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Two young idealists are mobilizing the community to envision a brighter future for downtown Phoenix.

Ryan Tempest, 31, and Quinn Whissen, 28, created the website This Could Be Phoenix two years ago, and the site’s traffic has been increasing ever since.

Tempest said the website was a result of his and Whissen’s involvement in community events and their desire to fill a niche in the community that they felt had been left open.

“We started looking at vacant lots and vacant buildings and thinking about the possibilities of what they could be,” Tempest said. “We decided to come up with a website that could be a platform to envision what those spaces could be and where community members could envision what those spaces could be.”

This vision gave rise to what Tempest and Whissen call “Envision Projects,” which are renderings of vacant lots, abandoned buildings or entire city blocks that have been digitally made-over to reflect new potential.

“It can be frustrating as a resident to see all these things and wish you could do something about them, but not be able to,” Tempest said. “I thought that this was kind of a good way, where even though we can’t literally build something there, we can still have a say and put out a vision, and inspire people and start to get people to think about what the possibilities are.”

Tempest said two Envision Projects are in the planning phases of becoming a reality, but have yet to be released on the website.

Outside of the Envision Projects, This Could Be Phoenix hosts a film series at the FilmBar in which movies are chosen that can be related to the downtown community are played and discussed with a panel of speakers.

Tempest and Whissen have also been invited to a number of community meetings where they are able to give input on the direction of the city.

Whissen said the goal of This Could be Phoenix is not only to motivate community members to envision downtown’s future, but to change the perception of what it is already like.

“Downtown, for a long time, was neglected. It was unsafe, and there was just not a lot going on down here, but I think a lot has changed recently,” she said. “The light rail came here, ASU has a campus here, and so we wanted to kind of figure out how can we help change the perception of downtown Phoenix, because a lot of people still feel like it is an unsafe place to come, and that’s not true.”

One way they have tried to accomplish this is by holding “Better Block” events, like one that was held last September in which vendors and community members came together to transform a city block into an area with vibrant street life.

Whissen said another version of this event is being planned for an alley they are hoping to clean up and use as a venue for a fundraising event to build an actual Envision Project there one day.

“After two years, we’re now in this phase where we’ve met so many good people and made connections that we can actually start to get these projects funded.” she said. “So that’s our next hope. That they’re not just going to hypothetical ideas, even though that’s the greatest thing to do to engage the community, but we also want to make some of these improvements happen.”

Wayne Rainey, owner of MonOrchid and an active member of the downtown community, said he feels This Could Be Phoenix is successful in activating the community, and projects like these are necessary to revitalize the city.

“Frankly we’re a little desperate,” he said. “Downtown has been a ghost town.”

Rainey said that because Phoenix has largely been a suburban city in the past, it is now struggling to become an urban central.

“I think (This Could Be Phoenix) is a great forum,” Rainey said. “Every neighborhood has its own issue and agendas, but putting all those ideas in one basket to see how they relate to one another is really important.”

Related Links:

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