Mesa park's anger / P. 11
Virus frays tempers / P. 5
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
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Project aims to make Mesa ‘Surf City’
INSIDE
This Week
BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
NEWS ...................... 10 Pence visit upsets some Mesa Mormons.
COMMUNITY ......... 13 Mesa woman makes masks by the thousands.
BUSINESS ............. 14 Mesa native a world-class scrapbooker.
OPINION .............. 16 He discovered four types of airline users. COMMUNITY ............................... 13 BUSINESS ..................................... 14 OPINION ....................................... 16 PUZZLES ...................................... 19 CLASSIFIED ................................. 20 Zone
Sunday, August 16, 2020
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developer already has “Surf Mesa’’ tee-shirts printed, hoping that his proposed two-acre “surf lagoon” turns into a regional attraction near Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport. But while the lagoon is the centerpiece of Cannon Beach, it also includes 475,000 square feet of commercial space, a gym, a climbing wall, a go-cart track, a 65-foot tall hotel and retail space. All of this would be built only about a mile
northwest of the airport, in an over�light area where housing could not be built without a permit because of aircraft noise. The developer, Cole Cannon – a surfer himself from his days at the University of Southern California – said “there’s a huge, transplanted population from Southern California’’ that yearns to go sur�ing again, but can’t return home every weekend. “What we are trying to create is something that can’t be delivered to your door,’’ he told the Tribune. He said his focus is on a 25-45-year age bracket that highly values unique experienc-
es, such as hiking a national park or sur�ing, rather than just acquiring possessions. Cannon envisions travelers using the airport and staying at the hotel to either surf or just enjoy people-watching and a beach ambiance transplanted from Southern California to the Sonoran Desert. Cannon said he has visited surf parks around the world and retained experts in water dynamics that will help him realize his dream – including a contractor who has built facilities for the elite Navy Seals.
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How COVID-19 is reshaping Mesa’s classrooms
BY ZACH ALVIRA Tribune Staff Writer
W
hile there is still no speci�ic date for when Mesa Public Schools will be able to welcome students back to campus, that hasn’t stopped administrators from prepping hallways and classrooms to be as safe as possible. Jeffrey Abrams, who is entering his 10th year as principal of Franklin at Brimhall Elementary School and is part of the district’s new health & safety design team, has spent the last six months with his team designing a plan all schools can follow when students return. Abrams, with the help of other Franklin administrators, has already equipped his schools with signs, sanitization stations and other prerequisites to create safe environments. “My kids go here, I have other administrators whose kids go here and teachers whose kids go here,” Abrams said. “We want to make it safe for not only them but for everyone. “This is something we started working on when schools closed last spring.” Signs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describing proper social
Jeffrey Abrams, principal of Franklin at Brimhall Elementary, demonstrates the bag that has been made for students to store their masks when not needed. Abrams is part of Mesa Public Schools' new health and safety design team that is reshaping the look of campuses and classrooms. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Photographer)
distancing techniques, hand washing techniques and other safe practices have been placed all over hallways, bathrooms and classrooms at Franklin. There also are also several signs of encour-
agement – an idea Abrams believes will help kids stay motivated during a trying time. Each classroom is equipped with hand sani-
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