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Lawmaker's district break-up bill baffles MPS BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
NEWS..................... 3 MPS keeps watchful eye on schools with 2,400 cameras.
BUSINESS............ 20 Builder opens EV school for construction trades.
Sunday, March 12, 2023
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
A
rizona lawmakers are moving to require a public vote in the state’s largest school districts to determine whether they should be split up. The measure, which passed the Arizona House on March 1, has left officials at Mesa Public Schools scratching their heads – and
wondering where the move came from and what the benefits would be for students and taxpayers. “Many blue-ribbon panels and several bills in the past have suggested schools are inefficient and could benefit from consolidation,” Assistant Superintendent Scott Thompson told the Tribune. “Now we are talking about breaking up school districts and creating more administrative costs. This seems to be in direct conflict with many of the past conversations on
this topic.” “Mesa Public Schools is open and ready to have a conversation with anyone interested in how the district operates. We were not asked for input into this bill,” he said. The bill, HB 2546, is being advanced by Rep. Rachel Jones, a first-term Republican lawmaker from Tucson who said many of her constituents are unhappy with the decisions being made by the Tucson Unified
see MPS page 8
Fiesta Village breathing new life into West Mesa BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
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SPORTS................ 24 Dobson girls miss out on 6A crown. COMMUNITY .............................. 18 BUSINESS ................................... 20 OPINION ..................................... 22 SPORTS ...................................... 24 GET OUT ...................................... 26 CLASSIFIED ............................... 28 ZONE 1
BESTOF
2022
SINCE 1982 ROC #C39-312643
BESTOF
2021
s growth farther east, the 2001 opening of Chandler Fashion Center and rising e-commerce pushed Fiesta Mall to closing in 2018, surrounding West Mesa shopping centers also suffered. Fiesta Village, the north of the mall, experienced an especially rapid fall and became the district’s most visible sign of blight. Today, Fiesta Village is showing new signs of life, both onsite and behind-the-scenes. And while Fiesta Village was once a canary in the coal mine for distressed commercial property, it could be foreshadowing a larger transformation of the area. The first of four new commercial buildings that will eventually line the northwest corner of Southern Avenue and Alma School Road recently passed the Design Review Board and now heads to
see FIESTA VILLAGE page 6
Former Mesa Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh and Vice Mayor Francisco Heredia, former and current council representatives from District 3, are happy with the Fiesta District’s evolution form a blighted area at the corner of Alma School Road and Southern Avenue. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)
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