668 North, LLC recently purchased the mostly vacant former Chinese Cultural Center on 44th Street south of the 202 Freeway in order to establish a new headquarters and campus for approximately 350 of its 12,500 employees and team members. The new corporate headquarters is the latest investment near Phoenix’s light rail line, expected to have a notable economic impact for the … Read More
To the Arizona Worker
By Steve Farley for Governor When we think of the labor movement in Arizona, we are reminded of notable pieces of our past and present. From the Old Dominion miners in Globe who striked against wage decreases in 1896, to the ironworkers who helped build skyscrapers like Chase Tower in Phoenix – unions have always played a role in everyday … Read More
Stuart The Streaker
Remember the nut jobs, even the streakers, who jump the fence at baseball games to run around the outfield to gain attention? Years ago most responsible television networks stopped showing the romps so as not to reward the recklessness. Apparently, the Scottsdale Independent didn’t get the memo. While we applaud the publication for becoming the unquestionable leader in Northeast Valley … Read More
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
From the Arizona Republic : My Turn: Paul Penzone's law-enforcement circus is just beginning
Former chief deputy: If Sheriff Paul Penzone was serious about making a safe community, he’d seize more drugs, arrest more people – and actually enforce the law. By Jerry Sheridan Paul Penzone’s My Turn (”Where we’re taking the sheriff’s department after Joe Arpaio,” Aug. 6) was entertaining. His criticism of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, however, is unwarranted. I don’t have space … 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