[Source: Gary Nelson, Arizona Republic] -- Someday soon, you may be able to stroll through a relic of Mesa's ancient Indian past, thanks to money from modern Indian casinos. Mesa plans to ask the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community for $600,000 to fund the first phase of developing the Mesa Grande ruins as an educational and tourist destination. The city made the same request last year, but was rejected. But Jerry Dillehay, city grants coordinator, said recent political changes on the reservation, and Mesa's efforts to cultivate friendship with the tribe, may reverse that outcome.Mesa Grande is the remains of a Hohokam settlement believed to date to 1300, lying directly west of Banner Mesa Medical Center at Brown Road and 10th Street. The site is fenced off and only a modest historical plaque, inside the fence, offers a hint as to what the site is about. Mesa has owned the property for 20 years but never had the money to develop it. The $600,000 grant would pay for trails, interpretive signs, restrooms and shelters, according to Tom Wilson, director of the Mesa Southwest Museum. Shelters also would be built to protect the ruins themselves, which now lie exposed to the wind and rain. The ultimate goal, Wilson said, is an enclosed visitors center.
That the money could come from Indian gaming is the result of Proposition 202, which Arizona voters approved in 2002. In exchange for letting tribes expand their casino operations, the law requires them to bounce some of their profits to the state, cities, schools and nonprofit entities. Mesa has snagged $2.3 million in gambling money since 2003. Some went to schools and nonprofits, but $1.2 million has gone to city projects. The Mesa Grande project is among 18 potential gambling-funded projects that Dillehay outlined this week to the City Council. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
