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 what came before us. 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@hotmail.com.

The old Ellis Building (photo courtesy of the McCulloch Brothers Collection, ASU).

Are you the type who buys new clothes each year to keep up with that year’s changing styles? For buildings, changes to a “new” style may be as simple as applying stucco over bare brick or removing parapets. Change is something we all encounter or recognize. Or do we?

Whether you are a long time resident of Phoenix or not, you may not realize that a number of fairly well-known buildings have a new outer shell. Yes, over time, upgrades were made to “modernize” their exteriors rather than starting from the ground up and you may be surprised by which ones.

The Ellis Building with its “new” clothes (photo by Donna Reiner)

The Ellis Building dates from 1923. Considered modern with its four stories and elevator, two additional floors were added in 1928 to meet the demand for local office space. By the 1950s though, the interior desperately needed upgrades with office and lobby space configurations and new elevator equipment. Still the exterior remained the same. However, the Ellis Building’s owners did something dramatic in 1962 before its fancy tall sleek new neighbor, the Arizona Title Building at 111 W. Monroe, opened in 1964.  But check for yourself when you drive by the former City of Phoenix Human Resources Building at 135 N. 2^nd Ave.

The original Korricks. (photo courtesy of the Phoenix Public Library)

Korricks “new” covering (photo by Donna Reiner)

Korricks Store at 106 E. Washington was one of the leading shopping places for Phoenicians to frequent in downtown Phoenix along with Goldwater’s, Hanny’s, and Switzer’s. Like the Ellis Building, its interior had been upgraded to keep up with the times and there had been some changes to the exterior. But the major changes would come later after it had served as the home for Maricopa Technical Community College for a number of years.  The new owner gave it a contemporary exterior and a new function: an office building.

In 1960, Fred Guirey, a local architect designed the Coronet Hotel at 1001 N. Central (the northeast corner of Roosevelt and Central). Later it was converted into office space. But in 1984, the building was stripped to its bare steel bones and concrete, received an entire new skin of glass which is the way you see it today. More square footage was added along with a parking garage.

The Coronet Hotel with a modern face. (photo by Donna Reiner)

If you are anxiously awaiting the opening of Cornish Pasty Company at 3 W. Monroe, try to imagine how the building once looked with its exposed red brick.

Sometimes we love the new clothes and other times we wonder what were we thinking. The same goes with alterations to buildings. Do you like the new look or prefer the old?

My friend of many years, Dick Geasland of MIKID shared this invite with me to share with you.

This is the upcoming MIKID Sue Gilbertson Leadership Award.

MIKID improves the behavioral health and wellness of children and youth through a family-centered approach.

MIKID offering an array of services to families of children with emotional and behavioral challenges. Last year MIKID served families in 69 Arizona cities and towns, providing education, resources, and support to hundreds of Arizona families annually.

MIKID’s history stemmed from one individual’s overwhelming concern for the lack of services provided for children in the mental health field and the many serious issues that were not being properly addressed. Sue Gilbertson began her quest in 1984 when her son, Eric, was diagnosed with mental illness.

In trying to get assistance for her son, Ms. Gilbertson found herself amidst a conventional medical community that was simply not equipped to handle the problems her son was facing. She was confronted with a community that was indifferent and uncooperative to her needs.

MIKID focuses on youth and youth-voice, as well as on the adults in the families they serve. In an effort to further this youth focus, MIKID created Youth Summits, a one-day Leadership training for youth, particularly focusing on Transition Age Youth (TAY).

Have you seen these donation meters on the streets in any cities you’ve traveled in recently?

Evidently, Tucson has a program in place. Here’s an article about that.

The idea is to allow people to donate to combat homelessness by putting change (or using a card) at these refurbished meters, rather than giving money to the homeless directly.

There is an organization, called Real Change, which has been working on this issue, and placing meters around on street corners.

Homeless advocates are responding to these donation meters, on both sides. Here’s an interesting, but too brief, article about concerns that some folks have about donation meters.

Homelessness is a growing problem in downtown Phoenix. Since the Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) had to close down a building that housed hundreds of people downtown, we have seen an increase of people on the streets.

To be fair, despite all of the good work that CASS does, they can’t fully address homelessness with the conditions they are working under now. The Arizona legislature has for years cut the dollars that used to go to helping people who are in severe need to get houses.

Advocates will tell you that we need a completely different approach. Rather than warehousing people in poor conditions, many of whom are in need of behavioral health services, drug rehab services, healthcare and job location services, we need to give them affordable housing options where they as individuals are integrated in to stable neighborhoods.

This costs money in the short term, but pays for itself in the long-run.

As realtors, out goal is to make certain people have a roof over their heads, where they want to live. However, the massive build-out of apartments has not resulted in more affordable housing –even for moderate-wealth individuals.

Through 2018, we will focus on this issue. We will encourage donations to our Charity Referral Network to direct toward the housing crisis, and we will give personally.

What do you think?

The Willo Home Tour is right around the corner, on February 11th. This year is the 30th anniversary of the tour. Here are my tips on how to have a great time.

First, a couple disclosures. I live in Willo, but I’ve never put my home up on the tour. I purchased it in late 2013 as a short sale home, in need of quite a bit of work. With our busy schedule with our clients and my legislative duties, the renovation schedule is stretched out over a decade. So, its gonna be a while.

If you are new to Phoenix and you want a primer on the Willo Neighborhood, have a look at this video that I did a few years ago. Its the pre-beard days, and quite a bit goofy, but we had a lot of fun with it.  We did videos on other neighborhoods on our Youtube Channel, as well. (We just re-uploaded them all, so that’s why they have no views.)

Any-who….

Here’s what you need to do to get the most out the Willo Home Tour:

1) Get your tickets right away. They won’t run out, but its good to get them now, rather than standing in line.

2) The Willo Affair happens the evening prior to the tour and is quite a beautiful outdoor dinner in the neighborhood.

3) There are a bunch of food trucks and options, so don’t worry if you didn’t get breakfast on the way out the door in the morning. If you feel like grabbing breakfast, there are many near-by options, including Vovomeena, HobNobs, Press Coffee at the Muse Apartments, and so many other choices.

4) Support the local vendors! I’ve been out there with the vendors for years. They work hard and always appreciate a little love.

5) Wear comfortable shoes. Even if you take the shuttle, you are going to put some steps on that ol’ FitBit.

6) If you have accessibility concerns, check with the organizers. Not every one of these old homes is accessible. Some are, some are not.

7) Parking is a little mad. If you can park a little further away from the tour start, I suggest you do it. The weather is perfect to be outside, so take advantage of the stroll or roll!

8) Be mindful that people live in these homes. They work very hard to get them ready for you to see. But, if you have kids or pets that might want to explore, it may be best to find alternatives for them.

If you enjoyed this one, you might also like the Coronado Home Tour, in February. The Encanto-Palmcroft Home Tour only happens every other year, alternating with the Windsor Square Home Tour.

Here is a great example of why it is important to know HOAs (Home Owner Associations). In particular, why you need to read the CC&Rs (Covenants Conditions and Restrictions), as well as the Rules and Regulations (which describe what you can and can’t do with the property) and Bi-Laws (which describe how the HOA is run) when you purchase a home with an HOA.

Have a look at this story about possible changes in state law regarding when an HOA can force the sale of your home, and how one state senator wants to make it even easier for HOAs to take your property.

Current law: HOAs can foreclose on owners if they fail to pay their dues for a year or get behind by $1,200 — whichever comes first.

Suggested law: One senator wants to allow HOAs to foreclose if you are only six months behind on HOA dues, regardless of the amount.

Have a look at this article from the Arizona Republic for a run-down of the status of the issue.

Here is our take on this issue. First, it is surprisingly easy to get behind six months for some people. We saw it a lot during and after the Great Recession. I served on an HOA board myself, as we dug our way out of that terrible time and back to financial stability.

Second, there are many ways that HOA boards and board members can pile on fees when members first get behind on dues, such that getting caught up gets even harder.

So, while this is less of a problem in a strong economy, it could become worse the next time the economy weakens.

We are not posting this to take a position on this bill. Rather, this is a lesson in the importance of reading your HOA documents during your inspection period.

We understand HOAs and we can help you if you choose to sell or buy in an HOA. Call us at 602-456-9388 for more.

Phreddie the Yeti and Your’s Truly

Thank you all for helping us raise more money for Community Food Connections than we ever have before at the 2017 Phoestivus Market. We raised over $15,000 to support our city’s downtown farmer’s market. Total sales for both nights at the market were over $150,000.

While we don’t have an official head counter, we are certain that we saw well over 3,000 people on each night of the event.

A special thanks needs to go out to Sara Matlin, the director of the farmer’s market at the Phoenix Public Market, a division of Downtown Phoenix Inc.

As the years have gone by, I find myself doing less and less with the market logistics, as Sara has professionalized the operations in a way that I can only dream of.

So, we all get to spend more time at the market just talking to participants and vendors, rather than running around, putting out fires. This means a lot to me, in particular. I walked around the market both nights with a permanent grin of my face, seeing the thousands of people really enjoying this event.

We’ve become an institution in Phoenix that supports fresh food and Community Food Connections, and Sara gets a great deal of credit for that.

We, of course, could not do it without our sponsors. Our prime sponsor, Bookman’s has been a long-time supporter. As have been Impact Printing, Blue Sky Airport Parking, Downtown Phoenix Inc, Roosevelt Row, Dig It Nursery, Local First Arizona and, of course, us, The Get Your PHX Team.

This year, we welcomed the Arizona Opera, Pick Me!, Breadfruit, Roosevelt Point and Tuft & Needle.

We always get questions at or after the market about how one can become a vendor next year. Well, first, be locally owned and consider being a member of Local First. Then check out Phoestivus.com for more information and updates. Vendor applications are typically announced in late August and they fill up in only a week or so.

See you next year!

The Green Cleaning Tip for January 2018 is contributed thanks to Going Green House Cleaning. We use their services for our listings and recommend them for our clients.

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Happy New Year!

The holiday season has come and gone and the time has come to embrace the new year.

The new year brings a fresh start and the opportunity to set new goals and motivations for the year ahead. Yet somehow, this fresh feeling that we “feel” doesn’t always relay in to how our lives and homes look coming out of the hectic holiday season. We may feel renewed, but our surroundings may relay a different story. So how can we make our home feel the same way we do? Well, Going GreenHouse is here to help with our first green cleaning tip of 2018 (can you believe it?!?!).

Fridge:

After tossing old holiday leftovers, wipe the shelves and door with a microfiber cloth and an all-purpose cleaner made with plant-based ingredients. Pull your fridge out from the wall and unplug it. Then use your vacuum’s brush tool to gently clean the coils. (If your fridge has a removeable grille in the front, unsnap or unscrew it to get to the coils from the front of the fridge.)

Oven:

Corrosive chemicals in oven cleaners can cause breathing difficulty or skin irritation. Fortunately, you can make a surprisingly effective oven cleaner with a paste of ½ cup of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of dish soap, and water (about the consistency of toothpaste). Rub the paste into whatever holiday leftovers are lingering on the walls and bottom of your oven. Leave it for 5 minutes, then wipe clean with a wet rag or microfiber. To reach the back of the oven, wrap the microfiber around a spatula or long-handled spoon, this will help you reach those hard-to-get areas.

Windows:

Window cleaners may contain ingredients like ammonia and  isopropyl alcohol that may irritate your lungs. To remove gunk without these ingredients, rub a dollop of mayonnaise onto sticky spots from window decals and scrape with a plastic spatula (never use a razor blade, which can scratch the glass) use a plant-based all purpose or glass cleaner on the frame, ledge, and hardware and wipe clean. Then spray the cleaner on a microfiber cloth and wipe the window top to bottom in a “Z” pattern in order to prevent streak marks and create consistency.

Vent covers:

In addition to choosing cleaners with low levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), cleaning your vent covers is an easy way to help protect your home’s indoor air quality. Get rid of dust bunnies and allergens by unscrewing vent covers and placing them in a sink filled with hot water and a squirt of dish soap. Wipe the covers carefully with a microfiber, dry, and replace.

Carpet:

Carpet can trap (and hold) dust, dirt, pet dander, and allergens. To freshen and deodorize your carpet, you don’t need special cleaners — just sprinkle baking soda on the entire area and let it sit for at least an hour (the longer, the better). Vacuum it up and repeat if needed.

Although keeping a clean home can seem like a never-ending task, these are a few items that will help you get the new year started on the right foot! Don’t forget, if you need an extra hand, Going GreenHouse LLC is here to be of service! Happy New Year!

As part of a larger strategic plan to raise awareness around climate change and public health, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health is launching the Climate and Health Champions Recognition Program.  They are seeking nominations for youth, individual community members, businesses, and organizations in the county, who are taking action to improve health in the face of a changing climate.

You may know some ideal candidates for these awards, and we’d love to hear about them.  The county is circulating this announcement to our existing community partners.

The Climate and Health Champion Awards recognize local youth, individuals, businesses, and organizations that are taking steps toward implementing sustainable solutions, eco-friendly practices, or policies aimed at improving health and/or improving health equity (through elimination of economic or social barriers to health) that are at risk of climate-sensitive hazards.

Climate-sensitive hazards are exposures such as poor air quality, heat, flooding, drought, wildfires, dust storms, vector-borne disease, etc. that put people’s heath at risk and are influenced by local- to global-scale climate change.

Here are some examples of what eligible projects might include:

• water collection/distribution to address high summer temperatures
• water conservation to address the potential for drought and water scarcity
• school or community garden building
• tree planting to increase shade or combat air pollution
• community cleanup/beautification to encourage walking or biking
• composting or recycling programs that reduce landfill trash
• energy conservation
• trip reduction and hybrid fleet programs
• assisting vulnerable populations (children and older adults, individuals with physical/cognitive impairment, individuals living in poverty, individuals experiencing homelessness, etc.) with adapting to climate change