Among the many reasons for attending a college or university is problem solving. They teach it. And you’re supposed to learn it, directly and indirectly through maturation and matriculation.
Here in the Valley Arizona State University doesn’t just teach it, they lead by example.
When revitalization of the old Los Arcos Mall site at Scottsdale and McDowell Roads became intractable, in stepped ASU for what has become SkySong.
Downtown Phoenix can’t get beyond sports facilities and government buildings? No problem. ASU there expanded to create a new urban core vibrancy.
When Arizona’s most celebrated graduate school, Thunderbird, engaged in a high-stakes intramural scrimmage that threatened the existence of the celebrated problems ASU took over to keep the school flying high.
Even downtown Mesa has turned to the university increasingly known for innovation to do there what ASU has sparked in Phoenix.
Does the impact and influence of ASU and President Michael Crow have no end? Gladly, it apparently does not.
Rumor has it that ASU may again be ready to lance a boil, this time in Arcadia.
There neighbor opposition to the “Wright House” is widespread and showing no signs of dissipation. Why? Because beyond the noble preservation of a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house lies the owner’s return on investment: a significant new wedding and special event venue.
Apparently, Phoenix Councilman Sal Diciccio who has long opposed the Wright House gone wrong is in discussions with ASU about acquiring the home for an educational purpose of some kind, absent the disruption of an event center.
This would be an extraordinary achievement, if true, by DiCiccio and for all of Phoenix. The house would be preserved, the neighbors would be content and Zach Rawlings whose vision went awry would not just get a great tax break for such a donation. He would be lauded among the Valley’s great preservationists – natural and man-made. He would stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Goldwater (Camelback Mountain), Drinkwater (McDowell Mountains), John Driggs (Tovrea Castle) and Dan Harkins (Cine Capri). What a far better posture than the pariah he’s become with the current proposal.
We can only hope the latest news is true so this acrimonious proposal can be put to bed, in a house like it was designed for not the event center that became the wolf in sheep’s clothing.