Shooting suspect arrested / P. 8
Theaters' virus struggle / P. 14
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Planes not the only thing soaring at Gateway Airport
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS .........................
BY GARY NELSON Tribune Contributor
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Mesa's and Arizona's oldest resident succumbs.
BUSINESS ............... 18 Milano's climbing out of pandemic gloom.
T
en years ago, with the East Valley all but paralyzed by the Great Recession, Mesa of�icials sank ceremonial shovels into some dirt just north of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. They were breaking ground for a new stretch of a city street. Ordinarily, a new stretch of city street doesn’t bring out the mayor, City Council members, top bureaucrats and the press. We get new streets around these parts all the time – big whoop. But this was Ray Road and the work beginning that morning would – in the rosy estima-
tion of those pols and bureaucrats – open the �loodgates for a 21st century gold rush. With Loop 202 just to the north and the airport next door, how could they miss? Well, it took some time. But they nailed it. The south side of Ray east of Sossaman now presents a phalanx of large industrial buildings on what was open land as little as two years ago. More are on the way, with the prospect of turning Ray Road’s intersection with Hawes Road into one of southeast Mesa’s busiest business hubs. Within these buildings is a dizzying array of enterprises, ranging from cabinetry to swimming pool supplies to the latest in high-tech aviation.
Daughter's pride
GET OUT ................ 24 These eateries have the meats and the cheeses.
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Mesa trying to curb marijuana sites in the city
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Westwood football player tackling cancer.
COMMUNITY ............................... 14 BUSINESS ..................................... 18 SPORTS ........................................ 22 GET OUT ....................................... 24 PUZZLES ...................................... 26 CLASSIFIED ................................. 27
It has worked out so well for CAVU Aerospace Inc. that the 10-year-old Arkansasbased company is thinking about moving its national headquarters to Gateway. Ken Kocialski, one of CAVU’s founding partners, said the rapidly growing company opened its 80,000-square-foot Gateway facility in the fall of 2019 because of a combination of private and public cooperation. Originally, he said, the company had wanted to lease a building in Chandler. “We thought it would be a perfect �it for us. After about four to six weeks of the most excruciating lease negotiation … �inally we just gave up on this group,” he said.
BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
SPORTS ................. 22
Zone
Sunday, December 6, 2020
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Anne Beeby of Mesa beamed with pride last week at the Falcon Field building wrap featuring her late father, Kenneth Beeby, when he was a training there with the Royal Air Force during WWII. For the story, see page 4. (Jim Walsh/Tribune Staff)
esa took the �irst step toward restricting recreational marijuana sales only a day after Gov. Doug Ducey certi�ied the general election results, which included the overwhelming victory for Proposition 207. Assistant City Manager John Pombier said Mesa was joining East Valley cities in immediately adopting the series of restrictions, which include limiting recreational marijuana sales to “dual licensed’’ medical marijuana dispensaries. “We are going lock-step with the rest of the Valley to make sure we do this in a uniform measure,’’ Pombier said. Mesa Mayor John Giles said he is concerned
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