A City at a Crossroads
By Benjamin Cooper | The State Press
In a cramped room at the Tempe Transit Center, just across the street from City Hall, officials presented the new Urban Master Overlay Plan to a full room of city residents. The purpose of the event, held on Sept. 20 and one of three that week, was to receive input from locals on the city’s long-term plans for what they define as Tempe’s urban core. Periodically, the light rail tram pulled into the station just outside the room’s far window. Each time, the presenter paused as the squealing brakes disrupted his train of thought.
The ambiance was apropos. Much of the meeting focused on patterns of development, which are intertwined with projects such as the light rail, Tempe Town Lake and those spearheaded by ASU.
Although the city has had some degree of success with these projects, the other focus of the event, albeit a subsidiary part of it, was affordable housing policy, underscoring the tension at the heart of development efforts. Residents also voiced displeasure over issues such as building heights and traffic, both of which are inextricably tied to patterns of development in Tempe and its urban geography.
