Gaylord/Prop 300 rendering is very cool

Here it is, our first glance of the proposed Gaylord Hotel for Mesa. My first impression? Woah.

You look at the pictures of their other resorts around the country and you know that that are big. But then you see the concept of what it would look like with Mesa as the backdrop and it gives you a much better idea of the size and scope of this plan. This truly is nothing like we have seen in Mesa.

I don't quite get the comments about Santa Barbara style architecture. Maybe I haven't spent enough time in Santa Barbara to notice. But the question is: What did they want? A giant pueblo or something that looked like a mission? I think it looks good without being too, well, southwest-y.

Think about what it will look like as you drive up on a place like this. There certainly won't be any missing it. Plus, it a lot of ways, this could be Mesa's greatest ambassador. You could have some CEOs come to Mesa to go to a convention and they stay at this place overlooking the Superstitions and the beautiful desert. They play a little golf, enjoy the weather, see that there is a lot going on out here. Next thing you know, they could be moving their operations to Mesa. It is not that far-fetched of a scenario.

Overall, I think the rendering is very cool and will probably go a long way to convince the voters of Mesa.

Bloginess

First, I wanted to give a shout out the new blog, Gila Courier. I have been meaning to mention them for awhile, and I finally got around to doing it and adding them to the blogroll. They do a good job of follwing stuff at the legislature and criticizing the Arizona Republic. I think of them as sort of the Espresso Pundit that posts more often and doesn't try to break the writing endurance record.

Speaking of the Republic, I'd like to thank them for adding Mesa Issues to their "other voices" roll. I must be truthful and admit that we asked them to add us, but hey, they did it, and even put us in the middle.

Get a glimpse of Gaylord tomorrow

Stay turned, looks like we are going to get our first glimpse of the renderings of the Mesa Gaylord tomorrow.

Allhands posted a couple of interesting pictures that are shown to the right. It looks like whatever we are going to see is probably going to be fairly large in scope. I always sort of thought that the "megaresort" tag had been tossed around too much, but it looks like Gaylord definitely sticks to the "go big" mantra.

Allhands got the insider's sneak peek, and normally I would take her word for it, but since I only have a few more hours to wait, I am going to reserve judgement until I see the drawings for myself.

Is it time to restructure the university system?

Very interesting opinion piece regarding restructuring the university system. The basic premise is to split off ASU West and ASU Polytechnic and make them into separate universities. I am not quite sure why ASU Downtown is spared, perhaps its the fact that they now house several programs that used to be located at Tempe.

Now, I don't think that the naming convention for the new schools is as important as this guy mentions, but I think the idea may have a few merits. As I mentioned before, adding some competition to the market may not necessarily be a bad thing. Besides, if Crow wants to toss Poly aside to continue to build his prestigious empire, perhaps we can find someone else who would want to actually offer affordable undergraduate education to students. Heck, while we're at it, that could be two more in town college football teams in the mix!

Riverview and Redeveloping West Mesa

A West Mesa Sports Authority is moving from their old power center at Southern and Baseline and into new digs at the Mesa Riverview project.

Overall, I still remain a fan of what Riverview is trying to do. However, I do have to say that its disappointing that Riverview is taking some of the stores that were in the area and moving them to the new shopping center. I was looking through their list of shops, and I may be wrong, but I believe that the Wal-Mart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Skipro, and Petco were all moved to Riverview from a previous location. Sports Authority appears to be following this same fate. That is a lot of empty boxes in the area to fill. Don't get me wrong, I am happy they stayed in Mesa, but that is a lot of redevelopment needed - especially in the Fiesta District.

Mesa has been creative in this department. The Mekong Plaza appears to be doing well, appealing to a niche clientele and attracting new business into town. With the old Sports Authority filled by a Supermarket that caters to a hispanic demographic, perhaps they can do the same. The paper claims that it would be a compliment the other developments, namely the Campeones boxing-themed restaurant that is coming to the area. Perhaps this is the start of another concentration of businesses, giving Mesa a more interesting and international flare.

Look at us, we're cultural! Perhaps, we won't be the most boring city in the world next year!

This is a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. I understand why corporate retailers want to move to better locations, we should have seen it coming a few years ago when every car dealer migrated to be right next to a freeway. The retailers most certainly were to come next. Now, the property owners, Mesa, and others need to figure out how to best fill these boxes, or come up with other creative uses for the next stage in viability.

Stimulus for Bloggers

Don't want to spend $800 million? Here is a simple solution, do a stimulus for bloggers! We certainly deserve it, and think about how many nice things we would say about you.

My personal fave:

2. Blogging is an unskilled profession. Let's be honest - for every Nobel prize winner, there's a nutter or nonentity with nothing to say, writing nothing of interest. It's not like research into green energy or university education - where a stimulus might simply raise the price of already-scarce skills. Blogging is something any unemployed banker or subprime borrower can do, and sometimes already are.

The Cardinals Stadium Impact

First of all, may I just say that the Super Bowl was a heck of a game and everyone from Arizona should be proud of the team no matter how disappointing they have been in the past. They worked hard and despite very few people nationally believing them, they gave the Steelers a run for their money.

One of the after effects of all the fan euphoria and the Cardinals actually fielding a good team is this great story about East Valley officials lamenting the loss of the Cardinals Stadium. It was likely to happen, and I am sure its planted to create some heated discussion. Which it has, sparking a lot of East vs. West controversy in the comment section.

Basically, what Tempe and Mesa could have had was the Stadium and surrounding development instead of the Tempe Marketplace and Mesa Riverview projects that they have now. This notion is fairly ironic for those who remember that Marketplace and Riverview fought each other bitterly and spent millions to square off in what was probably one of the more costly local elections of all time.

Anyway, the voters at the time shot the project down. The voters of Mesa went as far as to make sure that anything even resembling a sports or public facility needs a public vote, hence the votes on Waveyard and Gaylord.

Would it have been nice to go to more Cardinals games because they were closer to home? Yes.

Would it be nice if the stadium was on the light rail line, instead of out in the west valley? Yes.

Would Mesa and Tempe like a million dollars a game in revenue pumped into the economy, plus the chance to keep the Fiesta Bowl and National Championship games? Yes.

Well, they aren't uprooting that stadium and dragging it to this side of town, so its time to get over it. Glendale, like it or not, has been very aggressive in putting up the money it takes to attract these types of opportunities. Will these things ever pencil out? Who knows, but they have beaten Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, and Mesa to the punch attracting the Coyotes and the Cardinals to their city.

The lesson to take away from this is just as some of the people mention in the article. We must not lose our grip on the opportunities that we have before us. Althought we'll have to wait and see what it looks like, this Gaylord project could have the same sort of epic stature and local impact that a stadium has. Is it going to be filled with rabid fans from accross the valley? No. But it could bring millions of people into Mesa, including CEOs and other decision makers, and show them that Mesa would be a good place to do business. Now, that would help Mesa's long-term growth!

Gateway Freeway in Peril

Remember awhile back when we lauded Mesa investing $6 million to trigger $20 million in funding for the Williams-Gateway Freeway? Well, it looks like the legislature has swept that $20 million away to help cover their $1.2 Billion dollar revenue shortfall.

This means the start of construction by 2012 is not likely. As I have mentioned before, imagine if the San Tan had been done 4 years earlier. The sooner we can get some of the freeways open, the sooner we can reap the rewards of the economic opportunity. This freeway is going to help all of the Southeast Valley, including those who commute from Pinal County. The longer this is on hold, the more trouble it could potentially cause.

So the question is, what does this do to Mesa and their $6 million investment? Is it too late? Is the money spent? Is it still worth it to do the research at this point, or should they hold off for now so they don't have to start paying interest in 2014? Clearly, Mesa appeared to make their investment acting on good faith. Its not clear if the legislature reciprocated.

Gaylord/Prop. 300 Election Update

First, if you spend any amount of time on the Tribune's new website, I am sure you have seen the ads for Prop. 300. I finally clicked one the other day and checked out www.Yeson300.com. There is some pretty cool stuff on there. If you want to learn more about Gaylord, DMB, or their plans for the proving grounds, its a good place to start.

Also, you can tell the election is drawing nearer as both papers start to take a more in-depth interest on the vote. The Tribune recently explored the impact of the current economy on the Gaylord vote. I tend to think that the current economy plays well for this project. Every day, we are reading about people losing their jobs, companies going under and industries in need of a bailout. In the Valley, we have read that Mesa is no longer the only city who needs to make dramatic cuts.

Long story short, the economy is hurting. I think the promise of new revenue for the cash-strapped city along with jobs would be a welcomed opportunity. If the numbers are right, they say that this could bring $5 million or more to the city. I would have to check again, but isn't that about the amount that Fire had to cut from their budget?

Also, lets compare this to the national stimulus package to the vote we are faced with in Mesa right now. The national plan is all taxpayer money, our money, doled out to different things ranging from banks to sex education programs. On the other hand, Prop 300 is bed taxes being used to promote Mesa and attracting a $1 billion in private funds.

If the federal program came along tomorrow and said that the $800+ million would immediately trigger billions more in private investment, guaranteed, I would be more apt to support. Alas it does not, and we have to wonder if we are throwing more good money after bad.

In the case of the Gaylord project, if you don't stay at the hotel, they aren't seeing a dime of your money. And even if you did, that money wouldn't be going to pay some 7 figure bonus to some executive, its going to promote Mesa to the world. More tourism to Mesa means even more money spent in our community.

West Mesa Neighborhood Meeting Tonight

Building Strong Neighborhoods is coming to the Fiesta Mall area. They are having a meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Adams Elementary School which is located at 738 S. Longmore. This is part of the long-term efforts to address the different parts of the city.

You should check it out or call (480) 644-5889 for more information.