Guest Editorial: Despicable Me

By Scottsdale Watchman

Remember the hit 2010 movie “Despicable Me”? In it, the supervillain character Gru hatches a plan for the greatest heist of all times. He figures out a way to shrink and steal the moon. By the end of the movie though, he has a change of heart when three little girls he adopts make him renege on his nefarious ways.

Well, it looks like Paradise Valley resident and real estate agent Scott Jarson may be seeking to replicate Gru’s behavior.  

In the last several months, Jarson has spoken against the important landmark Museum Square development, proposed for the southern edge of downtown Scottsdale. Last Saturday, he allegedly stooped to a new low. At a community open house held at the Museum of the West for what’s proposed with Museum Square, over sixty children who participate in Greasepaint Youtheatre, which operates out of Scottsdale’s venerable Stagebrush Theater, attended. Stagebrush stands to benefit greatly from Museum Square as the developer will seek to improve the existing building and parking lot.

The budding young actors and actresses, as well as their families, were there decked out in “I Love Museum Square” t-shirts telling other attendees why they think this is an extraordinary project. Jarson was also attendance at that meeting. We’d love to tell you that like the three little girls and Gru, the Greasepaint stars pushed him to reverse his shameful ways. But we can’t.

At the meeting, he was raining on the kids’ parade harder than what Scottsdale’s experienced in the last 48 hours. Supposedly, he went up to kids berating and criticizing them and was purportedly telling them that Stagebrush wouldn’t benefit from anything built at Museum Square. So much for little kids warming his heart.

All along, his opposition has left us dumbfounded. We have written about it previously here, here and here.  

Previously, Jarson was replaced as the listing agent for another project by Museum Square’s developer, the ElDorado on 1st. He just wasn’t getting the job done. We have it on good sources that Jarson protested mightily, even seeking to be re-hired by MacDonald to list the Eldorado project. To paraphrase the discussions, Jarson wanted to be rehired and told higher-ups at MacDonald Development that he wasn’t opposed to Museum Square and that it would be terrific once complete. He wasn’t re-hired, however.

Voila, he then appears at Saturday’s community meeting, criticizing Museum Square and painting it as a poor plan for the city.  

There’s only one way to describe Scott Jarson’s actions: despicable him.