Affordable Housing is Out of Reach for Many American Workers

May 25, 2016. For immediate release 
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In no state, metropolitan area or county in the United States can a full-time worker earning the prevailing minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. A new report released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) reveals the disparity between rental housing costs and renter income in every jurisdiction across the country.
Out of Reach 2016: No Refuge for Low Income Renters, calculates the housing wage – the hourly wage someone working full-time, 40 hours a week, would need to earn in order to afford a modest apartment without spending more than 30% of household income on rent and utilities – for every state, metropolitan area and county in the country. . .
A worker earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would need to work 2.8 full time jobs, or approximately 112 hours per week for all 52 weeks of the year, in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at HUD’s Fair Market Rent (FMR). If this worker slept for eight hours per night, he or she would have no remaining time during the week for anything other than working and sleeping. . .

“Tackling our affordability crisis isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s also one of the best ways we can invest in our nation’s long term growth and competitiveness,” wrote Julián Castro, Secretary of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in the report’s preface. “This report confirms that investing in affordable housing — as HUD is doing by providing annual housing support for nearly 5.5 million households is one of the most important steps we can take to help people succeed today, and live healthier lives long into the future.” . . .

NLIHC advocates for modest reforms to the mortgage interest deduction that could save the federal government more than $20 billion each year. NLIHC proposes investing these savings into the national Housing Trust Fund (HTF)—the first new federal program in a generation to focus on housing for the lowest income renters. At least 90% of HTF funds must be used to build, preserve, or rehabilitate affordable rental housing for this population.
“The federal government has the resources to end the shortage of housing affordable to the lowest income families,” said Ms. Yentel. “It is simply a matter of how those resources are allocated. Instead of subsidizing the mortgages of higher income people, we must invest in making rental housing more affordable and available to those most in need of assistance.”
NLIHC received support from JPMorgan Chase to fund Out of Reach. “JPMorgan Chase is committed to driving more inclusive economic growth, but we must first understand the full scope of the challenges facing our communities,” said Daryl Shore, Vice President, Community Development Initiatives, JPMorgan Chase. “That’s why we are proud to support the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Out of Reach report once again. Its data on the shortage of affordable housing in America will inform and empower those focused on addressing this critical issue.”
Extensive data for every state, metropolitan area, and county in the country are available online at www.nlihc.org/oor.  

Eric Schmidt - The Future Of The Way We Live, Love And Work

Alain de Botton - The Future Of The Way We Live, Love And Work

Niall Ferguson - Leaders Of Our Time

Pay attention + Heads Up

All The Media-Spin, Over-Hype + Hoop-La Do Not Make Downtown Transformation Real [ so sorry :)) ]

Just ask Jeff McVay [seen smiling second from right] in the image to the left] who somehow got saddled with the title  "Director  of Downtown Transformation."
Please don't get me wrong, dear readers - Jeff McVay is a nice guy [so's the mayor for that matter] but what they're attempting to do with The New Urban DTMesa is open to questions made in good faith with good intentions.
The occasion took place on October 16, 2015 [during the time Mayor John Giles said in in his SOTC 2016 speech that he had been talking to ASU for more than a year about locating a satellite campus here in downtown]. The occasion that put a big smile on Mr. McVay's face was this announcement made at that time, after the city had spent $75,000 total paid to three consultants to come up with an idea for a certain parcel of city-owned land next to City Hall. . . OOps! One problem: it didn't happen.  Now the "powers-that-be" and connections with them, are floating another idea for the same site with a sketchy proposal for a 2500-student ASU Campus - mebbe another "convincing anchor for the new city center"??? ... or is that just another Pie-in-The-Sky flat-fall at urban planning?

Rendering of Mesa City Center

Mesa City Center receives an Honor Award from AIA Arizona

Colwell Shelor+West 8+Weddle Gilmore's design for Mesa City Center took the top award (Honor award) in the urban design category at the 2015 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Arizona Chapter Annual Awards Gala, which was held in the Phoenix Art Museum this October.
A jury of architects from San Francisco AIA met earlier in the year to assess the 2015 design award submissions. The jury included Joshua Aidlin (Aidlin Darling Design), Dominique Price (Gensler), David Baker (David Baker Architects), and Rosa Sheng (Bohlin Cywinski Jackson).
Of the winning design the jury commented the “The curious and captivating organic form is a convincing anchor for the new city center. The renderings evoke a futuristic spirit, combined with a familiar, humane scale. The balance of green and hardscape creates a desirable “there” factor, and a magnet for various scales of engagement and civic activity.”
John Giles, City of Mesa Mayor; Jeff McVay, Mesa Manager of Downtown Transformation; Michele Shelor and Allison Colwell from Colwell Shelor Landscape Architecture and Phil Weddle of Weddle Gilmore accepted the award on behalf of the project team.

more information: Mesa City Center

Nice design for a City Center, huh?

Remarkably off the drawing boards in black-and-white using the same bird's-eye view high-in-the-sky is the new idea seen in the image to the left for the proposed $180 Million real estate development with less trees and less green space proposed and presented at City Council study sessions and meetings with little or any public comments and a lot of media-spin coming out of City Hall with nearly all mainstream local media say "this might be the site" or "ASU and Mesa are making progress".
The State Press in an article just a few hours ago  noted [as typical of the mayor with details] "In early February, Mesa Mayor John Giles confirmed that ASU would be establishing some sort of presence in the downtown area of his city, though the extent of that presence was not initially clear. . . "  HUH?? That's just four months after the big announcement that they wanted Mesa City Center for this same site! . . . readers might have guessed that after the residents of Mesa Royale put up a big commotion to not leave 644 W Main Street in a questionable "insider deal" land sale that would have removed them from their homes permitting the property to get cleared and bulldozed for a tentative ASU campus there, the city had to do a quick-think for other options for site selection, choosing where Mesa City Center didn't happen. This time there could be no scandal or dispute - the City largely owns the acreage.

There was another RFP in the meantime that did not work out: a privately-owned piece of land in a prime location diagonally across from City Hall, 1 West Main on the corner of Center Street directly across from the Mesa Arts Center.
All kinds of spin and hype and hoopla about that too - and a stock image of  a sidewalk restaurant shown in the image to the right from mesaaz.gov. 
It was for a 3-5 story mixed-use building for commercial, office and residential development. That didn't "fly" either, for reasons unknown.
Up now is the following site location and proposal for the NWC of Country Club Drive and Main Street on land that was in dispute over seizure by eminent domain that the City has for all intents and purposes recently purchased. Curiously enough, it's only one block east of 644 W Main Street on the Valley Metro Central Mesa Light Rail Extension that opened service in August 2015.
Just weeks ago it was publicized as about as many things the typical urban development planning tool box could produce - anything and everything anybody want.
Don't know about that "gateway" thing - but mebbe we'll be getting somewhere where the same mixed-uses for 1 W Main have been transferred to for this
Here's a press release from the Newsroom for the City of Mesa: 
Meetings scheduled to get input for major downtown development

Post Date: 05/24/2016 11:13 AM

The City of Mesa is hosting two public meetings to solicit input regarding a proposed development of approximately two and a half acres at the northwest corner of Country Club Drive and Main Street.
The meetings will be held Thursday, June 9 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday, June 16 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Benedictine University, 225 E. Main St., in the Community Room.
The June 16 meeting begins with a presentation at 6 p.m. followed by an open house at 6:30 p.m.

Representatives from Chicanos Por La Causa Incorporated and Winslow + Partners will be giving a presentation about the proposed market rate, mixed use development and will be answering questions and soliciting input from the community. Individuals unable to attend may provide feedback online at www.mesaaz.gov/downtowntransformation.  

The proposed five-story market-rate development includes 200 residential units, retail and commercial space and parking. It is designed to serve as a gateway entrance to downtown Mesa and provide easy access to light rail.

For more information, contact City of Mesa Manager of Downtown Transformation Jeff McVay at (480) 644-5379 or jeff.mcvay@mesaaz.gov.
 
Public Information and Communications
Contact: Kevin Christopher
Tel. 480-644-4699 kevin.christopher@mesaaz.govDon't

City of Mesa Posts Job Opp on German Website Yesterday

Thu, 26 May 2016 14:38:00 GMTJob Search Keywords: Manager Site Mesa I Mesa Jobs
Source: http://pries5.de/US/jobs/l-Mesa/q-Manager%20Site/        

Next steps include selecting design consultants and developing a master plan, says Jeffrey McVay, manager of downtown transformation for the City of Mesa. ASU plans to start ... 10 million to $12 million), and off-site improvements ($4 million) – for ... ...More jobs like this
http://jobs.jobsearch.today/?q=Plans for New ASU Campus Move Forward, Include Performing and Media Arts Program

Do We Live In A Bubble Here In Mesa?

Hmmm .... Gotta wonder, dear readers, gotta wonder.
About what you might ask?
Most recent case in point: Why was there no local reporting from so called "news reporters" at The Arizona Republic or East Valley Tribune or Phoenix New Times or The Mesa Independent with assignments to cover Mesa on an item that's been the subject of interest in national and international news reporting on First Amendment rights, fair use, freedom of expression, and favoritism by incumbents to control politics? . . . .Maybe because "outside interests don't get it "spoon-fed" to them by sources inside city government?
Bubbles are wonders of nature beautiful to behold, but when it comes to closed systems like local politics that get over-inflated and over-bloated, they exceed their own capacity to contain the hot air and pressure to expand, and burst.

What is your MesaZona blogger talkin' about?
An attempt to restrict political speech using intellectual property laws - featured in a post here two days ago based on reporting by Ars Technica - "A well-known First Amendment lawyer has formally responded on behalf of a city council candidate in Mesa, Arizona, who is accused of abusing the city’s trademarked logo in his campaign literature. . . "

Paul Levy, the lawyer referred to, has specialized in free speech issues arising on the Internet.  
More information here >> http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=337

Another report on May 25, 2016 appeared in The Washington Post

The Volokh Conspiracy opinion

Mesa, Arizona city threatening city council candidate with lawsuit

for using Mesa logo

It opens with this statement [words underlined to emphasize a point]

Paul Alan Levy of Public Citizen — who is representing the candidate — has the details; I’ve looked into the case, and I agree with his analysis:

The city of Mesa, Arizona, has threatened suit against a local businessman, Jeremy Whittaker, who is running for city council in opposition to a longtime city employee who enjoys endorsements from several current elected city officials. His offense? . . . Read more >> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/05/25/mesa-arizona-city-threatening-city-council-candidate-with-lawsuit-for-using-mesa-logo/

 

Eugene Volokh teaches free speech law, religious freedom law, church-state relations law, a First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic, and tort law, at UCLA School of Law, where he has also often taught copyright law, criminal law, and a seminar on firearms regulation policy.

Follow @volokhc

Yet another report about Mesa's actions on Monday can be seen in Techdirt

City Of Mesa Abusing Trademark Law

To Punish City Council Candidate They Don't Like

from the not-how-it-works dept

"Another day, another story of abusing trademark law to try to silence speech. Paul Levy has the story of how the city of Mesa, Arizona, has sent a ridiculous cease and desist letter to Jeremy Whittaker, who is running for city council. Apparently, his opponent in the election is the preferred choice of many current city officials, suggesting that they don't really appreciate Whittaker's candidacy. But the city took things a ridiculous step too far in sending that cease and desist, arguing that Whittaker's campaign signs violate the city's trademark on its logo . . ."

Readers please note documents produced by Mesa law firm Booth, Udall & Fuller are included in the article together with the response from the Public Citizen Litigation Group  

Read more >> https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160524/18141034540/city-mesa-abusing-trademark-law-to-punish-city-council-candidate-they-dont-like.shtml