It’s official. Most of the former Salad and Go locations in Phoenix will become 7 Brew Coffee locations.

Always fresh, restaurants are clean. My sister wants to come here every time she visits from Orange County.

Coyotes, snakes, and bats for sure, but raccoons?! That's a first!

Sitting out on our back patio (near Paradise Valley High School) enjoying the coolness and the lovely sound of the rain.

Bit windy

https://www.12news.com/article/life/books/reading-arizona/the-mesa-arizona-gateway-library-is-officially-the-worlds-best-new-library/75-739f47c6-f349-42ad-aa99-6b299f041006

I didn't see any posts about it here yet so hopefully it's not a repost.

The library was officially recognized by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) winning the 2026 public library of the year award for new libraries. 19 different libraries from 9 different countries were considered for this years best new library award.

It's awesome to see Mesa represented on an international scale for something so positive. With how crazy it feels like the world has been it's nice to step back and see all of the good still happening in our local communities!

West Valley lightning show before the overnight Monsoons. These storms are one of my favorite things about Arizona.

Hi! We have a single day where my husband and his sisters and our kids will all be in town. We’re hoping to get family photos - about 1-1.5 hrs. Budget $500-800. Any recommendations or available photographers here?

On November 7, 2023, Phoenix voters approved the City Council’s $500 million General Obligation Bond Program, which allocates funding for two new libraries and the expansion of Yucca Library.

In keeping with its tradition of honoring the southwestern environment, Phoenix Public Library names its new branches after plants native to the Arizona Sonoran Desert, reflecting resilience and encouraging a spirit of curiosity and learning.

Planning for the new library at Estrella Civic Space—located along Lower Buckeye Rd. between 91st and 99th Avenue—is now underway. Community input is welcomed to assist in naming this facility; voting will remain open until October 2, 2026.

Since it is a long list of options to go for watching a film in, I know they are not quite but totally equal despite the fact that it’s all under the same chain. So which is the one that would be most preferred in terms of being the go to for to see any film in?

Did you know we already offer free yoga classes? How about craft nights? What else would you like to see? Leave a comment here or tell the Parks and Recreation Department directly on our website.

Update

I attended the Council meeting today, and Mayor Woods kicked things off by announcing that the Axon contract was being pulled, and they would be removing the language around ALPRs. He clarified that the City’s position is that they are ending the use of all ALPR technology. They indicated it was a “clerical error” that resulted in the contract being included.

I have a meeting tomorrow with Council member Bobby Nichols, express that the city needs to do better: clerical errors that result in hundreds of thousands of dollars procuring technology should have been caught long before it made it on a council agenda.

OP:

Four days ago, the City of Tempe announced that they would be canceling their contract with Flock, covering their cameras immediately, and not be pursuing new ones with any other company.

This was great news, and I was very happy to hear that the progressive council members we voted in this year are having an impact.

It was a lie.

Tomorrow the Tempe City Council will be having a meeting, and buried in Agenda Item 8A1 is this blurb:

Approve the utilization of a five-year Sourcewell cooperative contract with Axon Enterprise Inc. for the purchase of various equipment, hardware, software and services utilized by the Police Department to include body-worn cameras, video cloud storage, Taser electronic devices, fleet cameras, and software to support the Real Time Operations Center, interview rooms, and evidence services.

So, I pulled the contract this is referring to, and found this:

Tempe is signing a five-year, $6,996,234.49 master agreement with Axon (Sourcewell #101223-AXN, effective Sept 1, 2026). The contract’s own scope paragraph lists five things: body cameras, Taser 10s, Fusus software for the real-time crime center, interview room cameras, and “Axon Fleet Cameras.” Nowhere in that summary does it say license plate readers. But if you go to the delivery schedule on page 6 of the PDF, item 80401 — “Axon Fleet 3 - ALPR License - 1 Camera” — appears twice: quantity 11 under the Fleet 3 Advanced bundle, and quantity 1 under Fleet 3 Advanced Renewal. That’s 12 vehicle-mounted automated license plate readers licensed from 10/01/2026 through 09/30/2031, with the matching hardware (11 Fleet 3 two-camera kits, Axon Signal Vehicle units, and Ericsson 5G routers) scheduled to ship Sept 1, 2026. The reason it’s easy to miss: the Fleet 3 Advanced bundle is priced at $0.00 net in this quote, so the ALPR capability carries no separate dollar figure and won’t turn up if you’re scanning the cost tables. Separately, the contract buys 1,284 fixed CCTV stream licenses and 216 CCTV AI stream licenses through Fusus — roughly $772K — to pull outside cameras into the RTOC, with no description anywhere in the document of what the AI analytics on those 216 feeds actually do.

I feel absolutely betrayed by the City Council on this. Here is the exact text that Mayor Cory Woods said just 4 days ago:

“In order to make sure that we’re not only just being directly upfront with our residents, our main goal was to provide public safety, but also make sure that we’re protecting public trust,” Woods continued. “And we understood that the longer this kept going on, we were going to see an erosion in public trust from the people who live, work and play in the city of Tempe.”

Tomorrow is 8/31/26 and at 6PM the Tempe City Council is having their monthly meeting: https://tempe.hylandcloud.com/AgendaOnline/Meetings/ViewMeeting?id=1959&doctype=1

I'll be there in person. If you live in Tempe, and are as disgusted at how the City is handling this issue as I am, I would encourage you to join me and use the public comment period to call this bullshit out.

PS: I know this sub is [r/phoenix](r/phoenix) however this subreddit is not only about the City of Phoenix, it is for residents from across the valley; and if you drive through Tempe, it should concern you too.

What do you think is the best enchilada red sauce to buy, and from what stores? I usually shop at frys, but I feel like I have tried all their brands and don’t really love them.

How is the timing on traffic lights spot on for speed limit driving? Going anything faster you’re just rushing to wait. North Phx and North Scottsdale area. You’d have to excessively speed to beat the lights.

Today I learned... Hail

Seriously this is one of the craziest sounding storms I've ever heard and I've been through Catrina.

Anyone know what's going on? Lots of marked Scottsdale police SUVs and a bunch of black unmarked or maybe faintly marked Tahoes. Some had their lights on in this lot.

I wish they'd open back up Valley Art on Mill and host a showing there.

My husband and I are looking for a decent primary care physician near South Mountain. If y’all have any recommendations I’d love to hear them.

My doctor is great but moved to Pinnacle Peak. She’s an hour away now. I don’t want to leave her but the drive is killer.

My husband has several old injuries from being a paramedic for 10+ years. He’s been having more aches than usual with the storms. We think it’s time he sets a PCP that can treat him or her him to the right specialist, if need be.

Thanks advance!
PS: Enjoy the rain - I washed my car!

I’m turning 40 in October and I’ve decided that, for once, I actually want to celebrate my birthday. The problem is… I have absolutely no idea what people do for milestone birthdays.
I’ve had kind of a rough history with birthdays. When I was a kid, I had a birthday party at a skating rink and invited literally everyone in my class and nobody came. Luckily my dad braved skating with me even though he didn’t know how and it still was a special day. As an adult, I tried throwing a birthday party again, and once again, nobody showed up. I kind of stopped trying to do anything special after that.
Then, right before my 30th birthday, my dad passed away, so my birthday kind of became associated with grief too.
Now I’m about to turn 40, and I really want to break that pattern and do something fun and memorable for myself. I don’t necessarily need a huge party or anything extravagant. I just want to have a birthday where I can look back and think, “That was actually a really good day.”

So, Phoenix people: what would you recommend for a 40th birthday? I’m open to anything from a cool bowling alley, arcade, rooftop bar, restaurant with the right vibe.