So Long Mayor Hawker

Gary Nelson did a very nice write up about Mayor Keno Hawker in the Arizona Republic today. In June, he is going to be out of Mesa Public office after 18 years of service to the community. One thing you can always say about the guy is that he is honest about his responses - I thought he was going to come off a lot more defensive, but more than anything, I think he was fairly pensive about his time as mayor.

The comment section is full of people who dismissively write him off as good riddance, and some of the things that they feel are probably well deserved. However, there are a lot of exciting things on the horizon that either he helped set up, or didn't have the opportunity to mess up that will benefit Mesa for many years to come. I think that Bailey's Brake Shop was really the beginning of the end and that combined with the city's financial problems have really cast this administration with a negative light. In the end, I think Hawker leaves with a mixed legacy of someone who came in to change the system, and was ultimately changed by the system.

I was also a little surprised that he didn't say anything about either of the remaining Mayoral candidates or the fact that his hand picked choice lost in the primary. I have heard that he is not a big fan of Scott Smith, but I wonder what he thinks about Rex Griswold.