The American Planning Association named Roosevelt Row one of its 2015 Great Places in America during a Thursday morning event at the Desoto Central Market.
Roosevelt Row is the first space to be designated in Phoenix and third in Arizona, joining Mill Avenue in Tempe and the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza in Prescott.
The APA is a national nonprofit urban-planning organization. The group distributes its Great Places in America awards each year to communities that it believes demonstrate quality urban planning, have a “true sense of place, cultural and historical interest, community involvement” and vision for the future, according to the APA website.
Roosevelt Row joins downtown Plano, Texas and Balboa Park in San Diego among this year’s honorees, but is only one of four sites designated in the “great neighborhoods” category.
Kurt Christiansen, APA board member, cited bike share, the arts and adaptive reuse as the deciding factors for selecting Roosevelt Row for the designation.
“Roosevelt Row is a vibrant arts district, which is home to a diverse community that has transformed over the last 10 years into an art scene with theater, live music and visual arts that has spurred economic investment in the neighborhood,” he said.
Mayor Greg Stanton spoke at the event and thanked community members for leading the revitalization efforts.
He said at times, the city had lessons to learn from the community about urban planning.
“I remember in the 1990s when Kimber Lanning opened Modified Arts and Roosevelt Row was just beginning,” Stanton said. “I’m proudly wearing an ‘I love planning’ button like everyone else is, but the truth is that the planning that’s gone on in Roosevelt Row was bottom up. It was people-led planning, and sometimes our existing planning documents were an impediment to the success of Roosevelt Row.”
Days before the announcement, the Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation Facebook page created a semi-cryptic event, inviting community members to the Desoto Market Thursday morning for food, coffee and a special announcement.
The actual subject of the event was embargoed until around Thursday morning. However, the city had known of the award for about a week, according to District 8 Councilwoman Kate Gallego. Also in attendance were District 7 Councilman Michael Nowakowski and former Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.
APA has designated 245 spaces since starting the award in 2007.
Greg Esser, vice president of the Roosevelt Row CDC board, spoke briefly at the event, and said there is still much left to accomplish despite the achievement.
“We are not done,” he said. “This is sort of just a moment to reflect on what we’ve accomplished but there is still a great future ahead of us and we’re building that future with all of you, with the future artists in this community.”
Contact the reporter at travis.arbon@asu.edu.
