East Valley Tribune Executive Editor Doesn't Dig Very Deep

Paul Maryniak, EVT's Executive Editor, is in charge of the top stories that the Times Media Group chooses to  get published for public consumption.16 days after Mesa Mayor John Giles was running-off-at-the-mouth that Mesa was one of the top Best & Worse Well-Run Cities in the country, Maryniak did score some points with your MesaZona blogger when he noted buried-deep into an article on 17 July that Mesa did rate the dubious distinction of first place in one of the “worst” categories: #1 Worst Polluted City

That distinction frequently flies under the radar even though Mesa has frequently violated federal Clean Air Standards for far too many years time-and-time again as you can see from this table shown at the left > Mesa has risen to the top for the dirtiest air in the entire country. There's no doubt about that fact now. Looks like it's another one of inconvenient truths conveniently ignored - it's just not an issue here in Mesa. . . it's taboo to talk about it.

It's a toxic topic for city officials to take on > Dirty Air is a Public Health Hazard.

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THAT'S NOT A TOXIC TOPIC ON THIS BLOG.

Here are 3 posts:

1 07 July 2019

Raving Mad-About-Mesa: Say Again #19 For What?

Mayor Jivin' John Giles was 'running-off at-the-mouth' the other day raving that  Mesa was one of the Best-Run Cities in America. Looks like the former track-star and ambulance chaser-accident law/personal injury attorney needs to pause.
He cherry-picked just one of six key categories - Mesa ranks the next-to-last in the second tier of 20 cities in the Overall City Rank. It ranks the Worst #1 for Pollution and Infrastructure, #72 for Financial Stability, and #59 for Education. Let's for the sake of disclosure, knock the mayor down-a-notch-or-two. In the interest of holding the mayor transparent and accountable or responsible for what he says, there's a few things to grab your attention to keep it fair and balanced: data.

Mayors - and city councils - come and go. They get elected for six-year or four-year terms. Some run-out their terms in office and some resign ahead-of-time for various reasons.
There is, however, one non-elected high-salaried city employee who is the city's Chief Executive Officer.
< Mesa City Manager Chris Brady.
He's the one who runs the city from inside City Hall.
He's been doing his job since getting hired-away from San Antonio as an "outsider" in 2005. 15 years is enough time to have created a track-record. The 2019 Wallet Hub Survey says more about the city manager's performance in fifteen years than the mayor's five years on the city council.
In evaluating how well a city is run, what are the top five indicators?
Why are some cities better run than others?
What can citizens do to increase the transparency and accountability of local government?
Are some forms of city government -  a city manager or city council - more effective than others?

Read more > https://mesazona.blogspot.com/2019/07

 

2 15 October 2018

Environmental Excellence Award For Mesa? NO:

Mesa Ranked #93 on EcoWatch List

Ooops! Sorry Mr. Mayor, but that news in a report last week from Wallet Hub does not jibe with your goofy Jive. 
It's  nothing to brag about after your badgering at the start of last Thursday's Mesa City Council for someone to "just brag a little more" over the city's finalist mention in the Parks & Trails category runner-up mention at AZ Forward's  Environmental Excellence Awards 
Mesa ranks 93 out of 100 cities - near the bottom of list - in The Top Ten Green Cities in America

Read more > https://mesazona.blogspot.com/2018/10

 

3 14 February 2017

More 'FAKE NEWS' from Mesa Mayor John Giles? ...Everything

On top of another ranking from financial-news website Wallet Hub last week noted in a post here last week that Mesa placed #45 in the lowest tier of all 50 states for good places to raise families, another study was released yesterday placing Mesa #77/150 for 2017's Healthiest Cities . . . but why bother about data at all when the mayor likes to be the cheerleader on the sidelines with his own self-interest?

He likes to be at the center of things in his own self-created bubble surrounded by the FOG [Friends of Giles], admittedly without a clue for good ideas. Going into his third year in office, he's yet to figure out what's next. One of the published highlights of his #SOTC17 speech on 31 January in front of some 600+ people attending breakfast at the Mesa Convention Center was something called 'My NextMesa' his NextMesa? Whatever he did or did not try - or succeed - in doing in his first two years is a new community engagement initiative coming soon. Per usual NO DETAILS

Read more > https://mesazona.blogspot.com/2017/02

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GET THIS STATEMENT for who to hold accountable for the dirty air we breathe + for Mesa as the #1 Worst City for Pollution: Scott Bouchie

"I think local government is where everything happens,"  said Scott Bouchie, Mesa environmental management and sustainability director. . . as it turns out he said that four years ago and it is only getting worse not better "Something will get enacted by Congress, something like the Clean Air Act, but when you look at who actually is responsible for making sure these things get done … most of the time it comes down to the local level."

Reference:

East Valley cities lag in national sustainability study

Jessica Boehm, The Republic | azcentral.com Published 10:46 a.m. MT Oct. 26, 2015

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WELLBEING

Gallup tracks wellbeing in metro areas using two-year rolling averages, allowing for larger sample sizes that improve the statistical accuracy of the data and allow more areas to be reported each year.

https://news.gallup.com/ 2017-2018 poll 

The Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest possible wellbeing and 100 represents the highest possible wellbeing. The Well-Being Index score for the U.S. and for each metro area is based on scores within each of the five essential elements of wellbeing:

• Career: liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals
• Social: having supportive relationships and love in your life
• Financial: managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
• Community: liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community
• Physical: having good health and enough energy to get things done daily

 The manifestation of national trends locally is not insignificant; U.S. cities are at the front lines of American wellbeing and in many ways provide the best environments to improve it. City leaders are often able to create and sustain a culture of wellbeing in ways that leaders of more geographically diverse states cannot. This is critical, as wellbeing can have a very real effect on a wide variety of outcomes for a city.

For example, cities with low wellbeing, as a whole, have residents with significantly higher obesity rates and double the heart attack incidence, thus incurring substantially higher healthcare costs.

Well-Being Index and Full Element Rankings for U.S. Cities, 2017-2018

Out of 156 Reportable Metropolitan Statistical Areas

PHOENIX-MESA-SCOTTSDALE

 

	Sample Size	Well-Being Index Score	Physical Rank	Community Rank	Financial Rank	Social Rank	Career Rank
Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL	295	65.7	13	1	1	1	2
Salinas, CA	295	64.6	2	30	36	31	3
Boulder, CO	338	64.5	1	9	19	21	39
Santa Rosa, CA	474	64.2	3	4	16	27	77
Ann Arbor, MI	378	64.2	8	13	2	20	57
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL	630	63.8	24	20	5	4	9
Fort Collins, CO	398	63.8	5	3	21	58	84
Lancaster, PA	517	63.7	30	7	12	12	15
North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL	830	63.6	21	6	8	7	19
Asheville, NC	524	63.6	34	2	23	11	32
Port St. Lucie, FL	430	63.4	14	27	7	26	13
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	341	63.4	9	31	35	41	55
Provo-Orem, UT	600	63.3	47	23	14	8	29
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA	2512	63.3	10	26	33	34	22
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO	2797	63.2	12	40	24	60	40
Urban Honolulu, HI Metro	694	63.2	41	33	4	16	11
Salisbury, MD-DE	394	63.2	37	17	40	5	18
El Paso, TX	524	63.1	31	18	129	15	6
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	3516	63.0	11	57	110	6	7
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	1288	63.0	6	92	3	51	70
Lincoln, NE	415	63.0	70	15	11	36	14
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	5378	62.9	19	64	20	22	43
Portland-South Portland, ME	608	62.9	27	10	47	17	62
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA	3645	62.8	7	68	15	32	98
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	4240	62.8	15	29	26	25	103
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	3656	62.8	33	25	10	59	71
Ocala, FL	343	62.7	98	5	48	3	4
Manchester-Nashua, NH	383	62.7	17	63	31	13	60
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	682	62.6	16	19	37	101	82
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA	704	62.6	69	12	9	95	50
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT	783	62.5	4	90	78	10	73
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI	918	62.5	61	14	28	53	79
Austin-Round Rock, TX	1763	62.5	36	35	46	57	63
Colorado Springs, CO	702	62.5	22	48	44	86	46
Salt Lake City, UT	1169	62.4	35	59	30	79	38
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC	548	62.4	49	37	41	30	23
Madison, WI	735	62.4	23	22	18	127	112
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN	1768	62.3	87	34	25	40	30
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	5427	62.2	56	46	70	50	31
Chattanooga, TN-GA	518	62.2	59	16	91	55	72
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	7610	62.2	18	83	92	56	42
Raleigh, NC	1204	62.2	57	36	34	38	95
Winston-Salem, NC	552	62.1	53	21	59	33	122
Vallejo-Fairfield, CA	307	62.1	20	112	29	54	78
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ	3531	62.1	43	56	65	47	33

 

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ	3531	62.1	43	56	65	47	33

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How dirty is your air? This map shows you

By Angel Hsu and Alisa Zomer on Aug 5, 2015

It shows air pollution problem spots not just in the U.S. but around the world. It color-codes high-resolution air pollution data

Reference: https://grist.org

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TRACKING > this image taken during "the rush hour" commuting back to Suburbia is yesterday from Air Now  Forecast Discussion: [View the ADEQ Hourly Forecast for Phoenix]A lot to talk about when it comes to the weather today. First, strong westerly winds moved into the region yesterday afternoon. These winds were likely generated by a large area of virga over southwestern Arizona. As rain evaporates before reaching the ground (virga) it creates a cold pool of air that drops and spreads out when it hits the ground producing strong winds. These winds produced plenty of dust that moved through Phoenix and caused one monitor (West 43rd) to exceeded the health standard.
Today, the monsoon high is still anchored near the Four Corners allowing moisture to move into the region from the southeast. This set-up will result in another decent chance of showers and thunderstorms across the higher terrain of northern, eastern and southeastern Arizona this afternoon (especially as those areas are seeing clouds quickly clear out this morning). As these storms move into the lower elevation, expecting them to quickly collapse as the lower elevations still do not have enough moisture to sustain thunderstorms. Outflows moving into the Valley this afternoon from the east and southeast are possible and based on how much dust the winds yesterday were able to pick up, it will not take much for a large dust storm to be generated. For today, not fully expecting a large wall of dust given the current set-up; however, tomorrow is looking like a more active day especially across southeastern Arizona. As a result, will issue a PM-10 High Pollution Advisory for Phoenix tomorrow. With the said, will still have an increase in PM-10 this afternoon/evening.

As for ozone, we did see some big spikes yesterday before the wind moved in, so the potential is there for elevated levels of ozone. The key will be the timing of any outflows that move into the region. Yesterday was another great example of timing winds, as concentrations at some monitors were in the 80ppb range early in the afternoon but as soon as the winds moved in they quickly dropped as the ozone plume was disrupted.

Currently, expecting ozone concentrations to be the highest today and Monday. The Health Watch will stand for today, with an Ozone High Pollution Advisory possible on Monday.

this is today - a Saturday

Air Quality Index (AQI) 102
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups

Health Message: The following groups should reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion: People with heart or lung disease, Children and older adults. Everyone else should limit prolonged or heavy exertion. ACTION DAY

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The study also identified the five best and five worst cities in a variety of categories, including quality of roads, percentage of the population living in poverty, unemployment, crime rate, infant mortality, graduation rates and per capita long-term local government debt.

Mesa made none of the “top 5” lists in those categories.

Mesa is the 19th best-run city – kind of – in new study             

By Paul Maryniak, Executive Editor Jul 11, 2019

". . . Digging deeper into the survey, WalletHub ranked Mesa 55th in quality of city services.

“We can learn how well city officials manage and spend public funds by comparing the quality of services residents receive against the city’s total budget,” WalletHub states.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARKET DATA: Current Phoenix Metropolitan Real Estate

East Valley Market Update July 10, 2019
The current situation is remarkable given that, in mid February, 2019 was running lower than 8 of the earlier years (2005, 2010-2013, 2016-2018).
July 8 - We saw only 1,831 new listings added during the first week of July across all areas & types. This is down 8% from last year and continues the weak supply trend that started in June. This is unusual and is causing more problems for buyers. The gap between supply and demand is getting wider. . . For the last 8 weeks, the monthly sales rate has recorded new all-time records for the time of year.
The closest rivals were the years 2005 and 2011
This is the greatest imbalance in favor of sellers that we have seen in almost 6 years.
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READ MORE FROM THIS SOURCE: market-data
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July 4 - Active listing counts are still plummeting and they have been low for so long that it can be difficult to place them in proper context. We thought it would be instructive to compare current levels with peak levels and long term averages.
Mesa, Chandler, Glendale, Gilbert and Surprise are all below 50% of their long term average
July 2 - In June, the average monthly rent per sq. ft. was $1.01 for listings closed through ARMLS. This the first time we have recorded a figure over $1.
In June 2006 the average monthly rent was only 71 cents per sq. ft., so rents have increased by 42% since then. In comparison the average purchase price per sq. ft. has moved from $188.53 to $172.02 since June 2006, a fall of 9%.
So average rent has increased 42% while purchase prices have fallen 9% since June 2006 on a cost per sq. ft. basis.
No wonder most investors are feeling pleased with themselves. Tenants are not doing so well. Buying in 2006 or 2007 was obviously a bad idea, but since 2009 purchasing a home in Greater Phoenix has generally proven to be an excellent investment compared with renting.
July 1 - The housing market in Greater Phoenix is not content with just recovering from the slight air pocket in demand that occurred in 4Q 2018 and 1Q 2019. It is now setting up to be the hottest it has been since 2005, As an example we have just 1.9 months of supply across all areas & types as of July 1, 2019. This is the lowest number at the start of any month since October 2005.
June 30 - For an analyst, the housing market is more interesting now than it has been for at least 5 years. This is because it is doing things it does not usually do.
June 26 - Despite the Greater Phoenix housing market making new record highs for sales volume and pricing, the national media greeted the S&P/Case-Shiller® Home Price Index® release for April 2019 with a surprisingly negative interpretation. I wonder how they would react if prices actually went down. Not much chance of that happening here any time soon, but here are the city rankings:
Month over month change:

1. Boston +1.86%
2. Detroit +1.62%
3. San Francisco +1.59%
4. Chicago +1.20%
5. Portland +1.12%
6. Seattle +1.06%
7. Charlotte +1.01%
8. Minneapolis +1.01%
9. Los Angeles +0.99%
10. Atlanta +0.98%
11. Washington +0.90%
12. Denver +0.80%
13. Phoenix +0.78%
14. Tampa +0.70%
15. Cleveland +0.69%
16. Dallas +0.63%
17. Las Vegas +0.58%
18. San Diego +0.50%

These are big increases month to month and the US average was 0.93%. However the media described it as flat lining, preferring to focus on the Case-Shiller seasonally-adjusted numbers (which I consider close to meaningless). The non-seasonally adjusted numbers look strong and Phoenix could only manage 13th place and slightly below the national average.
Year over year change:

1. Las Vegas +7.1%
2. Phoenix +6.0%
3. Tampa +5.6%
4. Atlanta +4.9%
5. Charlotte +4.2%
6. Miami +3.9%
7. Boston +3.9%
8. Denver +3.8%
9. Detroit +3.5%
10. Cleveland +3.5%
11. Minneapolis +3.0%
12. Dallas +2.7%
13. Washington +2.6%
14. Portland +2.6%
15. New York +2.1%
16. Chicago +1.9%
17. San Francisco +1.8%
18. Los Angeles +1.5%
19. San Diego +0.8%
20. Seattle +0.0%

 

IM a BIG Fan of Jonathan Pie - He Knows How To Dish It All Out!

Let's bring it on!
Right here in Mesa
A STAGGERING TOUR DE FORCE OF RIGHTEOUS VISCERAL RAGE
May I suggest a great venue:
Mesa Arts Center
Who wants to start a campaign?
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Please contact Casey Blake
 

OUTRAGEOUS: Just "Another Deal" from City Manager Chris Brady



Time to Wake-Up Mesa! Evidence is piling-up big time

After murder acquittal, Mesa ex-cop Philip Brailsford made a pension deal

Posted: 6:39 PM, Jul 10, 2019

"Two years after he shot an unarmed man and was fired, former police officer Philip “Mitch” Brailsford was rehired by the City of Mesa in order to obtain a special pension. Now, Brailsford is considered medically retired, not fired, according to a Mesa city spokesman. . .
< The Spokesman: City Manager Chris Brady
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Report from ABC15 News yesterday.
Here's more of the story
"Brailsford pulled the trigger in the January 2016 police shooting of Daniel Shaver. Officers responded to a La Quinta hotel after they received a call about a man with a rifle pointed out a window. Shaver did have a pellet gun, which he used for work, in his room. However, he was unarmed during an exchange with officers in the hallway.
Brailsford was fired from the police department after the shooting for violations of department policy. He was also charged with murder, but he was later acquitted.
Brailsford appealed his termination. 

Later in 2018, he signed an agreement with the Mesa City Manager’s Office. The agreement, obtained by ABC15, included that Brailsford would be rehired temporarily to allow him to apply for an accidental disability pension and medical retirement. The terms prevented Brailsford from performing any job duties or getting paid during the period of reemployment.
"He was eligible for retirement benefits, so he applied for them," City Manager Chris Brady said.
HOLD ON THERE'S MORE TO THIS STORY AND VIDEO
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"More than two years had passed since Brailsford's termination, so he would not have qualified without the special agreement to be rehired. Mesa city officials claim the whole process was held in "abeyance," or put on hold, while Brailsford stood trial. . . 
The local five-member PSPRS board, which includes Brady, voted in October 2018 to grant Brailsford an accidental disability pension. physical or mental condition . . .
"He [Brailsford] had a PTSD claim prior to his termination, so in fairness, he was given the opportunity to make that appeal to the board," Brady said
Brailsford, who is 28 years old, receives a monthly check for $2,569.21.
He will receive the pension for the rest of his life, unless the local board requests a new medical diagnosis and it shows a recovery from PTSD symptoms.
According to Brailsford's agreement with the city, he will also receive a "neutral reference" if a future employer calls.
Through its insurance provider, Mesa will also spend up to $3 million for Brailsford to defend himself and pay settlements in lawsuits related to the Shaver shooting.
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You can read the entire ABC15 News report by Melissa Blasius ... Take the time to do that and see the videos for yourself how elusive and slippery City Mananger Chris Brady answers her questions 
ABC15 News