The next Building Strong Neighborhoods Initiative in the City of Mesa will be located in Council District 6 in the neighborhood that lies within the boundaries of U-S 60 to Southern, Sossaman to Palo Verde. The program will begin with an orientation or “kickoff” meeting Thursday, March 5th, from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the LDS Church, 1007 S. 72nd St. Mayor Scott Smith, Councilmember Scott Somers and City Manager Chris Brady will be in attendance. Light refreshments will be served and free child-care service will be provided.
During the orientation meeting, residents will hear results of a survey the City of Mesa Neighborhood Outreach Office has been conducting in the neighborhood. Resident action teams will be formed to address issues of public safety, traffic and neighborhood beautification. Neighbors will also get information about Clean Sweep dumpsters. The meeting will include an open house for residents to learn about existing City services and programs. Several nonprofit agencies and local businesses will be hosting informational tables. Representatives from Superstition Springs Center will have information about the mall and offer residents a chance to win one of four $25 gift certificates. Marketside, a small community grocery store owned by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. located at 7561 E. Baseline, will also have representatives attending to distribute cloth grocery bags with a few surprises for all attendees, raffle two food baskets and offer free samples from their neighborhood market.
“We're excited to be focusing on this East Mesa neighborhood. Surveys returned thus far have revealed that 82% of the residents know their neighbors,” District 6 Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator Susan Frabotta said. We have several neighborhood projects planned. This Saturday, Feb. 28th, 200 volunteers from the Alta Mesa Stake will be painting house numbers on curbs, delivering Clean Sweep and meeting reminder flyers and completing the door-to-door surveys in the neighborhood. On March 7th, 75 volunteers will be removing weeds and painting the wall on the south side of Hopi."
The Building Strong Neighborhoods Initiative is designed to preserve and strengthen neighborhoods by providing residents and businesses with education, training and access to existing resources to address neighborhood concerns.