Mesa City Councilmember David Luna says his legacy project at Mesa’s Falcon Field Airport is one of his final testaments to eight years on city council, and he always wanted to leave a lasting impact on the community since the start of his term in 2013.

His legacy project in the Falcon District celebrates his support for future generations to come, with acknowledgments to the past, present and future as shown through the images of historical aircraft and figures, images of more recent aircraft and images of children.

Luna wants to leave a lasting impact on his community, and a legacy as the first Latino on the Mesa City Council, as his time comes to an end on the city council in early 2023, he said.

“Councilmember Luna’s biggest impact on the community is his presence. He leaves a lasting impression on all people he meets. He has a reputation for being the favorite Mesa City Councilmember and I would say it’s because of his genuine personality,” said Luna’s council assistant Antonia Mejia.

There are 16 full-color murals along McDowell Road on the walls of an underpass in the Falcon District, part of the district that Luna represents, said Falcon Field Marketing and Communications Specialist Dee Anne Thomas.

The Falcon district is an area of Mesa that hosts several innovative defense and technology companies, advanced manufacturing and advanced business services according to the city of Mesa.

Luna said he has cooperated with and listened to Mesa Public Schools, working with the district to provide funding opportunities in the form of scholarships for young people who want to go to Mesa Community College or a university.

The city council has worked with school districts to provide workforce development and to ensure that graduates have a pathway to college, Luna said.

“We are hoping that this will inspire future kids to get involved in engineering and STEM programs, to join the aviation field because that is going to be our future,” Luna said.

Mesa leaders and himself have looked forward to what the community can offer to future generations and prepared the groundwork for them by bringing businesses and industries into Mesa that offer employment and advancements, Luna said.

Mesa is home to many large companies in the aviation, engineering, and technology fields such as Boeing, Apple, Meta and the Falcon Field Airport, which is one of the busiest aviation airports in the country for general aviation, Luna said.

“We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know that our kids are in our future; they are going to define what our future is going to be like,” Luna said.

Non-discrimination ordinance

In the coming weeks, the city council will be honoring last year’s passing of a non-discrimination ordinance in the city of Mesa that particularly protects the LGBTQ community and looks at non-discriminatory employment practices, Luna said.

“We want to be a community that loves everybody, that is very welcoming,” Luna said.

It was challenging to pass, because of the strong feelings about the LGBTQ community in the city, particularly coming from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Catholic community in Mesa, Luna said.

“We want to make sure that everyone in the city of Mesa feels safe and secure, and that we love them,” Luna said.

It was a matter of balancing religious and practical factors and working with both religious communities to make sure they would support the passing and celebration of this ordinance, Luna said.

The ordinance also provides protection against discrimination on the basis of race, age, ethnicity, religion, disability, and national origin, according to the city of Mesa.

“I feel like I can leave my office knowing I worked really hard as a council member, and I will continue working and supporting the community. One thing I didn’t want to do was be a politician that didn’t do anything,” Luna said.

Editor’s note: Alyssa Bickle wrote the article as a journalism student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University.