By Bob Littlefield
Dear Friends:
Happy New Year! I want to start off 2026 by insuring everyone is up to speed on the status of our effort to stop Axon from building one of the largest apartment complexes in Scottsdale history against the express wishes of the vast majority of Scottsdale residents.
To recap; at the November 17th City Council meeting Mayor Borowsky and her sidekicks in the pro-Axon majority – Councilmembers Kwasman, Whitehead and McAllen – totally sold out to Axon at the expense of Scottsdale residents.
These four Councilmembers voted “yes” on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Axon that approved the unnecessary and unneeded 1,200 multifamily units. Using an MOU to approve a development is unprecedented and is, we believe, an illegal attempt to bypass the normal process for development review and public input.
Additionally, at a time of drought the council majority relieved Axon of its obligation to provide water for its project. Who thinks this is a good idea?! And for the first time in Scottsdale history, the developer will be allowed to govern itself when it comes to compliance with construction requirements, rather than answer to City inspectors.
The pro-Axon Councilmembers claim Axon will build 600 apartments and 600 condominiums yet included no language in the MOU to require any units to be condominiums; without such language the Borowsky-led approval allows for all 1,200 units to be apartments.
Council Members Barry Graham, Jan Dubauskas, and Kathy Littlefield voted against the Axon apartment scheme. They stood up for the residents!
There was an item on the agenda that night to have the city join the TAAAZE lawsuit to reverse the “Axon bill” which nullified the right of referendum for Scottsdale residents. Every time this item was voted on in the past it was defeated by the pro-Axon majority. On November 17tth it passed, but with so many amendments it will never take effect. So don’t let Borowsky, Kwasman, Whitehead and McAllen gaslight you into believing they voted to have the city join the TAAAZE lawsuit – they didn’t!
If we at TAAAZE win our lawsuit we can reverse much of the pro-Axon majority’s bad decisions, which is no doubt why Borowsky and her allies attached so many poison pill conditions to the City’s participation in it.
In addition to the lawsuit we had already filed against the state to reverse the “Axon bill” we also, in response to this latest Council debacle, filed a lawsuit against the city seeking to reverse this resident-unfriendly and clearly illegal MOU. The City and State have to respond to our complaints by January 23rd and the court hearings on our complaints will start in February and be heard over the next few months.
We will keep everyone informed as events develop.
Former Councilman Bob Littlefield
Chairman, Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions (TAAAZE)