December 18, 2008

Friends,

Many of you will recall last year and earlier this year a grass-roots marketing program we called "Friends of Transit Tuesdays."

Each Tuesday, we would feature one or two restaurants along the rail line and provide our readers deep discounts on their lunch.  We also bought thousands of dollars worth of gift cards from over a hundred different businesses and gave those out as raffle prizes to the "Friends" who took the time to shop and dine along the route.  The Friends of Transit Tuesday program literally brought in thousands of customers over the 11-month program to over a hundred businesses.

To all of those Friends who went out of their way to help the businesses along the rail, we say THANK YOU. Many of those businesses who benefitted by your collective generosity are listed below (click here to read more).

Even though construction is over, where possible, we strongly encourage you to SHOP THE LINE.  To view a list of all the businesses that we tried to promote, you can still view the list on our website at www.friendsoftransit.org.  

Lastly, we want to again thank the Associated General Contractors (AGC) for their VERY GENEROUS contribution to Friends of Transit that enabled us to purchase those gift certificates and provide the deep discounts that made this program such a success.

In the News:
Light-rail freeloaders face fines, The Arizona Republic, December 8, 2008
New Glendale express bus connects to light rail, The Arizona Republic, December 11, 2008
Stimulus Package To First Pay for Routine Repairs, Washington Post, December 14, 2008
Light rail art connects with surroundings, The Arizona Republic, December 14, 2008
New bus route aides EV light-rail accessibility, Tribune, December 15, 2008
How to get from light rail station to the airport, The Arizona Republic, December 15, 2008
Light-rail ‘Hands’ designed to connect us as people, The Arizona Republic, December 16, 2008
Sky Harbor connects terminals to light rail, Tribune, December 17, 2008
Merchants sign with relief as light rail nearly ready to roll, The Arizona Republic, December 18, 2008
Light rail board allows ads for NBA All-Start Game, The Arizona Republic, December 18, 2008

 

Countdown to Light Rail

Only 9 days left until the official grand opening of Light rail!

Don’t forget to participate in the festivities on Saturday, December 27!

 

Station celebrations will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday activities will occur along the entire 20-mile METRO alignment. There will be music, activities and exhibits at many park-n-ride and light rail station locations. Because a lot of Valley residents are expected to join the fun, there will also be shuttle buses to get you back to your car if the trains get crowded. Rides will run from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

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New Glendale express bus connects to light rail
Dec. 11, 2008 09:06 AM
The Arizona Republic

On Dec. 29, a new express bus, Route 576, will serve the north Glendale area from Arrowhead Towne Center via Loop 101 and I-17 to the 19th Avenue and Montebello Transit Center for a light-rail connection to complete the commute to downtown Phoenix.

Route 576 can also pick up and drop off passengers at the Community Church of Joy park-and-ride at 75th Avenue and Beardsley Road before the getting on the freeway.

"With this bus to rail connection, we are building a more complete regional transportation system that voters approved in 2004," David A. Boggs, Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority's executive director, said in a written statement. " Travelers will have more flexibility in their travel options with a bus that directly serves the station in two directions both mornings and afternoons."

There will be five weekday trips inbound departing Arrowhead Towne Center at 75th Avenue and Bell Road at 5:45 a.m., 6:45 a.m., 7:45 a.m., 5:10 p.m. and 6:10 p.m. and five weekday outbound trips departing the Montebello transit center at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 4:40 p.m., 5:40 p.m. and 6:40 p.m.

AThe complete schedule, along with a map, is available at www.ValleyMetro.org.

An all-dayexpress/RAPID bus pass costing $3.50 will allow passengers to transfer between the Valley Metro express bus and light rail for an entire day. Passengers with a 31-day Valley Metro express/RAPID bus pass or Platinum Pass can also transfer between the express bus and light rail.

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New bus route aids E.V. light-rail accessibility
By MIKE BRANOM 
TRIBUNE 
DEC 15, 2008

Light rail, when it opens, only extends a mile into Mesa. But the region’s transit agency wants to extend the trains’ reach into the East Valley, and they have buses to make that happen. 

Opening Dec. 27 is Valley Metro Link, a high-capacity bus route connecting the region’s easternmost light-rail station with the Superstition Springs Parkand-Ride in east Mesa. 

To and from the Sycamore/Main Street Transit Center, where Metro’s trains stop before heading westward, will be traveled in 44 minutes over 12 miles, Valley Metro spokeswoman Susan Tierney said. 

In between the final stops are 13 stations, in each direction, where passengers can catch the bus. The downtown stations are spaced a half-mile apart; everywhere else, they are at major cross streets every mile. 

And those miles will be traveled in style. Link has a fleet of 10 buses, all new, packing 63 feet end to-end of fuel efficiency, a paint scheme matching the trains, automated wheelchair ramps and 55 seats with upholstery fabric made of recycled water bottles. 

That distance also will be traveled faster, thanks to its traffic signal priority. The buses carry transmitters, and traffic lights respond by holding off reds until the vehicles pass. 

Each bus, built by New Flyer Industries at its plant in St. Cloud, Minn., cost $770,000, Valley Metro fleets and facilities program supervisor Dave Hyink said. 

But the price of an allday pass is cheaper by far. For $2.50, a commuter can catch a bus in the East Valley that stops at Superstition Springs, hop on Link and connect to a Metro train — and then ride back. 

Monday through Friday, Link buses will run every 15 minutes during the commuting times of 6 a.m.-8 a.m. and 3 p.m.-6 p.m. During the midday hours and from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. they run every 30 minutes. 

On the weekend, Link buses will come along every hour. Saturday’s operating times are the same as the workweek: 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.; Sunday is 6 a.m to 6 p.m. 

Link opens the same weekend as light rail, and just like Metro, it will be free until New Year’s Day. 

In January, Valley Metro plans to build Link stations and a new transit center at Superstition Springs; construction is expected to be done by July, Tierney said. 

Starting Dec. 29, Valley Metro is bringing online two other bus lines serving the East Valley. 

• Route 536 is the Northeast Mesa-Tempe/ASU Express (via Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway.) Buses will depart five times during the workweek morning from the temporary parkand-ride at the southeast corner of McDowell and Power roads en route to the Tempe Transportation Center. Beginning shortly after noon, five buses will retrace the route heading east. 

• Route 542, the Chandler-Downtown Express (via Interstate 10). It will make three trips out, also during workweek mornings, from the Chandler park-and-ride, at Germann Road and Hamilton Street, to downtown Phoenix and then the Capitol complex. The return trips begin in the late afternoon. 

For more information on Link, the new routes or any other transit information, visit Valley Metro at www.valleymetro.org. 

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Stimulus Package To First Pay for Routine Repairs
By Alec MacGillis and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post
Sunday, December 14, 2008; A01

President-elect Barack Obama calls it "the largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s." New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg compares it to the New Deal -- when workers built hundreds of bridges, dams and parkways -- while saying it could help close the gap with China, where he recently traveled on a Shanghai train at 267 mph.

Most of the infrastructure spending being proposed for the massive stimulus package that Obama and congressional Democrats are readying, however, is not exactly the stuff of history, but destined for routine projects that have been on the to-do lists of state highway departments for years. Oklahoma wants to repave stretches of Interstates 35 and 40 and build "cable barriers" to keep wayward cars from crossing medians. New Jersey wants to repaint 88 bridges and restore Route 35 from Toms River to Mantoloking. Scottsdale, Ariz., wants to widen 1.5 miles of Scottsdale Road.

On the campaign trail, Obama said he would "rebuild America" with an "infrastructure bank" run by a new board that would award $60 billion over a decade to projects such as high-speed rail to take the country in a more energy-efficient direction. But the crumbling economy, while giving impetus to big spending plans, has also put a new emphasis on projects that can be started immediately -- "use it or lose it," Obama said last week -- and created a clear tension between the need to create jobs fast and the desire for a lasting legacy.

"It doesn't have the power to stir men's souls," said David Goldberg of Smart Growth America. "Repair and maintenance are good. We need to make sure we're building bridges that stand, not bridges to nowhere. But to gild the lily . . . where we're resurfacing pieces of road that aren't that critical, just to be able to say we spent the money, is not what we're after."

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is proud that his city was able to quickly rebuild the Interstate 35 bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River in 2007 while making sure to include capacity for a future transit line on it. But he worries that many of the road and bridge upgrades around the country will not be done in a similarly farsighted way, given the time pressures.

"The quickest things we can do may not be the ones that have the most significant long-term impact on the green economy," he said. "Unless we push a transit investment, this will end up being a stimulus package that rebalances our transportation strategy toward roads and away from [what] we need to get off our addiction to oil."

Mayors say there would be a better chance for a long-term impact if the money were focused on metropolitan areas where investments could make the most difference in reducing congestion and lessening dependence on cars. They doubt that will happen if infrastructure funding goes directly to state capitals.

In Seattle, Mayor Greg Nickels said that the list of projects submitted by Washington state included only one in Seattle, for a ferry dock, while the city has ambitious hopes for removing a hulking highway ramp in a revitalized neighborhood and accelerating a light-rail expansion.

"Metro areas really are the engines of the economy, and to the extent that this can go directly to the metro areas rather than a cumbersome state process, it will have more effect," Nickels said. "States can do a nice job in rural counties, but in metro areas it's not always a good relationship or very nimble."

As it stands, Congress, wanting to keep things simple, plans to disburse the money under existing formulas -- funding for roads and bridges will go to state governments, while money for public transit will go to the local agencies that receive transit funding.

State officials are playing down concerns about their proposed projects' value. New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine said repairing a swath of roads and bridges is ambitious in its own right. "We could spend money on further provision of rail to Port Elizabeth and Port Newark, but if the highways weren't paved, we actually wouldn't have the ability to have the trains get to the spot to take the goods to the local distribution outlet," he said. "Those deferred maintenance investments are fundamental to maintaining a capital infrastructure."

Oklahoma transportation director Gary Ridley justifies his state's wish list in similar terms. Its highway pavements "are probably 40 years old, and some of them have been replaced, but a lot of them haven't," he said. "It's not like we're grabbing these out of the air."

On the trail, Obama spoke often of the potential for high-speed rail linking the cities of the industrial Midwest. But the transit projects being proposed also tend to be on a smaller scale: extending bus rapid-transit lanes, buying new commuter rail cars, upgrading commuter rail lines.

"Everyone would like grand projects, but the fact of the matter is that we're really trying to put people to work," said William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association. "A large number of small projects spread across the country make more impact than a handful of big projects in a few places."

The business community approves of the project list, noting that study groups have pegged total infrastructure repair needs at $1.6 trillion. "It's not sexy, but it's jobs," said J.P. Fielder, a spokesman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It's not dams and giant beautiful works of art. It's these low-end roads connecting certain places."

The Obama transition team is aware of the tension created by its goal of immediate stimulus but contends it can be resolved. For one thing, one aide said, some of the most legacy-building aspects of the recovery plan will be in areas other than transportation infrastructure -- such as expanding the electric grid, retrofitting schools to make them energy efficient and modernizing medical record-keeping.

Defending the emerging list of projects, the aide, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said there simply is a vast need for repairs. But the aide said that the Obama team also has its eye out for longer-term projects to invest in, and that for all the emphasis on quick spending, the recovery plan is considered a two-year undertaking. What is still to be determined is how some of those more ambitious projects would be chosen and how that money would be apportioned.

Others in Washington and at the state level also hope for a consensus between the short and long term. Early in 2009, they say, states will be able to spend stimulus money mostly on badly needed maintenance, as well as new projects that are ready to begin. Considerations about the country's future transportation needs will come later, they say, in the debate surrounding the regular transportation budget, which will be up for its five-year reauthorization next fall.

"It's apples and oranges. It is stimulus and economic recovery versus a long-term strategic plan for the nation's infrastructure," said Tony Dorsey, a spokesman for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. He noted that a few items on the states' wish lists are of a larger scale: California wants to rebuild the southern access to the Golden Gate Bridge, while New Jersey wants to accelerate the construction of a second rail tunnel under the Hudson River.

The construction industry also sees a two-step process. "Do the rinky-dink projects, the smaller projects," said Frank Rapoport, head of the global infrastructure practice at the McKenna, Long & Aldrich law firm. Then, later in 2009, he said, the government should use any leftover stimulus money to leverage private equity to tackle larger challenges, possibly via Obama's proposed infrastructure bank.

That approach sounds good to Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, which funds some infrastructure projects. "This is a once-in-50-year opportunity," she said. "We ought to repair what needs to be fixed and take a chunk of the cash and do that, but while we're doing that, develop an overall blueprint for how the rest of the money should be spent."

But that plan assumes that there will be enough money, political will and public support left over after an initial burst of spending to fuel broader investments. It is unclear how much money will be devoted to infrastructure in the stimulus package, which could surpass $500 billion. But the highway officials association has identified more than 5,000 road and bridge projects costing $64 billion that are ready to go, and the transit officials' association has identified 736 projects costing $12.2 billion that could start within 90 days.

If the stimulus funds many of those projects in the short term, there could be less appetite for increasing Washington's long-term investment beyond the roughly $50 billion a year it spends annually now. And on Capitol Hill, members of both parties agree that the focus has to be on the short term.

"Filling the potholes or repaving a stretch of road may not be as visual as the Hoover Dam or the Golden Gate Bridge, but that paved road is going to make a lot of difference in people's lives," said Jim Berard, spokesman for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "Will there be political will and money" for later spending? "We don't know. We'll build that bridge when we come to it. Trying to do bigger-type infrastructure improvement at this point would be irresponsible. You'd be fiddling while Rome burst into flames."

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Light-rail freeloaders face fines
Up to $500 charge for riders caught without a ticket after free-trial period
by Kerry Fehr-Snyder 
Dec. 8, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Metro light rail's fare setup has been called an honor system because riders are expected to be on their honor and buy a ticket to ride a train.

But those who try to ride free risk more than their honor and could face a fine of up to $500 plus court fees after a free five-day trial period.

The system begins service Dec. 27, but Metro isn't charging riders until Jan. 1.

"It's a 'proof-of-payment' system," said Larry Engleman, director of safety and security for Metro light rail. "Honor system connotes you have a choice but you don't."

The fare system requires riders to buy paper tickets or use "smart cards" that they must activate at station platforms before boarding a train. Uniformed fare inspectors then will make spot checks on the train to see if riders have paid.

Light-rail systems from Minneapolis to Denver use similar fare systems. The percentage of riders who try to snag a free trip range from 2 percent to 10 percent, depending on the city and the percentage of riders checked. The system seems to work and the majority of the public seems to like it, officials in other cities said.

"We get substantially more complaints by people who feel that there isn't enough fare checking," said Scott Reed, assistant general manager of public affairs for the Regional Transportation District in Denver, which operates that city's light-rail system.

Many first-time users to the system misunderstand that about 75 percent of its riders use a pre-paid smart card to ride the train. Those riders tap their cards on a fare machine to activate it.

Other cities' punishments

First-time scofflaws in Denver are given a warning and their names are entered into a database. Offenders caught a second time face a $26 fine. Subsequent fines are as high as $100 but the real trouble starts when a rider is caught for the fifth time. That's when a warrant and a no-trespassing notice are issued for a rider's arrest.

In Minneapolis, fines are $180 for riders caught without buying a ticket. The system randomly checked more than 717,000 passengers through September, wrote 1,350 citations and issued 2,176 warnings, said Bob Gibbons, director of customer services for Metro Transit in Minneapolis.

Engleman, of Metro light rail, said its fare inspectors will conduct similar checks after an unspecified grace period.

"It's going to be an educational process," he said. "We'll have ambassadors to help riders learn how to use the system."

Onboard security

Sworn police officers will check passengers on the Phoenix portion of the 20-mile light-rail line. Tempe and Mesa are using paid security guards along their portions of the line.

The officers will do double duty by providing security on board and at the stations.

Tom Simplot, a Phoenix City Councilman and chairman of the Metro light rail board of directors, said he expects most riders will abide by the fare policy once they understand how to buy tickets and validate them.

"I think the education will eventually be there. That's one of the reasons we're offering free rides to help people get educated," he said.

Unlike underground subway systems with turnstiles, riders will be able to board trains at any point along the stations.

"Definitely our security will be looking and asking for tickets" once the free period is over, Simplot said. "That's not to say they won't be lenient at the beginning but . . . if the numbers are high, the leniency will go away."

Nick Bastion, sales and marketing director for the Web site, raillife.com, said the fare setup gives riders an option: "You can make the right choice or you can make the wrong choice."

But Bastion said he wouldn't risk getting caught.

"I know personally I would never get on that thing to try to save $1.25," he said. "It would be so embarrassing."

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Light rail art connects with surroundings
by Casey Newton 
Dec. 14, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The opening of the 20-mile Metro light-rail system on Dec. 27 will coincide with one of the Valley's biggest art openings in recent years: $6.3 million in sculptures, tiles and other elements that adorn every station on the line.

Some of the art is monumental, like the giant stone ring sculpture installed at Central Avenue and Camelback Road. Other pieces are more subtle, like the terrazzo floor at First Avenue and Jefferson Street that features an image of Sandra Day O'Connor, the former U.S. Supreme Court justice from Arizona.

Taken together, though, they bring poetry to the prosaic world of mass transit.

"The art helps to tell a story," said Eric Iwersen, a Tempe planner who sat on the board that oversaw the art program. "It helps to set us apart from any other system in the world."

The story that Metro's art tries to tell is the story of the Valley. Across the line, pieces reflect the neighborhoods around them. A river-like canopy at Priest Drive and Washington Street in Tempe echoes the nearby Rio Salado. At Central and Indian School Road, glass panels set into the entryway feature historic photographs of the area.

"It's really about bringing the character of that community into the station so that we are a reflection of the community," said Rick Simonetta, CEO of Metro light rail.

More than two dozen artists from around the country contributed to the system's aesthetic features, with about 40 percent of them Arizona natives.

A handful of artists worked with architects to come up with the basic design of the station, and many more worked on art elements at the 28 stations.

They carved stone and cast figures in bronze, etched glass and built an enormous pair of hands using ribbons of welded steel. Over Tempe Town Lake, Seattle artist Buster Simpson lit an entire bridge with LED lights.

Artists approached their work with the knowledge that it would be highly visible, seen twice a day by the commuters who will take the trains to and from work.

"Everyone appreciates how historic this is and how important it is to the Valley," said M.B. Finnerty, who oversees Metro's public art program.

Views of the Valley

Some of the art projects along the line find local artists commenting on the neighborhoods immediately surrounding them.

Laurie Lundquist designed a shade structure at Priest Drive and Washington Street. Between undulating steel canopies that suggest the flowing Rio Salado across the street, dozens of pennies are suspended.

"She's almost being a little dire about how we've sold our desert for pennies," said Marilu Knode, associate director of Future Arts Research, an arts research group at Arizona State University. "That's one way to read it. It's an elegant and earnest piece."

Many local artists along the line use their pieces to show the way Arizonans feel about their state. The artists who live outside the state, on the other hand, give us glimpses into the way outsiders view Arizona.

Dan Corson offers a number of wry comments on the state in his pieces for the project. Based in Seattle, Corson teamed with three other artists to design art for four stations on Apache Boulevard.

At one station, Corson made chandeliers out of water bottles, illuminating them with neon. In another, he took a cliché about life in the Sonoran Desert - the hollowed-out saguaro skeleton - and dipped it in chrome, marrying the desert to the state's love of the automobile.

"I was really interested in how this light-rail system is going into the center of the road," Corson said. "This is traditionally a car culture where you don't walk from place to place. I was reflecting on the car culture by taking the saguaro and chroming it like a bumper."

Art you can touch

Corson's chrome saguaro got a green light from Metro only after an intense public process that started in 2003, when the agency first put out a call for proposals. From there, artists assigned to each station went into neighborhoods to gather ideas about how to reflect the community.

An arts council established by Metro picked the winning projects and offered guidance to winners. The average project cost between $160,000 to $200,000, with funding coming from ordinances in Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa that set aside 1 percent of total construction costs for art projects.

As they began their works, artists found that creating public art is much different from creating art for a museum, where velvet ropes separate the audience from the artwork. On the light-rail line, artists expect their work will be touched.

With museum art, artists are often limited only by their imagination and their budgets. On a transit system, there are strict guidelines to ensure each station is safe and secure. That means no art with sharp edges that could injure riders, and no large objects that anyone can hide behind.

The list goes on: The art can't be too shiny, for fear of blinding the train operators in the sun. The art has to be accessible to people with disabilities. And because commuters would see the pieces several times a week, Metro favored art that changed over time or is somehow interactive.

At 38th Street and Washington, riders will find a kind of sundial. At noon on the 21st of every month, the sun will illuminate a different metal disc on the station.

Just down Washington, at 44th Street, riders will find a "cloud canopy" that casts different shadows depending on the position of the sun.

At Apache and Martin Lane, a light beam projects a "carpet of language" featuring conversations of grandmothers in some of the 70 languages that are spoken in the area. Riders will see different snippets each time they come to the station.

It's all part of the effort to make the Valley's newest form of transit feel a little less alien to the communities it carves a path through. Whether people welcome the art won't be known until all the art is unveiled and the system opens to the public Dec. 27.

In the meantime, though, at least one critic was pleased.

"There's a real charm and honesty in the way these artists are trying to connect with the community," ASU's Knode said, after touring the art at several stations. "They really seem to be celebrating the neighborhood."

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How to get from light rail station to the airport
Dec. 15, 2008 06:41 PM
The Arizona Republic

When light rail debuts on Dec. 27, so will a free airport shuttle service. The shuttle will pick up riders at the 44th Street and Washington station and will take them to airport terminals. Here's what you need to know:

• When you get off at the Sky Harbor light rail stop, head south across the crosswalk. The shuttle stop is on the south side of Washington Street.

• Board a shuttle. It will stop at Terminal 4, Terminal 3 and Terminal 2, in that order. A shuttle also takes passengers from all three terminal back to the light rail station. Shuttles will arrive at each stop, every 10 minutes.

• Passengers should give themselves extra time - 10 to 20 minutes - if they plan to take an airport light rail shuttle, Sky Harbor officials say. That time includes the shuttle ride and waiting for the shuttle.

• On Dec. 27 and Dec. 28, the shuttle will have a limited service. On Dec. 29, the shuttle will start its permanent daily schedule, 4 a.m. to 1 a.m.

• The airport's light rail shuttle is temporary. Phoenix is building a $1.1 billion, 4.8 mile automated train that will take passengers to Sky Harbor terminals and to parking areas. The first phase of the project is scheduled to open in 2013.

Source: Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Metro light rail.

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Light-rail 'Hands' designed to connect us as people
by William Hermann 
Dec. 16, 2008 01:31 PM
The Arizona Republic

The giant bronze hands that rise from the pavement and seem about to grasp one another at the Tempe Metro light-rail stop at Dorsey Lane and Apache Boulevard are meant to symbolize how the new rapid transit trains will help us connect with one another.

"The light rail is a connection to everything, like my work; it connects culturally and connects people in neighborhoods," said Suikang Zhao, New York sculptor and creator of the hands. "There are two hands, a man's and a woman's, and we see one hand cannot work alone."

A neighborhood restaurant manager who looks out on "Hands" every day says he thinks the idea works.

"I like that 'connection' theme; it's about community and the rail line is about helping our community," said Matthew McShay, manager of Pita Jungle, a restaurant about 50 yards from the rail line and the sculpture. "And I like the hands - very creative, and the people who come in here like them, too; it's a young crowd and they think the hands are fun."

The hands sculptures each are about 21 feet tall and weigh about 9,000 pounds between them. They are among works by 10 artists at eight of the nine Tempe stations, and more than two-dozen works at the 28 stations (and the bridge) on the 20-mile light-rail system that opens Dec. 27. The hands were commissioned for $200,000, and there is $6.3 million worth of artwork along the $1.4 billion line. The Federal Transit Administration, which is helping pay for rail construction, recommends spending between half a percent to 5 percent of construction money on public art.

More than two-dozen artists from around the country contributed to the line's art collection, with about 40 percent of them Arizona natives.

The biggest work of art is the LED light system on the $21.9 million, 1,534-foot Metro Tempe Town Lake Bridge. Seattle artist Buster Simpson placed on the bridge more than 3,000 linear feet of LED fixtures that can produce millions of light and color combinations.

Tempe spokeswoman Nikki Ripley said artists Catherine Widgery, Tad Savinar, Bill Will, Norie Sato, Zhao, Benson Shaw, Dan Corson and Christine Bourdette are the artists who were commissioned to focus on the Tempe stations.

Ripley said the artwork at the stations is meant, "to relate to each station's surrounding neighborhood," and that neighbors were involved in the planning process for the art and provided input to the artists.

Ripley said that along Apache Boulevard, four artists - Shaw, Zhao, Bourdette and Corson - were selected to develop and install art elements for the pavement, entryways, lighting and station walls. Shaw, for instance, gathered stories from Apache Boulevard-area residents and business people, incorporating their quotes into "text medallions" placed into round mosaic tiles and set into the pavement.

Some of the art, like the "text medallions" is subtly placed and bears careful inspection, but the hands seem to almost reach out for passers-by.

Eric Marcotte lives in the area and was walking by the sculpture earlier this week and stopped and stared at the hands.

"They're way cool!" he said. "It's kind of abstract, but it grabs you and it's funny and ironic all at once."

Marcotte's friend, Castonia Moye, smiled as she gazed at the hands.

"It's sure not what you usually see," she said. "It works."

Artist Zhao, however, says that despite the positive reception the work has received, "I'm never quite satisfied."

"Artists try to do impossible things, and whenever I do anything I'm critical and say, 'I can do better,"' Zhao said. "But people really do love it and when I'm critical someone will say, 'Oh, shut up! It's good!"

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Sky Harbor connects terminals to light rail
Free bus service will take Metro passengers to airport
By MIKE BRANOM 
TRIBUNE 
DEC 17, 2008

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is about to start up its own version of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” 

No, not the 1987 comedy of holiday travel horrors, but a way to connect with Metro light rail. 

PHX Airport Shuttle is a free bus service that runs from the Metro station at 44th and Washington streets to the airport’s terminals. Dec. 29 is the first day the shuttle begins transporting visitors and airport employees; a bus will leave the station every 10 minutes during the same hours as light rail. 

According to airport spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher, with more vehicles than ever crowding the roads around the terminals, officials long have desired a way to remove some of that traffic. 

The hope is that people will decide to save money and time by taking the shuttle rather than battling for a parking spot and paying for the privilege to do so. And when passengers need a ride home, now they can catchthe shuttle to the train station rather than forcing someone else to either park or drive around the terminals again and again. 

Also, this solves the issue of Metro bypassing what was in 2007 America’s eighth-busiest airport, measured by combined takeoffs and landings. 

As Ostreicher explained, nobody thought it was a good idea for light rail, in the course of connecting Phoenix with the East Valley, to make an extra handful of stops at the airport: Rental Car Center, Terminal 2, Terminal3, Terminal 4. 

So, this is an alternative that serves airport traffic while not disrupting Metro’s operations. 

But the PHX Airport Shuttle is just the start of the relationship between the airport and light rail. 

“Today, it’s a bus,” Ostreicher said, “but that’s just until 2013 when we have the train.” 

By then, Sky Harbor expects to have a light rail line of its own. It would connect the Metro station with Terminal 4; in later years, the airport’s trains would run all the way to the Rental Car Center, north of Interstate 17 and east of 16th Street. 

There also would be an area for departing passengers to check bags and receive boarding passes. 

That construction timetable could be pushed up if the incoming presidential administration decides the project is worthy of funding via an economic stimulus package. 

“It’s all about getting people to work tomorrow,” Ostreicher said. 

The Maricopa Association of Governments is asking the government for $166 million, which would bring in enough money to build the tracks to the East Economy parking area. 

Already, construction has begun on a pedestrian bridge from the station over Washington and ending — for now — in mid-air. Ostreicher said the bridge was built ahead of time as to not impede work on the light-rail line.

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Merchants sigh with relief as light rail nearly ready to roll
by Casey Newton 
Dec. 18, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The light-rail system that opens Dec. 27 has remade Central Avenue, creating opportunities for businesses even as construction woes have swept away some old businesses.

Nearly four years after construction began, merchants are welcoming customers back to Phoenix's main thoroughfare. A billion-dollar face lift left it with new landscaping, a series of public-art projects and a host of new businesses hoping to capitalize on the rail system's estimated 26,000 boardings a day.

Even as businesses celebrate the end of construction, they worry about a recession that has led to shuttered storefronts across the country. And for those who survived the detours and construction cones, resentment lingers.

From Camelback Road to Van Buren Street, Central is a mix of old and new.

Newer restaurants such as Switch Bakery and Blue Willo Cafe blend in with landmarks like Durant's and the Westward Ho.

Some merchants new to the area are exuberant about the promise that the system holds.

"Thank God for light rail. It's doubled my business," said Lenny Fleszar, owner of Lenny's Burgers at Central and Thomas Road.

Fleszar was speaking literally. After the Mexican restaurant adjacent to his business closed, Fleszar bought the space and is putting the finishing touches on an expansion that gives his eatery twice as much room.

He plans to open on Saturdays because train operators began stopping in front of his business and coming in to eat.

"We've got burgers good enough to stop a train," Fleszar said.

Newer businesses remain optimistic. For those who survived construction, times remain tough. They made it to the system's opening only to find the local economy in a steep recession.

"We got hit with two hammers: One was the light rail, and the other now is the economy," said Dan Abrams, who leases commercial real estate along the line.

"What's been going on this past year has really had a big negative impact on the businesses, whether they're on the light-rail line or anyplace else."

Dennis Chiesa, owner of the record store Tracks in Wax, is among the construction survivors. He hopes the system lures customers from Tempe and Mesa.

"They may not want to drive, but maybe a little train ride would be OK," said Chiesa, who has been open on Central for more than 25 years. "I'm hoping so. I'm a rail fan."

Not everyone is a fan, though. Among shops that struggled during the past four years, owners express lingering resentment about the city's handling of construction issues.

"If my family hadn't put money in the bank, we'd have been closed three years ago," said David Wimberley, owner of George & Dragon Restaurant.

Before construction began, Wimberley used to serve 125 lunches on a weekday. These days, he said, he serves fewer than 40.

"You could shoot a cannon through here and kill five people," Wimberley said one recent weekday. "And three of them would be employees."

Several businesses along the line have closed during construction, but no one keeps track officially. Some businesses closed for reasons that had nothing to do with light rail, according to their landlords.

Others blame rail.

Martha Craig, who owned Central Christian Supply for 35 years, closed recently after struggling for more than a year. Craig had said that construction woes were killing her business.

Others moved to different locations in hopes of building a new clientele.

Shelli Walker had owned Community Florist, a flower shop near Central and Camelback, for a decade when light-rail construction began.

"Walk-in traffic went to zero," Walker said. "Customers couldn't get to us."

At the same time, she was having difficulty getting her landlord to give her a long-term lease on her space. Last December, she moved to a space near Seventh Avenue and McDowell Road.

"I wish we'd moved here two years ago," Walker said. "This new location is wonderful. I think it is going to be a good location for us in the future. We all just have to buckle down through this economic mess and get through it."

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Light rail board allows ads for NBA All-Star Game
by Kerry Fehr-Snyder 
Dec. 18, 2008 01:46 PM
The Arizona Republic

Metro light rail planners have given the Phoenix Suns the green light to wrap trains with ads for the upcoming NBA All-Star Game, reversing a five-year-old policy to keep the trains ad free once the service starts Dec. 27.

The Metro Board of Directors agreed Wednesday to allow up to four cars to be wrapped with ads for six weeks leading up to the Feb. 12-15 game and related events. The board also agreed to allow the Suns to advertise at two stations, one at Third Street and Jefferson and the other at Third Street and Washington.

In addition, the board agreed to establish a committee to determine whether to allow commercial advertising from others in the future.

The move to allow the Suns ads will help Phoenix defray its portion of operating the system costs, estimated to run about $35 million year. Phoenix will pay about 67 percent, or $23 million, of the tab. Tempe will pick up $9.8 million, and Mesa will cover the remainder, or about $3.3 million.

The price to advertise on the trains or at the stations hasn't been set and will be negotiated by Metro light rail staff and the Phoenix Suns, said Rick Simonetta, Metro's chief executive officer.

But it has set a guideline of $8,000 per car per month.

"We have to talk whether it's $8,000 a month or more than $8,000 a month," he said. "That's all part of the negotiation."

A price to advertise at the light rail stations has not been determined, Simonetta added, saying that depends on what the Suns and NBA propose.

"The amount of potential revenue is certainly something we can't ignore," said Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn, a member of the board.

But he added that the agency should consider "very tasteful ways of doing this" and strike a balance between generating revenue and cheapening the look of the $1.4 billion, 20-mile system that goes from north central Phoenix to Mesa.

Ron Ames, a Peoria city councilman and another Metro board member, agreed that any ads need to be in good taste but added, "Advertising is part of our lives."

Fellow member Kyle Jones, Mesa's vice mayor, said he is not a fan of wraps and is concerned about them covering the windows and obstructing passengers' views.

But Simonetta said the materials used to wrap windows allow passengers to see out while preventing outsiders from seeing in.

That did little to quell criticism from one prominent member of the community.

John Meunier, a professor and former dean of the Arizona State University College of Architecture and Environmental Design, said he is disappointed by the board's decision.

"I think it's a very dangerous decision that they made," he said. "Obviously, they can persuade themselves that this is a one-time-only event, but it's the proverbial camel's nose under the tent. It will be difficult to resist plastering ads all over the train."

Meunier said his objections have more to do with the message it sends to riders and passersby than with aesthetics.

"I think the issue is the respect for the passengers. Once you put the billboards on the outside of buses and trains, you're saying that the people inside don't matter," he said.

Proponents of ads on mass-transit don't see it that way. Cities facing falling sales tax revenues are scrambling to find new avenues to generate income to pay for mass transit and other services.

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