Southwest Coffee Talk

[Vicelord John]

Phoenixisthebest is either a kid, retarded, or an idiot. He can pick which one, I don't care.

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

So if you haven't checked out: http://www.myplanphx.com/ yet, you should.

Just joined tonight and made a few comments.

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

Phoenixisthebest is either a kid, retarded, or an idiot. He can pick which one, I don't care.

Why can't be a combo of one or more?

Originally Posted by nickw252

Just joined tonight and made a few comments.

Cool

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

Phoenixisthebest is either a kid, retarded, or an idiot. He can pick which one, I don't care.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He merely formed a strong opinion off of grossly inaccurate information.

[Buckeye Native 001]

I learned something this past weekend: Walking around Downtown Phoenix taking pictures when its 105F out is a hell of a lot more tolerable than walking around Downtown Charleston, SC when its 94F, even in the middle of the Monsoon Season.

The humidity, or lack thereof, makes a world of difference.

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

I learned something this past weekend: Walking around Downtown Phoenix taking pictures

got any pics to share?

[Buckeye Native 001]

I'm working on it. Went to Reds-Dbacks on Monday night, so I've got a shit-ton of pics from that

[HooverDam]

Stumbled across this online, its a nice overview of PHX buildings, mostly highrises:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwHa8...eature=related

[ASUSunDevil]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

Stumbled across this online, its a nice overview of PHX buildings, mostly highrises:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwHa8...eature=related

Nice how it jumps from 2001-2007 with no new buildings

[HooverDam]

So this is a long shot, but I know the people who own the building, so I'm just trying to help get the word out....

if you know anyone looking for space downtown, for a restaurant, hardware store, offices, anything really they should check out:

http://redbrickson7th.com

The people who own it and fixed it up also own the adjacent former AJ Bayless building that now has a community work space in it and a Core gym. It would be great to see some synergy along 7th St there if this currently empty building can fill up. The building most recently housed a florist, but they moved on to a bigger location elsewhere.

Interestingly, the guy that owns the building tried to buy the orange buildings on 7th/Roosevelt that are now potentially slated for demolition by Circle K. He told me that under all that awful siding and orange paint, those buildings are pretty cool looking and very similar to these other red brick buildings along 7th. It's too bad his deal didn't work out, having a nice string of historic brick buildings rehabbed all along 7th would've been great.

[PHX31]

/\ I knew those buildings would be cool underneath. Fucking circle k.

I hope he finds a tenant.

[Jjs5056]

What are the obstacles standing in the way of the city transforming more of their lots into temporarily usable spaces? Is it simply funding?

I just can't understand how they don't see that cleaning up these blighted areas would have incredible short term and long term benefits to the area, drawing people to previously unused spaces by giving them a purpose, beautifying the area, reducing dust pollution and the heat island, changing the mindset that these areas are unsafe and rundown, etc. The positive impacts are endless, not to mention the recognition of Phoenix being a leader and facilitating change, promoting sustainability, and so on.

How expensive would it be to transform one of the Biomedical lots into a basketball court? Paving, a couple of hoops, lighting, benches and some shade. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, though it would be a nice opportunity to leverage sone sustainable features like that green pavement used in the Ramada lot, solar lighting, etc. With ASU students, Roosevelt residents, Alta Lofts and Roosevelt Point nearby, the court would be sure to get some traffic.

The developer who took over West Sixth donated to the Mill restoration project that is going on. There has to be a way to convince these property owners and developers (if the city won't foot the bill) that projects like these would absolutely be in their best interest, providing amenities to their future residents and raising the value if the neighborhood.

I also think another other great temporary use would be an "A.R.T.S. Garden," that could feature public art and be rented to food trucks and other vendors on weekends; local breweries would be fun, creating a Beer Garden. Withn this Garden could be a cheaply made "A.R.T.S. Center," with some murals or before-and-after photography of the transformed lots, promotional materials on the benefits... It could also be used as a place to collect donations, as more of projects are sure to draw mor attention to the movement.

So, what can we do? I'm so tired out of these lots destroying the continuity of one of the few areas where our downtown can truly take off and provide something special.

[combusean]

^ Moved the above post to Coffee Talk cause it's not really a development issue.

The issues are cost, and private property.

Regarding cost, the city is perpetually broke and has little in the means of its budget for various frills. Building something as simple as a basketball court on a vacant lot is actually quite expensive--plans have to be made, permits have to be drawn, the site has to be surveyed and engineered, a perfectly flat concrete mat has to be laid, and the other equipment has to be installed. Someone, somewhere will have to pay insurance (someone could get hurt playing ball and sue any number of people) and the city's not likely going to want to take any additional risk.

The Valley of the Sunflowers project was only made possible by a hugely dedicated team of people, thousands of hours of volunteer work, and tens of thousands of dollars in donations from Intel to bring it all together. Transforming any remotely significantly sized parcel of land is no small endeavor.

Some large chunk of the blighted lots downtown are privately owned, and few developers are going to tease the community with a temporary amenity when the removal cost and potential ill will is already pretty substantial--developers don't make money on a vacant lot because of taxes, the liability for turning a lot over to the community even temporarily is pretty large, and in their mind the ownership, etc could change any day.

The alternative is to use government's invisible hand and get the City/county to tax vacant lots in commercial districts at a higher rate than parcels that are built up, which would highly discourage landbanking and encourage interim uses.

[Tylerrrr]

Travel and Leisure Magazine takes a yearly survey where they ask tourists and residents to give their opinions on area attractions such as shopping, dining, recreation, locals, and climate. Unfortunately, Phoenix ranks pretty low in almost every category :/

I, of course, think as each year passes we become more of a destination city. And also, for those of us who truly know the city, we would probably give some different scores. But as we are now, this is how people view us and how we are being represented...

http://www.travelandleisure.com/amer...nix-scottsdale

Any thoughts?

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by Tylerrrr

Travel and Leisure Magazine takes a yearly survey where they ask tourists and residents to give their opinions on area attractions such as shopping, dining, recreation, locals, and climate. Unfortunately, Phoenix ranks pretty low in almost every category :/

I, of course, think as each year passes we become more of a destination city. And also, for those of us who truly know the city, we would probably give some different scores. But as we are now, this is how people view us and how we are being represented...

http://www.travelandleisure.com/amer...nix-scottsdale

Any thoughts?

Anyone making real strong generalizations on PHX is setting themselves up for failure, as they can all be argued fairly easily. PHX is such a young City, still finding an identity that to say "PHX is XYZ" with any firmness isn't a wise idea, because it's likely to change 10 years hence.

I mean, how can you say PHX isn't super high in "sports crazed"? We have all 4 major pro sports, WNBA, Arena Football, tons of Championship games, 2 college bowl games, Spring Training, etc, etc. Just because a lot of people are transplants and may not cheer for Arizona sports team doesn't mean PHX isn't "sports crazed". I think one would struggle to find any single City in America who's economy benefits more from sports.*

*That is, real cities. Not places like Green Bay, Wi where the only thing there is the Packers. I mean big, major cities.

[Jjs5056]

Thanks for the detailed response, Sean.

I was definitely only referring to the city-owned lots. I wouldn't expect private developers to invest in any kind of short term usage.

In fact, I'm mainly referring to the Biomedical lots. Sure, it'd ge great to see temporary uses made out of all city-owned property, but the Biomedical lots are destined to stay empty for a very long time, some for up to several decades if I'm remembering right. The fact that we are going to have such huge holes in a neighborhood that is SO close to becoming a true, vibrant urban district is just disheartening.

I'd have to imagine that the work being done on the mill in Tempe is more expensive than creating a basketball court, yet that project attracted funding from both the city and developers/owners of nearby projects. Point being, it's clearly not unprecedented for the city and neighborhood stakeholders to partner and transform blight into usable space, and I wish there was a way to spark something similar in that area.

[combusean]

Originally Posted by Tylerrrr

Travel and Leisure Magazine takes a yearly survey where they ask tourists and residents to give their opinions on area attractions such as shopping, dining, recreation, locals, and climate. Unfortunately, Phoenix ranks pretty low in almost every category :/

I, of course, think as each year passes we become more of a destination city. And also, for those of us who truly know the city, we would probably give some different scores. But as we are now, this is how people view us and how we are being represented...

http://www.travelandleisure.com/amer...nix-scottsdale

Any thoughts?

I think it's spot on. The ONLY thing it ranks highly in is a getaway from bad weather that the rest of the country suffers during winter.

What I thought was especially glaring in the article was how many categories the residents thought they the city was average in but to visitors were in the bottom 10. In fact, there wasn't ONE category where visitors thought more highly of the city than its residents. That kind of insular-minded provincial arrogance and overall low ranking doesn't bode well for the area's future.

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by Tylerrrr

Travel and Leisure Magazine takes a yearly survey where they ask tourists and residents to give their opinions on area attractions such as shopping, dining, recreation, locals, and climate. Unfortunately, Phoenix ranks pretty low in almost every category :/

I, of course, think as each year passes we become more of a destination city. And also, for those of us who truly know the city, we would probably give some different scores. But as we are now, this is how people view us and how we are being represented...

http://www.travelandleisure.com/amer...nix-scottsdale

Any thoughts?

I think these rankings are silly and usually tune them out. In this case, I can't find the actual survey and a discussion of how it was administered, so it's hard to argue its validity either way. That said, I'm most offended that T&L has elevated a suburb to twin city status with the central city. "Phoenix/Scottsdale" bugs me more than any low ranking. I suppose T&L might claim that Scottsdale resorts are the major destination for many visitors, but of course so many of those resorts are really in Phoenix or Paradise Valley.

[Tylerrrr]

@Hoover - Yeah I'm not sure Phoenix will ever have it's "phx is XYZ" and that's cool with me, because many huge metro areas can't be defined as really one identity. What needs to change here is smaller areas need to develope areas where we can say "that area of Phoenix is XYZ." ideas that support this on planphx.com are what I'm supporting.

@combusean - couldn't agree more. Most of my family thinks there is nothing missing or wrong with the valley... they are perfectly fine with eating at chili's, driving 30 minutes to get any where, and sitting at home watching CBS... when that is the bar we set for our city to meet, no wonder we rank so low.

@exit - I'm a big concert attender, especially at small venues in the area, and no joke 3 out of 4 times the artists will say something like "we drove from one end of the city to the other to try and find something to do, or somewhere to walk around, but couldn't find anything." I definitely think the survey has some merit. But completely agree about the lumping Phoenix and Scottsdale together.

[exit2lef]

I've heard the saying "Phoenix ain't easy." It definitely applies to travelers who expect a walkable wonderland to magically appear in front of them instead of using a phone app to find numerous good places just a few blocks away. I go back and forth between blaming the visitors for being lazy and blaming civic leadership for encouraging pockets, rather than clusters, of activity to exist. It's probably a mix of both.

Glad to see you're on MyPlanPHX. I'm posting a lot there under David B45, the user name the system arbitrarily assigned to me.