Making Downtown Phoenix a Real ‘Downtown.’
Whenever I tell someone I live in downtown Phoenix, I almost always get the same comments.
“Oh wow, do you like it down there? I’ve heard it’s cleaned up a lot!”
“You know, back when I was younger, that place was just a complete mess, but I went down there for a baseball game a few months ago and was totally impressed!”
I have my response memorized, like an autoplay button. My mouth moves and my brain shuts off, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sick of talking about Phoenix’s growth and how, Yes, actually, I do feel safe walking around at night.
But all in all, the comments are accurate. Downtown Phoenix is growing and cleaning up, and each day I walk my little chihuahua rat-terrier, I see new buildings popping up and more people flocking to be a part of the revitalization and community building.
But how and why is downtown Phoenix growing?
A few reasons:
For starters, there has been nearly five billion dollars worth of investments in downtown Phoenix’s 1.7 mile block radius, according to dtphx.org. The bulk of this money has gone toward transportation, like the city’s ever-expanding light rail, plus construction, arts and culture, education, sports and more.
The city has also introduced new tax incentive initiatives to help interested business owners. Phoenix has made national headlines for its increasingly attractive business opportunities. In June 2016, a New York Times journalist, Fernanda Santos, reported how Phoenix’s mission going forward is to rebuild the city to ‘woo’ Silicon Valley-esque founders and tech companies.
Some of the top startups today, like Uber and Tuft & Needle, have either expanded to Phoenix or relocated its headquarters entirely to the mountainous city.
But some existing small businesses in the town have voiced opposition to the tax incentives. A small, independent and student-led publication out of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Downtown Devil, interviewed one business owner, Wayne Rainey, who said he was ineligible for one tax cut because he could not afford some of the requirements for approval.
Still, business in Phoenix looks promising going forward. BizJournals.com recently reported that Arizona small businesses rank higher than the national average for actions like hiring new employees, selling new products or providing new services, and buying new equipment.
And fortunately for Phoenix leaders trying to make the city the new Silicon Valley, more Phoenix business owners are staying put than other business owners across the nation.
