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Mesa, Chandler test scores are a mixed bag
EAST VALLEY
PAGE 3 Chandler/Tempe Edition
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS ........................ 8 Angry Mesa school bus driver busted after child is injured.
COMMUNITY ........12 Mesa artist honored by society in NY.
PAGE 19 Sunday, October 13, 2019
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Data �irms �locking to Mesa’s tech corridor BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
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esa’s Elliot Road Technology Corridor, once an isolated swath of open desert on the city’s eastern fringe, is now booming as proposed data centers multiply and years of planning pay off. Five companies bought land and several are pursuing construction plans. Raging Wire won planning and zoning approvals from Mesa in the past two weeks – a green light for constructing a 1.5-millionsquare-foot campus with seven buildings. “We’re the little guys,’’ said Paul Martin, senior design project manager for Raging Wire, after Mesa’s Design Review Board praised the company’s architectural plans.
But everything is relative and is especially true in the highly competitive digital tech world. Martin compares his company to such powerhouses like Apple, which already operates a data center in the corridor, and Google, which secured tax incentives to its own massive data center. Martin said Raging Wire’s business is different. It builds data centers and attracts smaller companies and Google to rent space to eventually accommodate rows of servers to process all kinds of data. “It’s a great project. It’s great for the city of Mesa,’’ said Randy Carter, chairman of the Design Review Board, which reviews the architectural quality and landscaping of proposed buildings. While Raging Wire might not be a famous
Students’ best friend
BUSINESS .................14
name, it is far from an insignificant company. It is a subsidiary of NTT, a global Japanese communications company operating data centers in California, Texas, Chicago and Virginia. Bill Jabjiniak, Mesa’s economic development director, said the boom is no coincidence and represents eight years of planning to lure the high-tech companies and their high-paying jobs to Mesa. “I would tell you this is a vision that started eight years ago,’’ Jabjiniak said, saying it was back then that he and his colleagues started assembling the infrastructure vital to data centers. Jabjiniak listed the three critical elements that laid the groundwork for what is happen-
see TECH page 4
Chandler teacher �ired for religious, anti-gay actions BY KEVIN REAGAN Tribune Staff Writer
Diamonds aren’t always your friend, Mesa jeweler says.
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SPORTS .................... 17 Red Mountain athlete undaunted by rare cancer.
COMMUNITY ............... 12 BUSINESS ...................... 14 OPINION ....................... 16 SPORTS ..........................17 GETOUT......................... 19 CLASSIFIED....................24
Mesa museum bones up on partying
Scooter Pie is surrounded by, from left, DIGS President Barb Founder, Weinberg Elementary counselor Sarah Evenhus and Principal Shirley Mathew. Read how they help Chandler students on page 6. (Kimberly Carrillo/Staff Photographer)
A/C APPROACHING 9 YEARS OLD?
REPLACE WITH A BRAND NEW CARRIER HIGH-EFFICIENCY A/C SYSTEM
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AS LOW AS
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handler Unified School District fired an art teacher for allegedly discriminating against a transgender student and bringing a box of Bibles to her classroom. Annella Krom’s conduct at Arizona College Preparatory-Erie was described as “objectionable, disrespectful, and unprofessional” in a report by district staff to the governing board. Students accused Krom of freely discussing her Christian beliefs in class and expressing anti-gay viewpoints, including she thought homosexuals were “just confused.” The allegations led to her termination earlier this month.
see TEACHER page 3
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