One of the strengths of the tony Town of Paradise Valley is that it micromanages everything about hotels and non-residential uses. The approach helps ensure a commitment to quality with volunteers at commission and council levels that rarely let something improper or poor fall through the cracks.
And, one of the bad things about the Town of Paradise Valley is its same micromanaging. Most any business owner will tell you that the more freedom and flexibility it has the more chance for success. Town staff and leaders have rarely migrated to this way of thinking, however. For example, a couple of years back a town staffer infamously tried to compel a new location for a prominent resident’s mailbox.
Fortunately, that type of thinking seems to have been put on hiatus. Look at this recent article from the Paradise Valley Independent.
The Paradise Valley Town Council has wisely adopted a plan allowing key properties in town more latitude to help them get through brutal times. It’s not only a refreshing display of municipal morality but financially wise too. After all, no sector in America has been economically hit harder by the Coronavirus than hotels. And there are a lot of them in Paradise Valley. The best of the best in the state. Revenues from them are a key reason no one in town pays a property tax. What oil is to Texas and gambling is to Nevada hotels are to PV.
Some cities, including the one next door in Scottsdale, have been slow to respond to a devastated business community.
That’s why the moves by Mayor Jerry Bien-Willner and the Town Council are so welcome. But they ought not to think this is all they can or should do. Businesses are fighting for their lives. Smart steps by cities and towns, like this one in Paradise Valley, can help give them an even better chance to survive and eventually thrive, again.