Posts Tagged ‘phoenix’

Tweet Since I’ve been boasting a great deal about how much I love Portland, some people have rolled their eyes and glibly said it’s not that great, especially in the winter months. It’s rainy and cloudy and people are prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) there. According to the National Library of Medicine, “Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a kind of depression that occurs at a certain time of the year, usually in the winter.” I have no doubt this is true. I lived in Pittsburgh for a year and it was cloudy there on most days for all the long and…

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October 12, 2012

Why I Fell in Love with Portland, Part III

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I’ve been telling you the tale of my love affair with Portland. Today I will tell the third and final part of the story. If you missed the first and second part, please go back and check them out. The third part of my story coincides with my third day in Portland. As you’ve noticed from my constant complaining in the first two posts, I was not up for a third day of walking so I bit the bullet and decided to make my third day transit day. Thank God for Google Map’s transit option! So instead of walking…

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October 10, 2012

Why I Fell in Love with Portland Part II

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Yesterday, I started to tell you about my love affair with the city of Portland. Today I’ll tell you the second part of the story. Monday in Portland was even better than Sunday. My friend Anna George who knows how much I love tea recommended this great tea bar called Tea, Chai, Te. What better place to have breakfast, I thought. So again (and thank goodness for Google Maps on the iPhone!) I punched in the address and saw that it was in a (what ended up being a very cute) neighborhood northwest of where I was staying. At…

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October 09, 2012

Why I Fell in Love with Portland, Part I

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet You know that feeling when you fall in love? You know…your senses are heightened, food tastes better, the air feels crisper and your knees feel weak. I didn’t think I could feel this way again, especially since I am wading through the pain of the recent breakup of my marriage. But lo and behold, my heart started beating hard with joy and an ecstasy began percolating in my gut. It wasn’t for any wonderful guy that I had met though. It was for the city of Portland. I went there for a visit last week and it changed my…

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October 01, 2012

Twelve Degrees

by: Kirby Hoyt

Tweet Today’s post is a poem by contributing writer Kirby Hoyt: Summer burns the desert floor Heat escapes a bitumen covered landscape in the middle of the night As the urban heat island effect grips the Valley In fifty years our nights have grown hotter Twelve degrees hotter Air-conditioned boxes buzz constant through the night Just wait until October they say Sun shine is welcome here but Few trees stand to protect wandering souls A six inch curb is no relief from widened streets As automobiles exceed the speed limit hurrying to nowhere particular Endless pavement spanning miles Driving longer…

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Tweet Here are a few important updates on the David Wright House: 1. As a note of interest regarding the attitude of the current owner and his disregard for the public interest in his new acquisition, Jim McPherson reports that, “the current owner of the David & Gladys Wright House invited PHOENIX Mayor Greg Stanton and guests to tour the building and grounds today…the mayor and a few others from the State Historic Preservation Office, Planning Commission, and Historic Preservation Commission (stood) in front of the chain link fence. They couldn’t get in. The property owner did not show up. He did…

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Tweet Circle K is proposing a new 16-bay location on the southeast corner of Roosevelt and 7th Street. There will be a public meeting regarding a use permit for the alcohol sales of this new Circle K tomorrow, Thursday September 27th, at 9am at Assembly Room C of the Phoenix City Hall on 200 W. Washington Street. Kevin Rille, President of the Evans Churchill Community Association, is concerned about this new Circle K in his neighborhood. Below, he tells us why: Blooming Rock: Do you think that the proposed Circle K is good for the neighborhood? Kevin Rille: It was…

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Tweet Why does it seem like developers drop down an apartment building in the urban core and overlook the rest of the area within walking distance.  Do they expect that what’s around it won’t really matter to (potential) residents? It’s lease renewal time at Casa Awesomesauce (population 2 humans and 1 troublesome puppy), thus we’ve been looking around and weighing our options before committing to another 12 months at our current residence.  Truth be told, there have been a few interactions with the new management company that didn’t go the way we would have liked them to, and for the…

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Tweet A while back I interviewed Andrew Ross, the author of Bird on Fire: Lessons from the Least Sustainable City in the World about his book and about his views on Phoenix. I published the first half of the interview on Monday. Below is the second and final part of the interview: Blooming Rock: What are some lessons other cities around the world can learn from your book about Phoenix? Andrew Ross: I think (they can learn from) this pattern of eco-haves and eco-have-nots, which I saw in Phoenix in a very starkly delineated way. It’s a profile that exists…

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Tweet Andrew Ross, author of Bird on Fire: Lessons from the Least Sustainable City in the World, made few friends in Phoenix with the title of his book. But that doesn’t mean that Phoenicians shouldn’t read his book or that he didn’t make excellent points that we need to pay attention to. A lot of criticism has been thrown Ross’s way because he’s an outsider finding fault in our fair city. But after having read his book, I have to admit, he knows a lot more about Phoenix than us locals seem to and his insider/outsider perspective is uniquely penetrating. …

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