Yuri, my friend and fellow urbanist, and I do not always agree. But I respect him, and often I argue with him just because it’s fun. He has brilliant, clear insights into the problems in downtown Phoenix and urban issues.
He blogged today in a post titled “Don’t Hate the Haters.” Here’s an excerpt:
Recently there has been a lot of discussion in the blogosphere on the shortcomings of downtown Phoenix, my adopted hometown…Yes downtown has come a long way over the past 10 years (and especially the last 5 years). However, all this work has barely laid the foundation for a ‘real’ downtown—an urban space that offers a mixture of opportunities to live, work and play. It is far to early to sit back and proclaim that downtown Phoenix has arrived, and definitely too early to castigate those who dare to point out the remaining shortcomings and hurdles that the downtown core faces.
See, I told you he was smart. Here’s my reaction:
Using critical thinking is important, however I believe “thinking” is the operative word, not critical. Talton et al. seem to miss that point and offer up at all criticism as if it were a new, smart, constructive thought.
Also, check out ABCD (http://www.abcdinstitute.org/), yet another addition to the alphabet soup of community building. My biggest complaint about the complaints (hypocrisy intended) is that they are often comparisons to other major cities.
I love Phoenix for Phoenix, not for the ideal of Phoenix. I love having a car culture mixed with a slowly growing movement towards mass transit. I like the pace of downtown development. I like the long stretches of vacant lots. It’s not perfect, but that’s what I like. Where most see empty lots, I see future opportunity. And I can wait for that to happen.
So when I get frustrated with downtown “haters,” it’s not because they’re offering smart, critical observations of “what’s wrong with downtown.” My frustration stems from the fact that they are often insulting what I love: the imperfect, hot mess that is downtown and central Phoenix.
Then again, my living room window looks right at the now-imploded wreckage of the Mountain Bell building in central Phoenix. And I always thought the skeleton, and now the wreckage, were beautiful. And so will some development if (or when) it happens on the site.
And on the point about events being in other parts of the valley but retaining the “Phoenix” name, I think I am more frustrated by how little they try to bring these events to central Phoenix. We have venues downtown, even if they aren’t as shiny and new as Mesa Arts Center or the Tempe Center for the Arts. But, of course, they offer nice amenities and things Phoenix cannot offer, so maybe the events belong there.
But Yuri, you and I had an email conversation about this and I think you’re right that the city of Phoenix needs to be more active in trying to lure these small, local events downtown. I’m just not sure they need it as much as Mesa and Tempe do since Phoenix has become a national conference destination with the opening of the new parts of the convention center.
In the end, I think the negative voices have a place. It’d just be nice to hear some asset-building from the most negative voices, and some criticism from the most ardent cheerleaders.
But you should read the entire post and the other 11 (as of now) comments, which are much more interesting than my middle-ground, agree-to-disagree stance.
