Downtown Phoenix finally got its name back this week after Phil Gordon announced that the city would eliminate the "Copper Square" brand name.
Hooray!
The ridiculous nickname, foisted upon downtown Phoenix by a marketing team, had no historical basis and was rarely used by anyone who wasn't paid to repeat the term. While I actually think downtown could benefit by naming some of its districts (e.g., Roosevelt Row), it was silly to try to call downtown Phoenix by anything besides its real name.
So how is that for good news? Number two in my "Five Worst Things to Happen Downtown in the Last Decade" has been corrected. And number one (the continued destruction of historic buildings) has been staved off temporarily with the Sun Mercantile decision. Good times, indeed.
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I missed that detail in the Mayor's speech, but I agree that it's good news. Some out-of-town vendors who visit my office will refer to Copper Square when talking to me because they see the name in brochures at their hotels, but they are puzzled that there is no park or traffic intersection that is the real Copper Square. "Downtown," along with historic names such as "Roosevelt" and "Evans-Churchill," is more intuitive and meaningful.
I will say that the "Copper Square" effort was good for one thing-- it caused the downtown leadership to paint over all the garish purple streetlights. Now we're left with a much classier copper color.
I finally had a chance to read the text of the speech:
http://www.ci.phoenix.az.us/NEWSREL/3010speech.html
I can't find the statement that "Copper Square" will be retired. Was it something the Mayor ad-libbed?
The transcript doesn't make any references to the accompanying video and powerpoint presentation, so there are a few gaps in the speech. Mayor Gordon made the announcement at the very end of the speech, here:
"Finally, there is one person in this room who has helped us rise and grow stronger. [Brian Kearney of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership]
He recently stepped down as the executive director of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership to do new things. But he leaves a legacy that cannot be undone – except for one thing – which leads me to my final thing To Do tomorrow – or rather, to “Undo”…."
At that point, the powerpoint flashed something about Copper Square, and the mayor remarked that downtown would be referred to only as "downtown Phoenix." Had to be a little embarassing for Kearney.
Okay. Guess it was one of those "you had to be there" things. It's still good news. Thanks.
I get out and walk around downtown often. I walked around this sunday morning and the ONLY people that I saw were out of towners/conventioners. Where are the LOCALS? Still, with all of this "buzz" and "building of condos" the streets of downtown Phoenix are void of any local activity whatsoever. I looked at the Orpheum Lofts. If they say its sold out and moved in already, WHERE ARE ALL THE PEOPLE? I saw no one at all! Oh, and I thought the whole "Copper Square" thing was stupid, too. The city is such a sell out to anyone with a wallet, in this case Phelps Dodge. And could PD have built an uglier buildling at all? Wow, what a disapointment. Try this sometime. Go downtown and walk all the alleys between the buildings. You will get a very good view into the "OLD" Phoenix.
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