Slowly but surely

In a testament to how much people want an authentic, urban environment in Phoenix, there's still progress downtown even in this bleak economy.

Downtown denizens like me have looked forward for years to the opening of the Phoenix Public Market's permanent grocery store, the first such store in downtown Phoenix in a generation. Tomorrow is the day that the market finally opens. Here's hoping this is just another step in the remarkable growth of the public market since it opened in early 2005.

Did you know-- and can you believe-- that a housing development was actually just completed downtown? A transit-oriented development for seniors called McCarty on Monroe opened last week at 12th Street and Monroe, just one block north of a light rail stop. In this economy, this type of small-scale, near-downtown development is crucial if we're to build a true walkable urban environment.

Finally, the ultimate slowly-but-surely piece of news that emerged downtown is that the Downtown Phoenix Partnership is organizing a "zombie walk" the night before Halloween. While I beat up the DPP for a lot of their moves, they deserve some credit for putting this fun idea together.