Copper Square bites the dust, but has anyone learned anything?

News item: A Phoenix business group plans to stop using the name Copper Square that has branded a 90-block downtown retail-and-office district for eight years. The Downtown Phoenix Partnership is working with Scottsdale's SHR Perceptual Management on a name that will highlight downtown Phoenix as "Arizona's cosmopolitan heart..."

Where to begin? Perhaps it's most telling that the Downtown Phoenix Partnership is paying a Scottsdale company to come up with a name for downtown Phoenix. Such is the fecklessness, confusion and drift that characterized the whole "Copper Square" debacle.

You know where I stand. I wrote against the silly name even before they rolled it out, saying, among other things, that the name of the "district" is already established by decades of custom: Downtown Phoenix. In a city hostile to public spaces, there is no square, and downtown has no historic link with the copper industry. And who wants to live in a city that doesn't have a downtown? Yet millions of dollars that might have been spent on, say, recruiting private employers to downtown, went to banners and assorted crap saying "Copper Square."

So what will these marketing gods from Scottsdale -- apparently there were no companies available in downtown Phoenix (which ought to tell you something of the real problem) say?

I guess they'll come up with a new silly name and laugh all the way to the bank -- and the name won't be Downtown Phoenix. I have an idea: the Deuce. (If you don't get the joke, go back home to Chicago).

And after spending fresh gobs of money, the Downtown Phoenix Partnership and whatever downtown leaders are left, will still not have addressed the heart of the matter.

Or should we say, hearts. Downtown Phoenix faces a number of challenges that are unique among very large cities, and none can be fixed by a new fake name, a "brand" -- the marketing equivalent of a bad Scottsdale boob job. These issues are substantive, not "perceptual."

Chief among them:
--A small and declining pool of private-sector employers for such a large city, and no major headquarters with significant employees. This means few stakeholders that can deploy private capital to expand downtown, and weigh in decisively on design and quality of life issues.
--Ordinances that have made mixed use and reuse nearly impossible, while allowing scores of buildings that could have affordably housed small businesses to be torn down.
--Competition from downtown Scottsdale and, increasingly, downtown Tempe, in a metro area with limited disposable income and economic power. (by contrast, booming downtown suburban Bellevue, with far more cranes on its skyline than Phoenix, doesn't detract from booming downtown Seattle).
--Land banking by absentee owners with no intention to productively use their empty lots or sell them at a price where they could be profitably developed. This means ugly blight and even prevents Roosevelt Row from being a real row.
--City Hall's war against the shade trees and grass needed to make downtown livable.
--A hellishly unplanned metro sprawl, combined with a population that largely doesn't "get" urban. Even the U.S. senators have their offices outside downtown.
--I could go on...

On the other hand, a city government that committed so much civic malpractice over the decades, scored some huge recent victories: light rail; ASU downtown; the expanded Convention Center, and the convention hotel. This attracted some much needed, and long lacking, new private investment, especially 44 Monroe. I hope CityScape happens, but the renderings make it look modest, bland and infernally hot, as opposed to the transformative project promised (or even the delightful shady garden at Arizona Center).

The biomedical campus has enormous potential if there's follow-through: this could be a huge generator of jobs and wealth. But it's moving way too slowly vs. the warp-speed competition. And while the big projects are fine, and the new Big Dog, Michael Crow, is valuable, downtown still needs more organic small projects, including retail. Downtown retail is not a mall.

Against this backdrop, we have to ask what is the mission anymore for the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, now that Jerry Colangelo, Margaret Mullen and the old powers-that-be are gone? What, for that matter, is the mission of its big brother, the Phoenix Community Alliance?

Somebody should be working to remove the obstacles to downtown Phoenix being the cheapest and easiest place to do business in the West. Somebody should be aggressively recruiting private capital doing real things to locate downtown (not spec builders, most of whose ballyhooed projects can be seen on display at the downtown W Hotel). Somebody should be maniacally focused on quality of life downtown, making it a wonderful, sexy place to live, work and play (this means substance, not a marketing campaign). And then somebody can run the street guides, etc.

None of those things, except the guides, have been effectively addressed during the Copper Square years. That lost time will prove consequential now that central Arizona is in a deep recession and the world ahead looks very different from the pre-bust world.

But first do no harm: Spare us another silly name. The name's not the problem.

Finally, I have no patience for the newcomers and others (including some in the media) who don't take the time to know where downtown is in my hometown. I wouldn't be so cluelessly disrespectful of their hometowns. Downtown is the railroad tracks to Fillmore (or Roosevelt if you are liberal in the definition), and Seventh Avenue to Seventh Street. Always has been. Then there's Midtown and Uptown. Camelback and 24th St. is not downtown.

Comments

[kb]

Ahhhh the trees! The city doesn't want trees and public space because of the homeless taking advantage of the shade.

Did you know the State cut down all the trees at Wesley Bolin Plaza? I asked a groundskeeper there; why? He told me it was to discourage the homeless.

[Mark Shinkonis]

Phoenix is now considering downtown to be McDowell to Buckeye, 7th st to 7th Ave. From Grant South to Buckeye is likely to be rezoned commercial mixed use soon. Who cares what the downtown partnership wants to call a part of it. It's still "downtown". Small businesses are popping up all over the place. The city is really promoting the mixed used zoning. You are out of the loop. I lived in Seattle. "Downtown" Bellevue is not very interesting. Very corporate. Yuck! Microsoft, yeah, hire some more H1Bs. And Seattle's downtown...um..if I liked gloomy weather why not just move to Portland, much better. You sound like Phoenix was your ex-girlfriend who you caught in bed with your buddy. You've got a new girlfriend but you're really not over "Phoenix" because she's much hotter, pun intended. Enjoy your only nice season, summer, while at least two thirds of the year here is perfect. If you have any money left after buying in Seattle I suggest you invest in some real estate downtown here while it's still cheap. Every city has room to improve and some of what you say is true, but not all, you should work on that.

[SueM]

Mark never really addresses the substance of the post. I live here and what Jon writes is true, both the challenges and opportunity. I wish people would work on the challenges rather than being defensive. The whole copper square thing was a joke. Now Crow has replaced Uncle Jerry.

[Don Gardner]

I love it when a Phoenix resident 1) condemns a company like Microsoft, as if Phoenix ever had or ever will have such a dynamic corporate presence and 2) slams them for hiring H1B engineers. Gotta wonder what the motivation of a remark like that might be.

[Jack Hansen]

Jon raises the real issues -- wish the local newspaper had a clue.

As for city hall "redefining" downtown's boundaries... Big deal. Fix the downtown you have, for goodness sake.

And day after day of 100+ weather...who is Mark kidding? Our one nice season keeps getting shorter, which anyone who has lived here awhile knows.

[Mark Shinkonis]

Re: Don

Bill, Mr. cutthroat, anything and everything for profit cries for more H1B's, saying there is no talent in the U.S. when really there is tons of talent right here at home untapped. Me nor any of my talented computer science classmates have ever been interviewed by Microsoft. Hopefully Mr. Gates is not in philanthropy to take all the other philanthropists out of business. Early signs is that he is. At least that will be better than selling people Windows Vista.
-Mark

[Mark Shinkonis]

Re Sue:

Copper Square is not the name for "downtown". It is a name for a section of downtown, like "The Gaslamp District" in San Diego. It was chosen by a non-profit organization not the City. I don't care for the name either. However, any non-profit group that wants to market and promote any part of downtown is fine by me.

The city is working on Jon's list of issues (the substance of the post). A non-profit group wanting to fix a bad name and try to market themselves better doesn't mean that nothing else is being done about any of the other issues.

I think everyone is well aware of the issues of shade, mixed use zoning, absentee owners, the competition in Scottsdale and Tempe and that a huge portion of the valley's population are transplants from small towns or suburban America.

The City is actually trying to address these issues. Mixed used zoning is a huge part of the Urban Forms Project. Shade is a part of that as well. They are trying to find a way to plant trees in the planter strips in my neighborhood. The city cannot make land owners develop or sell their lots. This is definitely a problem. However, they have made things a bit more difficult for the land bankers by issuing citations for weeds etc.

Solutions are what we need. Not gripes about non-profit's marketing strategies and obvious and other well known concerns.

Jon is not raising anything new or contributing any solutions. His downtown boundaries are wrong. His statement about mixed use zoning is dead wrong. City Hall does NOT have a war on trees and grass. They realize the need for more and have made more in the recent years.

FYI this is what downtown phoenix partnership is:
The Downtown Phoenix Partnership Inc. is a non-profit organization funded by an assessment on property owners within the 90 square block core of Copper Square. The Partnership provides enhanced services to the Copper Square core area. These include: security, marketing, economic development, transportation/parking coordination, streetscape/urban design, and streetscape maintenance services and public policy facilitation. The Copper Square core is generally bounded by Fillmore Street to south of Jackson Street, Seventh Street to Third Avenue. There are additional properties that receive Partnership services through fee-for-service contracts.

[SueM]

Mark, I think these posts abound with solutions, and they give me background and history that I never get from the newspaper, or from the real estate hucksters. Sounds like you just have a thing against Jon, but I intend to keep reading and tell my friends about this. p.s., I live in central Phoenix, so this is really important to me. I'm sick of the empty land, the empty promises, the projects that get started and grind to a halt right down the street from me.

[Mark Shinkonis]

RE: RE: Sue

It is productive to say that the City has recognized the importance of preserving old structures and converting to mixed used zoning. If you are interested in starting a small business or moving your business downtown it is quite possible that you could find an affordable location. If the current zoning of your desired location is residential only and does not meet your needs it may soon be changing due to a coming overlay. If not it may quite easily get backing to be rezoned by the planning department because the City wants this type of development downtown.

It is counterproductive to say "--Ordinances that have made mixed use and reuse nearly impossible, while allowing scores of buildings that could have affordably housed small businesses to be torn down."
Maybe that was true in the past but it's simply not true today.

I have nothing against Jon. I believe he is out of the loop and wrong with most of this post and I think in general, my tone matches his.

-Mark

[Hohokam]

The give and take are interesting. I sympathize with the point Mark is trying to make. But I have also missed Jon's excellent columns and am glad to have them online.

I can tell you, as someone on the ground, that Jon is spot on. The collapse of the Hotel Monroe deal is the latest heartbreak. Downtown Phoenix is a smidgen of what it should be, given Phoenix's size. And Jon also raises the great successes and opportunities downtown has (something Mark seems to miss in his defensiveness).

As to the plans and promises of Frank Fairbanks' city hall. I hope it happens finally. They have done great damage.

In any event, a big city should welcome some prodding, provocative opinions. Anyone who has read Jon's columns over the years, seen the thankless fights he fought at the Republic, and read his books, knows he loves this place. He loves it way more than the carpetbagging real estate crowd that demanded he he pushed out. Too bad we lost him.

[Mark Shinkonis]

RE: Hohocam
It's unfortunate but hopefully this will end up just a delay for Hotel Monroe. The credit crunch is obviously not over yet. It has amazed me the amount of development that has gone one despite the current economic downturn. I think there is enough momentum with the other projects that will complete to raise the value for Hotel Monroe which will eventually lead to new financing. For Jackson Street the government may step in and help with Tax Increment Financing. Read here: http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/06/16/daily42.html?ana=yfcpc

I think Jon and I have common goals and I certainly am not against his blog. We have a link to his blog on ours. (www.DowntownPhoenixJournal.com)

-Mark

[Francine hardaway]

I was on the PCA Executive Committee when this name was chosen and I freaked out and started jumping up and down to Jerry Colangelo, who patted me on the head. I felt like I had stepped through the looking glass when they chose it. My only comfort is that they never keep these names anyway, and the next one will go away before it brands downtown.

I am spending half the year in Half Moon Bay now, a small town on the water south of San Francisco. I take no part in civic shenanigans.

[Derek Neighbors]

"Somebody should be working to remove the obstacles to downtown Phoenix being the cheapest and easiest place to do business in the West."

This will never happen. Chandler, Mesa or Gilbert have a better chance of making this happen than Phoenix proper.

"Somebody should be aggressively recruiting private capital doing real things to locate downtown (not spec builders, most of whose ballyhooed projects can be seen on display at the downtown W Hotel)."

This is a bullshit and short sighted approach. The build it and they will come mentality has held this city back for 50 years. Make downtown worth living in and building businesses in and things will happen. We don't need more empty buildings.

"Somebody should be maniacally focused on quality of life downtown, making it a wonderful, sexy place to live, work and play (this means substance, not a marketing campaign)."

Quality of life means more than "hipster" until people get that there will be no substance.