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In what reads like a laundry list of "to dos" that the city would be doing if they had monday, Mesa's plan for the stimulus funds have been revealed. Money for police, streets, neighborhood rehab and others are all good things. It appears that several of Mesa's critical needs will be helped by these funds, which, I hope is what the stimulus was intended for in the first place.
Some of the other programs don't seem to be as high of a priority right now (like making our city buildings more "green"), but I don't think that its Mesa's fault that its an area that they have to spend money. In fact, I think its part of President's agenda to force cities to apply their money towards programs he supports such as environmental, transit, and rehabbing the Salt Riverbed.
In the end, Mesa did a good job of avoiding programs that will put the taxpayers on the hook for the long-run. We may see a problem 4 years ago when paying for these extra police officers becomes Mesa's responsibility, but hopefully the economy will recover by then, and besides, its hard to complain about having more police out there making the streets safer. Let's just make sure they are looking for real crime, instead of seeking out noise complaints.
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I hope the stimulus money is to repair roads not widen them. We do not need to waste anymore money on that in Mesa. I think the salt riverbed project is a great thing to have as a city and to boast as open space in returning it to its old habitat. Its sad to see that we have dug in it, destroyed it, let the army coor of engineers build huge flood walls and destroy a gem in the desert. This rehab can be a great plus in Mesa's image and assist our water quality and natural habitat that was here before we destroyed it. These big spending projects by O will help in some ways, but he lied about the national deficit and is making twice as bad as W did.
The sad thing about the river is that we have narrow minds and put a freeway along it in some areas that now could be prime real estate. But we looked at it as a dump and gravel pit.
With the new LR extension, I hope the city can use some of that stimulus money on greening the tracks and station areas to make them cooler in the summer time. There is too much concert and asphalt around these stations that will make it very uncomfortable. If you look at heat island affect in the valley, you will see our roads are one of the biggest contributors to making our city hotter is our roads and we the rail system does not help and does not adapt to our harsh environment. I think we need to set a standard in creating nicer and cooler stations areas for transit riders. If not, without density and comfort, light rail is going to struggle during the summer and in keeping riders.
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