Tempe Town Lake

Downtown Tempe as I knew it looked like the 4th Avenue in Tucson near the U of A. A bunch of old buildings and stores run by hippies that cater to students and hippies.

The government nannies that run Tempe chased all of those people out and brought in a bunch of yuppie corporations that bring the People Republic of Tempe more tax dollars then the hippies.

The name of the file this web page is stored on - casa_loma.html - refers to the old Casa Loma Biker bar that was a run down dump the local Dirty Dozen hung out at. The Dirty Dozen are a Phoenix version of the Hells Angels. Legend has it that the woman who ran the place would often have to take her gun out and put a round or two into the roof to get the bikers to settle down.

And of course the government nannies chased "Happy Trails" which is now Trails off of Mill Avenue. They didn't like the idea of a "Head Shop" selling it's wares on their yuppie Mill Avenue.

Source

April 15, 2007

Could Tempe become victim of own success?

Tom Gibbons, Tribune

A few years ago, I had an interview at an office in downtown Tempe. When I got there, the PR woman asked if I had trouble finding the place.

I allowed as I had trouble finding anything in downtown Tempe — even though I grew up in Tempe.

Basically, I knew the Dairy Queen was the south end and Monti’s is the north end.

“Everything has been redone since I grew up, and I’m not really sure where anything is,’’ I said.

Shortly after that meeting, the Dairy Queen closed. Last month Monti’s, or rather the land Monti’s sits on, was sold.

I’m having a little trouble keeping my bearings on Mill Avenue.

While I am the sort of person given to pangs of nostalgia, I have to say that the downtown Tempe of today is a great improvement on the downtown of 30 years ago.

The downtown Tempe of the 1960s and 1970s was a little like deposed talk show host Don Imus, seedy looking and kind of edgy. The downtown of that era is often described as a collection of head shops and biker bars. It was actually odder, a collection of old-line mom and pop businesses and a new breed that catered to more of a counter culture customer.

In 1973, the city applied for federal assistance and began the redevelopment of its downtown. Thus began a process that continues today. Cities and towns of all sizes in all states have poured money and effort into remaking their downtowns in the past 30 or 40 years. Tempe is one of the most successful.

It has become the premier entertainment spot in the Valley.

There are times when some of us wonder if it is too successful.

Right now, dowtown Tempe’s first condo tower is rising out of the ground. There are a number of others planned.

A high-rise developer bought and closed the popular sports bar McDuffy’s. Another developer bought Monti’s. Michael Monti will continue to own and operate the steakhouse, which is enormously popular with long-time Tempe residents. But he didn’t rule out the possibility of tweaking the format after an upcoming remodel of the restaurant.

Here’s the rub. The reason downtown Tempe is attractive to high-rise condo developers is because the district’s retail, bars and restaurants. The developers believe all that stuff makes it possible to charge big bucks to people who want to live there.

Retail and restaurants are businesses that generally operate on thin profit margins. As the properties they operate in become more valuable over time, rents rise. That can wipe out the profit and thus the businesses.

The decline of downtowns throughout the country is generally – and correctly – blamed on sprawl. But it some ways downtowns were victims of their own success. Land was too valuable to provide parking for customers and employees. High rents made doing business downtown more expensive. Eventually the stores moved to newer areas that were closer to customers and with room for vast parking lots. Other businesses decided the advantages of being downtown were outweighed by the costs.

The challenge for most municipalities is to do something with their downtown. For Tempe, the challenge may be to make sure too much doesn’t get done.