The first residential phase of the long-awaited 3,200 acre Eastmark community in East Mesa will make its public debut Saturday.

The first residential phase of the long-awaited 3,200 acre Eastmark community in East Mesa will make its public debut Saturday.

The City of Mesa and Arizona State University are partnering on a technology business accelerator site, to be located at the ASU Polytechnic campus, in the southeast part of the city.

With only a partial City Council on hand, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith ultimately pulled an agenda item on a proposed Marriott Springhill Suites Hotel — slated for the “Wrigleyville” area between the news Cubs’ baseball stadium and park at Riverview — from the council’s meeting during its study session Monday night.

The next Building Strong Neighborhoods Initiative in the City of Mesa will be held in Council District 6. The Desert Sands community and Casa Mia neighborhood will be the focus of the initiative. These neighborhoods are located between 78th and 82nd Streets, north of Baseline Road. The program will kick off with an orientation meeting on 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 21, in the community meeting room at Light In the Desert Church at 7930 E. Baseline Road. District 6 Councilmember Scott Somers is scheduled to speak to neighbors at the meeting.

Mesa Vice Mayor and District 6 Councilmember Scott Somers will host a free community pancake breakfast and Red Cross blood drive beginning 8 a.m. Feb. 9 at Fire Station No. 219, located at 3361 S. Signal Butte Road. The pancake breakfast will last 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., while the blood drive will run from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Vice Mayor and District 6 Councilmember Scott Somers has been appointed as vice chair of the National League of Cities’ (NLC) Public Safety and Crime Prevention (PSCP) Steering Committee for 2013.

After a number of scheduled performances — including by the Territorial Brass Band and state historian Marshall Trimble — Mesa’s recently re-elected mayor and city council members were designated to be sworn in Tuesday night at Mesa Arts Centers’ Virginia G. Piper Theater during a celebration hosted by local radio newsman Ned Foster.

It has been 14 years since the Mesa mayor and City Council have received pay raises.

Frontier Airlines will land its first flight at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport Thursday.

A look at key Mesa facts and figures

After years of complaints that buses don’t go east of Power Road in Mesa, the city will test a new route starting in October to gauge whether residents really will use transit in the area.

Alexis Molina was just 10 years old when his mother was abruptly cut out of his life and his carefree childhood unraveled overnight.

The East Valley’s growing reliever airport is no longer just the place Midwesterners fly into to escape frigid winters.

The Bridgestone Corp. has chosen Mesa for a new research and development facility that will focus on making tire-grade rubber from a native desert shrub.

Mesa firefighters who respond to low-level 911 calls are now taking along medical staff from a hospital under an experiment to lower the cost of emergency treatment while improving patient service.

Take a dip in Mesa’s newest community pool Friday morning, and learn more about drowning prevention at the same time.

Mesa Vice Mayor Scott Somers will host a drowning awareness day on July 27 to kick off Downing Impact Awareness Month in August. The event is scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon at the Skyline Aquatic Center, 845 S. Crismon Road.