Tempe is changing the Ave again. We’re getting a “gateway sign.”

I put gateway in quotes because Mill Ave doesn’t need one.

You know when you’ve crossed over. The buildings change. The trees change. The street changes its mind about what kind of place it is. You can feel it through the windshield. You don’t need a spectacle to tell you that you’ve arrived.

I’ve spent enough years driving my cab up and down those red bricks to watch the Ave molt more than once. I can’t say every change has been good. I can’t say every change has even been necessary. What I miss most are the people. Sometimes the places too.

Long Wong’s. Rúla Búla. A few old ghosts still know those names.

According to the city, the new sign will hang just north of University Drive: giant metal letters spelling “MILL AVE,” floating about 20 feet above the street between two 27-foot pylons, each letter around 4 feet tall. High enough to clear the streetcar and its cables. High enough nobody’s going to miss it.

It’s public art. Fine. I don’t have a beef with public art.

What I have a beef with is the way City Hall keeps talking about community pride while treating actual community like litter that drifted in on the wind.

Mayor Corey Woods said the sign honors the significance of Mill Avenue, and the city says it wants public spaces that reflect community pride and elevate the Mill Avenue experience for all.

Great. Then open up actual public space.

Stop harassing street rats. Stop treating the red bricks like they’re only public when someone is shopping. Make room for concerts. Make room for art. Make room for the kids with patched jeans, the old burnouts, the weirdos, the broke, the loud, the stubborn, the people who actually keep the Ave from feeling like an outdoor mall with better lighting.

Mill was never colorful because it was polished. It was colorful because people lived on it.

That’s the part these improvements keep missing. You can welcome outsiders, tourists, students, whomsoever’s passing through. But you can’t keep doing that while sweeping away the people who wear the dust of the Ave on their jeans and then pretend you’re honoring the place. We are part of the street.

Installation starts with closures from on Sunday to Monday, April 13, while crews put in the pylons. The sign itself is scheduled to be hung early on April 20.

You’ll find me watching from my cab on the day they hang it.

Come find me. Bring hot cocoa. We can sit there and reminisce about how the Ave has changed, what it’s lost, and what parts of it the city still hasn’t learned to see.

A report that appeared this morning in MyFoxPhoenix.com relates the news that part of Mill was shut down by a “suspicious package” that local bomb squad detonated.

The report is extremely short,

Police responded to the intersection of 7th St and Mill Ave after reports of an unattended package near the statues, next to the parking garage.

They closed off the area and the package was detonated by the bomb squad.

After further investigation, it was determined that the package was not a threat.

Fortunately, it also means that there was no danger—however, it might be nice to know what they blew up. After all, once the bomb squad blew up someone’s luggage and shut down the light rail (smoldering underwear everywhere.)

At least we now know that Mil Ave is open again and ASU is safe.

As of July 3rd, the MADCAP (Mill Avenue District Community Art Project) Theaters have closed up shop for the summer. The reason? They need to upgrade their air-conditioning system. This venue has done an amazing job for Mill Ave in introducing a lot of new and upcoming artists to the street and I’d like to see it stay.

You can help out. Here’s some information about the campaign and what you can do as a resident of Tempe (or anywhere else) to be part of this:

MADCAP Theaters is a nonprofit organization located in downtown Tempe, AZ and opened in 2009. MADCAP was created to give smaller up and coming artists an opportunity to showcase their talents at a fraction of the cost of larger production spaces.

However, being located in a hot, desert, climate, we have run into an obstacle.  The 16 year old building has over 50,000 square feet, 6 auditoriums, two lobbies and two service floors that require air conditioning. Currently the A/C units are not functioning properly which means we cannot create a comfortable environment for our artists and patrons.

This is our 3rd summer duct taping our air-conditioning units together, and with so much potential, we must reach out for community help or MADCAP will need to close indefinitely. In order for MADCAP to operate, we need working A/C, and ask for your help to reach our financial goal.

I’ve been participating on and off in MADCAP since it appeared in 2009. I’m not a huge player, but I’ev enjoyed what they’ve been doing for Mill. However, with them having trouble with the A/C—and I can attest that’s a huge problem with my cab sometimes—this means that we won’t have them until we can get that fixed up again.

They need to raise about $40,000 for replacement parts for their lobby A/C units (about $15,000) each and the large auditorium unit (about $10,000). There are multiple tiers of donations in the “stay cool” campaign that you can take part in—see the web page for details. Some of them amuse me greatly, such as having your name on the THANK YOU posters at the venue.

So far, only $500 has be raised and there’s 62 days remaining.

Link, via IndieGogo; link to madcaptheaters.com.