Legal weed advances / P. 13
Auto malls coming / P. 6
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS ......................... 4 Mesa Municipal Court judge hangs up gavel.
BUSINESS ............ 18 Mesa brewery owner helps Black initiative.
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
Ready, set, go! Early voting starts this week
19
Why states can't keep Arizonans out.
SPORTS ................ 21 Virus rattles high school practices. COMMUNITY ............................... 16 BUSINESS ..................................... 18 OPINION ....................................... 19 SPORTS......................................... 21 PUZZLES ...................................... 22 CLASSIFIED ................................. 24 Zone 1
Feed, then read
BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
S
tarting this week, Mesa voters can either endorse the aggressive pro-growth, prodowntown redevelopment policies of Mesa Mayor John Giles or choose an anti-Giles ticket recommended by his constitutionalist opponent. Early voting by mail starts July 8 in a city election that has exposed a deep divide on City Council that has been apparent since a split decision in 2018 to approve Giles’ hallmark project, Arizona State University@mesacitycenter. The ASU project has been billed as a stimulus for reawakening long slumbering down-
��� ELECTIONS ���� 8
OPINION ................
Sunday, July 5, 2020
Mesa Public Schools recent wrapped up an initiative that aimed to feed kids' bodies and minds. Besides distributing food bags, district officials also gave out hundreds of books to needy families in a collaborative effort. See story on page 16. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Pandemic a health and economic crisis for Mesa arts BY SRIANTHI PERERA Tribune Contributor
W
ith the pandemic showing no signs of retreating in Arizona, the arts have taken a backseat in Mesa. That’s not to say that the city’s arts groups are being complacent; they are working behind the scenes to resume operations as soon as it’s safe. “We are very committed to bringing programming back as soon as we can do it safely and as soon as we have all our ducks in a row to make sure we can enact the new protocol,” said Cindy Ornstein, executive director of Mesa Arts Center and the director of Mesa Arts and Culture Department. “We are very hopeful that we will at least have a very good array of programs available
to the community sometime this fall.” Closed since March, the arts center is working toward a plan to reopen in October. However, because of the situation’s changeability, the time of reopening isn’t de�inite. Last week, Broadway theaters in New York City announced that the Great White Way will remain dark for the rest of the year. Nationwide, the economic loss resulting from the pandemic has been put at more than $5 billion. Ornstein said that the arts center closed initially because of the health crisis – which, in turn, created �inancial pressures. “Being closed, from a �inancial perspective, is detrimental, not helpful, because we cannot produce revenue,” she said. “Now, because we have this health crisis, there are extra factors beyond the health crisis that are created by the health crisis that affect the �inances.”
Mesa Art Center laid off 12 full-time and 27 part-time employees. Across the department, 14 full-time and 50 part-time staffers were eliminated. The positions are to be reinstalled when normalcy resumes. Following the social-distancing models of other institutions around the country, museums and classes within the arts center may resume without sweeping changes. Programming in the theaters, however, poses greater challenges – and questions. Could shows be moved to larger theaters so they can have an audience that works �inancially? Alternatively, could some shows function in a smaller theater? Or, how about moving them to an outdoor space? How do the �inances work for every adapted circumstance?
��� ARTS ���� 3