MPS continue to ponder big changes

We mentioned last month that Mesa Public Schools was considering creative ideas for using their existing facilities and diversifying the education options. We are starting to hear even more of these big changes that are being pondered.

First, as reported last week, MPS is considering closing Powell Jr. High which is among the 8 proposals to be considered by the School Board. The others include returning freshman back to the High School campuses, closing Guererro and Alma elementaries or turn them into alternative types of schools, merging Hendrix and Frost into an K-8 advanced academy, and several other options.

One of the options, turning Alma Elementary into a Franklin Traditional school, received more detailed treatment in the Tribune. We understand that the curriculum is structured in a specific way, but still don't quite see how this differs from a regular school.

We have mentioned the challenge that this might provide to parents who simply want to send their kids to the schools closest to their homes, just as it has been done in the past. However, there another question to ponder that we wonder if it has been even asked. While trivial, what would be the new naming convention for these new school? Many of the schools are named after former Superintendents, public officials and other town leaders. Look at the history.

Guerrero is named after Pedro Guerrero, early pioneer and businessman. Pomeroy is named after Francis M. Pomeroy, Mesa Pioneer - there are still a lot of Pomeroy's in town. Alma School hasn't been on Alma School road in many years, but the namesake school always existed. Based on the naming of the other Franklin schools would it lose it's identity? Same goes for Hendrix and Smith which are both named after former Superintendents?

Maybe it is not that big of a deal, but it is something to keep in mind in a community steeped in history. The school system does need to make changes, but sometimes the little things like names may cause some of the biggest problems.

More on the visit from the Cubs last week

Sorry we missed this before, but the Arizona Republic ran an account of the Cubs event which sounded almost exactly the same as the eye-witness account that we received. All in all, it sounds like it was a very well done event.

Still no word on exactly how the project is going to work, but the article did hint that it may take months to iron out the details. Hopefully, in the meantime, the Ricketts family will remember the overwhelming amount of support they received out here to stay.

Keep the Cubs also found a very cool post from the Cubs Spring Training PA announcer debunking the arguments coming out of Florida on why the Cubs should move. He does a great job taking apart everything from the marquee team myth to the idea that Florida increases World Series chances. We highly recommend this article, especially for the Mesa diehard Cubs fans who want to be equipped to fight back.

MCC looking to connect through social networking

Here is an interesting article from an MCC student about MCC's efforts to connect via social networking. Although the program has an awkward name MCConnect (sounds like getting wi-fi at McDonalds), the research that it is trying to accomplish is very relevant and interesting.

It wasn't that long ago that students had to register for classes in person or via the telephone, now students can register for classes online and interact with their professor and get their class information via email. This type of information is likely to continue to decentralize as we progress. The articles says that students right now did not prefer texting as an option to receive information, but this may change over the next few years as students raised with texting start to attend college.

This is good news to see that MCC is looking to change to continue to provide high quality service to their students. This is also a nice change of pace to hear some good news from the community colleges, which in the past few months and years haven't always been the bearers of good news.

Chavez opens "Campeones" in Mesa Today

Today is the opening day for "Campeones" the 30,000-square foot entertainment venue owned by boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez. The hype started earlier this week, with the venue being described as a cross between "ESPN Zone and Dave & Busters."

This is exciting news especially since this venue is unique compared to anything else in the Valley. Like Toby Keith's and Amazing Jakes, if people want to have this experience, they have to come exclusively to Mesa. This is, once again, another fine example of Mesa's ability to put together quality reuse projects for existing big boxes.

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Mesa Public Schools override passes - Others fail countywide

Mesa voters approved the Mesa Public Schools bond override last night with a 58% to 42% margin, which for some reason AZCentral was calling "slim." This is a big deal, because as we mentioned before, these elections can no longer be taken for granted.

These school bond elections used to be an easy win, but not so much anymore. Across the county, several other school bonds and overrides failed. We don't have the details on how these cuts will impact the schools, but you can bet that there will be several districts that will have to go even leaner next year.

Taxpayers are having to make tough choices in their own lives, and they want to make sure that everyone from the government to the school district have to do the same. These districts will no doubt try again sometime soon, and it would be smart for them to show the cuts that they are making and how they are finding ways to be more efficient if they want any chance of future passage.

Cubs Owners in Town: Reception Last Night - Tour Today

Turns out that the Cubs Reception with Governor Brewer, Senator McCain (via video message), Speaker Adams and other officials and business leaders was last night. Keep the Cubs has it right, having so many leaders in the room shows a real commitment to the Cubs.

We also got an eye witness account of the event from Terry:

"The reception was impressive yesterday evening. Backdrop was the sunset, there was a great intro video showing off all of the great places that we all love as Arizonans and Mesans. Gov. Brewer spoke about Az being the place with the most IL. natives that have moved to milder climates, that we have one of the seven wonders of the world and how she was committed to making the deal happen. She opened her comments by saying that with the leadership in the room we could get the deal done right then.

So, the leadership in the room; Speaker Adams, Thayer Vershoor, Don Stapley, Steve Court, Cecil Ash, Rich Crandall, Michael Bidwell (who commented on the Cardinals making it to the Super Bowl and the fan support- all sell out games since the stadium was built and how the Cubs could imagine the same support) , Ryne Sandberg, Rep from Harry Mitchell's office, AG's office, I'm sure I am missing some of the elected officials but you get the picture.

Rep. Adams commented on growing up in Mesa and the Cubs being a part of being a kid in Mesa because of spring training. My favorite comment of the evening came from our Mayor- There are 1800 (he gave a much more specific number) miles of coastline in the United States but only one Sonoran Desert. Visitors get a one of a kind experience when they come to AZ.

Crane Kenny had nothing but praise for the way the Cubs have been treated here in Mesa over the years by the City and the Cactus League.

When Tom Ricketts spoke he said it was his first visit to AZ. I hope his first impression is memorable and one that makes him want to come back often. I know that why I ended up here. Many of the people I went to college with at ASU were transplants from IL. I am from DC and many of my friends went to FL for school. It was dumbfounding to me how many of my friends at ASU were from the Chicago area and the point was really driven home when Spring of my Freshman year rolled around and we spent our afternoons in the cheap seats watching the Cubbies. They sure have devoted fans that love AZ as much as the Cubs."

Cubs are in town today

Mayor Smith tweeted this morning welcoming the Cubs into town. According to the timeline last week, we would guess that the reception for the Cubs would be soon, maybe even as early as tonight. If anyone has intel on how the reception goes, we would love to hear about it.

It will be interesting to see how the meetings go and any feedback that the Cubs are offering. Is Mesa waiting to put together a final offer until after they see which property the Cubs like best? Will Mesa have to go to an election? If so, are the Cubs willing to wait for election results? What do the offers look like, is there an overwhelming favorite?

Some would argue that having so many options doesn't stack up as well against the single offer from Florida, but we would say that having the ability to craft an agreement together makes the most sense.

Tribune shutting down at the end of the year

This is truly a sad day. The East Valley Tribune has announced that they will be shutting their doors on December 31st. From the sound of it, it appears that, since the staff will be offered severance packages or reassignment, the Trib's website will soon be gone as well.

So, that's it. The entire paper will be history. What's more, several national news sites get their local news from the Trib's feed, so it is going to be interesting to see where they go next. Will it be AzCentral who seems to be on their last legs as well? Speaking of, it's a little weird to see, but even the Arizona Republic is covering the announcement.

Twenty years ago, you had the Arizona Republic, the Phoenix Gazette, and the Mesa Tribune to get the news. The Mesa Tribune was known for reporting the facts, keeping things relatively fair, and giving conservative opinions with a libertarian, limited government flair. The Mesa Tribune was uniquely Mesa.

Now, we are just left with the Republic, who despite having several Tribune alumni, does not quite have the same feel as the old paper. We should have seen it coming back in April, when they won a Pulitzer, laid people off, and cut back Saturday service.

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Mesa pitching the Cubs next week

Aided by City and State leaders, the City of Mesa is going to have a chance to make their pitch to the new owners of the Cubs next week. Mesa has several land owners who would be willing to be part of a new stadium facility, and it looks like some of them are going to meet with the Cubs while they are in town.

Mesa is walking a fine line here between being resolved in keeping the Cubs and appearing too willing to do anything. The threat from Florida is real, but that should be mean that the Cubs can hold Mesa hostage for anything they want.

With the potential of facing yet another election, Mesa residents should be reminded that unlike some of the other projects we have voted on in recent years, the Cubs are already contributing to the local economy to the tune of $50 million a year. Mesa cannot afford to lose the Cubs, so let's hope that the Mayor and all of our city leaders are able to put Mesa's best foot forward next week.

Saving $300,000

The City of Mesa is taking another shot at a vision for downtown, this time with a $300,000 stimulus grant. Free money, right? Well, eventually, the taxpayers are going to have to foot the bill for this stimulus spree, so maybe this would be a good first place to start saving some of it.

In our attempt to save Mesa $300,000, here is our best guess of what will come out of the study:

- Create a sense of "place" using distinctive landscaping features, pedestrian friendly walkways, and interesting design and architecture.

- Integrate transit into the planning, encouraging different kinds of businesses, shops, and residential to create a mixture of people living and shopping in the area.

- Attract a regional employer or university to locate downtown in the vicinity of the light rail creating a destination for students and workers.

- Focus on the local attractions such as the Temple and the Mesa Art Center and attract like minded opportunities to their area to create a richer experience.

- Encourage the integration of historic neighborhoods with new, interesting architectural designs to embrace the area's history while looking ahead to its thriving future.

- Give the area a name and a theme that capture the spirit and essense of the area.

- Place residential and office above retail locations to create not only a shopping destination, but an interesting place to live and work.

Any of these sound familiar? We understand that there should be a plan in place for what to do when the light rail comes, we just wonder how these planners make so much money by basically saying the same thing over and over. Mesa would also do well to talk about how this is not coming out of general fund dollars, because taxpayers aren't all that interested in a downtown plan, when the city has already had to cut millions from their current budget.

School Override Elections on Tuesday

There hasn't been a lot of talk about it, but Mesa Public Schools along with nearly 30 other districts across the valley are headed to a school override election this Tuesday. Make sure you look at the issues for yourself, but with the current state budget taking such a big chunk out of education, one would assume that these override and bond issues are becoming increasingly more important.

That being said, the schools that go out for these overrides time and again should not assume that these issues are going to pass, just because they have in the past. There is a large group of people, especially in Mesa, who are going to vote no on anything. School districts should me mindful of this fact and be very transparent about what the money is being used for, and how the money has been spent in the past. Taxpayers are inclined to continue to give money to schools, but they want to make sure that their money is being used efficiently.

Naples group is serious about the Cubs

The group from Naples, FL is serious in their endeavor to attract the Cubs. They have several serious supporters and it looks like they may have a few funding options at their disposal. As Keep the Cubs mentions, however, they appear to have very little political support for their effort. So, if push comes to shove, and the stadium eventually needs taxpayer funds (which pretty much all stadiums do), there's a big chance at trouble.

However, with the intentions of Naples on the table, it does teach us a few things:

First, as blogger Joanna Allhands points out, a downtown stadium is probably out of the picture. There is not enough acreage available to support that type of facility and retail attraction that the Cubs appear to be looking for. If Mesa is to be competitive, their location will not likely be downtown.

Next, it appears that more than Mesa may need to be involved. By now, the Cactus League must realize that the Cubs are the rising tide that lifts all ships. They should be helping keep the Cubs in Arizona. Same goes for all midwest transplants throughout the Valley. The local Cubs fans should be on red-alert.

Finally, Mesa is going to need to hit a homerun. Not that there isn't enough pressure on Mayor Scott Smith, City Manager Chris Brady, and whomever else is on their team already, but Mesa needs to show that they have come to play. This may not necessarily mean more money or bigger deals, but it should show a creativity that may not have characterized Mesa in the past. This is just too big of a revenue source to let leave. Which means Mesa should either embrace the Keep the Cubs effort that is already underway, or do more in promoting their own effort.

Bad news for sales tax revenues

Once again, Mesa's sales tax revenues have taken a turn for the worse. Once again, Mesa is on the sales tax revenue roller coaster. Once again, we are waiting for the end of the month and crossing our fingers that revenue should be okay. Last month it looked like things were stabilizing, but this month revenues are off again.

Although this sparked a bit of back and forth last time, this is yet another example of why Mesa needs to look for steadier revenue sources. Again, we are not advocating for a tax increase, but we do think that the City should be able to offer its citizens a minimal expectation of what services they should expect.

All of this bad news just goes to serve as a reminder why Mesa needs to work hard to keep revenue sources that we have (the Cubs) and continue to foster others that have future potential (Gaylord and Gateway).