SHADY SIDE OF LIVABILITY

Tue Aug 29 15:19:10 PDT 2006

infoweb at newsbank.com wrote:  Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:25:26 -0400
Subject: Requested NewsBank Article
From: infoweb at newsbank.com
To: dennismacleod at yahoo.com

  Paper: Arizona Republic, The (Phoenix, AZ)
Title: SHADY SIDE OF LIVABILITY - TO SURVIVE HEAT ISLAND, WE MUST LOOK BACK, LEARN FROM OASIS WE ONCE WERE
Author: Jon Talton, The Arizona Republic
Date: July 9, 2006
Section: Opinions
Page: V5

Drive  south on 15th Avenue from Indian School Road some hot evening. Roll the  windows down. A little south of Thomas, you'll feel a dramatic  cooling.It comes from being enveloped in Encanto Park, with its old  shade trees and grass. The experience is more illuminating than any  binder full of consultants' reports on the urban heat island.

The  need for shade held center stage at the recent Orpheum Theatre meeting  on downtown priorities. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon sees it as essential  to making the center city a livable neighborhood. But, as he told me,  "when we do this we can learn things that can be applied around the  city."

Don't stop there. Every city in the region needs a cooling strategy.

I  know some of our newcomers are traumatized Midwesterners who claim to  like it the hotter the better. In reality, the increasing temperatures  present a clear and present danger to Greater Phoenix's future. We  can't get started soon enough in taking action.

Phoenix as  it existed around 1955 was, almost by accident, a model desert city. It  was smaller and sustainable, with a population of about 300,000 and the  federally funded Salt and Verde river dam system in place.

The  core of the city was an oasis of shade trees, grass and landscaping.  Moving out, one found places such as my great aunt's acreage near  Seventh and Glendale avenues, a sanctuary guarded by huge trees. Next  were rings of citrus groves and, on Baseline, the magical Japanese  Flower Gardens. Surrounding all this were miles of farm fields.

Outside  the Salt River Project service area were low-density villages in the  desert. Sunnyslope was one example. They were not so much  self-consciously desert landscaped as living with the desert, as yet  another buffer for the oasis city.

Not surprisingly, the  city was cooler for longer periods in the year, and it cooled down at  night in the summer. Monsoon storms came through with far less violence  and more rain. The air was much cleaner.

Unfortunately, this  city design was purely accidental and did not survive sprawl and  misguided efforts at water conservation and desert authenticity.

As  a result, the average low temperature in Phoenix has risen 10 degrees  over the past 50 years. The city is getting hotter and staying hotter  longer. (We also lost the hard frosts that once helped keep down the  mosquito population).

This means more than a summer surface  temperature of 140 degrees. Heat islands cause greater energy use, air  pollution, heat illness and mortality. Things could get much worse  thanks to global warming, drought and sustained higher energy prices.

We're  going to need all the right moves to avoid trouble: new technology for  cool paving, cool roofs and green buildings. We're going to need  buildings with real awnings.

We're also going to need grass and shade trees (and I don't mean just paloverdes).

I  know this sounds odd if you just rolled in from Dayton and look forward  to never having to mow the rocks in your yard. But a solid rock lawn is  terrible for the heat island, as well as being inauthentic.

There's  no single way for a large city to exist in this inhospitable  wilderness. So many parts of town can benefit from north  Scottsdale-like desert landscaping -- if they can afford it. Dirt  ground with desert plants can also work.

At the same time,  we need to establish "oasis zones" in the older parts of our cities,  especially central Phoenix. Here water should be used to maintain grass  and shade trees. This investment goes hand-in-hand with water  conservation technologies and techniques elsewhere.

It will not only help ease the heat island and cut energy use but also reduce carbon dioxide levels.

Encanto  Park could be expanded onto the current paved wasteland of the state  fairgrounds, with a land swap to send the fair elsewhere in Phoenix.  Large, ugly swaths of banked private land could be leased for trees,  including the property surrounding Steele Indian School Park.

But  more people than Gordon will need to get it. The city recently  landscaped part of Second Avenue downtown with rocks and paloverdes.  This is not only ahistorical to this street but guarantees it is not  inviting to walkers.

Across Central Avenue, the city is  clear cutting the blocks between Fillmore and Roosevelt streets as  efficiently as a carpet-bombing campaign, even though the land may sit  empty for years. This ensures a ghastly no man's land between Roosevelt  Row and downtown -- and yes, it will be hot.

One more thing: The city's existing shade is at risk from the drought. Please water your trees this week.

Reach Talton at jon.talton at arizonarepublic.com.

Author: Jon Talton, The Arizona Republic
Section: Opinions
Page: V5

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