Alas, Phoenix laser wasn't such a bright idea
By: Shane Ennerson
Work to dismantle downtown Phoenix's laser begins today, with hardly a soul to lament its demise.
When the steel spider of a structure was built in 1986, it was billed as Phoenix's answer to the Eiffel Tower. It operated for less than a year before its lasers were turned off for good.
Now, the laser and Patriots Square, where it was situated, are being torn down to make room for CityScape, a huge, mixed-use project stretching from First Avenue to Second Street between Washington and Jefferson streets. Dismantling the structure will take three weeks. "I am not shedding any tears over it," said Attorney General Terry Goddard, who was mayor at the time the laser was installed. "The concept was noble, but frankly, it never worked."
The laser was the brainchild of architect Ted Alexander, and it captured the imagination of at least some people at the beginning, in the mid-'80s.
Patriots Square was being rebuilt to include underground parking, and a contract for design of the park went to Alexander.
In an early story in The Phoenix Gazette, Alexander said the laser would give the city "a town square that is unequaled anywhere in the country."
The laser was just the centerpiece. The amphitheater underneath the laser structure promised night after night of entertainment, fountains were supposed to keep everyone cool, vendors would keep everyone fed, and twinkling lights would illuminate the trees.
"The laser display is in perfect keeping with Phoenix's standing as a center of high technology and its aspirations to become even more so," The Arizona Republic said in an editorial.
"It would have been only half a park without the lasers," County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox said at the time, when she was serving as vice mayor. "Now, it's really going to shine."
It all was planned to open by fall 1987, with donations of lasers from Phoenix Newspapers Inc. and money from Valley National Bank, which subsequently became Chase Bank.
But park costs escalated, and it took years to open, mainly because of leakage into the garage below.
The laser did not illuminate the night sky until December 1990.
The public was under whelmed, and in short order, the mood changed.
Less than four months after its gala unveiling, the laser was targeted in a city budget cut. Operation and repair costs were higher than expected. Sometime in the summer of 1991, the laser had its last show, dying not with a bang but a whimper.
Freelance writer working for Dragonlasers at http://www.dragonlasers.com
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