Tempe Development Thread

[combusean]

>And they failed 100 times before they got it right.

Huh? The only thing that failed was the 1987 Rio Salado Development District Vote, which Tempe voters supported so they went it alone.

>The dam failed.

It was under warranty. I'm sure the west dam was more expensive, but that was the correct design anyways (rubber bladders in the sun? what were they thinking?)

>And every single tower on the lake had to be massively subsidized because they ask the owners to pay an exorbitant cost for the lake through the lake district. So it has come at a steep price and it took forever.

... the lake is subsidized by the properties there, not the other way around. The only thing that's getting tax breaks (besides the would-be arena) is South Pier.

>So it has come at a steep price and it took forever.

I don't think that's come as a cut to services or otherwise affected anyone's quality of life. You can't say the same for Glendale saddled with Westgate debt or Mesa saddled by its own dumb dependence on sales taxes.

As for Phoenix, I'd be *very* curious to see what a redeveloped railyards would look like. Union Pacific can dump cars off almost anywhere, there's no reason for a huge yard to exist right across 7th from Downtown. And maybe if light rail goes west on Washington the state will realize what a gold mine its been handed with the property values and go gung-ho on redeveloping the area Same for the areas south. Tempe Town Lake is fine and all, but the actual riparian area is a more pleasant place to cool off, there's just no city nearby.