Rogue Columnist

The road ahead

Pinned post:

If only. I think Trump will get away with it.

But this week I want to write about the future of Rogue Columnist. When I began the blog in 2008, my primary mission was to write about the issues and news with perspective and context that no one else provided. Also, I wanted to write about Phoenix history that wasn't easily available elsewhere. This was strictly pro bono — no charge to readers and no ads on the site itself.

The history essays are most popular, especially the ones with photo galleries.

Otherwise, I've written on issues large and small. And I have to bring a big barrel of humility here: Not a damned thing has changed. Or what was bad has gotten worse.

Rethinking Obama

Of the hundreds of columns I’ve written on this site since its inception in 2008, many were about the 44th president of the United States. A long seven years have passed since he left office, years that saw the rise of Donald Trump, his stunning and contested win of the presidency, the pandemic, and so much more. Most of the time, I miss "No Drama Obama," his pragmatic and steady hand at the helm of the republic. Other times, I wonder about the many meanings and consequences of the man and his times.

He was elected with 53% of the popular vote and 68% of the Electoral College, a strong showing considering the close elections of recent years. He came into office on a swell of revulsion of George W. Bush's carelessness in allowing 9/11, endless wars and policies of rendition and torture in black sites. He triumphed over Republican John McCain, who not only had the baggage of the Bush years but showed the lack of judgment in picking the half-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. And with the goodwill of a nation that had elected its first African-American president.

Obama was an intellectual, a rarity in politics, especially for a president. Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, maybe just maybe John F. Kennedy fit this mold. But Obama wore it lightly. He enjoyed playing hoops, snuck a cigarette, and spoke with empathy and sincerity (a striking contrast from the cold and insecure Wilson). Obama wasn't merely book smart but street smart, too. He was blessed with good instincts, as with his insistence on continuity and calm, rather than being the Angry Black Man. It didn't endear him to the left, but overall served him and the nation well.

Snake removal

If you follow the online Regional Dispatch Center maintained by the Phoenix Fire Department, you'll frequently see calls labeled "snake removal," especially in north Scottsdale. As I understand it, firefighters respond to the tony manses Slightly North of Bell (SNOB) to pull rattlesnakes out of pools, away from doors, or their expensively xeriscaped  properties.

The Regional Dispatch Center isn't as inclusive at Seattle's Real Time 911, and it usually consists of calls to automobile collisions (962s) — often involving pedestrians, bicycles, and motorcycles — as well as mountain rescues of idiots hiking up mountains in mid-day high summer. But the call for snake removal seems especially apt for our moment.

As the wealthy Anglo subdivisions have pushed ever deeper into the desert, they've destroyed and disrupted the habitat of the creatures that live there. It's no surprise, then, that  a diamondback — not a baseball player — suns himself on a championship golf course or gives a new meaning to the "water hazard."

When I was growing up in what's now the Willo Historic Neighborhood north of downtown Phoenix, we never saw snakes. Believe me, we looked! As a teenager, friends and I would hike around Arizona with a varmint gun at the ready, but never saw a rattler, much less a deadly coral snake or Gila monster. For one thing, I knew to walk with a heavy tread so the snake could feel me coming. DDT had killed off the scorpions and black widow spiders. They've made a big comeback, especially on the ever-expanding fringes. And snakes? Call the fire department.

 

Class in Phoenix

When I was growing up in the 1960s, my mother told me Phoenix was a much less class-conscious city than those back east. Consider Boston, where it was said, "The home of the bean and the cod, Where Lowells speak only to Cabots, And Cabots speak only to God." Phoenix was more of a meritocracy. In the 1960s, Phoenix was largely a middle-class Anglo city.

Merit she had in abundance: A piano prodigy from the age of four, studied at the Eastman Conservatory, was a concert pianist — all before I came along. But we didn’t have money and things were always tight. Still, she and my grandmother raised me in a middle class neighborhood north of downtown, in the house on Cypress Street (above), long before this became one of Phoenix's first historic districts.

And what she said was true. Our across the street neighbors and friends were wealthy, heirs to the Fred Harvey fortune, but they never put on airs. From the rich children in Palmcroft to the poor ones near Roosevelt Street, we all attended public school at Kenilworth.

Four topics for your week

The photo above shows Central and Southern avenues in 1930. When I post pics like this on Vintage Phoenix, Arizona Memories, and Phoenix Shadetree History groups on Facebook, the reaction is "wow!" Indeed, it's a wow view. Then, "What happened?" "How could we lose this?"

Most people living in metropolitan Phoenix today have no living memory of the oasis created by the Salt River Valley. Most don't care. "We live in a desert," they gloat as they throw down gravel. Actually, you live in what was an oasis. But thousands of shade trees were torn out to widen streets or by Salt River Project along the canals. In their place: Asphalt, concrete, and gravel. Oh, and cooling grass ("turf") must go.

The Mayor pledges to plant more trees, but I'm skeptical. With a federal grant, the city pledges to "plant native and drought-resistant trees such as mesquite, Chinese pistache, or desert acacia. Likewise, they'll avoid water-hungry trees like palms." She's very woke, interested in "tree equity." I think we'll get palo verdes and little shade.

Too bad for Phoenix as the summers keep getting hotter and lasting longer. So much was lost.

Cities, past and future

Downtown Cincinnati at night, seen from across the Ohio River.

A reader asked me to write about what Phoenix might learn from cities in the Midwest. It’s a challenging assignment, also one freighted with paradox considering so many Phoenicians come from the same region. Nevertheless, I'll put my shoulder to the wheel.

I lived in Cincinnati when I worked for the Cincinnati Enquirer in the 1990s. Churchill called it America's most beautiful inland city decades before and I found it the same when I was there. So, this puts me in a position to examine advantages, challenges, and lessons. Like all Midwestern cities, Cincinnati is much older than Phoenix. It was founded in 1788, named after the Society of the Cincinnati, Revolutionary War veterans honoring the Roman general offered the dictatorship of Rome, but went back to his farm. He was an apt comparison to George Washington. Cincinnati was the Queen City of the West, although the West moved on.

It has numerous advantages. Cincinnati is built on hills rolling down to the Ohio River, distinctive neighborhoods, a dense downtown, architecture jewels such as Union Terminal (above right) — now mostly a museum center but also served by Amtrak — Over the Rhine which is a National Urban Historic Landmark, and major corporate headquarters, including Procter and Gamble whose offices are downtown.

Cincinnati's numerous cultural institutions are crowned by music: The Cincinnati Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, Chamber Orchestra, May Festival, and the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. In addition to UC, Cincinnati offers other universities in and near the city, including Miami, my graduate alma mater and one of the original "Public Ivies."

Chips on our shoulders

No, this isn't a photograph of the much-hyped Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plant in Phoenix, but therein lies part of the tale. Above is the high-speed passenger rail station in Hsinchu, Taiwan (technically, the Republic of China). But USA USA can't have nice things. Amtrak hasn't served Phoenix since 1994, making it the most populous city in North America without intercity passenger trains.

Boosters claim the fabrication plant, or fab, will create 21,000 construction jobs and 4,500 permanent positions, as well as $40 billion invested at build-out. This is part of President Biden's effort to make America less reliant on overseas chip makers, especially in the People’s Republic of China. Be skeptical about the claim of permanent jobs because advanced fabs are highly automated.

One big problem for Phoenix is that the fab is located on Interstate 17 and Dove Valley Road, nearly to Carefree Highway. This makes it totally car dependent, adding to congestion and smog. The company says "making sustainability is a priority." Sure.

Drug stores of old Phoenix

Growing up in the neighborhood north of downtown Phoenix in the 1960s, later to become Willo, I was bracketed by drug stores. Ryan-Evans was on the southeast corner of Seventh Avenue and McDowell Road in a shopping strip including the Sprouse-Reitz five-and-dime store. My Florist was across the street with its dazzling neon sign.

At Central and McDowell was McCreary's Drugs. Farther south at Third Avenue and Roosevelt was a Rexall. And another drug store was located at Fifth Avenue and Thomas. Most had soda fountains. Alas, I lack photos of these boyhood haunts. But let's take a tour of Phoenix’s ubiquitous small drug stores before they were supplanted by a handful of giant chains. Above is Sun Drug at First Avenue and Monroe in 1947. At right is First Methodist Church.

Birch's Drugs at Third Street and Roosevelt, part of a thriving block of shops and long before urban pioneers reclaimed the area as Roosevelt Row (McCulloch Bros. Collection/ASU Archives).

Walgreen's, before it became one of the giant chains of today, on the northwest corner of Central and Washington in the 1940s (McCulloch Bros. Collection/ASU Archives).

 

Broiling point

Phoenix doesn't lack for national news coverage this month, but the headlines aren't likely to please the local-yokel boosters.

From the New York Times: "In Phoenix, Heat Becomes a Brutal Test of Endurance." "Phoenix Breaks Heat Record Set in 1974." And, "In Phoenix, Firefighters Battle an Invisible Inferno."

From the Washington Post: "Phoenix will be the first major U.S. city to average 100-plus degrees all month," "Phoenix hits record for 19th day of 110-plus degrees — with more to come," and "A Phoenix power outage amid a heat wave could possibly kill thousands, study says."

The only comfort I can take is that the newspapers used Phoenix in their headlines, not "the Valley." (Which Valley? Silicon Valley? The San Fernando Valley?" "San Joaquin Valley?" "Red River Valley — of the north or of the south?" "Valley of the Jolly — Ho Ho Ho — Green Giant?).

I spent a month in my hometown in June and it was plenty hot and getting hotter. The day we flew out of Sky Harbor it was 111 degrees. But that was only the overture to this hellish July. I could say I told you so, but what would be the point? I've been doing Phoenix for 15 years and little has changed for the better beyond ASU downtown, infill for the Central Corridor and light rail (WBIYB). Our most insightful commenters have gone away, but thanks to those who remain.