Mesa needs to wake up, smell the future
What is happening to Mesa?Back in the day it was the place to be with new developments like Dobson Ranch, a nearby golf course, Fiesta Mall and movie theatres like Fiesta 5 neighboring MCC.
Today it’s a mess. Dobson Ranch has maintained her dignity but sources of entertainment and revenue have fallen apart due to lack of progressive thinking, or simply paying attention.
Mesa failed to notice that movie theatres no longer stand alone but tower in a duplex of corporate bliss where shoppers flock to get all their kicks in one.
The endless rows of local strip malls have been going out of business one by one and are being replaced by Payday Loan Centers.
A perfect example of Mesa’s lethargy to move into the future can be seen on the western side of Main street where low-rate un-remodeled motels from the 1950s remain from when US Route 60 passed through decades
ago.
A combination of little innovation and poor financial handling has put Mesa in a bind.
In 1999, Mesa residents voted overwhelmingly against the Arizona Cardinals Stadium, which brought in revenue of about $400 million during this year’s Super Bowl, a figure that Mesa could have desperately used.
In an effort to strike up revenue and increase consumer traffic, $94.5 million was poured into the Mesa Arts Center which opened in 2005, but the same old problems remain.
The downtown strip is filled with antique shops and cafes that close before sunset with very few restaurants and absolutely no nightlife surrounding the art center,
leaving people with no reason to stick around after an event.
Instead of fixing the obvious problem surrounding the art center, Mesa voted to dump yet another large sum, $250 million, into the upcoming Waveyard Water Park opening in 2010.
No one is going to want to be trapped in a water park resort for more than two or three days with nothing to do outside the park.
These attempts to bring attraction and new life to Mesa are planted on old foundations.
It’s time for local residents to step up and change their course of action.
If voters chose to place their tax dollars into cleaning up and renovating surrounding areas and adding sources of entertainment, places like the Mesa Arts Center and the Waveyard Water Park might actually thrive and bring Mesa back to the way it was meant to be.
