Mesa Beat

Mesa residents have just one more month to donate toward the Mesa Hydration Donation Campaign. Since June 2, the city has collected more than 57,000 bottles of water as part of its second annual campaign to help nonprofit agencies provide water to the homeless and the unsheltered who must survive the extreme heat outdoors.

The collection has already surpassed last summer’s collection of 50,000 bottles, but more are needed, according to the city. Water collected in the campaign is distributed through United Food Bank to a variety of shelters and agencies in the Valley. For more information, contact City of Mesa Human Services Program Coordinator Lisa Wilson at 480-644-5831 or lisa.wilson@cityofmesa.org.

The Mesa Hydration Donation Campaign is collecting bottled water at:
· Mesa Fire Department Volunteer Center
2830 E. Adobe (located behind Fire Station 206 at Lindsay and Adobe)
24-hour drop-off in parking lot

· United Food Bank
358 E. Javelina (near U-S 60 and Mesa Drive)
7 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Friday
Collection bins will be available on weekends

· Paz de Cristo
424 W. Broadway
9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday – Friday
1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday – Sunday

· City of Grace Church
655 E. University
9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday – Thursday
5 p.m. – 8 p.m. Saturday
9 a.m. – Noon Sunday

Mesa will celebrate the arrival of the light rail next Wednesday, Aug. 6, with a commemorative train ride for city and business leaders. Mayor Scott Smith, members of the city council and other notable city and business leaders will take the trip as the city gets its first glimpse into what the light rail will bring with its .96-mile through west Mesa, from Tempe to Sycamore and Main Street.

The event begins at 9:45 a.m. and the train arrives at 10 a.m. at the park and ride and train station at Sycamore and Main. The mayor will also make remarks for members of the public who attend to see the trains in motion. The light rail will begin to take passengers in late December. More information and safety brochures are available at www.metrolightrail.org/safety.
 

Mesa received two honors this week for management and customer service.

The City of Mesa was honored this week with its fourth consecutive national Achievement of Excellence in Procurement award for organizational excellence in procurement by the National Purchasing Institute. The annual award is presented to organizations that meet specific criteria that demonstrate efficient purchasing methods and practice, which in turn save taxpayer money.

 The city also was honored with a Center for Performance Measures Certificate of Distinction from the International City/County Management Association, which acknowledges efforts by staff to enhance and improve government performance, and use the improvements in policy-making. Mesa embarked on a comprehensive performance management initiative in September, which requires each city department to have a strategic plan and benchmarks for customer service and management. The award will be received in September.

Mesa residents will get a new express bus Monday to take along the Red Mountain freeway to downtown Phoenix, as a county-wide sales tax program begins to provide the city new services that will also take over funding for two other routes already in existance, and expand routes Valleywide.

On Monday, the county-wide sales tax program will take over funding for three buses: The new express bus, the Dobson Road bus and the Southern Avenue route. The Dobson route will extend now from Riverview mall through Chandler to Ocotillo Road. The new express route, No. 535, will run from Power Road and the Loop 202 and Gilbert Road and the Loop 202, to downtown and the state capitol. The three bus routes will have more frequency, with 15 minutes between buses during peak times, and will also run on Sundays, and every half hour on Saturdays as opposed to every hour.

Mesa Councilmembers Dina Higgins and Scott Somers will take the second run on the new express bus, at 7:05 a.m., to join riders on inception. Mike James, deputy director of transportation, hailed the new buses as a way to help alleviate other crowded buses, and to give residents new routes, whether going to Phoenix or Chandler.

“This is a great connection, not just for Mesa, but for Chandler residents to come up and get on the light rail when it starts in six months,” he said. “Or to come to other express buses.”

To plan a route visit www.valleymetro.org.

The Mesa Arts Center will feature tattoo and lowrider inspired art with its events and exhibits beginning in September.

Mesa Contemporary Arts will kick off its fall season with a Sept. 11 discussion with the top lowrider and tattoo artists to be featured in the center. The event, Lowriders and Tattoos: A Conversation with Mister Cartoon, Estevan Oriol, and Jack Rudy, is planned at 7:30 p.m. in the Piper Theater at the center, 1 E. Main Street in downtown Mesa.

Tickets are $60 for prime seating and a catered post-reception with the artists, and $30 for general seating.

The free fall exhibit premiere will take place 7 - 10 p.m. Sept. 12 on the campus and will include exhibits and tattoo displays as well as an outdoor display of customized lowrider cars, demonstrations of tattooing and pin-striping and live bands, food booths and a beer garden.

On Sept. 13, the event will continue with a free custom car show, live music, food booths and beer garden.

To order tickets, visit mesaartscenter.com or call (480) 644-6500.

Residents who want to become more involved with the Mesa Arts Center can become a volunteer guide for tours of the downtown campus. The center is recruiting volunteers who are “assertive” and who “enjoy the arts and managing groups of 10 to 30 people.”

Guides would give two public tours, two hours long each, every month. Training would be provided and tour guides would shadow other tours until they feel comfortable taking over. Volunteers receive points for each shift completed, which can be redeemed for perks including theater tickets, class discounts or exclusive tours. Volunteers also recieve a discount in the arts center store, and are eligible for discounts in local businesses.

To take part, contact Courtney Tjaden at (480) 644-6627.

Mesa is looking for neighborhood ambassadors to collect input from residents about what issues the community is most concerned about. The city needs 20 volunteers to canvass the community, helping city neighborhood outreach coordinators conduct door-to-door surveys.

Volunteers would work in teams of two, and will be conducted 8:30 - 10:30 a.m. Aug. 16, a Saturday, in a central Mesa neighborhood. Training of volunteers is scheduled 5:30 - 6:15 p.m. Aug. 12, in the community room of Fire Station 202 at 830 S. Stapley Dr.

The idea is to conduct the surveys at once, rather than spread out over three to four weeks as has been done in the past, said Katie Brown, Mesa’s neighborhood services volunteer coordinator, in a press release. The event is part of the city’s Building Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, which looks ot preserve and strengthen neighborhoods by offering both residents and businesses education, training adn access to city resources to address neighborhood issues.

If interested in volunteering, contact Brown at (480) 644-3705 or fill out a volunteer interest form by clicking on “be a volunteer” at www.cityofmesa.org/neighsvc.

Mesa will re-energize recycling programs at a popular local spring training stadium as well as in schools, thanks to a new grant the city received this week.

The city was awarded a $61,000 community recycling grant from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality this week. The grant will fund Mesa’s “Recycling for the Masses” program that focuses on recycling projects at Mesa Unified School District schools and which also provides recycling at Hohokam Stadium, where the Chicago Cubs train in the winter.

The city will use the money to buy more barrels and containers, signs and promotional materials to encourage recycling. The grants are funded by Waste Reduction Assistance program at the state. The state department funded a total of $370,386 of grants for city recycling programs throughout Maricopa County, and also including Tempe and Fountain Hills.

Mesa is urging residents to help support its city libraries — by recycling. Efforts by residents to recycle until June 30, 2009, could raise up to $25,000 to support the City of Mesa Library through the Recycle for Reading Program.

Every pound of material Mesa residents recycle over last year’s total, now until June 30, will result in a contribution to the library budget, for the purchase of new materials. Residents can take part by recycling at home, using the city’s blue bins.

The public is invited to a kick-off event of the “Just One More Pound!” campaign at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, July 16, at the Mesa Main Library, 64 E. First Street. For more information, residents may call the Mesa Recycling Hotline at (480) 644-2222 or visit www.cityofmesa.org.

The following items can be thrown into the bins:

 Aluminum & Metal Cans
Glass Bottles & Jars
Newspapers
Office paper
Junk Mail
Milk & Juice Cartons
Telephone Books & Magazines
Cardboard & Paperboard
Plastic Bottles, Jugs & Jars