By Gary Nelson | East Valley Tribune
For all the hard work that city planners do to create vibrant communities, sometimes the best stuff just happens all by itself.
To wit: Veteran Mesa City Hall reporters can recall no instance in which the planning staff decided to spin a west-side Asian District out of thin air, and no City Council meetings directing that such a thing be done.
Yet, Mesa does have an Asian District – one that has grown organically over the past two-plus decades as Vietnamese, Chinese, Koreans and other Asians opened restaurants, shops and other businesses along a two-mile stretch of Dobson Road between Southern Avenue and Main Street.