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Despite some fiery behind-the-scenes blasts launched at them, Mesa Mayor John Giles and City Manager Chris Brady responded with a âpraise and raiseâ strategy toward the Mesa Fire and Medical Department.
The attack came in the form of a full-page ad in the Tribune from the group Mesa Shell Game, which notes on its website it receives âmajor funding by the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona.â
The website encourages Mesa residents to call Giles and Brady and âtell them to restore 911 response times and to stop stiffing firefighters on necessary resources and pay.â
And, on the Opinion page of the May 23 Tribune, Bryan Jeffries, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona, complained Giles and Brady used a âshell gameâ to take money voters approved for public safety and use it for an ASU campus.
It may never rival Silicon Valley, but Mesa is fast becoming Data Center Alley.
Several global companies are at various stages of plans to start crunching and storing data in southeast Mesa.
Most people have heard of Google and Apple â RagingWire, not so much.
And many around Mesa have heard Apple already has a sprawling data center and Google is planning an even bigger one around southeast Mesaâs Elliot Technology Corridor, which runs along the north side of Eastmark.
But while the secretive Google is taking its time on a project Mayor John Giles and Mesa City Council were crowing about two years ago, RagingWire is already building along Elliot Road.
Ah, the beauty of running a rapidly-expanding city: You can charge less, yet still have much more money to spend.
At a study session last week, the Mesa City Council was delighted to hear residents will be paying more in taxes this year.
Why?
Because Mesa renters and home and business owners will be paying less than expected.
During a presentation last May, council was told the $100 million Mesa Moves transportation bond would show up as an added $28 on a median homeownerâs tax bill.
Now, five months after Mesa voters approved the bond, Council received an update.
The owner of a median home ($279,000 value) is now expected to pay only about $10 more in taxes compared to last year, thanks to all the new construction that has expanded the tax base, lower borrowing rates due to the cityâs AAA rating and other factors.