You Are Where You Eat

Tempe is about to start preparing for the holidays. Sure, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but businesses start preparing for the winter holidays as soon as after school shopping is over -- often before that! The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year and certainly, no retailer can afford to miss the opportunities the season brings.

Tempe wants to support its local shops as best it can. Internally, we have an employee contest that offers prizes sponsored by local shops for those workers who bring in Tempe sales receipts. External, we send notices to media and put together lists for the public to view about great things you can buy in Tempe from our merchants. We try to highlight Mom and Pop shops, as well as those businesses that are new in town or have a particular local tie. We will start posting these lists on www.tempe.gov/shoptempe very soon. Before we published those lists, we wanted to get some opinion on which locally-owned businesses people liked best.

On the City of Tempe Facebook page and in a few other venues, we asked our fans which shops they liked best. With the exceptions of Changing Hands Bookstore, Bobbie's Flowers, Nash Barber Shop, Lulu's Moonfish and Love Child Style Exchange, almost every other mention was a restaurant or purveyor of food and beverages.

Riazzi's, Cookies From Home, Monti's, Romancing the Bean, Munch-a-Mania, Cafe Lalibella, in Season Deli, Chuckbox, House of Tricks, Mac's, Tops, Essence, Tea Infusion and many others were mentioned.

In a recent interview, longtime Tempe musician Walt Richardson said that the food on Mill Avenue and in Tempe contributes to the creative vibe that makes this city special. And it's true. Everyone eats. Food is more than sustenance. It does more than nourish the body, it feeds the soul. There's a reason it's called comfort food.

For our holidays, we prepare special foods - turkey on Thanksgiving, barbecue for Independance Day. Families pass on their recipes. When people arrive here from far away places -- Tempe is a remarkably diverse city -- they bring with them their cuisine. India Plaza, Cafe Istanbul and Phoenica Cafe all have markets to buy the ingredients for fabulous Indian and Mediterranean dishes. There are carnecerias all over the city.

Food brings us together and our local restaurants demonstrate the spirit of Tempe.

Tempe's spirit of innovation shows in light rail station valuations

Land value surrounding the light rail route in Tempe has seen the highest appreciation in the Valley, according to a study conducted by ASU doctoral student Katherine Kittrell.

The number of new mixed use projects was one of the reasons for the increase. Tempe offers many of these buildings, including GRIGIO Metro, right at the station on McClintock and Apache Boulevard and Tempe Gateway at Third Street and Mill Avenue.

Land value appreciation was the highest along Apache Boulevard in Tempe, according to the study, and land around every single Tempe station experienced prosperity. The average increase for all sales transactions near Tempe stations was up 429 percent this year.

This increase is because of Tempe’s updated zoning codes, which allow for larger buildings that are in line with public transit-oriented development, according to the report. These codes and related services, such as Web site accessibility and development services have enabled Tempe to become successful in attracting new developers to the city.

While the tools for this appreciation might be updated zoning codes, the overarching reasoning behind this is innovation. Tempe is renowned for its forward-thinking; for seeing what the future will require and moving toward it.

The same holds true for Tempe's retail environment. When the economy slowed, Tempe did not rest. It moved forward with innovative ways of attracting new businesses. Earlier this month, the City of Tempe and the Downtown Tempe Community officially welcomed more than a dozen new businesses. The businesses set up sample tables of their wares on Fifth and Mill and mingled with the Tempe Chamber of Commerce, Mill Avenue District, Tempe City Council and media.

Whatever the issue, Tempe will find a way to be creative and lead.

Hope

One way Tempe distinguishes itself from other communities is that it never settles. If there is a better way, a more successful means, a new, innovative concept that could save time and money, Tempe is usuallly first to try it.

Part of that desire includes introspection and evaluation. The City of Tempe is in the midst of a branding exercise to see what people think about us. We want to know what the perception is of our city by those who live here, come here for work or are here for pleasure.

The seven question interviews are revealing. One business owner, when asked what one word describes Tempe said, "Hopeful."

Hopeful. It's a great attribute.

It's the fresh, young eyes at Arizona State University, ready to learn, ready to experience and to take on the world.

It's the researcher calculating new ways to explore Mars, to write code, to slow the urban heat island effect.

It's the artist performing at Music on Mill, looking for that big break.

It's the business owner crafting a new ad for the store, drawing more customers and exceeding the goal for the month.

It's the developer seeing a well-designed building in place of a vacant lot and the architect who designs the park space for everyone to share.

Hopeful. To be hopeful means to be positive and open to the new, to desire, to enthusiastically quest for more. In these economic times and in all others, to be hopeful and to work toward the end product of that hope, is something to be valued.

We don't know what the end result of our branding study will show yet, but it seems we are off to a good start.

Tempe Town Lake Turns 10 soon

A long time ago, a realllly long time ago, water flowed in the mighty Salt River uncontrolled. When monsoons came, the current ripped land, tore out bridges. There were times when the river could not be crossed.

Then, in 1903, construction started on Roosevelt Dam. The river was not only tamed, it was eradicated. For nearly 100 years, the lack of water left a barren wasteland that many deemed good only for dumping unwanted appliances and vehicles.

It took decades for someone to come up with the solution: the Rio Salado Project. The original idea was to rejuvinate the river from Mesa to central Phoenix with a corridor of water and development. Voters turned down the concept in the mid '80s, but Tempe liked the idea, redrafted it a bit, and with the help of dozens of partners, built Tempe Town Lake on the Rio Salado.

The lake opened on Nov. 6, 1999.

Today, Tempe Town Lake serves as an example of redevelopment. Land around the lake is some of the most highly sought after in Arizona. Urban Land Institute named the crossing of Rio Salado Parkway and Mill Avenue one of the Hottest Intersections in Arizona. Town Lake is also one of the top destinations in the state for special events, athletics and fun with about 2.7 million people around its shores each year.

More than that, Town Lake is an economic engine. Conservative calculations show that the lake has generated about $415 million in economic impact to the region during the last 10 years. The lake and all its improvements have cost only $261 million.

First, the Salt River was lifegiving -- its waters nurtured Native Americans, plants and animals. Then the river was dangerous to those who tried to cross it in the wrong spots and those who lived too close to its shores. Today, it is a benefit to Arizona.

Join Tempe in a series of celebrations of Tempe Town Lake. A big party takes place Dec. 12 at Tempe Beach Park in conjunction with the annual APS Fantasy of Lights Boat Parade. A free boating day happens on Nov. 7. Bring your eligible watercraft.

Visit www.tempe.gov/lake/birthday.htm for details.