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.

Sounding the alarm (again) on CityScape

This month's issue of Contact Magazine (now, curiously, going by the Germanic-sounding name of "kontakt") is out, and it contains an article about the massive CityScape project being built on three prime blocks in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Among other things, the article contains several renderings of the project.

As I've said before, CityScape continues to look like a slightly-modernized Arizona Center. The renderings betray the suburban developer's inward focus-- every one of the renderings depicts the project's interior or one of the "gateways" into the project (think Arizona Center at Third Street and Van Buren by the row of flags and Hooters).

And where the streetscape is shown, one can see blank walls facing outward, or, in the case of the AJ's, a window facing the street, but of course no doors.

The bottom line is that I'm happy for the tall buildings and hip hotels that CityScape will bring to Phoenix. But the real action in any city is on the street. And, while I'd love to be mistaken, it looks like one more Phoenix development is going to get this wrong.

Sunday Updates

Some random updates on things happening in downtown Phoenix:

* Gateway on Grand. The Grand Avenue neighbors have reached a compromise with the developer/investor who proposed a nine-story building on the parcel where the old Desert Sun Hotel sits. The compromise gives the developer/investor the midrise zoning originally sought, but puts a deed restriction on the parcel that would limit the site to a maximum height of 56 feet (four-five stories). This is a great solution as it allows more height than what was originally on the site and makes it more likely that the property will be developed-- it keeps the land's value from being artificially inflated by midrise zoning and makes realistic the construction of a cheaper, wood-frame building (which can still look pretty nice-- see Artisan Lofts on Central). It's great to see a divisive battle avoided and see everyone get something.

* Lido on Roosevelt. Supposedly the parcel at Fourth Street and Roosevelt, once targeted for a 19-story apartment tower, was flipped again. The sign advertising "Lido" has been removed and the property is fenced off. Unfortunately the fence is probably just a deterrent to overflow parking from Modified Arts and not a sign of any impending development.

* Restaurants. Fate's new tapas bar, Next Door, headlines the recent openings downtown. I haven't had a chance to check out the new place-- and I leave the restaurant reviews to Silverbear on his excellent Railfood blog-- but it was mobbed during the November First Fridays. Other openings include Thai Hut on First Street and McDowell (an upgrade from the truck-stop-esque Marvin's Garden that used to occupy that building), middle eastern restaurant Nile Cafe (at Artisan Village near Seventh Street), and a wine bar called Silver at Second Street and Washington. Silver's appearance is especially promising for downtown Phoenix as the upscale wine bar replaces an adult bookstore.

* Coming Soon. A coffee shop is slated to open in the corner storefront at the recently restored Bragg's Pies factory building at Grand Avenue and approximately Thirteenth Avenue. One of the vendors from the Downtown Phoenix Public Market is going to open a full-time enterprise in the spot, which has very cool floor-to-ceiling windows that face toward the downtown skyline. I hope it has wireless...

Copper Square: Put a fork in it

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.

Downtown Phoenix Dirt Lot List

The flip side of the flurry of construction downtown is the continuation of one of downtown's decades-old pastimes: land banking. In this unfortunate scenario, investors (who often live out of state) purchase a lot in hopes of reselling it at an unrealistically high price and tear down whatever building sits on the land to avoid paying the accompanying property tax. This is possibly the single biggest problem facing downtown Phoenix today, as the empty lots are not only ugly, but the continued tear-down of old buildings has led to a dearth of older commercial buildings that small businesses can occupy.

Tracing the evolution of the countless empty lots in downtown and uptown Phoenix today would be next to impossible, so I'll limit my list to those empty lots that have appeared since I moved downtown in 2004. Please let me know if you can think of any more.

Downtown (and Uptown) Phoenix Dirt Lot/Parking Lot List
[updated August 6, 2010]

1. Dirt Lot covering entire city block at Portland Street and First Street; created 2009
2. Jewel Box parcel at Central Avenue and Fillmore; created 2008
3. Dirt Lot at Portland Street and Second Street; created 2007 [former home of the 1909 Morin House, threatened when the Orcutt Winslow partnership planned to tear down the building and moved to Fifth Avenue where it filled a former dirt lot]
4. Dirt Lot at McDowell Road and Fifteenth Avenue; created 2007 [controversial teardown of the Palmcroft Apartments in favor of a proposed four-story complex; probably the highest-profile Proposition 207 victim; thanks to Mark for the mention]
5. Dirt Lot at Central Avenue and Willetta Street; created 2006 [small commercial building that housed a graphic design business, razed for the never-built Artisan Haus project]
6. Dirt Lot at Central Avenue south of Central High School; created 2006 [former Holiday Inn razed for the never-built Cresleigh Village project]
7. Phoenix Biomedical Campus; created 2005 [I know the city moved or demolished several homes in the Fifth Street/Sixth Street area north of Fillmore so that land could be quickly "assembled" for expansion of the campus. The land is still vacant.]
8. Sahara Hotel/Ramada Inn; created 2010-? [The city is tearing down this mid-century modern hotel in hopes that the site will someday house ASU's law school. In the meantime...stop me if you've heard this before...the site will be a parking lot.]

Phoenix fans: still a ways to go

After witnessing the Diamondback fanbase outnumber the Cubs faithful last week, and noting that Chase Field was sold out for two home dates against Colorado this week, I was all set to proclaim that our city is coming of age in its support of the local teams. And then I attended last night's game and changed my mind.

The Diamondbacks still have a lot of fans who are just plain 'ol knobs. Putting aside the garbage-throwing incident in Thursday night's D-Backs-Rockies tilt (an overblown incident that does happen all over the place, unfortunately), I saw some things that tell me that our fans have a long way to go to earn credibility:

(1) Leaving early. With the Rockies leading 2-1 in the seventh inning of Game 2 against the Rockies, fans started heading for the aisles in droves. You have to be kidding me! Why leave? This was a Friday night...in a one-run game...in the National League Championship Series. I realize it's a long drive back to Higley and Buckeye, but why shell out the money for a ticket if you don't even care to stick around to see how the game turns out?

(2) The "wave." Baseball purists hate the wave. I think it can be fun when done at the right time. But I saw a couple sections of the stadium trying to get the wave going in the ninth inning of last night's game, and on into the extra innings. Again...ridiculous-- doing the wave means you're not paying attention to the game. And with a tie score in the most meaningful game of the season...how could you not be paying attention? Solution: do the wave in the first inning. Not with the game on the line.

(3) Ticket demand. Yeah, this was a sellout. But demand was not real high-- I got four seats together in the $60 per seat nosebleeds for $14/ticket (the game was in the first inning). The scalpers commented that the only D-Back games they made money on this year was the Red Sox series. Not a sign of good fan support.

I think things will get better as this young team keeps winning and people begin to forget about the Colangelo-era purge that the new ownership commenced this last year. But right now we're still suffering from growing pains.

Slow times in the real estate market

While sales of downtown Phoenix condos have been slow at best, it might be somewhat comforting to know that it's that way everywhere. One (formerly) popular suburban subdivision-- and I'm talking about a quality, non-cookie cutter development-- is currently projecting it will see one closing per month. One.

Time to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm...

Downtown Phoenix's next tower: Central Park East

* I've been out of town and moving the past couple weeks (I'm still a downtown resident, however) and have been unable to post until now. One quick comment after cruising through downtown yesterday: construction at Central Park East is imminent. An Arizona Republic story on Sunday pinned the construction start "within the next few months," but yesterday the site at Van Buren and Central Avenue had a construction trailer and several construction vehicles on location and it looks like things are going to get started a lot sooner. I'm excited for this project-- it adds much-needed office space downtown and the building's renderings are impressive. Bring on the crane!

Driving up Seventh Avenue

Had a few thoughts while driving up Seventh Avenue today:

* While the HOPE VI project that replaced the Matthew Henson housing projects was much-needed and a big upgrade, how come other cities get true, urban HOPE VI projects and Phoenix gets a suburban-style apartment complex? In DC there's a block-long HOPE VI project that mixes low-income housing and market-rate apartments that meshes perfectly with the surrounding historic Capitol Hill brownstones. In fact, developers and preservationists alike have mistakenly taken pictures of the block as an example of the 100+ year old historic neighborhood (even though it was built in the late 1990's). An urban project on Seventh Avenue would certainly have been preferable to the fenced-off building that was built instead.

* Arizona Preservation Foundation is renovating the Montgomery House at Seventh Avenue and Mohave Street, one of the two oldest remaining adobe structures in Phoenix, with plans of turning it into offices. It's a cool building and it will be interesting to track its progress as it's restored.

* While it still completely sucks that Madison Square Garden was torn down in 2005, the building that replaced the Garden could have been worse, I guess. It does attempt to mesh with the street with a large sidewalk, and it's reasonably attractive. Negatives: the aforementioned teardown of MSG, of course, and the lack of ground-floor retail.

Elsewhere in downtown Phoenix, a sign and rendering appeared today at Second Street and Roosevelt advertising the construction of four urban brownstones. The web site listed on the sign links to a realtor with no information regarding the project. I have my doubts, but I'll add this project anyway to the Downtown Phoenix Project List.

Downtown's best choice in District 7: Ruth Ann Marston

My choice in the Phoenix City Council District 7 race, after hearing all four candidates speak individually and in a recent forum, is Ruth Ann Marston, edging out Michael Nowakowski. While as a voter there are many issues I care about, this is a downtown blog and I'll explain why I think she's the best candidate for downtown.

Marston's a political veteran and knows the workings of city hall after years of dealing with Phoenix government, albeit as an outsider. She won't be intimidated by the veterans on the council and consequently won't feel the need to join the council in all the 9-0 votes to which we've become accustomed. Marston's accomplished, serving as the president of the Phoenix Elementary School District governing board and helping to save Kenilworth School from I-10 construction, among other achievements. Finally, she has a favorable view of historic preservation and should be able to lead developers away from wasteful conflicts like the fights over the Sun Mercantile Building and Patriot's Park while still encouraging necessary downtown development and progress. (The Sun Merc and Patriot's Park battles have partly been a failure of the city council and staff, who could have helped avert the fights simply by giving some better advice to the developers early in the process.)

While Marston is the best choice for downtown, Michael Nowakowski wouldn't be a bad alternative. He's willing to listen and also probably won't buckle under to the developers' wishes, if his wife's courageous vote on the CityScape issue while sitting on the Parks Board is any indication.

Laura Pastor has failed to impress me with her grasp of the issues. She seemed to mix up the Sun Mercantile/W Hotel annex issue with the demolition of Madison Square Garden when asked a question at one forum. She all but acknowledged that she'd side with the developers if a battle pitted developers against a public outcry. There's of course the concern that she has her sights set on her dad's job, and while that is not something about which I could speculate I think it's a safe bet that she'll rarely, if ever, break from the status quo at City Hall. And Phoenix needs leadership and courage, not someone who's more concerned with political expediency.

Finally, Art Harding is enthusiastic and fairly well-informed, but the political newcomer didn't seem to give a compelling reason to favor him over an experienced veteran like Marston.

One last note-- in the recent debate at the Irish Cultural Center, the candidates showed they all could use a broader perspective. Moderator Richard de Uriarte asked all of them during the "lightning round" which city is Phoenix's biggest rival. Harding said Scottsdale, Nowakowski said Tempe, Marston answered Glendale, and Pastor said it was Goodyear. (Goodyear?) In any event, District 7 is home to more than 250,000 residents and is as big as if not bigger-- by itself-- than every one of those suburban cities. A mammoth city like Phoenix needs to view its rivals as places like San Diego, Denver, and even LA. The candidates should all be thinking a little bigger, and hopefully the eventual winner will do that while on the council.