Light rail will be operating in Downtown Mesa in the next 4-1/2 to 5 years, which means a direct connection with ASU and Downtown Phoenix. Living in Downtown Mesa will become a viable option for ASU students who don’t want to live in Tempe among all the “kids”, and for those who work in Downtown Phoenix but don’t want to live down there. Downtown Mesa already has an Arts culture, and over the last 2-1/2 years, a night life is starting to immerge. Downtown Mesa can be a grownups playground, not as immature as Tempe, more sophisticated than Phoenix, but not snooty like Scottsdale. There’s a lot of work to be done, but a lot can happen in 5 years!

Downtown Mesa can be revitalized. It needs a 'draw'. Something to bring people out, spend their money and KEEP them there past 9pm.
1. Use the Arts Center and one of the theaters as a movie theater (current movies). This brings them out and introduces them to the Arts center and downtown (for those who have not been to the center.
2. Regardless of what some may think of the activity, there needs to be 'adult' entertainment. A club similar to "Eli's" in Scottsdale. (no ****...just adult drinking and dancing). No teens. You would get people from the fringes of Tempe, Gilbert, Chandler in addition. Mesa people want to go out and have fun too, why send them over to Scottsdale or Tempe to do it? Keep them here to spend their money.

Build "BYU Mesa" campus on city owned land at Univ & Mesa Dr. This would bring foot trafic and jobs to downtown, creating an economic center to support the revitalization efforts on Main St. A campus at this location would also leverage the LDS Temple on Main Street, Mesa and other East Valley cities large LDS population, the Downtown library, and an opportunity to revitalize or redevelop city owned housing on the north side of University between Mesa Dr & Center.

A campus at this location would bring an economic center that could support the previous revitalization efforts along main street, new proposed zoning changes for downtown Mesa, as well as the coming light rail to the area.

South Central Mesa has developed, without any apparent planning, a “barrio” I affectionately call “Mesaco” that is growing to look and feel a lot like a city in Mexico. I believe we need to be proactive in taking advantage of this resource that has grown here and build on it.

For example, we can foster the development of a large, planned Mexican style open air market, create a restaurant/cantina district and develop an industry zone featuring and building on our already present Mexican resources. Special events and educational opportunities can also be fostered and embraced in the district to show our city’s diversity and vision.

We will need the Hispanic community leaders behind this, some good investors and city planning to facilitate such a featured district between light rail and Highway 60. If done correctly, this could become a tourist hotspot, a retail destination and a tax revenue source for the City!

BUT, if we do nothing here, this area will continue to grow and expand on its own into something, in my opinion, into something no one will be able to control, police or desire.

You have the contemporary arts gallery going to a free admission model. You have dozens of tables and chairs along the theaters (but no one is sitting at them except staffers). You have a store. You obviously want folks to stick around awhile once they get on the campus - start by offering a kiosk coffee/beverage cart and then build up to an actual cafe. Heard has one, Phx Art has one. Even TCA has "The Lounge". It's not enough to just have cafes along Main Street. The good ones are not within a close walking distance. I'd love to bring my guests to the campus and take in the installations. I know this is not a new idea - just hoping it moves to a priority list. Before ASU ever built a Starbucks, there was a Coffee Plantation kiosk doing just fine and serving the students.

With the Cubs moving out to Riverview the City of Mesa needs to find a new team to fill HoHoKam Park, which is still a viable Spring Training site.

It would be horribly short sighted and petty for Mesa to try to poach a Cactus League team from another area City, that should not be done.

There are a few MLB teams that are West of the Mississippi that should be lured to HoHoKam. Obviously the facility is only big enough to house one team so Mesa should target either the Minnesota Twins, Houston Astros or St Louis Cardinals.

The StL Cardinals should be the 1st priority though. They have a huge, long standing rivalry with the Cubs as well as one of the best fan bases in baseball. If both the Cubs and the Cardinals were in Mesa it would be huge for the City and there games would be packed.

The Cardinals might bristle at moving into the Cubs old digs, but if HoHoKam received some upgrades it would likely be doable. If the Cardinals refuse to come to the Cactus League though, the Twins or Astros would be OK too.

Digital media students at ASU recently created "SmartPHX," which is a smartphone app that helps people find things to do in Downtown Phoenix.

It uses geolocation to help people navigate, lets people know what businesses are open or closed, and even helps people find parking.

With all of the worry about how light rail is going to affect downtown, can we really afford not to have this? Some of the biggest concerns I've seen are:

1) People won't know about parking in back of the shops.

2) Restricting traffic means people won't get to see as many store fronts, and thus won't discover new stores.

We can take care of both of these issues, and a host of others, with a smartphone app.

Funding is, of course, an issue. We can mitigate this in several ways:

1) Work with the ASU team that did the app for Phoenix and see what part of the code base we might be able to reuse.

2) The businesses downtown are the ones with the most to gain, so work with them and the DMA to see what kind of funding they would be willing to provide.

3) There are many CS students at ASU that want smartphone app development experience. Meet with the CS department at ASU and turn this into one or more student projects.

If we get creative, we can minimize the financial damage to downtown businesses during light rail construction, and hopefully continue to support them afterwards WITHOUT pouring millions of dollars into downtown as in the past.

Part of Mesa's history is a connection to the land and agriculture. Today there are free standing farms and empty parcels of land close to Downtown Mesa. The Downtown Mesa Farmer's Market could be the largest in the valley, with accompanying attractions that celebrate the unique character of Mesa Grande. An integral part of agriculture in Mesa Grande has been the existence of prehistoric irrigation canals and their unique history, including the Mormon Pioneers that reinvigorated them to settle this valley.

People complain that we need to manufacture a culture for Downtown Mesa, but it already exists. It just needs to be brought into focus and celebrated in an inclusive manner that welcomes people from other communities, states, and countries.