It's an unfortunate moniker, because it implies everything that would drive smart people and their investments away from the city.
Sadly, there was some truth to the name. Mesa was known for waging war with businesses over signs in windows and having a city staff that would find more reasons to say "no" than "yes."
In 2005, community activists began calling this city home of the CAVE people, or Citizens Against Virtually Everything. When Google executives visited later that year to scout a location for a satellite office, Mesa, the Valley's second-largest city, wasn't even on the radar.
It's hard to break a reputation like that, but the city is at least starting to bend it. And that's a good thing.
Voters shocked the Valley in recent years when they approved two projects - the Waveyard water-sports resort and the Gaylord hotel and conference center - that required them to think big and long-term. Then, in a first for the city, voters approved a secondary property tax to finance public safety and street projects.
Mesa threw out land-use maps - a crutch it had long used to say "no" - for Mesa Gateway, opting instead for forward-thinking regulations that put less emphasis on what buildings are used for and more on how they work together. It is now doing the same with its citywide zoning-code update and redevelopment plans downtown.
Yet another indication of Mesa's departure from "wide streets and narrow minds" came last Friday - aptly enough, in the form of a road closure. The city agreed to shut down Main Street for the Independent Music Project Festival, a celebration of independent music from multiple genres.
This is significant, because Mesa has long rebuffed requests to close the busy street for a festival. Have to keep traffic flowing on those wide streets, after all.
But city leaders saw the festival's potential. There were bands playing on multiple stages, classic cars and art on display. And people. Lots of money-spending people.
Merchants stayed open late. Vendors sold wares to the eclectic crowd. Who cares if a few people were inconvenienced on their planned breeze through downtown Mesa?
A bunch more happened on a pretty happening place, and that could convince people to come back again for a special event - or eventually, just because it's Friday night.
It's a new mind-set. Instead of standing in the way of people with good ideas - or at least requiring them to fit a preconceived notion of what's a good idea - city leaders are telling thinkers and dreamers to make their best pitch. If a request makes sense, Mesa is ready and willing to do what it can help.
As a result, the city is saying "why not" a lot more than "why" these days, and that is an incredibly positive step.
