This comes from our friends at the Urban Farm. Don’t miss their free webinar on October 8th, just around the corner!

“If you buy seeds, there’s something you need to know.

A handful of corporations control the majority of our seeds, and 90% fewer varieties of seeds are planted today than just 2 generations ago.

The thing is, seeds are disappearing all the time and being replaced by cookie cutter varieties that are bred for profit. The seeds we buy today are less nutritious and delicious than they were in the past, and certainly aren’t the best suited for your garden’s unique needs.

You could take your garden to the next level. Here’s how.

If you want to grow a thriving garden that consistently produces the most amazing, healthy, and resilient food possible, plus break free from reliance on mega corporations, it’s time to learn about the true origins of seeds.

I believe that nobody deserves to be in the dark about where their food comes from.

So, I teamed up with Urban Farm U faculty Bill McDorman to offer a free webinar to show you how you can take control of your food and health.”

Just a reminder that now is a good time to check the hazardous waste and bulk trash schedules at the City of Phoenix website.

The temperatures are dropping from the nasty highs and perhaps you are starting to do some more yard work.

Perhaps (nay, I hope!) you’ve been saving all of those batteries from your various things that blink, beep and buzz.

Did you know that only about 10% of the batteries we use are actually recycled? Specifically the little ones in your gadgets. That means more environment-damaging mines, etc.

99% of car batteries are recycled because our predecessors in government were wise enough to set up a simple system to recycle them (ie make the businesses who use them turn them in).

Perhaps it’s time to also require some responsibility from retailers who sell us so many things with batteries, huh?

Anyhoooo!

It does not take much time at all to drive up to one of the many hazardous waste collection points that the city sets up for you. It usually takes me about 45 minutes, counting the drive.

I collect batteries, old paint, CFL light bulbs, used oils, old computer parts, anything with a logic board, really because they have precious metals in them.

Go to this link to see the schedule and rules for hazardous waste pick-up.

Go to this link for bulk trash. Here are the rules for what you can put out.

Naturally, if you have the ability to take your green waste to the compost facility yourself, please do it. Bulk trash pickup (at least the last I saw it) does not differentiate between green waste and all the other junk.

Well, Marshall Shore and I could not just leave well enough alone when it comes to recycling.

We took a tour of the Phoenix recycling facility earlier this year and had an eye-opening experience. You can see that series here.

So, we decided to talk to the folks in charge and ask some questions about why we are in the mess we are in and just what they plan to do about it.

We met with Brandie Barrett, Deputy Director of Public Works at the City of Phoenix about a whole number of issues, including new recycling standards, composting in Phoenix, the Innovation Hub, battery recycling and all kinds of fun stuff like that.

Have a look at the first video at this link, and then watch as the others come out.

It was a fun conversation and, if I do say so myself, informative.

We really believe that recycling is a big deal. We could create jobs if we do it right, frankly, it is just the right thing to do.

So, please, learn more at the City of Phoenix Public Works website.

Phoestivus is coming and we are kicking off the lead-up to the event with a call to artists.

We are pleased to announce this year’s Phoestivus Poster Contest!  To celebrate our exciting milestone (10 Years), we’re inviting the community to design this year’s poster.

We’re asking local artists to design the Phoestivus poster with a prize of $250.00 paid to the winner.

Open to everyone, this is a community wide creative opportunity, regardless of age or experience.

The deadline for artwork is midnight, Monday, October 7, 2019. A jury will review submissions.

Click here to read contest rules and instructions.  See past event posters below, including our very first Phoestivus poster ever!

Donna Reiner, a local historian and a good friend of Get Your PHX, has written many articles over the years for the Arizona Republic and others about Phoenix history. We use her services when we list properties of historic significance to help us tell the stories behind the homes.

We are happy that Donna is allowing us to re-publish some of her articles on a monthly basis. If you or your business ever needs a historian, let Donna know at laydeescholar “at” hotmail.com.

As a child, my friends and I watched western movies and later western TV shows. The good guys in white and the bad guys, or at least the unsavory characters, in black. The sheriff or whoever was the law enforcer protected the townspeople by arresting those who broke the law and placed them in jail. Here in Phoenix, a jail or someplace secure to put the “criminals” was initially quite an issue.

Now you may wonder, what was the big deal? Just construct a building, put in some bars, and voila, you have a jail. In the early days of Phoenix though, the problem was the available building material: adobe. Yes, that sun baked dirt and binder would not hold up that well especially if some clever ne’re-do-well prisoner had a spoon to carve away at the wall. And don’t forget, water was a sure way to turn the adobe back to its natural state of MUD. Yes, law enforcement in the early days of Phoenix’s history had to overcome the obstacle that an adobe building just might not be the most secure way to keep the bad guys in. But what to do?

Not to be deterred, some clever thinking officials came up with a brilliant idea. What if a heavy chain with a shackle at the end was bolted into a heavy rock? A rock so large that one person would not be able to move it. Hmmm. It just might work.

Locals scurried off to the Salt River bed with heavy wagons and eventually returned with three prospects. A local blacksmith was called upon to attach what looked like a super strong eye bolt into each of these rocks. Then the chain and shackles were secured to the bolt. Now this set-up looked extremely strong and it was time to test it out.

Not that we know whether Phoenix had lots of criminals to use these jail rocks, but there is one generally accepted story related to them. It seems that one prisoner, who may have been serving time for drunk and disorderly conduct, was actually able to pick up his jail rock and wander a bit. Whether that is true or not, once you see one of these rocks, you have to be amazed by that prisoner’s strength.

Today we know where two of these three rocks are located. One, which was formerly at the Phoenix Museum of History, is now under the care of the Arizona Science Center. The other is proudly displayed at the Phoenix Police Museum, 17 South 2^nd Avenue (facing Jefferson Street).

Since I’m a total public policy nerd and former legislator, I can’t help but dive in to some issues that I think could represent some common ground across the political spectrum.

This month, I’m taking a look at how we can boost rural economic growth by focusing on the power of historic downtowns.

Boosting rural economic growth has been the holy grail of state economic development planning in Arizona, often with less-than-stellar results.

However, based on lessons from other historic redevelopment in Arizona, the key is the historic buildings and infrastructure themselves.

I also believe that there is a model that will spark growth in small towns like never before, especially if the legislature can pass a state historic tax credit to complement the existing federal historic tax credit that has enabled numerous projects across Arizona.

And you will never have to utter the acronyms “TIFF” or “GIPLET.”

In fact, this model is designed to attract and grow more locally-owned businesses and tourism, which contribute more revenue to cities, counties and the state than out-of-state businesses often do.

If you look at historic downtowns like Tucson, Cottonwood, Flagstaff or Prescott, you will see that the preservation of historic main streets has been a proven catalyst for economic growth.

They proved a simple rule: the more we can support our picturesque historic downtowns, the more we can draw business investment.

This column serves as a call to action to those of you who would like to continue to workshop and refine this idea, based on your on-the-ground experiences. I have draft legislation, but I see this as a cooperative effort of partners all over the state.

Following are the broad points of this idea.

In order to begin, each municipality must create a district, called a Historic Hometown Redevelopment District, or “HHRD,” along with a HHRD Board. The district can be a maximum of one square mile in size, in which no less than 40% of the buildings must be more than 60 years old –the denser the better.

There will be a natural desire to build this zone around a downtown business district because the HHRD will trigger a set-aside of the state’s portion of transaction privilege tax (TPT) revenue from businesses within that district, which will be held in the HHRD Fund at the state.

A city may have only one district. And, if awarded, the city will be eligible to draw down money from this fund for a maximum of five years from when they begin. They may only spend that money on preservation of public buildings, pedestrian-friendly street improvements, traffic mitigation, the burial of utilities and the creation of a public Wi-Fi zone.

As a hypothetical example, a municipality with a density of historic structures will be able to set aside some of the state’s portion of the sales tax that is generated from within that district for a maximum of five years. In that time, they will be able to complete a project that will beautify, renew and modernize the public assets in that zone.

I have also built into the HHRD concept a way to leverage Opportunity Zones, possible future historic tax credits or private historic preservation investment to boost results.

Initial analysis from last year suggests that this program would make available about $500,000 to $600,000 per year for a town the size of Payson. That number could increase or decrease, depending on how many applicants there are every year.

While that may not seem like a lot of money, please remember that this is (a) just for infrastructure in a small downtown historic zone and (b) can be leveraged against other funding.

There are other specific details in the draft legislation. However, you can see already how this broad outline will create a downtown that is more inviting for local investment.

People who work in historic preservation know that revitalization often follows the same pattern.

First, the city invests to beautify the historic downtown. Having laid the canvas, those first businesses into the historic downtown are often the pioneers who attract others to follow. From there, the municipality can take the next steps to further improve the district.

The importance of HHRDs is that it can help those municipalities that don’t have that initial capacity for the first step. Yet, it is limited in time and scope. Further, the draft legislation creates checks on the expenditures.

Undoubtedly, you are asking yourself about what limits there would be on funding, who would oversee this effort and what the application process entails.

These details are in the draft legislation and I hope this column serves as a call to interested parties to workshop the idea over the next few months.

It’s been a busy month, in which we sold these three listings. See all the listings at our listing page.

First to close, last week, was this beautifully-decorated town house with broad views of the mountains in North Phoenix. It sold within days and within $2,000 of asking price.

It is generally difficult to find anything under $300,000 in Central Phoenix, especially something that was as move-in-ready as this property –2br/2ba, 1,423sf with a garage.

Next to close was this nicely updated 3br/2ba, 1,544sf home in the popular Coronado Neighborhood.

The owners have added to an already-updated home to include high-tech smart fan and smart lock technology. The home had updates in both 2014 and 2016, with recessed LED lights and low-E windows.

The lot is large in back and ready for entertaining, while the 1925 historic Santa Fe-style charm in front adds to the curb appeal.

Finally, we closed on this 1964 home, which maintained beautiful features from the 1960s mid-century movement. It is 2,287sf and has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths –and one of the bedrooms will make a great second master.

This home, in the desirable North Central Phoenix area, is close to attractions, restaurants, shopping and recreational hot spots.

The market is still hot right now. If you have a home that you’d like to list –or just have a no-pressure consultation about your best strategy– contact us at 602-456-9388.

Well, the tight inventory of homes persists as we consider the October Market Update.

The shortage (maybe shortage is too strong a word); the unexpectedly low supply of active listings may be what is driving the Cromford Index higher.

The seller’s have an advantage. Two of the three listings we had in the last month sold in days at list price or just about list price.

When I pulled out just the CenPho zip codes that dominate the historic areas –85003, 04, 06, 07, 12, 13 & 15– we see the same general condition, just with fewer listings than the whole county, obviously.

The sales price per square foot dropped in the CenPho area by only $2, so it was just outside the Cromford Report’s statistical margin of error. I would not expect that to change much unless we were to see a true increase in inventory.

And, as you know, we are not seeing significant construction on condos and townhomes in CenPho –just lots of apartments.

But, the big news continues to be that shortage of inventory. What is causing it?

Is it because people who want to sell are concerned they can’t find something new reasonably priced?

Is it because ibuyer companies have bought up a huge number of homes and have turned them in to rentals, thus depriving the market, over all, of inventory?

I tend to believe it is the latter. I also tend to believe that the number of AirBnB properties in the valley (nay, the country!) could have a downward affect on prices the next time the over-all economy corrects.

In other words, when the economy inevitably slows, there will be fewer people staying at hotels and AirBnBs. Many owners will sell and that might increase supply in such a way as to further depress prices.