Meeting Provides Wealth of InformationAs Reported by Bob Parker
First, let me say that leaving the meeting last night I felt really lucky to have been there. I’ve missed them so much because of the wealth of information I receive when I go. We just
HAVE to get the word out so that those meetings are busting at the seams with neighbors and neighborhood leaders.
First on the agenda was the
Criminal Activity Update with special emphasis on the TLC
properties on MacDonald. presented by the Crime Prevention Unit and the CAT/Bike Officers.
John Meza, Central District Commander (
480-644-2287) brought with him CAT officers
Robert Hixson and
Dave Holden.
The item on the agenda they were responding to were questions about the level of calls of service for the TLC downtown site. TLC is the organization that works with recovering men in a ‘halfway’ house model. TLC has intentions of moving to
951 W. Main, the old
Rodeway Inn property. The officers said there were 25 calls for service at 20 S. MacDonald with mostly family-type disturbances. Out of those 25, there were only five reports written, which apparently is a good ratio. They did not seem at all worried about that number and said that there are other areas of town, especially where TLC wants to move, that have larger call volumes.
Our old friend,
Chip Jones, the CAT officer we’ve worked with extensively in the past sent word that he thought the move to 951 West Main was a good move for TLC. The main reasoning is that at its current location on MacDonald there are school children who pass by on their way to school.
It was noted that since the property is larger at 951 W. Main the capacity would increase. There was lots of discussion and questions about this move from neighbors present.
Claudia Walters and
Pat Gilbert reminded everyone that there are no special restrictions from the City in this private purchase of property for this type of use. They are protected by the Federal Government with Mesa having already lost a lawsuit against TLC in the past. The Fair Housing Act and Amendments dictate how these places are run.
Questions were asked about the number of residents of TLC with past histories of
sexual abuse. The consensus of the CAT officers that it was better to have many of them in one place. (I believe this may be erroneous thinking, and would like to see some research about having groups of sex offenders in contact with each other on a daily basis. I’m not sure the facts would support the CAT officers’ assessment. In my opinion it is like putting trouble making kids together in one place…you can expect trouble!)
There are apartments across the street from the Rodeway property.
Economic development has worked to drive TLC from downtown. The Mesa Arts Center is the gorilla in the neighborhood that will raise the level of economic development all around it. By that same reasoning, economic development of West Main Street should be a priority in our planning as we make Mesa a valuable hub for those cities around us. It is most important to improve the infrastructure and when we raise the value of our land these kinds of halfway houses won’t want to be there.
When they were done I asked the CAT officers what kept them awake at night…what problem did they know about that we didn’t know about that was of great concern. They immediately said
PROSTITUTION on West Main Street. We’ve visited this item over and over again, but they said there is a difference now. Whereas before most prostitutes who worked the area were drug users and wanted $40 for a quick score, now there is a different group of girls. A higher class who use cell phones and are on a ‘circuit’ of cities. They’re dropped off by their pimps in our area, work quickly and then are on to a circuit that includes Scottsdale and Tempe … and then back to Vegas or wherever they came from.
The
Circle K on Alma School and Main reported to the police one morning at 5 a.m. a guy had driven up and dropped off seven women at his property and they went quickly to work. What we have now is a lot of ‘high end’ girls making ‘a lot of money.’ They are called ‘car dates’ and occur on N. Standage and N. Alma School and don’t involve motels.
John Meza, the new Commander for the Central District said that he has been with Mesa PD for 19 years and did most of his training in our area. He just came from the Superstition District in East Mesa and said that we have a whole different set of problems here than out there. He said that Mesa Grande has a great reputation for being active in helping police and the City get things done. And there is lots of work to be done.
He said that our response time here in our area is two minutes faster than the response time where he came from out east. (As an aside, Pat Gilbert said that he had an altercation at Mesa Can and dialed 911 and the response time was 12 minutes.) Meza said our challenge here is the volume of crimes. He mentioned prostitution on Main Street, Broadway Road and Mesa Drive with undocumented nationals being picked up, and drug dealing at Pioneer Park to name only a few.
His hope is to bring to the table many partnerships. He said that the beat officers and not just the specialty officers should get to know the residents and begin creating that community partnership. That fosters a flow of information back and forth that makes partnerships work. He wants to fight and solve crimes through innovation. When they come into work he wants each group of officers to have a plan for the day...target enforcement. This is their beat, they should know the problems, and should have an idea of what they are going to do that day on their beat.
He is not a bean counter, but he likes to have and use statistics on all kinds of things. He has to give a report card to the Chief each month and is accountable for changes and problems. He looks at burglaries, vehicle theft and burglaries, residential and commercial and pays attention to what these statistics are telling him.
For information, he said that vehicle burglaries and thefts in our area were down 30% in December.
He also is looking for improved communication within the District. Everyone needs to be talking to each other to be effective, including shift hand off information each shift day, swing and night.
One heads up…traffic enforcement will be stressed…there will be more traffic stops…so he wanted to warn us to be more careful. He stops everyone, whether neighborhood leader or not!
He can be reached at 480-644-2287.
Pat Gilbert came to give us information regarding the
property tax and increased sales tax proposals for the ballot in May. He said that this election needs Mesa Grande and in his judgment is a very important crossroads for our community. Mesa had a property tax in the 1940’s for a year and used that tax to buy the utilities in a seven square mile area of downtown. Profits on those utilities have paid over and over for the amount of the tax and are a significant part of the budget for the city.
We live in the parts of Mesa that are the oldest with aging infrastructure, roadbeds, street lights that don’t work, uncertain electrical utilities. He wants us to focus on the positive vision of our future. We need to re-imagine how we as partners with government, nonprofits, and the private section…how we can rejuvenate and restores for the next generation the kind of neighborhoods we have enjoyed.
As an example, the fire station on west University has one of the largest call volumes of any station in the whole nation! We desperately need another fire station built in our area.
The Financing the Future Committee met for 19 months…looking at everything they could about the City…and recommended to the City Council to put these two items on the ballot for the citizens to decide.
We have relied on the sales tax for much too long. At one time we were the sales tax gorilla in the East Valley, but that is no longer the case. We collect the lowest per capita sales tax than any other city in Arizona with the exception of El Mirage.
The system is broken and the consequences are something that cuts will not remedy anymore. Our services will degrade further with time unless we do something.
For example, fire fighters are thinking about lateral moves to other cities in our area because they fear the consequences of having a city that can’t meet the demand for services. We’re having a serious brain drain.
The Web site
http://yesformesa.com/ is up and running for information on these ballot issues.
He reminded us that we are opinion makers and that people are going to ask us about this. We need to begin writing letters to the Editor and talking to our neighbors. Let them know about the Web site.
He spoke to the Mesa Arts Center and the Quality of Life Tax that built it that is due to expire. The Center is paid for already from this tax. We owe nothing on it, except upkeep. Almost no other community has taken this kind of approach to this large a project. It has been a huge success.
Art Piccinati reported on the recent
Charette at EVIT re: the West Mesa Main Street redevelopment project. Seventy people came to this meeting last Thursday, and together with ASU facilitators, neighbors and leaders got together at six tables and speculated on what could be done with the property at 1600 West Main Street. It is a three and one-half acre site set for transit oriented redevelopment to take advantage of the lite rail line that is being built. There was a great deal of creative thinking going on at the tables and it is exciting what can be done in a half an hour period. They’re hoping to build a model community that would set a new standard for Mesa.
In his view the Tempe-Mesa Corridor on Main Street is a gold mine waiting to happen. ASU is the draw for the lite rail which is a catalyst for a rebirth of this area of our city. He said that the property tax will lift everyone and help make more good things happen for west Mesa.
There will be another Charette in March. Participants will continue looking at the future and to be the cutting edge for the whole city. Lite rail will revolutionize the area. ASU and the parents of ASU students are going to wake up and come here and start fixing up and creating an impetus for change. We are at the very front of what is going on in the State of Arizona.
Vic Linoff was at the meeting and took charge of a group of people that were looking about
development of the whole of Main Street to the center of town and beyond. The positive thing about the evening was how people came together to get information about how it all fits together in the big picture. With Country Club as a dividing line, the city is quite different east and west of that street. He feels we have truly an opportunity to have billions of dollars of investment in the future in this corridor. This would include high density transit oriented building that might be another Central Corridor like in Phoenix.
Mesa has the best bargain in the world because for a mile and half of lite rail we are getting the whole 21 mile line! The day it opens it becomes a success, but he warned that we have to move fast to get the line extended east. It takes an average of nine years from decision to the start of building for a lite rail system extension.
Carolyn Crandell reported on the
Mesa Grande Archeological Site across from Banner Mesa. Carolyn is in the Mesa LTD for this year and they have taken on as a project the Mesa Grande Site. She said she has lived here for 40 years and always thought it was just a hill of dirt behind the fence. However, it is one of the three most significant sites in our area of the State, on a par with Casa Grande and Pueblo Grande in Phoenix. It was built and used between 1000 and 1400 A.D. by the Hohokams. The City of Mesa owns it.
Mesa Grande appears to be the hub of the irrigation for the Valley. Recent excavation at the Riverview development shows that there were 40 canals and it was the major area of distribution. Vic Linoff said that these canals were sometimes 13 feet deep and 25 feet wide and dug by hand.
One of Mesa Grande Community Alliance’s Focus Points in the Mesa Grande Site. With development it is estimated that 150,000 people a year would visit.
There will be a meeting on March 1st at EVIT bringing together people who write grants, Native Americans, the City of Mesa, schools, and those kinds of people by invitation that might have input into development of the site.
Banner Health is establishing a viewpoint in its tower that will be open to the public and prepared by the Southwest Museum with a display explaining what people are seeing.
For those interested, Carolyn recommends looking into Mesa LTD, which runs from August through May of each year. There is an application process.
Ernie Johnson gave a short report on the
development at Center and McKellips. They are looking at putting in 50 townhomes. The next step is to go to the neighbors about doing away with the alley behind the property. There will be a second meeting this Thursday night at Whitman which is 1829 N. Grande, at 7 p.m.
