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Best of Mesa: Time to vote for your favorites PAGE 15 Sunday, January 29, 2017
Building the better fishbowl Aquaponics combines fish, greens to create cleaner food COVER STORY
NEWS.............................. 6 Controversial purchase of Gilbert land to build charter school is approved
BUSINESS .................. 12
Mesa beer fans join forces, start up 12 West Brewing Co.
SPORTS.......................16 Mesquite basketball girls keep sharp as they dominate league
BY JIMMY MAGAHERN Tribune Contributing Writer
A
quaponics is an ancient farming discipline with roots extending back either to Aztec agricultural islands or Far Eastern polycultural farming systems (depending on who you ask). East Valley eco-innovators are counting on aquaponics to become the next wave in the good food movement. But can a rag-tag community of sustainability soldiers and survivalists sell greens grown with fish poo to the “Shark Tank”? George Brooks, an Arizonaborn urban agriculture specialist, teaches an aquaponics course at Mesa Community College’s Center for Urban Agriculture and runs NxT Horizon Group, a consulting
firm focusing on sustainable food systems. “Have you ever read ‘Crossing the Chasm’?” asks Brooks, referring to the 1991 marketing textbook by Geoffrey A. Moore that examined the gap between early adopters of innovative new products and the “pragmatists” who typically maintain a more waitand-see stance. “Right now, aquaponics is at that chasm, before it makes the jump into the mainstream. We can see the potential on the other side, but in order to get there, there are a lot things that need to be worked out: national and state regulations, cost issues, marketing strategies. “Someone has to come up with just the right innovation that’s going to make every See
AQUAPONICS on page 4
(Larry Mangino/Tribune Staff Photographer)
George Brooks, a professor of sustainable agriculture and aquaponics at Mesa Community College, shows off an aquaponics rig with the fish tank in the foreground. Plants grown in the equipment are visible behind Brooks.
Mesa’s Kavanaugh reflects on his beloved ‘caring community’ Longtime member leaves after 16 years on Council EVENT..........................19 Phoenix Open returns, bringing golf, parties and tourism BUSINESS ........................12 OPINION.........................14 SPORTS............................16 FAITH ...............................18 CLASSIFIED .................... 22
BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
I
n so many ways, Dennis Kavanaugh is synonymous with the past 20 years of Mesa history, serving 16 years on the City Council, the longest tenure ever. Kavanaugh liked being a council member
so much that he came back and did it again. He served two consecutive four-year terms, got booted off the ballot in 2004 over a termlimits dispute, then served two more fouryear terms. But in other ways, some people might consider Kavanaugh a strange fit. Kavanaugh has been a Democrat for most of his life in a conservative city that has elected a long line of Republicans to the state Legislature and to Congress. Beyond the obvious political difference, Kavanaugh, who is now technically a
registered independent who leans toward Democrat views, is an avowed St. Louis Cardinals fan in the rival Chicago Cubs spring training home. When the city gave him a reclaimed seat from Hohokam Stadium, the Cubs’ previous spring home before the opening of Sloan Park, Kavanaugh was grateful for his retirement gift but also unapologetic, hanging a Cardinals hat on the chair in his law office. See
KAVANAUGH on page 4