Government
John McCain’s Unlikely Legacy Project in Phoenix
In his final year, the senator worked to revitalize a long-abandoned riverfront project in central Arizona.
In his Phoenix office, Senator John McCain kept a poster on the wall depicting Tempe Town Lake and the commercial developments that sprang up there after the man-made waterway opened in 1999. Wellington “Duke” Reiter, executive director of Arizona State University’s City Exchange Program, said that when he saw the picture, he knew McCain understood the power of the project.
Today, the lake is a bustling attraction in the middle of the Phoenix metro area. But it’s just a sliver of a massive project first proposed in the 1960s that envisioned new green space, recreational areas, commercial development, and walking corridors along a 40-mile stretch of the Rio Salado (Salt River) that snakes through the city.