Mesa, it would seem, is not the city its residents want it to be.

What they want is a city teeming with high-tech business innovation. A city jumping with civic festivals. A city with better public transit, a new north-side lake (although splash pads in city parks will do for some folks), a more vibrant downtown and people living in converted shipping containers.

Oh, and don't forget to have everyone put their trash barrels on the same side of the street to save money for the solid waste department.

Those are among the dozens of ideas that have landed in Mesa's electronic "in" basket since Mayor Scott Smith announced, about a month ago, his "iMesa" initiative.

Borrowing from the "i" moniker that Apple Inc. has slapped on many of its gadgets, Smith sees "iMesa" as an interactive, online town hall that could reshape the city over time.

Smith unveiled the program in late January during his annual Mayor's Breakfast, and said he has been surprised at its quick evolution.

The original notion was to collect ideas, filter them through about a half-dozen citizen committees representing specific geographic areas, and come back in about a year with a list of items to be acted on.

But iMesa is requiring the city to be much more nimble than that.

Among the first ideas that popped up involved an outfit called HeatSync Labs. It operates out of a high-tech business incubator in downtown Chandler, but it's out of room and needs to move.

HeatSync's relocation committee posted a note on iMesa signaling its interest in moving to Mesa, among other locations. The city immediately jumped at the opportunity and as of last week was showing HeatSync around.

"Staff has been all over it since the initial request," said Mesa's economic development director, Bill Jabjiniak. "We've looked at both public- and private-sector sites."

Jeremy Leung, one of HeatSync's founders, described it as a non-profit workshop that provides tools, workspace and expertise to help people turn ideas into reality. Its current focus is on mechanical and electrical engineering, but it also wants to cater to artists.

"The goal is basically to give the community access to this equipment that would normally be buried away in colleges and very large corporations and open their eyes to new types of learning," Leung said.

Smith said Mesa wouldn't have known about HeatSync if not for iMesa, and it's the kind of idea that can't wait for the deliberations of some committee. Leung said his lab needs to decide within about another month where to settle because some large equipment is due to arrive by the end of March.

The HeatSync proposal has gotten the most "yes" votes on the iMesa website, suggesting that participants are hip to the high-tech and innovative universe that HeatSync represents.

Smith said he is gratified by the response. "It tells me we've connected with a lot of people and they understand the potential that iMesa has," Smith said. "We've gotten some great ideas."

Using HeatSync as an example, Smith said, "iMesa is meant to be flexible. It's not meant to be rigid. There are some ideas that come in that demand immediate action."

He said other ideas may be grouped for committees to examine by topic.

Several iMesa posts, for example, have mentioned education. Smith said that fuels his long-standing desire to bring more university-level teaching to the city.

"Is it possible to bring a liberal arts or specialty university into Mesa, or specifically downtown?" Smith said. "IMesa could be a catalyst to bring together a group of Mesans that would focus on that issue. Can we now turn that interest into real action?"

Several proposals have focused on infrastructure, things that Mesa would have to spend money on. Smith said in announcing the program that it could lead to proposals for a bond election in 2012.

Other ideas involve other people's private property, over which the city has little control. One writer, for example, proposed several automotive-sports events at the former General Motors Desert Proving Ground, most of which is now owned by DMB Associates.

Several people also favor forcing some kind of redevelopment at Southern and Alma School roads, where a defunct shopping center has riled residents for years. That, too, is in private hands. Other than code enforcement, Mesa has no power to dictate what happens there.

With so many ideas, Smith said, the citizen committees will have to prioritize both in terms of what's possible and what will truly help transform the city.

"We're going along without any firm rules and we're going to try and see how this plays out," he said.