveillance.
Many local and state police forces use facial recognition systems, although details of their use are often shrouded in secrecy. The largest facial recognition surveillance system in the United States is operated by the FBI. The FBI’s Next Generation ID system maintains a facial recognition database with photos of more than 117 million Americans. The FBI conducts on average 4,055 searches per month to identify individuals with its facial recognition systems. Its database is composed primarily of driver’s-license photo databases cities and states provided to the FBI in exchange for use of the Bureau’s facial recognition surveillance system. According to a report by the Georgetown Center on Privacy and Technology, at least one in four of the nation’s thousands of state and local police departments have the ability to run facial recognition searches using the FBI’s or other systems. However, while facial recognition surveillance is being hastily deployed, oversight rules and basic limits on its use are lagging behind.

What other issues does facial recognition raise?

In addition to the risk of police misidentifying and acting against innocent people, facial recognition surveillance could allow the government to easily stockpile highly sensitive information about our lives. With an automated system that can identify everyone simply by their face, the government could use facial recognition to effectively end anonymity in our public lives. Facial recognition surveillance could rapidly identify thousands of people at a protest or political rally. It could catalog everyone entering or exiting a house of worship or medical facility. It could track if suspected whistleblowers are entering a media facility or meeting with a journalist. Participation in constitutionally protected activities like these would be chilled as people become fearful of the government’s potential use of facial recognition to target them for investigation, prosecution, or harassment.

 

LINK > Project On Government Oversight

 

 

 

 

Bloomberg: Bringing Truth Into The Light

"So even if you hate politics, and there are a lot of reasons to hate politics these days, you will have to engage in political dialogue. . . "

Class of 2019: Bring Truth to Light

Don’t be distracted,
don’t pass the buck,
and other lessons for 21st-century citizenship.
 

By Michael R. Bloomberg    

‎May‎ ‎17‎, ‎2019‎ ‎7‎:‎52‎ ‎AM

__________________________________________________________________________

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion-class-of-2019

__________________________________________________________________________

"Ignoring data and facts and defending indefensible positions happens in both parties. But during these last few years, it has enabled new levels of dishonesty and wrongdoing and it has reached a point that, I believe, no democracy can long sustain. . .
Truth will prevail where pains are taken to bring it to light. And with truth comes strength. . .

The pains taken by Americans to bring  truth to light are why secession failed in 1794 and 1861. The pains taken by abolitionists and suffragettes and civil rights marchers and marriage equality advocates brought America’s core truth to light. All people are created equal.

Today, the necessity of taking pains to bring truth to light is greater than ever because the tools for spreading lies are more powerful than ever.
Those pains are the burden of citizenship in a democracy
When people romanticize the past, remember something my mother, who lived to 102, told me: The good old days were never that good.

Finally, when leaders wrap themselves in the flag, or the national anthem, and try to make you think that critics of our government don’t love and respect our country, remember: Real patriotism isn’t about honoring symbols. It is about bringing truth to light and, when action is required, standing up and taking action.

In other words: Real patriotism is about taking pains.

> So take pains to understand the other side and to expose lies.

> Take pains to reject scapegoating and xenophobia and not to fall for easy answers.

> And take pains to hold our leaders accountable for their words and deeds.

If you do that, I have no doubt that truth — and America — will prevail.

Ready-Or-Not? To-Watch Mesa Morning Live for May 2019

Sponsor Guest 3 Views
Duration 09:23

Hey! Who's this again featured in a post on this hyperlocal blog site? Now what do you imagine John Giles is here for?

It's Hizzoner John Giles in the same suit-and-tie at the Grand Opening of The Potato Barn. This is from the live taping of that less-than-popular Mesa Morning Live. It is unusual for most of these segments to attract at the most 25 views. Some do and some don't. All these shows are available on YouTube, if you want to take the time to watch.

LINK > Mesa Morning Live May 2019

This once-a-month early morning talk show produced by the Mesa of Chamber of Commerce and "the brainchild" of Sally Jo Harrison, is meant to be humorous and entertaining just like the Late Night David Letterman Show that's been off-the-air for more than 10 years.  Your MesaZona blogger doesn't ever remember David Letterman's Late Night Show being anything like these very early-morning taping at 05:45 a.m. where there's an admission charge of $30 for non-members and $20 for members of The Chamber - the David Letterman Show issued free tickets to anyone who wanted to be in the audience that lined-up for hours ahead of time on inside the New York City Studio.

_________________________________________________________________________

MML May 2019 was uploaded 21 hours ago: Here's the Line-Up of the segments

This Day in History No Views

 

Sponsor Guest: John Giles 3 Views

 

Featured Guest: Dave Munsey 1 View

Community Spotlight: Netta Shaw No Views

Mystery Guest: Marc Garcia No Views