The best of Rogue 2015

Photo by Eugene Scott

• Phoenix should leave the Greater Phoenix Economic Council: "GPEC can't serve the special needs of Phoenix and the appetite of the sprawl boyz. Maybe a few projects to far north Phoenix. But what has GPEC done for downtown, the Central Corridor or to fill abundant empty land along the light-rail line in the city? Not much if anything."

• The evolution of the press, radio, and television in Phoenix: "It is an open question of how much power "the Pulliam press" actually had in post-war Phoenix. The city was attracting large numbers of middle-class Anglos from the Midwest that already shared his larger political philosophy. Pulliam was a civic leader, but hardly the only one, and most shared a common vision of a "business friendly" low-rise city with minimal restrictions on individuals. At least on white people."

• Still got Dick Nixon to kick around: "For decades, Richard Nixon has been the devil to the left. But the left isn't politically relevant anymore (Jerry Ford Republicanism is what passes for "the left" in today's broken political spectrum). What's more consequential is that Nixon is now the devil to the right, which is more powerful than ever. So in the public square today, we are relitigating not Watergate but the domestic achievements of Tricky Dick."

• American Eden: "No other place in the West between the 100th meridian and California and the Pacific Northwest was so hospitable to farming. Three rivers met here and the soil was alluvial and priceless. Unlike the future Dustbowl, with its shallow topsoil and dependency on fickle rainfall, the Salt River Valley alone had almost all the makings of a major agricultural empire."

• The hard way: "Can Arizona and Phoenix survive the drought caused by man-made climate change? Probably. The question is whether it will be the easy way or the hard way."

• What killed Metrocenter?: "Phoenix has long been one of the most over-stored metro areas in the country. Incomes are well below comparable cities, and indeed had been declining vs. their peers since the 1980s. Developers could get capital for new projects, but the area couldn't sustain what had already been built. It was/is a Ponzi scheme."

• Who (really) murdered Don Bolles?: "As difficult as it is for some of us to believe, next June will mark 40 years since the bombing. It remains the most enduring mystery and troubling crime in modern Phoenix history."

• Wickenburg on the brink: "Even as Phoenix grew into a soulless blob and once-magical places such as Prescott were subsumed by sprawl, Wickenburg retained its uniqueness with local businesses, an intact and walkable central business district and even a working movie theater... Now it is in the fight for its life, at least as the town we knew and loved."

• The city north of Phoenix that wasn't: "Of all the areas that became part of today's 516-square-mile Phoenix, Sunnyslope had the best chance of being its own separate town."

• The new closing of the American mind: "How can America address the monumental and complex challenges already enveloping it, from throwing away treasure and lives on military adventures to scandalous inequality and climate change — how can it even function when nobody changes his mind?"

My latest book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available or can be ordered from your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

 

 

Comments

[Dawgzy]

Thanks for all of the great articles, Jon. Best wishes to all for the year to come.

[Cal lash]

Thank you. May 2016 bring us new Mapstone mysteries and stimulating posts.

[Cal lash]

Jon thought I would let you know that to ring in the new year Hitachi has predicted that by 2020, 55 percent of the world's population will be Urban (more Wilderness? Not likely!) and that by 2025 there will be 35 megacities. More light rail?
Also it seems that by 2025 water resources are expected to fall short of demand by 35 percent. More desert? I bought my grandkids Dune Still Suits for Christmas.

[Cal lash]

PS don't drink water from Flint.

[wkg_in_bham]

Came across this yesterday:

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/25_4_urban-america.html

Sites/writers don’t come more conservative than City Journal/Theodore Dalrymple – yet the take on cities sounds remarkable rougish.

[John G.]

High speed rail between Phoenix and Southern California would bring about many benefits for the Phoenix Metropolitan area.

There would be increased educational and employment opportunities for it's citizens. Businesses in California would have an incentive to move their operating facilities to Arizona to benefit from lower costs of operation without having to relocate the more critical elements of their workforce.

There would be increased incentives for individual residents of southern California to buy a home in the Phoenix Metropolitan area to benefit from much lower home prices. They would take the high speed rail to commute to southern California.

Furthermore it would increase home prices and wages in the Phoenix metropolitan area as the economics both regions equalize.

Cultural conflicts may arise between the primarily "rural/Midwestern" culture of the Phoenix Metropolitan area and the culture of Southern California but, hopefully, in time, these conflicts will abate.

I believe a hyperloop between the Phoenix metropolitan area and southern california would be beneficial:

http://qz.com/696350/hyperloop-travel-might-sound-like-a-far-fetched-idea-but-some-companies-are-already-building-it/

The estimated travel time between Phoenix and L.A. would be about 45 minutes - that is well within what most people would consider to be an acceptable commute time.

Some may posit, why not build a hyperloop between Tucson and Phoenix First and then, maybe between Phoenix and L.A.? Well, given that it may be one of the first hyperloop systems built, much time and money may be spent addressing technical and construction problems, there may be time and cost overruns.

Looking at it in terms of costs and benefits, I don't think that the economic benefits of connecting Tucson to Phoenix would make up for the potential cost overruns. While connecting Phoenix to L.A. would bring many economic benefits that could make up for the potential cost overruns.

Put your regional/cultural/ethnic/racial pride aside and think rationally.