Why did CBS5 AZ Family Make This Screen-Grab of Jeremy Whittaker?

At first glance it looks like an awkward moment - it's actually a 2-second clip from the video uploaded three days ago by CBS5 News.
As you can see if/when you see the actual video inserted below, Whittaker was making a quick remark to District 6 Mesa City Council member Kevin Thompson
 . . . you will have to ask them what they talked about.
IMHO the press conference was an attempt to 'circle the wagons'
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With that being said, any reasonable person is entitled to ask why did city officials make the choice to promote an insider and why at this time - 4 months after the former Mesa PD Chief resigned abruptly and Ken Cost was named as "the interim" ?? LOYALTY could the answer > there's an election where the mayor's job is at stake, and the Police and Fire/Medical employees are a BIG BLOC OF VOTES.

Here's the line-up on-stage at the press announcement >
Looks like councilmembers councilmembers Frank Heretic and Mark Freeman got a call to show up on short notice (at far left) for what looks like a rushed announcement to change the narrative.

AZFamily

Ken Cost named new Mesa police chief, served 25 years
in ...

MESA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) – Arizona's Family has confirmed the new chief of the Mesa Police Department is the man who has been serving as interim chief since ...3 days ago

EXCERPTS:

Cost has been with the Mesa Police Department for 25 years and started his career in 1995. He has served in multiple areas in the department and in every rank leading up to assistant chief, to which he was promoted in March 2018.
“The enthusiasm about hiring Ken Cost as our police Chief, I can assure you, is very genuine and very sincere," said Mayor John Giles.

City manager Chris Brady says there was never a national search to fill the position, and that Cost stood out above the crowd long ago.
“Ken Cost was our man from the beginning," he said.
"We just wanted to give him an opportunity to demonstrate his skills and he did an excellent, excellent job.”

The hiring of Cost signals the City hopes a longtime insider will develop a better relationship with the rank-and-file officers than his predecessor
WHEN TROUBLE STARTED FOR BATISTA
> Batista's trouble in the Mesa Police Department started when a surveillance video showing officers repeatedly punching suspects surfaced in June 2018 and quickly made national headlines

> In August 2018, the Mesa Police Association and City leaders received an anonymous complaint accusing Batista of putting one of his officers at risk while on patrol

After Batista stepped down, a retired detective said he was only part of the problem with the department and what she called "toxic leadership."
Vicki Hixson, who left after 21 years at MPD, says she’s relieved Batista quit but says more needs to be done to clean up the toxic leadership.
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“I’m not focused on past chiefs or what’s happened in the past. I’m just focused on moving forward," Chief Cost said after Monday's promotion.

 

 

 

Looking For The Best Price @ 40-Minute Mesa City Council Study Session Thu 05.03.2020

Both Hizzoner John Giles and City Manager Chris Brady were  sporting casual short-sleeved shirts emblazoned with logos . . . if that's promoting something IDK.
That's not their usual dress code.
See for yourself in this 40-minute upload.
Clearly, City Manager Chris Brady has plans beyond this first pilot to hand-off proposed city-owned land sales to "a third-party" interest for reasons (or terms and conditions) that are not stated - it might be an attempt at trying to remove any possible favorable treatment for prospective buyers that could be controversial if held up to more public scrutiny.
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PREVIOUS POST ON THIS BLOG:

04 March 2020

 

REVERSE ONLINE AUCTION < Pilot Presentation for proposed Land Sales @ Mesa City Council Study Session

07:30 AM

Final Agenda made available per usual about one day ahead-of-time

Flow Chart
for readers to use as a perspective on the Agenda Setting Process:
For some reason - no explanation given -
City officials want to test a pilot version for online bidding to auction-off two parcels of land:
> one located at the northwest corner of Adobe and Recker Roads (2.1 acres)
> one located at the northwest corner of McDowell Road and 92nd Street (1.3 acres)
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LINK > click or tap here

BLOGGER NOTE:

Real Estate Services Administrator Kim Fallback makes the Power Point Slide Presentation, side-by-side with Matt Bauer the city's Procurement Officers and Scott Peterson.
According to what Fallback states, the city has used this process for sales of the Pinal County Properties, Riverview, and the Thomas & Decker Landfill.
She also states that 8 developers have approached the city to express an interest in the Adobe/Decker property, and 3 developers expressing an interest in the other one.
See the slide presentation for details    

AGENDA

7:30 AM Council Chambers - Lower Level Thu 05 March 2020

1 Presentation/Action Item:

1-a File #20-0285
Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on the sale of City-owned properties through an online auction process, and proposing the properties located at

 

• the northwest corner of Adobe and Recker Roads (2.1 acres), and

• the northwest corner of McDowell Road and 92nd Street (1.3 acres)

To be used as a pilot in the online auction process.

 

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MEETING DETAILS

Meeting Name:

City Council Study Session

Agenda status:

Final

Meeting date/time:

3/5/2020 7:30 AM

Attachments:

 

File #: 20-0285    Type: Presentation Status: Agenda Ready In control: City Council Study Session On agenda: 3/5/2020 Title: Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on the sale of City-owned properties through an online auction process, and proposing the properties located at the northwest corner of Adobe and Recker Roads (2.1 acres), and the northwest corner of McDowell Road and 92nd Street (1.3 acres) be used as a pilot in the online auction process. Attachments: 1. Presentation

SALE OF CITY PROPERTY

Kim Fallbeck, Real Estate Services Administrator

< Scott Patterson, EasiBuy

(Chief Operating Officer at EASiBuy LLC , Ohio

About EASiBuy LLC
 

Website: https://www.eauctionservices.com/

 

 

 

 

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The two parcels are in District 5 - no idea why District 1 City Councilmember Mark Freeman
Gets "the screen-grab" from Mesa Channel 11 ...but then again watch-and-listen yourself

 

 

 

 

"Black Swan Events" Perfectly Predictable > The ultimate cause is the same ultimate cause that has been demonstrated to us for over a century: distorted and manipulated markets.

Another dire warning: Coronavirus Black Swan of 2020
"Top Silicon Valley investment firm Sequoia Capital today sent a dire warning to portfolio company CEOs about the business impacts of coronavirus, suggesting that they "question every assumption" about their businesses, including cash runway, headcount, and sales forecasts.
Why it matters: The last time Sequoia did something similar was in October 2008, at the peak of the financial crisis, via its famed "RIP Good Times" slide deck.
Source: Kia Kokalitcheva writing in AXIOS
The firm is known for placing early bets on such companies as Airbnb, Google, WhatsApp.
Go deeper: Read the full memo.
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First this from https://jugglingdynamite.com/2015/02/15

The Myth of Black Swan market events

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Danielle Park    

Excellent article in the NYT this weekend from Mark Spitznagel, founder and chief investment officer of Universa Investments.  Spitznagel is elevated in both intelligence and wisdom– still a very rare combination in finance.

First he offers a chart of the Tobin Q ratio for the S&P 500 since 1900–here with annotation from my partner Cory–(the total aggregate value of publicly traded common shares in relation to the estimated aggregate replacement value of the stock of capital for those corporations (ie., machines, equipment, buildings, chairs, etc.).

As shown on this historically reliable metric (and many others!) stock prices today are the most over-valued in 115 years, but for the fleeting tech wreck top in 2000:

These elevated periods for the Q ratio are clearly unsustainable, because companies cannot borrow and buy back forever. So this highly unnatural mechanism has logical implications not for long-run economic investment and growth (as the Keynesians continue to hope), but instead for short-run stock prices. Complicated statistical analysis is not needed to confirm this.

Each of these high points in the Q ratio — in 1905, 1929, 1936, 1968, 2000 and 2007 — was followed in short order by stock market losses. The peak-to-valley (or the loss from the high price to the low price) subsequent to each high point was 19 percent, 85 percent, 36 percent, 29 percent, 44 percent, and 50 percent, respectively. 

…The bear markets we saw following all of these periods were not dreaded “black swan” events at all. They were perfectly predictable, by economic logic alone, the same logic that says governments cannot manipulate market prices without creating distortions that will always, without exception, be counterproductive.

In the next stock market crash, we will be told that the fault was some surprising economic or geopolitical shock. Let’s remind ourselves now that this will be false, the proximate cause rather than the ultimate cause.  

The ultimate cause is the same ultimate cause that has been demonstrated to us for over a century: distorted and manipulated markets.

These markets are speaking to us yet again.  

This time around, we need to listen.

For useful historical context on the interventionist policies that have driven repeated periods of equity over-valuation and then collapse, read the whole article here:  The myth of Black Swan market events.

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From Great Speculations Forbes 2020.02.25

Coronavirus: The Black Swan

The Economic Impacts
Given the economic disruptions already in flight plus the emergence of the inevitable “avoidance” response (people stay home during the outbreak and long after it is no longer a threat), the economic impacts are going to be considerable even if the virus’ spread is soon halted as was thought early on. 
The financial media does a good job of hyping stock prices and equity returns. 
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>> 03 February 2020

This Is a Black Swan That Could Tip World Into Recession: Papasavvas

260 views

•Feb 3, 2020

 

516K subscribers

Feb.03 -- Thanos Papasavvas, chief investment officer at ABP Invest, discusses investing on news of the coronavirus and how it could impact the global economy. He speaks with Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua on "Bloomberg Surveillance."

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Downtown OZones Get A Visit from Ashley D. Bell, U.S. Small Business Administrator Region IV

Welcome to
"The Old Donut-Hole"
Oooops! Nah > This is the story KTAR wants you to see:
Mesa welcomes White House policy adviser for update on federal program
By Griselda Zetino | UPDATED: March 5, 2020 at 6:12 am

(Photo by Griselda Zetino)

PHOENIX — A White House representative was in the East Valley this week to see how a federal program is revitalizing downtown Mesa.
Ashley Bell, White House policy adviser for entrepreneurship and innovation, visited several sites Tuesday that have been designated as opportunity zones by the federal government...
“It’s got the small town feel. It’s got a lot of charm to it, . . I can totally understand why people want to move here and move their families and their businesses,” adding that Mesa is “a great place to invest.”
Mesa has 11 opportunity zones, eight of which are downtown.
The downtown opportunity zones have attracted the attention and investment of Scottsdale-based wealth development firm Caliber.
Rodney Riley, Caliber’s director of acquisitions and development, said they have 10 buildings totaling about 160,000 square feet in the area.
He said they intend to bring restaurants, businesses and creative office spaces to the area.
“We want to bring generational residents back to downtown Mesa,” he addedWhite House policy adviser for entrepreneurship and innovation, visited several sites Tuesday that have been designated as opportunity zones by the federal government.“It’s got the small town feel. It’s got a lot of charm to it,” he told KTAR News 92.3 FM after walking through downtown.
“I can totally understand why people want to move here and move their families and their businesses,” adding that Mesa is “a great place to invest.”
Mesa has 11 opportunity zones, eight of which are downtown.
The downtown opportunity zones have attracted the attention and investment of Scottsdale-based wealth development firm Caliber.
Rodney Riley, Caliber’s director of acquisitions and development, said they have 10 buildings totaling about 160,000 square feet in the area.
He said they intend to bring restaurants, businesses and creative office spaces to the area.
“We want to bring generational residents back to downtown Mesa,” he added _________________________________________________________________________________

Ashley D. Bell Named as White House Policy Advisor for #Entrepreneurs

Small Business Administration (SBA) sent this bulletin at 10/23/2019 10:10 AM EDT

 

October 2019   Ashley D. Bell Region IV Administrator U.S. Small Business Administration   Ashley D. Bell has been appointed as the White House Advisor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ashley D. Bell was recently appointed as a Policy Advisor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation by the White House Office of American Innovation. Mr. Bell will also remain as the SBA Region IV Administrator. In his White House role, Mr. Bell has the opportunity to introduce policy that will empower entrepreneurs across the nation through his work with Opportunity Zones, supplier diversity, HBCU entrepreneurship, his Drive 8(a) Initiative as well as through his Rural Strong Initiative; assuring that entrepreneurs in every pocket of the United States have the opportunity to succeed.  The announcement was made in Atlanta on October 16th at the Russell Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RCIE) in front of a standing room only crowd, As Mr. Bell stated, "This is not a celebration, this is a groundbreaking," as he described the work he has already begun to assist all entrepreneurs in creating businesses that may passed along to future generations. As Mr. Bell stated, "you can't pass a job along to your children, but you can pass a business on to them to run." Ashley D. Bell address a full house during the ceremony announcing his new role as White House Policy Advisor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

 

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Rodney Riley joins CBRE as regional sales director

Real Estate | 2 May, 2016 | AZRE

Rodney Riley (Photo provided by CBRE)

CBRE appointed Rodney Riley as regional sales director, Investor Services for the Southwest Region.

Riley will collaborate with local leadership and assist with business development and sales efforts for all Investor Services business, including Agency Brokerage, IP, Asset Services, Project Management, Debt & Structured Finance and Valuation.

Riley is a 30-year veteran of the industry. Most recently, he comes to CBRE from RSR Capital Advisors, where he was Managing Partner and COO

 

 

 

NY Times Opinion Writer Gail Collins is So Right!

The Presidency Is an Old Boys’ Club.

Let’s pick someone who doesn’t keep us awake nights.

"So sorry, Democratic millennials. You’ve got to drop the idea that baby boomers control everything. When it comes to the Democratic presidential nomination, the finalists are too old to qualify

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in a debate in February. The Democratic presidential contest is now down to septuagenarians."

Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
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Read more details at this link https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/opinion
"Bernie Sanders, 78, and Joe Biden, 77, were both born during World War II. Is that a problem? I’ve always had a theory that as people get older, if they’re lucky, they get better . . .

If it’s true, we’d really have an argument for Biden, who has endless experience working with Congress and dealing with foreign leaders. Sanders, on the other hand, is very, very, very good at giving his one basic speech. I believe he could deliver it while being swung from a crane over the Statue of Liberty.

Whoever wins, of course, will run against Donald Trump, 73, who has never made any attempt to actually learn how to run a country but has super-perfected his genius for bragging and insulting people on television

We could go on and on. And you know, before November I bet we will.

. . . Super Tuesday ruined the presidential hopes of Mike Bloomberg, 78, who bowed out with an endorsement of Biden. “I’ve always believed that data should inform our decisions,” Bloomberg said in what was nevertheless a very emotional address for him.

Well, money won’t buy you everything. But it will certainly make Bloomberg a venerated Biden supporter.

. . . Elizabeth Warren, 70, was the youngest serious candidate in the Super Tuesday battle, and it certainly wasn’t any help. Coming in third in her home state was a terrible way to end a campaign. But when Americans in the future look back on her career, they’ll remember Warren as one of the pioneers who, like Hillary Clinton, helped to get the nation used to the idea that there’s nothing unusual about voting for a woman to be president.

Either Biden or Sanders, if elected, would be the oldest American entering a first presidential term. As of right now the record is held by Trump, who was 70, followed by Ronald Reagan, who was 69. Reagan went on to a second term that many people felt was marred by a certain … mental slippage. It’s sort of hard to tell whether Trump is failing in that way since he was so awful when he started out.

. . . The president calls Biden “Sleepy Joe,” which is maybe an age-related insult. But from Biden’s point of view, it’s not bad at all. Right now there’s nothing the nation would welcome more than a president whose worst flaw is making everybody feel like taking a nap.

We could so use some downtime."

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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