Businesses, community members respond to passage of religious service refusal bill
On Thursday, the Arizona legislature passed a bill that would allow businesses to refuse service based on religious beliefs. The move caused an uproar among downtown business owners and community members who feel this bill could be used to discriminate against gay people.
Roosevelt Row Artists’ District celebrates results of visioning project, survey and book
Members and leaders of the newly dubbed Roosevelt Row Artists’ District convened at The Nash on Thursday to celebrate the district's visioning project that outlined their future goals.
Free bike rental service coming soon for Downtown campus students
The bike co-op program at the Sun Devil Fitness Complex offers tune-ups, repairs, cleaning and inspections for students. It also provides students with training on how to repair their own bikes. Students will soon be able to rent bikes for free for up to seven days at a time.
Seed Spot welcomes 11 new business ventures into signature incubation program
More than 200 people gathered at Seed Spot’s headquarters in midtown Phoenix to celebrate their third class of ventures Thursday evening. The 11 new ventures in the full-time incubation program cover industries including health, human rights, civic engagement, environment and education.
Devil’s Pass: Lawn Gnome Publishing recovers from robbery with community support
Discussion points included the impact of the robbery and the recovery effort. The hosts also discussed what the process proves about small businesses in the downtown arts community.
Google Fiber network could increase Valley Internet speeds up to 100 times
Google announced Wednesday that Phoenix is one of nine regions where it is considering installing its fiber-optic gigabit Internet network next. The company is already working on Google Fiber in three regions of the United States.
Mixed-use development plan in works for two blocks of warehouse district
California-based Granite Capital Investments plans to build a development called Phoenix Ballpark Properties, which will include apartments, retail and office space, between Third and Fourth streets and Lincoln Street and the railroad tracks.
Adult puppet slams provide local puppeteers opportunity for artistic liberty
Leave the kids at home--this puppet show is adults-only. The Great Arizona Puppet Theater puts on a monthly Adult Puppet Slam to give its puppeteers a chance to show off all their skills. The theater is a member of the national Puppet Slam Network.
Phoenix discusses human trafficking concerns for Super Bowl, safer future
To combat the rise of human and sex trafficking cases that will come with the Super Bowl to Glendale in 2015, the City of Phoenix Human Trafficking Task Force is coordinating with local and federal anti-trafficking efforts to prepare. Escort ad activity on Backpage - a classifieds website - increased from 28 two Thursdays before the 2012 Super Bowl to 118 the Thursday of the game.
Online cash mob event helps Lawn Gnome after recent robbery
Following a break-in last week, the downtown Phoenix community rounded up support for Lawn Gnome Publishing by creating a cash mob on Tuesday afternoon. Participants from as close downtown Phoenix and as far as Boston, donated books and cash to help the store in its time of need.