The block between Pierce and Garfield streets is sometimes empty on weekends without the bustle of ASU students and 9-to-5-ers. However, for a few hours on Saturday, the block was alive with vendors, a free yoga class, street performers, cyclists and pedestrians.
The event, Better Block PHX, was held to show Phoenix residents how former “dead zones” of the downtown area could be transformed into vibrant marketplaces and community hubs.
“We are trying to simulate what it would be like if every empty lot and parking lot on this street actually had businesses in them,” said Will Novak, the event’s host.
Novak, a public service and public policy major at ASU, partnered with This Could Be PHX to put on the event.
A TEDx Talk by Jason Roberts inspired the demonstration. Roberts said he sought to revitalize the uninviting streets of his Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. His idea of a temporary street makeover, with pop-up cafes, art galleries and spray-painted bike lanes, transformed from a one-time event into a worldwide Better Block movement.
More than 50 streets in cities across the country have hosted a Better Block revitalization. Saturday’s exhibition was Arizona’s first Better Block event.
Ryan Tempest, co-founder of This Could Be PHX, walked across First Street and listed the day’s features: street art, pallet garden building, food carts, bike demonstrations and pop-up retail shops.
This Could Be PHX, a grassroots organization, started in 2013 to ignite the discussion on urban living and sustainability in Phoenix.
“Better Block falls in line with our mission of activating downtown Phoenix one block at time,” Tempest said. “You can’t draw somebody to a street if there’s nothing there. All you need is something to do to bring people here.”
The crowd ranged from families with kids, to older Phoenicians from the Historic Neighborhood Coalition, to students.
One volunteer painted temporary cross walks and bikes lanes on the asphalt to showcase what could be a permanent change. Another posted speed limit signs, urging motorists to slow down. Police officials later asked for the signs to be taken down.
Planners scheduled Better Block PHX to begin at 11 a.m., as the Phoenix Public Farmer’s Market was winding down, and to end at 4 p.m. before the Chile Pepper Festival on Roosevelt Row.
The first few hours of the festival were warm and sunny with occasional clouds and wind, but a late-fall thunderstorm hit the area in the afternoon. Torrential rain, fallen trees and downed power lines forced an early shutdown.
“I’m surprised by the turnout, but I think if people weren’t afraid of rain, we’d have more,” said Lisa Parks of Phoenix Spokes People, a bicycle advocacy group.
Parks said she would like to hold more Better Blocks in the future. She was also inspired by Robert’s speech on the Better Block mission and helped organized the event over the course of roughly six weeks.
Veronica Peters, a floral vendor at Better Block, manned a table covered in jarred succulent plants and bright bouquets. She works as the events and sales director at Table Tops Etc., a floral studio near Seventh and Roosevelt streets. Although the studio mostly designs table displays for special events, she said she wanted a set up at Better Block to support the downtown area.
“It’s not rocket science what makes a great street and what makes a city walkable,” Peters said.
She listed simple, easy additions like bike lanes, trees and crosswalks that could change the area.
“We don’t have any streets where people can just go and walk,” Parks said. “This area has so much potential to be a destination place.”
She paused to point out a family sitting on one of the pop-up benches in the shade of a ficus tree.
The tree was one of the few saved when many other trees and historical buildings were torn down in the neighborhood. Parks said people want to be outside and part of the community. A few small changes, like the benches, make that possible.
The Better Block website gives the framework and instructions to anyone wanting to host a demonstration. It also allows for free submission to map listing of all past, present and future Better Block projects.
Contact the reporter at wmccarth@asu.edu
