Mesa is probably most associated with its family orientation and the Mormon Temple, but not much else.
A year-long city initiative has found that's not enough for the city's residents.
The so-called "iMesa" effort to drum up bold projects has found that Mesans want a downtown with a microbrewery, nightlife and tall buildings. They also called for an entertainment complex, college campuses, more jobs and a spruced up area by Fiesta Mall.
More than 1,000 residents offered 250 ideas. Nobody seemed unhappy, yet people longed for more, said Mark Schofield, chairman of the iMesa steering committee.
"Many people came out and said they would like to see a trendsetting community," Schofield said. "When pressed on that, they really wanted to see that there would be a nightlife here in Mesa, that they wouldn't have to go to Tempe or to Scottsdale."
Schofield leads a city-appointed group of citizens that have held meetings across the city while collecting online suggestions. The group will prioritize ideas within six weeks and share them with the City Council, which will consider what projects are worthy of pursuing.
Residents can still vote for ideas on the initiative's website, www.mesaaz.gov/imesa. Three of the top five ideas involve revitalizing the struggling Fiesta District, perhaps with a better streetscape or entertainment complex.
The most popular idea is restoring the Buckhorn Baths, a hotel that used hot mineral springs to pamper Major League Baseball stars and tourists since the 1930s. The closed hotel was named one of the U.S.'s most endangered places by the Society for Commercial Archeology.
Other popular ideas involved business incubators and neighborhood park projects. Probably the most expensive ones involved light rail extensions or high speed rail from the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport to Phoenix Sky Harbor.
Smith said the citizen committee will need to refine the suggestions and draft specific proposals.
"Some of those examples are pretty ambitious," he said.
Councilman Alex Finter said he was impressed with how many people got involved and at the range of ideas.
"It's exciting to see that there's a format now for things that we as council members hear out in the field, and to be able to take that and look at how future planning goes," Finter said.
The ideas fell into seven areas: higher education, a vibrant downtown, transportation networks, arts/cultural vibrancy, a sustainable economy, livability and recreational access. Each theme included several specific projects.
Some ideas are already being studied or are under way. Mesa announced last week that Benedictine University is planning a downtown campus, and the city is exploring Fiesta District improvements.
Smith has called for ideas to flow in without limiting their scale or cost while acknowledging that costs will eventually have to come into account. The city will likely do that in the next several months and decide if it can pay for projects with current funds, federal money or by seeking voter-approved bonds.
The iMesa process is reviving a sense of community that Schofield said has diminished since he moved here in 1979.
"I can't tell you how many people said they were shocked the City Council wanted to hear from the community," Schofield said. "They said ‘We've never been asked before.'"
Contact writer: (480) 898-6548 or ggroff@evtrib.com
Leon Ceniceros posted at 5:31 pm on Wed, Jan 11, 2012.
Tall buildings on Main Street, spruce up Fiesta Mall area and buy the Buckhorn Baths...do you see anything ...."innovative"....here........looks just like last weeks Mesa City Council Agenda (now someone else my get a little suspicious here...but no..it's the New Year...let's sweep away the negative and flow with the positive....[wink]).
Micro-Brewery a stone's throw from the Momon Temple...yup, that idea has traction...[wink].
A "night life" well that's been tried before..an avant garde movie theater didn't last 6 months and an the Art Gallery that's been on Main St. since 2009 is "nevermore" for real.
"Taller" buildings...do you mean like a "movie set" because let's face it...if a 1-story business can't make it...2-3-4 stories buildings are 2-3-4 times less likely to make it...you don't have to be a.....Warren Buffet to figure that one out. There was just a story in the East Valley Trib about a Downtown Mesa Restaurant owner complaining that a "hot dog cart" vendor was taking much "business" away..if that doesn't show you how bad things are.
As for "sprucing up" the Fiesta Mall area and Southern...have any of the Mesa City Councilmen and woman (and/or His Honor, the Mayor Scott Smith) driven down Alma School Road or drive west on Southern from Gilbert or Extension ??? I ask this question because $11.5 Million Dollars to do some "sprucing up" may be "chump change" to our Millionaire Mayor but it is a huge debt to us "little people". The run-down "Tobacco Road" houses, small apartment units, corner stores, etc along Alma School Road are testimony that a "coat of lipstick" ain't gonna work. Just look at all the eateries that have given up on the Fiesta Mall area; Bennigan's, Marie Callendar, Fuddrucker's, T.G.I. Friday's, Lonestar Steak House, Honeybak'd Hams....even Petco "flew the coop".
The "Buckhorn Baths" would just give the Mesa Tax-Payer...a "bath". Last I heard or read, the owner wants a cool Million or more for the property. Is it "historic"....you bet it is but let some hotel or resort or spa...take it on. The millions to buy it would pale besides the millions to "spruce" it up. There are Health Code issues that never were in force back in the 60's and even the 70's. You have a "healthy" (sic) population of "homeless folks" on the west side of the property. Safety and Vermin issues must be addressed. Does the wonderful, historic Native American and Old Town Mesa items in the "museum" go witht the sale ??? This "innovative idea" is just inches away from a Mesa Tax-payer's "Pandora's Box".
Stick to fixing ........DOWNTOWN MESA...with "constructive, workable" ideas that haven't failed in the past.
Clean up the prostitution issue east of Pioneer Park once and for all. Make Main St. from Gilbert westward.....a nice "Family-safe" entrance to Downtown Mesa. Let the developers take care of the Fiesta Mall area. Put some Public Services offices into some of those empty store fronts, a Mesa Police Sub-Station, a Mesa Tourism Office, Military Recruiting Office, a VFW and/or American Legion Hall. The employees and the customers will need a nearby place to eat and stay for dinner after work.