376 replies to this topic

[MJLO]

where has everyone been?  We are so up and down on here.  We should be one of the busiest forums by now, alas we lag.  I pretty much gave up moderating over the summer my heart wasn't in it.  Now I don't have the energy to get and take pics and all that.

[colin]

Well, I can add something.
I moved again. This time to the bustling, restaurant-lined North Campbell Avenue. It's extremely convenient, the apartment's nice and it's on an express bus route. I've been walking a lot since moving in.
I'll have pictures from the area pretty soon.

[convulso]

are you north of river? still in the city? sounds like perhaps the allen-rogers-prince area. wife works at GRB, a law firm located off campbell ave. along  that stretch.

if you're south of that, in the plaza liquors - lucky wishbone area, you even get a nice buzz of (for tucson) urban activity. i always feel a very 1950s, car-culture-mixed-with-ped-culture sort of vibe along that part of campbell, especially at night.

is anything being done with the catalina theater?

[colin]

Plaza Liquors area but actually a little north, near Campbell and Blacklidge. There are tons of restaurants right across the street. I've walked over to Albertson's three times already and Old Chicago once. Went to the pho place near Glenn last night (which is awesome, btw).
I agree completely about the vibe though and that's one of the reasons why I like it. There is a surprising amount of ped traffic in that area but the sidewalks are unfortunately sparse. It's a fairly easy corridor to walk around on though.
There was the idea of Walgreens taking over at least part of Catalina at one point, but I think that idea is dead as dead. Theaters are so difficult to reuse that I doubt anything will occur without demolition. It's a difficult intersection also because of that right turn lane and the amount of traffic it gets. At one time, there was a proposal to sink Campbell and create an underpass/exit situation, but that died quickly mostly due to the pseudo-rich folks in adjacent Catalina Vista.

[MJLO]

omg our forum is almost dead!  where are my people talking about nothing in the off topic place?!?

[convulso]

tonight i've been reading my old posts and those of the others on here when this forum was alive.

i've gone through a period during which i've lost interest in...well, pretty much everything. i am hopeful that i am slowly emerging from that. i tentatively foresee a gradual crescendo in my activity on here and elsewhere, as i start to remember myself again.

sorry for going AWOL.

is there life? *ping?*

[MJLO]

hey ben

we exist, i think we are all with u in what we are experiencing.  i'm on here everyday but only to check on other parts of the site really
it's hard to stay engaged in something that doesn't grow.  On top of that interesting development news in AZ is all but stopped, and there isn't enough space on the site for every new strip mall that goes in.

[nuplanner]

I think the slow down is good for Arizona.  We were growing to fast and were not planning smart.  The developers controlled what was going on because of the cash flow that was coming in.  Now that is dried up, and now we have time to sit back, be smart and rethink of all the crap that we just let happen out in the fringe.  So, this is a time we can make sure we make good decisions.  At least mesa is now doing that with Gateway.  There is no rush, and we want to get it right.

[convulso]

MJLO, on Jun 5 2008, 10:14 PM, said:

hey ben

we exist, i think we are all with u in what we are experiencing.  i'm on here everyday but only to check on other parts of the site really
it's hard to stay engaged in something that doesn't grow.  On top of that interesting development news in AZ is all but stopped, and there isn't enough space on the site for every new strip mall that goes in.

thanks, MJ. i've had personal zhit that's held my ambition back (NO, not drugs! lol...those don't hold me back!) for a while; i'm metamorphosing slowly out of it.

the real estate boom / bust cycle certainly hits the boomtowns harder. phoenix, as arizona's engine, has felt that, and it makes news on the urban front rather trickly in hard times. meanwhile, back home in the semi-rural south, things are growing near the same rate as they always have when the market booms elsewhere - you know, during those times when slow-growth areas tend to seem left behind. that's one reason i've always felt real estate is a sound investment in my old home haunts, because - while it has never rocketed off the charts, atlanta-style - it has never gone anywhere but up, even in slow times. the tradeoff is that the ascent is always predictably gradual, but the benefit is that the communities are stable and deliver what they promise (though often the promise is modest) to those who locate here with intent to stay for decades.


btw, i echo you, nuplanner. get it right; slow growth. arizona is a place to which people will continue to want to move, but the water issues have, for a few decades, lurked behind the facade of newcomers' dreams of an easy life out west. those issues haven't yet erupted and, without some help from other market forces (high gas prices; real estate slumps), might never be addressed ahead of the demand which burgeoning populations in an arid environment threaten to create. in my view, the slowdown in southern arizona's cheap-gas and sprawl-happy real estate development paradigm might...might...be a blessing in disguise. if, that is, the political heads at the state and local level have the sense to welcome the reprieve while planning for the next wave - you know, focusing on denser cities, rewarding private development geared toward environmental and civic responsibility, getting serious about the regional transit picture, etc.

and that next wave will surely come.

[nuplanner]

I just think that Arizona got it wrong when they voted no on the growth boundary in 2000.  The problem is, growth (i.e. construction) is a main source of jobs.  That is a huge reason why college grads do not stay in AZ.  There are not enough jobs to keep them here. However, we have been riding on the backs of cheap labor, gas, and horrible public policy in the southwest.



For the past few decades, growth was the band-aid for the poor economy, and has been heavily depended on to support our local and state economy.  We are going threw another cycle again, one that we have never seen with other elements affect it.  Cost of everything is going up, and the medial income is not.  We had too many people getting into the real estate market and investing that made it way un-sustainable.  As a society, we expect that we could make so much on a home in 2 years, move further away in a bigger house, buy new things, put them on credit cards and in a few years, you sell your house again and pay it all off.  It was false hope, a mirage by the local economy, our politicians, developers, media and citizens in general.  Build more roads, more strip malls, drive drive drive!  No thought was going into what happens when this boom defilades?  What happens when gas does not come down, and the market falls?  I know I almost got caught up in this, and every market is hurting from it.  Yes, some development is still going on, but in general, things are going to be hurting big time due to this over inflation of the real estate market.  



Our neighborhoods are going to suffer too.  Especially the master planned communities of the past two decades to the present.  They are horrible designs, and anti social.  These are the future slums.



There is a reason why a large majority of foreclosures are out on the fringe of the city.  Location and false hope of the cheap American dream fueled this for so long that this dream is now crumbling right before us.  Its like we, as human beings are forgot how to build cities the past 5 decades, and have thrown out one of the most important elements, the human.  Its out of scale, and that is what sprawl brings.



Until we wise up, invest in our cities, and take control of our cities, we are going to get the same.  Developers run this state, and they affect the outcomes of voting and how politicians act.  It’s a philosophy that is harmful to our economy now and in the long run.



Sorry for the rant.  But with this slow down, I hope this opens people’s eyes about our economy, the way our society is shaped and how we grow



by the way, everyone is gone!  Yeah, not much is going on, but the board is dead.

[MJLO]

Phoenix has a large service economy(which is ultimately self sustaining), it is certainly over reliant on growth and construction.  I think it will end up evening out soon.  It certainly is flashy, even with real estate in the tank.

[MJLO]

Alright y'all, there is a new governor.  Mrs. Janice K. Brewer.  I know alot of people on the forum are partisan in nature.  Alot more don't care, but how do you think this will affect the state?  Good, Bad?  Goodbye Janet, don't let the door hit you in the rear on the way out?

[tombarnes]

I really have not heard much about her just yet.  Of course, Washington is pretty insular, so we don't get as much real news here as we ought to.  Tell me more....

[colin]

Hi!
Sorry for the long lapse in activity. No excuse for myself, but maybe it was the job that I took ended up actually keeping me busy.
But I quit the job at the end of May and have been traveling since. First up to Canada and out to Newfoundland, down to Costa Rica, to DC for a few days, driving around the Great Plains, and I'm recently back from a California and Utah national parks tour. I have one more trip coming up next week that'll take me to the Midwest, but only for a week. I'm working on a new job now, but I may end up in stupid Phoenix. The market is getting better here, but it's not as easy to find a job in my field anymore.
I'll try to post some stuff on Tucson development, because there are some things going on here.

[MJLO]

holy crap it's Colin!  I thought we lost you man.  Sounds like you've been having fun dude, can't blame you.  If you end up in Phoenix i'm sure we'd all be happy to see you

[colin]

I ended up with a Tucson job, but don't particularly like it. Whatever though.
I probably won't be in AZ more than another year or so. My girlfriend will likely be getting a faculty job somewhere, which will move her and, frankly, I'm probably ready to go too. I like Arizona a lot, but it's time to move on. When I moved out here, I said I'd be out here for at least five years, and it's passed six now. With the lease I'm on now (we have a townhouse near Campbell/River), it'll be at least seven before I move. That'll pass up Houston for the longest I've ever lived anywhere, which will actually be nice, because Houston sucks, and I've always been a little embarrassed by that fact.
Until then, I'll try to post some urban development related stuff. The news is a bit dead now, especially here in Arizona, but there is some positive stuff coming out here in Tucson. I'll have to pay more attention to Phoenix too.

[MJLO]

News in most places have slowed down.  Oddly enough in my hometown they still seem to be seeing a steady stream of new projects, which is crazy cause it's in Michigan.  But I still have high hopes to see AZ evolve into a much more urban-centric state, and not just a poster child for suburban growth