Low Sale Price For Multi-unit Apartment Complex

Image from azbigmedia.com

Hard to say if the expansion of Valley Metro Light Rail is producing higher property values along the new public transit path. 
The location where The Landmark Restaurant was at the corner of Main Street && Extension sold for just under $1 million. Going past that on light rail the other day the property appears unkempt with a broken window . . .
The contentious property transfer of Mesa Royale Mobile Home Park was done with a 42% reduction in the sales price of $4.2 million originally asked for by LRA Associates.
Today it was reported in AZ Big Media that Excel Real Estates, Zong-fu Li, principal, paid $3,800,000 ($41,304 per unit) to buy the 92-unit Warren Park apartments located 1433 W. University Dr. in Mesa, Arizona. Wyoming Blvd - one block north of the LRT route.
Other than low negotiated sales prices, one of the things in common with these two [and other] transactions is that the sellers are family trusts.
In the case of Mesa Royale property on west Main Street - directly on the light rail route - it was the Gene Ham Family Trust.
The seller of Warren Park Apartments shown in the image above was The Frank and Joanne Warren Trust, c/o Warren Properties of Rancho Santa Fe, California. [they obviously retired well]
The deal was brokered through Bill Hahn, Jeff Sherman and Trevor Koskovich (HSK) of Colliers International in Phoenix.
Maricopa County records show the buyer acquired the property with a new loan issued by Opus Bank. The financing was arranged by Brandon Harrington and Matt Steffen of Walker & Dunlop of Phoenix. The complex was built in 1977.

Nice & Easy Does It > Tortoise Out For A Stroll Spotted by Police

Facebook/ABC 15

Today at 2:25 pm the East Valley Tribune published a report by ABC15 news . . .
Suspicious behavior?
An escaped prisoner that was apprehended?
A threat to public safety?
Public indecency?
Missing Alzheimer's patient?
or
None of the above?
[Just enjoying a jaunt and out for a little exercise in the neighborhood by a free-living reptile after all the rain showers . . . who's to say about this big story on a slow-news day. If you snooze, you lose]

Points of Light: Houston Calling

Janice Dell and Darcy Ljunggren, Volunteer Coordinators for the Mesa Public Library, are in Houston for the Points of Light's Conference on Volunteering and Service - the largest convening of volunteer, national service and civic leaders in the world.
The City of Mesa estimates that its dollar volume [if anyone can put a dollar-amount on citizen service] of volunteer hours is $8 Million.
Each year, thousands of people who really care about the future of volunteer service convene in one place - to learn from, share with and get inspired by one another - to work together to increase the number of volunteers in the world and the impact of the work they do.
The 2015 Conference on October 19-21, 2015, will examine how the next generation of change-makers are creating new pathways for direct action and unleashing power to make a difference in the world.
Did You Know?
Over 1 billion adults and youth in the world are unable to read.
Literacy levels in Arizona are at an all time low.
Being unable to read - illiteracy - is now classified as a functional disability.

One activity Janice and Darcy are excited about: Read Across the Globe, an initiative that brings the power of volunteers together to impact literacy in communities. One of its goals, for a quick impact and to bring attention to learning to read - is to set a new Guinness World Record for the most children read to by an adult in 24 hours.

Read Across the Globe is an initiative that brings the power of volunteers together to impact literacy in your community. One of our goals is to break a GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ for the ‘most children reading with an adult in 24 hours’.
Working with volunteers, educators, and partners in every time zone,
we'll read to children around the globe to shine a light on literacy.
Help them set  a GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ and pledge to host
a reading event or volunteer today!
Read more >> http://www.pointsoflight.org/signature-events/conference-volunteering-and-service
Read Across the Globe is part of a week of literacy-awareness events.
October 18, 2015: Scope-a-thon
October 19, 2015: Read Across the Globe (Grades K - 12)
October 22, 2015: Read for the Record (Preschool)
October 24, 2015: Make a Difference Day
http://www.pointsoflight.org/readacrosstheglobe

You can see a line-up of some of the more prominent speakers in the  image to the right.
If the phrase "A Thousand Points of Light"
rings a bell, it was used by former president George HW Bush in his inaugural address:
"We can find meaning and reward by serving some higher purpose than ourselves, a shining purpose, the illumination of a thousand points of light."
At the time of the World Trade Center attacks in New York Vitamin September 11, 2001, his son and President at that time George Bush was interrupted with news of that national emergency while reading to a classroom of students in Texas.

Brother Neil Bush was featured reading to a group in a tweet from the conference

Some of the Service Ambassadors include Political Satirist/Comedian John Oliver and actor Kevin Bacon

Dia de Los Muertos Gets The Attention It Deserves

#1 Sun-Rich Arizona : State's Biggest Utilities Defeat Innovation in Solar Power

From Cronkite News
Arizona sees decrease in new solar installations

By Audrey Weil | Cronkite News | POSTED: Oct 16, 2015

Arizona dropped from first in the country to eighth in solar capacity additions, according to Environment America’s latest solar report, which also notes the drop comes “following the imposition of new fees on solar customers and near-constant attacks on distributed solar generation from the state’s biggest utilities.”
“Arizona is not number 1 in too many things. Education, we’re at the bottom, but in solar, we were at the top. That was good,” Arizona State University Director of Solar Energy Engineering Harvey Bryan said . . . Arizona ranks second, behind California, in total solar electricity capacity . . .
Go Read  http://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2015/10/16/arizona-sees-decrease-in-new-solar-installation

Image included above is from    
Why Sun-Soaked Arizona Is Killing Solar Power

Published Thu, Dec 11, 2014  |  Greg Miller, Senior Technology Analyst

He has this to say about utilities, "To be sure, SRP’s proposal reflects some hard realities that utilities will have to face in the future, as more people reduce their dependence on monopolistic utilities and the government for their needs."

Here in downtown Mesa utilities like electricity and water are City-owned.
Flood-irrigation is the standard practice while it's unclear how many solar installations have been made or what the fee charges are . . .
 

For those interested in solar power in the South West here's a map of what that looks like
[Click on map to enlarge]

TUNE IN Going Global >> CityLab: Urban Solutions to Global Challenges

The mayor is on live now --go to https://www.facebook.com/AspenInstitute  
Nothing from the mayor's press office so far about this gathering of 300 "global mayors and urban leaders" for CityLab 2015 in London Oct 18-20 - just links by John Giles on his personal promotion site mesamayor.com.
[According to Melissa Randazzo in the Mayor's Office of Public Information in response to an email sent this morning, he was accompanied by Chris Brady, the City Manager.]

8:20 MST this morning - A live Q&A session with the mayor, organized by Elliot Gerson of the Aspen Institute around innovation and infrastructure.

This is your chance to ask questions and join the #CityLab2015 social conversations around the challenges and opportunities facing metropolitan areas.

Elliot Gerson is an executive vice president at the Aspen Institute, responsible for its Policy Programs, its Public Programs and its relations with international partners. He also oversees the Aspen Economic Opportunities Program, which focuses on low-wage Americans.

Articles he's written featured on http://www.theatlantic.com/author/elliot-gerson/ include:

• America Needs a Raise: The Case for a Higher Minimum Wage
• To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country, with the sub-heading No politician will admit that the United States is no longer number one. But other nations do a lot of things better -- and we need to learn from them.  



This year's event will explore:

- income inequality

- safety

- mobility

- infrastructure

- other dynamics of modern metropolises to create more livable and sustainable cities.
 

See whole program, agenda and speakers here >> http://www.theatlantic.com/live/events/citylab/2015/

 

With live posts like the following thread, the mayor of a city where new car sales tax revenues are the biggest income -  might be surprised how people in different parts of the world react to air quality conditions.

Five minutes ago, at the time of this post, London's Deputy Mayor for Transport says city residents aren't outraged enough about air pollution . . . “The same people who say it’s unacceptable that little Bobby has asthma will get in their big SUV and drive their child to school,” says London Deputy Mayor for Transport Isabel Dedring.

 

 

 

 

SEED LIBRARY?? What's that? Check It Out @ Mesa Main Public Library

OK, folks wrap your head about this: libraries are sprouting innovations and spreading ideas and actions. It's not the same 'olé same old tired stuff any more . . . and a seed library?

See how it works in the chart to the right ...get the difference? You grow and then harvest and then return to keep it all going all over again. In a series of later posts we'll get into a concept in new urbanism called Urban Husbandry where we interact with our urban environments in some of the same ways we practice principles about growing and caring for plants and animals that nourish and regenerate our lives. Better call the midwife, huh? Equal Opportunities for Everyone.

Being the bizzy blogger that yours truly is, I almost missed two events today while volunteering at The Big Book Sale. People kept asking where's the 'start your winter garden class' going on and where's the grand opening of the seed library? You can see Danielle McClung with GardenPool.org in the image to the left talking to eager people going into those old [let's say "repurposed"] card catalogs now with packets of seeds that card-carrying library members can get for free. Get more 411 >> mesalibrary.org

 

Garden Pool crew from website

Phoenix got its seed library back in 2012 while the idea has been spreading like pollen [or dust] in the wind all over the place for years.
Talking with Dennis McClung today he filled me in with some first-hand details about the non-profit organization he and his wife started here in Mesa - home-grown talent for sure.
There are more workshops on the calendar at MMPL.

The Seed Library is the result of partnership between MMPL and Garden Pool whose goal as a public charity is to continue to innovate, create, educate, and support better ways to grow food. gardenpool.org
Go to the website for more useful information, volunteer and intern opportunities, online shopping, and online classes.
There's a program called FruitTrees4Community that's provided fruit trees to Mesa Urban Garden here in the new urban downtown Mesa.
Do you live near Mesa, AZ? Order wholesale berries, fruit, and nut trees. Order by November 10th and pickup at Garden Pool. [how-to workshops @ MMPL]
Go here to learn more or to select your varieties: http://gardenpool.org/fruit-trees-4-community

Great to see this too - Garden Pool feels that growing food should be a part of every child’s education experience. We have assembled a great kit to teach students an exciting way to grow food. We are honored to offer this kit for your classroom!