"Tempe Cesspool for the Arts"

It sure sounds like it, but I don't think so.

If there is a nut job neat freak on the Tempe City Council It sure sounds like Tempe City Councilman Kolby Granville.

When Kolby Granville isn't soliciting "campaign contributions" to get reelected he is out on the streets of Tempe taking photos of "messy yards" with his cell phone and then snitching on these Tempe "messy yard criminals" to the Tempe "messy yard police".

Of course to his credit Tempe City Councilman Kolby Granville says he isn't a nut job messy yard cop, but from the newspaper articles about him hunting down messy yard criminals it sure sounds like he is.

Tempe home survey yields new code enforcement

Survey: Aesthetically, Tempe homes fall short

Tempe home survey yields new code enforcement

By Dianna M. Náñez The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Jun 13, 2013 12:21 PM

Hoping to evaluate homes that might not violate city code but still are regarded by city inspectors as having an unappealing “aesthetic value,” Tempe recently surveyed 640 residential properties and found that not one of the city’s four ZIP codes averaged even an “OK” rating.

Results were presented at a City Council strategy session, according to a May 7 public staff report.

About 25 houses received the coveted perfect rating.

Tempe’s scoring of each home for aesthetic value ranged from 1 to 3, according to the staff report.

A 3 rating equated to: “That looks good. I like that. I’d live there.”

A 2 rating equated to: “I’ve got no opinion. It’s OK.”

And a 1 rating equated to: “That looks ugly. That looks boring.”

Tempe reported that the citywide average for “aesthetic value” is 1.74.

Some residents were uncomfortable with the city conducting a subjective rating. The Arizona Republic asked them to weigh in on the survey. [What's next, are we going to have "beautiful home cops" in addition to messy yard cops??? Are the royal rulers of Tempe going to come up with a silly dress code for Tempe residents??? Maybe they will even let us dress down on weekends???]

Hollie Schineller, who has lived in Tempe for more than a decade with her husband, Freddie, and their children, took issue with the aesthetic-value rating. Schineller lives in a house south of Baseline Road where the survey said there were fewer issues with code-enforcement violations.

“An aesthetic value on anything, I think, sounds really subjective,” Schineller said. “Something that is aesthetically pleasing can be completely offensive to somebody else.” [Yea, so subjective that the jackbooted thugs on the Tempe City Council shouldn't even be thinking about it!!!!]

Neighborhoods north of Baseline in Tempe were found to have more issues, which the city said it would address by adding at least three temporary code-enforcement inspectors to monitor those neighborhoods for code violations.

Tempe City Councilman Kolby Granville, who spearheaded efforts to deal with residential code enforcement, said that the aesthetic value was not used as part of the scoring system to evaluate problem neighborhoods. [Well then why was it used jerk!!!!]

Rather, it was used to determine whether there are issues at homes that might be unappealing but not in violation of city code. The city may find that changes should be made to the code to improve neighborhoods’ aesthetic value. [Oh no!!!! I guess we are going to have "beautiful home cops" in addition to messy yard cops???]

For example, Granville said that people who own their home do not have to landscape it per city code. They can have dirt instead of a lawn, as long as it has no weeds, he said. [Tempe City Councilman Kolby Granville sounds like a nagging mother in law instead of a public servant who pretends to protect our rights!!!!]

Selectively enforcing the graffiti laws in Tempe???

Source

Tempe Councilman Granville suggests system for evaluating graffiti response

By Harmony Huskinson The Republic | azcentral.com Fri Feb 15, 2013 10:41 AM

Councilman Colby Granville said that while the Tempe Police and Public Works departments do an excellent job of responding to reported graffiti, areas of the city with low responses remain an issue.

“It’s no help to the residents to say, ‘Had you called, we would have fixed it,’ ” Granville said at Tuesday’s council Neighborhoods and Education Committee meeting.

Therefore, he said, the city should develop a system in which the levels of graffiti are measured, and then an “acceptable level” of graffiti is determined.

Next, the City Council would approve a system in which city workers or volunteers would remove graffiti in problem areas and maintain this acceptable level across the city.

Granville and City Councilman Joel Navarro agreed that a specific question about graffiti should be added to the city’s customer-satisfaction surveys and more information should be gathered from self-reports.

But they will discuss Granville’s proposal with the rest of the council in a strategy session where members will discuss whether graffiti should be statistically sampled.

Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff said the city does proactively address graffiti because several departments work together to combat it. He added that these departments use tracking systems to compile graffiti data, which would be a problem in Granville’s proposed system.

The city released a 311 app on Jan. 14 in which residents can report graffiti. It has been taking 311 phone calls for graffiti since January 2011. The 311 systems have increased graffiti responses and removal, said John Osgood, deputy director of Public Works.

In 2012, there were 1,140 reports of graffiti in Tempe, the majority in alleyways and public rights-of-way.

Councilman Joel Navarro said he does not see the need for graffiti removal as immediate, adding that graffiti calls have dropped dramatically.

“It’s a lot of resources going out there, to do what?” Navarro said.

Navarro said that before the council takes any more action against graffiti it should measure the success of the 311 app. Navarro added that if this proposed system was implemented, he is not sure who would patrol city areas for graffiti.

Granville said the council would discuss those details in a strategy session.

“I’m not even trying to get rid of (graffiti). I’m trying to decide what an acceptable amount is and how we get to the acceptable amount, because I don’t think we’re at the acceptable amount,” Granville said.

The committee also discussed its actions against loud ASU fraternity parties in residential neighborhoods and the emergency-response system in local schools.

More messy yard laws in Tempe????

Tempe proposal would ensure vacant-land owners maintain property

By Dianna M. Náñez The Republic | azcentral.com

Thu Mar 7, 2013 9:12 AM

Tempe landowners who have allowed weeds and dirt to overrun their vacant lots soon could be forced to plant a few flowers and clean up the city eyesore.

Councilman Kolby Granville discussed his proposal during a council strategy session last week to amend the city’s zoning and development code to target certain undeveloped properties with fines and financial incentives.

The change would target vacant land, including sites zoned for commercial, residential or industrial development, in high-density areas, such as downtown.

Granville said that improving the look of vacant lots would benefit businesses and people in those pockets of the city where landowners have allowed undeveloped property to deteriorate.

The idea was brought before the council after being hashed out over the past few months in Granville and Councilman Joel Navarro’s Neighborhoods and Education Committee.

Large vacant lots should have a minimum border of landscaping to maintain the quality of the neighborhood, Granville said. He argues that reducing the eyesores in regions like downtown would decrease vacancy rates and increase rents.

“I don’t want Tempe to be the flea market of development,” he said. “Ultimately, the success of Tempe is the quality of the product we provide to developers, and by having the most livable attractive city we can, we are providing a higher-quality product.”

The goal is to create an incentive and cost-effective mechanism for landowners to improve their properties, while allowing the city to fine developers who refuse to maintain their lot.

Under the proposed code, lots are considered high density in the city’s General Plan if they are in areas that have a projected density of 26 or more dwelling units per acre. Vacant lots in these areas that are considered deteriorated would be deemed nuisances.

To encourage the landowner to improve their property, under the proposal, the $344 fee for a landscaping plan would be waived. Additionally, when the vacant lot is developed, Tempe would reduce the development fees by as much as 50 percent, not to exceed two times the amount paid for landscape improvements.

If the proposal is approved under the existing nuisance code, which is handled by code-enforcement officers, it would be a civil sanction with a maximum fine up to $2,000 per day for each property, Interim City Attorney Judi Baumann said.

During the economic downturn, deteriorated vacant lots have created a ghost-town effect on entire blocks, Granville said. He suggested the proposal may spur private-public partnerships if landowners work with non-profits to build temporary community gardens.

The proposal drew criticism from some council members who were concerned that the city may be punishing landowners who have not been able to develop their properties because of the down economy.

“Is this good business?” Navarro asked interim Community Development Manager Lisa Collins, who presented the proposed code and zoning changes at the strategy session.

Collins said that Tempe has about 167 acres of private land that would potentially be affected if the changes were approved. The city owns about 33 vacant acres that would need to be improved under the proposal, she said.

Collins said that the city does not currently have a mechanism to force developers to maintain their vacant lots.

“If this ordinance were in place, these people would be required to do something or have a non-profit do it for them,” she said.

Councilman Corey Woods said he wants to ensure that fines do not discourage development. However, he argued that the proposal is worth further study because it would “protect the people who live here and pay taxes” and deserve to have their city maintained.

The council agreed to have city staff analyze how much revenue, under the proposed changes, Tempe would lose in development fees, the budget for landscaping applicable to city-owned land and the extent and type of landscaping that would be acceptable to improve vacant lots.

Welfare for religious colleges in Mesa, Corporate welfare Tempe Town Toilet

Wow!!!! Every man, woman and child in Tempe is going to be forced by the Tempe City Council to give $225.00 in corporate welfare to the billion dollar State Farm Insurance Corporation that is building Marina Height's for it's corporate headquarters in Arizona.

Bend over Tempe residents you are about to be screwed again by the royal rulers on the Tempe City Council.

Source

Richardson: The good news going along with the bad in East Valley of late

Posted: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 6:12 am

Commentary by Bill Richardson

Last week there was some good news and some not so good news for East Valley cities.

First, the good news.

[If you ask me this is bad news, because it involves mixing religion and government with the city of Mesa giving corporate welfare to these Christian Colleges which is a violation of both the US and Arizona Constitutions.]

Mesa Mayor Scott Smith and Grand Canyon University officials announced the university would build a new 120-acre campus in Mesa’s fast growing educational and technical corridor. GCU’s new campus will grow to educate 10,000 students.

Mesa currently hosts the Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus and A. T. Stills Medical School in the corridor area. Smith told Fox News GCU will be the sixth new college to call Mesa home, including “five of them this year alone. This is unprecedented.” Mesa is fast becoming a major player in post high school and college level programs that will supply an educated workforce to the valley and state.

SNIP

Now for the bad news.

[Technically this was good news for the royal Tempe rulers because they get to accept boatloads of bribes, oops I mean campaign contributions from the special interest groups building the Marina Heights project in exchange for giving them $37.4 million in corporate welfare.]

While Tempe officials were taking bows and slapping backs at the Marina Heights festivities, it was less ceremoniously announced Tempe’s mayor and city council decided at a council meeting, with restricted public input, to stick Tempe residents, and not developers, with the $37.4 million cost to build a new dam on the west end of the Town Lake. That works out to about $225.00 in dam debt for each of Tempe’s 166,000 residents.

Along with the cost of the dam being dumped on Tempe residents, who are already weary of a steady stream of tax and fee increases, reduced services and higher costs, the mayor and city council, the highest paid in the East Valley, gave a generous incentive package to developers that goes beyond the tens of millions of dollars in dam costs.

According to the Arizona Republic’s July 31 story, “Tempe OKs controversial lake plan”, developers will now pay a lower annual “holding fee” and a lower annual interest rate on their share of lake construction.

Tempe city hall continues to charge residents plenty to do the people’s business.

Once again developers in Tempe get the proverbial gold mine while residents continue to get the shaft from city hall.

SNIP

Retired Mesa master police officer Bill Richardson lives in the East Valley and can be reached at bill.richardson@cox.net.