Non 'Zonies will have to endure one more Phoenix-centric post before I end my visit. The Republic did a piece this morning on the first 100 days of Gov. Jan Brewer, the Republican secretary of state who replaced Janet Naploitano when she blew town to become secretary of Homeland Security. To say it's a puff piece would be too severe; it merely reflects the inexperience and lack of deep sources on the staff now, as well as fear and lack of curiosity, skepticism and leadership by the meeting-addled editors.
My sources give me this portrait of Brewer: A conservative Republican, but not an extremist ideologue; hard-working and well-meaning; not a mental giant; not very organized and served by a staff that pales in comparison to Saint Janet's "West Wing" stars; may not run for the office. She can be arrestingly tone deaf, for example, leaving the governor's arts awards dinner after delivering an early speech — the first time that has happened in memory, including chief executives of both parties. This benign annual do has plenty of Republican arts trustees, so it's not as if she were fleeing the socialists (excuse me, SOCIALISTS!!). As for her advocacy of a tax hike — more courageous, and realistic, than Saint Janet — but a roadblock to my hopes that the Kookocracy gets to rule, and then be rejected as their policies run the state even more into the ground
All of which should provide a major opportunity for Democrat Terry Goddard to become Arizona's next governor. As attorney general, Goddard has amassed a strong, non-partisan record. He's knocked off the rough edges some found when he was the young Phoenix mayor. Jim Pederson might also run. Pederson is a developer, but bootstrapped his way up from hardscrabble Casa Grande, revived the party and definitely gets the big issues. Now to avoid a Warner/Schultz debacle. The GOP simply has no bench. Their only hope, and the Dems' peril, is low turnout that favors the extreme right. And until Democrats can capture the Legislature, even the smartest governor will just have his or her fingers in the dike.
Which brings me to the Floating Diaphragm. That's what local wags have dubbed the "public art" project that is the signature of the new park on Central Avenue downtown between ASU and the Y. At night, it's stunning. A floating purple dream. But, as with the Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Courthouse, this is something designed by someone with no knowledge of local conditions. After the first big monsoon, look for the diaphragm in your neighborhood — Gilbert would be appropriate, with its sex phobia and sex scandals.
The park — we'll see. Phoenix is not good at civic spaces. It's unclear if it will have enough shade and grass to be inviting year-round. And nobody can stop the creeping gravelization of the once-oasis central city. City Hall sets a terrible example. The old Willo House has been spiffed up as Hob Nobs. But it's surrounded by gravel and a couple of fake palm trees — who wouldn't want to be around that 140-dgree heat surface on a summer day? And there are more of them — the natives and long-timers agree the falls and springs have shrunk to a week or two, and winter is getting shorter (and it lacks the frosts that once kept the mosquito population in check). The central city needs lots of shade trees and grass, to offset the heat island effect. It is a much better water investment than new golf courses or more sprawl. Nobody's listening. Almost: The Park Central Starbucks has made its outdoor space even more lush, shady and comfy.
Back to the diaphragm. It's definitely better than the "public art" you whiz by at Sky Harbor because it focuses a civic space, the kind of walkable, gathering places great cities have and Phoenix mostly lacks. Some art at the light-rail stations is quite well done. But, there's a deadening sameness. My friend, the Famous Architect, likes to rib me, "Not everything old is good." True enough. But not everything new is good, either. I'd love to see some classical statues and artwork downtown to, say, commemorate the heroic pioneer farmers, the heroic, displaced indigenous peoples, the heroic Mexican-Americans, the heroic African-Americans from this once very Southern town and the heroic Chinese-Americans. Just two or three would offer some contrast and variety, and, I suspect, unsophisticated oaf that I am, elevate and inspire more souls who communed with them. It would also give the lie, in visual form, to the newcomer lie that "there's no history here."
Another wish I won't get.
The Echelman art installation could have been a game changer downtown. It needed to be vivid, kinetic and beautiful. It could have been a major wow but what we got was something less than that. It’s still good but it’s just one more missed opportunity for our lifeless downtown.
Still, the park is a big advance. It took one of the most forlorn stretches on Central and, together with ASU, has dressed it up nicely. If the ASU campus knits together around it, something good is bound to happen.
The major opportunity that remains is the old Westward Ho Hotel just north of the park. It’s a fabulous building that’s been allowed to devolve into a virtual homeless shelter. It needs to be brought back into the public sphere, either as a boutique hotel or an ASU usage. It has wonderful bones and huge potential in its old restaurant and club spaces. It’s currently under contract with HUD for low-income housing but it’s not too soon to begin plotting its comeback.
The Ho, together with a Hotel Monroe (a casualty of the Mortgages, Ltd implosion) would go a long way to establishing a downtown pedestrian corridor. Right now, there’s really no reason to wonder around downtown since it’s mostly dead zones, inert government buildings and behemoth parking garages.
This being Phoenix, I’m not hopeful. But the good news is that there are a couple of wonderful old buildings we didn’t tear down. We’re alert to their beauty and functionality. The preservationist movement is strong and vocal. All that remains to be done is finding the resolve to take them – and downtown – to another level.