Permit me to start this post with a disclaimer: I’m not an economist, and I don’t play one on TV. But I have been noticing that, despite all the news of economic turmoil, locally-based, community-oriented businesses are doing just fine. Take Tucson’s Food Conspiracy Co-op, for example. Despite its location on parking-scarce 4th Avenue, sales…
Last month, I blogged about the weekly Meet Me at Maynards (MMM) social walk and run around Downtown Tucson. MMM #4 happened this past Monday, and the crowd voted overwhelmingly to keep going throughout the summer. And now, here’s a MMM retrospective: The crowd gathers before the start… Gotta set that watch… MMM co-founder Randy…
Late last month, I joined Judy Vorfeld and her brother, David Crook, for a couple of photographic days. Our first stop was the Desert Botanical Garden, which is located in the southeastern corner of Phoenix, Arizona. The cactus flowers were out in force… The saguaro cactii will bloom in a few weeks… Meanwhile, over at…
Ever been to a wheelchair basketball game? It looks like a cross between basketball and roller derby. Just look at the chairs. They’re built to withstand hard collisions, tip-overs, and other forms of mayhem. The players are pretty rugged too. I recently caught a Tucson Lobos practice. Thirty minutes into the scrimmage, the guys were…
Downtown Tucson has been under revitalization (read: construction) for many, many moons. Despite all of the dust and detours, things are happening Downtown. One of the newest and most promising is the Meet Me at Maynards social run and walk. The inaugural version happened last night, and it attracted 184 participants. The three-mile course featured…
This past Saturday, the northeast portion of the University of Arizona campus played host to several hundred fast bicyclists and interested spectators. The occasion was the UA Criterium, a street race over a course that was closed to motorized traffic. The Criterium competitors far outnumbered the spectators, so it was easy to find a place…
One of the necessities of event planning is anticipating the crowds that show up. Take, for example, Tucson’s popular 4th Avenue Street Fair. The most recent edition drew around 300,000 people over three days. While 4th Avenue was closed all but pedestrian traffic, 6th Street was still open. Crowd control was provided by police officers…
This past weekend, 300,000 people converged on Tucson’s 4th Avenue for the 2009 Spring Street Fair. Amidst all the arts, crafts, and food booths were some great musicians. Here’s Chip Ritter performing with the reggae band Neon Prophet…
Tucson’s 2009 St. Patrick’s Day Parade happened a couple of days ago. But an Ides of March Parade just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Like any notable Tucson parade, it had its own touch of weirdness. If such an award were given, the Green Man Group would have won first prize for having…
When you live on an eroding hillside, you’ve got a problem. Whenever it rains, valuable topsoil is being carried away. This past Sunday, members of the Watershed Management Group’s co-op program were hard at work, restoring a homeowner’s hillside. The goal is to prevent erosion and stabilize the hillside so that native plants can grow…
Been doing a window upgrade on my house for the past four years. The old casement windows are of the single pane variety. And they leak like a sieve. Last Friday, I cleared out my design studio and let the window replacement crew move their gear in. Then it was time to bid two more…
Ever been a tourist in your hometown? I decided to take that idea for a little test-ride this past weekend. My itinerary included the Pima Community College West Campus, Sentinel Peak (aka A Mountain), and Tucson’s oldest tree. This eucalyptus hangs in there at the edge of Congress Road, just west of Downtown… Then there…
This past Saturday, it was Carnaval time in Tucson. Downtown’s Armory Park was taken over by all manner of festive types. We’re talking singers, dancers, drummers, and plenty of watchers. Included in the merriment were Capoeira Malendragem… Mimes… Jovert, the steel drum band from Tucson High School… And those high-steppin’ stilt walkers from Flam Chen…
Yesterday morning was perfect for bicycling. So, I pedaled down to Tucson’s annual Fords on Fourth car show. Held on Fourth Avenue, this show was the place for all things Ford… I visited this show last year and decided it was an annual must-do.
Who says that University of Arizona students won’t get up bright and early on a Saturday morning? Especially if that Saturday happens to coincide with Valentine’s Day? This past Saturday, I worked with UA water harvesting students in the Rincon Heights neighborhood, which is just south of the campus. The students were joined by a…
Neighbors just had a Friday the 13th party. In the backyard, there was plenty of skateboarding action… In the living room, there were three live bands… I got photos of two bands performing. First up was Lenguas Largas… Lenguas Largas was followed by Vanish Twin…
This past weekend, I worked with the Watershed Management Group on a greywater harvesting project. This project will take washing machine water and redirect it to plants outside the laundry room. These guys are dry-fitting the ABS pipes that are part of the greywater drainage… After they were finished with the pipe-fitting, we filled trenches…
They sure didn’t make playground equipment like this when I was a kid. This thing is a slide in Tucson’s recently dedicated Balboa Park…
This past November, I wrote a post on Tucson’s new ordinance that requires water harvesting for commercial developments. To show how this can be done, the Ward 1 City Council Office is creating a public demonstration site. Work on the Ward 1 site is now being completed. On Saturday, January 24, Watershed Management Group volunteers…
On Monday, January 19, hundreds of Tucsonans commemorated the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a march and festival at Reid Park. The festival featured music, mime, poetry, and dancing. Tariq Rasool and the Songhai Drummers got things going… My neighbors, Chuck and Beatrice, enjoying the festivities…
My recent trip to Pennsylvania featured just about every kind of weather imaginable. Most of my time there was snow-free. But not fog-free… And certainly not wind-free. Gusts of 40 mph and higher were recorded on New Year’s Eve. This had predictable effects on local trees and powerlines…