By Gary Nelson | East Valley Tribune
Ten years ago, with the East Valley all but paralyzed by the Great Recession, Mesa officials sank ceremonial shovels into some dirt just north of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
They were breaking ground for a new stretch of a city street.
Ordinarily, a new stretch of city street doesn’t bring out the mayor, City Council members, top bureaucrats and the press. We get new streets around these parts all the time – big whoop.
But this was Ray Road and the work beginning that morning would – in the rosy estimation of those pols and bureaucrats – open the floodgates for a 21st century gold rush. With Loop 202 just to the north and the airport next door, how could they miss?
