#LocalBuzz: Highs, Lows and In-Betweens

by Scottsdale Pinetop The Highs *Councilmember Kate Gallego leads Phoenix mayoral race fundraising with more than $1 million raised. *Councilman Daniel Valenzuela has been endorsed by five former Phoenix City Councilmembers: Peggy Neely, Claude Mattox, Peggy Bilsten, John Nelson and Maria Baier. *Bill Crawford has given back to the community by donating school supplies to Vista Del Camino Community Center … Read More

Guest Editorial: Passing & Accepting The Public Service Baton

By Pam Kirby Ms. Kirby has twice been elected to the Governing Board of the Scottsdale Unified School District and previously served from 2008-2014 on the Paradise Valley Town Council. Life, and public service, can be a lot like a relay race.  Work as a team, try as hard as you can, then hand off the baton. That’s what I … Read More

What’s Up With The Ritz-Carlton In Paradise Valley?

A new Ritz-Carlton hotel and surrounding residential and retail uses was approved on a narrow 4-3 vote by the Paradise Valley Town Council two and half years ago.   Since then the project has been coifed more by advertisements than shovels.  And people are starting to talk about it.  And worry.  Take this recent article in the Paradise Valley Independent.  Here … Read More

Guest Editorial: What’s Up With Linda Milhaven?

By Scottsdale Pinetop Fundraising plays an important role in getting a candidate elected to public office, at all levels. Without sufficient sums of money, a candidate can fall short communicating. This doesn’t mean the person who raises and spends the most wins every time, but it’s true more often than not. And while there are occasional exceptions in Scottsdale like … Read More

Nattering Nabobs Of Nonsense

Excuse us if we borrow and take license with the “nattering nabobs of negativism” phrase patented by Vice President Spiro Agnew in his critique of media. We invoke a related phrase now because the recent missive from the “Desert Edge Advocates” in their “Views” eblast earlier this week demands it.   To a small extent we feel sorry for the … Read More

#LocalBuzz: Highs, Lows and In-Betweens

By Scottsdale Pinetop The Highs *Bill Crawford has currently raised $52,558.05 based on his 2nd Quarter campaign finance report for his Scottsdale City Council campaign. *Coalition for Greater Scottsdale (COGS) announced two endorsements for Scottsdale City Council, Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield and Solange Whitehead. *On July 9th, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 640 announced their endorsement of Councilwoman Kate … Read More

The Test Of Time

Besides God’s work in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve perhaps the two most talked about creations in the city, albeit man made, are Taliesin West and the Indian Bend Wash. One was the winter home of Frank Lloyd Wright, the other municipal magnificence to create a striking recreational amenity rather than a concrete flood control bin like the Los Angeles River.  … Read More

Guest Editorial: Immigration Déjà Vu For Arizona

By Scottsdale Pinetop It only seems like yesterday when Arizona’s Republican governor, Jan Brewer, signed the state’s notorious anti-immigrant bill, S.B. 1070, into law in 2010. And while most of the law was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court in Arizona v. US (2012), it became the foundation of the Republican Party’s stance on immigration. Fast forward eight years, … Read More

Exerpts From The Wall Street Journal: Kavanaugh Is A Mentor To Women #HeToo

By Amy Chua The Wall Street Journal July 12, 2018 Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s jurisprudence will appropriately be dissected in the months ahead. I’d like to speak to a less well-known side of the Supreme Court nominee: his role as a mentor for young lawyers, particularly women. The qualities he exhibits with his clerks may provide important evidence about the kind … Read More

Irascible vs. Intuition

Bob Littlefield meet Kathy Littlefield. The former served for many years on the Scottsdale City Council before term limits prompted him to run for the Arizona State Legislature.  But he lost in the 2014 Republican primary to Jay Lawrence.  And then Bob decided he wanted to become Mayor, running against popular incumbent Jim Lane while his wife, Kathy, served on … Read More