John F. Long, a builder of modern Phoenix, dies at 87
Posted inPhoenix Phoenix 101: History

John F. Long, a builder of modern Phoenix, dies at 87

John_F_LongIt is a sign of the cluelessness of the children hired by the Arizona Republic that its headline online says, “Valley philanthropist John F. Long dies at 87.” It’s a little like saying “Former cowboy actor Ronald Reagan dies.” Fortunately the obituary is in the hands of one of the few graybeards that haven’t been run out by “the information center,” Chuck Kelly.

John F. Long was a towering figure among the giants who built Phoenix from a small farm town into the nation’s fifth largest city. With Maryvale, he not only brought affordable, pleasant suburbia to post-war Phoenix, he paved the way for thousands of ex-GIs to own their homes. He was an innovator of national consequence, but unlike some who followed him in Phoenix development, he stayed close to his roots. He was a civic steward, city councilman, a man who loved to tend his burros in retirement and whose life was rich in stories and lore. And yes, he was also a philanthropist.

Long’s life also paralleled the rise and decline of the post-war automobile suburb.

9
Posted inPhoenix

Good news and bad news for the Luhrs buildings

As is so often the case with downtown, there’s good news and bad news.

Hansji Urban of Irvine, Calif., will apparently renovate the Luhrs Tower and the Luhrs Building in the block on Jefferson between Central and First Ave. These are among the few large buildings left from old Phoenix. The Luhrs Tower is a wonderful deco baby skyscraper. Phoenix might have had more if the Depression had not intervened. Afterward, the city was cursed with horrid international boxes.

The bad news? The developer apparently has the right to tear down the arcade that connects the two, and an adjoining building that faces Central.

No Comments
Posted inPhoenix

Dreaming of more sprawl in Arizona

For as long as anyone can remember, the Arizona Republic has been part of the big booster engine in Phoenix. Lately, under pressure from falling revenue and corporate owners, the paper’s bosses have demanded that the news “say something positive about the area.” So it wasn’t surprising to see a Feb. 18th article pimping the Williams-Gateway hinterlands, nominally a part of Mesa, as a “brand new city” on the way.

Jim Tinson, identified by the article as a Yale-educated, New York-based architect and urban planner working on the project, said “This is an opportunity of international significance.” The idea is to create an “aerotropolis,” with the city surrounding the “maturing” Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

The article goes on, “Planners stress that the current economic downturn and housing slump would not affect the overall long-term vision, which they expect to unfold over decades and through multiple economic cycles.”

Of course, the planners have no stake in telling unpleasant truths to the power that pays them.

No Comments
Posted inPhoenix Politics: National

The strange media romance with John McCain

Breaking up is hard to do, particularly with a lover you’ve idealized to the point of pathology. So what if the reality is as jarring, even dangerous, odds with the ideal? So it is with the mainsteam media and John McCain.

We were treated to this once again in the Sunday New York Times. A front page story described how this "maverick," "insurgent," "one of the most disruptive figures in his party" and "rebel" is now trying to be a standard-bearer who can unite his party. There was mention of his "volcanic" blowups, but in an admiring way.

On the op-ed page, Nicholas Kristof writes, "Even for those of us who shudder at many of John McCain’s positions,
there is something refreshing about a man who wins so many votes
despite a major political shortcoming: he is abysmal at pandering."

Such is the scary fog of McCain worship that envelops even smart people writing for the best newspaper in America. The reality is quite different.

No Comments
Posted inPhoenix Politics: National

Ground zero in the illegal immigration nightmare

For the second time in two weeks, the New York Times has produced major stories on Phoenix and illegal immigration (read the stories here and here). It’s about time the nation took notice of Phoenix’s second largest industry (after house building): people smuggling. Many of the immigrants that staff the chicken plants of North Carolina and the meat-packing plants of the upper plains states came through Phoenix.

This industry has caused a low-intensity war to be fought on the streets of Phoenix and its suburbs for several years, recently leading to the gunning down of a police officer. Of the millions who have gone through the city, many have settled. A third of the city is officially Hispanic, but the real numbers are probably far larger and many are illegal. Meanwhile, the Anglo population, whether from the Midwest or from Arizona, has increasingly rebelled against the influx. Arizona has passed some of the most draconian laws against illegals, and the state is full of anti-Hispanic sentiment, much of expressed in the most thuggish manner (check out any blog or story comment on the Arizona Republic if you doubt me).

But the situation is complex and contradictory. It’s not rocket science. It’s much, much more complicated.

2
Posted inPhoenix

Phoenix in search of ‘big city cred’

At the risk of being cruel…

I missed the Feb 4th article in the Arizona Republic headlined "Getting some Big City cred." It starts off, "A
major golf tournament, a celebrity-studded auto auction and, most
important, the Super Bowl — these are the markings of a destination
metropolis.
Yet on the list of America’s
Greatest Big Cities, Phoenix lags in the sorts of physical, cultural
and historical amenities that distinguish the most memorable
destinations."

Then it offers suggestions, some whimsical, some apparently serious, about how Phoenix could get, er, "cred": a signature skyscraper, a signature enchilada, a San Antonio-style riverwalk, more gridlock.

1
Posted inPhoenix Politics: National

The recession this time

Another recession, and for many Americans the post-2001 recovery and expansion felt like one long tough slog. It would have felt worse had they been living within their means, but liar-loan mortgages, bottomless credit cards and cheap stuff from China allowed them to think they were rolling in the good times, just like the hedge-fund managers and CEOs.

Another recession, and it won’t be like 2001, when a fraud-driven bubble burst, or 1991, when the savings-and-loan scandal sank the economy. It will have fraud, bursting bubbles and unsustainable finance, to be sure. But it may be far worse than anything we have experienced since 1982, maybe longer.

No Comments
Posted inPhoenix Politics: National

Who is this ‘maverick’ I keep hearing about?

Every time I hear the media say Sen. John McCain "of Arizona" it makes me crazy. McCain has done as little for Arizona as possible and it shows. The state is Mississippi in the Southwest, an Appalachia with golf courses, the epicenter of a brewing socio-environmental calamity. It is a place frighteningly behind in the competitive world of the 21st century, however much it provides a haven for a certain kind of rich person and, until recently, for real-estate players. Arizona was never anything but a national political platform for McCain.

If McCain had been governor, his apathy would be an especially tempting target. Even so, as a senator he has done as little as possible in education, research, transportation, health care, the environment…the list goes on and on. Most days one wondered if Arizona even had senators representing it, rather than trying to be national political figures.

2
Posted inPhoenix

The Super Bowl is in Phoenix

When the New York Times wrote about the high-fliers coming to the Super Bowl, they didn’t fool around with the silly locution "the Valley." They wrote Phoenix, and Phoenix area.

Of course the local mantra is "Arizona’s Super Bowl." But Arizona is a big state, and that’s a little like saying the Super Bowl in Miami (it was also played in a suburban stadium) is "Florida’s Super Bowl."  In other words, meaningless. Once again, the region will miss a great "branding opportunity" by continuing to deny itself the cool, distinctive name, Phoenix. It’s a world of competing cities, not geographies of nowhere (in Jim Kunstler’s apt phrase). But for Phoenix and "the Valley," it’s an old tale of self-destructiveness.

What’s less understood is why it happens.

8
Posted inPhoenix

What I didn’t write at the Arizona Republic

People kept telling me they couldn’t believe I got away with what I wrote as a columnist for the Arizona Republic. I identified and questioned the vast power of the Real Estate Industrial Complex. While most of the local media were mindless boosters, I discussed the serious challenges to the state’s economy (which are coming true) and indeed to its future as a quality place to live (ditto). How, hundreds of readers asked, did I keep my job?

In the end I didn’t, of course. But for nearly seven years, I offered one of the few alternatives to local cheerleading and media growthgasms. And I was the only one to keep a sustained focus on economic, social and environmental issues — and how they were all tied together.

And yet, dear readers, I pulled my punches nearly every time I wrote.

20