June 17, 2011

Phoenix Mayor Candidate Wes Gullett on Bike Lanes, Shade and Public Engagement

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is part II of my interview with Phoenix Mayor candidate Wes Gullett. If you missed part I, catch it here. Note: If you’re not registered to vote yet, please do so now by clicking here! Remember that if you’re not registered to vote by August 1, you will NOT be able to vote in the mayoral election on August 30. If you are already registered, know that your voting place is not the same. Click here to see where the new voting centers will be. A bike showcasing a squash at Agritopia. Photo by the author. Blooming…

June 16, 2011

Phoenix Mayor Candidate Wes Gullett on Cutting Costs and Why We Shouldn’t Expand the Light Rail

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This Monday I interviewed Wes Gullett, who is running for Mayor of the City of Phoenix and is currently a partner at First Strategic, a strategic communications and public affairs company. This interview with Mr. Gullett is the fourth in my series of interviews with the major mayoral candidates. To get an in-depth view of where the different candidates stand on issues like public transit, historic preservation and further growth in Phoenix read the Blooming Rock interviews with Claude Mattox, Greg Stanton and Peggy Neely too. Note: If you’re not registered to vote yet, please do so now by…

June 15, 2011

Oasis, Mirage and Vastness: The Valley’s Search for Exceptionalism

by: Kevin Kellogg

Tweet Today’s post is by Blooming Rock contributing writer Kevin Kellogg: I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and…

June 14, 2011

PCA/DPJ Mayoral Debate

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet If you missed last night’s Mayoral debate sponsored by the Phoenix Community Alliance and the Downtown Phoenix Journal held at the School of Nursing at ASU Downtown, here’s my twitter recap of what was said. Not much was different from the Mayoral debate last Thursday sponsored by the Downtown Voices Coalition except for the fact that Anna Brennan, a candidate that did not make the ballot, was present. Learn more about the major candidates and read the Blooming Rock interviews with Mattox, Stanton and Neely. I’ll be posting my interview with Wes Gullett in the next few days. Note:…

June 09, 2011

Downtown Voices Coalition Mayoral Debate

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet If you missed tonight’s Downtown Voices Coalition Mayoral Debate, here’s my live twitter coverage to give you an idea of what all was said: EVERYBODY is here at tonight’s DVC mayoral debate! Wes Gullett’s vision for Downtown: let’s take it to the next level, commercialize, get government out of the way of small business. Jennifer Wright’s vision for Downtown: we need to look at our whole city, not just Downtown. Doesn’t believe we should invest City $ in DT. Greg Stanton’s vision for Downtown: TIF, strong public education, adaptive reuse code, range of housing, walkability, make it a neighborhood…

June 08, 2011

5 Reasons I Love Community Tables at Restaurants

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Last Sunday Paul and I had breakfast at La Grande Orange on 40th Street and Campbell. Our favorite place to sit there is the community table. The last time we sat there, we struck up a conversation with an 8-year-old and his mom. And this time we chatted it up with a guy who noticed my “got coffee? seattle” t-shirt. We ended up talking with him for over an hour! The community table at breakfast last Sunday at La Grande Orange. Photo by the author. This made me think about the beauty of community tables. Here are 5 reasons…

June 06, 2011

Can We Live Local?

by: Ryan Glass

Tweet Today’s post is by Ryan Glass. I first met Ryan at a Places, Spaces and Faces Community Dinner. I subsequently ran into Ryan’s insightful and hilarious blog Relevant Wit through some mutual urbanist friends. When I saw Ryan at Lola’s on Roosevelt a while ago, I knew I had to hit him up for a guest post! The Downtown Phoenix Public Market. Photo by Taz Loomans. CenPho resident since 2002, Ryan Glass is an amateur urbanist, podcaster and contributing writer. For his more random thoughts, follow @RyanGPHX. Not that long ago, I attended a speech given by noted urbanist…

June 01, 2011

5 Awesome Things about the Castaway House Kick-Off

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet A rendering of the courtyard at Castaway House by Cavin Costello I read this earlier today: The word “integrity” shares its root with the word “integer,” which means one indivisible thing. – Martha Beck This idea of ‘one indivisible thing’ ties in very nicely with what I wanted to write about today which is the integrated design kick-off meeting we had last week for the Castaway House. I know it’s been a while since I’ve written about the Castaway House, but that’s because we were in the middle of selecting a contractor to work with and also trying to…

May 31, 2011

Replacing Windows in Historic Neighborhoods Should Require a Permit

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Last month I was invited to participate in a Window Advisory Committee set up by the City of Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission. This may sound a bit esoteric to many of you, but some important issues were discussed that pertain to our historic neighborhoods. Here’s some background. We have 35 designated historic residential neighborhoods in the City of Phoenix. You can find out where they are here. These neighborhoods fall under Historic Preservation Overlay Zoning meaning that they are subject to Historic Preservation Design Guidelines. So if you live in one of those neighborhoods and you want to make…

May 30, 2011

Michael Pinto on How Architects Can Save the World

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet In March, I had the pleasure of seeing architect Michael Pinto speak at the Taliesin West Spring Lecture series. Michael’s office, Osborn Architects, is based in Los Angeles, a city that faces a lot of the same problems as Phoenix, except magnified and sometimes it’s a little bit further ahead in addressing those problems. The reason I decided to interview Michael was that I could tell that he takes a much broader approach to architecture than just designing beautiful buildings. He actually thinks that architects can change the world for the better. And so I was hooked. Michael proved…