Comments on: What’s wrong with downtown Phoenix

By: Evan Wyloge

Evan Wyloge — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:30:00 +0000

How did I get dragged into this?

By: joeyhammer

joeyhammer — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:59:16 +0000

phoenix will never have events like chicago. the city is built on a lake so it is a big draw in the summer. there is no big draw in a phoenix summer except to go away from phoenix cuz its 120 degrees out. its really as simple as that. i went to a summer concert once. i went to the 4th of july in peoria once. now i drive up sit in my car wait for the fireworks to start get out for 10 minutes jump back in and go home…in chicago i will spend 3 days in grant park area, boating, eating at the taste of chicago, go to the aquarium, museums, planetarium, concerts in the park all in a 2 mile area with train service to cubs and sox too. phoenix will never be chicago. impossible.

By: joeyhammer

joeyhammer — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:51:03 +0000

i am looking for live/work space for music photographer/models indie films/music videos and if you want to have a buzzing industry give me 1500 sq feet with 15ft high walls for $750 a month with ample parking and I am sure we can fill downtown with at least 5,000 artists of all types. the problem is you won't make any money off us and as soon as we make it we will leave and go to a bigger market. so be happy as an incubator or be happy with nothing. i kinda like the incubator idea it goes hand in hand with mentorship and maybe we could tap into some of the old retiring hippies to teach the younger generation a thing or two about art history.

By: joeyhammer

joeyhammer — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:40:02 +0000

i agree with everything except that lite rail is more efficient…more efficient than busses? not if you consider the cost and the inability to relocate lite rail to changing needs.

the biggest problem with phoenix is that it it is culturally divided in 4 and is widely dispersed. When moving here I had a choice. move downtown, move to scottsdale, move to north/west valley for the love of sports (HOCKEY winter BASEBALL NASCAR FOOTBALL) or tempe/chandler. most cities would have all 4 of those places centrally located but noooo not phoenix. they have race tracks on both sides of town 50 miles apart. and building westgate in the middle of a 75% hispanic neighborhood and offer hockey 3 nights a week? 45 minutes to an hours drive away from the other 3 parts of town….kinda makes it hard to enjoy everything the city has to offer and it will never change considering they are still doing stupid things.

then consider demographics more than half the city isn't white so you have some pretty huge cultural/racial divides that prevent the arts from reaching critical mass especially when you toss in the large proportion of retirees here. so slice and slice and slice and before you know it your county with 4 million people behaves like a series of towns and communities sized at 25,000 each. and the quality of life is nowhere near ny chicago la and i never thought i would say this but even philly has more culture…ouch. seattle, denver, austin…they should be our blue prints to create what phoenix is lacking.

By: Rail Life

Rail Life — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:33:59 +0000

“Agree or disagree, get down to Local Breeze on Tuesday, November 24 from 5:30-7:30pm and get your point across. You donâ€™t count if you donâ€™t show up.”

I'm thinkin' a trip to Local Breeze on Tuesday might be kind of fun… Hurst, you are talkin' the talk, can't wait to hear/discuss how you ( we all ) can do a MUCH better job of “walkin' the walk.”

By: Matthew Petro » Followers are important too

Matthew Petro » Followers are important too — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:52:47 +0000

[...] a great sentiment which others have echoed (see Tyler Hurst’s posts here and here), but I realized that while passionate leaders are needed to forge a new path into uncharted [...]

By: Governance: Fixing Downtown Phoenix (Ideas into Action) « Notes from CoPP e-Learning

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:38:15 +0000

[...] opinions, and assessments on Downtown Phoenix and how it can be improved. For starters, thereâ€™s Tyler Hurstâ€™s analysis that sparked tonightâ€™s Radiate Phoenix event, another analysis by Derek Neighbors, Yuri [...]

By: Why RadiatePhx Matters | Yuri Artibise

Why RadiatePhx Matters | Yuri Artibise — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:06:07 +0000

[...] organizer, and a downtown resident), is this weekâ€™s guest. This is a result of his provocative blog post and pursuant discussion about why he â€˜hatesâ€™ downtown Phoenix. Many other groups would have [...]

By: Downtown Phoenix: Don't Hate the Haters | Yuri Artibise

Downtown Phoenix: Don't Hate the Haters | Yuri Artibise — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:56:23 +0000

[...] addition, there have been posts from bloggers like Derek Neighbors, Tyler Hurst, and the Downtown Devil explaining what they see as downtown Phoenix’s shortcomings. and of [...]

By: jeremie lederman

jeremie lederman — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:40:33 +0000

in Mill Ave’s defense (as much as I also dislike it), it had to go the rout it did for a number of reasons. In 1994, Mill was friggn amazing. Live music everywhere, Hayden square had top acts, Gibsons was brining in bands like Soul Coughing and Mike Watt… it was amazing

Long Wongs had wings, 6 East had fights, Changin Hands had books… Rollins Market sold groceries and Tower had the best Cocteau Twins and John Zorn imports in the city.

but, towards the end of 1994, it was going BAD. Street Rat kids from all over the country were amassing everywhere (if you thought the punks with dogs and girlfriends and guitars was bad NOW… it’s nothing).

Gangs were showing up, they had to put flood lights on the mill/university corner to flush out dealers…

I stopped going after 1995. Then Tempe gave into laws like anti squatting, more corporate stores (to run off the rats).

Tempe also gave huge subsidies to contrators and built tons of crap, tore out Wongs and the cool strip mall behind Chilies

Now who knows… it was sad to see it get to where it is now.