THE VOICE OF THE EAST VALLEY SINCE 1891 AND WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR LOCAL REPORTING
Mesa former NFL star works with kids now
EAST VALLEY
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PAGE 12 Chandler/Tempe Edition
INSIDE
This This Week Week
NEWS ........................ 3 Construction firms fuel school campaigns.
COMMUNITY ........ 12 New autism center coming to Mesa.
BUSINESS ................. 15 Spa duo conquers adversity.
SPORTS ....................18 Skyline High divers are all in the family.
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Elegant dinner awaits in East Valley barn.
COMMUNITY ............... 12 BUSINESS .......................15 OPINION ........................17 SPORTS ......................... 18 GETOUT........................ 20 CLASSIFIED....................24
Sunday, November 3, 2019
EV engineering marvel marks 2 decades BY GARY NELSON Tribune Contributor
“Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries — stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region.” — Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick”
A
hundred years ago, we had to destroy our water in order to save it. The Salt River, which begins in the mountains of eastern Arizona, had given life to the region since ancient times. Native civilizations depended on it, and early Anglo settlers had followed their footsteps, even completing a re-do of ancient canals, channeling the Salt River water to thirsty crops. But the river was fickle. Sometimes in flood, sometimes merely a drought-starved trickle, it could not be relied on to consistently sustain the towns beginning to blossom in the Valley as the 20th century dawned. So, we dammed it, and dammed it again, and again, and again, until the waters were trapped and ready for use only when we wanted them to be. That series of Salt River dams is largely cred-
see LAKE page 4
The two-mile Tempe Town Lake turns 20 years old this month and in that time it has been a recreational mecca for hundreds of thousands of people as well as an economic engine that has generated thousands of jobs. (Special to the Tribune)
Council debates ASU downtown Mesa campus BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
GET OUT ................... 20
Happy Birthday, Banner Cardon Children’s Medical
T
he overall cost of Mesa’s innovative Arizona State University project is now estimated at more than $103 million – with ASU paying an additional $10 million. Mesa’s share of ASU@Mesa City Center, the 60-foot tall building on the present site of a parking lot and the project’s focal point, remains capped at the $63.5 million price tag approved by the City Council in a 5-2 vote in June 2018. But two ancillary portions of the ASU project – the Plaza@Mesa City Center and the Studios@Mesa City Center – are each projected to
cost city taxpayers another $8 million. The remaining costs include a $2 million infrastructure upgrade – mainly on the electrical system along Pepper Place, which separates Mesa City Hall from the new ASU complex. “I assure you that this is going to be a fantastic thing. It’s going to put us on the world map as far as these types of programs,’’ said Rick Naimark, ASU’s associate vice president for program development and planning told Council last week. “You will see this is a spectacular building.’’ “We’re really excited to be at this point, where we have a design now,’’ Naimark said. Jeff McVay, Mesa’s downtown transformation manager, said that ASU has committed
to investing an additional $10 million in the ASU@Mesa City Center project. That’s in addition to the $10 million ASU had initially committed to outfitting the interior of the building and the $1.3 million annually it will spend on maintenance and operations. Although there is great hope that the project will awaken slumbering downtown Mesa and turn it into a more dynamic location, the ASU collaboration has been controversial from the start. Mesa has been criticized for subsidizing the project by signing a 99-year-lease for $100,000 a year, but city officials argue the benefits far
see ASU page 9