Posts Tagged ‘Phoenix City Council’

November 13, 2012

With New Buyer Backing Out, Phoenix City Council Must Designate David Wright House Regardless of Owner Permission

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I had a feeling it was too early to celebrate. Many media outlets reported two weeks ago that a preservation-minded buyer had purchased the David Wright house from the existing owner – 8081 Meridian – who wanted to demolish it in order to build two McMansions on the site. This meant that the house was going to be saved for sure. Why? First, the new owner had no plans to demolish it. And second, the new owner would most likely give his permission for the city to put a landmark designation on the house. But alas, the Business Journal…

July 26, 2011

What’s Happening at Planning and Development at the City of Phoenix?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of sitting down with the Director to Planning and Development at the City of Phoenix, Debra Stark. We talked about all the different things the department is doing to encourage reuse of existing buildings, promote energy efficiency and take away barriers of building for small businesses. Merger of Planning and Historic Preservation with Development Services: The merger of three different but related departments initially occurred because of City budget cuts but according to Debra, it’s proven to be great for collaboration and the streamlining of services. About a year and a…

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 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…

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…

February 22, 2011

Don Ryden on Why Phoenix is a City of Optimism

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is the second half of my conversation with local historic preservation architect Don Ryden and the author of Midcentury Marvels. If you missed part I, don’t forget to go back and take a look! Blooming Rock: You had mentioned the idea of communal memory at your lecture for the release of Midcentury Marvels at the Phoenix Council Chambers. Can you talk a little bit about this concept? Don Ryden: Communal memory is one of the reasons we deal with historic preservation. In the lecture I said it’s either love, money, or duty (why we preserve historic buildings)….

January 02, 2011

New Year’s Resolutions for a Better Community

by: Jim McPherson

Tweet Today’s post is by Jim McPherson, a follow up to his guest post last week. He helps us kick off the new year with some resolutions on how to improve Phoenix and concrete steps on how to get started. Thanks Jim!… Happy New Year! Here in Phoenix, the sun is out, the sky is clear, and there’s a slight chill in the air. Not bad, not bad at all. It’s also that time of the year to resolve to improve upon the previous year. It’s time to look forward and to move forward. Last week in my post, “Yes…

December 29, 2010

Reverse Lanes Place Cars Above Community

by: Yuri Artibise

Tweet Today’s post is by the avid urbanist, community activist and my friend, Yuri Artibise. Yuri Artibise—aka the Incurable Urbanist—has spent the past four years creating community in the urban desert that is better known as Phoenix. Through his Yurbanism brand, Yuri explores the ‘Y’ of urbanism by sharing ways to make our cities more livable, community-oriented places one block at a time. Find out more at yuriartibise.com. On December 14th Phoenix City Council voted 5-1 (with 2 absences) to accept the report of the Ad Hoc Task Force on Reverse Lanes. (A summary of the report is found at…

October 12, 2010

Councilman Peggy Neely on City North and Downtown Development

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet A few weeks ago I spoke to Councilman Peggy Neely who’s formed an exploratory committee to see if she wants to run for Mayor in 2011. Councilman Neely’s is District 2 that includes Kierland Commons and City North. I was curious to find out, since her district is away from the central city, what her view is for Downtown. I was also curious to know about her position on City North as it is in her district. Also, I asked the Councilwoman about how we can support small businesses since as much of her district is home to lots…