Wednesday, August 21, 2019

"Not a Good Fit" ... Tangling With City Manager Chris Brady Could Cost You Your Job

Well, at least one person who's a staff writer for the East Valley Tribune has been hearing some static. Jim Walsh has got to be careful treading into that territory filled with pit-falls by carefully choosing his words to avoid getting into being a target in Chris Brady's cross-hairs. Walsh nonetheless somehow manages to crush his headline story in the guise of respect for history
THE REAL BONES OF CONTENTION UNDER THIS STORY OVER A CITY OFFICIAL QUITTING
Official quits, questions Mesa’s respect for history             



"Kate Singleton seemed like the perfect person to rebuild Mesa’s historic preservation program when she started her job with the city in April.
She drew accolades for her work over a 41-year career devoted to preserving history in Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin, Texas.
But less than four months on the job, Singleton resigned — accusing city officials of hindering her attempts to overhaul Mesa’s outdated preservation program and refusing to listen to her ideas.
"I have encountered reluctance to change or strengthen regulations, even when that was the logical approach and required by the city’s status as a certified local government and federal law,’’ Singleton wrote in a stinging letter of resignation to Planning Director Nana Appiah dated July 29 with an effective date of Aug. 4.
“It appears the city administration does not fully understand what a good, well run historic preservation program should be and there is ongoing surveillance from those in the city who are concerned that the program would disrupt the status quo, a factor that has hampered the program.’’ 
Mesa City Manager Chris Brady said Mesa has had a strong commitment toward historic preservation for decades and he can’t understand why anyone would question it.
“There’s no question about it. You can see it in our actions,’’ Brady said.
He said Singleton “wasn’t a good fit’’ and was trying to expand her authority by advocating for historical reviews on city bond projects, which are not required by law.
> Singleton’s resignation has upset other preservations, notably members of the city Historic Preservation Advisory Board.
 
> It also has illustrated a tension between advocates of a more robust historic preservation program and most city officials’ desire to push forward with projects they say will breathe new life into some of Mesa’s deteriorating neighborhoods while delivering much-needed facilities to newer ones.
. . . “I felt like every time I brought something up, I was told, ‘We can’t do that, we don’t do it that way in Mesa,’’’ Singleton said. “I think the city might need to do some soul searching. They really need to decide if they want to do this.’’
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QUESTIONS ALSO HAVE RISEN OVER THE NEWLY-HIRED CITY  PLANNING DIRECTOR WHO ASSUMED OFFICE IN JANUARY 2019, eight months ago. 
In Walsh's writing, Mr. Appiah was defended or at least supported somewhat by statements included that were made on the record by District 4 City Councilmember Jennifer Duff who said she is convinced Appiah is committed to improving the historic preservation program.
“I think Nana has historic preservation as a priority,’’ Duff said, adding that he needs more time as the city seeks a replacement for Singleton.
Duff, a longtime advocate of historic preservation, said the city needs to find the right person who can combine a knowledge of historic preservation with an ability to navigate the nuances of city government.
“We didn’t have a historic preservation officer for 10 years."
A lot of things fell through the cracks,’’ Duff said. “I think it’s been a rough 10-12 years.
. . . David Marek, Chairperson of the Historic Preservation & Development Board,  said he is concerned that the city apparently does not have a standard procedure for running development proposals through the historic preservation officer.
He noted that Hohokam canals were found, documented and protected during the construction of Mesa Riverview a decade ago. 
He said the same procedures should be followed as the city builds a series of major public improvements in the next few years. 
. . . But Brady said there is no need to change city policies. 
 
Chris Cody, assistant director of the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office, said the Mesa program needs an overhaul, and pledged to help in any way possible.  
“You are in desperate need of an update,’’ Cody told the board at a recent meeting.
He described the present Mesa regulation as “a dormant ordinance.’’
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LET'S GET TO THE NITTY-GRITTY:
"Brady strongly disagreed with Cody’s description of Mesa’s ordinance, saying it was used when City Creek Reserve documented the historical significance of 13 homes along Udall Street.
Those homes were demolished to make room for The Residences at Main Street, a redevelopment project west of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple.
BLOGGER NOTE:
The money behind the Mormon message - The Salt Lake Tribune
https://archive.sltrib.com › article
Oct 5, 2012 -
Built for about $2 billion, the City Creek Center stands across the street from the ... Hawaii Reserve, for example, owns or manages more than 7,000 acres on ... refer to them as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Holdings Inc." ... Romney and others at Bain Capital LLC, the private equity firm he ...
The City Creek Center is a mixed-use development with an upscale open-air shopping center, office and residential buildings, fountain, and simulated creek near Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
It is an undertaking by Property Reserve, Inc. (the commercial real estate .... Management Associates, LLC., a sister company of City Creek Reserve Inc.
09 July 2018
Mesa City Council Meetings (2) Mon 09 July 2018 
An earlier start today for the Study Session, allowing about an hour.
The regular meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:45 with 29 items.
> Item 3 has 15 Contracts worth millions of dollars
> Item 4 has six Resolutions
> Item 5 has   3 Ordinances

Links have been inserted and provided so you can find out more information and detailsRELATED CONTENT ON THIS BLOG
See Ordinance 5-a
31 May 2018
Who/What Rules Mesa: The Intersection of Finance & For-Profit Religion

Was that "Vision Thing" and "Imagine Mesa" all a Hoax? It was amusing to say the very least even when there was a position created to make Jeff McVay The Director of Downtown Transformation. He's got not too much to show for that. Then again, former mayor Scott Smith wanted to create the impression that downtown Mesa - The Old Donut-Hole - was boring . . . with the current mayor John Giles now serving his second year in office, he's yet to deliver on his promise to make Mesa vibrant and exciting.
During the more than 12 years of tenure for Chris Brady, the high-salaried Chief Executive Officer of the City of Mesa, public debt has mushroomed from less than $40M in 2006 to over $170M now in 2018. . . that again is not much to show for the investment of taxpayers dollars downtown starting with a 1% QUALITY OF LIFE sales tax to finance the $100-Million Mesa Arts Center that opened in 2005 to create what was called an Arts-and-Entertainment District. In 2012 taxpayers again got aboard and approved more tax increases to bring Valley Metro Light Rail Service into the Central Business District - The Old Donut-Hole now qualifies as a distressed neighborhood.  Whoops! Make that an Opportunity Zone!
 
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Mesa's Municipal Bond Juggernaut > Rampant Land Speculation: "It's Just Dirt"

Just in case you missed Michael Kennington last week at a Mesa City Council Study Session for a rushed presentation on Item 6-i, you might wonder why the rush?
If you're missing a few details, can't fill-in-the-blanks, or connect-the-dots, there are good reasons why: the deals, zoning changes and title transfers on some over 11,000 acres of city-owned land conveying what are now called "obsolete water-rights" were done over time*
It's time to PLAY BALL and clean up all that MuniBond debt from 2013 to finance Sloan Park, that Spring Training Ground-Zero Complex $200M "Field of Dreams" for the conservative Republican Chicago Billionaire-Ricketts Family. Pitching that deal scored on the promise to sell-off the water rights on the 11,443-acre Mesa Water Farm in 3 phases. The last one was completed in June 2019.
The last bag of money will essentially remove the millions in debt obligations from the city's book by establishing a new escrow account....there's more to the story than that - much more. Readers of this blog might want to go back and watch the uploaded video from last week's study session.
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* BLOGGER NOTE:
Readers of this blog can certainly dig deeper using the Search Box at the top of this blog page or the one in the right-hand margin: Yes, it does take work and time.
Your MesaZona blogger isn't going to make-it-easy for you.
You can type-in: Saints Holding, Natalie Lewis, land barons, Pinal Land Holdings, or New Zion, or Heritage Park.
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Here's just a take-off point to help you get a grip:
The final buyer?
Saints Holding Company
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This report from Bloomberg helps explain that:
‘It’s Just Dirt’: Anything Goes in Today’s Muni Bond Market
By     
Updated on
". . . The Federal Reserve’s decision to lower benchmark borrowing costs is keeping the U.S. awash in cheap credit. That has fueled a surge in corporate borrowing, bankrolled takeovers of debt-laden companies and, increasingly, sparked concern that some of those leveraged loans have become too risky. That angst has also seeped into the $3.8 trillion market for municipal bonds, a corner of the financial world that traditionally has served as a refuge for individual investors seeking steady, low-risk returns.
With the steep drop in yields wiping out the tax advantages of some tax-exempt securities, investors are hunting for higher payouts. That’s driven yields on the riskiest tax-exempt securities down to about 4%, the lowest since at least 2003, and in turn spurred an increase in sales from the most default-prone segments of the market. Shopping malls, centers for novel health-care treatments, factories seeking to turn trash into fuel and speculative real-estate developments like the one outside of Denver -- all have recently sold tax-exempt debt through local government agencies.
Yields on high-yield muni bonds have reached record lows
Yields on high-yield muni bonds have reached record lows
At the same time, investors are receiving less return for the risk, with the gap between yields on top-rated and junk-grade debt holding near where they stood at the end of 2007.
“There is so much money coming in -- even if 90% of the market rejects it, if 10% wants to buy, they are able to get it done,” said Dan Solender, a partner at Lord, Abbett & Co.
The lowest-rated municipal securities have rallied this year, delivering gains of nearly 10%, as plunging yields worldwide leave investors hunting for ways to get higher returns. Mutual funds focused on high-yield tax-exempt debt have pulled in cash every week since early January, with about $384 million added in the week ended Aug. 14, according to Refinitiv’s Lipper US Fund Flows data.
“It is a very aggressive market -- but to say that it is frothy means that this is the end of it, and I don’t know,” said Matt Fabian, a partner with Municipal Market Analytics, an independent research firm. “A year from now, we might be yearning for the discipline of 2019.”
Some money managers have started to pull back. Vanguard Group Inc. has cautioned against taking too much risk as the economy’s record-long expansion makes a recession look overdue. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earlier this year shifted a record amount of its high-yield municipal fund into investment grade debt, anticipating that some of the projects financed by the securities may run into distress
 
 
 
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Boeing's Market Status Gets A Vertical Lift From New Army Command $154.9M Contract

The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report) recently secured a modification contract to procure new-build Apache AH 64E helicopters. Work related to the deal is scheduled to be completed by Dec 31, 2022.
Valued at $154.9 million, the contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. Boeing will carry out the task in Mesa, AZ.
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From Zack's A Brief Note on AH-64
"Boeing’s AH-64 Apache is the world’s most advanced multi-role combat helicopter. It is used by the U.S. Army and increasing number of international defense forces. Notably, AH-64E is the latest version of the AH-64 gunship, equipped with new sensors, avionics and improved night operation capabilities. It also has infra-red suppressing exhaust system as well as chaff and flare dispensers, which together lowers the chances of being hit by enemy air defense missiles."
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Rationale Behind the Deal
Over the last couple of years, the U.S. Aerospace and Defense space has been witnessing a solid growth, courtesy of President Trump’s decision to discard his predecessor’s budget sequestration policy. This, in turn, ushered in a golden era for prominent defense contractors like Boeing, which have been witnessing a decent uptick in order growth for their valued military weapons ever since.
Additionally, rising geopolitical tensions across the globe, America’s rocky cross border relationship with North Korea as well as its hostile stance toward Russia have been consistently contributing solid impetus to growth of the U.S. defense stocks.
In the wake of such developments, the United States has significantly enhanced its surveillance and the combat-proven helicopters play a crucial role in it. In this regard, Boeing’s contribution toward strengthening the nation’s aerospace surveillance system is worth mentioning. Notably, the company’s defense unit manufactures military helicopters besides offering a wide variety of related technical expertise, system upgrades and maintenance services. Such expertise must have allowed the company to win contracts like the latest one.
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Looking Ahead
Per a report by MarketWatch, the global military helicopter market is expected to witness a CAGR of 8.4% from 2018 to 2023. Such growth can be attributed to the need for replacing aging fleets and enhancement of capabilities pertaining to disaster relief operations.
Also, increasing geopolitical tensions across the world have prompted developing nations to effectively increase their defense budget. As a result, the profit margin of prominent helicopter-makers like Boeing, Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) and Textron (TXT - Free Report) is anticipated to expand in the coming days.
Price Performance
In a year’s time, shares of Boeing have lost 6.2% against the industry’s 3.4% growth.
Zacks Rank & Key Pick
Boeing currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the same space is Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (AJRD - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Aerojet Rocketdyne delivered average positive earnings surprise of 25.46% in the trailing four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings has climbed 13.8% to $1.90 over the past 90 days
 
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Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Medium Is The Message: Seeking Artists To Help Build Strong Healthy Cities by Promoting Integration of Arts-and-Culture In The Guerrero Park Community

The Urban Land Institute Arizona is seeking artists interested in participating in an old neglected industrial-residential neighborhood here in downtown Mesa along the Broadway corridor that intersects with Macdonald Street, along the line of the Valley Metro Light Rail extension into downtown Mesa.
It's a project "to catalyze neighborhood revitalization through two-dimensional mural art." Artists will be collaborating with residents of the Guerrero Park community to paint many murals.
ELIGIBILITY: This RFQ [Request For Qualifications] is open to artists/muralists and artistic teams who live and work in Arizona.
Artists or artists teams who are from or reside in Mesa will be given preference. 
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Last night there was a neighborhood meeting on Hibbert Street inside the gallery at Mesa ArtSpace Lofts where 3 representatives from the Urban Land Institute and the coordinating artist for the selection committee Hugo Medina, who  discussed the project.
A representative from the City of Mesa's Neighborhood Outreach Program was also there, along with a few ArtSpace artists, residents and neighbors that included Terry Benelli, Augie and Jennifer Gastelum.
< Phoenix artist Hugo Medina described the new project and the selection process, as well as the project budgets that are funded by donations to the ULI 2D  Community Mural Project. 
Artists will be compensated for their work by the square footage of secured wall location they get selected for, along with a scale for three levels of experience:
Established Artists: over 20 murals completed. $25/sq.ft.
Emerging Artists: over 5-10 murals completed. $15/sq.ft
Apprentice Artists: less murals completed. $250 total.
(Apprentice artists may be matched with other emerging or established artists to work collaboratively.)
SELECTION PROCESS: A panel will convene to review all applications received in response to this RFQ and establish a Roster of Mural Artists that will remain active until all the secured walls are painted. Once selected, pre-qualified artists and artist teams will meet the ULI 2D team and wall owner to discuss expectations, contracts, designs and compensation for the mural. Artists will receive 50% up front; the rest once the mural is  completed.
HOW TO APPLY:
Applications must be submitted electronically via email copied (Cc'd) in the submission line
"ULI 2D Mural RFQ submission"
Hugos.place@gmail.com
pkeig@keig.com
buzz@dwgphx.com
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On a Facebook page created August 15, 2019
https://www.facebook.com/ULI-2D-Community-Mural-Project








 
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Monday, August 19, 2019

The End of The Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin

Looks like Manifest Destiny in the continental United States has morphed into a dead-end in this interpretation of one more American myth that's biting-the-dust. A review of the book in the New York Times
makes that point early on,  ". . . The End of the Myth” has a shadow theme. How is it, Grandin wants to know, that the symbol of America was once a boundless, beckoning frontier and today is a dark and forbidding wall?
The first person to articulate the frontier thesis was a University of Wisconsin historian who was little regarded at the time, Frederick Jackson Turner. In 1893, he read a paper on “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” to a sleepy audience. No one asked a question. . . "
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NONFICTION
When America’s Love of the Open Frontier Hit a Wall
LINK > https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15
Note about the author: Edward Dolnick has written books on the American West and many other subjects. He is currently working on a book about the Rosetta Stone.
THE END OF THE MYTH
From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America
By Greg Grandin
369 pp. Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Company. $30.
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The world quickly woke up. Turner’s idea was that the United States had been blessed by geographic good fortune. The seemingly infinite West would solve the problems that arose whenever too many people were jammed into too small a space.
The frontier, in Grandin’s summary, “would reduce racism to a remnant and leave it behind as residue. It would dilute other social problems as well, including poverty, inequality and extremism, teaching diverse people how to live together in peace.”
The appeal of the frontier myth was that it took problems in the “here and now” and shifted them to the “there and then.”
Grandin keeps his cool — he prefers the stiletto to the club — but he grows angrier as his history reaches the present day. “The frontier was, ultimately, a mirage,” he writes, because it promised “a limitless world” where “all could benefit; all could rise and share in the earth’s riches.”
 
The wall, on the other hand, is “a monument to disenchantment,” a deafening shout that “there’s not enough to go around.”
The wall stands as our new emblem, Grandin writes, and “it is a symbol of a nation that used to believe that it had escaped history, or at least strode atop history, but now finds itself trapped by history.” Disenchanted and bewildered, we have become, so Grandin contends, “a country that increasingly defines itself by what it hates.”
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Apr 6, 2019
Greg Grandin, author of The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, talked about immigration.
He spoke at the 2019 Annapolis Book Festival in Maryland
On C-SPAN > 
https://www.c-span.org/video/?459098-13/author-discussion-immigration
 
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IS THIS THE END OF THE AMERICAN MYTH?
Published on Mar 25, 2019
Views: 4,871
Thom Hartmann reads from The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin
From the publisher.
"Ever since this nation’s inception, the idea of an open and ever-expanding frontier has been central to American identity. Symbolizing a future of endless promise, it was the foundation of the United States’ belief in itself as an exceptional nation—democratic, individualistic, forward-looking. Today, though, America hasa new symbol: the border wall.
In The End of the Myth, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin explores the meaning of the frontier throughout the full sweep of U.S. history—from the American Revolution to the War of 1898, the New Deal to the election of 2016. For centuries, he shows, America’s constant expansion—fighting wars and opening markets—served as a “gate of escape,” helping to deflect domestic political and economic conflicts outward. But this deflection meant that the country’s problems, from racism to inequality, were never confronted directly. And now, the combined catastrophe of the 2008 financial meltdown and our unwinnable wars in the Middle East have slammed this gate shut, bringing political passions that had long been directed elsewhere back home.
It is this new reality, Grandin says, that explains the rise of reactionary populism and racist nationalism, the extreme anger and polarization that catapulted Trump to the presidency. The border wall may or may not be built, but it will survive as a rallying point, an allegorical tombstone marking the end of American exceptionalism."

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Sunday, August 18, 2019

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING: Zoning Case 19-30477

On the official calendar there are no meeting details or agenda available as of Sunday, August 18, 2019 although the sign says it was posted on 8'14/2019.
< Here's "the pretty picture" that was used to trick Mesa taxpayers in  last year's General Election
ASU at Mesa City Center aims to be world-class hub for digital innovation 
REALITY CHECK: 
It actually looks like nothing you haven't seen for too many years >
asphalt parking lots in a reclamation project.
Yes, there was a so-called Community Design Workshop a few months ago, with input handed-in on Post-It Notes!
The only City Center here in Downtown Mesa is not there - it's rising fast on the SEC of Main Street and Mesa Drive.

It made the headlines in February as the "Massive Mormon Make-Over of Downtown Mesa".
No financial details were ever disclosed to the public, even though the for-profit affiliates of the Church said that had been talking with city officials for years.
The City of Mesa used taxpayer-funded debt obligations to pay for a $12M renovation of Pioneer Park.
Top image is taken at Udall Street that faces the Temple grounds, Image to the right is ongoing work to the intersection of Mesa Drive & Main Street with little or no setback.


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Real or Not?
Read it > https://asunow.asu.edu/20190205-arizona-impact-asu-mesa-city-center-aims-be-world-class-hub-digital-innovation
HERE IS WHAT ONE MESA CITY COUNCIL MEMBER HAD TO SAY ABOUT THAT:
$100 million handout to ASU by Mesa Mayor on middle class is just wrong
"There’s a ton of misinformation going around regarding the new downtown ASU project that I wanted to take the time to address. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on this issue but not to their own facts. . .
. . .Wasn’t the ASU campus idea organic from ImagineMesa.com campaign?
No, creatively Mayor Giles and downtown cohorts tried to pretend that this idea organically sprouted through the “Imagine Mesa” campaign and that we could “bring an ASU campus to Downtown Mesa – without a tax increase in Mesa”
However, this idea was not organic or unique at all. Sean Huntington the author of this post was also the same person who did the original video when “Question 1” was on the ballot in 2016 and failed. This was merely a ploy to make people think this was a community inspired idea to further the Mayor’s agenda. . . .
LINK >
https://jeremywhittaker.com/why-i-oppose-the-120-million-asu-campus-in-downtown-mesa/
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Zelensky Calls for a European Army as He Slams EU Leaders’ Response

      Jan 23, 2026 During the EU Summit yesterday, the EU leaders ...