Either of those would work great.

John, I think I'm staying at Spring Hill

Hah, I don't know many people who proclaim that they're from Buckeye, AZ. I grew up and went to college in NW Ohio.

^One of my friends thought "Buckeye Native" meant I was proclaiming that I grew up in Buckeye, AZ. That conversation was...awkward.

So if anyone's interested, would Thursday May 10 around 7 or 7:30 work for meeting up for dinner somewhere?

I just went to the Lexington Hotel sale and I recommend you all check it out, its pretty cool. Most of the stuff is crap, but if you need a $5 coffee maker its the place for you. Plus if you're a young couple that just blew your money moving across the country like my girlfriend and I did you can find some good deals on curtains and ugly but decently built chairs or whatever.

Plus its just cool walking through a half destructed hotel and imagining what it'll look like when its redone. Some of the rooms have pretty good views and you can see just how empty and bleak Hance Park is.

I've been sick all week and haven't really done much. Did this take place? If not, I'd love to meet up for some brews after work some time.

I just saw this ..... :(

Beach by the pool
 

I had a leak in my pool plumbing and had to take a section of pool decking out in order to fix the pipe. I'm planning on turning that area into a beach like space with pebbles/gravel. Has anyone done this or seen it done? Here is the area I'm talking about:

http://i50.tinypic.com/x5ozd2.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/xfte9c.jpg

http://i49.tinypic.com/2l9o9r9.jpg

No worries. Preparing for the Probation Officer Certification Exam requires a lot more work than I originally thought.

I'm in class from 8am-5:30pm and then in study groups until about 8 or 8:30 at night. I barely have time to eat right now...

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/nei...-density/2005/

Interesting read on density.

http://rediscover.msn.com/city/32640036
Interesting video regarding Phoenix from the perspective of four local residents. There are other videos in this series that show San Diego, Atlanta, New Orleans, etc.

I wrote another article for Blooming Rock, its about 7th Ave/McDowell: http://bloomingrock.com/2012/05/28/t...-and-mcdowell/

I read it when you tweeted about it. I agree with most of it but you might want to lose the table. I found myself arguing with it rather than focusing on the 90% that I agreed with. Of the 8 existing "local" places you cite, 5 were there before the controversial re-do. Calling Pei Wei local is just wrong, it is a national chain that happens to be headquartered in Scottsdale. If regional means "not in all 50 states" I will give you How Do You Roll and Zoe's but they both have locations all the way to the east coast.

Well written and thought provoking as usual. Thanks for the good read.

For the sake of discussion, however, I don't really agree that the city should get involved in "placemaking" or labeling neighborhoods/districts. I think that should come organically over time. I also don't think that at this stage in the development of 7th &McD that it really needs a name or label. If it were to see considerably more commercial development, and could actually be considered a destination, then it would be deserving of a name or label. It reminds me of this blog I read a while ago (which I don't entirely agree with):

http://keephoustonhouston.wordpress....aking-banners/

Otherwise I mostly agree with you. I love what's going on at 7th & McD. Although I am not in love with the appearance of the SE corner, it didn't really have a unique/historic exterior so I don't feel like we lost anything significant. I mostly just hate it's current appearance. It looks like it should be in a strip mall in the suburbs. I do like the restaurants and tenants, and enjoy seeing all different demographics of people there.

Thanks again for sharing, I always enjoy your blog posts and discussing the issues. :cheers:

Pool Update
 

I put 1/4" gravel in, built a small brick wall at the base of the fence, and put a spigot in for a mister, here are the results:

http://i50.tinypic.com/20hr85u.jpg

I just got the 9' cantilever umbrella yesterday.

Looks like a good little project. I like the idea.

you need to drink a corona while you sit there

I'm sure you've all seen this, but in case not, please do what you can to help encourage the City to preserve the David Wright house. More info here:

http://bloomingrock.com/2012/06/11/h...of-demolition/

There's a City meeting tomorrow, which I can't attend, but if you email the City Im sure that'll help some. With all the Community already rallying behind this cause, Im hoping there's no way this building gets demolished and replaced with McMansions. I'd love to see it turned into a Az Architecture Museum or something if the owner is intent on not living there.

So Scott Smitth and Greg Stanton were (deservedly) named best elected officials by the AZ Capitol Times and they made this really cute and fun video, thought folks here might be interested:

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

Whoa that was hilarious. I seriously wish more Democrats and Republicans could get along like that.

My wife Susan Benjamin is running for the Phoenix Elementary School District Governing Board. We are gathering signatures to get her on the ballot (need 94). If you live in the district, are a registered voter and are willing to sign the nominating petition, let me know, I'll come to you. We have been walking door to door but it's not a lot of fun in the heat. Boundary map is below. Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/SusanForPhoenixEl

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7090/7...8d7f03cd_z.jpg