American fiction writer John Gardner once observed “History never looks like history when you living through it.” And so it has always been in our fair city.
Architects, urban planners, builders and artists rarely begin their work with the intention of making history. Their sole thought is to do their best work and put forth their most inspired effort in the hopes that they have added something valuable to our collective experience.
In today’s culture we are consumed by the here and now. Because of our obsession with the present we frequently fail to honor either our history or spend any time imagining the future.
Case in point --- our nearly 20-year-old General Plan. Our attention and interests are myopically confined to the present.
The irony, as Gardner noted, is that while we focus on the present we fail to recognize that as each present moment passes it immediately becomes history.
This may seem a little esoteric. So let’s bring it down to Google street view and let’s examine Scottsdale’s newest city council-approved downtown project, Southbridge II.
This roughly 1-million-square-foot development is by any measure, a major investment and a complex redevelopment project. And while it checks all the boxes required by the city for approval, and not only survived but benefited from public input, it has none-the-less sent paroxysms of fear into the hearts of people afraid of losing our “Old Town.”
Ironically, we might speculate that 50-75 years ago people were bemoaning the construction of three story buildings, the same buildings today some consider historic or preservation-worthy. Those three story behemoths brought cars, traffic and strangers to our little burg and it was very distressing to some.
Others recognized opportunity and downtown Scottsdale became a place of vibrancy and excitement. No longer a sleepy outpost in the Sonoran Desert, Scottsdale had finally become not just another place, but a premier destination.
What those early pioneers and today’s protesters have in common is the inability to recognize that they are seeing history being built before their very eyes, in real time.
Fifty years from now our children and grandchildren may well be marching in protest of some new project that threatens their special place, their historic landmark, the one they call Southbridge II.
It’s time for everyone to put on new glasses. The ones with one lens that sees today clearly and the other lens that allows us to see the future with more clarity.
We can and must honor the past as we look to the future. If we can’t?…Well that will need to be the topic for a future opinion piece.
Happy Holidays. Now go grab an egg nog!
Editor’s Note: John Little is a candidate for the Scottsdale City Council. He is also the city’s former transportation general manager, executive director of downtown and city manager.
