By Scottsdale Pinetop From trains, planes and automobiles – and back to the good old bicycle. It’s the changing reality for many cities across the country. As the world works to control and eventually stop the spread of COVID-19, the pandemic has people abandoning their vehicles and turning to cycling as a resilient, reliable and recreational way of getting around. … Read More

By Scottsdale Pinetop Millions of people cross thousands of bridges every day and think nothing of it. Especially for big, busy cities – it’s simply a method to get people from point A to point B. But for one rural Arizona community, a new pedestrian bridge meant everything. The long-awaited, ten-year project of the Billy Creek Pedestrian Bridge along Porter … Read More

This article in the Arizona Republic doesn’t explain Scottsdale Mayor-Elect David Ortega’s unexpected and impressive victory entirely, but it does provide insight into how a left-leaning candidate won in a typically Republican city. Bottom line:  his candidacy likely would not have succeeded in another political year but he timed this mayoral candidacy well.  He also benefitted from Lisa Borowsky’s too … Read More

Unlike at least one member of the Paradise Valley Town Council that wants to hoist the densest project in the history of the community on the old Smoketree hotel property, last night the Paradise Valley Planning Commission showed sobriety in saying no. That’s what happens when a developer pays too much for the land and seeks a political subsidy in … Read More

The acrimonious and litigious relationship between the emerging Ritz-Carlton project and the Town of Paradise Valley is one of the more bizarre and unfortunate municipal dynamics in the Valley right now.    By all accounts the Ritz and its associated elements have done an impressive job constructing its hotel and residences.  The prices per square foot once seemed fanciful.  They … Read More