Pardon Us

Now that President Trump has relieved Sheriff Joe Arpaio from legal concerns we thought it timely to relay anew a related post we made back on March 9, 2016. If not prescient it may be insightful. Maybe It’s Trump With The Integrity, Not Romney March 9, 2016 Discuss this article » by arizonaprogressgazette Featured Editorials As Mitt Romney laid early plans … Read More

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 … Read More

Rethinking WestWorld

WestWorld is a funky show on HBO.  It challenges our thinking about the future.  And it’s time to challenge the thinking about another WestWorld, a weird property in Scottsdale.  We opine odd because the site serves as a flood detention basin and is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, but operated by the City of Scottsdale.  Not a lot … Read More

No DDC Releases Survey Results

From No DDC FINAL SURVEY RESULTS — THANK YOU, SCOTTSDALE. 9,000 of you saw it including 4,000 who saw the Survey on NoDDC and 5,000 who saw the promoted ad. We promoted the survey to all 140,000 Facebook users in Scottsdale to try to get an unbiased and representative sample of voters. Of those who opened the Survey over 84% … Read More

Scottsdale’s $60 Million Opportunity Cost

We have already weighed in on the repackaged Desert Discovery Center now known as Desert Edge.  It calls to mind a name more reminiscent of a bad country band than a worthwhile expenditure of taxpayer dollars. Our purpose now is not to regurgitate our most recent opinion (here is a link.)  It’s to raise a worthwhile question:  opportunity cost. Proponents suggest … Read More

Patrick Peterson Is Why The DDC Is On The EDGE

Few municipal projects have conjured as much controversy and consternation in recent years than the Desert Discovery Center (DDC), proposed as a Valyrian Steel-like Visitor Center at the Gateway of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Opponents have ransacked the purported rationale, even though form often gets in the way of their substance. Supporters, largely the inheritors of the idea’s inertia, often … Read More

Bill Clinton Coming To Scottsdale?

The former President was many things, including a splicing wordsmith.  During Ken Starr’s inquisition who can forget Clinton’s unforgettable, “It depends what the meaning of is, is.” And that brings us to today, in Scottsdale.  And former long-time Scottsdale Planning Department staffer, now developer lobbyist, Don Hadder. Hadder presided over city staff’s review and ultimate recommendation for the Troon North … Read More

Britney & The Barracks

When a beautiful young woman does this to her hair it’s a shame.  And disturbing. The same goes for misfitting projects like this at Troon North in Scottsdale. We have previously opined how wrong it would be for a speculative timeshare developer to be allowed to triple density adjoining the clubhouse of one of the finest public golf courses in the … Read More

Arizona is becoming a car capital for a new technology era

By Governor Doug Ducey (Originally published by CNCB) Things move quickly in Arizona. In July 2016, when I wrote an op-ed for the 10th anniversary of CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business series, I talked about how our state is slashing red tape and embracing the new economy. What a difference a year makes. Since then, Google began offering Arizonans … Read More