Yeah, definately feels like a stronger, more saturated airmass than the normal explosive type that is much more hit and miss. Enjoying it immensly.

They say it is an El Ninio year, which brings more rain and a wetter monsoon and winter.

I kept some of my video from today's ride with you guys in mind (since at heart we are all urban development/skyscraper nerds) riding home through downtown Phoenix. It was after the post-ride coffee stop so the ride was basically over and I wasn't hammering or anything, just heading home, so just a nice perspective on Phoenix. I had to stop at a couple of lights, so you can skip around if you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwp41ZmNbaU

... and run through a couple more. Cool video, but there's no way I could ride a bicycle on city streets like that. I wouldn't trust all of the dumbass drivers out there, no matter how much I paid attention and how good of a rider I am, all it takes is one complete idiot.

sometimes to enjoy life and do what you love to do, you have to accept the associated risks.

Do you have a camera mounted on your handlebars? That's impressive footage.

yes it is mounted on the bar, the hardest part was getting the mount set up correctly. this is the camera:

http://www.hd-report.com/wp-content/...-camcorder.jpg

Has anyone seen this month's National Geographic? There is a 3-page spread of the skyline with the dust storm looming behind (from July 5th 2011). It's a great picture.

Its not up to the city. Is this property owned by the citizens and the city? No. However the current owners are looking for a buyer, so if you want to save it you can put and offer in on it.

Certain things should be preserved as if they were property of the legacy of the city. Without them, Phoenix wouldn't be the best.

What do you mean its not up to the city to enact a historic preservation overlay and Landmark Designation on the property. The city doesnt have to own the property to do that. In fact, I live in a designated historic district and the city doesn't own my home.

Here's a link to the City of Phoenix's Historic Preservation Office:

http://phoenix.gov/HISTORIC/index.html

Prop 207 is not retroactive but does leave the city to a major lawsuit if they place the historic overlay on any property without the prop 207 waiver. It means that the power rests with the property owner...as it should. With all due respect you rent your home. You have to get approval for anything done to the outside of your house. Since prop 207 was enacted in 2007 there have been ZERO historic districts added to the Phoenix register and only a handful of individual ones that property owners gave waivers on.

BTW I want to beat you to the punch. I bet your reply will be along the lines of "you have basic zoning restrictions on any house". This is true. Basic zoning restrictions are put in place to prevent a property owner from putting up a burger king in the middle of residental neighborhood or prevent flooding of your neighbors. It still leaves a lot of freedom and liberty to do as you wish with your house. The historic overlay does not.

That is where you are wrong. Private property does not belong to the city as a whole. I own my 1940s adobe territorial house (that is not in a historic district). Without the prop 207 law as I already covered, there would probably be that overlay placed on my house. With this law I now have a way to fight the city. I paid for my property. As such if I want to put in a bay window in my front room I will do it and it is no one elses business. You can call it liberty and freedom....crazy that will still allow those two things.:banana:

With all due respect, I own my home.

I can do absolutely anything to the outside of my home I want. I own it. I can put up vinyl siding, I can paint the exterior purple, I can add a huge garage to the front making it a snout house. Additionally, there is no HOA making it even easier for me to modify the exterior.

If the Historic Preservation Office determines that I have changed the historic character of the front of the home, I lose the preferential property tax treatment. End of story.

I really think you should read up on Historic Districts in Phoenix. :banana:

If your home was in a historic district you could put a bay window in the front of your home also and no one would stop you. The Historic Preservation Office uses a carrot, not a stick to promote the preservation of historic property. Where are you getting your information? You really need to read up on Phoenix Historic Districts. :banana:

This is interesting and counter to what I have read in Phoenix, I will contact Mrs. Dodds and ask her. If you could provide me with some links (yes I have checked all though the HPO site) I would appreciate it to show what you are saying. I was told that all work had to have the ok from the hpo office, even landscape. Without their ok, fines and stop work orders could be given was what I thought I read.

Just a FYI, my house could probably fit into a HD without major problems. 95% of it is the same way it was when it was built and I have no ideas to change that. Still when I replaced the landscape the thought went through my mind "I can make this look how I want without the HPO dictating".

You are way off phoenixisthebest. I'm not even sure how you could think landscaping would be an issue.

Whoa that's insane! Where did you hear that???? Seriously though, where? I've completely redone the front and back landscaping in the last 2 years at my house. I've taken out trees/bushes, planted new ones, made the garden larger, repainted trim, changed exterior window elements, etc. The only person I had to ask permission from was my wife.

So if you haven't checked out: http://www.myplanphx.com/ yet, you should.

It's an easy way to have a voice, even a small one, in PHX's general plan update. It has a cool social media element to it, as well as 'reward points' where you can end up having lunch with the Mayor, tours of Pueblo Grande, etc.

Currently PhxDowntowner (Sean Sweat) and I are dooking it out for the top spot (actually, he's killing me!). I'd love to be able to be one of the first two to 1,500 points on there so I can have a lunch with Mayor Stanton. I'm hoping if I end up being one of the winners, I can create a thread here where everyone can suggest questions/things I can talk to the Mayor about, and that way I'm not just a flustered mess at said lunch.

You can see my profile on the site here:
http://www.myplanphx.com/user/24352


Please "Second" any of my ideas you don't hate. :)

And please join up yourself, everyone here has such good ideas, but if this is the only place we discuss them, then we're just running in circles.

Wait that Sean sweat guy is a member here? Never would have imagine with his idiotic musings in the paper and whatnot.

Phoenixisthebest is either a kid, retarded, or an idiot. He can pick which one, I don't care.

Just joined tonight and made a few comments.

Why can't be a combo of one or more?

Cool :)

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He merely formed a strong opinion off of grossly inaccurate information.

I learned something this past weekend: Walking around Downtown Phoenix taking pictures when its 105F out is a hell of a lot more tolerable than walking around Downtown Charleston, SC when its 94F, even in the middle of the Monsoon Season.

The humidity, or lack thereof, makes a world of difference. :tup: :rolleyes: :shuffle:

got any pics to share?

I'm working on it. Went to Reds-Dbacks on Monday night, so I've got a shit-ton of pics from that

Stumbled across this online, its a nice overview of PHX buildings, mostly highrises:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwHa8...eature=related

Nice how it jumps from 2001-2007 with no new buildings :koko:

So this is a long shot, but I know the people who own the building, so I'm just trying to help get the word out....

if you know anyone looking for space downtown, for a restaurant, hardware store, offices, anything really they should check out:

http://redbrickson7th.com

The people who own it and fixed it up also own the adjacent former AJ Bayless building that now has a community work space in it and a Core gym. It would be great to see some synergy along 7th St there if this currently empty building can fill up. The building most recently housed a florist, but they moved on to a bigger location elsewhere.

Interestingly, the guy that owns the building tried to buy the orange buildings on 7th/Roosevelt that are now potentially slated for demolition by Circle K. He told me that under all that awful siding and orange paint, those buildings are pretty cool looking and very similar to these other red brick buildings along 7th. It's too bad his deal didn't work out, having a nice string of historic brick buildings rehabbed all along 7th would've been great.

/\ I knew those buildings would be cool underneath. Fucking circle k.

I hope he finds a tenant.

What are the obstacles standing in the way of the city transforming more of their lots into temporarily usable spaces? Is it simply funding?

I just can't understand how they don't see that cleaning up these blighted areas would have incredible short term and long term benefits to the area, drawing people to previously unused spaces by giving them a purpose, beautifying the area, reducing dust pollution and the heat island, changing the mindset that these areas are unsafe and rundown, etc. The positive impacts are endless, not to mention the recognition of Phoenix being a leader and facilitating change, promoting sustainability, and so on.

How expensive would it be to transform one of the Biomedical lots into a basketball court? Paving, a couple of hoops, lighting, benches and some shade. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, though it would be a nice opportunity to leverage sone sustainable features like that green pavement used in the Ramada lot, solar lighting, etc. With ASU students, Roosevelt residents, Alta Lofts and Roosevelt Point nearby, the court would be sure to get some traffic.

The developer who took over West Sixth donated to the Mill restoration project that is going on. There has to be a way to convince these property owners and developers (if the city won't foot the bill) that projects like these would absolutely be in their best interest, providing amenities to their future residents and raising the value if the neighborhood.

I also think another other great temporary use would be an "A.R.T.S. Garden," that could feature public art and be rented to food trucks and other vendors on weekends; local breweries would be fun, creating a Beer Garden. Withn this Garden could be a cheaply made "A.R.T.S. Center," with some murals or before-and-after photography of the transformed lots, promotional materials on the benefits... It could also be used as a place to collect donations, as more of projects are sure to draw mor attention to the movement.

So, what can we do? I'm so tired out of these lots destroying the continuity of one of the few areas where our downtown can truly take off and provide something special.

^ Moved the above post to Coffee Talk cause it's not really a development issue.

The issues are cost, and private property.

Regarding cost, the city is perpetually broke and has little in the means of its budget for various frills. Building something as simple as a basketball court on a vacant lot is actually quite expensive--plans have to be made, permits have to be drawn, the site has to be surveyed and engineered, a perfectly flat concrete mat has to be laid, and the other equipment has to be installed. Someone, somewhere will have to pay insurance (someone could get hurt playing ball and sue any number of people) and the city's not likely going to want to take any additional risk.

The Valley of the Sunflowers project was only made possible by a hugely dedicated team of people, thousands of hours of volunteer work, and tens of thousands of dollars in donations from Intel to bring it all together. Transforming any remotely significantly sized parcel of land is no small endeavor.

Some large chunk of the blighted lots downtown are privately owned, and few developers are going to tease the community with a temporary amenity when the removal cost and potential ill will is already pretty substantial--developers don't make money on a vacant lot because of taxes, the liability for turning a lot over to the community even temporarily is pretty large, and in their mind the ownership, etc could change any day.

The alternative is to use government's invisible hand and get the City/county to tax vacant lots in commercial districts at a higher rate than parcels that are built up, which would highly discourage landbanking and encourage interim uses.

Don't want to be a Debbie downer...
 

Travel and Leisure Magazine takes a yearly survey where they ask tourists and residents to give their opinions on area attractions such as shopping, dining, recreation, locals, and climate. Unfortunately, Phoenix ranks pretty low in almost every category :/

I, of course, think as each year passes we become more of a destination city. And also, for those of us who truly know the city, we would probably give some different scores. But as we are now, this is how people view us and how we are being represented...

http://www.travelandleisure.com/amer...nix-scottsdale

Any thoughts?

Anyone making real strong generalizations on PHX is setting themselves up for failure, as they can all be argued fairly easily. PHX is such a young City, still finding an identity that to say "PHX is XYZ" with any firmness isn't a wise idea, because it's likely to change 10 years hence.

I mean, how can you say PHX isn't super high in "sports crazed"? We have all 4 major pro sports, WNBA, Arena Football, tons of Championship games, 2 college bowl games, Spring Training, etc, etc. Just because a lot of people are transplants and may not cheer for Arizona sports team doesn't mean PHX isn't "sports crazed". I think one would struggle to find any single City in America who's economy benefits more from sports.*

*That is, real cities. Not places like Green Bay, Wi where the only thing there is the Packers. I mean big, major cities.

Thanks for the detailed response, Sean.

I was definitely only referring to the city-owned lots. I wouldn't expect private developers to invest in any kind of short term usage.

In fact, I'm mainly referring to the Biomedical lots. Sure, it'd ge great to see temporary uses made out of all city-owned property, but the Biomedical lots are destined to stay empty for a very long time, some for up to several decades if I'm remembering right. The fact that we are going to have such huge holes in a neighborhood that is SO close to becoming a true, vibrant urban district is just disheartening.

I'd have to imagine that the work being done on the mill in Tempe is more expensive than creating a basketball court, yet that project attracted funding from both the city and developers/owners of nearby projects. Point being, it's clearly not unprecedented for the city and neighborhood stakeholders to partner and transform blight into usable space, and I wish there was a way to spark something similar in that area.

I think it's spot on. The ONLY thing it ranks highly in is a getaway from bad weather that the rest of the country suffers during winter.

What I thought was especially glaring in the article was how many categories the residents thought they the city was average in but to visitors were in the bottom 10. In fact, there wasn't ONE category where visitors thought more highly of the city than its residents. That kind of insular-minded provincial arrogance and overall low ranking doesn't bode well for the area's future.

I think these rankings are silly and usually tune them out. In this case, I can't find the actual survey and a discussion of how it was administered, so it's hard to argue its validity either way. That said, I'm most offended that T&L has elevated a suburb to twin city status with the central city. "Phoenix/Scottsdale" bugs me more than any low ranking. I suppose T&L might claim that Scottsdale resorts are the major destination for many visitors, but of course so many of those resorts are really in Phoenix or Paradise Valley.

@Hoover - Yeah I'm not sure Phoenix will ever have it's "phx is XYZ" and that's cool with me, because many huge metro areas can't be defined as really one identity. What needs to change here is smaller areas need to develope areas where we can say "that area of Phoenix is XYZ." ideas that support this on planphx.com are what I'm supporting.

@combusean - couldn't agree more. Most of my family thinks there is nothing missing or wrong with the valley... they are perfectly fine with eating at chili's, driving 30 minutes to get any where, and sitting at home watching CBS... when that is the bar we set for our city to meet, no wonder we rank so low.

@exit - I'm a big concert attender, especially at small venues in the area, and no joke 3 out of 4 times the artists will say something like "we drove from one end of the city to the other to try and find something to do, or somewhere to walk around, but couldn't find anything." I definitely think the survey has some merit. But completely agree about the lumping Phoenix and Scottsdale together.

I've heard the saying "Phoenix ain't easy." It definitely applies to travelers who expect a walkable wonderland to magically appear in front of them instead of using a phone app to find numerous good places just a few blocks away. I go back and forth between blaming the visitors for being lazy and blaming civic leadership for encouraging pockets, rather than clusters, of activity to exist. It's probably a mix of both.

Glad to see you're on MyPlanPHX. I'm posting a lot there under David B45, the user name the system arbitrarily assigned to me.

I kinda like that the site is making people use their first name/last initial and that most folks are using actual pictures of themselves. The slightly decreased anonymity seems to be creating a somewhat more pleasant environment of civility.

EDIT: VV Haha yah I don't know. I think I'm Will N7, there certainly weren't 6 other Will N's before me. Could I be the 7th overall person to register and you the 45th?

I agree. I just wonder how the number is determined. I though maybe it was a comment about my age as in "David be 45." That's not too far from the truth since I just turned 47.

I think the lumping in of Phoenix and Scottsdale together comes from two things: a serious identity crisis for Phoenix proper and Scottsdale being known more as a targeted resort/shopping destination in those circles and Phoenix area-establishments trying to steal that cachet. So it's worse than elevating Scottsdale to twin-city status with Phoenix, it's more like elevating Phoenix to twin-city status with Scottsdale.

I was actually talking to somebody in SF who had recently stayed in Phoenix and he could have sworn the Biltmore was in Scottsdale because it was that close to Fashion Square.

My Plan PHX meeting- tonight!
 

Hey boys and girls.....well I guess its just boys around here....

there's a "My Plan PHX" meeting tonight! In fact, there's 2. Won't you please attend? I think it would be well worth your time.

Here's the info:
What: PlanPHX with Mayor Stanton & Councilman Simplot
When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 26
Where: Valley Garden Center - 1809 North 15th Avenue


What: PlanPHX with Councilman Valenzuela & Councilman Gates
When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 26
Where: Royal Palm Middle School - 8520 N. 19th Avenue

I'll be at the one at the Valley Garden Center, because hey- the Mayor will be there! So if you want a chance to potential meet the Mayor and one of our most pro urban Councilmen (Simplot), I'd recommend coming out.

Sometimes they have cookies and such at these things...so yah. Come on out. If you do, say hi to me.

Please continue to let us know of upcoming events, if possible! Would have loved to have attended with some advanced notice (not intended to be a dig at you- certainly not your responsibility to inform us).

Were you the one who Tweeted the mayor about moving HQ's downtown? If so, I hope you had the chance to follow up and/or grill him on the topic!

I was. I didnt mention that to him tonight, as I took his answer as satisfactory I guess. Its hard to know what to bring up to the Mayor. I have a zillion ideas for this City, so trying to choose what to focus on when you have him for a second is a tough call.

Regarding upcoming MyPlanPHX events, local awesome dude Jim McPherson made this Google Map. So you can see when there's one near you that is convenient:

https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid=...59098,1.326599

And here's just a list of the events:
http://phoenix.gov/webcms/groups/int...ent/085739.pdf

http://www.newgeography.com/content/...mmuting-using-latest-census-data

It's interesting to see Phoenix actually be listed in the 10 top for bicycle usage.

Every city out there seems to be vying to be the bike friendliest city in the world. Yet bicycling has yet to make much of an impact on commuting. Only 7 out of 51 large metros even post 1% mode share for cycling:

Row Geography 2011




1. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA
23,941 (2.3%)

2. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
38,419 (1.9%)

3. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
16,013 (1.9%)

4. Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville, CA
15,804 (1.8%)

5. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
8,847 (1.0%)

6. New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA
5,307 (1.0%)

7.Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ
18,007 (1.0%)

8. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
15,949 (0.9%)

9. Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO
12,052 (0.9%)

10. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, C

50,080 (0.9%)

I've never understood why "bicycle commuting" is always looked at as sort of the be all and end all metric about where is a good place to bike or not. It reminds me of pre "Moneyball" baseball statistics, its just a lazy way to quantify information.

What about how often people bike to the park, or to dinner, or to a friends house? I do those things more often than I bike commute to work (though I do that too). While ones commute is general the longest trip you take each day, its usually not the only one. If we can get people thinking about taking bikes to dinner, to go shopping, to a friends, to the football game, etc. that will be a huge leap.

Who's that handsome fellow on Channel 12 trying to save the David Wright House?

http://www.azcentral.com/video/1876363392001

Nice job, Hoover. Glad to see local TV news has taken a break from their usual obsession with weather, crime, & traffic to cover this issue. I guess one upside of quitting your bad job is a little time for worthwhile community activities like this one. Thanks for being out there.