Did you live there or experience it during the early 90's as an adult? I guess I was confused when you said you were a one-time Phoenix resident.

Who cares about Austin? I don't!

Lets talk about PHX, here's my pictures from the Modern PHX home tour:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...97#post5651297

A few pics of downtown I took from Phoenix School of Law's new space on the upper floors of the Phelps Dodge Tower, as I was there a few weeks ago to photograph an event for the school:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...age00001-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00007.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00009.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00010.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00011.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Image00012.jpg

--don

Those are excellent shots, Don. You forget sometimes how far downtown has come until you see photos like these. Thank you for posting these.

^Indeed. Great shots as always, Don!

I'll be in Downtown Phoenix for training/certification May 7 through the 18th.

By chance would anyone be interested in meeting up somewhere Downtown for dinner/drinks during the week(s) I'm down there? I should be free after 5pm on weeknights.

I'll be downtown those nights

I'm downtown everyday, I'd be interested. What are you going to be there for? Btw, I too am a buckeye native.

^Buckeye, AZ or the Buckeye State? I was born/raised in Cincinnati.

I'll be downtown for a two week probation officer training/certification run by the Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts. When all's said and done (provided I pass the exam) I'll be a certified probation officer in the State of Arizona.

I'm staying somewhere near the Arizona Center (forget the hotel name).

SpringHill, Holiday Inn, Sheraton, Super8, Renaissance, or Hyatt.

^ How about Friday night, May 11, around 7 pm? Meet at Cityscape?

Or Thursday night, May 10, if Friday is too busy for some peeps. :)

--don

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

http://youtu.be/YGTrpehA3ZE
Cool video that covers the scope of two downtown housing projects from the eyes of a suspended camera.

Did combusean leave Phoenix? I noticed his location says Burlingame, CA now.

Yup. I'm not fully moved out, but I'm couchsurfing in the bay area while I look for work. I got sick of scrounging in the dirt and floundering in Phoenix looking for good jobs that fit my relatively specialized web development skillz. I've had far, far, FAR more traction here in the bay area (and its only Monday) than I would have otherwise had and there's easily 50 times more jobs that I can actually apply to than in Phoenix.

Having had a whirlwind tour of the area down El Camino Real and the east bay, I'm fairly certain this is RIGHT where I want to be.

I wish you good luck in the Bay Area. Seems like a smart career move (with higher pay compared to AZ). Hope you continue to contribute to the Phoenix - Southwest forum with your well informed, thought out posts.

What took you so long to decide? Seems like a no-brainer.

Literally the stupidest argument one can make about living in Northern California as opposed to Arizona, and I hear it lots.

Any increase in pay is completely negated by the asinine cost of living.

^ There's ways of living less expensively in bigger cities like SF. You can have less space, give up your car, and in general live more frugally. Lots of poor people live in SF's metro area of about 7 million, I can assure you, and many of them get by just fine despite the higher cost of living. :)

--don

I disagree.


Don is correct: Since I moved to CA from AZ, I've been able to save more money/month despite paying more in rent. I drive much less, car insurance is half what it was in Phoenix, car maintenance is much less bc the climate isnt as brutal, utility bills are almost non-existent year round ($20 for electric), my car has never been vandalized or broken into in SD, 4 times in Phx, I live in a smaller place, but 1 mile from work and walk or ride my bike to almost evrything.

Couldn't you have lived closer to work in Phoenix, thereby arriving at the same travel cost savings? I never understand people who say they save money in SF, NY, Chicago, etc. because they don't need to drive to work like they did in Phoenix. If the transportation costs were the difference maker, why wouldn't you first try to change those costs before moving to another state and incurring the costs of moving and the costs associated with an interruption in work for any period of time?

wtf?

could have lived in a smaller place in phoenix, could have lived closer to work in phoenix.

as for car insurance, I don't pay more than $100 a month for full coverage with $250 deductible and I live in 85034 which isn't statistically the lowest crime zip.

Seems you are comparing apples and oranges.

Westbev, vicelordjohn,

The last year I lived in phoenix, I walked to work. With that said, I still spent much more on gas because I had to drive much farther distances for just about everything else. The distances are much greater in metro Phoenix. My insurance was well over $100, now it's $55 with the same vehicle, coverage and insurance company.

I didn't move to CA to save money, I've unexpectedly found that one can live quite comfortably in a city where the cost of living seems steep, as Don was saying.

I find it strange that you guys are attacking me for wishing combusean good luck in his career move in a region that is known for much higher wages. Why wouldn't he move there to pursue a high paying job?

because gains in wage are negated by the increase in cost of living if one sustains the same lifestyle as what they left. You're arguing this point yet saying you downsized to a smaller place. If you got a similar sized place in a comparable area of town in terms of prestige, where would you then be? If I'm not mistaken, you moved from willo, right?

I moved up there because the job market in Phoenix just sucks for what I do, and the salaries have been pushing downward lately anyways. I get a lead about once every six months for one language I know and really want to do and had one lead for another this month. I had been getting job offers over the last few months I've been looking, but I would have had to be utterly desperate to take them because the environments sucked, and they were all 20 miles out from my place downtown.

I'm going from paying $600 month in a studio downtown to $975 for a share in a 2-bedroom apartment in Hillsdale, right off the Caltrain and equidistant from Mountain View and the City which covers like 85% of the potential job market in the bay area. If I wanted to live in the City it'd be about $1200 for a share in a place. The salaries *start* 25% more than I'd make in Phoenix (i'm not at all entry level) and that alone covers my budget with plenty of wiggle room. I don't really consider the cost of living to be expensive when I consider how much it's worth to me living here already.

As for sticking around on the forum--you bet, every day just like I have.

I'm not arguing about anything. Just supporting combuseans move to pursue his specialized career choice. He will make more money up there, it will cost more money to live there. I agree with don that one can live quite comfortably in an expensive region. Your cant do attitude is a drag.

The size of my place should have nothing to do with this. But considering I lived in 85006, a nice place, but surrounded by rough neighborhoods and urban blight, a comparable area in SD would be the ghetto, perhaps National City. My reasons for downsizing have more to do with living in a nice, safe neighborhood, close to work and entertainment in a good micro-climate zone.

I could get a comparable place in SD as to what I had in Phx, but I choose not to. Get over it already.

The particulars aside, its sad to see Sean go. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Phoenix has got to find a way to stop the bleeding out of young, talented, passionate, hard working people. I've lost too many friends to Seattle, LA, SD, Portland, Chicago, etc. Our leadership at all levels needs to be bending over backwards to retain and attract these sorts of people.

That's hard to do when the state government (certain politicians in particular) bend over backwards pandering to retired old fucks* who move here from somewhere else, have no ties to the communities in which they live and don't care about the future of this state so long as their taxes are practically non-existent and the brown people are under constant threat of deportation.

*And I'm really not trying to be ageist, but from personal observation, the only people that seem to vote with any consistency in this state are people from the numerous retirement communities whose approach to everything is "I got mine, the rest of you all can fuck off"

I really don't consider myself liberal, but compared to the typical voting trends in Arizona, I might as well be a Marxist... :(

Amen! My brother.

Anyone of you guys have recent pics of the storms hitting Phx? I just saw the sideshow on azcentral.

Looks like a decent monsoon season over there.

I was out of town over the weekend so i didn't see anything. There doesn't seem to be any damage in my neighborhood though.

This monsoon seasons isn't as violent/damaging as some past ones have been but there definitely seems to be a lot more rain than in the last couple of years which is great. Temps in