Mayor Phil Gordon's State of Downtown Address

[Jo Clute]

Aaron,

Thanks you SO much for the recap.  That was fabulous :-)
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: thisrocks at mac.com 
  To: central-city-discuss at gcna.info 
  Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 1:34 AM
  Subject: Mayor Phil Gordon's State of Downtown Address


  Thank you Maureen for posting the invite. Mayor Phil Gordon definitely spoke to us all tonight: educators, residents, developers, businessmen, artists, politicians, medical professionals, students, and everyone in between. Here are some highlights:


  Attendees proceeded to the top floor of convention rooms at the Phoenix Convention Center. Exhibitors spread out in one room and Mayor Gordon held court in another. There were artists who participate in the Copper Square “Performance Street” entertainment program: a lady with a python, a man on stilts, and a very tall man crafting balloon animals.


  There was a healthy array of food from several Downtown Phoenix restaurants including Palazzo and Tom's Restaurant & Tavern. And a bevy of other exhibitors including: a new energy drink called Kaboom; a jazz band; Sherry Rampy of Realty Executives; artist James Angel; Made Art Boutique; Downtown Phoenix Public Market; Arizona Telemedicine Program; and several loft projects from the Downtown Phoenix Urban Form Project and Loft Tour with members of the City Planning Department. 


  Mayor Gordon spoke to a full house for well over 45 minutes, espousing the current and future attributes of Downtown Phoenix.
  - "...$2.3 billion and over 7 million square feet of planned or proposed new construction and it will rise. Such an exciting time to be in Downtown."
  - Downtown revenue up 166% to $43 million in revenue. 
  - With such close proximity of sporting events, cultural activities, Light Rail, education resources, scientific research, medical facilities, art venues, all 10 minutes from Sky Harbor Airport, there is "nothing else like it anywhere." 
  - "The [Phoenix] bird will soar again."
  - 6300 new high paying jobs being created in downtown.
  - "Without the arts community, there is no downtown."
  - The Arizona Telemedicine Program got lots of stage time as members of the pioneering project demonstrated using the technology. This is a vast network across Arizona that allows patients to be seen and diagnosed by doctors who are hundreds of miles away using synchronous video telecommunications. For more information visit: www. telemedicine.arizona.edu.
  - For the first time, Arizona State University and University of Arizona emblems will be featured on a tan baseball cap underscored by the words "Downtown Phoenix." Each attendee was given one of the ball caps. This is because ASU and U of A are teaming up to create the Phoenix Bioscience Campus Downtown. ASU will also open the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication next year.
  - The biggest message I think Mayor Gordon wanted to get across is that Downtown Phoenix is and will have it all: Education from ASU  and U of A; Research, BioMed, and Science from the likes of TGen and Ribomed; Arts from Symphony Hall and Herberger Theater as well as many other events like First Friday Art Walk; Hotel infrastructure like the new Sheraton; New retail and restaurants like the late 2006 opening of Hanny's (as a restaurant rather than in its original form of an upscale clothing store) by Karl Kopp, owner of AZ88; Residential opportunities from people like Eric Brown, president of Artisan Homes who is responsible for several Downtown Phoenix residential projects; Greenspace provided by a new park; and of course more and more business. 
  - "Downtown Phoenix is the place to live, work and play!"


  I agree!
  That's all for now!
  Aaron




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