Meet Me Downtown

With the polls closing less than 48 hours from now, here are seventeen suggestions—in no particular order—I have for the Tucson City Council, with respect to Downtown Tucson:

1. Do an audit of Rio Nuevo.  Don’t wait for the State to do it.  Get all the skeletons out of the closet. 

2. Stop tolerating the insider favoritism that’s run rampant.

3. Put more funding into the Façade Program.  A relatively small investment in fixing up old buildings makes a big difference in downtown’s image and in facilitating vibrant downtown activity.  Façade improvements provide a big bang for the buck.  Allocate some TIF funding to the Façade Program.  The lawyers have said it’s okay, I know they have!

4. Support the existing businesses that have toughed it out through the hard times.  A well-known community leader said to me, when the Downtown Tucson Partnership was forming in 2007, that he didn’t want anyone involved in Downtown up until that time, including businesses, to be part of the new regime.  That is so wrong-headed on so many levels.  Existing businesses should not be displaced to make room for new businesses if at all possible (especially not seven of them at a time!).

5. Get out of the entertainment business.  Stop messing with the Rialto Theatre and running the Fox Theatre.  The Rialto is doing just fine, and stop pretending that everything is headed in the right direction at the Fox.  Renegotiate the Fox’s loan and insist the Fox Theatre Foundation board add some new members dedicated to fundraising, and encourage the board to operate independently.  Let the Foundation hire its own director and other staff.

6. Discourage the further demolition of historically significant buildings and older buildings with character.  Encourage new construction on empty lots and surface parking.

7. Focus energy and resources on saving the Gem Shows.  Suck up to the Gem organizations as much as needed, although the time for sucking up without action has passed. Which leads right into . . .

8. Build a more affordable, more realistically-scaled convention hotel that won’t put the City’s finances at risk. 

9. Hit the reset button on a master plan.  What can still be done with the remaining 15 years of TIF? What projects do Tucson citizens consider important? What projects from the original master plan are critical and must be given top priority, and which ones should only be done if there is an unexpected windfall?  Communicate this plan to the public.  Don’t spend additional money on the planning process, just engage the public, use the available information, and show leadership.  Tell us why you’ve decided to establish the priorities you have.

10. Support the development of some student housing—especially along Broadway (on empty lots!).  This will create demand for downtown businesses.  Perhaps the UA will elect to locate some academic programs downtown as well, once the Streetcar is operational.  Everyone says they are in favor of more downtown housing, and this is the most ready source of demand for residential space—college students.  This would also take pressure off the neighborhoods experiencing mini-dorm development.

11. Keep pushing forward on the Modern Streetcar.

12. Wash the sidewalks.  The BID maintenance crews are doing a good job of picking up litter and sweeping, but the sidewalks need to be power-washed too—badly. An entertainment district needs good security and attentive maintenance.

13. Stop blaming the Legislature for problems that we’ve created for ourselves here.

14. Stop acting out of desperation.

15. Get out of the real estate business, but have a fair and open process for disposing of city-owned property.  This is where there is great risk of approving insider deals.  Don’t give land away.  Downtown development requires that the banks see some comps.

16. Take positive action to implement prior commitments.  The Warehouse Arts District is one of those commitments.

17. Think and act “Urban”!  Be guided by urban principles, not suburban principles.

With a countdown from local newsman and former downtown resident Dan Marries,  the brand-new marquee at The Screening Room on Congress Street was lit up Friday night to the cheers of a crowd of a couple hundred celebrants who filled the north lane of Congress.

The obligatory self-congratulatory build-up included on-stage recognition of people that made it happen, such as Michael Keith and architects Ibarra and Rosano, joyful appreciation from Arizona Media Arts Center denizens Giulio Scalinger and Claudia Jesperson, and political speeches.

After the new marquee was lit up, the Fox Theatre marquee–one block to the west, and the Rialto Theatre marquee–two blocks to the east, were turned on as well, in a symbolic reference to the fact that the three marquees have been installed and lighted just within the last several years.

Even as controversy envelops the property one block east of The Screening Room, the north side of the 6th Avenue to Scott Avenue block seems to be on its way back to vitality.  The Screening Room’s bright, but appropriately-scaled marquee, is the new visual anchor of that block, but it is flanked by the new Zen Rock nightclub, and the soon-to-open steak restaurant, A Steak in the Neighborhood.

The Screening Room, a cozy independent cinema on Congress Street, now has a real movie theater marquee, as of Tuesday morning. 

Congress Street is narrowed to one lane between 6th Avenue and Scott Avenue, so that workers can complete the installation of the sign.  The marquee was paid for by the Arizona Media Arts Center (AzMAC), which owns and manages the theater, and by a matching Facade Improvement Grant from the City of Tucson.

As noted before in this blog, the marquee will give The Screening Room a much-needed boost in its visibility and profile.   The theater is the home of the annual Arizona International Film Festival, and what AzMAC calls “Extraordinary Films Not Shown on Ordinary Screens”.

A lighting ceremony is planned for Friday, October 30 at 6:00pm, 127 E. Congress St.

Design of Beowulf Alley Theatre's new Facade.

A few weeks ago I noticed an appeal on Facebook from Beowulf Alley Theatre Company to contribute to its new capital campaign for façade renovation.   

Always pleased to see Downtowners working to help themselves, I made a small donation to the cause through a program called “Cause”, and emailed Beth Dell, the Managing Director at Beowulf, to learn more. 

It was clear that Dell wanted to be proactive, self-reliant, and to make Beowulf’s theatre, which occupies what was once the Johnny Gibson Gym Equipment Company, an attractive feature on 6th Avenue in Downtown.  “A few weeks ago, I decided to go about this on my own because it’s really important to me to see us grow and cleaning up the front of the building for our 5th anniversary on 6th Avenue,” says Dell.  “It would not only help us but will also make a difference in the Downtown appearance, too.” 

Just today, a Facebook announcement from Ms. Dell confirms what she told me a few days ago, that Beowulf has been selected by the City of Tucson to receive a façade renovation matching grant.  It seems that her and Beowulf’s initiative is being rewarded.  

Last year, Beowulf was among eight semifinalists for funding from the Downtown Façade Improvement Program, but was not among the four selected for the first round of grants.  Two projects are under construction through the program:  The Screening Room marquee on Congress and the office building at the corner of Scott and Broadway.  Also awarded grants:  the Rialto Block project and the Wig O Rama building at Scott and Congress.   

Dell was informed that one of the latter two projects has dropped out, leaving some funding available to Beowulf as a replacement project.   

“I’d like to try to raise the full $10,000 to do the original façade plan,” she told me last week. “If I can do that, the Gibson’s (Johnny Gibson’s family, which still owns the building) seem willing to offer their original commitment of $15,000, and we have an in-kind commitment of $5,000. The City would match these dollars with $30,000, and our $60,000 renovation would make a huge difference in the outside appearance of the building as well as attract a whole lot more attention to help us grow and expand our service to the community.” 

“I am not really good at making appeals but I am sure excited about this.”   

Dell has raised just shy of $1,000 through the Facebook appeal and from a few others who didn’t want to contribute through the “Cause” page.   

Dell seems giddy, grateful, and proud at the same time.  “It’s almost as if we were meant to be here to have this phone call (with the news of the grant). We’ve spent the past season building many new programs and have more planned for the fall. Our commitment to the community is strong and many performing artists have benefited from our being here. We’ve doubled our season subscribers, had a huge increase in single ticket sales, added both youth and adult education classes, late night and lunchtime theatre programs and started a program for playwrights to have their plays read. This fall, our new season has many new local directors, actors and technicians added to our roster. All of this meets our mission of creating a community of theatre where our home-grown artists can come to create.” 

Beowulf has a design for the refurbishment of its Art Deco-style façade, drawn up by local architect Bob Vint.   

Beowulf’s 2009-2010 season features six productions, leading off with Seascape, by Edward Albee, September 26 to October 11.  November brings Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire (November 7-22).  Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love runs January 16-31, 2010, followed by Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, by Jane Martin, February 27-March 14; Last of the Boys, by Steven Dietz, April 10-25; and The Vertical Hour, by David Hare, May 29-June 13. 

Significant donations to the façade renovation campaign will receive 2 season tickets. 

For more information on Beowulf’s programs and upcoming season, visit www.BeowulfAlley.org or call 520.622.4460 (administrative office), or 520.882.0555 (box office).

To contribute to the facade renovation campaign, go to Beowulf Alley Theatre Company’s “Causes” page on Facebook.

Beowulf Alley today, from near Broadway and 6th Avenue.

Now that the proposed blockbuster deal with the Downtown Tucson Development Company is dead, the City Council is turning its attention back to aiding the development of the Warehouse Arts District by seeking control of key properties that are now in the hands of the state Transportation Department–and then seeking like-minded private sector partners, rather than relying on contributions to Warehouse District development from DTDC. 

Wednesday, August 5, the Council will consider a proposal to trade surplus City-owned properties to ADOT for three key Warehouse District properties:  the Steinfeld Warehouse, the “Toole Shed”, and another building on Toole to be occupied by teen club Skrappy’s. 

Vice Mayor Regina Romero, whose Ward 1 includes the western portion of the District, would like to see the three properties redeveloped and managed by a non-profit entity that will return these buildings to active arts uses, and will propose a Request for Qualifications and Request for Proposal process to seek qualified partners.

The three buildings, as well as others in the District, are likely to be auctioned off by the State and razed at some point, unless the City creates another path to developing the properties, consistent with the adopted Tucson Historic Warehouse Arts District (THWAD) Master Plan (2004). 

There should be a balanced long-term implementation strategy, and this seems like a good start.  Some private-sector ownership of the district is needed to get housing and commercial space developed at some point, but preservation of properties that give the area character, especially the Steinfeld Warehouse, should be a high priority.   The Warehouse Arts District has more than its share of vacant parcels that can be developed for market-rate housing and retail by a for-profit developer at some point—probably after the completion of the Downtown Links roadway in a few years—but the remaining warehouses should be saved and developed with arts-related uses.

Trading surplus property that the State may need for its own future transportation projects is a way to secure properties like Steinfeld without dropping cash at a time when the City can ill afford to spend any. 

The area has long been a home for Tucson’s true “creative class”, not the yuppie version of creative class for whom local economic development-types seem to yearn, after they all drank the Richard Florida Kool-Aid a few years ago.

Also on Romero’s plate:  the Citizen’s Warehouse on 6th Street, opposite the railroad tracks from the Steinfeld Warehouse.  The building is probably best known as the home of BICAS, a non-profit organization that refurbishes bicycles for people who need safe, reliable, affordable transportation.  Romero wants the City to obtain an easement on Citizen’s, to spare it from public auction and to maintain the existing arts uses while Downtown Links is under construction just north of the building. 

Lurking right around the corner is a revision to Town West Development’s plan for the “Platforms” site that came to the public’s attention a few years ago when Nimbus Brewing Company sought the property to build a brewery and restaurant.  Town West, which wrangled the rights to develop the property from Nimbus after owner Jim Counts was unable to secure financing within a six-month window granted by the City Council, is now proposing student housing and lots of surface parking.  Town West also has its eye on Steinfeld, which is just west of the Platforms lot, the site of the annual All Souls’ Procession finale. 

Downtown artists fear that Town West’s plan is to gain ownership of Steinfeld with a promise to refurbish it for a brew-pub, and then decide that it is too far gone to fix up, tearing it down for more student housing.  I think that student housing is part of Downtown’s future, but I can’t see the El Presidio neighborhood or Dunbar Spring neighborhood standing for it there, nor do I see the artists supporting the Town West plan, which bears little resemblance to the goals set for that property in the THWAD Master Plan.   Town West has told city officials that student housing is the only use that lenders will finance for the property now. 

Romero says it’s also time to construct a long-promised capital element of the THWAD Master Plan, the “Art Walk” on Toole Avenue.   I don’t know where the funding would come for the Art Walk, but having been a party to meetings with landscape architects and city officials years ago concerning this project—the construction of a green, accessible, inviting stretch of roadway, pedestrian/bicycle path, landscaping, and public art on Toole between 6th Avenue and 9th Avenue—I say get it going. 

I drove that segment of Toole twice on Thursday, and it is anything but green and inviting.  Yuck. 

I know that the Warehouse Arts District plan has its detractors around the Tucson community, but we should all be able to get behind following through on plans to move things forward downtown.  Fans of the Warehouse Arts District can join forces with the “just do something” crowd on this.

If we can’t save and restore buildings like Steinfeld in Downtown, and practice adaptive re-use, then what’s the point of downtown revitalization?  We could just build a faux downtown on a tract of vacant Tucson land.  Yuck again.

(Disclosure:  I have been a board member of WAMO—the Warehouse Arts Management Organization—for several years, although I was more active when I was working for the Tucson Downtown Alliance and Downtown Tucson Partnership.  WAMO is committed to the implementation of the District’s master plan, developed by a transparent public process and then adopted by the City Council five years ago.)

Tuesday’s council discussion about the fate of privately-owned spaces the Rialto Theatre needs to operate was strange, to say the least.  It involved an executive session, two failed motions, anecdotes about threats and intimidation, and two failed requests by Council Member Rodney Glassman to learn if the negotiations at the table were acceptable to the other two parties involved–the Rialto Foundation and the Downtown Tucson Development Company (DTDC), both of which had attorneys present.

The council–minus Mayor Bob Walkup, and with Vice Mayor Regina Romero chairing the meeting in Walkup’s absence–finally voted 5-1 (Glassman against) in favor of a three-month lease for the theatre to use the buildings on Broadway for a greeen room and storage, and two bays on Congress next to its entrance.  The motion also supported an appraisal of the properties, to be paid for by the Foundation, that may be used later for a purchase offer or condemnation.  Glassman and Council Member Trasoff both expressed concern that such a short lease would not prevent the potential eviction of the theatre.

An earlier motion had failed partly due to Council Member Shirley Scott’s opposition to the provision that the city share the cost of the rent with the foundation and bear the full $7,500 cost of the appraisal.

Council Member Karin Uhlich and others expressed a desire to see the city’s action “de-escalate” rather than escalate the growing tensions between the foundation and developers Don Martin and Scott Stiteler.   The Foundation has asked the city to condemn the properties, while the developers have threatened the Foundation with eviction as soon as next Monday.

The discussion began with a motion from Council Member Steve Leal asking staff to pursue condemnation actions and the council going into Executive Session to hear legal advice on its condemnation options.

Glassman had asked if the council could ask the attorneys for the Foundation and DTDC if the deal points being discussed were amenable to them, but Romero and city attorney Mike Rankin indicated their position that it was inappropriate.

After the final motion’s approval, Council Member Trasoff stated that she had been threatened that if she didn’t vote a certain way on this issue, there would be an independent campaign mounted against her to fight her re-election bid.   Trasoff said she would not be intimidated.

The Tucson City Council is set to adopt a new Downtown Development Management Plan, establishing three teams with interlocking spheres of responsibility:  Planning, to be headed by Downtown Tucson Partnership CEO Glenn Lyons;  Operations, to be headed by the City’s General Services Department Director Ron Lewis;  and Financial, to be headed by the City’s Interim Finance Director Silvia Amparano.

According to a memo from city manager Mike Letcher to the Mayor and Council in advance of Tuesday’s Study Session, the city manager “will continue to manage downtown development”, but as the Mayor and Council “make decisions to proceed with defined projects and processes, the implementation of direction from Mayor and Council will move to a team approach.” 

Each of the three teams will be populated by various City staff from a variety of departments, and two project coordinators—Jesse Sanders and Hector Martinez—“will coordinate communications between team members and will be responsible for publishing activities and reports on a regular basis”. 

The City Council will consider the recommendation at 2:00pm at Tuesday’s Study Session, and based on discussion and feedback, Letcher will return to the Council in August with a proposed contract with the Downtown Tucson Partnership. 

Such reorganizations are cyclical in nature, as the consolidated approach succeeds the decentralized approach and vice versa.  Of course, sometimes consolidation can be disguised as decentralization, but that is a topic for another time. 

Under city manager Luis Gutierrez, it was thought that Rio Nuevo needed to be a separate department of city government, and so the initial Rio Nuevo Director, John Jones and Project Manager John Updike, functioned as an autonomous mini-department of the City.  When city manager Jim Keene appointed Karen Thoreson to be assistant city manager in charge of economic development, the TCC, and Rio Nuevo, the Rio Nuevo office grew in budget and staff, and established its own physical space.  To support the core Rio Nuevo staff, Thoreson put together a larger “team” of City staff from other departments, such as Parks and Recreation, Urban Planning and Design, and Transportation.   As Rio Nuevo’s “roommate” at the time, when I was with the Tucson Downtown Alliance, I attended the Rio Nuevo team meetings, and along with their PR consultant, was the only non-City staffer there.

There seemed to be a buzz of interest inside city government at the time, and an excitement of those from other departments who were invited to be part of this ambitious effort. 

The team approach was not what undermined the effort, but some very poor decisions of a strategic nature at the top.  This was the era of the $100 million UA Science Center that morphed into the $350 million Rainbow Bridge.

Mike Hein succeeded Jim Keene, and Hein saw the Rio Nuevo office, with its comfortable green digs above Enoteca Pizzeria, as a symbol of an effort that had become as bloated as it was underperforming.  He disbanded the physical office, reduced the expenditure on personnel, and sent Greg Shelko and his two remaining staff to the TCC.  “Rio Nuevo” became “Downtown Development” in an effort to distance it from its already tarnished brand. 

In the process of taking the Rio Nuevo office down a peg or two, the team spirit was broken down, and the effort became paradoxically fragmented at the same time that decision-making was consolidated in the city manager’s office.  In particular, the Dept. of Transportation seemed to be removed from the process, which was awkward and unfortunate, given the many important transportation and infrastructure projects that were planned as foundations for downtown development. 

So now that that era has run its course, we are back to a team approach. 

Decentralization has its advantages, but also some potential pitfalls, as responsibility is diffused. 

Ultimately the power continues to reside with the Mayor and Council and the city manager, and so I hope that those parties do not become complacent by relying too much on their teams.  The Council is still responsible for providing the policy direction for the teams and for maintaining oversight of development progress and financial management. 

The Council discussion can be viewed, as always, live and taped later in the week, on City Channel 12, and on-line, at
http://www.tucson12.tv/programs/MayorandCouncil/index.php.

As a follow up to my earlier post, “Fox events on days ending in ‘aturday’”, I wanted to note that the marquee at the Fox Theatre has been lit every night for the last few weeks, whether or not there is an event going on inside.  Six nights out of seven this summer, there is no event happening, but the bright lights of the marquee and blade sign are flashing anyway. 

I have mixed feelings about this.  I do love to see it lit up, because it creates a sense of excitement on Congress.  It’s always cool to see the Rialto marquee and Fox marquee lit up at the same time, four short blocks apart.

I would prefer that there be some substance to the exercise, however, and not just a Potemkin-like illusion.   For unwitting passing motorists, it creates the impression that there is a show or concert happening at the Fox.  Maybe that is a good thing, that people will feel better momentarily as they zip towards Interstate 10, even if there is no substance supporting those fleeting good feelings. 

Using the bright lights as a “shield” to hide the lack of real activity is not what the Fox needs, however.  Any masquerade that delays the return of regular programming to the Fox is not constructive.  When I wrote “turn on the lights” in an exchange with a commenter to the earlier post, I meant “put on some shows”.