Sunday, December 27, 2015

Random Letter To Tempe City Council Concerning New Bike Lanes

This isn't a letter I wrote, it is a letter that Kolby Granville posted on his Facebook page. It has to do with the new bike lanes that have been installed along McClintock in Tempe.

"To Whom it May Concern

I am a resident of Tempe living on S McClintock Dr in between E Southern Ave and E Broadway Rd. My roommates, friends, family, associates, colleagues, and random strangers have all experienced an exceptional amount of frustration at the reduction of lanes on S McClintock Dr. Let me therefore start by saying: what half-brain came up with the half-baked idea that eliminating lanes would improve the traffic situation?
Now that that is out of the way, please pardon my outburst. I am sure whoever came up with the idea is a truly lovely, if illogical, person. I will forgo pathos and attempt to appeal to your logical selves instead.
According to the 2013 Census Survey, Tempe is the 7th highest ranked medium city for biking - in sincere honesty, a true achievement. This accounts for a whole 4% of commuters. With 2.93% utilizing mass transit and 3.19% working from home, that means that nearly 90% of Tempe residents commute via their own (or carpool) vehicle. Therefore, I must wonder, to whose benefit was it really to reduce the lanes on S McClintock Dr in order to add bike lanes?
Reducing down to two lanes has caused a massive backup heading north on McClintock during morning rush-hour and south during afternoon rush-hour. The afternoon is far worse, as the backup from the US 60 extends north often more up to two miles. Of my 8 mile commute to work, McClintock accounted for 3.5 miles. During rush-hour with this new system, those 3.5 miles have added 10 minutes to my commute. Considering my entire commute used to take about 25 minutes, that's 40% longer. I must ask, once again, to whose benefit was the reduction of lanes?
Contrary to the belief of the government established by that nice postcard, the issue does not come from "not understanding the new traffic system." Yes, we, the residents of Tempe, do understand what a bike-lane is. We know what a gore zone is. Our problem is not due to a lack of understanding. It is due to frustration at the traffic system. Therefore, adding candlestick dividers is not a solution.
Of course, if my argument is meant only to complain, that would hurt my position. I must be honest - I am not a civil engineer, I do not work in transport. Yet, there is, as I see it, a simple solution. Add a third lane heading south on McClintock and leave the north-bound two lanes since south-bound is far worse. Eliminate the ridiculous gore zone. This would leave plenty of room for bike lanes on either side and would help alleviate traffic congestion during afternoon rush-hour.
As a more substantial project, add a second turn lane onto the US 60 east. With the single turn lane, you cannot fit more than a dozen cars or so. This causes people to back up into the suicide lane extending south of the turn lane. Not only is this illegal and dangerous, but it causes huge backup, as mentioned previously.
If I have still failed to convince you then, please - I beg of you, before you dismiss my claim, time how long it takes to drive from the Loop 202 south to the US 60 at 5:00 in the afternoon. It is completely absurd and due, almost entirely, to the elimination of the third lane.
I trust, as loyal council members, that, if you are not the correct points of contact, you will escalate my claim to whomever is in charge of the traffic system.
I greatly appreciate your time and happy holidays."

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Tempe Fantasy of Lights

Last night, we enjoyed the Tempe Fantasy of Lights Parade on Mill Avenue. We go there each year to see the parade and to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree.

Here's a few blurry phone pics.


 Santa rides in on a fire truck! :)




Commercial real estate developer Michael Pollack always rocks the house with his huge lighted float / stage.



No respectable Arizona Fantasy of Lights parade is complete without Santa on a stage coach!


The Tempe Fantasy of Lights Parade is enjoyed by thousands of people.


What kind of Arizona parade is complete without is cream??


Next up is the Fantasy of Lights Boat parade on December 13th at Tempe Town Lake.

 "The annual Fantasy of Lights Boat Parade features approximately 50 festively-lighted boats of all sizes. After dark, more than 1,000 luminaria make the sidewalks and paths of Tempe Beach Park glow, a special display provided by Tempe South Rotary." Don't miss it!



Wednesday, November 05, 2014

New video showing some of the recent developments in Tempe. Interestingly enough, they barely scratch the surface in showing all of the new things happening in Tempe.



Tons of changes near downtown but south Tempe is adding buildings and jobs, as well. All of these new residents will soon be part of our community.

Yep, the times are a changing...

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Tempe tear downs bringing BIG bucks to area

Wowza. There's a few BIG projects happening in South Tempe right now.

Someone recently paid just over $730k for a home on a large lot in a snazzy neighborhood and they plan to tear it down so that they can build a 16,489 square foot home.

This isn't the first big tear down project in the area lately and another monster of a home is being built just a few blocks west of this home.

Yeah, we are seeing a bunch of money entering some of these areas with large lots.

You know what they say about land... "They aren't making any more." Good to see that people with deep pockets have been buying real estate again. :)





Monday, October 14, 2013

New Videos for Our Web Sites

Recently, I was talking about some real estate video ideas with my friend Bill Risser at Chicago Title. Bill and I talked about doing some community specific videos to give people an idea of what it is like to live in a certain part of town or a specific neighborhood. Since I had recently taken some photos of a neighborhood called The Lakes, we decided to start off with that one.

Take a look and see what you think…


After shooting the video for The Lakes, Bill suggested that I shoot a quick “into” video to our main web site.

“Just tell ‘em about the site.” “Keep it short and sweet.”

Um, ok…

At first, I didn’t really get what we would do with a short intro video but I’m kind of glad we gave it a shot. For now, we are using it in intro emails to send to people who come to our web sites looking for information about homes for sale.


 I'm looking forward to doing some more of these videos to talk more about areas where we have new listings or in places we enjoy working a lot.