More good news for downtown Phoenix. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) just awarded Phoenix a $25,000 grant to make an area near the Phoenix Public Market more livable. Here is how the project is described by the NEA folks:

The City of Phoenix will use its MICD25 grant to hire an artist-led team to redesign a city block along a key thoroughfare fronting the new Downtown Phoenix Public Market. The artist/design team, to be selected through a competitive process, will reconfigure the street by reducing car lanes and widening sidewalks and adding built and living shade, transforming a hot stretch of asphalt and concrete into a cool oasis for people. These changes will increase the livability of the desert city by making outdoor areas more amenable to pedestrians.

Mayor Gordon added these comments about the grant money, “This project will bolster our efforts to revitalize Phoenix’s unique urban core as a connected oasis of shaded sidewalks, plazas, streets and open spaces. The project, using sustainable materials, also will complement our ongoing downtown development efforts.”

As I read the grant, it provides money for the design of the project that includes 1 block of Pierce Street from Central to First Street. I have not heard if the grant required the city to fund the actual construction of the project or not. Maybe one of our readers knows more about the construction details and I’ll do my best to find out more.

The grant is one of only 21 awarded by the NEA under their Mayor’s Institute on City Design. Initiatives like this a far too few and highly competitive when available. Too bad we can’t shift 1% of the military budget to enrich the quality of life and art…

So lift your cup and say Salute , cheers and Slainte to downtown Phoenix, the Office of Arts and Culture and NEA for making our life in the urban core a bit better.

Gene Urban
The Urban Connection Team
602-234-5777

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