Cop shop re-do / P. 3
Windfall for Mesa/ P. 10
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS ...................... 13 Breaking the marijuana industry's glass ceiling.
SPORTS ..................
26
Dobson's future on the court looking star-studded.
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2 major projects will change SE Mesa landscape Mega sports-music center Electric vehicle plant will charges for home plate be Maricopa County's �irst BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
T
hose who complain “there’s nothing to do in southeast Mesa” should take note of the 330-acre Legacy Sports Entertainment Park – and prepare for a major change to that sleep scene starting this fall. Big enough for youth sports and soccer tournaments? Check, dozens of �ields spread
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Barrett-Jackson auction rolling along. COMMUNITY ............................... 19 BUSINESS ..................................... 22 OPINION .. ..................................... 24 SPORTS ........................................ 26 GET OUT ...................................... 28 PUZZLES ...................................... 29 CLASSIFIED ................................. 30 Zone 1
over scores of acres. But what about for older folks, who love their pickleball? Got that, too, with a 40-court complex for p-ballers. Not everyone is crazy about sports, what’s the entertainment part? Chad Miller promises plenty of food options, a bar and heaping portions of live music.
��� LEGACY ���� 4
Recycling roadblock as Mesa ponders sustainability BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
GETOUT .................
Sunday, March 21, 2021
I
f there is a mythical superhighway to sustainability, Mesa has been driving around on side streets, wondering how to �ind an on-ramp – and being frustrated by the detours thrown up by a recycling crisis. But now the city is in the early stages of creating a climate action plan – what some call “a road map to sustainability.” At a study session last month, Mesa City Council charged En-
vironmental and Sustainability Director Scott Bouchie to begin crafting a climate action plan. That makes perfect sense to Tempe Sustainability Director Braden Kay. “Mesa’s really at the heart of what the sustainable East Valley can be,” Kay said. Mesa is hardly alone in not having a formal climate plan, Kay said. Tempe was the �irst Valley city to come up with a climate action plan, and is in the process
��� SUSTAIN ���� 8
BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
A
ccording to a report by industry analyst Blast Point, 345,000 electric vehicles were sold nationally during pandemic dominated 2020, – up 40 percent from 2019 with Tesla, Nissan and Audi as top sellers leading the way. ElectraMeccanica just invited itself to the electric vehicle party.
Landing in Mesa near the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, the Canadian company will construct a 235,000-square-foot facility on Ray and Hawes roads, where it plans to produce up to 20,000 Solo electric vehicles per year. And, of utmost importance to the likes of Councilman Kevin Thompson, the plant will employ as many as 500.
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Bend and stretch
Yoga is one of the many activities that moved with the Mesa Farmer's Market to the Mesa Arts Center earlier this month. For a look at what else went along, see page 12. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Photographer)
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