Economic Development and Mesa

Hopefully, the next few years will be an economic boom in Mesa. We have a lot of things in place and if they are are developed carefully and thoughtfully, we should be able to get Mesa out of these economic doldrums. It wasn't that long ago that Mesa was driving the entire East Valley. Now, the valley has gotten bigger, but Mesa should be able to take back its role as a regional leader. Two stories really go to this notion of economic development:

Scott Smith is laying out his building a better Mesa plan at breakfast on Tuesday. He talked a lot about his plans during his campaign and even still has some of them up on his website. It should be interesting to see what he has to say, but I already think that its great that he is putting some of the responsibility on the businesses to help Mesa thrive. This is going to be a group effort.

The other bit of news is that the Gateway area annexation meeting went off without a hitch. This area is definately going to be the future for Mesa and its long term viability. The mixed use project portion with major resorts and other exciting features. Mesa and the developer need to work together and make sure that its a high quality destination. There is no reason why that area can't be the resort destination in the likes of Scottsdale or Paradise Valley, especially to the growing communities in Pinal County. Combined with its proximity to the airport. It really will be the heart of Mesa's economic development.