Frequent readers of APG will remember how often we have talked about the problem of short-term rentals (STRs), how prevalent they have been in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley (as well as the rest of the state), and the challenges municipalities have had in trying to reign them in due to state law. There has been forward motion recently in PV’s … Read More
Ortega, Whitehead, Janik, Durham, Littlefield: Please Meet Kathleen Black
As recently reported by the Wall Street Journal Scottsdale now has the distinction of being America’s top city for inflation. We can think of better accolades. Related to this topic is something Laurie Roberts from the Arizona Republic recently wrote about: rising housing costs. Here is something very powerful and disturbing she wrote: “You’ve heard the stories, or maybe you’re … Read More
Allister Adel is Out at MCAO, and the Race to Succeed Her is On. How is it Shaping Up?
After a very tumultuous past 6 months, including treatment for alcohol abuse, staff resignations, public calls to resign and numerous reports of significant issues within the department, now-former Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel resigned from her office last week. The ink had barely dried from the resignation statement before the race to succeed her started to materialize however. Since Adel … Read More
Scottsdale PD is Solving Problems in School the Best Way We Know How: With Dogs
Law enforcement has a difficult job, and one that is even more difficult when it’s within the walls of a school. They have to walk a fine line between maintaining a degree of order and decency while also letting kids be kids and not prompting a response that could be quite damaging for the psyches of other children. Well the … Read More
A Paradise Valley Town Leadership Program? Councilmember Pace Brings Up an Interesting Idea
Our more politically ambitious or aware readers probably know of various civic and public affairs leadership groups in the Valley; Valley Leadership is perhaps the most prominent one, Greater Phoenix Leadership is another. These are groups dedicated to showing our region’s most bright and ambitious future leaders the ropes of what leadership actually looks like within the machinations of local … Read More
Somehow the Phoenix Open Will Get Even Wilder: Here Comes Sports Betting
It is Arizona’s sports event of the year, when the Super Bowl and Final Four aren’t here at least. It is known nationally by golf fans as THE Party in the PGA. It is most recently known by a hole in one followed by beer littering the 16th hole in a fit of public ecstasy. It is the WM Phoenix … Read More
In Women’s History Month, Women Lead the Scottsdale City Council – How Arizona is Ahead of the Curve
March is Women’s History Month, and while there are plenty more publications and writers who can give a better homage to it and do it more justice, we at the Arizona Progress Gazette see a proper opportunity to highlight women leading here in our neck of the woods: in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and in Arizona. In Scottsdale, this is highlighted … Read More
The High Cost of Doing the Right Thing – PV’s Fight Against STRs Could Cost It $1.6 Million
Short-Term Rentals (STRs) and the problems that they have introduced into neighborhoods have been a red-hot subject recently, and one that we’ve talked about frequently. We have also spoken about Paradise Valley’s attempts to reign them in after myriad complaints from citizens. Unfortunately, sometimes the best decisions have unfortunate potential consequences, and now we are learning more about those. According … Read More
Just As We Thought It Was Over: Spring Training Coming Back, but Financial Upside to be Muted
It is always perilous to write ahead of time about ever-changing situations. We typically write over the weekend for our blog posts which are scheduled during the week. The weekend-before-last, we wrote about how Spring Training was likely dead for the year and the impact that that would have on Scottsdale. Well it didn’t take too long to be proven … Read More
Scottsdale in Top 10 Nationally for Rent – When Will We Learn?
We have been shouting from the rooftops about the rental crisis here in Arizona and the inadequate responses from local leadership (and overreaching responses from Legislative leadership). If you’re a regular reader, this is nothing new to you. But now us here in Scottsdale have reached new heights in this regard; just not necessarily in the right way. According to … Read More