Editor’s Note: Downtown Angst
By Dan Gibson
Downtown Tucson has been a big part of my life. When I was in high school, I’d ride the bus down to Congress as an escape from my eastside teen lifestyle. I bought postcards and trinkets at Yikes, books at Biblio, my first legal drink at Congress, saw some of the best shows of my lifetime at 7 Black Cats, and still bug Janos to reopen Wild Johnny’s Wagon when I run into him. And, despite living on the eastside and the Weekly‘s offices by the airport (sigh), I’m downtown quite a bit. I DJ at Congress now and then, make time to see concerts when I can, work out of Gangplank a few times a week, and try to make excuses to eat at HUB, Diablo Burger, Proper, Reilly and the like as much as possible.
But yes, lately I’ve been feeling a little bit of unease about where Downtown might be going. Because I am old, I resent seeing as many college kids in clubs I used to feel were “mine” (and I do realize how ridiculous that sentiment is) and that’s bound to only get worse when the student housing opens up. So, yeah, I feel like I understand the tension that some people are feeling between wanting stuff downtown and not wanting a hipper, youthful version of La Encantada for trust fund kids from California.
However, like our web producer, David Mendez, I’ve wanted to throw things when we post something about a new restaurant opening downtown and, inevitably, someone chimes in to say that they don’t care about new places, that downtown was better when Grill was open, etc. etc. And that always happens. Always. And, perhaps unfairly, I’ve associated that mentality with the “Keep Tucson Shitty” slogan that Casey Dewey discusses the history of in this article. It felt like effective shorthand for the idea that Tucson would have been better off frozen in amber circa whatever year someone prefers. Clearly that’s not possible, and whether you agree or disagree with Mendez’s take on the situation, it’ll be interesting to see what sort of Downtown Tucson we end up with and what cross-section of Tucsonans will be happy with the result.
The Original Post: “A Note To the ‘Keep Tucson Shitty’ Crowd: You’re the Problem”
By David Mendez
Yesterday, we published a short item about Gio Taco, the latest venture from the folks at Metzger Family Restaurants, who are also responsible for Jax Kitchen and The Abbey.
The plan, according to the release announcing the forthcoming restaurant, is to move into the east end of Congress Street, in downtown Tucson, where Gio will be producing their own spin on tacos—apparently, tacos “without rules.” I mean, why not? Seis, for an example, ventures away from the traditional Sonoran-style taco, working hard to create something that’s fun and tasty as hell. I say that there’s room for more than one place that doesn’t want to serve simple chicken or carne asada tacos in this town.
But it seems that some of you would disagree. From the Tucson Weekly Facebook page:
Great, one more place trying to reinvent something that doesn’t need to be reinvented and one more place I shan’t be setting foot in, ever, along with everything else in the shiny, new downtown. Now get off my lawn. xoxox—Dave, part of the “Keep Tucson Shitty” crowd …
This is exactly what downtown Tucson does not need. Seems like besides another “foodie” place on East Congress, someone would open a damn diner downtown, especially on West Congress, near The Fox Theatre, and fill a much needed niche left by the closure of the Grill.
Those are definitely opinions.
But here’s the thing about downtown’s dearly departed Grill, and all of its similarly departed, scruffy, “character”-filled places: They closed for a reason—and for many reasons, in some cases.
Let’s focus on Grill: As great a place as it was, as much character as it had, and as good as the food was (particularly for being one of the few options that was open at 3 in the morning) it was, in fact, a shithole.
The food was, putting it nicely, inconsistent (a hamburger cooked to medium probably should not be dripping with blood). One of the things that people seemingly loved the most about the place, the tater tots, could easily be found in the freezer section of your nearby Fry’s or Safeway. The bathrooms didn’t lock. Spotting a giant cockroach crawling around wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. And at one point in time, the sewer lines under the restaurant broke, filling the kitchen with sewer water.
And you people who supposedly loved this place, who wish it was still around, who wanted it kept shitty, so you can continue living your artsy, bohemian, arrested adolescence? You’re the reason it closed:
If we had more nights like last night, maybe we wouldn’t be closing. Keep it coming, the countdown continues.— Grill Tucson, from Facebook, Nov. 21, 2011
That was from the first night after Grill announced its impending closure. (A personal note: My then-girlfriend and I were among the last people to be served before the place finally shut down, because I just had to spend a little more time at the first part of this city that I fell in love with. I stole one of the newer paper menus that replaced the amazing laminated turquoise menus. It still sits on my desk at home.)
Grill, and its ilk, are and were great places. They were accepting, they were comfortable and, most important, they were convenient.
But they failed, because they treated customers terribly. Because nostalgia has a shelf life. Because “shitty” should be an ambiance, not the reality of the place.
Tucson should not be burnt out, filled with cracks, crawling with roaches, covered in drunken, paint-marker-and-chalk scrawls, just because that’s what we remember.
Tucson is a vibrant, passionate, scrappy community. We shouldn’t be tearing down the local people who love the soul of this city, who are trying to build up new, interesting projects to tie into the hardworking, local feel that we love. The heart of this city, the grit, will always be here—partially because you can never completely get rid of sand and dirt—but the shittiness doesn’t have to be.
Y’know, that might just be it. It’s not that Tucson is shitty, and that we should keep it that way. It’s that the crowd that wants Tucson to remain shitty is, in fact, shitty in and of itself.
Well, you might want to get out of the way, guys. Whether you like it or not, Tucson is changing—the skeletons of developments rising around town are proof of that. So you’ve got a few options: work to maintain the grit in Tucson’s soul as the changes happen, or stay shitty.
You might want to be careful though if you take the latter path, because shit tends to get stepped on, scraped off, thrown away and crumble into dust.
A Selection of the (unedited) Responses
“David, I find your argument belittling of the broad and serious implications that gentrification has on a community like downtown Tucson. You’re right. The Grill closed for many reasons. Who cares? But gentrification displaces less fortunate and marginalized members of the community, that are the very reason Tucson is what it is today. The Grill closing is not the potential problem with what is happening in downtown Tucson. When important cultural establishments can no longer operate due to high costs or their perceived “shittiness” that is a problem, and will continue to be so. When families that have called the downtown area home for many generations are viewed as making an area “shitty”, that is a problem. And that is what is happening in Tucson, whether you want to admit it or not.”
“How old are you kid? Do you even remember what they had to do to build the convention center, what they tore down? Keep Tucson Shitty is just a euphemism, it doesn’t mean keep it crawling with roaches, it means that we should preserve Tucson’s character as a scrappy border city with a lot of HISTORY and character that stems from that history. I too enjoy many of the new places downtown, but let’s not overlook the effects of rampant development now that everyone’s trying to jump on the bandwagon. It’s sweet and all that after years in effing Oro Valley the Jax owners decide they want to capitalize on the new trend, but are they really “contributing” or just trying to get their piece of the pie?
Keep Tucson Shitty means don’t develop for development’s sake. Perhaps a better slogan would be “Don’t Phoenix Tucson”.”
“The point that is being missed is that locally-owned establishments that represent the financial interest and uniqueness of our town are being bullied out of business. And I do mean bullied, out of their leases, literally.
Big money out-of-towners are being offered lots and lots of financial incentives. Sure, their places are nice and they’re not chains. But they diminish the character and local flavor of Tucson.
And some of them are pretty pricey, pricing me out of having lunch downtown even though I’ve worked and lunched there for 15 years. p.s. take your shitty accusations and stick them up your @SS.”
“I was born, raised and have now bred in this town. How many of you ‘keep Tucson shitty,’ fans can say that? I even LOVED the Grill, and I mean LOVED, oh iced tea gods how I love you. I watched my friends grow up and become Grill employees, and I watched the Grill become more and more inconsistent. Still I loved it like no other greasy diner, and I doubt I ever will love another as much. This said you “kts,” need to REALLY rethink your decades old priorities. This is NOT a new problem for this city. For decades a very small minority has fought tooth and nail to keep downtown Tucson … Shitty.
Gentrification? Yes, because it was so much better when the downtown barrio was SCARY, for real scary and ALL of us who have always been here, we remember that and are glad it’s gone to the art hipster crowd. Heck, I’d love to live downtown just as much as I did when I was a child only now it’s not got the added bonus of being super sketchy. Perhaps people are referring to the explosion of AMAZING restaurants. Heaven forbid we get independently run non corporate eateries downtown. People, 25 years ago, we’d have rejoiced at WINNING the battle against the fears of a corporate downtown! We got the Gap out and we moved the local indie businesses in, and STILL, as true as the chance of a sunny day around here, the KTS crowd is angry.
This crowd has ALWAYS been and sadly I think they always shall be. They’ve ruined so much good potentials downtown. Downtown is turning into the truly rad, urban hot spot minus big corporate America I always hated. It’s an amazing thing happening, and unique. Example, I LOVE San Francisco, but even their downtown is a montage of corporate enterprise. We’re creating something REALLY special here folks. Something truly atypical. We ARE keeping Tucson WEIRD! This is everything we hoped for and better! I dreamed and dreamed as a young teen that the day would come when we’d have a “modern,” respectable downtown. I was an angry punk rock / goth kid and didn’t want corporate downtown, I just wanted a downtown that was hustle and bustle, exciting! Here it is, and as I have grown to just know is as true as tomorrow being hot, the Keep Tucson Shitty crowd is crying tears about how awful anything but desolation is.”
“So, when downtown Tucson is a paved and glazed sheen with cash registers fronting where doorboys used to check ID’s, you’ll remember this li’l article, and realize that it’s partially your fault.
I remember a downtown was filled with a neighborhood of friends. I knew more people working and walking around downtown than I did in my own neighborhood. I could walk into almost any eatery and ask my waiter who was cooking. And then to tell the cook that I was there and that I trusted their judgment. Send me food.
From the Congress Grill to Janos, Tucson had a mood and a feel.
Most of that is on its way out, and THAT is what makes a city; not the menu or it’s pedigree.”
“I am a 34 year old essentially Tucson Native. I moved here at the age of 4 and have lived in the downtown area for most of that time. I grew up on Granada and 6th, then for middle school moved to 1st Ave. just behind the buffet. In my adult life I have always lived walking distance to Congress. I will say this, most of the downtown “scene” is people not from downtown, or people who even live there, but they love it none the less and I give them props for supporting most of my jobs with their patronage…But other than a filler afterthought, Grill is not what this piece is about. This piece is about gentrification.
I don’t pretend to know about the Keep Tucson Shitty scene I am just a local and a long time resident. I know plenty of people but don’t tend to get sucked in to the whole hipster subcategory, but of our hipsters I will give them this, they aren’t out buying $15 martinis on the regular and flooding our streets with money pushing out the locals, that is the cities doing. Unlike the hipsters of New York, ours won’t buy a PBR for over $2, most want cheap drinks and friends and nothing more. It isn’t a “scene” like you see on TV it is a collective of art crazy, fun kids.
We have to face some facts, Tucson is a transient and immigrant city, not to say homeless people and foreigners, but college students and military. Most of the cities time the military kept to the suburbs and the University students rarely strayed further than 4th avenue. Now what is happening is Tucson is trying to create a vibrant downtown, which hey in theory I am all for, I like options. But what will the cost be. Soon every place willing to charge $20 for a burger and $8 for a local craft beer will be willing to wait on a lease to be up and pounce on it (this is what will likely happen to The District in 2 years) which makes me sad, because I don’t want to have to travel for my local stuff. What makes it even sadder is when those places will still employ the same kids working for at best $9 an hour who can now no longer afford to live or play in this downtown but rather will travel and live in the suburbs. We have some good local spots that offer slightly higher than mid-tier dining and frankly we don’t need much more. All the newer local spots are still somewhat affordable for occasional treats and then there is still the place for every day gathering. So I say finish your damn streetcar, protect the existing businesses, and keep Tucson Shitty (whatever that means).”
Keeping Tucson Gritty: A Response to the Responses
By David Mendez
As he shook my hand, he said to me, “So you’re the guy who’s been selling me a lot of T-shirts.”
Despite what one may have surmised from my vitriol toward the “Keep Tucson Shitty” slogan, which he helped popularize and which was displayed across his chest at the time, artist Donovan White, surprisingly, didn’t have anything bad to say about me.
“I mean, I actually agree with 90 percent of what you wrote,” he told me when I met him at Che’s Lounge, where he was tending bar on a quiet Saturday afternoon.
A longtime Tucsonan (though, like many, including myself, not a native), he loves the new growth downtown. “I’ve eaten at Proper four or five times,” he told me, though he’s not crazy about places such as Diablo Burger, thanks to a high price-point that doesn’t match his perception of quality.
We had a decent conversation, exchanging thoughts and reflecting on the bewildering fact that people assumed I was insulting him personally. But what struck me was a story he told me about community meetings that were held a few years back, when Rio Nuevo was in full swing.
The meetings were led by developers who said that they wanted to revitalize downtown Tucson, telling him and other local artists that they want Tucson’s arts community to thrive.
That was all well and good, White thought, but his issue was logistics: Namely, “If there’s no cheap rent downtown, there’s not going to be an arts community.”
Which seems to be the key problem in the Keep Tucson Shitty conundrum—as conditions improve, foot traffic increases, business thrive and rents are raised by landlords seeking to capitalize. Ultimately, the existing community, forced out by those rents, suffers.
But what’s the solution?
I honestly didn’t figure that the post, “A Note to the Keep Tucson Shitty Crowd: You’re the Problem,” would receive as much attention as it did, underestimating the uproar that railing against the gone-but-still-beloved Grill would spark two years after its closure.
The post blew up, attracting all sorts of discourse, pleasant and vitriolic alike. One commenter, a Mr. Patrick Karnaykeso, promised that if I were to walk into a restaurant that he’s working in, he would “grind up cockroaches and mix them with (his) own SHIT and put them on your medium burger you send back because it’s too pink.”
Apparently, I hit a nerve.
But of all the comments I received, the one that struck me most came in person, from a bartender I hold in high esteem.
He felt personally attacked by the article, telling me that there were many people who “spent years of their life at places like Grill, and felt that their lives had just been invalidated.”
So let’s clarify.
The problem with “Keep Tucson Shitty” lies with those who scoff at every new business that crops up on Congress Street, sneering at the opening of Pizzeria Bianco or Proper or Gio Tacos sight unseen. They claim that they’re overpriced, run by people who haven’t paid their downtown dues or that they’re forcing out local business owners. They are forgetting that they’re filling empty storefronts, providing jobs, and that restaurants such as Café Poca Cosa have offered quality cuisine at premium prices downtown for the better part of a decade without (much) incident.
They look past the fact that small businesses, by nature, tend to come and go; that a down economy and an absurdly long streetcar build has taken a toll; and that some people are just bad business owners.
They ignore that, in worthy cases, the community will rebuild a place with a cleaner image while still retaining some of its old spirit, as Black Crown Coffee did after the Safehouse closed.
Most of all, they can’t face the reality that all things, loved and hated, good and bad, must one day pass.
The loud minority, the ones who hate because they can’t (or won’t) cope, are the shitty ones.
Most people who wave the “Keep Tucson Shitty” banner don’t want downtown to revert to a ghost town. Many are business owners, workers or residents concerned about a loss of culture, or families being forced out of their homes.
To them, it’s a tongue-in-cheek way to say that they want to keep the spirit of Tucson alive. Those are the people who want to remember the past as Tucson evolves. For it to grow properly, they just, as White said, “want intelligent people running the city (they) live in.”
They’re not shitty, and they’re not the problem—they’re the solution we’re looking for.
As White put it, the trend lines are starting to cross: The divey aspects of downtown are diminishing and the cleaner aspects are growing. But at some point, the intersection of those trend lines will be left behind almost entirely and gentrification, a fact of life in growing cities, will sadly take hold.
I think that passionate Tucsonans can agree that growth is unavoidable, that the biggest concern is a potential loss of local culture, and that local business owners aren’t the problem. They end up filling the storefronts that failed businesses leave behind.
The discussion we need to have is one where we determine the best way to keep Tucson’s grit intact without stymying growth.
I just want those in the discussion to agree on one more thing: That “Keep Tucson Shitty” is a too-goddamn-ironic-for-its-own-good rip-off of another city’s superior catchphrase, that it disrespects a city that we supposedly love and cherish, and that it should be beaten to death with its own smug hipsterdom and buried in an unmarked grave next to the foolish attempt to replace “the Old Pueblo” as Tucson’s nickname.
Some changes just need to happen.
Keep Tucson Shitty: A Brief History
By Casey Dewey
Recently, there’s been a lot of ballyhoo surrounding the phrase “Keep Tucson Shitty” and what it exactly entails. To most people, it’s a fun saying that nobody really takes seriously. Or, at least they shouldn’t. I always figured it was a boastful kernel of pride, a way of staking our independence from the corporate sheen that glosses over our sister city up north. I also gathered it was inspired by Austin’s motto “Keep Austin Weird.” Turns out I was on the money, but there’s more to the story.
The first time I heard and saw the phrase was about five years ago. At the time I was hanging out with garage-punk band The Okmoniks quite frequently, and while attending one of their numerous house parties, I saw a few of them and some mutual friends wearing homemade, silk screened T-shirts with “Keep Tucson Shitty” emblazoned on the front. I thought it was hilarious, especially the font they chose. It took me a few seconds to figure it out, but then it hit me like a ton of art-crafted driftwood. The staggering, cartoonish font meant to invoke a sense of creeping dread had to be from the goofiest roadside attraction our state has to offer: The Thing.
I recently talked to Samuel Claiborn, the guitar player from The Okmoniks who now resides in San Francisco. Claiborn and the band thought of the phrase after leaving Austin’s South by Southwest Music Festival in 2008.
“(Keep Austin Weird) was the inspiration, along with The Buffet, The Chicago Store, Plush, May through September in Tucson,” Claiborn says. “We hadn’t heard it before and we thought it was very, very funny. Funny enough to see it through by designing the shirt in several iterations.”
Claiborn and the rest of the band might have been the first to turn the phrase into clever T-shirts, but it turns out the phrase has even murkier origins. After last week’s brouhaha over Tucson Weekly web writer David Mendez’ blog post calling out the “Keep Tucson Shitty crowd”, one “Dapper Gatsby” had much more info than I had previously heard before. “Gatsby” posted this on several threads sharing the controversial article:
The ORIGINAL “Keep Tucson Shitty” originated on the 4th ave tunnel circa 1992. I should know since I was the 2nd one to tag it.
The legendary “Do Bongs” was finally painted over & someone replaced that with “Keep Tucson Weird aka Austin. Someone crossed that out & tagged shitty & when that was also painted over. I made it my Situationist duty to keep that tag alive as well as my more popular “Crush the State” & “Revolution Now!” hah later did some punk luminaries co-opt as they damn well should.
I saw it as a warning or at least plea to all the drunk college kids & “bridge & tunnel” crowds as i called em slumming it downtown
So, there you go. I’m willing to bet pesos to empanadas that the origin of the phrase has even murkier beginnings, but so far, the above post from “Gatsby” remains the earliest I’ve seen. No matter what the origins are, I can assure you this: “Keep Tucson Shitty” has nothing to do with a diner that was once a rallying point downtown, and it has nothing to do with wanting to turn our town into Mudflap, Arizona. Calm down and take a deep breath, but don’t ingest that air wafting from the nearby sewage plant. Now, that’s shitty.
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2013.
—In before Mark Beef! I no longer live in Tucson, but it will always be home to me. This rant will come off somehow crotchety- but I intend it with chiding love, mostly. —
Please don’t be so quick to back pedal, everybody. I’m pretty sure that, although the history may be a mix of a cute joke, an homage to Austin’s old motto, and/or a bit of old 4th ave. underpass graffiti, plenty of us really actually mean exactly what it sounds like. It does not mean (necessarily) “fuck everything new”, but “Keep Tucson Shitty” is something that Tucsonans latch on to because the best parts of this city, past and present, are the things that aren’t polished, clean, or perfect.
I remember when I was a young lady of 16 and working at the Rialto after it had recently reopened (1997). My then bosses Paul and Jeb would attend the Rio Nuevo meetings and fill my head with all sorts of silly stories. Snake Bridge? Close the old Greyhound station? New underpass? Aviation extension? It all seemed impossible, and I guess some of it was (new arena in the shape of a desert tortoise, anyone?). But some of that nonsense turned out to be good, bungling and gross mismanagement of funds aside. I don’t think anyone misses the old crumbling tiny Broadway underpass, the Greyhound, PLEASURE WORLD? (Naw, I’m sure plenty of people miss that place.)
But some really good common sense, and cheap things that made Tucson a really notable and special place were de-funded, mothballed, or strangled in the name of cleanliness and progress. Businesses that had gotten by for years closed through the YEARS of ongoing downtown construction, and as those businesses were pushed out sweetheart deals were made for popular developers. The city gave money and tax breaks to those who already had plenty, and starved our local Tucson artists and small business owners out of their shops and homes.
As a dumb kid making bad decisions, kicking around the avenue in the 90’s I watched the city make all ages shows illegal, forcing the hand of Steve Eye to close the DPC, watched them bus the homeless out of Tucson in time for the snowbirds arrival (free one way greyhound tickets to anywhere in the continental US), make newspaper hawking illegal in an effort to keep people from panhandling on the roadside, and remove all of the benches off of fourth ave. to keep kids from loitering and spare changing. I watched private security- first the “Purple People” (DABA), then the A-Team- hired for the 4th avenue street fair, and finally the “Yellow Shirts” (FAMA) beat the shit out of under age street kids, the homeless, and gutterpunks fairly regularly. These guys would photograph and stalk anyone with impunity, and apparently had the authority to dole out punishment as they saw fit. (I never saw police intervene in either direction) I recall back then the common complaint amongst downtown and fourth avenue businesses alike was (maybe still is?) that the funding for DABA and FAMA (Downtown Arts and Business Alliance and the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association, I think?) came from a compulsory fee that provided no actual voting power as to how those moneys were used. (Taxation without representation, right?)
At the same time Tucson set to killing most public funding for things like the food line that used to be downtown on Toole, next to where Solar Culture now sits. Is it way cooler to have venues and artist’s studios on Toole? Definitely. But it’s sickening that there’s no centralized place for people to get a free meal any longer, and that the city pulled its funding and walked away from the only soup kitchen it operated. All of Tucson’s soup kitchen’s are now privately operated (almost entirely by churches) and only two are open to the public. ( http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/2000/04/1… )
While some good things disappeared and some good things struggled to continue to exist, the city opted to give free rent to Maynards (yeah, that food IS incredible.), build a new hotel at the TCC (You know those other adjacent hotels are empty most of the year, right?) and re-lay the trolley tracks three times for a streetcar of dubious need. The TCC is falling apart and can no longer attract shows, and has lacked the funding for over a decade to repair its own equipment, but all the funding went elsewhere. A lot of it directly into the hotel in the TCC’s parking lot.
Having been an employee of Tucson Parks and Rec’s Events and Theater Services Division I watched from the inside as the City of Tucson slowly defunded what was longtime hailed as the city’s most successful recreation program. In its heyday E&TS recreated over a million people a year for less money than any other program, while providing free festivals and events in parks all over the city. (I cannot fucking believe how much support the El Rio golf course has right now… any idea how expensive municipal golf is and how few people it serves? But anywho…) The DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center and all of the gear it held, and the crew that supported it were provided by the city at tax payer expense to support the arts and the community. That funding has all but dried up these days.
The events that are left at the Outdoor Performance Center now rent a space that is visibly crumbling, and must hire staff and bring in lighting and sound equipment to fill it. As recently as 1998 the city invested time and dollars to purchase a sound system that fit the space, and to refit the auditorium with diffusion panels designed by Mr Mark Miceli, in an effort to make the bandshell sound better than it ever had, and to keep the neighbors happy. Less than a decade later they would begin a process to destroy what could have so easily been cheaply maintained. They have opted again and again to step over a “shitty” dollar bill for a shiny new dime.
The things about Tucson that absolutely made me who I am today remain the DPC, Toxic Ranch, Skrappy’s, Downtown Saturday Night, the Thursday Night Artwalk, The Outdoor Performance Center, The MUSE, Tucson Puppetworks, The Airplane Lounge, Las Sin Fronteras, The Youth Storefront, Dry River, Wingspan, The Luna Loca, The Oddvarks, Cafe Quebec, Shoe City, The Rialto, Radio Limbo, The Hoff House, The Dodge House, 7 Black Cats, The Punk House, Mr LuLu, The Sculpture Resource Center, ORTS and even and especially the filthy and disgusting Grill. The people who made all of those places exist and thrive taught me that art, music, and being of service to one another are the most important things you might ever do, because most of the rest of the world will put them last. Mr Dewey, and Mr Mark Beef are definitely counted in their numbers.
The things about Tucson that made me leave are the people who want to strangle that kind of fun out of a city, or sanitize it, and especially these people that despise the poor. One of the most shocking things I’ve ever seen in my life was city councilperson Carol West screaming at the newspaper hawkers at a city council meeting back in 2000, to “shut-up”, and making jokes about opening more rehab centers for them to go to once they were out of jobs. This was our elected official (a democrat) plainly sponsoring legislation to get the poor and homeless off of the street because it was unsavory and hurt tourism, while barely trying to mask her contempt as she spoke vaguely of some safety issue. It is burned into my memory, that screaming.
There seems to be this false argument that you have to pick one or the other, new or old Tucson, and I just absolutely reject it. Sure, Tucson used to be a far shittier place, and some of the new sheen is welcomed, but at what cost? How could there not be room for the things that make Tucson different? And why do we favor spending money on new development of venues and restaurants over making art, music, and culture accessible to everyone and feeding our own poor and homeless? There must be a way that both Tucsons can exist.
It may be my own interpretation, but a part of “Keep Tucson Shitty” to me means don’t try and whitewash over the uglier bits. Please, Tucson stop cannibalizing yourself in the name of progress. It’s nice to be new and shiny and beautiful, but you have to find a way to feed your soul, too.
“You know, Chuy, you’re gonna have a magical life. Because no matter where you go, it will always be better than Tucson.” –Hamlet II
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104733/
1) Most of those associated with KTS are too old to be hipsters, David. We have been part of something magical in this town long before that silly term found its way onto the pages of young men like yourself. Our Tucson is something magical you will most likely never understand.
2) You are new to Tucson, correct? From Phoenix, right? Is this the part where I say “no wonder?” Is this the part where I say you have probably never experienced a scene like the one we are slowly loosing?
3) Will you remain in our town after you finish school? Or are you just passing through, writing divisive stories about a downtown you know so little about while acting like a ranking member.
4) Please do not respond to this. You kind of make me sick, and we all just really wish you would go away.
That guy Patrick Karneykaso is a real tool. I’m sure he just shits around downtown complaining about shit.
I’ve only been in Tucson since ’06, but I’ve never felt this town has a shitty quality whatsoever. There is not one single neighborhood with streets I wouldn’t walk. Not one. I get the feeling most of the KTS crowd are upper-middle-class white kids from the foothills. For real. I love this city. I also want decent public transportation. A grocery store within walking distance from downtown residential areas would be a good thing. And no, the Co-Op doesn’t count for this single parent. I’ve been to the Grill enough times to say the food was not good. Sorry. The only thing keeping that place open were the hipsters coming down from the foothills to slum it up. I went to grad school with a bunch of them. They’re good people. The food at the Grill still sucked. I don’t spend much time at Diablo Burger or even Congress on a busy night. I do love me some coffee from that comfy joint below MLK apts. I miss Tooley’s. I like the guys at Underestimated City and at Derrick Williams’ shop. I love what they are doing. I used to love Shot in the Dark. Now I won’t go there because I’ve seen one too many inhumane dealings with human beings in need. To refuse anyone water on a 114 degree day? Now that is shitty.
Cole:
1.) Hipsterism isn’t a new thing. One doesn’t need to be a mid-20s liberal arts major with a fixed-gear bike and questionable taste in pants to be a hipster, one solely needs the attitude along the lines of “man, X used to be so much better before Y,” hating on the people who like the changes they’re seeing.
2.) if you consider living here for seven years “new,” then yeah, sure.
3.) I mean, considering I have no plans on leaving a job I love in a city I love filled with people, culture and restaurants I love, no I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. Sorry. But let’s stop pretending that one needs to be a “ranking member of Downtown” to have an opinion on the area, because that is ridiculous and elitist as hell.
4.) Whoops.
The shitty Tucson was the one everyone could afford with Jakes, Kippy’s, and the lunch counters that offered a meal for a small price. The greasy charm of Tucson has long died catering to all the transplanted peeps. You are getting what you asked for now shut up and enjoy the nightmare. I want no part of it. The new Fox tries hard to lure people like myself back but no dice. Take a good hard look at the community center to see the future of downtown. No revitalization when you take from Peter to pay Paul.
Silly David – You forgot to answer the most important part of #2. No wonder. You are one pissed off fella. This will come in handy as you continue to piece together these hamburger jobs you call stories.
Considering that I’m the one who makes you sick, and that you wish I would go away, I’m not sure that I’m the one who is pissed off between the two of us.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
Lets just put a starbucks, Chipotle, Best Buy and Jimmy Johns down there, then everyone will be happy!!!
You only “kind of” make me sick. And you bet I’m upset with you. You said hurtful things about very nice people. Like Donovan, I agree with 90% of what you have written. But it’s a problem when you call people I know and love “shitty.” It is unethical and you lack integrity as a journalist or blogger or whatever. And you still haven’t told me where you are from….
Cole: Gosh, demands from semi-anonymous commenters? I can’t imagine why David hasn’t turned over his birth certificate yet.
Well said, Dan. Ha.
Downtown is better now that it has ever been.
— Safer
— Cleaner
— More and better food choices
— Hotel Congress is air conditioned
— Better transportation options
— yoga studios
— Art
— Second Saturday Downtown
— Fox Theatre is back to its former glory
— Better parking
— (I’m sure I’ve missed more to add, but you get the point)
Has it changed it character? Absolutely. that’s a good thing!
5 years ago I never even considered venturing downtown. Recently I’ve considered moving closer to downtown. I think that says it all.
Keep Tucson Changing!
Peter
This whole debate is pointless. Businesses open, businesses close. Owners get tired and sell, some owners die and the family sells. Some owners take the developers’ money and buy a house in Oro Valley. Developers tear down old and build new. Demographics change, politics of cities change. People move out. New people move in. The culture changes.
Deal with it.
I grew up in Phoenix. I used to cruise Metro Center Parkway. Now Metro Center is a wasteland. I used to get staggering drunk at the Dash Inn on Apache. Now the Dash Inn is ASU student housing. North Scottsdale Road used to be expensive car dealerships and swanky restaurants. Now its strip joints and skeezy nightclubs owned by porn stars where drunk girls get their pictures taken in various states of undress which then get posted on The Dirty.
If you’re consumed with nostalgia for the good ol’ days of Tucson, get some friends together and buy your favorite hangouts and keep them as shitty as you want.
Otherwise, quityerbitchin.
I am a third generation native Tucsonan. I’ve lived downtown from time to time, loved downtown all of the time, and spent most of my life dreaming of the day that it would be a real downtown, full of life, and with people living safely, with an actual grocery store that we could walk and bike to. And no, the 4th Ave. Coop doesn’t fill the bill. We need something like a Safeway or a Trader Joes, well lit and open early and late, and we need a fresh market. If those things were in place, then a whole new world of possibility would open up.
Much of what is happening is good, some things I loved have been lost, some bad things are gone… money has been wasted, and preferential treatment has been given to people who were already very well off indeed. I’m a big Richard O fan, and I love the HC, and I love Maynards, and I’m grateful for the market. But free rent? Really? I’m not sure that was our best move.
If I’m angry about anything, it’s that so many mistakes were made laying the streetcar tracks. The endless delays and construction were really what killed off the small businesses and little dives we loved. It went on so long it was surreal. Only people with deep pockets or very secure clientele could weather it.
And yeah, I wish that the people who were moving into all of the new housing weren’t mostly college students, because kids that age aren’t the most considerate citizens. But I AM glad that the Greyhound station isn’t our welcome to downtown, glad that the construction is finally, my God, almost over, sorry that so much of our money in general has been stolen for fossil fuel wars or misspent by our own local government. What I want more than anything is a healthy city, a focus on green power, conservation, and a lively, living downtown. And disincentives for sprawl.
I think that on the whole we are in a better place than we were five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago. And we should celebrate that, while still keeping a wary eye on corporate chains, on our elected officials, on excessive water use, and ESPECIALLY on people from Phoenix or LA telling us what Tucson needs.
Downtown Tucson has been in a state of flux as far back as I recall and I remember hanging out inside of Meyersons in the relative cool as I waited for my bus to come along, 15 cent ice cream cones at Thrifty Drugs, drunken cowboys passed out on the sidewalk in front of the Fox and all the empty stores that used to line the streets. Even back in the 70’s people were bitching about gentrification. I guess it’s true, “The more things change…”
I left Tucson six years ago after spending the first 24 years of my life there. I return every winter to see my family and my (former) home, and I can say with a fair amount of objectivity that Tucson has been losing its “soul”. We can blame the city and transplants, but those of us who left for greener pastures can’t expect a town we left behind to remain the way we left it.
I almost hesitate to suggest this because the meetings tend to go smoothly, and a bunch of reactionary idiots in the mix might be counter-productive, but the next time there’s a public Downtown Links meeting, anyone who is afraid of the way planning is being executed should show up, listen, and talk to people. This project is being handled by smart, creative people with a great balance of sensitivity and pragmatism so far. http://www.downtownlinks.info
It seems to me that a lot of the panicking and internet yelling comes from people who haven’t tried actual “civic engagement”. If you’re not a complete maniac, and can put a sentence together, people listen. If you’re a whining dickhead with no constructive argument or suggestion, chances are you won’t get the same attention in public that you do on the internet. So you’ll need to adjust your ego. Sorry. That’s just life.
It didn’t take long for “gentrification”, “outside interests”, “I’ve lived here __ years…”, and “we’ll become the next Phoenix/Portland/San Francisco” responses to come out!
“Shitty Tucson” isn’t vibrant. It isn’t happy. It’s sad and lonely, sometimes downright suicidal. Let Downtown Tucson make some friends, for Christ’s sake. Some new friends with good intentions and fresh ideas. Not that bastard, self destructive exclusive crowd it used to run with that hated anyone new. It deserves to be happy.
Side note: It seems to me “The Dirty T” is a derogatory term used to refer to Tucson by many of my students from up the I 19. Is this the origin of that term? Anyone?
Tucson Downtown….
The Grille (when records stopped spinning but the world continued to spin)
80’s night 80 cent drinks at CC (I think that was Thursday)
Techno night w/ Spider Roads DJing (I think that was Saturday)
3 or 4 other bars who’s names escape me.
Guess what Congress is still there and you can still get a drink and dance. There are all these other vibrant places for you to spend some coin at now that we’re adults and can’t get hammered every night prowling for the next coitus. My wife and I went down town on a date night not long ago and thought the place was fabulous. Of course we ended up dancing at Club Congress but we got to try The Playground and few others and were really impressed. Unlike all the poopoo crowd downtown Tucson has grown up a little and become slightly more sophisticated. Get over it.
Also strange to be siding with the gents at The Weekly 🙂 but maybe I’ve grown up a little as well. I had to change party affiliation because the Republicans are just bat shit crazy right now!
“Keep Tucson Shitty” invites inevitable comparisons to Austin, and such comparisons have merit. Not too long ago, the two cities were comparable in size, culture, and potential.
The difference between Austin and Tucson is that Austin has made the right choices over the past 20 or 30 years. They have encouraged local business and maintained just the right balance of growth, change, and preservation of the “weird” Austin Vibe. Good transportation and development choices have allowed the city to double in size while preserving fantastic green space, and easy navigation by car, bike, or even on foot.
Meanwhile Tucson has made all the wrong decisions… big box stores, parking lots, sprawling cookie-cutter suburbs, and fighting transportation improvements at all cost. The proof is in the pudding… Austin has become a vibrant center of innovation, jobs and yes, music, culture, and fantastic local food. My beloved home town of Tucson? Well, I just call it “The Detroit of the South West”. Some of the suburbs are nice in a soulless generic sort of way, but central Tucson with it’s crumbling roads, rows and rows of vacant businesses, and memories of a once vibrant local culture, reminds me more and more of a 3rd world country.
I’d just like to point out re the Austin comparisons that 1) TX is flush with oil money for improvement projects, etc. 2) That money is allocated in Austin, where it stays, while the AZ funding decisions are made elsewhere. 3) SB 1070 cost us millions of $$ in tax $ from Sonoran shoppers. 4) I get the shitty thing. Actually the “Keep Portland Weird” campaign may have come before the Austin one, but that doesn’t matter. We need a grocery store downtown. Austin doesn’t seem all that weird anymore. Just hip. And Portland benefits from a state population that actually thinks planning for the future might be a good idea. Speaking of the future: does anyone really believe we have one? Tucson should not be here. Maybe a town of 50,000 tops. PXH? Wow. We have no water. P-town has water. And locally grown food options are way more expansive. No caliche or 115 degree days. This climate is not meant for large cities. Someday soon, the Upper Basin Colorado River states will shut us off. Things’ll get real shitty then.
@cole powers: You, amigo, are the pissed off individual in this exchange. David Mendez has been totally cool the whole time. I love seeing downtown come back to life. Jobs, restaurants, the whole scene is getting better.
I love seeing money spent in my city, I don’t care where it comes from, it’s going into our economy and I love that.
tucson is just a place for old people to come and die(i’ve figured out what that awful smell is after it rains) plain and simple….you could open the most bad ass club and have the best dj’s(seen it done before when borgore rolled through town….pretty sure i saw tubmle weed where the crowd was supposed to be) but no one would come…welcome to isolation
I was born (1969) and raised in Tucson. That’s why we are raising our son in Oro Valley.
lol no one in this city can drive and they all have puss brains…..