The summer monsoon storms have busted back into southern Arizona. The festivities started late last week with a couple of after-dark storms that were loud and rowdy enough to deprive anyone of a good night’s sleep. Not that our July 4th afternoon storm was quiet and understated. Far from it. When it came to noise…
In my previous post, I talked about the good, bad, and ugly aspects of Downtown Tucson revitalization. Time for an update. I noted a messy situation in the Aviation Underpass, which is on one of the main routes in and out of Downtown. In recent months, this area had turned into one of the littering…
Yesterday evening, I did my 100th Meet Me at Maynards walk around Downtown Tucson. While I padded along in the 100-degree heat, I shot the following photo essay. It’s intended to show the positive and negative sides of Downtown Tucson’s revitalization efforts. First, the positives: Let’s start with Meet Me at Maynards itself. It’s been…
Bike-tography is one of those words I made up to describe two of my favorite activities, bicycling and photography. Bike-tography is the act of combining the two. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a highly opinionated selection of my best bike-tography images.
Graffiti is one of those blights that never seems to go away. These days, it seems as if any object is a tempting target for taggers. Central Tucson certainly isn’t immune from the graffiti plague. Street signs are especially vulnerable… When they’re not being stolen, traffic safety devices are also quite the target… Locally, there…
2nd Saturdays Downtown celebrated its first anniversary this past weekend. This event has been drawing tens of thousands of people to Downtown Tucson for arts, entertainment, shopping, and good old fashioned people watching. The Ronstadt Transit Center isn’t known for its musical entertainment, but haven’t you always wanted to sing a song while waiting for…
Do you live on one of those streets where there seems to be no speed limit? So do I. And, sorry to say, those speed tables further up the street don’t seem to help at all. The speeders slow down enough to go over them without wrecking their suspensions, then it’s off to the races…
About 10 years ago, a new kind of student housing started popping up in neighborhoods around the University of Arizona. Developers were buying old houses, doing interior and exterior renovations, and adding a second story on the back. Then they rented them to groups of five or more students. These structures became known as mini-dorms….
For many years, the northeast corner of First Avenue and Lester Street was home to a convenience store that sold little more than liquor. Place was a magnet for drug buyers, sellers, and other nefarious types. We neighbors weren’t too pleased with the goings-on, and most of us steered clear of the store. There wasn’t…
Yesterday was one of those “can’t miss” days for bicycling in Tucson. Not just for the warm, sunny weather, but for two wonderful events. The morning started with a Tucson classic, the Bike Swap Meet, which has been around since the 1980s. Matter of fact, I can remember attending the spring 1988 edition, which was…
The nationwide real estate meltdown has hit Arizona hard. Our state has one of highest foreclosure rates in the country. And you don’t have to look very far to find evidence in central Tucson… If it’s not the signs announcing foreclosure, it’s the empty houses. Not all have been taken back by banks. Some may…
Back in early February, a hard freeze hit Tucson and southern Arizona. Daytime highs just made it into the forties, and the nighttime lows were in the teens. The extreme cold was quite rough on the local plant life. Frozen prickly pear cactus dropped their pads or fell over. And our hardy mesquites made like…
Shoefiti is one of those things that isn’t unique to Tucson. It’s the practice of tying a pair of shoes together, then tossing them at overhead wires. The goal is to get them hanging up there for all to see. This example of accurate tossing can be seen along North Fourth Avenue… Which begs the…
My previous Cyclovia Tucson post focused on notion that streets aren’t just for cars. People traveling under their own power also have a place. This post will cover one of the greatest benefits of self-powered travel: An enhanced ability to see and hear what surrounds you. With this thought in mind, let’s look at the…
Cyclovia Tucson riders had a special treat awaiting in Armory Park. The Food Conspiracy Co-op’s annual Solar Rock concert offered a musical feast that was 100% powered by the sun. Tucson’s GeoInnovation furnished the 800-watt solar array that kept the tunes coming. This array can generate 4 kilowatt-hours per day… Performers included Robyn Landis… …and…
What happens when you throw a streets-closed-to-cars, human-powered mobile party and 10,000 people show up? You get Cyclovia Tucson, that’s what! The second annual Cyclovia drew bicyclists, bladers, skateboarders, runners, walkers, and wheelchair users to the streets of Tucson and South Tucson yesterday. Cyclovia Tucson was truly an event for everyone — didn’t matter if…
One of the more visible signs of our tough economy is the increase in homeless people. To be sure, Tucson has long been a wintertime magnet for those who are down on their luck. After all, where would you rather be on the streets in January? Minneapolis? Or here in Arizona? In central Tucson, our…
Euclid Avenue isn’t one of Tucson’s glamorous thoroughfares. It’s a workmanlike street that takes you past apartment complexes, strip shopping centers, schools, and sturdy little houses, some of which are a century old. While much of central Tucson’s transportation improvement efforts are centering on the Grant Road widening project, Euclid is still, well, Euclid. No…
Saturday was a great day for indulging my passion for bike-tography. I pedaled my bicycle and camera over to the east side of the University of Arizona campus, which was blocked off for the UA Criterium. This closed-course event drew bicycle racing enthusiasts from hither and yon, but there were plenty of good spots to…
Here in Tucson, we have been experiencing a weather spell that would be better suited for northern climes. We’re talking daytime highs that barely make it past the 40-degree mark. And the nighttime lows? Well below freezing. A couple of mornings ago, the wind chill made the air feel like it was four degrees above…
If you’re like most Tucsonans, you live in a house that does a lousy job of keeping the winter’s cold outside. Which means that you’re left with the uncomfortable choice between living in an icebox or dealing with heating bills that rival your mortgage payment. Almost all houses inside the Tucson city limits were built…