Across the United States, including right here in Mesa, there is a growing awareness that our police and firefighters may not be the ideal first responders when a person is experiencing a mental health crisis.
An encounter with a law enforcement officer could frighten an individual in a distressed state and even escalate a volatile situation – even for the most empathetic and best-trained officers.
Thanks to critical federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Mesa has been able to scale our crisis response programs by embedding behavioral health experts with 911 dispatchers and field response teams.
The results have been remarkable. Since late 2022, we’ve diverted over 8,000 911 calls away from police and fire – allowing our first responders to focus on their primary jobs – and establishing Mesa as a national best practice in crisis response.
As a Republican mayor in one of the most conservative large cities in America, it’s no secret that I’ve been a steadfast supporter of President Biden’s historic federal investments that have made our community more resilient, safer, and prosperous.
As a parent and grandparent, building a strong and resilient community is one of the reasons it’s easy for me to set aside political ideologies to support these investments.
In addition to mental health response, ARPA funding has enabled our city to purchase and convert the Grand Hotel property to an emergency shelter that will provide temporary housing and services to Mesa’s most vulnerable: unsheltered families, seniors and domestic violence victims experiencing homelessness.
This shelter will be a key pillar of our Off the Streets program – also funded by ARPA — which is designed to help people experiencing homelessness get connected with emergency housing and wrap-around services to get them back on their feet.
These programs are just two human-focused examples of how putting federal investments to work empowers local governments to get critical services to their residents.
But President Biden’s entire suite of post-pandemic federal investments – ARPA, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act – have enriched our city in many other ways, too.
Mesa was recently awarded $11.8 million to install 48 electric vehicle charging stations. This puts us on the path of tripling the number of charging stations in Mesa’s underserved communities and helps us support our growing ecosystem of electric-vehicle and battery manufacturers. It also helps further the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s pursuit of building a network of 500,000 chargers nationwide.
Thanks to these investments, we were able to also expand Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport with a new terminal and the state-of-the-art John S. McCain III air traffic control tower.
And just last month, longtime plans to extend the Tempe Streetcar more than four miles into Mesa received a $16 million boost from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The funding was a result of bipartisan efforts led by Congressman Greg Stanton. The investment keeps the dream alive for a regional streetcar system.
For mayors to be successful – unlike so many of our elected colleagues in state Legislatures or Congress – we are required to set aside our political differences and draw upon the diversity of ideas to help improve our communities.
It’s been my experience that these investments are doing just that, while transforming lives and positioning our communities for future success.
John Giles is mayor of Mesa.
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