METRO LIGHT-RAIL TRAIN ROLLS INTO MESA TUESDAY. (Tribune photo by Thomas Boggan)

   Mesa leaders are doing their best to join the growing excitement among Valley supporters of the new light-rail system. As Phoenix and Tempe did previously, Mesa staged a media event this morning as Metro brought passengers on a light-rail car for first time into the city.
  But the truth is Mesa can’t possibly look forward to same type of urban redevelopment that Tempe and Phoenix are expecting until – or unless – the light-rail tracks are extended further east.
  The tracks travel directly through downtown Phoenix and past the baseball and basketball stadiums and go right past the major economic engines of Tempe including downtown and Arizona State University.
  The official reason for building light rail is to reduce the use of automobiles, which in turn might reduce pollution and traffic congestion. But the reason Phoenix and Tempe wanted this light-rail route is because of an expected upgrade to land development along the line, injecting new life into downtown Phoenix and along Tempe’s Apache Boulevard while adding new dimensions to more successful points.
   However, in Mesa, the light-rail segment ends at Main Street and Sycamore Drive, just under a mile into the city limits. It stops more two miles from downtown Mesa and about a half-mile from the East Valley Institute of Technology.
  Metro and Mesa officials hope Mesa’s portion of light-rail will attract riders because they are building the largest park-and-ride parking lot in the system at Main/Sycamore and will connect major East Valley bus routes to that terminus.
  But most East Valley motorists who already have made it as far as west Mesa are just going to keep driving into Tempe or Phoenix. The popularity of the bus connections will rise and fall with gas prices.
  The real benefits of light-rail will go to those who live and work near the route, and Mesa won’t have enough distance when the segment opens Dec. 27 to get anywhere close to critical mass for its $25 million investment.
  Mesa Mayor Scott Smith hinted at this, but just barely, in his remarks at the event this morning.
  “Rail changes a community. … We look forward to the positive changes it can make in Mesa,” Smith said. “This is sort of the end of … the line. But for us in Mesa, this is the beginning. This is the start of something great, something wonderful.”
  Maricopa County voters gave Mesa a chance to look good on the $25 million investment with the 2004 renewal of the half-cent sales tax for transportation. The public transit portion of that voter-approved package means Mesa won’t need to put up any additional money to have light-rail continue into the downtown area.
  The biggest challenge – and one that could block the extension – will be the route. Business and property owners are nervous about the potential economic damage from a lengthy period of construction. And that impact would be the greatest for those businesses along a narrower Main Street in the downtown area. So there is public sentiment to build along First Avenue between Country Club and Mesa drives (First Street apparently won’t work for logistical reasons).
  But the diversion from Main Street would be quite expensive; costly enough that Mesa’s other municipal partners could refuse to support it.
  That would put Mesa city government and local businesses in a stand-off with Metro as the planning agency/operator of light rail. And there are other communities who want to get into the game if Mesa became too difficult to deal with.
  This is one of the burdens for Smith and the new council to address that could define their long-term legacy.

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