Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Smith finds a nicer way to say "Back Off"

Mayor Smith was joined by the Mayor of Denver and the Mayor of Tucson to extoll the virtues of regional cooperation instead of local competition. This latest message, of course, coming a week after Mayor Smith told everyone else in the Valley to stay away from the Cubs. Topics of local cooperation sound like a much nicer way to say "Back Off" to everyone else.

It's good to see Mesa and Tucson together talking about cooperation, especially after Mesa took an active role in trying to land the D-Backs away from Tucson. However, Spring Training baseball is not the only economic opportunity where Arizona needs to work together to seek economic opportunities that benefit everyone.

It's good to see Mayor Smith working with others to bring around a sense of regional cooperation. Mesa has had a role in the local competitions of the past including the incentive war between Mesa Riverview and Tempe Marketplace. While vying for projects will always be part of the landscape, it's good to see that there are leaders out there who are willing to look towards the statewide well-being instead of sacrificing long-term regional benefits for local gains.

2 comments:

Heath Reed said...

Its something that is a big problem here in the valley I tihnk. However, have you noticed that the Mayor has connected with the city of Denver at least 3 or 4 times?

m360 said...

I thought mesa passed on the d-backs and said they would focus only on trying to keep the cubs?