Archive for October, 2010

October 27, 2010

A Design Review of Lola on Central

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Have you been to Lola Coffee on Central?  I usually go there for meetings because it’s quieter than a lot of other coffee shops.  The design of the space has never struck me as very special because there is a certain intimacy that’s missing from it.  But today, when I took a closer look, I discovered that there are some cool design elements in the coffee shop.  Just as a clarification, there is a Lola in Downtown, on Roosevelt and 4th Ave.  Now that Lola has achieved the intimacy and richness that Lola on Central is missing, but I…

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October 26, 2010

Small Steps Towards a Sustainable Remodel

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet A few months ago, when the rental unit at the Blooming Rock duplex 3 Palms became available, I got a call from a woman named Theresa who was very interested in the place.  But she stipulated that she needed the lease to be on a month-to-month basis because she was moving here from Chicago and wanted to buy a house for the long term, instead of renting.  Normally I wouldn’t entertain the idea of a month-to-month lease, but I was intrigued when she told me that she just got a tenured position at a university in a very interesting…

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October 25, 2010

Craving Green Breathing Space in a Fast-Paced City

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is a continuation of my series Learning from European Cities and I’d like to talk about the role of green space in urban life.  In my past visits to European and South American cities, I’ve always been impressed by the green space embedded in their urban fabric in the form of beautiful, lush city parks.  On my recent trip to Europe, I was particularly impressed with the green spaces in Brussels.  This may partially be due to the fact that Paul and I stayed next to the Botanique, a beautiful and very old botanical garden right in…

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October 19, 2010

Vantage Point: Fair Trade at the Civic Space Park

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This afternoon I’m sitting at the Fair Trade Café at the Civic Space Park getting some work done before a meeting with Tony Arranaga, The Light Rail Blogger, Valerie Porter, and Suzanne Day of Valley Metro to help plan the next Valley Bike Month.  If you’re a regular here at Blooming Rock, you know that if I’m not working at Lux Coffeebar, I’m working or meeting with someone at Giant Coffee.  Rarely have I ventured south to this fair place, Fair Trade Cafe at Civic Space Park. As I sit here facing the courtyard, I’m struck by how darn…

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October 15, 2010

Action Item: Love Dogs, Not Cars

by: Sean Sweat

Tweet Today on Blooming Rock we have a special Friday post by Sean Sweat about future plans for the Sahara Motel site that is slated to become a parking lot, but Sean has a better idea. Sean Sweat, aka @PhxDowntowner, is the Treasurer of St Croix Villas in the heart of downtown and an MIT-trained transportation professional.  His professional focus is supply chain & logistics.  His personal focus is pedestrianism, public transit, and multi-modal interactions. INTRODUCTION St Croix Villas needs your help.  If you like any of the following things, you’ll want to help us: •    Downtown Vibrancy •    Pedestrianism…

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Tweet When I tell people I work at a coffee shop, many give me a quizzical look.  They shake their heads and say, “I could never work at a coffee shop”.  When I get specific and tell them I work at Lux Coffeebar, a coffee shop that is known for its music blaring within its bustling, crowded, dark cavern of a space, their minds are boggled.  (As you’ve probably guessed, I’m at Lux as I write this post). I was speaking to a woman once and she was complaining about how when she goes to coffee shops, all she sees…

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Tweet “Bruges is a biking city” declared the woman at the information counter at the train station when we arrived from Brussels.  I found out first hand that she wasn’t kidding. Biking is an integral part of the infrastructure in Bruges, which is a tiny city in Belgium that has gotten a few big things right.  And one of those things is their bicycle culture.  Right from the get go, when we walked out of the train station, I saw a sea of bicycles parked outside: The woman at the information counter would later tell me that locals bike to…

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October 06, 2010

A Tribute to the Canals of Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I know it seems like I keep harping on all the things I find problematic about Phoenix and I tend to point out the things we could learn from other cities.  But this doesn’t mean there aren’t already great things about living here, right now, just the way they are.  Today I wanted to touch on one of those things, and that is our canal system. There has been much discussion, much speculation and much thought put into our canal system thanks to Nan Ellin’s visionary Canalscape project which is now being overseen by Valley Forward Association. But what…

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Tweet A few weeks ago I spoke with Councilman Tom Simplot, the councilman for District 4 in Phoenix.  There is a possibility that Councilman Simplot may run for mayor in 2011, but he did not confirm one way or another during our interview.  He did, however, answer questions about many of the things we find important at Blooming Rock such as historic preservation, sustainability, growth and the reversible lanes. Below is our conversation: Blooming Rock: Are you running for mayor? Councilman Simplot: I’ll tell you right now, no one should be saying definitively if they are running for mayor because…

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