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Inside This Week
E. Mesa residents push back at homeless hotel BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
NEWS..................... 2 49 people want to replace this former MPS Board member.
BUSINESS............ 13 Popular BBQ eatery is already a hit in E. Mesa.
Sunday, July 16, 2023
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
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eighborhood sentiment doesn’t appear too favorable toward Mesa officials’ plan to but a hotel for $7.4 million to house people in its Off the Streets Program. City officials held a community meeting at the Jefferson Recreation Center to discuss the acquisition of the Grand Hotel on Main Street and the prevailing sentiment among
the approximately 50 people who showed is that neighbors don’t want a homeless shelter in their backyards. Mesa and Grand Hotel owner Sunstay Bridge LLC have agreed to terms, but a final sale is contingent on City Council issuing a Council Use Permit to allow social services on the property. City staff estimate the council might consider the CUP in October. Anger and fear bubbled up several times at the meeting during the Q&A following a
Goodbye Fiesta Mall: Demolition to begin
presentation by Lindsey Balinkie, deputy director of Mesa’s Community Services Department, and Det. Aaron Raine, Mesa Police Department’s homelessness liaison. Many in the audience said crime and drug use in their area had already been on the rise in recent years. They believed a shelter would only increase these issues – despite predictions from Raine that the neighborhood would see a reduction
see HOTEL page 6
Weighty celebration
BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
GET OUT.............. 26 EV recording artist taking on Valley's rap scene. COMMUNITY .............................. 10 BUSINESS ................................... 13 OPINION ..................................... 14 BACK TO SHCOOL..................... 16 GET OUT ...................................... 26 CLASSIFIED ............................... 28 ZONE 1
T
he demolition of Fiesta Mall is scheduled to begin tomorrow, July 17, bringing a definitive end to an 80-acre site that was once a center of retail gravity for the Southeast Valley. Mesa leaders hope an exciting new story emerges at the “strategic” site of the defunct mall on Alma School Road at the US 60, but the future still remains hazy as crews prepare to knock the walls down. In March, the city held preliminary talks with mall coowner Verde Investments on a master plan for a mixeduse development with up to 4,000 residential units, but
see MALL page 3
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A small crown on July 10 cheered Mesa resident David Keaggy as he celebrated his 97th birthday in a most unusual way at the Mountainside Fitness facility on Greenfield Road. To read what he did and why, turn to page 10. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)
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