In this city of loss called Phoenix, where do we even begin to mourn? The closure of the Borders store at the Biltmore gives a new generation something to miss, and a chain bookstore at that. Once the Biltmore Fashion Park was a unique shopping center of outdoor courts, shady trees, grass and low-rise, mid-century architecture. A few years ago, the odious Westcor/Macerich redid it to look like every other crapola shopping mall in suburban Phoenix. Ruined. Who cares if they decide to build a mega-mall in Goodyear — it will just be another lookalike ruin for the near future of this unsustainable place, a ruin no archeo-tourists will ever care to visit. The few who do will wonder how such a wealthy society could have squandered so many resources on such grotesquery (as they will wonder about the sprawl outside Denver, Seattle, Atlanta, etc.).
When I was growing up, the corner of McDowell and Seventh Avenue was but one of the many business districts that flourished in the area (Central was crowded with businesses from downtown to Camelback; McDowell along its length, the same with Thomas; the Gold Spot building on Roosevelt and Third Avenue was aging but busy). On the southwest corner was Val DeSpain's Chevron station and a Circle K, along with a forbidden tavern. Northwest was a gas station. The northeast corner held a distinctive, solid brick business building full of local retailers, including a barber and liquor store, then My Florist — a real flower shop — with its magical neon sign. The southeast corner was a treat: A Ryan-Evans Drug Store anchored a building with several shops, including the Best Cleaners and a Sprouse-Reitz five-and-ten store. The latter had a smashing red-tile front, while the drug store had its name proclaimed in neon. Each store in this strip had its own distinct front.
When I got back to Phoenix in 2000, most of the corner was in disrepair, the remaining buildings holding junk shops and a massively ugly Circle K box holding down the northwest side. But there seemed to be hope with David Lacy rehabbing My Florist as a restaurant. It was a huge success, a forerunner of midtown and downtown eateries to come (and go). The inside was beautifully appointed and at night the grand piano accompanied diners. It was never my florist: I found the menu unappealing, rather attuned to people who didn't really like to eat, and the servers were surly. Portland's and Cheuvront were more my style. But lots of people loved My Florist, many of whom had never even realized that the gems of the nearby historic districts existed. Is is safe to go down there?, some asked at first, living in the soulless suburbs where most of the lurid violence really takes place.
Last fall, My Florist closed and now it, along with the entire business block attached to it, are empty and looking seedy. Some of this may have to do with the mercurial Mr. Lacy, who apparently also opened a second location in California. It's also a warning that central Phoenix needs more business than restaurants; without more high-paying jobs, residences and other businesses, it can only support so many.
Across the street is an even sadder story. The distinctive 1940s facades of that building are long gone, some genius covering the whole thing with the ubiquitous faux brown stucco that uglies up so much of Phoenix now. For years, people drove by never realizing what a treasure it once was. It was (is) apparently owned by Tom Horne, the ambitious right-wing politician, attorney general and pretty good pianist. I can imagine scenarios, many of them bad. The southwest corner was nicely redone with a Starbucks and Pei Wei, but that's a heart-stopping exception. The more likely dangers are on display on East Roosevelt, which was once crammed with inviting small retailers from First to Seventh Streets. These would have been great bones for a real Roosevelt Row or, gasp, businesses other than galleries, coffee spots and restaurants that actually catered to people's daily needs. Instead, most were torn down, replaced by blighted, empty lots held by land bankers…probably forever.
We might not even blame only Horne for this (although he can be blamed for so much else). The way it usually works in Phoenix is that property is sold with a new project set to go; financing or whatever falls through and the new owner just demolishes the place. And it sits. For decades in many cases. McDowell between Central and Seventh Avenue has already lost so many of its businesses, with Bert Easley's Fun Shop a blessed exception. A digression: Yet another mistake here was widening these streets from a manageable four lanes into their Soviet Beltway current size, not only adding to the heat island and discouraging pedestrians but making the latter endeavor potentially death-dealing.
This blog discusses many big and weighty topics, but this corner is important, too. It's a marker as to whether Phoenix can ever get its act together and stop the creeping blight and empty land that are a cancer. They're a sign of terrible public policy, venal absentee land owners, lack of stewards, too few central city employers, and too few entrepreneurs who have both good ideas and the capital and expertise to make them succeed. However lovely the historic districts (until too many idiots throw down gravel and cactus), they lack the complete walkability and convenience that could make them world-beaters. Without setting off phxSUNSfan, I am in walking distance of shoe-repair shops, a great hat store, copy places, office supply stores, shoe shops, gift emporiums, a cool military surplus place, stationary store, art-and-architecture bookshop, other bookstores, a hardware store, etc. — just things for everyday living and more, many locally owned and distinctive. And that's not even getting into all the big amenities of downtown. (Yeah, yeah, Seattle sucks…). The same is true in other cities that win the competition for talent and capital — and offer choice from suburbia. In central Phoenix, you are forced to drive, or be really creative and patient with light rail. And yet, in my lifetime and I'm not ancient, we had all those things nearby in central Phoenix. This current state of affairs is not a sign of Phoenix's modernity — Phoenix: 21st Century City — but of its civic sickness.
I've had my spats with some of the historic preservationists and neighborhood soviets; sometimes I think they choose the wrong battles and miss the big picture; walling off the eastern entrances to Willo, "gated community-style," was a special abomination. But if ever there was a call to the ramparts, the future of this corner is it. It's a small thing. But it's a big thing. Riding light rail, you see endless empty lots except for the mile between McDowell and Thomas, where, miraculously, things have held together. It's a beautiful stretch, showing what central Phoenix could be. The exception is the northwest corner of Central and McDowell, where the AT&T offices once stood. Now, across from the stunning Phoenix Art Museum, is a large, hideous vacant lot. It's been vacant for decades. It will be for decades more.
Time to take a stand, Phoenix. Or quit whining when we discuss these failures on this blog.
Jon,
I agree with everything in this blog….except the Border’s at Biltmore. Borders is closing ALL of their Arizona stores. They closed Tempe a couple years ago. The problem is not either Phoenix or Tempe; the problem is that Borders is/was a terribly managed company. I knew the original Borders in Ann Arbor…a wonderful store….maybe somethings can’t be cloned.
Jon, I actually couldn’t agree more. I recently spoke with my 80+ year old aunt about downtown on her recent visit with family. My aunt recalled what shopping was like in Central Phoenix before the 1960’s. I was trying to picture the smaller streets she recalls; even McDowell Road.
If I had a billion dollars to gift the city, I’d ask that it be spent on a light rail line on McDowell. Squeezing the space available to vehicular traffic seems appropriate in this area. I’d also ask that some of the money be used to knock down that pretentious Willo Wall. Instead a “green belt” and walk/bike path be laid down along the narrow street.
There were plans for the NWC of McDowell and Central; an Israeli firm was to build a three tower condo projects but funding dried up. That is the story of many downtown projects. A revamp of the old Valley National Bank Building into a cool hotel, nightlife, and restaurant hot spot had the same narrative.
I am optimistic, but wary of those damn rock yards and stucco facades that find their way into the green oases of the Central City.
U can count on Westcor to dumb down the decor and up the ante on space. I preferred Borders over Barnes and Noble but I quit shopping both a while back taking all my biz to small local book shops, like Changing Hands, Mike Riley’s Book Gallery, Bards and of course a book store in a ranch house in the desert near Benson, where I last saw Gabrielle Giffords, The Wind Song book store now in the National register. Bert Easley’s was real close to Woody’s El Nido. I’ll never forget when the almighty religious fools in Phoenix smite Bert for selling evil all of which one can now by openly anywhere. If you could clone one thing Jon what might that be?
One thing I will add is that the Gold Spot Market is back. Pita Pit finally opened and the whole space is nearing full occupancy. Only the northern end of the building remains available. The Pit is stuffed full of diners daily and Lola’s is a great coffee spot. Between both is a salon that seems popular.
My apologies; it is a Pita Jungle…
I’m not sure how you would like the average resident in Phoenix to “take a stand” and “stop whining”. I don’t think that pointing fingers and whining from Seattle is helping the situation. I’m from a small town in Minnesota whose downtown has also fallen to pieces, but I don’t wag my fingers at the people who still live there. Your audience for this blog are regular people who might need to be rallied or led in the right direction, but not scolded. Talk to the politicians–sounds like you have some better connections than we do!
I had business in NW Phoenix the other day so I decided to check out Metrocenter.
Wow.
Half the storefronts are empty and the national chains have pretty much given up on that behemoth. The shopppers looks like they should have their probation officers on speed dial. There’s still a Macy’s and a Sears but few actual customers. Westcor has pumped some money into the place but to what end? It is, at long last, a ghost mall.
Metrocenter was built in 1973 and leapfrogged the other malls in the area to a completely new level: “regional mall”. It had four anchors and double the square footage of Chris-Town. You don’t downsize a dinosaur like this one. You don’t retrofit it for a community college or megachurch. It’s simply too damn big. Westcor has finally given up and left it to its financial partners to figure out what they’re going to do. Whatever, it’s going to cost them. They should probably pray for divine intervention. Say, an asteroid impact.
I grew up in a small town outside Phoenix, Sunnyslope. It had a Ryan-Evans drugstore, a Sprouse-Reitz variety store, a movie theater, and the various businesses that served a real community. By 1960, it was annexed to Phoenix and it prospered as Phoenix grew in its direction. By 1980, the prosperity faltered and so did Sunnyslope. Its character weakened as waterbed stores and auto painting shops took over Dunlap Ave. Today, it’s not even interesting as a ruin.
Things change, of course, but Phoenix has been mostly unlucky in its rocket-propelled destiny. The growth that was our raison d’ être finally sucked out anything worth cherishing and preserving. If it’s not small, intimate, and human-scaled, it will rob us of too much that makes life worth living. Phoenix is both victim and victimizer here. We keep thinking the Big Bright Tomorrow will return, that prosperity will reclaim our city. But why should it? Our allegiance has been to the oversized and unlovable. That’s Metrocenter’s tawdry secret. It was, from the beginning, horrifying and unlovable. Only now do we see why the bargain we struck here debased the very premise of our civic pride. We built a city like a marriage of convenience. There are memories but nothing that can sustain us in this, our long twilight descent.
Soleri, MetroCenter is an awful experience. It is clean enough in the mall itself but the entire area, including the detached strip malls are horrendous. The only hope for a place that size would be an amusement park company leveling the whole debacle.
A guess at the acreage it occupies, I would say 300 acres. A Six Flags would fit nicely given that many parks range from 200-300 acres. Even Disneyland and California Adventures/Downtown Disney all together occupy 400-450 acres I believe. That should give someone a feel for the acreage of the monstrosity.
Kate, while Jon was a resident of this state, he pushed and pushed and pushed “his connections” to do the right things for the city and state. Finally, they reacted……they pushed him out of state. Problem solved.
phxSUNSfan, on behalf of Governor Brewer, I accept your gift of $1,000,000,000 and in turn she will legislate a $1,000,000,000 tax break for businesses. The money the businesses save will “trickle down” on all the people of Arizona like magic rain from the heavens and, wait a minute, that doesn’t look right, we’ll still have a deficit, but, but……her handlers tell me that cutting tax revenue increases tax revenue. phsSUNSfan, can we get back to you, the Governor is getting a headache. Let us work on the math and we’ll call you back.
Here you go Governor, here’s some aspirin. I told you that experimenting with different hairdo’s all day was going to give you a headache. No Governor, I really don’t think there is a particular hairdo that will make you look smarter on camera.
Well when you’re in Scottsdale in your silk upholstered chair
Talkin’ to some rich folk that you know
Well I hope you won’t see me in my ragged company
Well, you know I call the downtown my home
Take me down to Phoenix, take me down
I know that town is the Queen of the Underground
And you can cover me in stucco every morning
Cover me in stucco on all the walls
Cover me in stucco to the ceiling
And I won’t forget to put stucco on your grave.
@Phoenix Stucco: Nicely done. “Dead Flowers” about captures our current civic ethic.
OK Soleri, If U grew up in the Slope what was the name of the movie house on Dunlap and what was the name of the movie that got the religious community to close the place. I ate at the Pita Jungle last night. Nice lay out, food was average, service good, prices OK. Later we had coffee at Lola’s. Pastry was good, Cuban Latte not bad but they got to work on the Americano.Best Americano in town, Urban Bean.
Cal, the theater was the Pix. I had no idea there was a controversy that closed it down. I was probably six or so when that happened. The building still survives, remarkably enough.
@CDT, thanks due to The Rolling Stones and Townes Van Zandt. 🙂
Soleri, your right it was the PIX
Had my first fight there.
The movie that got it closed down for depicting one female breast was the “Blue Moon”. I lived at 400 E Carol and then just north of MT View on third Street until Summer of 54. I was the tether ball champion in 53 and 54 at Sunnyslope Grade School and swam at the Sunnyslope pool. I hunted critters and sold dough nuts to the tubercular’s in the Walbash Trailer court for $$$. And I hung out with Wayne Hancock who lived in an old ranch house about 10 street and what is Peoria.
Wish I had the math skills to calculate what % of our 4 Million Valley residents have been here 20 years or more . . . long enough maybe to remember how it was before the sprawl machine went into hyper-drive. And long enough to remember when the air was relatively clean and the legislature had fewer wingnuts. Having a relative with a “just right” house in the historical district not too far from Jon’s “corner”, lotsa folks are now looking upon her with envy. Around her, there’s a combination of gentrification and deterioriation but on balance, her ‘hood seems to be getting better. Maybe all is not lost?
Jon,
There is a glimmer of hope in the younger generation rejecting sprawl and embracing New Urbanism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyq–evjxeA
I got here in 1950 and life was good. My asthma went away and I didnt sneeze. Our second house even had an evaporative cooler. No more wet sheets and mom praying for a breeze. I was told there was 186,000 folks between Apache Junction and Peoria, in the winter. Around 1960 Charter Government, think Rozensweig-Goldwater-Matori, kicked out the ole time gambling and prostitution democrats and zoning became the new crime wave. The Truss was born and building a house a day for guys like John F Long was a breeze. Quickly the street grid gave way to cul-de-sac’s and streets that went no where. Frankly I prefer the high plain about 6 miles east of Arizona HWY 90 on HWY 82 where you can still see for miles with little man made interruptions. Seeking the spirit of ED Abbey. Cal Lash at E-mail, coper1658@gmail.com
Cal, we were almost neighbors (Carol, btw, was south of Mt View). I grew up on 2nd St, north of Mt View. My father was fairly notorious, the doctor who built North Mountain Hospital. In the 1970s, Don Bolles wrote a series of damning articles about him. He was indicted on several felony counts and he nearly went to jail. I’m supposed to give a talk at the Sunnyslope Historical Society sometime this spring about him. I’ll let you know if and when this happens.
soleri, in case no one has ever mentioned it here, you rock! Please have your talk recorded and share it with us.
Rate Crimes, thank you. I wilt under scrutiny so I’ll probably pass on the recording. And btw, I check out your blog on a regular basis.
“[…]so I decided to check out Metrocenter.
Wow.” – soleri
Here’s an interesting article about the Metro’center’…
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2005-08-18/culture/out-on-a-limb/
Despite the faux(?) disparagement of the interviewee by the New Times, she endures and presents some cogent arguments. It could be argued that by removing those trees, the Metro’center’ tore out the highest value item in the entire mall complex. Well, at least some good skateboarding for the kids, and some indoor walking for the seniors will remain for a while…
“And btw, I check out your blog on a regular basis.” – soleri
Me and my blog gave up on Arizona (for at least a while), but thanks. My mom always said, “If you can’t say anything nice…”
(I don’t think that was very nice of her.)
I think the chain bookstores made a strategic mistake when, faced with rising competition from Amazon, they decided to compete by making their stores “3rd places” (particularly in suburbia, but even in urban neighborhoods like Mill avenue) when they should’ve focused their efforts online. Creating any kind of hang out in a generic big box store with the atmosphere of an elementary school library was doomed to fail from the beginning. You can’t become Powell’s (Portland’s legendary locally-owned big box bookstore) by adding a coffee shop and a few whiny acoustic guitar players.
“Sense of place” is what creates 3rd places and the accompanying boost to real estate values and profits. It would be great if 7th and McDowell succeeded. Phoenix really needs a complete intersection, corridor, or district of organically created locally-owned businesses that demonstrates the economic value of placemaking. Once there is a truly built-out model the hope is that it can be replicated in other areas with similar opportunities. It will likely take a strong, organized alliance between residents, business owners and government to make it a reality.
RE Metrocenter. It has both opportunities and constraints.
Opportunities: it’s planned for an end-of-line LRT station (which generally have high boarding numbers), it’s a designated urban center and therefore densification has the backing of City policy, potential for canal-oriented development, proximity to quality public parks and a pretty significant employment/educational cluster along Dunlap between 19th Ave and the freeway.
The real pitfall with Metrocenter (aside from the obvious extreme auto-orientation) lies in its fragmented land ownership. Several suburban malls (nationally) have been successfully retrofitted into pedestrian-friendly mixed-use centers – but their success largely hinged on the fact that they had large land assemblages under a single owner.
I’m skeptical that Phoenix can ever have a successful theme park. Families with school kids are obviously the critical customer base for these amusements and, unless somehow school break calendars change across the country, no one wants to come to Phoenix and get a 3rd degree burn by touching a roller coaster seat in July.
“a few whiny acoustic guitar players.” – Phx Planner
You just made a ‘whiny’ acoustic guitar player LOL. I think I’ll still keep singing, “The Blues Got The World by the Balls.”
@MoreCleanAir, the “air” in metro Phoenix was actually worse 20 years ago than it is today. This mainly due to clogged freeways (what existed then) leading into Phoenix that could not handle the traffic flows. If you think the slow and go through the tunnel is bad now, you should hear some of my parents’ stories about the jams in the 80’s.
Three words . . .
Underground amusement park.
No tears for Borders from me. I do miss the string of booksellers that lined Camelback west of Central tho.
I was in that tavern on the SW corner of McDowell and 7th Ave once and that was enough for me. A den of thieves, hookers, and drunks (I probably tended to the drunk side back then). I don’t remember it’s name altho I think it some Irish in it.
I have noticed my commutes from central Phx. to work in Mesa are very quick these days. Traffic is noticably thinner. Let the Kooks keep on doing their magic so AZ and Phx hit rock bottom. As you well know, only then can rehabilitation occur.
Eclecticdog, maybe less kooks in Mesa to elect themselves; one can only hope!
I think that tavern on the SWC of McDowell and 7th Ave was an Emerald Lounge and later, a Buffalo Bill’s or something of similar nomenclature. Can’t remember the newer name since it has since been removed from the brick facade:
You should give SideBar a try. It is the neighborhood bar above Starbucks and Pei Wei.
As for the SE corner, a SmashBurger is supposed to occupy one of the retail suites after the building is rehabbed. It is owned by Desert Viking (Mike Hogarty), I believe, but plans for the burger joint and ReNo have been only plans since 2009.
It was the Emerald Lounge. Phx has a rich history of bars…
@PhxPlanner, the amusement park idea was more a comparison of land occupancy. I doubt any park in Phoenix would happen because traditional park companies are hurting economically across the country.
Nonetheless, let us dream that a park could be opened in Phoenix. I think the optimal usage for it would be in the late Summer through Spring seasons (think September 15-20, until late May or Early June). This is the time of year when the population of Phoenix swells due to snow birds, Spring Training visitors, College Bowls, Phoenix Open, etc etc…
Being a neophyte outsider when it comes to Phoenix, I looked at the places on Google street view.
McDowell/7th looks like in the middle of nowhere especially when looking North or South. This may be unfair since it’s outside of downtown. I would say from the parking lots and lack of 4-5 story buildings that McDowell/7th already belongs to suburbia. I hope “The southwest corner was nicely redone with a Starbucks and Pei Wei, but that’s a heart-stopping exception.” is a wry minimal standard Jon applies here.
I don’t know what the “stunning Phoenix Art Museum” has to offer, but good architecture it isn’t. Somewhat hidden behind shrubs and parking lots, it partially looks like a giant Mars bar wrapped in concrete. My apologies if I sound like a poor man’s JHK.
The section of Central Ave that Jon praises feels a bit fissured by drive ways, parking lots and bulwark fronts.
I do love that building on the northeast corner, and if I were a rich man, I would probably buy it.
AWinter, I’m not sure you are looking at Phoenix, AZ or Phoenix, NY but there seems to be some inconsistencies with your layout. There is only one parking lot at PAM, and it is hardly hiding the museum since the building is built out to the sidewalks…the rest of your description I’ll just take as a self-described “neophyte outsider”.
I will add though, that AWinter wasn’t completely off about 7th and McDowell being suburban. BUT one must point out the completeness of this area of Phoenix as opposed to Dear Valley…
This area, AWinter, was an original “Streetcar Suburb” for Phoenix that was largely built and conceived around the 1920’s. They may not be tall, but they are well built and beautiful; this corner is important for ensuring the area remain so.
Maybe I should have been clearer on that. The maps show parking ‘spaces’ North, East and South of PAM which pretty much shield the buildings. The Western front is built to the sidewalk but forbiddingly barren except of the Western/Northern entrances. It’s an ubiquitous problem to connect such a big complex to its surroundings. Yet it’s not impossible.
But when I ignore the Northern parking lot and look East on Coronado Road, I see some of that Phoenix magic that Jon talks about.
Re: Metrocenter. If a shopping mall can be seen from outer space it’s bound to be toast.
Soleri, I used to go to your house with the fish pond inside and outside.
My second house was on 3rd Street about 4 houses North of MT View. I remember your family by name and am familiar with the history. I graduated from Sunnyslope Grade school in 54. I remember the hospital on the mt side. In the late sixties or early seventies my partner shot and killed one of the apes that were kept on the property. give me a call I’ll by U coffee. 6023161755. coper1658@gmail.com
WOW…this blog is turning into a historical text for Phoenix!
phxSUNfan, that’s about all it’s good for.
There’s a young man named Melekian (knew his dad) who has done a retrospective called “Vanishing Phoenix”. It depicts the lovely buildings that got ‘dozed. He’s featured at our church’s annual winter visitor confab.
Here’s an example of the Phoenix community rallying together:
https://phxdowntowner.org/2011/02/14/heatsync-labs/
In barely 48 hours, we’ve pooled $2500 from the community to try to bring HeatSync Labs downtown!
🙂
I know most of you have resigned your feelings of hope for Phoenix, but since my journey here has just begun it lends itself to optimism. I can tell some of you are irked by this but I cannot apologize for it.
I’d like to think that Rogue’s blog is meaningful beyond a script of what Phoenix was and just detailing its fall. To me, this is more about building a new community from the oldest neighborhoods in the Central City. While I have little hope for the exurbs in the metro area in terms of a rejuvenation of boom times, I am comfortable in thinking that downtown can be “reborn”.
To AWinter, Phoenix Art Museum must be enjoyed in person and up close. Google images do little justice in detailing the buildings lines, spaces, colors, textures, and integration of green spaces. Please visit the building to enjoy the experience.
While I am not sure what city you are typing from, if you are familiar with other cities modern art museums you know that many are plain-faced and boxy. Sorry to do this to you Jon, but SAM (Seattle Art Museum) is a concrete oval and the new expansion a glass cube. It is still interesting and well integrated. So is PAM…
@phxSUNSfan:
Re: “historical text” – Yes, indeed. Lurk here all of the time and this thread is a real treat…
Suns fan is correct. Phoenix’s only hope is rebirth of the core.
@phxSUNSfan, the first time I entered SAM, I almost ran away. My reaction was quite abrupt. It was a beautiful Seattle day and I was expecting a day of adventure at the museum. However, I could not get past the initial assualt of a dozen automobiles, painted white, dangling from the ceiling with rope lights spraying from them in all directions.
It was as if the artist wanted to transport me back to the surreality of Phoenix. Cruel.
“Phoenix’s only hope is rebirth of the core.”
Suburbia as chrysalis. Interesting theme. I like it.
Yesterday, for the first time I experienced downtown Miami. I’ve been in many of the world’s largest cities (with the notable exceptions of Mexico City and any south of the equator). I’ve seen China’s new coastal cities; I know a few of America’s large waterfront cities well; but, I don’t think I’ve seen anything as unrelentingly soul-crushing as Miami’s egoistic canyons anc chasms.
Maybe there is an upside to sprawl?
It’s been a while since I last commented here, but as one of those younger people who is charged with rejecting sprawl, I guess I feel obligated to point out some of the more nuanced practicalities of how this may happen. It will not occur if we ask that young families outright reject the single-family home developments our parents’ generation tells us we need to safely raise our children. To propose this is to completely ignore the urbanism paradox that challenges many smart planners around the country. However, there remains much to be done in becoming more honest in our approach to evaluating neighborhoods for their fitness and habitability for all types of occupants, and I believe there are marketable opportunities to accomplish this in Phoenix.
In looking at the current housing market, one will quickly recognize that inventory abounds in almost all types of developments and in almost all geographic reaches of the sprawling Phoenix metro area. My family, with our home based business, is looking at this market as an opportunity to right-size — in our case, this means about an extra hundred square feet of living space and more energy efficient features (others are looking to downsize). I’m also on a rather tight budget, which has been a completely welcome constraint in narrowing our target neighborhoods; yet in every corner we look, my wife and I first ask what our friends and family will think if we choose one perfectly acceptable neighborhood over another (not that it will ultimately matter).
What I have found to be a tremendously under-appreciated way of convincing people to come back toward the core is for us to simply reclaim and rebrand many of our older suburban hoods. Take 19th Avenue and Camelback for instance — on the light rail line, close to several grocery stores of varying types and not far from the city’s core — but a thoroughly unacceptable place for many to live, despite the nice single family homes in surrounding neighborhoods. What is it that keeps people away? Is it really the high crime rate, or is it a perception of high crime? I would argue it’s more the latter.
I’ve also looked in parts of South Phoenix and other centrally located neighborhoods like Calle 16 and the like. In most cases, I cannot understand what it is about these areas we are supposed to avoid. It mustn’t be the underperforming school districts, since the kooks have long since ensured that they will fold under the pressures of the free market (and at this point, I’d rather jump on board with the charter system than fight it). So is it the income diversity of these areas? Yes, I think this may indeed be the case, despite the fact that some of the neatest areas of Phoenix are also quite diverse in their demographics.
[Fade in “Imagine,” by John Lennon]
I think it’s important that we ask what people really expect out of their living arrangements — now, more than ever, since “investment” has fallen by the wayside and opened up to other considerations. If we truly step up from within and work toward reclaiming and rebranding our existing places, I believe more of these places will appeal to the next generation. If timed correctly, we will see a real shift in the market away from sprawl, which we might even be able to sustain through future redevelopment campaigns that will produce the medium-density corridors that we need to support vibrant shopping districts throughout town.
Without a proactive community-based campaign, I skeptically say good luck to anyone wishing to take on the mass planning and building efficiencies of our now familiar one-mile square suburban environment.
(And for a more fun look at questioning the status quo of homeowner preferences, Rogue fans might appreciate the following discussion I posted to yelp’s talk threads, mainly aimed at a more hip set of my gen-x and gen-y cohorts: https://www.yelp.com/topic/phoenix-9-000-houses)
Phoenix? I’ll raise my children outside the brown cloud where the air is less toxic; where the groundwater has not been poisoned; where the aquifer isn’t being drained; where food is grown locally; and where we can eliminate, or at least minimize, our automobile miles, thank you.
Since my previous comment meandered a bit away from the original focus of Jon’s post, I guess I’m just trying to point out that there are far too many potentially great corners of Phoenix to ignore. But all is not lost — we just need to be more focused in our approach, appealing to actual demands of our current and future residents.
So, Phxpatriate….. I assume you mean Amish country?
There’s a bit of “the grass is greener” to any discussion of Phoenix’ decline. True, those of us who know the difference should advocate for responsible growth and environmental stewardship. In considering where else we might enjoy a better quality of life, I”m stumped. The Pacific NW has a lot going for it but weeks of cool and unrelenting gray are real downers. Are there pockets of (affordable) paradise in CA? Can one live a good life as an expat in parts of Mexico or Central America . .. far from friends and family? We could do a lot worse than living where we are.
I think we have found a really good candidate for governor in PTB.
Great comments.
Thanks Cal. But I was thinking I’d run for senate…. 😉
I hope we mostly focus on Phoenix, and to the extent we discuss other cities it’s to 1) Get a sense of the competition and 2) Learn best practices.
When I lived in the Midwest, the winter was indeed “unrelentingly gray.” The thing I like about Seattle is that the weather is generally moderate and always changing. It’s sunny today. Might be cloudy tonight. Endless sunny days depress me, but I’m weird. I will say that the people who came to Phoenix and stay there no matter what only for the weather baffle me. But they have the ability to change the place for the better, respect its history and have a clear-eyed view of its challenges.
ptb,
Your comment “is it the crime rate or the perception of the crime rate” caught my eye.
I just checked the data base we use at work. In the areas up for discussion on this blog, it’s not perception, it is the actual crime rate. The numbers are skewed because of property crimes and especially domestic violence. I don’t think living in an area where domestic violence is the norm is good. It indicates other social factors that must be at play in the area.
I’m afraid the center city stands out like a beacon of crime activity and gets safer the further you head out into the suburbs.
No telling how things will fare when police and fire protection is cut back to the bone.
Hey ptb, before I vote for you for Senator, please verify on this blog that the initials do not stand for PT Barnum.
Azrebel what database are you looking at? From the Phoenix and FBI databases I am seeing the opposite. Property crimes are higher in the burbs, especially Tempe and hoods like Maryvale. Domestic violence is highest in the “cactus precinct” in NE Phoenix…murders and violent crime are dwarfed by S. Phoenix and “the square” in the urban village of Paradise Valley, not the town mind you. Also there have been no murders in downtown or any historic district in Phoenix in 2010 and one in 2009(near Grand Avenue).
azrebel, that perception of my initials couldn’t really hurt in an AZ election, could it?
As for the crime rates, I do differentiate between different types of crime and how it’s concentrated. Take Tempe, for instance, which recently bragged as a city about its four consecutive years of decreased crime rates. I’ve always upheld the statement that I like Tempe a great deal, but would always fear that my bike may get stolen or I’d have my car burglarized/stolen (both have happened to me). If I go to the Tempe bars, there’s an increased risk of prideful young men starting a fight for no good reason. However, I would never feel unsafe in my home — and I never did feel too unsafe there in the past.
South Phoenix, which is more familiar to me in recent years, suffers a greater problem of misplaced labeling as a high-crime area. I know that much of the crimes categorically associated with the area are often either the same as in other parts of town or isolated to specific neighborhoods within the vast and diverse South Phoenix community. Would I buy a home for my family in South Phoenix? Yes, indeed I hope to do so soon!
Back to the area around 19th Ave/Camelback that I mentioned earlier, or even 7th Ave/McDowell (the original focus of this blog post), I think we’re looking at very heterogeneous neighborhoods. While I have not done this yet, I’d be willing to bet that you could zoom in on a crime map and find concentrations of crime on one block and much less 1/4 mile away, and then replicate this trend over several blocks. I’d bet the Biltmore area looks much the same if you travel south about a mile or two. Even parts of Scottsdale face this problem, and I know of a couple reasons, one of which is cheap transitional housing.
I’m not saying that this is an excuse to ignore crime and forget that it exists, but I do think we need to stop this foolish boogyman talk and invite people to once again take pride in these more centrally located neighborhoods — help them stand out for all their positive attributes rather than the negative.
Here’s a stretch: I’d like to think that today’s guests on Here & Now (https://kjzz.org/news/arizona/archives/201102/hn_brokenwindows) would support my position on this, having tackled much more difficult problems relating to community policing issues. They were George Kelling, who authored the “broken windows theory” and William Bratton, one of the theory’s better known practitioners.
Sorry, Jon, for straying from the focus on sense of place and the built environment of central Phoenix. But I think the social element is an integral part of our community’s problem as it relates to these issues — and we continually fail to address it.
We already have good bones for many of our central neighborhoods — we just need to celebrate this fact and re-inspire people to show how well laid out these neighborhoods are as compared to the modern suburban model. I think they can become great again (many already are) and people will flock away from the far flung suburbs to take part in the cool trend of revitalization. But we’re making it too difficult by focusing solely on huge redevelopment projects that often aren’t needed at all.
One idea from the city of Phoenix that I particularly liked was the neighborhood grant program, although I’ve heard mixed reviews about its success. Nonetheless, I would like to see ideas like this expanded throughout residential neighborhoods and, as it should, the commercial element will follow based on free market principles. If my assumptions are right, we’ll soon see some excellent case studies available from the Detroit area — and I think their situation is far more dire than ours.
PhxSUNSfan, I’ve often found the same in researching other “high crime” areas. As noted above, specifically the old 400 precinct in South and Southwest Phoenix, which recently changed its boundaries a tad. I’m tired of looking up crime statistics, though, since the actual numbers rarely convince people to modify their assumptions.
as I recall crime has been running at about 16 percent since roman days. Probably somewhat higher now due to a vast array of new laws. If you R a rat crime rates increase as you put more rats in the box. So maybe about 6 billion people less on the planet might result in a decrease of crime and a whole lot of other things. But I always enjoy the fresh, positive, idealistic out look by young folks like ptb. However ptb I’d bet your the wrong religion to run for the upcoming senate and house seats, that is if U expect to win. But U can have my vote.
cal,
I often think of that old rat experiment when I witness behaviors in the valley that are otherwise unexplainable.
Definitely too many rats in a confined space with not enough cheese.
Thought all you urban planners might like a small part of the “The Wisdom of Rats” by Charles Bowden.
If human marks matter, there are thousands of years of history on this creek, and if life matters, there are millions of years, and if reality matters, the creek is a recent wrinkle on the face of eternity. History here has been mainly a series of one-act plays—human communities enter with cultures formed in other environments, flourish for a spell, and then recede. Modern American and Mexican history insists it is the final act, and that its script will now play out here until the end of time. But as the nations shout these beliefs, the ground underneath them and the sky above them turn a deaf ear. We are dancing to the edge of life and we now move through the forests of dread and what we fear, really fear, is not some other nation conquering our plains and mountains and deserts, no, no, what we fear is that someone or something will do to us exactly what we have done to the buffalo, and to the mounted warrior on horseback with that lance and bow, what we have done to the rivers and the trees and the fine native grasses that first fell under our footsteps as we ventured into the bewitching and yearning ground.
Cal, it’s the conqueror’s lament. Every thousand-year Reich, empire, or heavenly city on Earth makes a hubristic claim to an unlikely endurance. The moment we declare victory is also the moment the inevitable defeat is born.
Cast a cold eye on life, on death. Horseman, pass by.
Soleri, Very well said. U and Bowden should drink and share, together.
I have seen the horseman and he is a dark ugly SB
I used to live at 9031 N. 9th St. in Sunnyslope in the 1970s with the Phoenix Mountains for a backyard. I lived in a dusty little 4-plex, owned by a nice Yugoslavian man with a monster for a wife, which makes for a nice metaphor for Phonix in general, I think. The man worked in maintenance at the Biltmore, where I once worked when I was “between jobs,” as one might say. Awful experience. But I really liked Sunnyslope and it continues to be one of my favorite little neighborhoods. I’m sure that neighborhood has been destroyed. Too bad. You could actually walk to places. Like Blondin’s Gold Bug.
Sunnyslope is interesting. There are some great and eclectic shops and eateries in that neighborhood. Crime is dropping, drugs dens are being cleaned out, and the high school is one of the best performing in the state; they have a great IB (International Baccalaureate) program. Try Los Reyes de la Torta; great Mexican sandwiches and it was on “Man vs Food”.
Aristotle and Socrates, reincarnated as Cal and Soleri. Interesting prose and sentiments gentlemen.
Ok, I found a link on YouTube for the “Man vs Food” episode. I saw a picture and an article concerning the filming but have never watched the show. Maybe something on TV worth checking out from time to time…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Gq_cAVNw0