Elsewhere around downtown

A look at what others are saying about life in downtown and metro Phoenix:

* A group is organizing tonight to promote late-night hours on the light rail line. I took light rail after 11 p.m. on a Friday a few weeks ago and it was packed, but it's great to see others fighting complacency and helping to make sure that we don't lose our late hours.

* A state legislator gives Downtown Voices Coalition a "C+" on its report card and then receives rebuttal from a DVC member listing the group's accomplishments. I'm interested to see if the legislator responds.

* Samuel Richard at the Downtown Phoenix Journal writes about people leaving Phoenix, and draws an avalanche of responses on the topic.

* Phoenix is noticed by the Wall Street Journal, but once again it's not for reasons we'd like.

Frugal in (downtown) Phoenix

One of the knocks on urban living is that it's too expensive, and therefore inaccessible to middle and certainly lower-income earners. One look at some of the prices on menus at downtown Phoenix restaurants and-- still to some degree-- the prices of downtown condos-- lends a lot of credence to that argument. Obviously, high prices are a scourge these days as everyone tries to cut back on costs and save more. So can downtown Phoenix fit into a budget?

Fiancee_of_Downtown_Resident and I certainly think so. Friday night we hit the Third Fridays concert at the Civic Space Park (free), traveled to Tempe on light rail ($3.50 as I had already purchased a round trip that day for work) and purchased two huge yogurts at Mojo ($5 with a coupon) before catching a hilarious open mic on Mill Avenue (free) for less than $10 total.

The free Third Fridays concert got me thinking-- what other free or cheap hidden gems exist downtown? There are some good ones:

Phoenix Art Museum: free First Fridays from 6-10 p.m.

(obviously, dozens of galleries around downtown and central Phoenix are free on First and Third Fridays as well)

Heard Museum: free Third Fridays from 5:30-9 p.m. and Saturday, July 25 and August 1, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Civic Space Third Fridays concert series: free every Third Friday; also watch for the occasional free movies in the park.

Arizona Science Center/Phoenix Children's Museum/Phoenix Art Museum/Heard Museum: free with Culture Pass from various libraries including the Burton Barr Phoenix Library (admits 4).

AMC 24 at the Arizona Center: $5 movies before noon, including weekends.

Carly's: $3 wine on Thursdays.

Feel free to include any of your own free and inexpensive downtown Phoenix items in the comments...

Do people really believe this stuff?

I acknowledge the fact that it's hard to draw any conclusions about people's thinking from online forums, particularly the local mecca of mouth-breathers, the azcentral.com blogs.

But some recent comments made by one inhabitant of the azcentral.com forums were striking to me for their sheer ignorance:

"Most major cities never had a downtown and function quite well without
one."

"There are few if any examples of the successful application of urban planning models to the development of a modern city."

"All of Paris is a downtown, just like all of Phoenix is a downtown."

For obvious reasons, I'll let these arguments speak for themselves. But it's no wonder that downtown Phoenix looks the way it does when this line of thought is prevalent in the community.

Welcome to the neighborhood, and please come again soon

I'm tempted to be annoyed by the fact that ADOT has shut down I-10 between Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue for roadwork for the third weekend in the last four (and plans to do it one more time next weekend). I was going to write a post about the way that decision has choked downtown streets such as McDowell and Roosevelt, causing large backups on Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue in the process and making errands like running to the grocery store inordinately difficult.

But I decided the better approach was to see the bright side of ADOT's move. Thousands of people who would have just zipped past downtown Phoenix and given the area a passing notice, if any at all, were exposed to the area these last few weekends. Those who took their detour along Roosevelt Street got to see, among other things, relatively new urban housing developments, a bakery, restaurants, and a new record store. This had to be quite a shock for many in this metro area, where it's not uncommon to hear people say they haven't been downtown in 15 or more years. No doubt many of those people expect downtown to be a frightening and crime-ridden place, and almost certainly those people were pleasantly surprised.

On second thought, maybe we can petition ADOT to shut down I-10 every weekend.

New Times responds to light rail ridership issue

Ray Stern, the author of the New Times light rail ridership article I discussed a few months back stopped by to comment on my post. If you recall, I suggested New Times exaggerated the state of light rail ridership and ignored the fact that Metro ridership is well above the system's own initial estimates. Ray believes I implied that it was OK for Metro to selectively report its statistics in his comment; I argue otherwise in my response.

Downtown Phoenix snippets

Downtown Phoenix continues to inch forward with the addition of new businesses. Revolver Records is leaving its home in the Melrose area of Seventh Avenue for a spot on the south side of Roosevelt Street across from Carly’s Restaurant. Revolver opened July 1 and doesn’t close on weekends until 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, the buildings that used to house Fate and Next Door will get new life as Nine05, a restaurant, and Canteen, a “gastropub.” Sounds interesting.

Jim McPherson has put together a map of downtown’s various projects with some good commentary and descriptions of the current status of what’s going on.

Lower Grand Avenue will host a street festival in September, and has put together a cool blog celebrating the festival and the restaurants and attractions on the street. Hopefully they’ll catch a break with some cool weather that day.