Two activists returned to Phoenix Friday to reflect on their time in the city and share their input for the future as a part of an Urban Design Week’s ‘Where are They Now?’ panel.
Jonce Walker, co-founder of Pedal Craft, returned to town from Brooklyn, and Leslie Casañares-Lindo, co-founder of Project Rising, returned to Phoenix from Oakland. Shannon Scutari, co-founder of Urban Choices advocacy group, moderated the discussion.
Both spoke positively of the downtown community and said the community made it hard for them to leave.
“It’s really easy in Phoenix to be somebody who helps shape the community,” Walker said. “You kind of just have to show up and care, and that’s what’s cool. That makes the city really approachable.”
Scutari and Casañares-Lindo also said Phoenix has a lot of opportunities to make a difference.
“Even though it’s a ton of work it’s a lot more pioneering here,” Scutari said. “Not many people in some of the places where these things are established can be able to say, ‘I was somebody that was a part of the founding and was a founding member of this. I’m a member of something that had a pretty impactful transformation in a city.’”
Despite this opportunity for community involvement , Walker and Casañares-Lindo also described how hard and frustrating they felt it was to create change.
“Particularly in us trying to launch Project Rising, it was just people not actually getting it,” Casañares-Lindo said. “Like how hard it was to convince people of the value of an incubator or what an accelerator is or talking to investors about the value of investing in these types of projects. So just that frame of innovative thinking was not there for that.”
Walker and Casañares-Lindo also reflected on the changes which have happened in Phoenix since they left. Walker liked the outcome of the adapted used projects and the bike share program. Casañares-Lindo praised Downtown Phoenix Inc. and its recent engagement.
The panelists also specifically addressed changes to Roosevelt Row, saying they were happy to see that development had occurred, but felt it did not live up to its full potential.
“The buildings don’t address the street well,” Walker said. “They’re not welcoming. The scale is weird. I think there were some missed chances from a pedestrian perspective.”
For the future of Phoenix, Walker said he hoped Phoenix fights to keep the stadiums downtown, and Casañares-Lindo said she wants the city to continue programs such as the Smart Streets Initiative. Both said they hoped the city would continue to expand the light rail and promote accessibility.
Contact the reporter at Stephanie.M.Morse@asu.edu.
