Mesa event committee need to put all their resources together and create 6 different events every other month in all 6 villages of mesa as the mayor calls it. That way you elevate all parts of mesa and not just one and everything gets abandoned and loses visibility. From culinary festival, Art festival, Cultural Diversity festival, Mexican festival, Motorcycle festival to Whatever it maybe .. it needs to a banner festival.. Bring all the people of arizona and other states and countries to Mesa. Make money off the spending and hotel stays.. we need funding to make things happen.. this is one good way to do it.

Mesa should be the Center of the East Valley and draw people to us; not just send people through us and on to Phoenix. Mesa is the 37th largest city in the country and yet small cities have much better transit systems than we do.

Mesa needs to rethink and redesign their mass transit systems to become more Mesa, and East Valley, focused. In doing so, we not only save the city money but we will strengthen the economic and social ties that will change us from a bedroom community to a destination city.

Below are suggestions for two areas of transit, bus and commuter rail. I have prepared proposal to implement these plans and am eager to discuss them with City Officials.

Bus
The City’s bus system runs north and south or east and west on the major streets but goes nowhere. To travel anywhere using a bus, a passenger must make transfers, sometimes multiple, to get to an actual destination. Our bus system needs to go somewhere!

The City needs to break the bus service away Valley Metro and establish their own service run by a non-profit entity; such a service to transport citizens of Mesa and the East Valley to destinations in Mesa, and not in Phoenix. For those travelers needing to get from Mesa to other cities, buses will deliver passengers to the Commuter or Light Rails. And while this won’t eliminate transfers, it will simplify our system and encourage bus transit as the easiest way to get to your destination.

This system needs to be a bus rapid transit. This is very easy and very inexpensive to implement, can be done using existing equipment, and can be completely self-supporting (no city funds subsidizing after set up). Bus rapid transit runs on existing streets with its own dedicated lane. Buses will no longer be stuck in the same traffic as everyone else but will be a faster, and cheaper, alternative to driving.

Commuter Rail
If we want to increase passenger traffic at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, we need to increase the ease of getting passengers to and from the airport from Phoenix and the West Valley. The easiest way, and most inexpensive way, to bring people to the airport is through commuter rail.

Despite the Maricopa Association of Governments beliefs, commuter rail could be brought to Mesa very quickly and cost effetely and would be a completely self-supporting (no city funds subsidizing after set up) if run by a non-profit entity. A commuter rail system would make a trip from Downtown Phoenix to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in less than 30 minutes and would make Gateway Airport a Valley of the Sun Airport and not just an East Valley Airport.

Additionally, commuter rail would serve the developing economic center currently being planned at the former GM Proving Grounds.

Stop trying to push through a primary property tax every few years without an accompanying decrease in sales taxes. Raising taxes is, for the most part, a non-starter in this city.

However, there are still huge benefits to adopting a property tax in place of a sales tax, even if it does not increase revenue.

Benefits for the city:

1) A more predictable revenue base.
2) Lowers the cost of buying goods in the city, which can only encourage more economic activity (I think we can all agree lowering the sales tax won't cause anyone to stop shopping in Mesa or to buy less in Mesa).

Benefits for residents:

1) Real estate investors with no ties to the city will have to do their part to contribute to the city they are making money off of. Currently these investors do not pay primary sales tax to the City of Mesa, but they continue to bring in large sums of money from their activity in Mesa.

2) Local property taxes are deductible on federal income taxes. You cannot deduct sales taxes for 2010 according to the IRS. Even in years where deducting sales taxes was allowed, you had to choose between deducting your sales taxes paid or deducting your state income tax paid. For most of us, income tax was higher. If you were audited, you had better hope you have enough receipts to justify the sales tax deduction you took. What a mess! Property taxes are tracked on a single form which is easy to access and doesn't need to be manually added up.

3) More stable city services as the revenue base from property taxes is less volatile than revenue from sales taxes. This means less worrying about damaging cuts to schools and libraries every few years when another down cycle hits.

It is incredible that the city has failed to pass a primary property tax all of these years. There is a reason Mesa is alone as the largest city in the United States without a primary property tax: conservative and liberal districts across the country both agree that the property tax is a better alternative to straight sales tax. It is time for this city to get real with a proposal for a property tax. Stop trying to secure a property tax without offering us a break somewhere else. The trade-off that makes the most sense is to tie a property tax to a binding decrease the sales tax. Let's get it done...

A partnership between the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, Mesa Public Schools, and the Mesa Public Library, iMesaLINCS is a place where residents of all ages could go to Learn, Innovate, Network, Connect, and Succeed (LINCS). The business community could use iMesaLINCS for business education, to receive assistance on doing business with the City, network, and enjoy a collaborative workspace. Students could visit iMesaLINCS after the school day is done to continue learning singly or in groups, using the same resources and technology available in the classroom. All residents would have free access to information and recreational print and digital resources as well as technology in a convenient and comfortable gathering place.

Let the homeowners have the upper hand for once!!

Look down any main thoroughfare in West Mesa. Individuals who feel no conection or obligation to our communty have created an ugly landscape of apathy and low-brow opportunism.

People everywhere in Mesa are tired of absentee landlords choosing our community for their irresponsible business practices.

1). Empower and train neighborhood volunteers to document offenses with photography (so that it is objective, factual, and available for everyone to see), and help pursue the individual cases to resolution.

2). Create a URL where Mesa residents can see the offenses ( images), and the associated case progress.

Images are much more powerful and speak universally to people.This process could also help create an awareness amongst average Mesa Homeowners about the what/why of code enforcement in their neighborhood, and what is considered acceptable.

Most importantly, it could empower homeowners with the ability to have some control in their neighborhood, instead of being forced into tolerance of decay.

Homeowners are the ones who are paying the bills and maintaining the aging housing stock here in Mesa. The city needs to stick up for them! When the homeowners leave- the neighborhoods will succumb to completely to blight and city will be bankrupt.