Ask anybody for places unique to Tempe, and the Mill Avenue District will invariably hit high on the list.
As I walk down the brick-paved streets outside Starbucks, however, I think to myself, “Is Mill really that unique?”
Beyond the college clientele and glitzy decorations, the area feels hollow — all show, no soul.
As Mill’s focus shifted over the past 10 to 15 years, increasing in scale and swank, so did its appeal — and not in a good way.
Most independent businesses that originally made the Mill Avenue District their home have abandoned ship, replaced by well-established chains.
The diehard supporters of local business mourn the casualties. They, like me, regret the area’s chosen direction.
As a more recent resident, I can’t grasp the scale and history behind this issue, so I turned to experience. I turned to long-time resident Nicholas Holthaus.
Holthaus shot and produced the documentary “Mill Ave. Inc.,” a guerrilla-style expose of Mill Avenue’s corporate metamorphosis.
He began by taping musicians and areas of interest as an amateur collection of concerts and events during the ’90s. However, as more and more of Holthaus’s favorite venues closed down, the film turned in a more serious direction. He started asking focused questions on social, cultural and political ramifications.
The film interviews prominent figures, including Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman and the man in charge of Mill’s redesigned architecture, Stu Siefer.
Local musicians and independent business owners, like Kimber Lanning of Modified Arts and Stinkweeds or Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore, also weigh in.
“Everyone showed me some little — or sometimes big — element that many of us never saw about our community,” Holthaus said in an e-mail.
Holthaus thinks one of his interviewees summed the essence of corporations best.
“‘People think corporations are wolves ... but they’re really sheep,’” he quoted. “[Corporations] do all this analysis on where the green is, move in, wreck the landscape. … [It’s a] perfect analogy.”
Holthaus views the economic downturn as a big I-told-you-so moment. He faults the corporate atmosphere’s “lack of personal responsibility” for the greedy actions of CEOs and their tendency to ignore common-sense limits.
He refers to a phenomenon becoming known as the Starbucks effect — the viral proliferation of chain stories.
The current downturn illustrates the problems with rampant growth. The economy can no longer support a coffee shop on every corner, or even a Borders, causing waves of layoffs and store closures.
To get the other side of the story, I spoke with Casaundra Brown, director of marketing and communications for Downtown Tempe Community Inc.
She disagreed with my assessment of Mill Avenue, claiming the area still offers many unique aspects.
“Our mission has always been to attract small, independent business owners,” she said. “We strive for a diverse, unique, urban environment.”
She’s right. Mill still offers some great, independent gems, but one trip down the street will demonstrate the one-sided irony.
Community events could redeem Mill, but even music concerts or Tempe’s Festival of the Arts have pushed truly local artist to the side.
Holthaus and I share one big concern: cultural community — that sense of knowing the people behind the businesses, of having pride in supporting their endeavors.
Corporate business’ bland, impersonal and recessed approach to communities suffocates me.
I don’t want everything standardized, normalized and optimized. I want more than faux-art and Italianized sizes, Starbucks. I want a unique, personal community.
Contact Channing about how to fight The Man at channing.turner@asu.edu.
