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Is Downtown Phoenix a Recession Ghost Town?

I haven’t mentioned downtown Phoenix for a while. This is mainly because I’ve been busy re-discovering Vancouver and haven’t had much time to reflect on my old stomping ground. However, last week, I received an email from an old acquaintance that I haven’t been able to ignore.

So for may Phoenix readers, here’s one more post for old times sake; and apologies if I channel a bit too much Jon Talton. For my new Vancouver readers, here’s a little education in Arizona urbanism.

Life in the Urban Desert

One of my biggest frustrations living in Phoenix was the sheer number of empty lots and vacant building in the downtown core. No matter how much we tried to make a foothold in the desolation, we were simply overwhelmed by the scale of our task; if not outright rejected.

Based on a ‘back of the napkin’ tally, over 40% of Phoenix’s core is either vacant or a surface parking lot. This is more than most Rust Belt cities, including Detroit. Indeed the entire city of Detroit could fit into just the vacant lots in Phoenix! Yet while the decay of the Rust Belt is a national tragedy, the decay of downtown Phoenix is business as usual.

Making matters worse, the picture below was once a neighbourhood filled with historic—if rundown—homes. But instead of promoting their restoration and rehabilitation, the city cleared the area. The are was first cleared to make room for a fool hardy idea attract a NFL football stadium. The stadium eventually ended up in suburban Glendale. More recently, they have promised a ‘Bio-science Campus that has failed to gain much traction. In the meantime, downtown Phoenix is left with one of the biggest urban scars in North America.

Just south of this picture sits yet another parking lot. It was recently created by the City of Phoenix and Arizona State University on the site of a vintage mid-century hotel. Despite a concerted effort—and even a lawsuit—the powers than be decided that Phoenix needed yet more parking, leaving community members literally stewing on the dusty asphalt.

In cities like Detroit, people are taking advantage of the depressed real estate prices to incubate small businesses. In Phoenix—the epicenter of the real estate industrial complex—property owners, including the city, are sitting on their lots. They are waiting for the real estate market to rebound enough to cover their investment. They’d be better of waiting for Godot. if there is any hope for downtown Phoenix to rise again, they need to cut their losses and move on.

I hate to see downtown Phoenix criticized. Especially because so many people are working diligently to make it their oasis in a urban desert. But sometimes a city needs a slap in the face to wake up and realize their dire straights. Perhaps this dubious distinction from The Fiscal Times is it:

9 Worst Recession Ghost Towns in America: Downtown Phoenix, AZ

Is Downtown Phoenix a Recession Ghost Town?

Downtown Phoenix, AZ

Before the housing market crash, an acre in downtown Phoenix was selling for about $90 a square foot. Today, it sells for $9 a square foot. Empty dirt lots checker the area, where developers once dreamed of high-rise condos and office buildings, and many businesses have closed their doors.

Residents hope building will happen again once the market recovers, but in the meantime neighborhood organizers push for temporary fixes to the eyesore, like planting sunflowers and projecting movies onto the side of existing buildings.

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Arizona Centennial Highway “Sign”

In 1999, Michael Levine (co-host of the 2010 Jane’s Walk Phoenix) purchased “a few” signs from the Arizona State surplus yard. 12 years later he has put them to work, in time for the Arizona Centennial in 2012.

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Phoenix Regional Tree & Shade Summit

One aspect that I often overlook in my study of urbanism is green infrastructure. This is a rather glaring oversight, especially given that it can offer cost-effective solutions to many economic, social and environmental problems.

This is why I am looking forward to the Regional Tree and Shade Summit that is taking place in downtown Phoenix this Wednesday, March 9, from 8:30 – 5:00 pm at the A.E. England Building in Civic Space Park.

I have included some information on the event below. If you are living in Phoenix or the broader Valley, I hope you can join me for at least part of the day.

Growing Connections: Roots to Branches

Arizona and its communities face challenging problems with diminishing resources. How do communities do more with less? Green Infrastructure is a solution multiplier that provides solutions to many economic, social and environmental problems. All Arizona communities and businesses have a role in cultivating a healthier, more livable and prosperous future.

Presentations and a Discussion on Cultivating Green Infrastructure

The Regional Tree & Shade Summit will bring together municipal and private sector professionals for a one-day meeting to discuss the growing importance of regional tree and shade plans and green infrastructure to the long-term sustainability and success of our communities. Please join us!

Details

Date

Wednesday, March 9, 2011
8:30am – 5:00pm

Location

A.E. England Building @ Civic Space Park
1424 N. Central Ave, Downtown Phoenix

Adjacent to Downtown Phoenix Central Station. Light Rail Use Strongly Encouraged

RSVP

Space is Limited: Register at http://sustainablecities.asu.edu

More information

If you have any questions, please contact Anne Reichman at anne.reichman@asu.edu or call 480-965-2168.

pdf Phoenix Regional Tree & Shade Summit

View the PDF Flyer

pdf2 Phoenix Regional Tree & Shade Summit

Program at a Glance

pdf3 Phoenix Regional Tree & Shade Summit

Transportation & Parking Map

Phoenix’s CityScape Fails to Live Up to the Hype

Flickr Phot by Nick Bastien

A little over a year Iago, I shared my first observations on CityScape. It has been one of my most popular posts.

At the time I wasn’t impressed. People told me to give it time; wait until the businesses start opening up; attend a few events.

Well, I’ve done all three, and I’m more disappointed than ever.

The project seems to ignore key concepts of New Urbanism design, which calls for more windows and openings. In this way, CityScape is inward-looking and smacks of Arizona Center. I’m concerned that they made some of the same mistakes, and that we didn’t learn a lot since that time.

—Grady Gammage Jr. in Phoenix Magazine

Cityscape continues to represent all that is wrong with Phoenix: artificial, ignorant of its site and isolated from it’s surroundings. Despite being promoted as the centerpiece of downtowns re-re-re-revitalization, the development has yet to deliver. Hopes of residential units have been delayed—if not dashed, the anticipated grocery store (high-end or otherwise) has yet to open, high-profile local businesses have pulled out and national chains have reduced hours or laid off staff.

Where’s The City?

Not only is Cityscape blatantly anti-city and anti-urban; it doesn’t even compare well with its suburban competition. From the inside there is no there there. Patriots Square is still a concrete mess, the exterior windows are still covered and the few businesses have minimal signage, their glazed windows make it difficult to see what’s inside (particularly on the upper levels).

We are accustomed to accepting change in the name of progress without taking a questioning look backward.

—Roberta Brandes Gratz, The Living City, pg. 312.

Phoenixs CityScape Fails to Live Up to the Hype

Photo Credit: Fred M. on Yelp

Boosters of CityScape may like the convenience of the parking, the ~~sterility~~ cleanliness, the security (read homeless patrol) and the excitement that occurs during peak moments. What they don’t comment on is the emptiness that pervades the development between these rare events. They also seem to be immune to the banal architecture and it’s isolation from the rest of downtown, highlighted by the contemptuously blank walls facing large swathes of Jefferson and Washington. Sure, CityScape may be better than ‘nothing’, but do we really want to set the bar so low?

To be fair, I do like a few of the tenants especially the newly opened Arrogant Butcher and even the franchised Jimmy Johns. I’m happy that downtown finally has a pharmacy. However they are not enough. Indeed, I wish that they were the exception that proves the rule, and not the rule themselves.

These type of businesses should be the lures to get people excited and drawn downtown where they discover locally owner businesses and begin frequenting them. Instead, customers of Jimmy’s get to see a competing chain; and Arrogant Butcher diners get a panoramic view of parking lots.

I think CityScape is more of a convenience than a destination. I don’t think they’re creating any kind of unique experience for anyone that’s been in Phoenix and shopped before.

—Steve Rosenstein, co-owner of The Duce, in Phoenix Magazine

Mixed Use is Not a Panacea

To make things worse for downtown as a whole, the few business that have opened, and several of the office tower tenants could have easily found space. Instead of using public funds (which now make up about half the project’s funding) to lure business to CityScape, the city could have helped these businesses settle in downtown’s existing urban fabric.

Imagine the Arrogant Butcher and CVS on the ground floor of the incredible Luhr’s complex, or Lucky Strike reusing the under appreciated McGinnis Building across from the Duce on South Central? The remaining stores and restraints could have easily fit in the empty store fronts of the Collier Center, Cronkite Building or several other nearby buildings The office tenants could have stayed in the previous downtown locations, or moved to the Luhr’s buildingor the former Phelps Dodge offices.

By going this route we now have MORE empty offices and store fronts downtown than ever before. Indeed, CityScape is looking more and more like the Collier Center, with Lucky Strike filling the role of Hard rock; Arrogant Butcher playing Kincaid’s and Banner Health acting as Bank of America.

Phoenix needs to learn that while mixed-use is important, a mixed used mega development will never be a substitute for the authentic diversity that grows out of several smaller-scale densely organized projects.

The Paradox Remains

CityScape is a paradox. It was intended to be a bold new form of development downtown, but ended up being a lesser facsimile of the Arizona and Collier Centers. But perhaps the biggest irony is that while it’s name and marketing scream their urban ambitions, CityScape is almost without a sense of urbanism. To borrow Michael Sorkin’s appraisal of New York’s Lincoln Center, the development is

Like a giant spaceship… offering close encounters with the city, but not too close. The buildings are always adamant about their alien status.

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Urban (Legends) Comic: Here Be Dragons

Urban Planner (and Twitter buddy) George Osner sent me this comic. While not its primary intention, it nonetheless brings a bit of levity and introspection into the often all-too-serious field of urbanism. I especially like the subtle digs at suburbia…

Bonus points if you get the Arizona connection (explain in the comments section).

(Click on image for full size)

About the Artist:

Subnormality is because of WINSTON ROWNTREE (not the author’s real name), who likes to make comics for some reason, will respond to requests for comics-related advice, and will let you use comics from this site in your print/online publication if you ask nicely and are not FHM Australia. Winston is currently available for individual commissions as well, and can be reached at viruscomix (at) gmail.com (prices start at $100, and examples of previous work can be provided upon request. Serious inquiries only). Winston would also like to illustrate your book/short story collection/communist pamphlet/erotic playing card series, and has done such work before for such clients as ECW Press and Cracked.com.

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CityCamp Arizona: Opening Arizona Government

What: CityCamp Arizona

When: Tuesday, February 15th, 7:30am to noon.

Where: City of Chandler City Complex

Cost: FREE

CityCamp Arizona will bring together people like yourself to share ideas to improve local government. CityCamp is an unconference focused toward the participants sharing insights and experiences and taking action to bring about the significant, positive change our communities need.

At an unconference, content is created and organized by participants. This format provides an excellent opportunity for an active, creative, open exchange geared toward action. Afterall, innovation is only possible when good ideas are shared and well executed.

CityCamp Arizona, like other CityCamps, has four main goals:

Bring together local government officials, municipal employees, experts, programmers, designers, citizens, and journalists to share perspectives and insights about the cities in which they live;
Create and maintain patterns for using the Web to facilitate local government transparency and effective local governance;
Foster communities of practice and advocacy on the role of the Web, mobile communication, online information, and open data in cities; and
Create outcomes that participants will act upon after the event is over.

By taking part in CityCamp Arizona you will be able to explore ideas, lessons learned, and strategies that can be implemented in your organization and shared across municipalities, anywhere in the world. Of particular interest will be social, collaborative, and participatory efforts, organizational culture, overcoming obstacles, and technology developments, such as mobile applications and open data.

Most importantly, the organizers of CityCamp Arizona recognize that you and your local governments and community organizations have the most direct influence and impact on our daily lives. This event seeks to create innovative and practical solutions to make cities and other local communities more open and “user friendly.”

Stay in Touch

Find on the web
Follow CityCampAZ on Facebook and Twitter
Register/Sponsor at EventBrite
Event social media tag: #ccaz
GovLoop
E-mail List

CityCampAZ is organized by Gangplank and PhxData.

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New Tools Needed

[Orginally posted on February 11, 2010]

A frustrating thing about living in Arizona is the parochial attitude of many of its residents, especially long-timers. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, “Arizona is unique,” or it will never work here” or “good idea, but we don’t do things that way here.” Sometimes their rationale is sound, but more often than not, I want to shout “Has any one looked around lately and seen the results of the way you DO do things?”

Portrait by Elven Whims

The ongoing economic crisis isn’t the short-term results of the housing melt down, banking fiasco, or illegal immigration. Rather, it is a predictable results of a generation of poor policy and economic decisions made at all levels of government by officials of all political persuasions. Quite simply the decisions that the state has made over the past generation have dropped us into a hole that will be all but impossible to climb out of without radical rethinking. Applying the same tired solutions (more tax cuts, more corporate ‘incentives’), or hoping the next housing boom will solve the state’s problems is not only short-sighted—it is a recipe for continued decline.

Other States are Getting It

While Arizona politicians continue to debate what tax cuts to make, or which national chains to ‘subsidize’, other states are taking innovative measures to spur their local economies.

Earlier this year, the Oregon legislature created a task force to look at ways of encouraging communities to grow their own jobs through local entrepreneurial activity. Based on the concept of ‘economic gardening,’ this proposed legislation intends to balance the more traditional business recruitment strategy of economic development, in which towns and cities do whatever they can to try to lure big employers, who often leave for greener pastures as soon as the costly incentives expire. In baseball terms, this is the difference between hitting the odd home run versus hitting a steady stream of singles and doubles. While the home run may make ESPN, the singles and doubles win the game. Alas Arizona continues to hope to lure the free agents with the big, but un-loyal bats while ignoring the locally grown talent in our ‘farm system.’

In New Mexico, the House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill that allows the state to move between $2 and $5 billion of state funds to credit unions and small banks. The proposed legislation is base on a national movement called Move Your Money that encourages people and businesses to move their money to smaller credit unions and community banks. Not only would this keep more money and investment in the state, it should also improve the quality of local businesses and developments. Alas the legislature adjourned before the Senate could vote on the bill. Hopefully it will be reintroduced in a future session.It would be great to see a similar bill proposed in Arizona. A significant barrier to responsible development in the state is that local developers need to go to national banks for funding. These lenders often look at local business as high risk and prefer one size fits all templates that favor chain stores and big box developments. Having more local options would help give local owned business more local funding options.

Neither of these ideas are the Holy Grail that will save Arizona. However, they are new tools to consider for the new times we’re living in. They are ways to start building a ladder to help the state climb out of our hole, rather that the shovels that we continue to use.

Thanks for reading. As always I’d love to heat you perspective on the issues raised above.

Note: I learned of the Oregon task force initiative through Sarah Dinges on Twitter. Kimber Lanning from Local First Arizona told me about the New Mexico legislation.

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10 of my Favorite Blogs on Phoenix News and Events

I often get asked how I stay on top of everything that is going on in and around Phoenix. My main source of information is my fellow bloggers. I follow over 150 Arizona based bloggers in my Google Reader feed and scan about 100 posts a day. I also have set up a search downtown Phoenix to capture local news feeds and other online sources than mention the area.

Of all these sources, I have narrowed all these sources down to the following top ten (in no particular order). They offer me a mix of politics, news, insights and events that keeps me plugged into to the pulse of Phoenix specifically and Arizona more generally. If you are not following them already I suggest you check them out today.

Arizona Capitol Times: A great source of political news from the state Capitol and beyond. They highlight the key issues of the day from a non-partisan and well-researched perspective.

Rogue Columnist: Phoenician ‘in exile’ Jon Talton’s blog. It’s focus is “commentary and analysis too dangerous for corporate media” The site focuses on issues of politics, sustainability, economics of his beloved hometown from his current peach in Seattle. Some find Jon too negative, sarcastic or even bitter. I find he offers a refreshing clear perceptive that cuts through the denial and boosterism too common in our local media landscape.

Blog for Arizona: “Arizona and National Politics and Culture from a Progressive Perspective.” I don’t always agree with their perspectives, but this site consistently provides cutting edge commentary on the issues facing the state.

Democratic Diva: Democratic Diva is a venue for all things political. One of it’s contributors, Donna Gatehouse is also a regular contributor of Phxated.com. Like Blog for Arizona, I don’t always agree with their positions, but I also learn something new about Arizona’s wacky politics.

Heat City: ‘Hard news in the political interest from Metro Phoenix.’ Nick Martin is a former staff reporter for the East Valley Tribune, who brings a professional journalistic rigor to his coverage of an array of topics from crime to business to politics and beyond. This is not a blog, but rather a hard-hitting media outlet providing original research and analysis of important stories often overlooked by the mainstream media.

Jackalope Ranch: The Phoenix New Times Culture Blog. a great source of information to who is who and what is what in and around Phoenix’s burgeoning creative scene.

LightRailBlogger/RailLife: A one two punch of life on and around Phoenix Metro Light Rail system. Tony, the Light Rail Blogger provides commentary on living a car free lifestyle in downtown Phoenix. Nick from RailLife provided a valley wide perspective of ‘life along the line.’

Blooming Rock: Provides a perspective on all things of note about architecture and planning in central Phoenix. Includes tips on how to green your home in this climate to the latest on urban development to profiles of up and coming Phoenix architects and their projects.

Valley Fever: The Phoenix New Times current affairs blog. Privies unique insights and analysis about Phoenix news and politics not often found elsewhere.

Phxated.com: While I am a regular contributor to this site, I find the content provided my fellow writers to be a constant source of top quality commentary and news about the local arts, media and political scene.

What is your favorite site for news and information on what is going on in Phoenix or Arizona?

10 of my Favorite Blogs on Phoenix News and Events

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New Urbanist Leader Andrés Duany is Coming to Phoenix

I received word this week that one of the leaders of the new urbanist movement, Andrés Duany, is coming to Phoenix next month. While I don’t agree with everything that Duany has done, or the entire new urbanist movement, I am excited to hear him speak. He as close to an ‘urbanist’ rock star as you can get these days.

About Andrés Duany

Andrés Duany and his wife, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, founded Duany Plater Zyberk & Company (DPZ) in 1980. DPZ became a leader in the national movement called the New Urbanism, which seeks to end suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment.

Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. Image: Simon Hare

The firm received international recognition in the 1980s as the designer of Seaside, Florida and Kentlands, Maryland. Duany also led the development of comprehensive municipal zoning ordinances that prescribe urban plans for a variety uses and densities.

Duany Bio (pdf)

Duany in Phoenix

The Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory (PURL) and the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University (ASU) are hosting two lectures by Duany on Wednesday, October 13:

Agrarian Urbanism

The first lecture will take place at ASU Tempe’s Memorial Union 230, Pima Auditorium (map) at 9:00 am:

In this lecture, Andrés Duany will introduce the theory of Agrarian Urbanism, based on examples of communities that have been and are being constructed around the growing of food. Included will be an historical overview of the incorporation of growing food in post-industrial agricultural communities, including the more recent work of progressive cities like Vancouver.

Planning for the 21st Century

The second lecture, will take place that afternoon at PURL (234 N. Central Ave, 8th fl. (map)) at 2:00 pm

In this lecture, Andrés Duany will challenge us to look at the future of American cities in a new light. How do the current crises of global recession and climate change affect how we design and build cities? Sprawl is the least sustainable growth pattern, yet it still represents a major portion of the built environment – how will we adapt, repair, and rebuild it? Duany will propose new ideas and innovative strategies for rebuilding sustainable communities in the 21st century.

Event flyer (pdf)

These lectures are free and open to the public. However, seating is limited. So if you are interested in attending, I urge you to RSVP to aaron.rothman@asu.edu soon as I expect it will fill up fast.