When Mesa Mayor Scott Smith heard about Forbes magazine dumping the city with the “most boring” title, his reaction was, well, all tongue-in-cheek:
“I thought the biggest shocker is that Forbes is still in business,” Smith said.
He added:
“When that highly intellectual study came up, we called the hospitals and checked all death certificates. The greatest cause of death, it turns out, is people are bored to death.”
The dullsville title seems to be in complete contrast to a recent article in the Economist, which named Mesa ‘The city of the Future.’ That credit went in large part to a much-anticipated and headlined deal with Gaylord Entertainment Co. which plans to build a 1,200-room resort and a massive convention center in southeast Mesa, which could put the city on the national map. The project, if built, will go up on the GM Proving Ground site, part of which is owned by developers DMB Associates of Scottsdale. DMB has been using the moniker 21st Century Desert Urbanism, to describe its development vision for their landholding.
In light of that, Smith said:
“Forbes was probably upset because The Economist scooped them on the 21st Century Desert Urbanism title and they were scooped on it. They were behind on the scene about this thriving metropolis and they had to somehow get even.”
