Interview - Aleks Vranicic , Candidate for Mesa City Council District 5

0:00The following song has been rated dangerously catchy and may not be suitable for grownups. A-P-C-D in the morning brush your teeth. A-P-C-D in the morning brush your teeth. A-F-G-H hurry up and don't be late. A-F-G-H hurry up and don't be late. Lingo Kids only suitable for kids. If it gets stuck in mom's head, that's not our problem. Mabel Kids! Anything Kids love, download now for free. This weekend, the Monster Energy SMX World Championship playoffs race into Los Angeles. This is it! It's all the line! Now the pressure is on to deliver! And for the world's best 22 dirt bike racers, only one will go home number one. It all comes down to this! Go experience all of the action live! Coming to Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles, California this weekend. Get your tickets now at SuperMotoVross.com

1:02Never wanted to try an Olympic and Paralympic sport? Try Fencing! It's fast, competitive and even offered at the NCAA level. Find a beginner class near you at TryFencing.org. That's TryFencing.org You know that payday feeling? When your paycheck hits and you can finally breathe a little easier? With the sink by coin star debit card, eligible direct deposits can arrive up to two days early. That means more flexibility when bills are due. Your gas tank is empty, or life simply can't wait until Friday. Download the sink by coin star app to get started. Early access to direct deposit depends on when payment information is received from your payer. The coin star debit card is issued by Lead Bank member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at sinkwalla.com PowerSlapped23 is live and free on YouTube on Thursday, September 17th. Data White is bringing PowerSlapped to Texas for the first time on the campus of Texas Tech University. Two massive title fights headline the card, including Slap Fighting Legend Wolverine. Also on the card is former WWE Champion J.K.K.G.R.

2:04and the debut of former UFC Heavyweight Chris Barnett. You can watch PowerSlapped23 for free on PowerSlapped's YouTube channel. Thursday, September 17th for the first time from Texas. PowerSlapped's biggest card of the year. We've got a new meet of the candidates. And in the center ring, we have Alex Ronni-Chiich. He is running for Mesa City Council in District 5. Mesa continues to be one of Arizona's fastest growing cities and the decisions made at that city affect everything from public safety, at roads to housing and economic development. And there's a whole lot going on over there. We welcome Alex. Tell us about yourself for listeners who are getting to know you who is Alex Ronni-Chiich. And what made you decide this is the right time for you to run for the Mesa City Council? Good morning, James. I really appreciate being on the show.

3:04A longtime listener, a big fan. And so I am impressed with how you pronounce the name. That's the tricky part. Well, I want to thank you because you sent me that little music video that helped me out. I listen to that a couple of times. I'm like, OK, I think I got it. So yes, thank you for that. But yes, interesting name. Tell me why it is you want to be on the council. So just a little background. I'm not originally from United States. My family escaped communism in 1985 from what used to be Yugoslavia currently. Croatia. And so I'm not a fan of the system. And last four to six years, we really noticed some changes happening here in Mesa that encouraged me to start following the city and see what the city council and city staff has been doing. And so the my involvement that the last three years, people that said, Alex, please consider running. We need somebody to represent us. The residents four years ago, there was only one candidate on the ballot.

4:07There was no choice. So that is who we have now. And so as we've looked into the city, so very concerning things. We love Mesa. We especially north east Mesa. I think it's the gem of Mesa. People move out here for a special reason to get away from the hustle and bustle. I have more space. I have more space. A bit of view of the mountains if we can be nature in 15 to 20 minutes if we want to. And it's being changed very quickly, not just northeast Mesa, but the rest of Mesa. So those are the general overview reasons why I'm running. Well, you know, Mesa continues to grow rapidly. I think that's what you're alluding to here. How do you balance welcoming new development while protecting the quality of life that people who live out there already have? Yeah, and so nothing wrong with the development. I would say a proper development, a development that fits the community.

5:08Development doesn't change the community in the sense that it starts forcing people out from the reason why they moved here originally. This is a very traditional family oriented area. And so when you're not just doing development, you're also changing the culture. This is very concerning on family man. We love raising our kids here. And I've knocked on thousands of doors at this point. My concerns are not outliers. I've spoken with thousands of residents and I'd say 80 to 90% of us are all on the same page. And they just don't feel like they have a voice at the city council. What is it that you're hearing when you knock on those doors, the future constituents, hopefully, that are concerned, what are they saying? Sure. The high density, all of the apartments, you know, it's interesting.

6:08Mesa, almost half of its housing is high density, about 45%. We need more single family homes. We need the communities to be built, not, you know, we call them stack impacts. Granted, it's not in our district, but the data centers are concerned. We have 15 out of about 60 in the state. We have a privacy in the surveillance, the cameras. I mean, this is such a hot topic right now. You know, where's our fourth amendment on some of these things? So, there's going down to the way the city is addressing homelessness. I mean, these are California-like policies that the city is adopting. And I like the scientific method. If you try it, you try it, it doesn't work. Why do we think we can make it work here in Mesa? We have Alex Rodney-Teach in the Center Inc. He's running for City Council out in Mesa.

7:11Your supporters see you as a constitutional conservative. Your critics call you far-right labels don't govern cities. They'll tell us what your philosophy actually means when you're voting on roads, policies, police, parks, and zoning. Oh, great question. I love this because knocking on door if people say, where are you? And I go, look, I'm with this thing called the Constitution. If you want to move left to the right of that, that's on you. I'm with the Constitution and I feel very pursuit of happiness. And when we're looking at municipal decisions, by the way, there's seven people to get to decide how you live in Mesa. Those are the council members. And public safety, I don't know anybody who wants less, well, I'll take that back. There is one group that wants less public safety. That is not me. That is the number one priority of any city. Any government is to protect the people and protect our rights.

8:12When we're doing the planning, the city has approved this 2050 plan. And the only city that I'm aware of in the state that hasn't approved that their 2050 plan is Prescott. And if people know what's happening up there, the direction of the city on planning is where I'm concerned is the city got a really fancy United Nations award about a year and a half ago. And when you see stuff that doesn't make sense and you look at it from that perspective that the United Nations is very happy with the direction of Mesa. Yeah, all of a sudden things start to make sense. I just wanted to give you an opportunity to tell folks how they can end up or find out more information about you and support your campaign. Oh, appreciate that. So the first name is in the last name a little bit tricky, but the first name is Alex and that's built a L. E. K. S. So Alex for Mesa.com. And that's an FO are not a number for Alex for Mesa.com on Instagram. It's Alex for Mesa.

9:16Five. That is the easiest best way to reach out to me. I respond very quickly. By the way, 66% of the primary voters did not vote for the incumbent 66% of the primary voters want a different council member at the city. And so if you are concerned about the direction of the city, if you wanted to go towards some of the other cities that we've seen failed policies, then you just need to vote for the same people. If you would like to see something pause, please consider voting for me. I'd be honored. I'm going back to my earlier packer analogy. I want to thank you very much for being a part of Meet the Canada. There's so much going on in Gilbert. I wish that Aaron were here today because he would have some questions to the way and Gilbert is one of those communities that people are keeping their eye on because of the way it goes. It could impact what's happening with the other communities as well.

10:17The following song has been rated dangerously catchy and may not be suitable for grownups. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Don't run. Five, six, who is it? Five, six, who is it? It's Kallien. Aliens. It's Kallien. Kallien. Lingo Kids. Only suitable for kids. If it gets stuck in Mom's head, that's not our problem. Mabel Kids. Everything Kids Love. Download Now for Free. This weekend, the Monster Energy SMX World Championship playoffs race into Los Angeles. This is it. It's all the line. Now the pressure is on to deliver. And for the world's best 22 dirt bike racers, only one will go home number one. Wow. It all comes down to this. Go experience all of the action live. Coming to Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles, California this weekend. Get your tickets now at supermodovross.com.

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12:17Power Slap 23 is live and free on YouTube on Thursday, September 17th. Data White is bringing power slaps to Texas for the first time on the campus of Texas Tech University. Two massive title fights headline the card, including Slap Fighting Legend Wolverine. Also on the card is former WWE Champion J Kager, and the debut of former UFC heavyweight Chris Barnett. You can watch Power Slap 23 for free on Power Slaps YouTube channel. Thursday, September 17th for the first time from Texas. Power Slaps biggest card of the year.