The Art Of The Deal

But for the affability, tenacity, and standing of Sam Campana, a former Mayor of Scottsdale and early supporter of the city’s spectacular McDowell Sonoran Preserve, the Desert Discovery Center, Desert Edge, or whatever one wants to call it would still be known as the DDC but instead stand for Dead, Dead Center.
Despite the Preserve itself being established by public vote, and DDC advocates seeking to use a huge amount of preserve tax dollars, project proselytizers seem allergic to the notion that they too should be subject to a public vote.
We have commented before that winning a public vote is the best way to lance this community boil and ensure the project can actually gain momentum at some point in the future rather than continue to be a drag on the body politic and city coffers.  
Recently, their efforts to avoid a public vote took a major, underreported hit.  Few people have more currency on matters Preserve than former Mayor Mary Manross and former Scottsdale Community College President, Art DeCabooter.  They were there when it was hard to stand for the tax.  They were there before the Preserve was really cool.  And there, here they again stand as staunch advocates for . . . a public vote.
Malcom Gladwell years ago wrote about tipping points.  What started trends, what catapulted brands. If the notion of a public vote to resolve one of the most controversial, and unnecessary projects in Scottsdale history had not yet reached one, surely it has and must, now that the moralists of the McDowells are singing so from its hills.
Desert Edge remains a dead project walking.  Its only hope is to listen to the Art of (and on) the deal.