Do you feel that Tempe is little more urban than Phoenix?

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by Greatday

Why blame Skip? A majority of the planning was approved under Paul Johnson

Mayor Johnson was certainly part of the problem too. He wasn't too bright as far as that goes. However, Skippy's problem was that he didn't change the direction when he had the opportunity. He simply added to the sprawl by approving more annexation of the city limits further north almost to New River. He was pro sprawl all the way ... and this was evident being that he was involved in real estate. Also, a letter I wrote to him one time about sprawl & upward development generated a very unconcerned reply.

Originally Posted by Greatday

As for "sprawl" - understandable concern. However, most of those in Phoenix did not want to live in high density areas - they wanted a realitively low density surburban area - out not up -

That is exactly the problem with Phoenix's sprawl. The city limits should have never been allowed to expand outward so much. If past mayors and city councils had better foresight, they wouldn't have approved of all that massive annexation ... and Phoenix wouldn't have 1.6 million residents in a 500+ square mile radius. I would have preferred it if Deer Valley, Moon Valley, and master planned communities like Tatum Ridge became separate towns. If people want low density, why live in the city limits of the nation's fifth largest city?! Doesn't make sense.

[joninaz]

I will say this...

Met some friends on Friday in Tempe and we hit Cafe Boa, ate some Vietnamese food at Dragonfly. We then hit the Cue Club, Hooters (we had a birthday person in the group), stopped by RA and ended up at Rula Bula. We skipped 10 other places.
And that was all within a couple of blocks.

I can't do that in PHX, though I'd like to. So maybe Tempe gets the nod for now. PHX can regain this by developing more mix-use stuff, near each other.

[vegaspilgrim]

I can't think of one single block within the entire city of Phoenix that has some urban entertainment "action" lining the street on both sides of the street, let alone a street with at least several blocks of stuff. There's a one block area on Washington St between 1st and 2nd st on the north side that has a couple of cool things, but then the south side is empty-- and it's just one block. Jackson St has a bar or two in a 2 block stretch, but the north side faces the back wall of the US Airways Center. Besides that, it's one place here, one place there, all isolated. If Phoenix wants to create an "urban" feel, they're not only going to have to build some cool places, they're going to have to do a LOT of bulldozing.

[ABQSunseeker]

As a former resident of Scottsdale, I still have a lively curiosity about Phoenix and its metro area. Because of the way Phoenix developed and the way of life that's developed in the Valley, I'm not sure Phoenix should have one giant urban core pulling everything into it. Just more traffic, congestion, etc. Maybe the best solution for the Valley is to have multiple, vital urban cores. Phoenix AND Scottsdale and Tempe, and others including Chandler, Glendale, etc. Lots more development and density in multiple urban cores seems the way to go in Phoenix.

[_Charles_]

Believe it or not, there was a time when Tempe wasn't considered a suburb of Phoenix.

Tempe Normal School began when you would have to cross several miles of desert on horseback to travel from Phoenix.

That said, Tempe is more urban than any part of Phoenix. I am really proud that Tempe town leaders have had the foresight to allow Tempe to reach the urban state it's in now.

Hopefully other suburbs in the Valley can follow Tempe's example, to increase quality of life for Valley residents, and to garner more respect for the Valley from people who do not live here.

And the area was called Hayden's Ferry. The Salt River had a natural flow of water in it then.

[UAbear]

Yes i think it is more urban