THE NEW GREEN: Avocados

Yeh > Avocados! (Photographer: Eduardo Leal/Bloomberg)

FINANCE

Avocados Are the New Coal for Hedge Funds Chasing Sustainable Cash

Clients are increasingly willing to hold their asset managers to account on climate issues—and the managers are beginning to listen.

By Nishant Kumar  ‎February‎ ‎4‎, ‎2020‎ ‎10‎:‎00‎ ‎PM

_________________________________________________________________________________

"Some of the world’s most cynical investors may finally be coming around to climate change.
As clients prepare to reward and punish managers on their green credentials, more hedge funds are taking note and taking action—from planting avocado trees to dumping coal assets. It’s been a rapid change of heart: just over a year ago, fewer than 4 in 10 hedge funds felt environmental, social and governance factors were becoming more important. . .
As investor demand spurs hedge funds to cobble together ESG plans, that’s also raising the prospect of so-called greenwashing—or using misleading labels or advertising to create an image of environmental responsibility without actually becoming more responsible. . .
S&P Global Inc., Moody’s Investors Service, and Fitch Ratings awarded investment banks AAA ratings, giving them license to gobble up securities backed by subprime mortgages. When that market crashed, the complex debt instruments infected the balance sheets of banks worldwide.
“Greenwashing may soon resemble the scandal of AAA ratings for subprime mortgages,” Serra said.
QuickTake: ‘Greenwashing’
> The race for money managers to go green was turbo-charged by BlackRock Inc. just days into the new decade. The world’s biggest asset manager said climate issues would dictate its investment strategy . . .
> Weeks earlier, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it would provide $750 billion for sustainable finance growth areas over the next decade.
The shifts aren’t surprising given the flood of money that’s chasing ESG opportunities. It’s one of the rare corners of the active management industry still pulling investors, with sustainable funds attracting a record 120 billion euros of cash in Europe last year, according to Morningstar.

Read more > Bloomberg News

Go Ahead > Tell Me. Does This Look Like "The Grove on Main Street" ????

In Nature, A grove is a small group of trees with minimal or no undergrowth, such as a sequoia grove, or a small orchard planted for the cultivation of fruits or nuts.
Areas in northeast Mesa are filled with citrus groves where many acres have been turned into high-price real estate developments and huge homes for most of Mesa's millionaires, including the mega-millionaire Bob Worsley.
Do you see "a grove" of any kind in this image of the SEC Main Street/Mesa Drive?
Nope. It's a 10-acre commercial, residential and retail development.
_________________________________________________________________________
Here's an announcement written by Jill Adair updated 01 June 2018 that was published in https://www.thechurchnews.com/arizona-temple-area 

Church plans large redevelopment project west of Mesa Temple

A rendering of what the area near the Mesa Arizona Temple will look like upon completion . . . Hmmm

Where is "The Grove on Main Street" in this rendering of what the area near the Mesa Arizona will look like??

_______________________________________________________________________

MESA, Arizona — In an effort to protect and revitalize the area surrounding the Mesa Temple, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints plans to begin construction this year on a redevelopment project to the west that includes residential and commercial development.

After years of planning in cooperation with city government and local development groups, officials revealed details for “Mesa and Main,” a new construction project on 4 ½ acres west of the temple along Mesa’s Main Street light rail corridor, between Mesa Drive and LeSueur.

"The temple redevelopment project is a welcomed addition to downtown Mesa," Mayor John Giles said. "We have many projects on tap that will help spark the revitalization of downtown and this is one of them. I'm excited to see the new homes and businesses that will welcome people into the heart of Mesa."
_____________________________________________________________

BLOG INSERT:
The Heart of Mesa?What you can clearly see - after years of planning in cooperation with city government (that we didn't know about all those years) is what has now materialized > the obvious conjunction and intersection of For-Profit Religion and Government here in Mesa and The entire East Valley.

_____________________________________________________________
“You will see a transformation, a revitalization,” said Dale Bills, communications director for City Creek Reserve Inc., an investment affiliate of the LDS Church that previously developed City Creek, a 23-acre urban community of residences, offices and retail stores in downtown Salt Lake City.
______________________________________________________________________
BLOG INSERT: That so-called "urban community of residences, offices and retail stores in downtown Salt Lake City" is under Fed scrutiny now in a land fraud tax case by the same for-profit branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter-Day Saints, City Creek Reserve, Inc.
______________________________________________________________________

“Mesa and Main represents years of patient planning in cooperation with city government, business development groups and other stakeholders,”
Bills said at a press conference Thursday.

“We hope City Creek’s commitment to significant investment at Mesa and Main will serve as a catalyst to encourage further development, here in the heart of downtown Mesa.”
< Then AZ State Senator Bob Worsley and former U.S. Congressman Matt Salmon on Feb 2018 appeared in front of the Mesa City Council.
Worsley at that time holding public office and the public trust was buying up eight downtown commercial properties speculating of real estate holding for his own personal financial gain and private wealth creation.
Congressman Matt Salmon resigned from office to take a job as a high-salaried lobbyist for ASU as "Vice-President of Government Affairs."
_________________________________________________________________

The project includes a new mixed-use community of 240 apartments, 12 townhomes, 1.6 acres of landscaped open space, approximately 12,000 square feet of ground floor retail and 450 stalls of underground parking. These elements will replace vacant lots and buildings and seven single-family rental houses that have been requested to be torn down for the project.
“This is a beautiful and well-designed project, said Mike Hutchinson, executive vice president of the East Valley Partnership and former Mesa city manager. “This will be a great example for other development interests in the downtown.”

Hizzoner John Giles > Chowing Down on State of The City Speech 2020 @ Mesa Con Center

In all of the City of Mesa's 142 years of history and a string of 40 mayor, John Giles takes his place where he wants to be: he was in the spotlight  yesterday morning and on-stage.
The center of attention, using every device available, including a prompt microphone stuck in his ear, and talking to an AI stage prop Alexa to supply the engineered responses in what must have been days of rehearsing by his handlers.
No more comments on this post, except to say he's his own social media manager.
_________________________________________________________________________

SOTC 2020 - HERE'S THE RUNDOWN + VIEW COUNTS
On the mayor's own public Twitter Page
 https://twitter.com/mayorgiles

Every SOTC Every Year 2015 -2020

State of the City Address

• Email
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Reddit

         State of the City 2020

State of the City 2019

State of the City 2018

State of the City 2017

State of the City 2016

State of the City 2015

  

 

 

2 reports from Techdirt: Abusing The Public Trust For Financial Gain

Does that sound familiar or what ???
One from yesterday and one from today:
1. Late last week, legally and ethically-dubious facial recognition tech developer Clearview was sued for violating an Illinois law making certain collection and storage of biometric information illegal. I was very dismissive of the lawsuit, stating that scraping of publicly-posted photos couldn't possibly create an actionable violation of privacy. . . Author Tim Cushing now says the assessment he may be wrong.
This lawsuit dealt with yet another Facebook feature no one asked for: the nearly-automatic tagging of friends and acquaintances in uploaded photos.

Facebook Pays $550 Million Settlement In Illinois Facial Recognition Lawsuit, Which Could Pose Problems For Clearview

Mon, Feb 3rd 2020 12:04pm— Tim Cushing

Techdirt.

2. It only took a year of stonewalling, feet dragging, and dodging journalists' questions, but the FCC has finally acknowledged that one or more wireless providers broke the law by collecting user location data--then selling access to that data to any nitwith with a nickel. . .
"I wish to inform you that the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has completed its extensive investigation and that it has concluded that one or more wireless carriers apparently violated federal law."

1 Year Later, FCC Finally Admits Wireless Carriers Broke The Law On Location DataTue, Feb 4th 2020 6:57am— Karl Bode

Techdirt.

How To Navigate A Transition Theme & The Current Magazine Layout

< It's as easy as this to open up the story.
That's if you use a touch-screen, otherwise use your mouse.
There's a new screen that will pop up.
The only thing different is the option to share. This new layout is limiting in the sense that the share choices are only Twitter or a Thumbs-Up Like button that appear after the text and images in the stories

Rookie League Spring Traning @ Sloan Park > What to expect from Cubs in Arizona Rookie League in 2020

Mesa has no 'home team' but Mesa taxpayers financed the construction of not one but two stadiums. we got some news yesterday from Chicago Cubs Headquarters.com 

What to expect from Cubs in Arizona Rookie League in 2020

Dustin Riese

CubsHQ.com

"We move to the least familiar of the Minor League levels as we shift to the Arizona Summer League Rookie teams.  . .
_______________________________________________________________
BLOGGER INSERT: The sprawling suburban city of Mesa has always had 'big league dreams'

 The Latter-Day Charades For Mesa City Manager Chris Brady: Water-Boy     

14 years into his job as the City of Mesa's Chief Executive Officer, we're getting some new revelations for what's next:
ENVISION A PIPE
“It’s our next pocket of water,’’ City Manager Chris Brady said. “It’s going to be our lifeline for the future expansion of southeast Mesa.’’

 

 

HERE'S HOW AN EARLIER DEAL WENT DOWN > Total Charade!

Here's how the deal - with few financial details disclosed - went down last month with Mayor John Giles signing off on it in a staged-for-public-consumption photo opp at the Mesa City Council Meeting on 19 August 2019 - $94,000,000 Paid in Full

City Manager Chris Brady is behind the foam core poster board holding it up.

The sale was promoted as a $94,000,000 Pay-Off, but city officials never said who paid the low-ball sell-off to water-rights on 11,442 acres.

DETAILS:Titles changed hands over-time - first to Pinal Land Holdings and ultimately to Saints Holdings LLC - you can watch an edited video of the occasion of the sell-off that was turned into an escrow account . . .clips of cheering baseball fans were inserted with a voice-over by Mesa Mayor John Giles. . .

_______________________________________________________________________

 

We didn't know more about it then.

Mesa Seals $135 Million Land Deal

Posted on January 7, 2014

by Kristian Seemeyer

The "land deal" land sale proceeds will boost the City’s Economic Investment Fund, financing in part projects such as: Sloan Park, The Cubs new Spring Training facility  and the so-called then "Higher Education Initiative". We're talking 11,400 acres, folks!

The vast tracts of land were know back then as The Mesa Water Farm.

Read more ....this is where you find it > Click or Tap Here 

The Saints Have A Plan:

THIS IS WHAT THAT $135M LAND DEAL - OR LAND SWINDLE OR STEAL?? - FOR THEIR VISION ON THE 11,447 ACRES THAT WERE ONCE THE MESA WATER FARM ...

Nice buy: $135M 11,400+ ACRES

Watch where this story goes and note that the buyer in  2012, a company in Scottsdale, is now called Saints Holdings Company. They agreed to buy the land in three 5-year phases.

Let's do some numbers first: a recent city auction for 132 acres, without water rights, went for $21.1M (that's $5M above the appraised price) . . .or $159,848 per acre.

"According to Natalie Lewis, assistant to city manager Chris Brady, and also lead negotiator on the deal, Mesa purchased the land in 1985 for more than $29 million for its water rights to create a water farm.

Eventually, the city found more cost-effective means to provide the city water.

OH REALLY? DID THEY?

NO IDEA WHERE? Get a clue

. . . if readers of this blog are curious what the Saint's holding companies are planning to create between Phoenix and Tucson around Casa Grande and Coolidge and Florence >

"a new "inland port", much similar to the same thing in-the-works in Utah. . . it certainly looks likes they are tending to now privatize water-rights just when a federal Drought Emergency Contingency Plan has been activated,

When big deals like the sale of 'obsolete water-rights' on thousands of acres that would be just dirt without it, there's always scandals that surface somehow taking a cue from an earlier extract:

___________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

Unlike the Arizona fall league, where multiple organizations make up a team, the Arizona Rookie League program is one or more teams per organization, aimed at developing some of their younger minor league talent.
The Cubs are fortunate to have not one, but two Arizona league teams, so the abundance of players continues to be flowing from year to year. Another good thing about this league is that it tends to be a steppingstone for rehabbing players also as they try to get into the swing of things once again. With AZL 1 going 24-31 and AZL 2 going 31-25, you see that there has been some consistent success one way or another, but the question is for how long.Not only does the agreement between Minor League Baseball and the MLB end this season, but if talks continue at the level they are at right now, it looks as if the Rookie league program will be a thing in the past after the conclusion of this season. Not only would that be a hit to the organization itself, but with so many players getting drafted yearly, what would that mean for them if two leagues are entirely removed. Until we get to that point, this is what I am looking for in the Arizona Rookie League this year. . .
READ MORE > https://www.cubshq.com/story

As if You Didn't Already Know . . . (and after more rhan 320,00 Page Hits)

Your MesaZona blogger does not lower his expectations or try to tamp-down reporting on either hyper-local news that all too frequently is controlled by - and spoon-fed to you - by the corporate-owned mainstream media.
There are always other sides to a story to read or to hear.
If there is "a mission" on this site, it's to remind readers that you just can't sit on-the-sidelines >
Politics is not a spectator sport. You can be a cheerleader if you want. Game on!