Inside Mesa

The idea came from Mesa Police Chief Gascon to the Mesa United Way board. He hopes to partner with United Way , minimizing the bureaucratic red tape in order to provide professional training and purchase needed special equipment that city funds don’t provide. He envisions a foundation that can provide $100,000-$200,000; his idea is to bring in experts from other police departments across the country and to enable Mesa officers to visit other parts of the country for enhanced training in specialized skills. LAPD - where the chief worked for 28 years and as LAPD’S assistant chief - had a similar program that was quite successful in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars annually that was set up in a foundation. The chief will bring the detailed proposal early next year. Let’s hope Mesa United Way says yes and sees this as a great opportunity to partner with and help public safety as it will alleviate the shortages that are apparent when it comes to funding the Mesa Police Department adequately. Do you think this will work? Non-profits were effected too in the cutbacks by the city, which includes United Way. We as businesses and individuals are needed to help fund non-profits in order to help the many worthwhile causes.

Well, we have four people running or at least interested in being a candidate for Mayor of Mesa….Pat Gilbert, Esq. of MesaCAN was the first to declare his candidacy.Rex Griswold, Councilman District 5, has appointed an exploratory committee.Vice Mayor Walters will possibly run. She is weighing her options - I shadowed Walters during a leadership program and was so impressed with her knowledge and ability to communicate with people skillfully and respectfully.Tom Freestone says he is definitely running and building is campaign team; he is a former State Senator. With Freestone running Arizona Republican Party Chairman Matt Salmon, decided not to run because Freestone and he are friends; he says he’ll still serve somewhere in Mesa. Any ideas where he might want to plug in — councilmember? Would he even consider it?Who would you think is more capable if all do run? Walters says a person needs to know the financial situation in Mesa. There are so many issues that a new mayor will face, like financing the future. How secure are we? How far into the future have we planned that is financially solid? How much money do we really have?Other considerations:– the GM proving grounds; what kind of ideas can come out of this project as builders look at it and want to improve it. Will it be housing? Factory space? Warehousing? Sports Arena? Education? Medical facility? A park, police station, fire station, a small mall shopping center?– how about Williams Gateway? A definite area that needs our supports and looked at seriously as it is a growing major development in southeast Mesa. Who will best be equipped to bring new jobs, enhance higher education and support the groundwork for Williams Gateway to be a relief for Sky Harbor Airport?– then there’s the primary property tax. Can Mesa survive without this tax when we have already seen the complications and the cutbacks; how it’s affected our city. Have we learned anything?Freestone says absolutely no tax, Gilbert won’t shy away from it but thinks we should use our revenue more thoughtfully and efficiently. Griswold says the same and that we need to use our resources more effectively. Walters realizes we’re a big city and that we need to embrace it and start acting like a big city; she sees this as the greater issue.We have a new business manager and new chief of police, both of which have been praised for their excellent skills and financial accountability. Are they doing the best for our city?Who do you trust to run our fair city in the coming years? With these tough questions at stake we are going to need some tough answers. Can we meet this challenge?

A Mesa Police Commander recently put in place Chief Gascon’s new plan that makes each Commander responsible for reducing crime in their district.Commander Steve Toland, Dobson station, approached Marlborough Mesa neighbors to help with a series of burglaries in their neighborhood. If you haven’t heard about this neighborhood as yet, they are very active, have a responsive block watch system, interact with each other on a regular basis, and because of their organizational methods work together very well.When Commander Toland and accompanying officers held a briefing and asked the group about any details they could offer - they had them - Toland said the leads and information they provided will help as they continue the investigation.Residents within Marlborough Mesa were very pleased to have the police come into their neighborhood, address their recent crimes, and made them feel better because the police came to them, made themselves available and asked their community to help out. That’s proactive!I know if I become aware of crimes in my neighborhood I’ll inquire how my neighborhood could be of help. I believe the more we discuss with police our concerns, hear what they tell us, and ask questions of them - we can join the effort in being more alert of the happenings in our own neighborhood and become part of the process of reducing crime.In my opinion I think our police officers and staff to a terrific job in serving and protecting our city and will provide even more creative methods under the new Chief’s command and the re-organization within the department.

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Mesa Police Chief Gasc