Category: Dispatches | Page 3

Friday Five: 427 Days

It’s been 427 days since I’ve last posted. Let’s change that. Here are 5 things that have been on my mind.

It’s been a considerable time since I’ve last posted – 427 days to be exact. That won’t happen again. Anyway, here are five of the many things that have been on my mind in the last sixty-one weeks and will be the focus of the next few additions to this blog…

1. Still thinking about Chromebooks. This one’s fitting since my last post was about Chromebooks and how I’ve been playing around with them. In the intervening fourteen months, I’ve been off-and-on with mine but I’m still using it. It’s amazing to see how much it’s matured over that time period and how well it plays with Windows infrastructure via a Google-provided SMB share connector or a third-party RDP app. VPN connectivity is interesting with it but that’ll be the subject of a future post.

2. HOAs and IT. One of the big projects I’ve been tackling lately is the IT needs for a midrise condominium complex in midtown Phoenix. This will certainly be the focus of many posts down the road for sure; in the meantime, one theme that’s quickly emerged is that communicating technical issues and needs in non-technical terms is a skill that IT leaders need to embrace.

3. Midtown Phoenix. In 2016, I became disillusioned with the state of downtown-centric advocacy organizations and made a conscious decision to focus on the part of the world where I live and work: Midtown. As a means to that end, I’ve been elected to the board of the Midtown Neighborhood Association. August 2017 will mark the 17th anniversary of when I started to observe Midtown and the 11th anniversary of moving here from the suburbs. This renewed Midtown-centric advocacy focus is part of my love letter to Midtown.

4. Fifth-largest city. The big thing that’s got Phoenix “thought leaders” excited is the news that’s come around that the City of Phoenix proper is now the fifth largest city by population, overtaking Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. How many square miles of desert have we sprawled into to accomplish this “feat”? I mean, where do we collect our prize? What is our prize? Meanwhile, central-city Phoenix continues to suffer and the policy shifts from both Washington, D.C., and our own State Capitol won’t help that cause.

5. The Downtown Phoenix Podcast. I know there have been a few false starts of the resuming of The Downtown Phoenix Podcast and that’s frustrated me. This is a project that needs to happen to bring serious conversation to the issues facing central-city Phoenix. I think I’ve identified a couple new individuals who will help in bringing this back. Stay tuned.

Friday Five: Urban Dispatches

The Friday Urban Dispatch for 10 July 2015: comments on Roosevelt Row, civics lesson, and moving Phoenix.

As part of this blog’s The Friday Five series, The Friday Urban Dispatch is a unique boots-on-the-ground report on the urban condition in Phoenix.

Roosevelt Streets Improvements. This week marked the completion and public dedication of the Roosevelt Street streetscape improvements, the anchor of which is shade structures designed by the artist Meejin Yoon. There have also been some controversial planter pots installed on the south side of Roosevelt between 1 and 3 Streets. I like them. I think they add a level of whimsy and artistic quality to a street that is supposedly about those things.

BIDding for Roosevelt, part II. As part of this month’s Hance Park Conservancy meeting (of which I am a member of their Board of Directors), a presentation was given by Nancy Hormann, the consultant helping to organize the proposed Roosevelt Row Business Improvement District. While on the surface, this is a good idea, the devil’s in the details. Of great concern is the non-inclusion of major cultural anchors in that part of the world, such as Burton Barr Central Library and Hance Park. A business improvement district, it would seem, would be more robust and more viable if it drew from a bigger pool of support.

Entertainment districts and civics lessons. The City of Phoenix is set to create the first of its three allotted “entertainment districts” in downtown Phoenix. As I explained to the Downtown Phoenix Partnership on their Facebook page (because there is no wrong time for a civics lesson), this entertainment district is something that is a function of Arizona Revised Statues (Title 4, Section 207). It has nothing to do with what we conceive of entertainment. Nor is meant the Legends Entertainment District, which is neither legendary nor entertaining. All it has to do with is that in this entertainment district, the State Liquor Board may entertain issuing a liquor license that is within 300 feet of a school or church, subject to the customary and normal approval mechanisms like everywhere else.

Moving Phoenix. In August, Phoenix voters will vote for Mayor and those in the odd-numbered Council Districts will vote for their councilperson. This blog recommends returning each incumbent to their seats. Five ballot questions are also for consideration and this blog recommends a YES vote on all of them, especially on Proposition 104, the adoption of Transit 2050. The package involves improvements to Phoenix’s public transportation network as well as financing much-needed repairs to our streets. If Phoenix is to have any chance to compete in the world economy, public transportation is a key component. Voters should vote YES on Proposition 104.

Cities attract talent. If Phoenix is to be a world city, which I think is a necessary aspiration, then it means we must not be afraid of new ideas from outside our own boundaries. Come to think of it, it’s what ALL cities must do. So it has been extremely frustrating that many in downtown Phoenix lament the opening of Meejin Yoon’s “Shadow Play” art installation mainly because Ms. Yoon is not a local artist. If that line of thinking is valid, should the Phoenix Public Library only shelve books by local authors? Should the Phoenix Art Museum only show works by Arizona artists? Or should the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks only field players from the area? Of course not because that is not good for all. There is a definite place for local involvement and the advancing of local interests. It is not, though, in our exposure to the arts and the humanities. We must not feel threatened by the broadening of our horizons.

Good riddance

The Glendale City Council came to their sense to cancel their Arizona Coyotes contract. Let this be a call for the team to move west.

Earlier this week, the Glendale City Council came to their senses and realized that they couldn’t afford to keep the Glendale, Ariz., Coyotes. While I welcome that realization, I wonder what took so long.

Public (read: taxpayer) funding of sports stadiums are always a losing proposition. While I could share formulas and case studies that prove my point, it boils down to simple economics and the following statement: If stadiums did, in fact, make money and were profitable, team owners would privately finance the building of those facilities. Since that doesn’t happen, we’re all on the hook.

A great book I read recently is Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and World Cup by the Smith College and Brookings Institution professor, Andrew Zimbalist. It certainly should be on the urbanist’s bookshelf. Dr. Zimbalist appeared on Olbermann a few months ago to talk about his book.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELKQrkikxL0

To those who think that the Coyotes should move back to downtown Phoenix, I ask this: What City of Phoenix programs are you willing to sacrifice for this endeavor…parks? Community arts grants? After school education? Public safety? Infrastructure? As it emerged after the fire of the downtown Phoenix Sheraton that the City was using funds meant for repairs or replacement of the Gila River Arena (previously US Airways Center) to patch the shortfall created by the hotel’s operation, the City is not in a position to build a new arena.

When the Glendale, Ariz., Coyotes renamed at the start of the 2014-2015 season to be the geographically agnostic “Arizona Coyotes,” I sensed the beginning of the end was in sight. The Coyotes had played in suburban Glendale starting in the 2003-2004 season and were still called the Phoenix Coyotes. Nobody was confused. But with new management for the beleaguered franchise, the name raced to nowhere and we’re left with the “Arizona Coyotes.”

My one request to the Coyotes’ owners and to the National Hockey League: Don’t make this a giant legal battle to stay in suburban Glendale. They’ve clearly said that they don’t want you. Take this as a cue to relocate. Isn’t there considerable interest to put a team in Las Vegas or Seattle? Take a cue from the playbook of the Indianapolis-née-Baltimore Colts: Leave in the middle of the night.

But unlike the Colts, we won’t send our State Police to stop you.

On the Air: KJZZ interview on ASU Downtown Phoenix

Mark Brodie of KJZZ-FM in Phoenix sat down with me to ask some questions on ASU’s expansions into downtown Phoenix.

KJZZ logo If you thought you heard a familiar voice on KJZZ-FM’s The Show this afternoon, I offered some commentary on ASU’s expansions into downtown Phoenix.

The audio is here: http://kjzz.org/content/66891/asu-expands-downtown-phoenix-new-law-school.

My thanks to Mark Brodie for his excellent questions.

A note: Be back here tomorrow morning for a different take on The Friday Five.

Friday Five: Improving City Council Meetings

Rethinking Phoenix City Council meetings is something that is important for civic and citizen engagement. Here are five different approaches to do that.

There are some challenges to getting participation at Phoenix City Council meetings. Meetings range from a few people in attendance to packed houses depending on the business at hand. Since my academic training is in civic engagement and since I’ve attended my fair share of meetings of the City Council to advocate for a myriad of issues, here are some of my thoughts to encourage citizen engagement and to get more participation in municipal government and governance.

1. Simulcast the proceedings in the City Hall atrium. The space is underutilized during the day except for special events, like the various events taking place for National Arts & Humanities Month. But because the City Council Chambers are a small venue, when contentious items are on the agenda, the 225 seats quickly fill and the Chambers become standing room only. So people can observe the City Council doing the people’s work, why not make the atrium of City Hall a space for civic engagement and dialogue on important municipal issues and a spot to simulcast City Council meetings? With a powerful projector, a large screen, and decent speakers, the Phoenix Channel 11 broadcast of City Council meetings can happen inside the atrium. Some might say this would be noisy for visitors to City Hall or those who work inside but this “noise” is your government at work.

2. Have speakers’ cards available outside the Council Chambers security checkpoint. Some times, people want to have their support or opposition for an item on the Council’s agenda on the record but do not necessarily wish to speak. In addition to writing their councilperson, one way to do that is to use the speaker’s card to indicate support or opposition, even if an individual doesn’t want to speak before the council. But the only way to do that is to go through the security checkpoint, fill out a card, then leave. Have some cards in a kiosk outside the entrance doors and a council staff person in charge of collecting them to be delivered to the council dais. An easy option would be have them available at spaces within City Hall before and during the meetings, like the City Hall atrium (see point #1, above).

3. Rethink the security screening process to get inside the Council Chambers. I have wondered why there is TSA-style screening to enter the Phoenix City Council chambers but not the other buildings of the City of Phoenix, like City Hall. I appreciate the desire to keep those in attendance at Council meetings as well as city staff and elected officials safe; however, one wonders why this started. As commented in point number 2, above, speakers’ cards are only available post-security, which makes it challenging for people to put their views on the official record even if they do not wish to speak.

4. Hold City Council meetings at various sites around the City of Phoenix. While this might not always work for all meetings, when business for particular areas of the City can be held at one time, take the meetings on the road to that area. So if items of general relevance to, say, inner west Phoenix and Maryvale are on the table, hold the meeting at the Adam Diaz Senior Center at 41 Ave and Thomas. This would also introduce all of the council members to all constituencies in the entire city and to hear from everyone, not just their own home district. In other words, let’s bring the people’s business to the people.

5. Move City Council meetings to the Orpheum Theatre. This one would require a lot of forethought and planning to do it right and to work out some logistical challenges but I think this is something that needs to be done. The City Council Chambers, built in the early 1960s, seats 225 people. While that might have worked for a city that was 1/3 the size of today, when there are contentious issues on the Council’s agenda, that space quickly becomes way too small. The City Council has held meetings at the 1,364-seat Orpheum Theatre in the past and it should start to do that in the future. The City Council Chambers building would still be used for smaller civic functions, like meetings of various City boards and commissions, lectures, and other civic events.

Introducing the Eddie Number

In which we introduce The Eddie Number, a measurement of economic activity in a downtown.

I’m creating a new statistic here: the “Eddie Number.”

The Eddie Number is a measurement of economic sprawl based on where large corporations set up shop in a city or metropolitan area. This will be used in tomorrow’s edition of The Friday Five / The Friday Urban Dispatch and it seems appropriate to introduce it here first.

To find the Eddie Number, subtract the number of downtown-based corporate headquarters from the corporate headquarters in the rest of the metro area. For standard calculations, I recommend using the Fortune 1000 list. (This is the default list to use. You can create your own modified Eddie Number using your own list of data but when sharing your calculation, you must make that list known.)

So based on that Fortune 1000 list, there are 13 companies based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Only 2 of the 13 are based in downtown Phoenix, the rest are based in either other cities or in suburban Phoenix office parks. That said, downtown Phoenix’s Eddie Number is:

An Eddie Number will always be negative (you can’t have more downtown-based corporate headquarters than companies based in an entire metropolitan region) and an Eddie Number closer to 0 is better because it means there is more economic activity happening in that city’s downtown.

Oh, and about the name: If you want a statistic named after yourself, then come up with your own statistic.

Blog News: New Facebook Page

Please join us on Facebook for the new “Thoughts from Edward Jensen” Facebook page.

A very quick update for Friday…

I’ve created a Facebook page for this blog. There isn’t a vanity URL for it (yet) but you can click on the link below or the image to like it. That will be the place to get updates from this blog and other things that might be worthy of discussion.

Please join us!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Thoughts-from-Edward-Jensen/838279466212548

Friday Five: Transportation Improvements II

The Friday Five for August 29: More public transportation improvements for Phoenix.

As it turns out, one list of five items to improve Phoenix’s transit network isn’t enough! There are certainly a lot of areas for transportation improvements in this city. Building on last week’s installment of The Friday Five, here is another set of five improvements for public transportation in this city, with a refresher on the first five:

1. Get rid of the $2 bus tax; reintroduce transfers.

2. Designate high-capacity / high-frequency routes.

3. Retrofit existing light rail stations with cooled spaces; shade all bus stops.

4. Have bus system achieve schedule parity with light rail.

5. Introduce stored-value fare cards for all riders.

6. Connect transit to trailheads. I’ve written on this extensively in an essay comment from Monday so I will refer you to that for more detail. In summary, if we want to alleviate parking problems at some of our most popular parks, trails, and mountain preserves, we must think about different ways to get people there. I propose connecting our bus system to those trailheads.

7. Establish site guidelines for bus stop locations, especially during construction. Especially in central Phoenix, bus stop locations can be located quite a distance from the intersection they serve. For instance, the eastbound Thomas Road bus stop is 250 feet from its corner, which doesn’t include any street crossings needing to be made by passengers. During construction, as we are seeing on 19 Ave for light rail’s extension, bus stops can be 1/8 – 1/4 mile away from the intersection and can constantly change. When transfer times are in the 1-2 minute range instead of 5-6 minutes and especially in unshaded environments, bus connections are missed. Guidelines should be created and enforced (especially during construction) that bus stops should be no more than 100 feet from the intersection.

8. Improve bicycle infrastructure on buses, trains, and at major stations. Public transportation is a great way to get from point A to point B without having to pedal everywhere. Most times when I ride the train, the hanging bike racks are full. Often times, too, bicycle racks on buses are full. (Trains can hold four bicycles per car; a bus can hold two or three bicycles.) Bicycles are not allowed on the bus so if a bicycle rack is full, a rider has to wait or cycle to their destination; on trains, when the bike racks are full, bicycles and their riders are blocking aisles and doors. As METRO orders new rolling stock for its system and evaluates its current equipment, more bicycle racks are certainly an imperative! Something that’s equally important is the addition of practice bicycle racks at major transit centers. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen try to load their own bicycles into the trains with bad results. I know that I’ve had problems loading my own bicycle into the hanging bike rack. “Practice makes perfect,” as the saying goes, and I am sure that some practice bicycle racks at major transit centers would provide some no-pressure/no-stress practice for both novice and experienced transit users alike.

9. Update schedules with real data. More often than not, there is a disconnect between what the schedule says and when the next bus or train arrives. On a recent bus trip, the schedule was off by 10 minutes. Trains are usually off by 1-2 minutes. As Valley Metro updates their schedules for the future, perhaps they should add this experiential information and realize that while schedules are nice, they are often aspirational.

10. Make Valley Metro data, including real-time positions, truly open source. We’ve heard that Valley Metro is in the process of creating their own in-house app for bus and train schedules, route guidance, and general information about the system. While their limited release of GTFS data is welcome, why not make it open source for everyone? There are great mobile apps for getting transit directions, many often times better than Valley Metro’s own website. In addition, some of these apps contain GTFS-Realtime information, meaning directions are based on realtime bus and train positions, not predetermined schedules.

The (Almost) Friday Five: Transportation Improvements

The (Almost) Friday Five: Some thoughts on public transportation improvements in Phoenix in light of City Hall’s push to collect our feedback.

[editorial note: On some Fridays here on edwardjensen.net, we publish “The Friday Five” — a quick list of some things that catch our attention either about our community or anything in general. Today, we are talking public transportation improvements. This week’s “Friday Five” is published on Thursday because there will be a Friday Essay.]

The City of Phoenix announced a new online initiative called talktransportation.org to collect Phoenix residents’ ideas about transportation improvements and the future of transportation in our fair city. While my verdict is still out on these online forms of citizen engagement and the quality of information received, I applaud the City for doing this again. Here are some thoughts I’ve shared to improve transportation in this city:

1. Get rid of the $2.00 bus fare tax and reintroduce transfers. At the moment, it costs $4.00 to purchase an all-day pass except if you’re on a bus, where it’s $6.00. While the reason given was that it is to encourage riders to purchase their passes and tickets at transit centers or third-party retailers, there is no practical reason to keep it. An all-day pass should be the same price no matter where it is purchased. Conversely, the two-hour transfer should be reintroduced because our bus system is designed around Phoenix’s grid streets system. To get from one point to another on bus or light rail, there is a great chance that you’ll need to take two (or more) bus lines or connect from bus to train.

2. Designate high-frequency routes and increase service and capacity. When METRO light rail opened after Christmas 2008, it ran one train every ten minutes between 7am and 7pm on weekdays. Today, the headway is 12 minutes between trains on weekdays, with less frequent service outside of those times. For buses, a quick glance at the schedule shows that the most frequent line is the Thomas Road line, Route 29, which achieves a 10-minute headway during weekday morning and afternoon commutes. Using ridership data, Valley Metro should identify these routes with high ridership and create a high-frequency service promise for these core lines.

3. Retrofit existing light rail stations with cooled spaces and put shade at all bus stops. Train and major bus stops in many Midwestern cities have adapted quite well to the extreme cold that comes their way by installing heated areas on platforms and stations. Having traveled to some of these places during the winter, it is very welcome for this native desert dweller whose idea of cold is anything beneath 50º F! While I know that physics and electromechanical engineering state that it’s easier to heat than to cool, the number 1 hallmark of a great city is adapting to climate. We’ve created two light rail platforms in downtown Phoenix that have cooled spaces. Let’s make them all have cooled spaces. In addition, let’s put shade at all bus stops. Too many bus stops are just a sign with no shelter from the heat. We live in a desert; it gets hot here. Let’s adapt to our warm climate.

4. Have the bus system achieve schedule parity with light rail. Right now, the last city buses leave downtown Phoenix around 10:15pm on weekdays and 9:00pm on the weekends. Meanwhile, the last light rail trains leave at 11:30pm Sunday through Thursday and 2:30am late night on Friday and Saturdays. Bus service needs to be enhanced to match light rail or light rail service needs to be cut back to match bus services because the two methods complement each other.

5. Introduce stored-value transit fare cards for all riders. Washington’s WMATA has SmarTrip. New York City’s MTA has the Metrocard. Boston’s MBTA has the Charlie Card. In Minneapolis, they have the GoTo Card. All of these cards are reusable cards that have combinations of stored value and day / week / month unlimited-ride passes for bus, subway, or commuter rail. These cards can be purchased by anyone from a vending machine or a station agent. Phoenix doesn’t have that system and it’s long past time we have something like that. Our closest thing is the Platinum Pass but that’s only for companies through trip-reduction programs. Paper tickets for various passes are available. If we want to make public transportation a truly viable and equal option for urban dwellers as we want it to be, a stored-value card program available to the masses has to be introduced.

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