1 00:00:11,180 --> 00:00:19,460 This year's breakfast and briefing will be staged differently than in the case in the past. This year, we have brought in 2 00:00:19,950 --> 00:00:22,620 gravy gamage to keep the mayor on task. 3 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:32,880 Keep his mind from wondering. Keep us from telling us too many times about building a better mesa. 4 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:39,240 Where am I here? Okay. 5 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:49,120 The business community and this chamber are proud to have this mayor and city staff recognize for the job they are doing 6 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:58,100 In these difficult times, please join me in recognizing the following elected city officials. 7 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:05,480 Vice Mayor Kyle Jones, Councilman Scott Summers, Councilmember Deena Higgins, Councilman 8 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:10,340 Alex Fincher, Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh, Councilman Dave Richards. 9 00:01:10,340 --> 00:01:11,840 Also 10 00:01:20,450 --> 00:01:29,630 with us this morning, Mesa City Manager Chris Brady, sorry Chris, 11 00:01:33,700 --> 00:01:38,480 Fountain Hills Mayor Jay Schlum, Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn, 12 00:01:38,700 --> 00:01:43,160 Queen Creek Mayor Art Sanders, former Mesa Mayor Gino Hawker, 13 00:01:43,860 --> 00:01:47,220 and the following legislators, the Honorable Cecilash, 14 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:50,820 the Honorable Gary Pierce, the Honorable Steve Court, 15 00:01:50,820 --> 00:01:59,250 The Honorable Rich Crandal and Chamber City Council Member Jack Sellers. 16 00:02:08,690 --> 00:02:12,930 Grady Gammage is a senior fellow at ASU's Morrison Institute. 17 00:02:13,710 --> 00:02:19,170 His work there focuses on urban growth and development, quality of life, and local economic issues. 18 00:02:20,350 --> 00:02:21,970 He's also a practicing attorney. 19 00:02:22,770 --> 00:02:27,570 He's practice limited to land use planning, zoning, and state trust land. 20 00:02:27,570 --> 00:02:31,830 And he's also a graduate of Occidental College. 21 00:02:32,010 --> 00:02:40,050 It seems to me that my life is surrounded by graduates of Occidental College, the President 22 00:02:40,050 --> 00:02:40,890 of the United States. 23 00:02:44,510 --> 00:02:45,030 A dropout. 24 00:02:46,450 --> 00:02:47,530 A dropout. 25 00:02:47,890 --> 00:02:48,110 Okay. 26 00:02:50,740 --> 00:02:56,720 The format today will be a discussion between Mr. Damage and Mayor Smith from that discussion. 27 00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:00,560 If there are any in the audience would like to pose a question. 28 00:03:01,380 --> 00:03:06,060 There are cards available on tables, please notify a staff member. 29 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,280 They will collect the cards and bring them to the front. 30 00:03:09,340 --> 00:03:13,140 Now, Mr. Damage, Mayor Smith, the floor is yours. 31 00:03:21,870 --> 00:03:25,030 So it's a pleasure to see you all here this morning. 32 00:03:25,030 --> 00:03:33,990 I'm struck by the graphic difference between about the state of the city and Mesa, and 33 00:03:33,990 --> 00:03:38,170 what we saw on television last night about the state of the nation in the United States. 34 00:03:38,970 --> 00:03:42,250 And now, first of all, we're not in an elaborate chamber. 35 00:03:42,930 --> 00:03:48,370 We don't have the sergeant of arms at the door announcing Mr. Baker, you know, all that stuff. 36 00:03:50,130 --> 00:03:55,310 And I don't anticipate that we're going to have that phenomenon where when the mayor 37 00:03:55,880 --> 00:04:00,950 says something, half the room stands up and the other half kind of looks around deciding 38 00:04:00,950 --> 00:04:03,910 do we have to stand or the cameras on us or not. 39 00:04:04,990 --> 00:04:12,630 But it seems to me this is just a little snapshot of kind of the difference between the dysfunctionality 40 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,710 of our politics at the national level. 41 00:04:15,710 --> 00:04:20,470 And the fact that at the local level, things are kind of working, okay? 42 00:04:20,690 --> 00:04:26,150 I mean, you know, times are a little tough and everybody's tightening their belt and their problems and issues. 43 00:04:26,690 --> 00:04:38,610 But somehow, local politics seems to involve people who get along and compromise with one another and tackle issues and actually resolve things and move on. 44 00:04:39,470 --> 00:04:42,810 Now, some of that may be because in Arizona, local politics is non-parkism. 45 00:04:42,810 --> 00:04:46,930 Some of that may be because of the people we elect and the fact that we see them all 46 00:04:46,930 --> 00:04:49,310 the time at events like this and we know what's going on. 47 00:04:49,910 --> 00:04:57,110 And some of it is because of people like our honored guest this morning, Mayor Smith. 48 00:04:58,430 --> 00:05:03,990 This is the end of his sort of first full year was last year in office. 49 00:05:04,990 --> 00:05:07,550 President Obama's now had a year in office. 50 00:05:08,430 --> 00:05:15,530 And my sense is that despite all the problems we've seen there's an awful lot to be excited 51 00:05:15,530 --> 00:05:18,330 about and happy about in the city of Mason. 52 00:05:19,630 --> 00:05:24,770 So with that, let me bring up the man who has been referred to as the Bon Jovi of local 53 00:05:24,770 --> 00:05:29,470 politics in Arizona, Mayor Scott Smith of the city of Mason. 54 00:05:40,430 --> 00:05:45,470 And I mean, here's another contrast, instead of that formal podium speaking, we're doing 55 00:05:45,470 --> 00:05:53,030 like the tonight show. Have any of you heard of the tonight show? Yeah. After we're done here, 56 00:05:53,150 --> 00:05:56,890 you and I are moving to the 1205 times lot every night. I don't know if you were aware of that. 57 00:05:57,690 --> 00:06:02,330 Now, Mayor, you can sit back. You don't have to, you know. I'm doing this so I can stay awake. 58 00:06:02,530 --> 00:06:07,410 I'm a little bit tired this morning. Just done a few things this week. So what we're going to talk 59 00:06:07,410 --> 00:06:12,330 about that. We're going to talk about all kinds of things. And let's remind everyone what it is that 60 00:06:12,330 --> 00:06:16,970 But you did this week that was so exciting and watch a video for just a minute before 61 00:06:16,970 --> 00:06:17,990 we start asking questions. 62 00:06:18,510 --> 00:06:23,870 On behalf of the Ricketts family and the Chicago Cubs, we're very excited to say that 63 00:06:23,870 --> 00:06:29,730 we have reached an understanding with the city of Mesa that will give us a framework to 64 00:06:29,730 --> 00:06:34,770 go forward to work on keeping the Cubs in Arizona and the Cactus League. 65 00:06:48,810 --> 00:06:54,330 We've been in Arizona for 57 years and we look forward to the next 57 years. 66 00:06:54,330 --> 00:07:02,710 Because the Cubs are a home run for our economy with millions of dollars boosting Arizona. 67 00:07:03,370 --> 00:07:09,570 The attendance at the Cubs training station, the Cubs attendance at the Cubs spring training 68 00:07:09,570 --> 00:07:13,870 games is the highest of any team in the cactus league. 69 00:07:14,370 --> 00:07:20,390 The drawing power of the team is one reason why Florida has been trying so hard to learn 70 00:07:20,390 --> 00:07:22,670 the Cubs away from Arizona. 71 00:07:22,670 --> 00:07:28,750 It's important to note that this will be a partnership between the Cubs and the City of 72 00:07:28,750 --> 00:07:29,070 Mesa. 73 00:07:29,790 --> 00:07:36,490 The Cubs ownership has stepped up to the plate to be an active partner and developer of 74 00:07:36,490 --> 00:07:37,110 this project. 75 00:07:37,250 --> 00:07:43,050 The best part is that none, not a dime, of the funding will come out of our state's general 76 00:07:43,050 --> 00:07:43,370 fund. 77 00:07:43,990 --> 00:07:48,410 This is one thing that everyone, whether you're Republican or whether you're Democrat or an 78 00:07:48,410 --> 00:07:50,170 independent, can agree on. 79 00:07:50,170 --> 00:07:56,230 spring training is not the same without the Chicago Cubs, in the immortal words of Harry 80 00:07:56,230 --> 00:07:56,610 Kerry. 81 00:07:57,150 --> 00:07:59,090 Let me hear you, Cub fans. 82 00:08:00,130 --> 00:08:00,570 Okay. 83 00:08:00,690 --> 00:08:03,490 We decided we didn't need to run a video of the America because we got him sitting here, 84 00:08:03,510 --> 00:08:03,770 right? 85 00:08:04,370 --> 00:08:05,070 All right. 86 00:08:05,310 --> 00:08:06,810 So, it's a home run. 87 00:08:06,970 --> 00:08:07,230 We're done. 88 00:08:07,590 --> 00:08:08,450 We've scored. 89 00:08:08,810 --> 00:08:09,770 This is over. 90 00:08:10,550 --> 00:08:10,910 Is that right? 91 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:15,500 Phase one is over. 92 00:08:16,180 --> 00:08:17,620 Phase one was a significant. 93 00:08:23,970 --> 00:08:24,510 I'm on here. 94 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:27,640 Now I can't hear me. 95 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:28,620 I'll just put it right there. 96 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:37,560 Phase 1 was very difficult, and I will tell you that but for the efforts of many, many people 97 00:08:37,560 --> 00:08:42,600 including Chris Brady and Debbie Spinner and their staff, we wouldn't be here, but it 98 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:44,400 was huge to get where we are. 99 00:08:44,940 --> 00:08:52,240 We needed to set the stage, we needed to get over this first time, which was to really fight 100 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,280 off a very serious challenge from Naples, Florida. 101 00:08:57,380 --> 00:09:02,620 You know, a lot of people say, well, do you think the Cubs or any sports team are leveraging 102 00:09:02,620 --> 00:09:02,960 you? 103 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:08,460 And I sort of look at them like, duh, of course they aren't, that's part of the game. 104 00:09:08,860 --> 00:09:13,240 But I will say this, there was never one time when the Cubs showed up to us and said, hey, 105 00:09:13,540 --> 00:09:15,900 here's the latest bid for Naples, can you top that? 106 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:17,680 That was not at all how it happened. 107 00:09:18,620 --> 00:09:23,600 They were very gentlemanly about it, and we knew what we needed to do, and was very simple 108 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:28,560 that we needed to perform, and we need to give them the opportunity that they desired. 109 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,920 And one of the main reasons was because that's what we knew Haple's was going to do. 110 00:09:33,460 --> 00:09:40,520 Naples has a very strong significant group who was making a very serious challenge, and 111 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:44,940 if you saw their press conference after we finished last night, they are not giving up. 112 00:09:45,620 --> 00:09:51,480 They indicated very, very strongly that they are still in the game, and they are waiting 113 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:52,220 for us to hiccup. 114 00:09:52,220 --> 00:09:56,240 So to get past that first stage, though, was incredible. 115 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:58,000 So what's stages two and three? 116 00:09:58,140 --> 00:10:00,860 Stage two and three are now, it's really in the hands 117 00:10:00,860 --> 00:10:01,560 of the legislature. 118 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:04,760 The majority of fun that's supposed 119 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:06,000 to be reassuring or scary. 120 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:09,860 I'm sorry, I know some of you are out there. 121 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:10,720 I see Celeste. 122 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,040 Cecilash guaranteed me last night that it would get done. 123 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:18,740 At least that's how I heard it. 124 00:10:20,340 --> 00:10:24,460 You know, I will say this, we cannot take anything for granted. 125 00:10:24,860 --> 00:10:29,720 There is no doubt that we have broad-based support to keep the Cubs in Arizona. 126 00:10:30,660 --> 00:10:36,140 And that's the easy part, because everyone recognizes the importance of the Cubs to 127 00:10:36,140 --> 00:10:36,740 this area. 128 00:10:37,300 --> 00:10:41,820 You know, one thing that's really not known is that actually Mesa gets a minority of the 129 00:10:41,820 --> 00:10:43,840 tourist dollars that stay here with the Cubs. 130 00:10:44,140 --> 00:10:44,900 We're going to change that. 131 00:10:44,900 --> 00:10:47,660 That's part of the initiative that we have with the 132 00:10:47,660 --> 00:10:48,400 Regal League of the West. 133 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:51,440 But the Cubs are very, very generous in how they spread the wealth. 134 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:57,080 They spread a lot of money to Scottsdale, Tim P. Chandler, 135 00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,540 Phoenix, even founders, and oh, by the way, before we get going, 136 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,740 I just want to point out how honored I am to have my fellow mayor. 137 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:07,480 You go off again, there we go. 138 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:12,020 You know, Mershlam, Mayor Dunn, and Mayor Sanders are part of a group of 139 00:11:12,020 --> 00:11:16,000 East Valley mayors that, you know, they're really second to none. 140 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:17,660 And most of the other mayors would have been here. 141 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:18,240 They called me. 142 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:20,140 They either had conflicts or something like that. 143 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,760 But this is truly amazing and unique to have them here. 144 00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:28,100 And so please, I thank them for showing their support. 145 00:11:28,300 --> 00:11:30,720 We really work well together here to look out 146 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:33,860 for regional concerns and regional efforts. 147 00:11:34,220 --> 00:11:35,880 I'm really so thank you so very much. 148 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:39,020 But the Cubs, the Cubs spread the well. 149 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:40,360 We have to get to the legislature. 150 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:43,440 So you thank them, but it's the legislators that you need. 151 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:45,080 It's the legislature we need to suck up to. 152 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:46,160 I'm thanking them. 153 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:47,260 I'm sucking up the legislators. 154 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:52,780 And what happens is that what we need to do is that we need to keep people focused on 155 00:11:52,780 --> 00:11:57,380 the details of what we need, because the majority of this stadium is going to be paid 156 00:11:57,840 --> 00:11:58,940 through tourist taxes. 157 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:03,340 The same mechanism that's been used to build stadiums in Glendale, Good Year, Cardinal Stadium, 158 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:03,820 those things. 159 00:12:04,180 --> 00:12:05,800 So we're not asking for something new. 160 00:12:06,180 --> 00:12:08,380 We're just asking to expand on that which has been needed. 161 00:12:08,380 --> 00:12:09,240 But let me ask you a question. 162 00:12:09,420 --> 00:12:13,280 If I read the story in the morning paper correctly, it sounded like a lot of the money in 163 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:14,420 and Naples is private money. 164 00:12:15,980 --> 00:12:18,780 And all of the money in Arizona is public money. 165 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:19,640 Is that right? 166 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:20,880 Well, yes and no. 167 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:24,100 First of all, Naples started out, 168 00:12:24,300 --> 00:12:25,900 presenting themselves, and how they got in the door 169 00:12:25,900 --> 00:12:28,480 was to present themselves as this is all privately financed. 170 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,100 Well, as we go down the line every day, 171 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,600 there's more and more tax money being included. 172 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:35,820 And Naples deal looks an awful lot like our deal, 173 00:12:35,940 --> 00:12:38,820 with a little bit more private money than we would have. 174 00:12:39,220 --> 00:12:41,400 The other thing is that ours is not all public money. 175 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:44,820 The Chicago Cubs are making a significant investment in this. 176 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:46,640 And that's what makes ours different. 177 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:51,000 They are making an upfront investment in property and they're buying the land for the 178 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:51,440 project. 179 00:12:51,940 --> 00:12:56,260 They will be significant investors in the private investment and they will control the private 180 00:12:56,260 --> 00:12:57,780 investment around the stadium. 181 00:12:58,220 --> 00:12:59,060 And they will take on them. 182 00:13:02,250 --> 00:13:02,690 There. 183 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:05,460 Yeah, watch out. 184 00:13:05,620 --> 00:13:06,400 They're going to hit the hand. 185 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:10,580 Financial obligations and other things that other teams simply don't have. 186 00:13:10,580 --> 00:13:17,260 So the Chicago Cubs will have a considerable and significant private investment in this deal. 187 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:18,980 Well, just keep this one here in case. 188 00:13:18,980 --> 00:13:19,740 Yeah, just in case. 189 00:13:21,060 --> 00:13:25,340 Okay, so I buy all of that, but let me ask you the blunt question. 190 00:13:25,540 --> 00:13:30,740 Given the state of public finance and Arizona, both state level and local level, 191 00:13:31,020 --> 00:13:33,760 is this really the time to be spending any public money on baseball? 192 00:13:34,220 --> 00:13:36,520 Well, would I have chosen a better time to do it? 193 00:13:36,580 --> 00:13:36,780 Sure. 194 00:13:37,220 --> 00:13:38,460 That's not the hand we were dealt. 195 00:13:39,300 --> 00:13:42,560 You know, whether it's good or bad, this is what we have right now. 196 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:46,600 I would have preferred to have had this in the time of an abound time that may have been 197 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:46,940 easier. 198 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:50,600 But the fact is, is that we all know that our finances stink. 199 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:56,000 We all know that there is, that right now it seems like the wrong time, but remember, we're 200 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:57,600 making a generational investment. 201 00:13:57,840 --> 00:13:59,880 The Cubs have been in Mesa for 57 years. 202 00:14:00,380 --> 00:14:05,300 We're now on what our third generation of Cubs fans that are coming to Mesa, and the 203 00:14:05,300 --> 00:14:10,440 the Ricketts families made it very clear that they want to be here another 3 or 4 or 5 generations. 204 00:14:10,820 --> 00:14:15,180 So we're making an investment that's going to be for 20, 30, 50 years. 205 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:22,540 So the timing, yeah, it sounds like it's a bad time, but when you look at the investment we're making initially, 206 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:26,840 and we're not cutting a check for that, that much right now and getting nothing in return, 207 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:32,560 we'll reap the benefits just as we have for the last 15 years, for many, many years coming back. 208 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:39,240 And the other thing is that in these times, we're not looking to add or looking to build 209 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,900 something that hopefully will generate economic activity. 210 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:46,340 The one thing we know from the Cubs is that we know who they bring in. 211 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:47,980 We know they bring in tens of thousands of fans. 212 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,140 We know where they stay, we know what they spend. 213 00:14:50,700 --> 00:14:54,220 The amount of money that they bring into our economy is in the tens of millions of dollars, 214 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,660 over a hundred million dollars based on a recent study. 215 00:14:57,240 --> 00:14:59,920 We do know that if they go to Florida that 216 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:29,920 That money will go with them. So in many ways, this is an economic preservation. So the question is, how can you not, how can you afford to build and make this investment right now? How can you not make this investment right now? Let me ask you one question about you just made the point that the reason you make the investment is because of the tax benefits, the tourism benefits, the business opportunity it comes here. Those sound like what we're now learning to call indirect benefits. Does the city north decision that came down have any impact? 217 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:30,500 on this deal? 218 00:15:31,340 --> 00:15:33,920 Well, I think the city north has an impact on every deal. 219 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,100 We spent four or five, six months negotiating this deal. 220 00:15:38,860 --> 00:15:43,980 Obviously, the city north was in the background, but we didn't have a decision. 221 00:15:44,140 --> 00:15:45,740 We've now had a decision for what, four days. 222 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:48,760 So we spent four months negotiating, we have four days to look at it. 223 00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:55,520 As we go forward with the definitive agreement, we certainly will take into account what came 224 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:56,620 out of the city north decision. 225 00:15:56,620 --> 00:16:01,120 I'm confident that with the direct investment that the Cubs are making, with the ongoing 226 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:06,160 obligations that the Cubs have, financial obligations, that this deal will pass muster. 227 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:10,300 And we will probably have to tweak it a little bit, or if we not, we'll choose to tweak 228 00:16:10,300 --> 00:16:13,600 it just to make sure that it falls within the guidelines of the city north. 229 00:16:13,900 --> 00:16:19,280 I think you're right, and I think the other lesson is that the thing you need is really smart 230 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:23,220 lawyers who understand the city north decision to help you tweak it. 231 00:16:25,700 --> 00:16:28,960 You're going to go out on the corner and look for a car wreck next and get them there. 232 00:16:29,460 --> 00:16:34,620 The economy has been bad. We're all chasing deals these days. 233 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:36,860 I know we didn't pay him anything. 234 00:16:39,140 --> 00:16:43,900 Last question on the cubs. When are we going to know a location for the new complex? 235 00:16:43,900 --> 00:16:49,340 You know, we want to get to that as quickly as possible because the third step, which 236 00:16:49,340 --> 00:16:52,720 we haven't talked about, is that this deal needs to go before Mesa voters. 237 00:16:53,420 --> 00:16:54,540 And that'll happen in November. 238 00:16:55,680 --> 00:17:01,760 I'm really confident that Mesa citizens understand the importance of the Cubs. 239 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:06,260 I know they're connected with the Cubs, and I know we have broad community support, but 240 00:17:06,260 --> 00:17:08,400 we certainly want to take them something tangible. 241 00:17:08,820 --> 00:17:11,540 And in order to have something tangible, we have to have a site. 242 00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:13,020 We have to have drawings. 243 00:17:13,020 --> 00:17:14,020 We have to have plans. 244 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:17,620 So everybody is, the Cubs and all the landowners 245 00:17:17,620 --> 00:17:21,360 are very incentivized to get a deal done quickly. 246 00:17:21,940 --> 00:17:24,120 Whether that'll be in the next two weeks or two months, 247 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:27,060 I'm confident that we'll have something 248 00:17:27,060 --> 00:17:28,560 probably by the first of summer. 249 00:17:29,540 --> 00:17:32,080 Okay, well, let's shift gears now. 250 00:17:32,260 --> 00:17:33,440 I mean, it's unbelievably exciting 251 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:36,780 that you get to do this the day after the announcement. 252 00:17:37,060 --> 00:17:38,780 I, that's amazing timing. 253 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,400 I have to say, and makes this a trend. 254 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,140 Yeah, no doubt. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. 255 00:17:45,820 --> 00:17:47,360 And then we'll end on that mode, no. 256 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:50,260 So I want you to tackle health care next. 257 00:17:52,220 --> 00:17:55,740 Let's go back and talk about the last year in the city of Mace. 258 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,840 You outlined a year ago, a number of initiatives, 259 00:18:00,780 --> 00:18:03,160 a bunch of things, benchmarks. 260 00:18:03,420 --> 00:18:04,980 You wanted to aim out and try to accomplish. 261 00:18:05,700 --> 00:18:07,380 It's been a tricky year. 262 00:18:07,500 --> 00:18:09,160 There's been good, and there's been bad. 263 00:18:09,820 --> 00:18:11,060 Let's talk about the good first. 264 00:18:11,500 --> 00:18:13,740 What do you see as the high points of what you were able to accomplish? 265 00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:15,200 Oh, boy, where do I begin? 266 00:18:16,900 --> 00:18:21,400 Okay, well the deal is, we only have until, and I have other questions. 267 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:22,280 Oh, okay. 268 00:18:22,860 --> 00:18:28,380 I will tell you this, you know, for all of the meetings we've had about how bad our economy is, 269 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:33,480 about the financial struggles we have are enduring and continue to endure as a city, 270 00:18:34,340 --> 00:18:36,900 it seems like I go to a ribbon cutting for each one of those. 271 00:18:36,900 --> 00:18:48,400 you know, we have many highlights. We have exciting things going on out of Boeing that they will make some announcements in the near future about some exciting additional economic activity out there. 272 00:18:49,380 --> 00:18:54,500 You know, every day, every week it seems that I go to a banner health grand opening or groundbreaking. 273 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:59,640 Just in the last year we've opened the Carden Children's Center. We've opened a new 274 00:19:02,260 --> 00:19:06,660 emergency room out at Banner Baywood. 275 00:19:06,660 --> 00:19:10,620 And we've dedicated an expansion to the Banner Health. 276 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:18,500 We've opened up the administrative center in the former Mesa Lutheran hospital. 277 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:19,180 What did you call it? 278 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:20,260 Banner Mesa hospital. 279 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:24,760 They're on Brown and Country Club. 280 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:27,380 You know, there's been a lot of good things going on. 281 00:19:27,860 --> 00:19:31,840 We still have thriving educational facilities, such as AT Still. 282 00:19:32,500 --> 00:19:35,880 I mean, if you drive by AT Still, you want to see a real problem. 283 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:42,800 go by and check out AT still out there on record and baseline on mid day and see the challenge 284 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:47,900 they have in parking all the cars. I mean it's you know every time I go by there it's 285 00:19:47,900 --> 00:19:51,840 an unbelievable sight because I love it because they've run out of parking spots. And that's 286 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:56,740 not because they built parking lots that were too small. That's because they're experiencing 287 00:19:57,780 --> 00:20:03,320 success that goes beyond even their estimations. By the way we're working with AT still. 288 00:20:05,420 --> 00:20:05,860 If you're 289 00:20:05,860 --> 00:20:10,520 does have a medical school, a dental school, a top-notch program. It's a beautiful facility 290 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:14,460 and the program is world-class. As a matter of fact, one of the things we're working on 291 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:20,960 is to work further with 80s still to expand their medical education offerings and working 292 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:25,360 with the city as part of our heat initiative. And so there's a lot of exciting things that 293 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:26,040 are going on in the city. 294 00:20:26,060 --> 00:20:29,320 What remind me of what the heat initiative is? You're trying to make it hotter in Mason? 295 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:31,760 That, well, you know, in a certain way, yeah. 296 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:35,480 Heat was the acronym, HEAT, Health Education, 297 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:36,860 Aerospace and Tourism. 298 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:39,160 The idea that we have strengths. 299 00:20:39,900 --> 00:20:41,500 A lot of people look at what Mesa has, 300 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:42,860 and what any city does, and you concentrate 301 00:20:42,860 --> 00:20:44,280 on where you lack. 302 00:20:45,140 --> 00:20:46,660 You know, I sort of look at that's the wrong way 303 00:20:46,660 --> 00:20:47,180 of looking at things. 304 00:20:47,260 --> 00:20:49,220 Let's look at where we're strong, let's build upon those. 305 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,120 We've talked about Banner, we've talked about ET still, 306 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:53,400 we've talked about some of the other things. 307 00:20:53,540 --> 00:20:55,340 The Arizona Regional Medical Center, 308 00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:57,280 which is in the old Mesa General, 309 00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:59,420 that has been wildly successful over the last year, 310 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:00,540 the new Mountain Vista. 311 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,340 There's been well over a billion dollars of investment, 312 00:21:03,340 --> 00:21:04,580 for example, in health care. 313 00:21:05,180 --> 00:21:09,680 Education, we have our Mesa Public Schools 314 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,340 and Gilbert Schools that cover a big chunk of the city. 315 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:14,600 Second to none, and on K-12. 316 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:17,560 Mesa Community College, which is a standard bearer 317 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:19,980 in quality education, ASU Polytechnic. 318 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,040 And yesterday, Dr. Crow had a very good meeting 319 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,120 out of the Polytechnic where he reaffirmed issues commitment. 320 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:30,720 And I've been meeting with Dr. Crow to make sure that ASU Polytechnic will move forward 321 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:36,240 in meeting its mission, which is to serve as an economic driver in East Mason in the 322 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:36,860 Gateway area. 323 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:37,900 But we want more. 324 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:40,220 We've talked about AT Still. 325 00:21:40,260 --> 00:21:45,900 We're working on a lot of different areas to expand our higher education offerings. 326 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:51,620 ASU, for example, we've been talking very, very seriously about positioning one of the 327 00:21:51,620 --> 00:21:58,460 the ASU, what do you call ASU light or bachelor programs or the new colleges at ASU program in 328 00:21:58,460 --> 00:22:02,540 Mesa, focusing on the downtown area, thinking that's a great place for higher education. 329 00:22:02,860 --> 00:22:04,080 We're talking to private colleges. 330 00:22:04,420 --> 00:22:08,300 We're talking to private medical schools where there's a lot of talks going on that weren't 331 00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:09,220 going on a year ago. 332 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:10,240 And that's exciting. 333 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:15,760 And then of course tourism between Gaylord and the Cubs, the Cubs are very much a part of 334 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:16,220 the tourism. 335 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:22,980 Let's talk about Gaylord and the area around Mesa Gameway Airport for a moment. 336 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:24,620 Lots of excitement. 337 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:27,260 Lots of us were very excited about all of that. 338 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:29,440 Seems to have gone kind of quiet for a while. 339 00:22:29,580 --> 00:22:31,220 What do you think the status is at this point? 340 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:40,180 Well, as we all know, the economy has hit certain segments of industries harder than others. 341 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,680 And certainly, construction and residential development has been hit hardest of all in Arizona. 342 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:48,140 on it. The other one other segment that has been hit very 343 00:22:48,140 --> 00:22:54,600 hard is business travel and business conventions. Gaylord and DMB thrive on those two areas that 344 00:22:54,600 --> 00:23:00,980 have been hit the hardest. Both companies are very strong financially. They are committed 345 00:23:00,980 --> 00:23:06,320 to the mace approving grounds and to the Gaylord hotel out there. We just need the economy 346 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:12,800 to cooperate. I think what you'll see is the timelines will be extended. Construction 347 00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:16,480 will not start when we thought it would, when it will start? 348 00:23:17,260 --> 00:23:17,820 You know, I don't know. 349 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,020 Business travel and business convention has to recover, 350 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:24,900 which it already has sort of flattened out 351 00:23:24,900 --> 00:23:25,800 in talking to Gaylord. 352 00:23:26,220 --> 00:23:27,600 They're just looking for that uptick, 353 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:29,500 and that may not be for a year or two. 354 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,160 And then there has to be the financial markets 355 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:34,280 and the residential markets that give DMB, 356 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,120 and that gives DMB the incentive to move forward 357 00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:45,900 and the ability to move forward with their development. 358 00:23:45,900 --> 00:23:48,380 So it's still going to happen, it's just a matter of when. 359 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:58,940 Let's talk about some of the city's internal challenges in terms of the budget and jobs and those kinds of things. 360 00:23:59,700 --> 00:24:07,760 You went through some tough things this last year. Is it done? Are things stabilized financially going forward for the city of Mesa? 361 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:13,620 I'd like to say that yes it is, but we have not yet hit bottom. And that's the disturbing thing. 362 00:24:13,620 --> 00:24:17,920 I want to give you a little bit of context as to where we are financially. 363 00:24:20,490 --> 00:24:24,950 1999 and October, okay, for those of you who haven't pulled out your calculators, that's 364 00:24:24,950 --> 00:24:25,590 10 years ago. 365 00:24:25,830 --> 00:24:26,750 Little more 10 years ago. 366 00:24:27,550 --> 00:24:31,250 City of Mesa had about 390,000 residents. 367 00:24:32,010 --> 00:24:39,270 During that month, businesses in Mesa reported $576 million in taxable activity. 368 00:24:39,670 --> 00:24:43,510 In other words, that's houses that were built and retail sales and everything that we could 369 00:24:43,510 --> 00:24:51,170 collect a sales tax on 576 million. Okay, let's leap forward 10 years to October 2009. 370 00:24:51,850 --> 00:25:02,320 Mace's population is now 465,000. Our taxable activities 575 million. That's not a, 371 00:25:02,460 --> 00:25:09,600 that's, that's the, those are raw numbers that's not adjusted for inflation. So with 80, 90,000 more 372 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:16,620 For people, over 10 years with inflation, even at one 2%, we basically, on raw dollars 373 00:25:16,620 --> 00:25:21,420 are flat, realistically, we're down millions and millions of dollars over a 10-year period. 374 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,740 So we're having to serve many more people on fewer dollars. 375 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,820 Our sales tax collections over the last two years are down 20%. 376 00:25:30,260 --> 00:25:36,300 That's 30 million dollars that we've pulled out of our ability to serve more people. 377 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:37,540 It is challenging. 378 00:25:37,540 --> 00:25:40,140 Now, and it continues to be challenging. 379 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:41,420 We thought we had hit bottom. 380 00:25:42,180 --> 00:25:44,740 Last month, we were still down 8% over last year. 381 00:25:45,220 --> 00:25:47,680 And last year, as I said, was down 12% over the year before. 382 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:52,820 Now, one thing we have done is we've tried to find some sort 383 00:25:52,820 --> 00:25:55,060 of silver lining in this very, very dark cloud. 384 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,800 And I think the city council, the city staff working together, 385 00:25:59,420 --> 00:26:03,480 we have approached our financial problems in a way 386 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,120 that I'm proud of. 387 00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:11,240 Because while many other cities are scrambling or they delayed some of their efforts, we looked 388 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:18,440 very early on and came up with a program that set in motion some reorganizations, some 389 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:25,500 restructurings, some savings and efficiencies that help our helping us get through this 390 00:26:25,500 --> 00:26:31,520 even further downtown down turn without a lot of drastic changes. 391 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:38,320 For the next six months, we're projected to be down about $12 million in our revenue from what we had projected. 392 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:46,380 That's the bad news. The good news is, with all these changes, the savings that we've experienced are $13 million more than we thought they would be. 393 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:51,840 So we'll get through this next six months of this fiscal year with actually a little bit of a surplus. 394 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,040 And that's due to the efforts of a lot of people who have done a lot of things. 395 00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:00,660 And in many areas, I don't believe our service has diminished significantly. 396 00:27:00,860 --> 00:27:02,740 In other areas, we're on fumes. 397 00:27:03,340 --> 00:27:10,240 In our public safety, our police officers, those, they're being very, very creative, but 398 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:10,920 they're stretched. 399 00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:15,500 And these are areas that we don't experience every day. 400 00:27:16,260 --> 00:27:19,200 I hope you never have to call 911 for a medical emergency. 401 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,620 I hope you don't ever get involved with the police because you've been the victim of a crime. 402 00:27:24,820 --> 00:27:53,580 The challenge in city services is that those are the areas that you will really see the personal impact and those areas you don't see it until all of a sudden you're waiting for that that police officer to get there and it's going to be a few more minutes than it was or instead of four minutes on a fire and with paramedics it might be six or seven minutes the difference between life and death those are the things that we struggle with as a city as you talk to your fellow mayors in the valley how would you compare me 403 00:27:53,580 --> 00:27:59,340 in this situation. Have you been better off, worse off, bigger challenges, same challenges? 404 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,120 You know, it's interesting that when we first started out, it seemed like Mesa got hit 405 00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:08,620 before other cities did. I know we talked with Mayor Dunn when we were seeing really almost 406 00:28:08,620 --> 00:28:15,700 double-digit decreases in sales tax, Chandler was flat. They were not experiencing those things. 407 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:22,320 Now we're all in the same pot. I mean, this economic downturn is broad-based and I don't 408 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:25,740 I don't think there's any city that can claim to be better or worse. 409 00:28:25,940 --> 00:28:28,560 We're all in a bad situation as far as revenue streams. 410 00:28:29,380 --> 00:28:32,720 Things such as, you know, the channel and fashion mall and 411 00:28:33,340 --> 00:28:39,000 other malls that used to be just guaranteed stable sources are struggling. 412 00:28:39,700 --> 00:28:42,980 We find that those people who don't have jobs and there's way too many of us. 413 00:28:43,740 --> 00:28:47,740 Obviously, don't have the money to spend, but those of you who do have jobs aren't spending it. 414 00:28:47,740 --> 00:28:52,720 But the consumer confidence is so low that we're just not spending money on the things 415 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:54,200 that generate tax revenue. 416 00:28:55,880 --> 00:29:02,060 Let's talk about sort of Macy's perception in the larger world of American cities. 417 00:29:02,980 --> 00:29:06,540 My sense is in the course of the past year, Macy's gotten quite a bit of publicity. 418 00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:09,260 You were in the Wall Street Journal a couple of times. 419 00:29:10,220 --> 00:29:13,860 There's been a number of meetings and forums. 420 00:29:13,860 --> 00:29:18,340 you and I were together at one in Denver about different American cities. 421 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,940 I think there was a time when people outside of Arizona in particular were shocked 422 00:29:22,940 --> 00:29:24,760 when they heard how many people Mesa had. 423 00:29:25,260 --> 00:29:29,980 Has that changed? Is there a building recognition that we're sitting in a 424 00:29:29,980 --> 00:29:32,640 city larger than Minneapolis or people starting to understand that? 425 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,380 Well, they're still surprised when they hear how many people we have. 426 00:29:35,620 --> 00:29:40,040 I'm very active in the U.S. Conference of Mayors and it's now become the 427 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,740 big joke about Mesa, you know, the biggest city you've never heard of. They've heard of us now. 428 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:49,200 And I actually even have those cities, you know, from Minneapolis and Atlanta and cities who 429 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:56,100 the city proper has fewer residents than Mesa does, who recognize us. And they also recognize us 430 00:29:56,100 --> 00:29:59,320 because they're putting two and two together. Now this is where things like the Cubs come in. 431 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:29,820 They've heard of Mesa. They can't remember where they've heard of it, but they've heard of us. The events that have happened between President Obama visiting here and like you said, mentioned in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. And sometimes those articles didn't start off great. For example, the Wall Street Journal article started off at how bad things were in Mesa ended up very, very positive because it talked about how we've grabbed the problem. We've embraced the challenges and we've worked to solve them. So those things get noticed. It was amazing how 432 00:30:29,820 --> 00:30:34,240 when we were in the Wall Street Journal a couple three weeks ago, how many emails I got 433 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,620 from fellow mayors and people from around the country saying, my gosh, I read about 434 00:30:38,140 --> 00:30:38,500 Mesa. 435 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:44,440 So I don't think we're going to be any nut on any most boring list in the current year. 436 00:30:44,900 --> 00:30:47,320 It's been great to get that kind of recognition. 437 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,160 What we need to do is we need to make something out of it. 438 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,120 I mean, it's nice that people notice you, but it doesn't get you anywhere. 439 00:30:54,940 --> 00:30:59,460 What we need to do is take the fact that they notice us and then go to the next step. 440 00:30:59,460 --> 00:31:03,540 and turn that into some real benefits and some real activity. 441 00:31:04,020 --> 00:31:05,140 Well, let's talk about that for a minute. 442 00:31:05,380 --> 00:31:07,420 I do want to go to some of the questions we got from the audience, 443 00:31:07,420 --> 00:31:09,920 but before I do that, let's talk about the future a little bit 444 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:13,940 and how you do that and how you begin to turn that into positive things. 445 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,080 What do you see as the big initiatives going forward? 446 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:23,520 Are we still concentrating on the HET on kind of the community engagement stuff? 447 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:30,220 Are there new initiatives that you see in the next year getting launched? 448 00:31:31,020 --> 00:31:32,640 What's the future trajectory? 449 00:31:33,060 --> 00:31:38,120 Well, we are always going to concentrate on the HAT because that's where our strengths 450 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:38,340 are. 451 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:42,000 We'll expand out a little bit, but there's so much work to be done in health education, 452 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:42,960 aerospace, and tourism. 453 00:31:43,380 --> 00:31:45,040 I hope we don't deviate from those things. 454 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:50,220 That doesn't mean that we'll be exclusive of other areas, for example, solar and those 455 00:31:50,220 --> 00:31:50,380 things. 456 00:31:50,380 --> 00:31:55,060 obviously we're a player in those as with that's what the whole region is working on. 457 00:31:55,140 --> 00:32:00,100 We are part of this region and I think what you find out is that as the region 458 00:32:00,100 --> 00:32:04,680 prosperous we will prosper. We need our neighboring cities and we work closely 459 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:09,240 with them and you know we'll grab on new opportunities and all those fit in with 460 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:13,160 those things. So we're going to tweak what we do. We're going to we're going to 461 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:19,600 maybe expand a little bit. A couple of things that we're looking at is you know 462 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:21,780 What we noticed is that we've lost that sense of community. 463 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:27,340 This has always been a city that was really engaged, they volunteered. 464 00:32:28,020 --> 00:32:31,260 And we still do that, but not at the levels that we can do that. 465 00:32:31,860 --> 00:32:34,980 And one of the things we've done in the city and one of the things we will launch is a more 466 00:32:36,540 --> 00:32:37,820 formalized volunteerism program. 467 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:42,980 We have signed up with other large cities in the cities of service program, where we will 468 00:32:42,980 --> 00:32:45,820 set up a service advisory board. 469 00:32:45,820 --> 00:32:49,420 and we will truly try to bring our very active 470 00:32:49,420 --> 00:32:51,360 and engaged faith community together 471 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:54,720 with other community groups that have always been active 472 00:32:55,180 --> 00:32:57,360 and drawing on the resources that the city has 473 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:01,660 to create a more vibrant and more well organized service 474 00:33:03,260 --> 00:33:04,720 culture and activities. 475 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:06,760 That's one of the things we're gonna concentrate on. 476 00:33:07,340 --> 00:33:08,880 But the other things are we're going to really, 477 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:11,060 we've got a lot of work to do in the HAT. 478 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:12,380 We've got a lot of work to do in education 479 00:33:13,060 --> 00:33:14,780 and there's exciting things going on. 480 00:33:14,780 --> 00:33:18,040 Today we have a Jonathan and Andrew, right? 481 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:21,780 From the National League of Cities and, for example, 482 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,480 this is a great example of some of the issues we're taking on. 483 00:33:26,300 --> 00:33:30,240 Mesa, along with our co-partners in this endeavor, 484 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:32,860 in the Mesa Public Schools and Mesa Community College, 485 00:33:33,260 --> 00:33:35,600 are down on a short list for the Clip Grant. 486 00:33:35,860 --> 00:33:39,700 A Clip Grant is actually sponsored by the National League of Cities 487 00:33:39,700 --> 00:33:42,800 and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 488 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:47,020 And the purpose of this grant, which will be a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant, 489 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:54,820 will be to seek out and identify those people at risk that are not moving on to higher 490 00:33:54,820 --> 00:33:55,280 education. 491 00:33:55,600 --> 00:34:01,460 For whatever reason, we have in Arizona and even in Mesa a very large proportion of our 492 00:34:01,460 --> 00:34:06,760 youth that are not taking advantage of higher education, and that is the death knell for 493 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:07,420 economic growth. 494 00:34:07,780 --> 00:34:10,140 We cannot grow without people going on. 495 00:34:10,140 --> 00:34:12,940 You know, we struggle to get a lot of our youth through high school. 496 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,220 Getting through high school doesn't make it anymore. 497 00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:18,400 We have to get them going on to higher education. 498 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:27,200 And so working in conjunction with MPS and MCC, we are involved in a very active process 499 00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:30,600 of going after this clip grant. 500 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:32,740 The city of Phoenix is also involved. 501 00:34:32,900 --> 00:34:34,040 And that's something very interesting. 502 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:39,620 One of the reasons why we're two of seven communities around the country who are in line 503 00:34:39,620 --> 00:34:43,700 for these grants. And the interesting thing is that one of the reasons why they chose Phoenix 504 00:34:43,700 --> 00:34:49,740 and Mesa is because we offer very different dynamics. Mesa has a one large school district 505 00:34:49,740 --> 00:34:56,040 which covers the vast majority of our city, Gilbert Public Schools covers those areas south of 506 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:04,400 the U.S. 60 and we have a large two campus community college and so that's an interesting dynamic 507 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:09,200 for a city our size. Phoenix on the other hand has I don't know how many elementary school 508 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,980 districts, they don't have the same community college, Phoenix College is very centralized, 509 00:35:13,340 --> 00:35:17,020 and they have one or two or three union high school districts that cover their city. 510 00:35:17,340 --> 00:35:21,380 A very different dynamic of how you bring the resources together to make things happen. 511 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:28,920 I can tell you that I've been extremely pleased and proud of our institutions that have worked 512 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,120 well together for years to make this happen. 513 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,040 And let me ask you about this emphasis on higher education. 514 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:40,600 Is that related to this power road knowledge corridor thing that I think it's certainly 515 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:41,440 as a part of it. 516 00:35:41,580 --> 00:35:47,440 As you see power road develop, it will become an economic driver, sort of a boulevard 517 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:48,180 of achievement. 518 00:35:48,620 --> 00:35:53,440 It has that potential and that's based on not only the airport but on the education components 519 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,480 that exist in the power knowledge corridor. 520 00:35:55,820 --> 00:36:00,380 We're working in conjunction with the town of Gilbert since for a long, what about five 521 00:36:00,380 --> 00:36:06,380 six miles, we share a border along Power Road with Gilbert to emphasize the educational 522 00:36:06,380 --> 00:36:08,000 research activities that exist. 523 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:09,880 We presented this last year. 524 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,140 We talked about MCC Red Mountain, the Mesa Public Schools. 525 00:36:13,820 --> 00:36:14,200 There we go. 526 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:22,200 Center for Advanced Learning there at Brown Road, the AT Still which we've talked about, EVIT, 527 00:36:22,380 --> 00:36:25,440 which is starting a new campus out of Gateway Area. 528 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,820 And of course, the issue, Polytechnic, the University of North Dakota which has a vibrant 529 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:32,740 at Geiway, Chandler-Vilber College, 530 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:34,300 Kenymean College, and then, of course, 531 00:36:34,460 --> 00:36:36,500 the latest edition, which we're all excited about, 532 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:39,720 which is the MD Anderson Cancer Center 533 00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:44,180 on the Geiway campus, which most people don't realize, 534 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:49,460 MD Anderson is a venture of the University of Texas, 535 00:36:50,100 --> 00:36:51,800 and it will very much be research 536 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,640 and patient service oriented on the Geiway campus. 537 00:36:55,100 --> 00:36:57,860 Geiway Hospital, of course, is right there on Higley in the 60, 538 00:36:57,860 --> 00:37:04,500 We share a border between Gilbert and us and we're working very closely with the town of Gilbert to maximize those opportunities. 539 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:13,740 Okay, I want to go to some of the questions we got from people in the audience and some of these were collected before today and some of them were turned in this morning. 540 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:23,400 Before I do that just so we don't forget, I want to give another round of applause to the sponsors of today's event who made this possible and helped us put it on. 541 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,080 so thank you to those sponsors. 542 00:37:27,380 --> 00:37:29,100 And if I could, as part of that, 543 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:31,100 you know, we ribbed the Hilton, 544 00:37:31,420 --> 00:37:33,880 and I'm not going to make any cracks about corn dogs this morning, 545 00:37:33,940 --> 00:37:34,440 because they're great. 546 00:37:35,380 --> 00:37:38,500 But the Hilton, Gary, you and your staff, 547 00:37:38,620 --> 00:37:40,060 you do such a great job. 548 00:37:40,220 --> 00:37:43,580 There's so many community events that go on at this hotel, 549 00:37:43,580 --> 00:37:46,640 and I will tell you that the Hilton always steps up 550 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:47,940 and they are a true community player. 551 00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:50,760 Thank you so very much for the great job you guys do. 552 00:37:55,280 --> 00:38:00,120 Here's one of the questions from the audience that I would like to hear your take on. 553 00:38:01,060 --> 00:38:05,920 There's a lot of discussion now about whether or not the way we fund government in Arizona, 554 00:38:06,340 --> 00:38:10,760 both state government and local government works given the magnitude of the problems we 555 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:10,940 have. 556 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:17,420 What's your take on should we be thinking about a different mix of revenue sources in a 557 00:38:17,420 --> 00:38:19,000 different way of funding government? 558 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,940 Well, I think we have to look at a different way. 559 00:38:22,900 --> 00:38:25,860 You know, it's not whether it works because we still collect tax revenue. 560 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:30,800 The question is whether there's a match between the economic activity that happens in 561 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:37,600 a city, the services that are provided by a city, and the tax system that is supposed to 562 00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:38,240 meet those two. 563 00:38:38,660 --> 00:38:43,360 You know, we talked about differences between 1999 and 2009 and the difference in economic 564 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:44,020 activity. 565 00:38:44,540 --> 00:38:47,660 You know, it's really interesting over the last two or three years, retail sales have been 566 00:38:47,660 --> 00:38:52,480 literally in the whole. We've really struggled, especially at Christmas time, 567 00:38:52,820 --> 00:38:57,480 except for in one area, Internet sales. Internet sales which virtually did not 568 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:02,940 exist in 1999, for example, are a huge part of our economy now. City of 569 00:39:02,940 --> 00:39:08,420 Mesa, State of Arizona, virtually zero dollars from Internet sales. You know 570 00:39:08,420 --> 00:39:13,460 that because that's one reason why people go to the Internet. Those Internet sales 571 00:39:13,460 --> 00:39:16,500 last Christmas were up double digit. Last two Christmas have increased at a 572 00:39:16,500 --> 00:39:21,660 double the rate. There's nothing to say that that is going to change. We also have moved 573 00:39:21,660 --> 00:39:27,100 over the last 50, 60 years from an economy that's based on the transfer of goods, which are 574 00:39:27,100 --> 00:39:32,900 all taxable under our system, to a service-based economy. And it's not that I'm advocating one 575 00:39:32,900 --> 00:39:38,400 or another. The fact is that our tax system, as it currently exists, does not match the 576 00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:42,820 economic activity. You know, one of the big debates in Mesa, and I'm not proposing this, but 577 00:39:42,820 --> 00:39:47,700 I'm just telling you one of the mismatches is that we have, for example, we provide services 578 00:39:48,340 --> 00:39:51,660 to people who own property but who do not pay taxes in Mesa. 579 00:39:52,300 --> 00:39:57,600 Because unless you're coming into town and you're buying a lot of things, if you want 580 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:01,500 a house and you're only here four or five months out of the year, you don't pay for our 581 00:40:01,500 --> 00:40:01,880 services. 582 00:40:02,020 --> 00:40:04,920 And yet we provide police and fire services 12 months out of the year. 583 00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:07,540 So that's just a disconnect. 584 00:40:07,540 --> 00:40:13,140 We've got to find a way to connect economic activity public services with the revenue 585 00:40:13,140 --> 00:40:13,380 strength. 586 00:40:13,460 --> 00:40:20,020 Okay, here's a related question, which is Elliott Pollock did a report for the House 587 00:40:20,020 --> 00:40:26,120 leadership about, primarily for the speaker, about Arizona's tools, got a hate looking 588 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,940 in myself on this monitor, it's like spooky. 589 00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:31,280 That's okay because I hate looking at you too. 590 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:42,460 about the tools that Arizona might need to have to compete in terms of a 591 00:40:42,460 --> 00:40:46,660 tranting major employers. And the speakers actually graphed it all on there's 592 00:40:46,660 --> 00:40:51,080 beginning to be some discussion about that. What about that? Do we have sufficient 593 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:55,680 tools or do we need additional tools? No, you know, I think and this is this is 594 00:40:55,680 --> 00:41:00,600 perhaps the danger in one of the byproducts or collateral damage of a 595 00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:07,420 city north this is. We have concentrated so long on competing Mesa versus 596 00:41:07,420 --> 00:41:14,320 Chandler versus Fountain Hills and you know what nobody cares. Probably one of 597 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:17,480 the dumbest things we've done in Arizona is compete between cities when our 598 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:24,540 real competition is New Mexico and Alabama and India and China and we see this 599 00:41:24,540 --> 00:41:28,980 every day you know we talk about the aerospace the aerospace institute 600 00:41:28,980 --> 00:41:34,180 research institute which is something which we're really excited about and our aerospace industry 601 00:41:34,180 --> 00:41:41,860 and how we can support that. Well, we had something in a little story to tell us who our competition 602 00:41:41,860 --> 00:41:48,520 is and what we are lacking. At the Paris Air Show, which is where a lot of aeronautical activity 603 00:41:48,520 --> 00:42:00,340 happens and a lot of things are sold and money is invested, the state of Alabama, the state of 604 00:42:00,340 --> 00:42:07,460 zero. That's our competition. We have one of our strengths. Arizona historically has been in 605 00:42:07,460 --> 00:42:14,340 the top five for aeronautical activity. Aerospace. It's a huge driver of our economy. We're getting 606 00:42:14,340 --> 00:42:20,740 out gunned. We're getting outplayed. And I have even gotten into, you know, the incentives, which 607 00:42:20,740 --> 00:42:26,260 are a dirty word, they're good incentives, they're bad incentives. Good incentives come with increase 608 00:42:26,260 --> 00:42:27,820 in economic activity. 609 00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:30,520 I will defend Gaylord incentives all day long 610 00:42:31,060 --> 00:42:33,360 because that's all new money to our economy. 611 00:42:34,180 --> 00:42:36,640 You have $750 million in initial investment 612 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:38,340 and then everybody who comes to Gaylord 613 00:42:38,340 --> 00:42:41,160 is out of state money that's bringing into our economy. 614 00:42:41,780 --> 00:42:43,280 Aerospace is all new money. 615 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:47,640 We don't sell many attack helicopters for use in Arizona. 616 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:48,480 At least I hope we don't. 617 00:42:49,660 --> 00:42:51,640 You know, MD helicopters sell very few. 618 00:42:51,780 --> 00:42:52,460 It's all out of state. 619 00:42:52,580 --> 00:42:55,560 That's the kind of economic development we need to be fostering. 620 00:42:55,560 --> 00:43:00,860 We need tools. We don't have them. We are at a huge disadvantage with our other states. 621 00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:06,760 Alabama, Georgia, Texas are absolutely clean our clock when it comes to that. 622 00:43:06,900 --> 00:43:11,340 And these are states that if you remember 10, 20, 30 years ago, 623 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:13,900 you talked about the South and they were backwater states. 624 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:17,280 They were states that didn't have it together. They were states that are struggling. 625 00:43:17,660 --> 00:43:21,380 In many ways, they have run past us. We need more tools in the toolbox. 626 00:43:21,380 --> 00:43:22,640 What about small businesses? 627 00:43:22,900 --> 00:43:25,300 What can Mesa do to help small businesses thrive in Mesa? 628 00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:38,640 Well, the best thing we can do, and I think one of the, once again, one of the other parts of the silver lining is small businesses thrive when they're left alone, when they're enabled, when they're facilitated, they suffer when they're regulated. 629 00:43:39,500 --> 00:43:48,440 What we've really worked on trying to do, both in our systems and in our culture in the city, is to turn from a regulatory into a facilitory attitude. 630 00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:56,460 The idea is that we will say yes until we're forced to say no, rather than start out saying no until you prove that we can say yes. 631 00:43:56,620 --> 00:44:00,800 I'll give you a great example of how I think we're making process, process, progress. 632 00:44:01,780 --> 00:44:09,340 We went and opened a new plant for the waxy, for the waxy janitorial supply. 633 00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:12,200 And all of you know waxy, you just don't realize it. 634 00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:16,880 And now from now on, when you walk into a restroom in any public facility, especially 635 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:19,720 you men, I guarantee you you will see the Waxi name. 636 00:44:20,340 --> 00:44:21,060 Just look down. 637 00:44:23,740 --> 00:44:29,760 Waxi opened up 105,000 square foot facility in Mesa, 80 employees. 638 00:44:29,900 --> 00:44:30,900 They moved from another city. 639 00:44:31,180 --> 00:44:34,840 They had property in another city in the valley. 640 00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:44,620 And they moved from that city because the regulatory environment was so much they said they gave up, they still own that property. 641 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:50,640 They moved to Mesa and the president came up and said, I can't tell you how amazing it's been to work with Mesa. 642 00:44:50,820 --> 00:44:54,400 You guys have helped us, you facilitated us, it's a beautiful facility. 643 00:44:54,780 --> 00:44:58,120 One of the first silver leads certified buildings in the city. 644 00:44:58,820 --> 00:44:59,980 Great, great, great thing, we have a- 645 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:29,780 SDI, the auto parts who moved their manufacturing facilities from California here and raved about our city staff. We still have work to do. We know that, but we're getting there. We're changing. And that's a real compliment to, once again, Chris Brady, his staff, to our council, who we are all in lockstep about this, about what environment we try to create to facilitate. And so that's one of our main initiatives. We started out talking about baseball. Let me ask you one more baseball question that we got from the audience, which is, you think there's any prospect 646 00:45:29,780 --> 00:45:33,260 perspective, getting a second team attracted to Mesa. 647 00:45:34,300 --> 00:45:37,780 And specifically, the question is to play in Fitch Park. 648 00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:41,320 Well, I hope they play in Fitch Park and ho-ho comment everything. 649 00:45:41,780 --> 00:45:45,740 Contrary to what the newspaper said, talked about those prospects being, 650 00:45:45,780 --> 00:45:50,580 I think the word was laughable, not that I care about what the newspaper says. 651 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:55,820 I will tell you that it is not laughable, it will be difficult, 652 00:45:55,820 --> 00:45:59,880 but our intention is, and not only our attention, 653 00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:02,660 but our objective is that when we move into the new, 654 00:46:02,740 --> 00:46:04,240 move the Cubs into their new facility, 655 00:46:04,980 --> 00:46:06,420 that we will have a team to backfill. 656 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,880 Whole common fits are not substandard facilities. 657 00:46:10,420 --> 00:46:11,280 They're great facilities. 658 00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:14,380 They, for many teams, would be a giant step up. 659 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:17,300 The Cubs are not moving into a new facility 660 00:46:17,300 --> 00:46:20,280 because they don't like what we have right now. 661 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:21,980 They're moving in because they've outgrown 662 00:46:21,980 --> 00:46:22,820 what we have now. 663 00:46:23,300 --> 00:46:24,880 We have more economic opportunity 664 00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:26,960 that we can create through a new facility 665 00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:29,000 that we can ever create at Holcomb. 666 00:46:29,100 --> 00:46:30,440 We are limited with the Cubs there. 667 00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,080 And we can easily fix the deficiencies 668 00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:34,640 that Fitch and Holcomb have. 669 00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:37,060 And there are teams out there 670 00:46:37,060 --> 00:46:39,020 that would be more than willing 671 00:46:39,020 --> 00:46:41,580 to certainly explore the possibility 672 00:46:41,580 --> 00:46:42,600 of moving in there. 673 00:46:42,720 --> 00:46:44,660 I can't say who those are or what they are, 674 00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:47,100 but I will tell you that that is one of our initiatives 675 00:46:47,100 --> 00:46:50,040 and we have made some initial outreach and context. 676 00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:53,400 All right. Well, we're coming near the end of this 677 00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:58,380 And I think we've got to thoroughly an additional announcement this morning. 678 00:46:59,240 --> 00:47:02,920 So Mayor, if you want to return for a moment on the subject of higher education. 679 00:47:03,820 --> 00:47:09,080 Well, you know, we've talked about how higher education is a great driver. 680 00:47:09,260 --> 00:47:13,680 And it's one of our main initiatives this year, not this year, but any year and every year. 681 00:47:13,740 --> 00:47:18,460 And it's something we'll never, ever quit on because I don't think you can never be fully, fully 682 00:47:18,460 --> 00:47:22,460 satisfied with what you have because opportunity, that means you'd be limiting opportunity. 683 00:47:22,460 --> 00:47:28,080 We're not going to limit opportunity in Mesa, and so higher education, which we believe 684 00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:34,000 is a primary driver of all other opportunities that we have, having an educated workforce 685 00:47:34,420 --> 00:47:38,000 being able to give that workforce the opportunities they have that go hand in hand. 686 00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:45,460 And so we will always, always have that as a main priority, and that will always be part 687 00:47:45,460 --> 00:47:49,980 of the heat, even if we got to go down and make it eat, or yet, or just eat. 688 00:47:50,820 --> 00:47:53,960 education will always be at the forefront because it's one of the things that 689 00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:59,940 is made that has made the that has made Mesa great and taken us to where we are 690 00:47:59,940 --> 00:48:04,180 and now we just need to expand a little bit and go further so I would like to 691 00:48:04,180 --> 00:48:09,500 thank you as we wrap up for for this opportunity I'd like to apologize to if we 692 00:48:09,500 --> 00:48:13,920 board you to death I'm sorry you know you talk about how half the people stand up 693 00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:17,720 and half the people remain seating usually when I speak they have to stand up 694 00:48:17,720 --> 00:48:21,500 their leg fell up to sleep and so they have to shake it out and the other half are already 695 00:48:21,500 --> 00:48:24,660 asleep so thank you so very much for being with us today.