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Arts & Culture • Business Development • Phoenix Community Alliance

6 Milestones for Phoenix Community Alliance in 2024

The world keeps turning, and so does Phoenix Community Alliance (PCA).

As PCA views its history and place within Greater Downtown Phoenix, 2024 could be considered transitionary for how the organization and our community shape each other.

In the first half of the year, we concluded our 40th anniversary celebration year. Still, we worked away at the Member-led advocacy within our Committees, as well as recruiting new and diverse Members to the table.

Over twelve months, PCA held more than 70 Committee meetings and events, which more than 1,000 participants attended. However, hidden within those surface stats are more outstanding accomplishments that reflect a trajectory of further collaboration to create a stronger Downtown for a better Phoenix.

As we reflect on another impactful year, join us as we explore what made 2024 another memorable year for PCA.

Here Comes the Development Debrief

Phoenix Community Alliance's Development Debrief debuted in September 2023 and recently expanded to reach all PCA Members. (Photo: Taylor Costello) 

If you ask any invested PCA Member, they’ll say our email communications are one of the best Member Benefits that allows them to be an “insider about their own city.” All Members receive four emails, including the Development Debrief, and decide whether to opt into individual Advocacy Committee communications when they join. In the average month, a Member receives our Member Minute, a collection of related Member news and Advocacy Alert emails, and event updates.

The roots of the debrief began as information solely for real estate brokers that originated through Downtown Phoenix, Inc.’s business development efforts. In September 2023, the idea was revived, an extension of comprehensive updates overheard in our Central City Planning & Development Committee Meetings.

All emails are robust deliverables whose creation requires the eyes and input of multiple members of the PCA Team. For the Debrief, these collaborations now include Downtown Phoenix’s Business Development Manager, Braxton Hynes, who curates the latest business information.

If you have a specialized profession, chances are there’s an email for you. To quote our Communications & Events Manager, Leah Tan, “Check your email!”

Fine-tuning Downtown’s Digital Twin

In mid-August, a digital replica of Downtown Phoenix premiered to a room of developers, urban planners, architects, and influential decision-makers during PCA’s Central City Planning & Development (CCPD) Committee Meeting at the Player 15 Group headquarters.

Yet, the Digital Twin is more than simply a digital map of our Downtown. In partnership with CyberCity 3D and ORBIS Dynamics, PCA assisted Downtown Phoenix, Inc. and the Community Development Corporation (CDC) over almost three years to help the Digital Twin make its debut.

The three-dimensional replica of our current skyline was programmed with aggregated data to analyze consumer behavior patterns, potential modifications in infrastructure, climate change, and economic activity. The ability to experiment virtually for optimal urban planning makes it a replicable model at a citywide level and beyond.

Our 330+ PCA Members offer invaluable input in further developing this platform to suit their individual needs through a simple membership add-on. Because Downtown Phoenix, Inc. owns the software, there is a direct pipeline to CyberCity 3D to make immediate adjustments.

If you are a PCA Member and want to know more about the Digital Twin, contact Braxton Hynes at bhynes@dtphx.org.

The Passage of Prop 479

Ten Mayors from across Arizona flocked to Downtown Phoenix in support of Phoenix Community Alliance's (PCA) fundraiser to benefit Prop 479 on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Photos: Taylor Costello & Connect Maricopa)

In early November, voters resoundingly approved Prop 479, the extension of the half-cent transportation tax started in 1985, with almost 60 percent voting “Yes.”

When voters choose to invest in transportation, it sparks economic growth and revitalization. For instance, after the initial Prop 300 passed, construction began on the last segment of Interstate 10, which included a 2,887-foot-long below-grade tunnel below Downtown Phoenix that connected the East and West coasts.

A byproduct of the interstate resulted in a “deck-park” built atop the freeway called Margaret T. Hance Park, which today serves as a destination for year-round events, including the Local First Arizona Fall Festival, Phoenix Pizza Festival, and music festivals attached to mega sporting events, like the March Madness Music Festival.

The latest extension was passed as a result of a more than six-month-long coordinated partnership between Connect Maricopa, Friends of Transit, HDR, and PCA.

Similar to our efforts on the 2023 General Obligation Bond, PCA served as the lead fundraiser for the campaign to increase awareness through varied traditional media. Awareness took many forms, including an appearance by our Advocacy Director, Patrick McDaniel, on Angela Hughey’s 'Better Together Arizona' podcast, where he detailed the meaningful, practical impacts of Prop 479.

Throughout the campaign, it became clear that our local transportation system is a lynchpin for further regional growth and development.

Amending the Downtown Code

The effort in assisting the City of Phoenix in crafting amendments to Chapter 12 of the Downtown Code required the coordination of multiple PCA Advocacy Committees and its Chairs, including Arts, Culture & Public Life (ACPL) and Central City Planning & Development (CCPD). (Photos: Taylor Costello)

During the December 4 Phoenix City Council Meeting, Mayor Kate Gallego commended Downtown Phoenix, Inc. and PCA for assisting in crafting the amendments to Chapter 12 of the Downtown Code.

These tweaks to the code represented minor yet consequential adjustments to our urban fabric, making Downtown a more desirable place to visit and live. If the traffic on someone's commute improved thanks to updated loading and unloading zones, it’s partly due to the expertise of PCA’s Members.

The unanimous vote resulted from more than two years of collaboration between the Members of multiple Advocacy Committees, the City of Phoenix’s Planning & Development Department, and Downtown Voices Coalition (DVC) representatives.

When the council adopted the code in 2010, Downtown's business core had a different feel for residents and visitors. Today, with a surge in population, thriving educational institutions, and expanded transportation options, it was time to refine and build upon the foundation that was set.

The collaboration was atypical of the process of revising a municipal code. Yet, it is a great compliment to the collective expertise of our Members (and other community partners) that they were trusted with such a complex issue.

Yet, these efforts did not materialize from thin air.

A Granular Downtown Through Working Groups

Examples of working groups that emerged from the PCA Advocacy Committees included Art in Private Development and the Guest Experience Working Group (GEWG). (Photos: Taylor Costello)   

The initial spark for revising the code emerged from PCA’s Committee structure, which drives much of our advocacy efforts. Yet this isn’t a new development. As potential initiatives arose within Committees, working groups of Members sprung up to tackle these issues.

For example, a working group within our CCPD Committee drove catalytic changes through collaboration, which the City of Phoenix later used as a roadmap to revise its development practices in 2019, resulting in ShapePHX. An in-depth breakdown of this multi-year process can be found here.

Similarly, revising the Downtown Code required the coordination of multiple Committees, including our Arts, Culture, and Public Life Committee, to emphasize public art and private development collaborations in the finalized language. This effort materialized as the Art in Private Development working group. The group, led by Kyle Jardine, Wexford Science + Technology’s Vice President and Market Executive, advocated codifying language to encourage private businesses to integrate art into future developments.

In the future, advocacy will take a different shape with a Guest Experience Working Group (GEWG, pronounced GOO-g) to gather best practices for curating the best Downtown guest experience for visitors. This includes sharing information about activities, navigation, and parking options. The group’s ultimate goal is to promote all that Downtown has to offer beyond the scope of what a visitor traveled here to visit in the first place.

With successes like these for Downtown, the results seed new actionable items for Committees in the years ahead to further refine proven systems and processes.

My Name is Alejandro (But You Can Call Me Alex)

Phoenix Community Alliance (PCA) Welcomed Alejandro (Alex) Molina in December 2024 to our growing team. (Photo: Taylor Costello)

Over the past three years, PCA has consistently grown, enhancing the value it offers to its Members while advancing the advocacy central to its mission.

Every year since the fall of 2021, we’ve added another dedicated member to the "small and mighty” team to support those growing operations: A Content Specialist who serves as a roving reporter to record our history, membership, and current initiatives joined our team, and we subsequently added a Membership Services and Advocacy director as full-time staff. The Membership Services Director works to retain and develop membership. At the same time, the Advocacy Director acts as the official voice of Members, keeping track of relevant legislation and articulating public positions of support or opposition.

After screening more than 85 applicants, the PCA Team mutually selected Alejandro Molina, our first Membership Services Coordinator, as the best equipped for our unique organization. Alejandro, or Alex, will act as a conduit for our small business and retail Members as the organization discovers new tools to deepen its value for our membership.

In the New Year, warmly welcome him as he becomes more acquainted with our Members.

The year ahead looks to be another busy year to shape our communities.

The groundwork is being laid in 2025 for an update to the Downtown Strategic Vision, a planning document first conceptualized with PCA’s leadership two decades ago. Adding multiple Members to a Mayor-appointed Committee is the first step in this community-led process.

It's an exciting time to be involved in the community and see tangible results in the public realm. However, the first steps to being instrumental in that change involve joining our organization as a Member.

For more information on how to join PCA, connect with our Membership Services Director, Brandon Ramsey, at bramsey@dtphx.org

If you notice subtle changes around Downtown Phoenix, chances are PCA has had a hand in shaping them.

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