My Recent Comments

• Dr. Eger, so glad you have a fond memory to recall from back in the day but it takes more than that in today's world. Harry Mitchell is nothing but a coward. He refused to face the people in the summer of 2009. His idea of a town hall meeting was by telephone with a select and small group of people. He is not properly representing his district and needs to go. A majority of people in hiis district were and are against Obamacare, the bailouts and many other bills he voted on to appease Pelosi, Reid and Obama. He is no servant of the people.
  Oct 29, 2010
• Why telephone town hall meetings instead of directly meeting with his dictrict's citizens? Because Harry Mitchell is a coward. Just He was not elected to vote as he please but instead to represent the majority. In failing to do so, he'll be joining the ranks of many unemployed former politicans when their terms expire this coming January. Just like the commercial says, he's like Mr. Magoo with our money. To Zona, you are right, the democrats have just begun...to pack up their belongings and clear out their offices because they are going to lose their cushy jobs. To Mike, sometimes "No" is good. It's not up to government to provide for the people. They must do that for themselves and when they won't, they should suffer the consequences for their laziness. I'm tired of having my wallet robbed by democrats who never give up what they have but think it's right to take what I have to give to the lazy or those underserving like illegal aliens.
  Oct 28, 2010
• Mesadog, very few people choose to run for city council. Some feel they don't have a chance of winning when running against someone with prior council experience. I hope there are people who will seriously consider runninng against Kavanaugh in the next election. They only have to look at our district 4 to learn that the annointed one running for council isn't guaranteed to be elected or reelected. Mesa isn't a bedroom community but that doesn't mean it has to become the biggest city in the state at the expense of ignoring our current infrastructure in favor of going ghetto. Marine, our country is beginning to wake up and realize that we have a serious problem with many of our elected politicians and it is up to us to do something about it. We did it in district 4 and people all across country will be doing it next Tuesday in the elections. Semper Fi
  Oct 27, 2010
• Ann, the city does have building codes. They should never be treated as though they are written in stone and can never be altered or eliminated. They should be reviewed periodically and modified if needed. When an issue comes up such as sign code enforcement that Grace mentions in this article, both parties should sit down to address the issues, rather than to engage in the type of grandstading Kavanaugh and our city government is doing. This type of negative behavior is unproductive and results in prolonging the eyesore in the mall area. We need to rememeber that the city has granted exemptions or modifications to other businesses. Riverview's developer was granted an exemption from finishing the landscaping that was initially approved when they were given those huge tax iincentives. Waveyard's developers were given an extension when both them and their fautly business plan should have been shown to the exit door. Dennis Kavanaugh is an attorney besides being a blowhard councilman. Scott Smith has a law degree. You would think that between the two of them they would draw on that background to come up with a workable solution rather than to subject the city to costly litigation which could drag on for years. Many times when legal actions are taken, a judge may order the parties to first sit down with an arbitrator to hopefully reach a settlement. The city and Grace should make a good faith attempt to arbitrate this matter now without first resorting to court action. It's the right thing to do.
  Oct 27, 2010
• Mesateacher is right about the root cause for why much of our city is falling into disrepair. We cannot continue to allow commercial buildings to spring up without first studying what negative effects this will have on other parts of the city. Our city government did a huge disservice to our community by allowing Riverview to be built. They gave absolutely no regard to the negative ramifications that new development would have on other developed parts of the city, especially the Fiesta Mall area. I had a long conversation with Councilman Elect Christopher Glover, about our city government's failure to protect the well established businesses in our city. In additon, why would any business person want to open a business in the mall area with the way it currently looks? Scott Smith and the councils solution seems to be to put a bandaid on a festering wound by wasting $10 million of our precious taxpayer dollars to narrow Southern. Now I ask you, who would anyone want to go shop in an area that has a serious traffic problem? That's exactly what is going to happen if Southern is narrowed. I recently visited Tempe Marketplace. I see many stores now vacant. Riverview also never reached the potential promised by its developers. There is just too much retail competiton in the area for either one of the centers to reach their full potential. I am thoroughly disgusted and disappointed with Scott Smith's inability to live up to his campaign promises. If he spent as much effort working with businesses in our city as he does with working with out of towners, Mesa might one day regain much of the luster lost because of inept city governance. We need to protect and refurbish what our city has because if we continue to allow every new proposed development to be built, we should then expect more Fiesta Villages across the entire city.
  Oct 27, 2010
• VOTE NO AGAINST PROP 420.
  Oct 26, 2010
• The company blasted Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh, who represents that part of Mesa and has been an outspoken critic of how Grace has managed the property. The company's letter to Mesa states that for two years "Kavanaugh does not want to help facilitate the things that will get both sides what they desire rather he wants to be a media glory hound in an effort to further his political position." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grace is right about Dennis Kavanaugh. He is nothing but a grandstanding ANTI-BUSINESS BLOWHARD. That corner does look like a dump and should be cleaned up. I do understand where Grace is coming from with the sign issue. The city's sign ordinances are too restrictive and actually work towards discouraging businesses from replacing their signage because they will have to meet the new restrictive codes that result in smaller signs. Smaller signs can mean a serious decline in revenue and even put some business owners out of business. Dennis Kavanaugh, how about working with the business owners instead of against them. You and Smith are one of the big reasons why we in District 4 didn't elect your buddy, Vic Linoff. We don't need more of your kind and need people on the council who will work to solve the problems and without acting like the big bullies on the current city council. It is clear that the city doesn't understand how business or marketing works. The city should have put more thought into Riverview and been against it. It's because of that project that the Fiesta Mall area is suffering. The city lost all that tax revenue from the area when businesses left for Riverview or closed up shop altogether. Riverview got some hefty tax concessions and incentives from the city and the mall area got jazzed over. Like it or not the city shares the blame for how blighted the mall area has become. I hope the voters in Kavanaugh's district smarten up and fire him in 2012. He's not getting the job done unless all you want is that sacred palace called MAC or giving away $99 million of our money so the Cubs can look way cool even though they suck.
  Oct 26, 2010
• CD5Voter, Harry Mitchell was not elected to do what he thinks is in the best interests of we, the people. Harry Mitchell was elected to represent the people, pure and simple. He hasn't been doing that. Furthermore, Harry Mitchell is a coward. His refusal to hold town hall meetings was only because he did not want to hear from the people who were and continue to be opposed to Obamacare. Mitchell even admitted he didn't read the bill before voting for it. What kind of representation is that? Our government which includes Harry Mitchell, is very much out of control and out of touch with the people. We are going to do something about that this November. I know that Mitchell's office was hit with a large amount of faxes, emails, phone calls and letters, a majority of which were from the citizens opposed to Obamacare. Harry Mitchell failed to do his job when he turned his back on us and instead for that obamination of a healthcare bill. Instead, he pledged his loyaltly to Pelosi, Reid and Obama. That is a mistake that will cost him his job in November. Pat Thielen, the only person smearing Harry Mitchell is Mitchell himself, with his shoddy voting record. While many Arizonans do know Harry Mitchell, many no longer respect him. The only thing Harry Mitchell has earned is a good swift kick in the backside, right out the front door to his office that will soon be occupied by someone else.
  Sep 22, 2010
• If a new stadium is built, the city will still have to maintain the current one and its practice fields in addition to a new stadium and its practice fields. Where is the money going to come from? Are we to expect more budget cuts to city service departments, including the police and fire departments? I am becoming less and less impressed witih the so called business savvy that Smith claimed to have while running for mayor. How amazing that Smith can find money to build a new stadium by selling off city property. Pooman is right, that money could and should be used to offset the reduction in tax revenures that resulted in a reduction of city services and employee layoffs. Describing Mesa as being run by a wasteful city government is an understatement. Poorman, I'll go you one further. Chris Brady, the city manager, increased his staff over what the previous city manager had for years. With a reduction in city employees, there is no need for that large a staff at the city manager's office. The excess in his department should be eliminated and the savings in payroll used to fund city services, including and especially the code enforcement and animal control departments that are running on skeleton crews. It is my strong opinion that Mesa's citizens are being shortchanged by the curent city manager who should be replaced. The city council should also be providing better oversight since the city manager does answer directly to them.
  Aug 28, 2010
• Forkedlift, you've now attacked and insulted 2 private citizens on this blog. It is not worth my time to do battle with someone who is as lost and lonely as you are. I hope you soon find the inner peace that has eluded you for so long. Peace be with you.[sleeping]
  Aug 27, 2010