A New Downtown for Scottsdale

"The size and height of buildings in downtown Scottsdale are getting all the attention, but the real stars of the city's new downtown plan are the pedestrians.

A draft released this week describes walking as "such an essential part of what is meant by 'downtown' that the quality of the pedestrian environment - safety, comfort, interest, continuity - is a necessity."

It proposes banning "auto-dominated site designs."

If adopted and built, the plan calls for shady corridors, covered walkways, wide sidewalks with on-street cafés, and other changes designed to get pedestrians get out of their cars.

"We created a hierarchy of streets for pedestrian walk-ability," said John Lusardi, the city's advance planning director."