Poor stadium siting decision is multi-million dollar mistake

You could laugh at the stupidity of some of the land use decisions made in the Phoenix area if they weren't so sad. Witness the struggles of Glendale and Phoenix as they try to figure out how to overcome the brutal mistake of placing University of Phoenix Stadium too far outside the urban core.

The issue reared its head as Glendale has expressed its interest in connecting the light rail system to the stadium, probably by running the train up the loop 101 from I-10. While this is a questionable decision because it uses light rail on freeways-- eliminating any opportunities for transit-oriented development on city streets, including Glendale's own downtown-- it also clearly exposes the stupidity of putting the football stadium so far away from the center of the metro area.

For those who have forgotten, Glendale ended up with the stadium after the initial site-- located in Tempe along what is now the light rail line-- was scuttled by concerns from the Federal Aviation Administration and the City of Phoenix that the stadium's proposed location in the stadium flight path was a hazard to jets taking off from the airport. The Glendale site ended up chosen almost by default as several other sites, including one in downtown Phoenix, dropped out of contention. (By the way, I have long argued that it was a positive move for downtown Phoenix that the stadium went elsewhere.)

So here we are in 2009. The stadium was built at 91st Avenue and Glendale just inside the Loop 101, where land was empty and cheap and accessible only by freeway. Meanwhile, light rail has initially proven quite successful, and places like Glendale and Mesa are clamoring for extensions into their cities. And now it's deemed a priority to bring light rail to the stadium, as Glendale and Phoenix attempt to marry the suburban, sprawled-out stadium with urban mass transit. While it's questionable how successful that arrangement will be, if it happens, there's no doubt it's going to be expensive-- the initial estimate for the additional track is $224 million.

So that's $224 million that strapped taxpayers could have avoided spending had our planners had some foresight just a few years ago and placed the stadium in Tempe or somewhere else on or near the light rail path. Hopefully future Phoenix-area land use decisions will be a little more informed now that light rail is here to stay.

Beyond chains and cheese: Restaurant madness and what it means for downtown

While the arts community was the first generation of pioneers to successfully lift downtown Phoenix out of its doldrums, the second wave of downtown resurgence came from the independent restaurants that gambled on the area. By 2005, places like Matt's Big Breakfast, Cibo and Fate proved that independent restaurants with quality food could really have success downtown.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and 2009 is really proving that as the number of restaurants opening their doors all around the aforementioned downtown pioneers is staggering. Already this year the Turf (formerly Turf Accountant), Pasta Bar, El Portal and Sapna's Cafe have opened. By the end of the month Moira will bring sushi back to downtown for the first time in years, and sometime soon Luke's of Chicago will start a branch on Seventh Street in a renovated historic building while a mediterranean restaurant is set to appear on Roosevelt Street just east of Third Avenue. Almost every one of those restaurants is within a half-mile radius of the original Matt's/Fate duo that got things rolling.

Amidst all this Pallette apparently closed-- which is shocking for anyone like me who was part of the sometimes-90 minute wait on the weekends for brunch-- but the rumor is that someone else wanted the location and that Pallette will resurface somewhere else in the area.

Assuming these businesses can survive the current economic conditions, they'll be poised to really help downtown surge when the housing market finally turns around. Downtown Phoenix probably already stood alone with Tempe's Mill Avenue and Old Town Scottsdale as options for those who live in the Phoenix area and prefer walkable urban environments. But aided in no small part by this restaurant boom, downtown has separated itself from the chains of Mill and the cheese of Scottsdale as probably the premiere locale for urbanists. While downtown Phoenix is of course only beginning to catch up with even its western competitors in places like Denver and Portland, it has clearly established some positive momentum.

Downtown odds and ends

A well-placed source says:

* Workers will install the civic space park artwork (you know, the "jellyfish") on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

* The Suns estimate that 10% of fans at US Airways Center arrive on light rail.

* Light rail ridership numbers in February are significantly higher than January's numbers, which beat the preliminary estimates.

* Unfortunately, 44 Monroe only has 11 contracts out of 202 units in the building. A glance at the building at night-- where only a handful of condos are lighted up-- seems to confirm that statement.