Posts Tagged ‘asu’

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 15, 2010

STUDIO 1to1

by: Evan Ward

Tweet Today’s post is by Evan Ward, a member of a new team of designers and architects called STUDIO 1to1. STUDIO 1to1 actually started as an architecture thesis studio at ASU and has gone on to do some remarkable work with Transit Oriented Development planning around the Light Rail. I was excited to meet Evan recently and asked him to write about the work of STUDIO 1to1. Evan Ward grew up in Holland, Michigan and has lived in Arizona since 2001. He recently earned his M.Arch from Arizona State University. Prior to grad school, he spent 5 years working for…

November 30, 2010

Hedonistic Travel: The Pleasures of Carlessness

by: Sarah Davies

Tweet Today’s post is by Sarah Davies, who’s visiting Phoenix for about a year or so from the UK as a researcher at ASU. I first met Sarah at Critical Mass and we exchanged a few friendly words while trying to ride two abreast and to avoid the nearby speeding vehicles and falling in the gutter. During our short and understandably distracted conversation, I found out Sarah doesn’t have a car, she lives in Downtown and works at the ASU Main Campus. Intrigued, we followed up our brief riding encounter with a coffee at Lux a few weeks later. It…

November 02, 2010

ASU and the City

by: J Seth Anderson

Tweet Today’s post is by J Seth Anderson, a fantastic writer, journalist and fellow urban advocate for the Valley. Seth (first name is John, but he has always gone by Seth) is not a Phoenix native but dang close! His favorite time of year is summer in Phoenix. Seth lives in a mid-century house in downtown Tempe although he lives and breathes downtown Phoenix historic preservation and development. He writes about downtown Phoenix, historic preservation, politics, and LGBT issues on his own blog Boy Meets Blog. Seth also writes for the new Downtown Phoenix Journal magazine debuting this Thursday, November…

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…

September 15, 2010

Claude Mattox on the Sahara Hotel and the Reversible Lanes

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is part II of my interview with Councilman Claude Mattox who is running for Mayor in 2011. If you missed part I of the interview, catch it here. Below is the rest of our conversation: Blooming Rock: This is a question I’m sure you get a lot, what are your views on the reversible lanes? Councilman Mattox: My view of the reversible lanes is that they function the way they are designed. In lieu of having another freeway that runs north and south, they decided to do this (the reversible lanes) 40 years ago. My official position…

September 13, 2010

Claude Mattox talks about City North and Arizona’s Solar Future

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet A few weeks ago, I sat down with Councilman Claude Mattox in his office on the 11th floor of City Hall and asked him questions about future development in Phoenix. I’ll be posting the interview in two parts. Part I is on Councilman Mattox’s views on Green Phoenix, City North, commuter rail, and attracting solar companies to our State. Councilman Mattox is running for Mayor in 2011. Below is Part I of our conversation: Blooming Rock: Tell me what your views are on the Green Phoenix plan and what your priorities would be to implement it if you get…

August 31, 2010

Mayor Gordon on his Legacy to Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This morning, I had the honor of sitting down with City of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and asking him a few questions about future urban development and sustainability. I had asked readers to send me questions to ask the Mayor and I got many really good ones. Unfortunately, the Mayor’s morning was a particularly busy one and I was only able to speak to him for a short time. But I tried to touch on the topics that matter to my readers in the short time I did have with him. Below is our conversation: Blooming Rock: Would you…

August 27, 2010

10 Things You Should Know about the Upcoming Parking Lot at the Sahara Hotel

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet 1. The City used funds from the Downtown Phoenix Hotel Corporation to buy the Sahara building. Apparently part of this deal was the temporary use of the site as a parking lot for the Sheraton Hotel. This is the “done deal” City Manager David Cavazos was talking about. 2. When several community members suggested the lot become a park or a green space, Jeremy Legg, the City applicant for the parking use permit, mentioned the Civic Space Park is just a block away. Wait, so we can have TOO MANY green spaces, but never enough parking lots? 3. The…

August 25, 2010

Planting the Right Tree in the Right Place and Other Keys to a Healthy Urban Forest

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Last week, in the third installment of the series on the Tree and Shade Masterplan, I promised to talk about steps 2 and 3 in the implementation of the plan. But I’ll talk about those things next Wednesday and this is why: just a few hours ago I had lunch with the authors of the marvelous Tree and Shade Masterplan – Ken Vonderscher, Richard v-C Adkins, and Lysistrata Hall – and I learned so much from them that I wanted to share it with you today, while it’s fresh on my mind. Ken, Richard and Lysistrata all work for…