By Gary Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Go to a lot of little old burgs in the East and Midwest, and you’ll find a town square, maybe with a bandstand in the middle that just seems to pull folks together.
Go to a lot of big old cities around the globe, and you’ll find a public-gathering place, sometimes massive and sometimes with world-history connotations.
Go to Mesa, and you’ll find neither.
Like many Arizona towns — Prescott being a notable exception — Mesa forgot to plan for such a place as it swiftly blossomed into one of America’s largest cities.
That wasn’t all it forgot, and Mesa has been trying to make amends in an effort to overhaul its image as a sprawling desert suburb:
Downtown colleges? Check. Light rail? Check. New zoning rules to promote density? Check.
Now, plans are afoot for a signature downtown plaza, immediately north of the eight-story city office tower at Main and Center streets.
