A Phoenix First

Saturday night Girlfriend_of_Downtown_Resident and I made history as we became the first people to ever miss the light rail train! Yes, I know dozens of people have already ridden the vehicle, but the two of us tried to catch the last ride on the light rail at Mayor Gordon's tree lighting and weren't able to climb aboard. Despite running up to the train-- which was full of people-- at the stop on First Avenue, the Metro representative wouldn't let us into the car. I guess I'll have to wait until December 27 to ride for real.

Downtown links and comments

Here are a few things happening in downtown Phoenix:

* The Roosevelt Harvest Festival is today. This event, in its second year, is worth a look. It's free and it's a fun way to check out all the shops and restaurants in the area without the elbow-to-elbow hassle of First Fridays. There's even a beer garden sponsored by Lost Leaf. I went last year and enjoyed the event. My only wish for this year: hopefully the aggressive guys hawking the Obama t-shirts (their Arizona HQ is at Sixth Street) will back off a little today.

* I love the sense of humor at the light rail signs at each of the train stops around town. The small video screens show some animated flames, and then flash the words "But it's a dry heat." I wonder if this type of thing will continue once the systems's actually up and running.

* Speaking of light rail, workers at a prominent local law firm organized a light rail death pool where contestants could wager on the date and time on which the first person is killed in a light rail accident. Sick. At least the firm's top guy shut the pool down and condemned the idea.

* Finally, it's encouraging even in a down market that Sens, an Asian restaurant on First Street, will hold its grand opening this week. I doubt there's anywhere in the Phoenix area that has as many non-chain restaurant options as downtown.

(Somewhat OT) What you didn't read on the Downtown Phoenix Journal

The following is a somewhat off-topic digression:

I like the Downtown Phoenix Journal blog and read it pretty much daily. The Journal does a nice job of tracking downtown's events and providing commentary. I also support its right to advertise products-- I have some Google ads on this site. I even look past my pet peeves about the site, namely that the picture on its front page is of midtown, not downtown Phoenix, and that it aggressively pushes renaming the warehouse district downtown as "SoDo," and those truncated SoHo type nicknames (LoDo-Denver, SoMa- San Francisco, etc.) are passe.

But I thought it interesting that the site moderates its comments and raised an eyebrow when I tried to comment on the Journal's post about "FHA Zero Down- Until Sept. 30," and apparently my comment was rejected. The Journal was encouraging borrowers to take advantage of the last few days of the FHA no-money down loans. As the economy crashes down around us due to people getting into loans they couldn't pay back-- and the active government encouragement of such-- I thought this post was misplaced. I wanted to politely point that out. Anyway, here's what I tried to say (roughly, as I'm paraphrasing from memory):

"Love the blog and support your right to advertise. But at this point, with the economy in its current state, do we really need any more people getting into zero-money down loans?"

I thought it was pretty innocuous. But apparently the powers that be at the Downtown Phoenix Journal didn't agree. Your thoughts?

Mistaken Identity

I understand my commentary about Wellington "Duke" Reiter, the former ASU dean who headed up much of the work at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, was printed as a letter to the editor in a central Phoenix newspaper, The Midtown Messenger, and erroneously attributed to another individual.

Apparently the paper is going to run a retraction, but just so there's no confusion-- I'm not Jim McPherson, and he had no hand in writing the blog post.

CityScape = Collier Center

Anyone disagree that by January 2011, CityScape will only comprise two blocks of (mediocre) retail and a single high-rise? (A carbon copy of the Collier Center, as I originally suggested in February 2007?)

Granted, this is a position on which I'd like to be wrong. But the signs all point one way-- the most telling coming a few months ago when the project's developer, RED Develoment, split the incentives in its development agreement so that it could receive half of the promised millions from the city even if it only built one tower at CityScape. Right now, RED is saying that it's building the office tower on the block on the east side of Central and Washington streets, but that the hotel/condo tower will follow in a few months.

We'll see. Any project that depends on condo development in a significant way is probably DOA in this market. And the need for hotel rooms downtown will be significantly blunted by the opening of the city-owned Sheraton.

In any event, the Arizona Republic needs to stop exaggerating the scale of this project. I've seen story after story-- one ran today-- that refers to CityScape as a "sprawling, $900 million project spread out over three blocks." Again, while I'd love to be wrong, this project is not going to spread over three blocks-- my understanding is the project partner that was to develop the block between First and Second streets has already dropped out; it's definitely not going to amount to the $900M touted by the developer in order to gain city approval.

Ultimately, I don't care all that much whether one tower or two is built, although I'd prefer two. My hope was to finally get a project in downtown Phoenix that engages the street with quality retail. My expectations all along have been very low on that front, so if CityScape only ends up producing one more downtown tower, I won't be much more heartbroken. It's too bad. Much as I'd like, I just can't get excited about this project.

ASU students don't miss a chance to bash downtown

In a repeat of a story that was written in January 2007, the Republic spoke to several ASU students who were very dismissive of downtown Phoenix and the new ASU campus. The consensus, as it was in 2007, seems to be that "there's nothing to do downtown," and that there's no "campus feel."

In some ways, I can sympathize with the comments about the lack of a campus feel. When I looked at colleges, I definitely wanted the wide open green spaces of a traditional college campus; I couldn't imagine going to school at an urban campus like Boston University or NYU.

But I can't relate to the sentiment that there's nothing to do in downtown Phoenix. There's plenty to do if one looks hard enough-- granted, it's not spoon-fed to students like a walk down chain-laden Mill Avenue. And more than that, the ASU students who populate the downtown campus in 2008 need to be leaders who relish being urban pioneers. Instead of complaining, what about taking over a cool but unknown downtown bar like Seamus McCaffrey's or Lost Leaf on Wednesdays or Thursdays, and causing the rest of the city to take notice and follow along?

Duke Reiter leaves a mixed legacy at ASU

Leave it to the Arizona Republic to give nothing but glowing reviews to ASU's Wellington "Duke" Reiter, the former dean of ASU's college of design, who is headed to Chicago to take the top job at one of that city's universities.

However, I'm sure there are a lot of downtown Phoenix activists who are happy to see him leave.

Reiter did spearhead the development of ASU's downtown Phoenix campus, and he did prod the city of Phoenix to re-examine itself. He made a powerful comment a couple years back, stating-- and I paraphrase-- that it was an open question as to whether Phoenix would ever become a real city and not just an overgrown suburb.

But on the other hand, Reiter was 100% behind the decision to wipe out nearly all of the buildings on the site of what is now the Civic Space park. Only a public outcry spared the A.E. England building from the wrecking ball, and supposedly Reiter pulled some strings inside the City of Phoenix to pull the building off historic registers so that it could be demolished. (Of course, Reiter later took credit for preserving the building in a laughable bit of revisionist history). ASU downtown Phoenix also wiped out the Taylor Street bungalows.

And what did we get in return from the design dean? Some good and some bad, and a lot of question marks. The good: the ASU journalism building is a true city building that will feature a news zipper and a restaurant and enhance the streetscape. The bad, or at least the mediocre: the new Taylor Place dorms are pretty institutional-looking, and the nursing building was going to turn more blank walls to the downtown streets until another public outcry caused ASU to back off its variance requests. And the civic space park is a question mark (and the public art was installed by the city with the backing of the artist community-- and that almost bit the dust so that the park could open at the same time students return to ASU in fall 2008).

So Reiter's legacy includes helping get the ASU downtown campus off the ground, but also includes a lot of clear-cutting the little shreds of history Phoenix still has in favor of some mostly underwhelming university buildings. On balance, I can't say I'll miss the guy.

A holiday aberration, or a sign of the future?

Yesterday's First Fridays was the most poorly-attended version of the event I can remember since I started attending regularly in 2004. The question is why-- the insane heat, the fact it was Fourth of July and everyone who stayed in town was watching fireworks or the Diamondbacks, or whether the new rules on street vending have had some effect.

I happen to favor the restrictions on the vendors-- for a while it seemed First Fridays was turning into Phoenix's largest garage sale-- and happen to think that even if the crowds dissipate somewhat because of the absence of the vendors, that the focus will turn back to the art in the various galleries. And that's where it belongs.

Downtown Phoenix's new icon

The Janet Echelman "Sky Bloom" artwork that will soon grace the new downtown Phoenix Civic Space is going to look amazing and, I predict, will be an image that will define the city on postcards and in movie and TV scenes. Look carefully at the lower-center of the picture above (or click to enlarge), and you can see the ring on which the remainder of the artwork will be installed. It is huge, and this is going to be huge.

The Downtown Phoenix Partnership just doesn't get it

Does the Downtown Phoenix Partnership just enjoy publicly demonstrating its irrelevance?

I'm not sure how else to explain the DPP's move this week to (finally) abandon the ridiculous "Copper Square" brand name-- only to announce plans to pick another name to replace Copper Square.

Just what we need: another nickname for downtown that no one will ever use.

Here's a thought for the DPP: save your money. Or, if you've got $100K to blow on downtown, how about fixing some of the narrow and cracked sidewalks, providing shade, or adding some bike paths somewhere? But don't waste your members' money on renaming a place that already has a name-- downtown Phoenix.

Ups and downs at downtown restaurants; downtown project and dirt lot list updates

The 101 Bistro/Pita Jungle experiment has apparently come to an end, as the landlord exercised its rights of forcible entry and detainer and changed the locks on the doors and kicked out the tenant. All the cool patio seating is gone, as well as every trace of the restaurant inside. Too bad; Pita Jungle seemed like a perfect concept downtown.

Around the corner, Thai Elephant appears to have extended its hours and is open until 9 p.m. on weeknights and weekends.

Girlfriend of Downtown_resident and I tried out The Bread Fruit (Jamaican restaurant) a few nights ago and were somewhat disappointed. However, I'll leave the restaurant reviews to Silverbear and the Railfood blog. Maybe they're just working out the kinks in the first few days; at least we didn't have to wait an hour to be served like you do in Jamaica.

The Downtown Phoenix Project List and Downtown Phoenix Dirt Lot List have been updated.

Build it

The proposed 400-foot towers at the southwest corner of Camelback and Central have everything Phoenix needs-- pedestrian orientation, height, and compatibility with the light rail line. The developer, Reid Butler, has a track record of quality downtown projects (Roosevelt Commons and Legacy Bungalows). And, in true Phoenix form, the project is meeting with resistance from the neighbors.

Protesting height is a reasonable argument in areas where the height doesn't yet exist. But Central Avenue is dotted with high-rises and has been for 30 years. Residents already live in the shadow of towers, so their arguments against this development sound weak.

The guy who really needs to get off the fence in this matter is Phoenix councilmember Tom Simplot. Light rail was built to facilitate this kind of development-- and without an ample supply of residents who can walk to its stations, Metro won't be a success. Why should this matter to Simplot? He's on Metro's board.

Random Thoughts

* Stock Footage. I loved seeing the downtown Phoenix shots on ABC today during the Suns game, but is it too much to ask for these guys to get some current footage? The downtown shot during today's game showed an unfinished Summit in the foreground and a half-built 44 Monroe in the distance. The downtown shot during a recent Diamondbacks game on Fox Sports Arizona recently panned over downtown at night-- but 44 Monroe hadn't even been built yet-- meaning the shot was at least two years old. Hey, downtown Phoenix can use the publicity, but let's get some current footage so everyone can see all the new projects.

* New Diamondback attitude. Speaking of the Diamondbacks, I heard Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall on KTAR's morning show this week-- he joked that he wanted to have a contest to send a fan of an opposing team to Cincinnati (in his mind, a lousy city). I love that kind of attitude. I have attended tons of Cardinals games over the years that were filled with fans of the other team, and I've always had the belief that the Bidwell family didn't mind that, believing a customer is a customer. It's great to see the Diamondbacks take the opposite approach. One more reason why I had no problem watching the Cardinals move out to Glendale.

* Dead Real Estate Market. While the foreclosure rate in central Phoenix is low relative to the rest of the metro area, home sales in downtown Phoenix are nonexistent. There have been seven - seven! - sales in the 85003 zip code during the first quarter of 2008.

Light rail appears to turn in an hour too early

Metro light rail created a stir this week when it released its schedule. Metro chose to keep its schedule simple-- they promise a train will run every ten minutes during peak hours (vaguely defined as sunrise to sunset) and twenty minutes during other times. Wade through the labrynth of light rail schedules in other cities and you'll see that this was a good idea.

But I didn't like the simultaneous announcement that the train will end service at 1 a.m. Metro rail ought to stay open until bars close at 2 a.m., especially in a county in which drunk driving is a major problem (relative to other places across the U.S.).

Metro's projected closing at 1 a.m. is early when compared to its peers*:

City Rail Service Closing Hour

New York: n/a (subway runs 24 hours)
Washington, D.C.: 3 a.m.
San Diego: 2 a.m. (last trains run around 1 a.m. and reach final stops at 2 a.m.)
Denver: 2 a.m. (last trains run around 1 a.m. and reach final stops at 2 a.m.)
Dallas: 1 a.m. (last trains run around midnight and reach final stops at 1 a.m.)
Boston: 12:30 a.m.

* It should be noted that it may be too early to know exactly what a 1 a.m. closing means. For instance, while light rail ends service at 1 a.m. in San Diego, the last train reaches its ultimate destination around 2 a.m. If at the end of the night the trains need to head to the railyard at 48th Street and Washington, it could very well be that the last train will make its way through downtown Tempe and Phoenix well after 1 a.m. We'll see.

More downtown Phoenix dining

The Bread Fruit, a Jamaican restaurant, will open this spring on Pierce Street near First Street. Around the corner in a restored one-story commercial building at 735 North First Street, the sign on the window says one of the building's spaces is being fitted for a restaurant. There are rumblings of a sushi place coming into 215 E. McKinley's ground floor. All of these places are within a very short walk of Matt's Big Breakfast and the Roosevelt. It's incredible to see these developments in the midst of a slow market.

One negative: seeing The Bread Fruit find a home in a teeny old one-story building does make me wonder what could have been had ASU salvaged the Taylor Street bungalows. But I guess there's little need to dwell on the past with so many good things ahead.

More (Super Bowl and other) links

In light of the Super Bowl, the Associated Press rehashes the City of Phoenix party line on downtown development, (this article ran in media outlets all over the world). While the big-ticket developments like stadiums and convention centers are fine, they are generally failures at putting people on the streets. I hope our leadership realizes that downtown Phoenix won't be a success until there are people on the streets day and night. Although it's cool that they quoted Matt of Matt's Big Breakfast.

On the other hand, another writer skewers Phoenix as "far too spread out," and notes the "downtown lacks life." (The Phoenix comment is toward the end of the story.)

Which brings me to my next Super Bowl-related point-- I heard from a source that's pretty well-connected in Phoenix sports business that the NFL Host Committee is not happy with the spread-out nature of our metro area. The NFL apparently dislikes the fact, for instance, that the Patriots stayed at the Westin in north Scottsdale, the Giants on the Gila River Reservation, the media in downtown Phoenix, and the game was played in west Glendale. Driving between those four points is an 81-mile, one hour and forty-five minute trip. My source tells me the NFL prefers cities "where everything is in one place." This matters as the Phoenix area tries to compete for future Super Bowls.

Finally, on another topic, Christopher Leinberger of the University of Michigan and Brookings Institution gave a great speech to the DREAM'R awards sponsored by the Downtown Phoenix Partnership. While he made a lot of great points, my favorite was when he noted that members of Generation X and Y pick a city in which to live and then build their careers there. Therefore, he noted, it's important to offer the walkable urban environment that so many Gen X and Y members prefer. As I've said before, Phoenix is living this reality as native Arizonans move to places like LA, DC and New York in search of urban life. You can get a flavor of his remarks in this chat he held with the Arizona Republic.

Super Bowl links

Exactly as I figured, the Super Bowl media blitz is on and downtown Phoenix is taking its lumps. One guy gives a pretty objective take on downtown Phoenix's "ghost town" feel, while another opts for the lazy way out and settles for Pizzeria Uno and griping on a blog.

Elsewhere, I do battle with the owner of the Vine at Thirty Second Street and Indian School (never liked that place anyway) over the state of downtown Phoenix-- he calls it "a big fat zero," while I say it's "improving." I could have brought up the seedy neighborhood around his bar, but chose to take the higher ground.

Some guy who is apparently a Scottsdale resident gives downtown a one-sentence brush-off as part of an incredibly lame take on visiting the Phoenix area.

Finally, a real columnist offers an upbeat view of the Phoenix metropolitan area. (Hey, how come no one called it the "Valley?")

A city dweller's guide to Super Bowl XLII

No, Phoenix is not Boston or New York. That's hardly a revelation. But visitors here for the Super Bowl wishing to take in a little urban culture in the desert should look carefully, because there are some great finds in our city as well.

I've compiled a list of downtown Phoenix "city culture" that our guests should check out if they want an escape from the bleached-blonde vapidity of Scottsdale or the beer-soaked environments of Tempe and Glendale (or the suburban sameness of everywhere else):


* First Fridays Art Walk. Friday, February 1, 2008, 6-11 p.m.; sites all over downtown and uptown Phoenix but concentrated at Third Street and Roosevelt Street and Grand Avenue at Fifteenth Avenue (for details see artlinkphoenix.com). More than 10,000 people descend on downtown Phoenix monthly to check out the artwork in the various avante garde downtown galleries (which stay open late on this night). The art is really hit or miss, although I recommend checking out what's new at the Bragg's Pie Factory at 1301 NW Grand Avenue or taking in the Gold Spot Gallery at Third Avenue and Roosevelt Street.


* Downtown breakfast and lunch. At this point in downtown Phoenix's nascent renaissance, the restaurant scene is further ahead than the nightlife options (although I'll discuss those as well). There are terrific options for breakfast and dinner downtown. First, breakfast-- Matt's Big Breakfast is the gold standard for breakfast and lunch in Phoenix; Palatte opened last summer in a renovated historic home at 606 N. Fourth Avenue and serves healthy breakfast and lunch options and has a nice outside patio; and for the really adventurous the Welcome Diner serves limited breakfasts and lunches in a Depression-era/Route 66 diner-on-wheels (seating nine individuals) in the Garfield neighborhood.

[Matt's Big Breakfast, 801 N. First Street, 7:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.; Palatte, 606 N. Fourth Avenue, 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.; Welcome Diner, 924 E. Roosevelt Street, 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.]


* Downtown dinner. Everybody knows about Pizzeria Bianco, the downtown wood-fired pizza that has won multiple awards and was even called (by an out-of-town reviewer) "the best pizza in the world." It's great food and is worth the wait when you couple a trip there with stops at next-door Bar Bianco and the brand-new Cross and Crown English pub across the way. But if you'd like to avoid the three-hour waits that can be common at Pizzeria Bianco, check out Cibo in the Roosevelt Historic District next to downtown Phoenix. It's in a refurbished 1920's house and has a great selection of pizza, wines, and desserts (try the crepes with nutella). Another great spot for bohemian adventurers is Fate, which serves inexpensive pan-Asian fare in a restored historic home just off Roosevelt Street. Fate is even more of a destination these days thanks to its recently-opened Next Door outdoor bar. Fate is open until 3:00 a.m. on the weekends, which is great for those living the NYC lifestyle, as is Carly's, an avante garde sandwich place with a great beer selection, open until at least 2:00 a.m. on weekends.

[Pizzeria Bianco 623 E. Adams St., 5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.; Bar Bianco, 609 E. Adams St., 4:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.; Cross and Crown Pub, across from Pizzeria Bianco, call ahead for hours; Cibo, 603 N. Fifth Avenue, 5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. weekends, earlier weekdays; Fate, 905 N. Fourth Street, open until 2:00 a.m. Friday and 3:00 a.m. Saturday; Carly's, 128 E. Roosevelt Street, open until 2:00 a.m. on weekends. (Keep in mind these places will be mobbed on First Fridays (Feb. 2), but other than Pizzeria Bianco should be only moderately busy on other nights.)]


* Nightlife. Downtown Phoenix is just starting to develop a nightlife scene and its current options are very limited, but for those who get tired of Scottsdale's fakeness or Tempe's college scene, there are some quality spots to relax and try some great beer. Go to the Roosevelt Tavern, owned by the same couple that runs Matt's Big Breakfast, featuring multiple beers on tap including Tempe's own Kiltlifter, plus some clever takes on bar munchies, and take in a scene that features everything from prep school teachers to beatniks (yes, Phoenix has some). A great discovery just two blocks away is the Lost Leaf, which has more than 75 varieties of domestic and imported bottled beers (that will seem really cheap by east coast standards). A nice, authentic Irish pub will help the Bostonians get over any brief homesickness, and that's what you'll find at Seamus McCaffrey's in the heart of downtown, which usually features live music on weekends. Finally, for wine lovers, a stop at Cheuvront (beware- it closes early) or Silver might be a good option.

[Roosevelt Tavern, 816 N. Third Street, open until 2:00 a.m. on weekends; Lost Leaf, 914 N. Fifth Street, open until 2:00 a.m. every night; Seamus McCaffrey's, 18 W. Monroe Street; Cheuvront, 1326 N. Central Avenue, open until midnight on weekends; Silver, Second Street and Washington Street, call for hours.]

Party off

Watching fireworks from a downtown Phoenix rooftop, as my friends and I did on New Year's Eve, was a study in Phoenix sprawl.

Way, way out on the horizon in every direction-- Tempe, Avondale, Peoria, Scottsdale-- were fireworks. One would have expected the nation's fifth-largest city to follow suit. After all, a firework display is not that expensive, and downtown is a great scene for such shows because the noise from the explosions echo off the other buildings in a really cool way. There's no need for a full-blown New Year's party-- the colossal bust that was downtown's New Year's Eve party to ring in the year 2000 showed there's no point in trying to encroach on Tempe's virtual monopoly on big New Year's celebrations (and Glendale's poorly-attended Westgate Party just underscores that reality).

But instead of a simple fireworks display, downtown Phoenix was quiet. Maybe city leaders will realize that Phoenix has fallen behind even its suburbs and put together something next year.