Meet Billy Shields, a Phoenix Community Alliance "City-Shaper"

From an early age, Billy Shields was a student of Downtown. Working as a firefighter stationed within the core allowed him to admire its buildings and aspire to what could be.

For longer than PCA has existed, Shields has practiced an exhaustive, all-encompassing commitment to his city that took many forms in more than four decades of service.

In every stage of professional life, he practiced an adaptable ethos that formed while serving his firefighter union: what was good for his current organization was good for the city.

A neutral presence as a mediator made him invaluable in different collaborative spaces, whether as a firefighter, lobbyist, developer, prolific board member, or, most recently, the co-chair of PCA’s Central City Planning and Development Committee (CCPD). Under his leadership, the CCPD achieved multiple policy victories, adapting development practices to meet the needs of a growing and evolving city and Downtown.

Phoenix Community Alliance (PCA) was built on the foundation of industry professionals who all share the same goal: to use their expertise to benefit the Greater Downtown Phoenix community.

PCA: Research for a City-Shaper is always fascinating. For instance, you were among the first responders to the Monroe Abbey fire in 1984. What were your recollections of that evening?

Billy Shields: It was incredible. We knew that building because part of our duties was to learn the buildings in your “first due area.” In case of a fire, you had some idea of what it looked like before it filled with smoke, the ways to get in and out, etc.

We parked our fire engine in a parking lot just off Van Buren, where a fire escape was in the alley on the north side. We're pulling a hose line up the fire escape, which was tied off to our jackets so we could use our hands to climb.

My captain, Joe Petrucci, was on the ground and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Run!" We jumped off the fire escape and took off toward Van Buren. Unbeknownst to us, the roof had collapsed. He saw the giant cloud of sparks go up in the air. The triangular structure that held the roof started tipping toward the alley. And I heard the most god-awful rumble and crash. Bricks were flying past and hitting us in the back. That's how close we came to being underneath something if he hadn't been watching out for us.

Later, we commiserated and learned Engine Three had to force open the big wooden doors [in the front]. When they did, the fire sucked so much air from the bottom that it pulled them inside. It sounded like a freight train. Miraculously, nobody got killed or hurt. I’ve always thought about that when I go back there. The building is near and dear to me, in both a good and a bad way.

PCA: What would’ve been your first introduction to PCA?

Shields: Much of my history is interwoven with the Phoenix Fire Department and the United Phoenix Firefighter Association.

We weren't your typical union. We saw ourselves as stewards of the city and our relationship with the city as a partnership. It was a symbiotic thing.

The firefighters became the vehicle for electing people and passing initiatives and bond measures. We had our own election machinery, like political consultants and fundraising.

My first membership was in the fire union in the late 1990s, but I wasn't involved. When I left the fire department in 2007, I wanted to have a role.

PCA: The early successes of the Central City Planning and Development (CCPD) Committee, where you served as a chair until last December, seem to stem from the foundation of relationship-building initiated by Mike Lieb. When you joined, was that emphasis on collaboration already a core part of the Committee?

Shields: For a time, Mike Lieb had been the chair of CCPD and needed a co-chair. It was during the downturn, about 2008 or 2009. A small group of us, including Larry Lazarus and Mike Lieb, got involved in the proposed [Downtown] code changes and reported back to the board, but it wasn't collaborative and inclusive [with the city].

Over time, we built [the Committee] with the same outlook as the firefighter’s union: if the city has a problem, we need to address it.

Yet, to the staff, I think they thought we were another advocacy group as Downtown grew. We needed to bring them into our world and vice versa because they always need a reliable outside voice that's not reactive. We're not bomb-throwers.

It took time, but working with [City of Phoenix’s Community and] Economic Development [Department] and [Deputy City Manager] Alan Stephenson, they began to see what we offered. We could be a part of their outreach effort for an initiative.

[For instance,] developers and ourselves had development issues. Matt [Seaman, who was the CCPD Co-Chair after Mike Lieb] and I hosted roundtables that brought in diverse groups that built different Downtown assets to develop a list [for a white paper, which is a report on a complex issue that offers findings and solutions].

We did that without the City of Phoenix, and then we took that list to them and said, “We're going to do this and want to work with you. It's going to be as comprehensive as we can make it. It's going to take years to get to the solutions.” And they bit on that.

That [process] solidified where they saw value and collaboration. It’s still a living document for the incremental [change], but building relationships with the different departments is a huge accomplishment for an organization like ours [and our Members].

PCA: When the time came for the 2006 General Obligation (GO) Election, you were one of the people Mayor Phil Gordon relied upon to advocate for ASU to bring a campus to Downtown. How did that process unfold?

Shields: I knew Phil through elections going back to the early ‘90s. I stayed close to him as a friend and advisor in the fire department and my lobbying business.

Two or three times a week, he would pop in [at my home] with his security team. That's how Phil was. And I'm like, "There you are." "Yeah, I just had a break. Let's talk. You got some soda and brownies?" I became a sounding board for him. He's an idea machine, but sometimes he needed someone to say, "You can't do that, and here's why."

He trusted me because he knew my interest was in Phoenix. It wasn't about me winning or losing; it was about his efforts to make the city better.

I can't take credit for Phil and Dr. Crow's meeting to bring ASU Downtown, but Phil knew it would be a heavy lift with the council.

Half of the proposed bond would bring ASU Downtown, and the city would buy the properties and build the buildings to lease. It seems like a no-brainer today, but the political dynamic was dicey.

He kept telling me, “I need your help.” I said, “You're going to need everybody's help with this one." The nature of being the mayor is that sometimes it takes other people going to [council] to say, “It’s not just for Downtown but for the whole city.”

PCA: How did you become a partner in revitalizing the Luhrs Block?

Shields: My partner Rajan Hansji had a blighted high-rise demolished on the interior. It was a mess. On the corner, the lower [Luhrs] building was empty. The Luhrs Tower was only about 40% occupied with dilapidated office spaces. You had the bail bond industry there, and the windows along the street going up the building would say, "Bail Bonds Here!” That's not what you want Downtown.

Rajan had just taken over his second-generation hotel family business in Anaheim, [CA], and wanted to expand the business. A broker called him about this old block in Downtown Phoenix. He met with the mayor's office and staff, and everybody said, “You don't know anything about Phoenix. You've got nothing but processes in front of you to get this done.”

He connected with me in my lobbying role. We started that process, and it was overwhelming. We had to abandon the alley and begin historic preservation with state and federal. We had to do the zoning process to build a new hotel [that was part of a development agreement with a prior owner].

This was during the downturn, and his Anaheim businesses were suffering. In 2009, he told me, “I can't afford to keep this going.” I said, “The property has no more value than when you bought it. You can never build a hotel if you don't finish these processes. Let me buy in and be a partner. I want to be part of the Luhrs Block and what we do here.”

The first thing we did was get the ten-story high-rise occupiable. It might not look like it, but there were about 400 windows that were historically rehabilitated. If you look up at the top floor, there are gigantic is 10-foot-tall arched windows with multiple panes, and we had to do the restoration. Then we had to work with [the city’s] Planning & Development [Department] to carve out concrete and create a new stairwell because the existing stairwell was small and unsafe.

PCA: In 2023, we celebrated our 40th anniversary. Where do you see the organization fitting into the new urban fabric, and how can the next generation of leaders get involved?

Shields: My advice is to get involved in any PCA Committee to deepen your understanding, meet people, and then get on boards and commissions.

Board work is a wonderful development tool. You must be sensitive to other people's concerns and express your own. At some point, you must reach a consensus and be a part of that. My wife has been on a few and said, “I'm not cut out for boards, but you're a specialist at boards.”

PCA needs to become the first stop for anyone looking to develop or lease space Downtown. We've got 3D mapping, networking, and connections; you need to know where you fit.

How that future piece of Downtown fits in and how you will affect it is a very powerful role for this organization.

In December, at PCA's Annual Member Meeting, Shields saw his decades of service to Downtown culminate when he was named the 2024 Center City Champion.

Following that recognition, CCPD contributed to amending Chapter 12 of the Downtown Code. Although Billy is stepping back from regular CCPD responsibilities, it doesn’t mean he’s finished shaping Downtown.

The Hansji Corporation is finalizing a design to redevelop the historic Sing High Building and property, one of “the last developable blocks in Downtown,” into a 120-room hotel. However, steady income from their Downtown Physical Therapy tenant and the adjoining parking lot allow Shields and his partner to patiently execute their potential as a future Downtown anchor and gateway to the Warehouse District.

When that day comes, it’ll be the latest example of Shields being, once and always, a steward of Downtown.