The Mesa Tribune

1 day ago | themesatribune.com | Cecilia Chan

Easier and more convenient parking, a new mobile information kiosk to connect patrons to businesses and more free family events are some of the priorities for a nonprofit group tasked with promoting Mesa’s original square mile downtown.  The Downtown Mesa Association was formed in 1985 to help create a thriving downtown in an area from University Drive to Broadway Road and Country Club to Mesa drives.

4 days ago | themesatribune.com | Cecilia Chan

For 15 years local artisans have showcased and sold their paintings, pottery, jewelry, ceramics and other works out of The Store at Mesa Arts Center downtown. The Store, however, will close its doors May 30 due to dropping sales. A percentage of the sales has funded the gallery’s operations. “Devastated,” was mix-media artist Debra McKee’s reaction upon learning of the news. “I’ve been in The Store since it opened 15 years ago,” said McKee, a full-time artist for the past 40 years.

5 days ago | themesatribune.com | David Leibowitz

She passed away a few days after Christmas 2017. My mother still speaks to me, though, her voice knifing through the din that often occupies my mind. A favorite saying, a line from a book. Or I catch the faint floral scent of Chanel No. 5, the perfume she wore on special occasions. That’s when I feel her presence the most. Still pushing and prodding me into being the son she raised me to be. Yesterday afternoon I was driving to a meeting when John Denver came on the radio.

5 days ago | themesatribune.com | Cecilia Chan

Mayor Mark Freeman is focusing his priorities on public safety and water during his term, building upon the foundation left by one of his grandfathers who helped found Mesa. Freeman, who served eight years on the council before assuming the mayoral seat in January, touted all the good in Mesa and what’s ahead for the future in his first State of the City address last week. “Mesa’s roots run deep,” Freeman told a full audience at the Mesa Convention Center.

1 week ago | themesatribune.com | Cecilia Chan

Mesa anticipates paying less than what it does now to shelter the homeless in its Off the Streets Program when the city-owned Sunaire with 64 rooms opens next March near Main Street and Power Road. The city in 2023 purchased the former Grand Hotel near Main Street and Power Road and it is currently undergoing renovation. The purchase and renovation were funded by federal pandemic-relief dollars.