Followers are important too

Yesterday, I was reading Si Robins blog post about the demise of Ruby Room, where he not only discussed issues with the inconsistent growth of urban culture in CenPho, but also called for people to get involved in making things happen.

That’s a great sentiment which others have echoed (see Tyler Hurst’s posts here and here), but I realized that while passionate leaders are needed to forge a new path into uncharted territory, passionate followers are the people who transform that territory into somewhere they call home.

I think that sometimes those of us in the echo chamber of social media and CenPho promotion forget that a city needs passionate customers, not just passionate entrepreneurs. There have been comments on Twitter and in blogs (see Brent Spore’s blog post) that it feels like everyone is too busy planning new events to actually talk with each other. When it comes to CenPho, it feels like everyone is too busy getting entrepreneurs motivated rather than actually getting people into downtown.

If all we do is tell people that they have to be involved and build things, we will annoy the people who just want a great community to live in. In order for CenPho to be a great urban place, lots of people need to be there. Not necessarily opening businesses and supporting groups like RadiatePhx and Downtown Voices Coalition, but just living: shopping at stores, eating at restaurants, drinking at bars and hanging out at coffee shops. So the real job of people who want CenPho to become great is to get people to do that. We need to quit yelling into the echo chamber that we need to get involved.

Go talk to people. Bring someone who still thinks downtown is deserted after dark to a First Friday. Introduce a family to the coolness of light rail and all the great places it can take them (US Airways Center, Chase Field, Children’s Museum of Phoenix, Phoenix Zoo, Desert Botanical Garden, Heard Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, to name a few). Go see some great live music at The Lost Leaf.

Wanting something badly enough doesn’t make it happen. Enough people wanting something badly enough makes it happen. Local government has a lot of influence as to how things develop downtown. Fortunately, government still represents the people (even if not as well in Phoenix as in other places, as Derek Neighbors points out). Politicians like to get elected and re-elected, so if enough voters want something, they’ll do it.

So what CenPho needs is both leaders to find the trail to a great urban downtown, and the critical mass of followers to make it their home. Let’s remember to encourage both.

  • I believe some of us are actually doing what you say needs to be done... but it's in no way *enough* people. I've nagged friends from the East Valley to come downtown time and time again. The ones that actually make the trek genuinely appreciate it. In fact, a few of them have moved here because of it.

    It's slow progress, but progress nonetheless!
  • Yes, progress is key. I'm not sure what the critical mass is for reaching a really vibrant, sustainable downtown, but any progress towards that is good.

    On the positive side, there seems to be progress being made right now while the economy is total crap. Hopefully we'll see momentum pick up with the housing and job markets, but I worry that government and developers will also have more money and throw it at "development projects".
  • I think you're on to something...
  • Thank you for saying this.. This was the original goal of PFN way... WAY back in the beginning.

    Get people into the cool spots downtown and they might stop saying there is nothing here.

    PS: I think it is working. :)
  • Thanks for the comment and you're welcome!

    I think it is working. DTFN and events like tonight's Sidebar party are definitely getting me downtown more often and I think they're having the same effect on others. The snowball needs to get bigger and pick up speed to become an avalanche, but it's on its way.
  • Wait...how many of the commenters here live, work and play in downtown Phoenix?
  • Does it really make a difference? The success or failure of CenPho affects the entire valley, therefore all residents have some vested interest.
  • Somewhat, yes. Comments like this: "Gentrification happens when you sell your cozy stucco home in Queen Creek and move to a "less nice" area downtown and make it the place you want to be." especially.
  • So you feel that comment affects the validity of Stacy's opinion?
  • No, not at all. She's dead on, but like many downtown cheerleaders,
    she doesn't live here.

    Frustrating, is all.
  • But your point is well-taken. Who are we building up downtown for? Ourselves, but are *we* enough to keep it going?
  • I think "we" definitely aren't enough. The social media savvy technophiles might be the leading edge, but lots more people and lots more diversity must follow.
  • "So the real job of people who want CenPho to become great is to get people to do that"

    Yes, yes, yes! Brooklyn didn't become the happenin' place to live because it was planned that way. Gentrification happens when you sell your cozy stucco home in Queen Creek and move to a "less nice" area downtown and make it the place you want to be.
  • Yup! Urban living isn't the cookie cutter house, it's the neighborhood that's great because people actually interact with each other.
  • the Desert Botanical Garden is not on the light rail. while i'm sure it's at least theoretically accessible, it's going to be a pain. How about Chase Field?
  • I got Chase Field in there with US Airways Center. They're so close I group them together mentally.

    The DBG isn't right on the light rail, but they provide a free shuttle from Priest & Washington so that it's light rail accessible.
  • That shuttle was a temporary arrangement during the Chihuly exhibit. It's no longer in operation. Someone in good shape could walk from the Priest/Washington Station in good weather. Otherwise, the 17 bus on McDowell Road is the best way to get to DBG via public transit.
  • Ah, thanks! It's too bad there isn't a permanent solution for moving people from the light rail to DBG. A free circulator from Priest & Washington to DBG and the Phoenix Zoo might be a good idea, although I know cash for public transit is pretty tight these days.
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