MEMBERS OF THE DOBSON HIGH SCHOOL ROTC PROGRAM MARCHED TODAY IN MESA’S VETERANS DAY PARADE. (Photo by Tony D’Astoli/Tribune)

The organizers of Mesa’s Veterans Day Parade never have enjoyed the same level of support as their counterparts in Phoenix or Tempe — even when the city of Mesa picked up all of the costs of closing  streets, providing traffic control and cleaning up afterward. After the city cut off public funding three years ago because of budget constraints, those organizers have struggled just to keep the event alive. This year, veterans groups were worried because they had raised enough private donations to pay for the parade, but not enough for advertising to invite the public to attend.

After watching today’s parade in downtown Mesa, I’d say those worries were overblown and patriotism is alive and well here. A good crowd filled in both sides of Center Street to clap, cheer and salute as veterans, high school bands and active military rolled by. You can watch a video and a photo slideshow

    (Photo by Le Templar)

A high number of entries made for a long parade, another important sign of support. The only downside was large gaps appeared between groups several times, prompting some people to think the parade was over and wander away. Hopefully, organizers can recruit more volunteers next year to keep the parade closer together and lift up everyone’s interest in watching.

    (Photo by Le Templar)

For more scenes from the parade, you can watch a Tribune video and a photo slideshow.

Tribune writer Tony Natale is reporting that low-cost carrier Allegiant Air is offering, today only, $15 ticket for outbound flights from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. But air travelers have to pay regular price for the return trip. Gee, isn’t the implied message here that people should fly away from Mesa and not come back? I wonder if Allegiant consulted with Mayor Scott Smith or economic development director William Jabjiniak before launching this promotion.

     MESA MAYOR SCOTT SMITH

When Scott Smith took the mayor’s office in July, he had a goodly amount of optimism about what he could accomplish. He had a new council to work with and, despite the city’s fiscal challenges, some real opportunities ranging from the Riverview/Waveyard region to what’s on the horizon for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The new council quickly agreed to a scaled-down version of a bond package and new property tax before city voters on Nov. 4. And he announced several promising changes in the business climate to launch his administration including expansion of Catepiller dealer Southwest Empire and a new Gaylord luxury resort.

What Smith couldn’t count on what the nationwide freeze in the credit markets in mid-September that put an even bigger brake on the national economy. Combined with already struggling Arizona situation, government tax revenues are taking a nose dive at state and local levels.

So Mesa’s on-going budget problems are going to move the forefront again, and likely will shape whatever legacy that Smith will leave the city. Tribune East Valley editor Patti Epler reported today that Police Chief George Gascon and other city department heads are sounding huge red alarms about coming budget cuts, and Smith only stoked the fire with his comments.

“We’re trying to get everybody in the mindset of not only where can we cut, but how do we do business and what services do we provide and where do we go from here,” Smith said. “We may have to make some basic changes in how we approach things. We need to at least start thinking that way. We don’t want to be caught off guard.”

Epler wasn’t able to learn any details about how big the budget cuts might be. But we can get a sense of what’s going on from neighboring Phoenix, where the City Council could be forced to shrink the general operating budget by more than 20 percent — after already making smaller spending reductions earlier this year.

By this time in 2009, Mesa’s city government could look a lot different, and be a lot smaller, than it is now.

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.

 Claudia Walters

Today, we have a classic, if subtle, example of an elected official using government resources to tout their qualifications to serve in a higher office.

The city of Mesa sent out a news release Thursday titled, “Vice Mayor participates in White House conference call.” The statement says Mesa Vice Mayor Claudia Walters participated in a telephone conference with unnamed White House officials to talk about a speech by President Bush earlier Thursday. Bush had announced a deal with several national mortgage lenders to slow the subprime loan crisis by delaying or avoiding interest rate hikes for an estimated 1.2 million homeowners.

The Mesa press release says Walter was on this conference call because of her role as “vice chair of the community & economic development committee for the National League of Cities.” Got that?

Various presidential advisers and cabinet staff members collectively called the White House make conference calls all the time to groups of public and private officials around the country. In a few cases, the call are important, such as when Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff gets on the phone with his 50 state counterparts to talk about potential terrorist threats and grant funding.

But most of time, these calls are basically part of a PR blitz to promote the latest presidential initiative, or to offer damage control for some scandal. That certainly seems to be case here, as the conference call accomplished nothing more than to give Walters a chance to provide a canned quote about stabilizing a difficult situation and bringing needed relief to
Mesa and elsewhere.

Mesa’s statement doesn’t mention that Walters is campaigning to be the next mayor of
Mesa against two formidable opponents in former council member Rex Griswold and homebuilder Scott Smith. But Walters would love for everyone to assume from the news release that she’s a person with important connections, all the way to the White House, which would be very useful if she gets the mayor’s job.

The use of the city’s time and money to write and distribute this dubious news release is legal, but it’s not prudent. And it’s a bad precedent during an election campaign that’s critical to the future of
Mesa.