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When I first moved out here with my dad, we used to call the City of Mesa "Mesa Township" because of its bland, stale atmosphere and unwillingness to change and develop a positively progressive business climate. I even joked with my dad that Mesa was the suburb of Tempe. haha, i really cracked myself up with that one.
But several things have lead me to believe that the climate in Mesa is changing. First the latest news that Mesa agreed to a munincipal bond that will allow a water park/conference center/hotel be built in western Mesa around Dobson Rd. and 8th street. Second is the fact that Mesa has a medical graduate school known as A.T. Still University, that fills the demands needed in the areas of medicine for our metro area. third are the new condos being bult around Alma School and Southern. They are very chic and are a model of urban design.
It has always been my criticism of Mesa that they are asleep when it comes to the status of their munincipality. They are not a small town, but a city and should become a place of innovation and creative ideas.
While progress has been made, there is still a long way to go. first they need to do something about downtown and make it come alive with unique retail options, art galleries, fashion boutiques ,etc. etc. Second they need to attract higher paying employers so people can afford to live in the community. and third they need to have more efficient public transit so they can become more of a grenn community and have enviromental initiative. If they can do these things, there will be no need to have an increase in taxes.
MisterioB - I agree with one part - Mesa has a long way to go and, to do that, a major course change in the town fathers' thinking is necessary. Based on what I see, I think they're incapable if it.
Forget downtown - it's way too late for any business to compete with the suburban shopping centers and malls that have sprung up like mushrooms in recent years.
Two issues: accessability of glitzier and a greater depth of consumer goods and services in the outlying shopping centers - plus the cost of gasoline - have sealed the future of downtown Mesa. It's doomed to remain the white elephant ghost town it's been since I moved here and the town fathers' total lack of imagination will keep it there.
The Waveyard and the Bass Pro Shop, funded with massive public subsidies, are far from being examples of the town's aggressive, progressive economic entries you represent them to be. Read the review of the Bass Pro Shop at
http://www.yelp.com/biz/rw8YDgz69vqdeu-oLR4W8Q
The closing sentence is worth repeating: "I even managed to find some flip flops I convinced myself I needed. Now that's powerful marketing!" $84 million in public subsidy for a retail theme park for impulse buyers? That makes as much sense as a BRAND NEW water theme park in the middle of the desert, particularly when the limiting factor to growth in the Valley of the Sun is WATER!
Three questions, MisterioB:
1. When gasoline reaches $5 a gallon, who's going to travel to Bass Pro, Waveyard or Decades Theme Park? In a recession, where's the disposable income coming from to finance the impulse purchases or snorkelling sessions, the stays in 5 star hotels or the $100 a ticket headliners direct from Vegas or San Pedro?
2. Aside from the developers' financial projections, where are the tax revenues going to come from to cover the subsidies that have been sunk into enterprises which are dependent on entertainment expenditures and impulse buying?
3. Why hasn't Mesa's town fathers looked long, hard and creatively for industries in more stable economic sectors to subsidize? Clean industry that would provide well-paying jobs rather than minimum wage positions for sales clerks, ticket sellers and maids in consumer-dependent fields?
I don't share your views at all MisteroB! I think Mesa's town fathers have found their very own shortsighted way to escape the summer sun - they've got their heads where it don't shine!
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