Building Back Greater.
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11/16/2023
As someone who was born in Mesa and has lived here in the 85210 in Dobson Ranch for the last 13 years after moving out from Chandler. I can tell you that most of the reviews you have read were true at some point but no longer, such as
Crime & Homeless- Yes it did exist back in the day, it was an issue but over time things have cooled down over the last decade and crime is much smaller than it used to be. Also there was a homeless issue for almost 3 to 4 years especially on Alma School & Baseline, but i can say Police and Nonprofits have worked together to help find them a home, rehabilitate them and eventually either get a job or be sent back to their home state to see their families instead of arresting their way out of the problem. Success rate is high at 80% and i have not seen that as an issue since then driving in the area anymore.
Grocery Stores, Failing Areas, And Lack of Retail options- I can say that Mesa has great areas like the Asian District of Mekong Plaza that is a pride and joy of the city, including various Latino areas, and diversity of options and people surrounding the city from the West to Central Mesa. The city council has acknowledged that it does need to rebuild failing areas especially in Dobson Ranch on the West Side, Central Mesa and even East Mesa as well as a whole and has plans to do it within the next 3-4 years with more Retail, Housing, Entertainment, Mixed Use and Missing Middle. Like always with Mesa the problem is not the fact we do not have Grocery Stores or Retail, there just is not enough of them including entertainment areas. Too much office space has been the focus and Mesa is reversing that completely.
Cost Of Living- Yes Cost Of Living is higher and i can agree there is not much housing affordability for lower incomes or those working minimum wage while feeding a child, or even a starter home. But i have spoken with City Council about this issue in an email and they have seem to understand this is an issue and are taking steps to address it as i am writing this with more missing middle housing and making sure they are market rate or affordable within the next few years as of this writing.
Sprawl & Future Of Mesa- There is tons of it here with Parking Lots, Drive-Thru's, it may as well be worse than LA despite the fact we have a Light Rail system and a future Streetcar connection with Tempe coming in to connect with the Asian District and Fiesta Mall Mixed Use Rebuild happening, we have too much parking and Drive-Thru's. But like i have said, the City Council understands and has done some infill lately on parking lots and is on the quest to rebuild the city away from Sprawl and become an actual medium sized city that is worth being called the third largest next to Phoenix and Tucson, to even out competing Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe. They even approved 7 Fiber Internet Providers, including Google Fiber which is unheard of in America and even in the Metro area itself. The future is bright for those who are interested in it's upcoming successes. You do not want to miss out if you are on the younger side moving here. Mesa is a Business friendly yet Progressive City that is on the way to greatness.
Ray | Mesa, AZ