Guest Editorial: Crunch Time

By Bob Littlefield

Dear Friends:

At tomorrow’s Scottsdale City Council meeting Councilmembers will decide if they will sue to reverse the bad legislation that, if is allowed to go into effect, will nullify the referendum signed by 26,000+ Scottsdale voters who want a say in whether Taser-maker Axon will be allowed to build the largest apartment complex in Arizona history in our city. The question to be decided is, will Scottsdale Councilmembers stand up for their constituents or will they cave to Axon’s bullying? This should be an easy 7-0 vote, because even if you support Axon’s apartment proposal you should still vote for the lawsuit to preserve the right of Scottsdale residents to hold their elected officials accountable when they make bad decisions. Scottsdale voters clearly agree – the Council report for this item has over 30 pages of comments from citizens urging the Council to vote for proceeding with the lawsuit!

Our legal team believes this lawsuit has a good chance of success, in which case Scottsdale voters will have an opportunity to vote in November 2026 to approve or reject Axon’s apartment project. Axon clearly agrees that the lawsuit could succeed, since they are busing people to city hall tomorrow, and they’ll all be in Axon garb, probably carrying signs. In addition, Axon has already funded a Political Action Committee to the tune of $1M (so far, no doubt more to come) to trash Councilmembers who oppose their apartment project!

Is there anything we can do to fight this? The answer is yes – let your Mayor and City Councilmembers know how strongly you feel about this issue. Many of you have already emailed the Council in support of pursuing the lawsuit (thank you!), If you haven’t yet done so, please contact them at citycouncil@scottsdaleaz.gov and insist they stay strong and focused to vigorously oppose this bad bill in the courts. If you can do so it would also help if you would attend the Council meeting (which starts at 3 PM) and testify to show your support for the lawsuit.

The time for inaction is past. The loathsome “Axon bill” with soon take effect if not challenged, so now is the time for Scottsdale city government to grow a spine and take legal action to protect the right of Scottsdale citizens to challenge bad decisions of their city government via referendum! Tomorrow night Scottsdale residents will find out for sure which Councilmembers have our backs, and which will cave to Axon’s special interest demands!