Guest Editorial: Fighting Scottsdale’s New Enemies

Dear Friends:

In last week’s newsletter I described how those of us who are fighting to protect Scottsdale’s special character and high quality have a new enemy, state government! Over the last few years our legislature and governor have passed legislation that, among other outrages, attempts to cancel the Axon apartment referendum, forces so-called “Accessory Dwelling Units” on Scottsdale, forces Scottsdale to allow underused commercial buildings to be “flipped” into apartments. and severely limits the ability of Scottsdale to manage short-term rentals. All of these outrages, if allowed to stand, have or soon will diminish the quality of life for Scottsdale residents.

What’s the motive behind these bad bills? One is simple, naked greed. Check out this radio interview with State Representative Joseph Chaplik. Joseph is a legislator himself, so he has a front-row seat to all of the dubious goings-on at the state capital.

Another motive is there are a lot of legislators who just hate Scottsdale. Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, was asked by the Scottsdale Progress if he feels like the new adaptive reuse language was geared at one city in particular? “It’s pretty clear it was targeting Scottsdale,” Kolodin said. “It’s their favorite thing to do,” he snarkily added.

For these reasons you can expect more assaults from the legislature and governor on Scottsdale’s ability to give our residents the quality of life they want. So, is there anything we can do to fight this?

The answer is yes, but it will require political will and courage on the part of our Mayor and City Councilmembers. Scottsdale is a charter city which in Arizona is a municipality that operates under a locally adopted, voter-approved charter, essentially its own constitution, granting it greater local control and autonomy. In the past other charter cities such a Phoenix and Tucson have used the courts to successfully challenge legislative meddling in their affairs. Scottsdale, not so much.

But the time for inaction is passed. 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 our city’s special character and high quality of life. There are lots of holes in the “Axon bill” and a recent Arizona Supreme Court ruling that a proposed citizen initiative in the City of Page is legislative in nature and is eligible to be placed on the ballot reaffirms the constitutional right of qualified voters to initiate local laws. So success, while not assured, is certainly worth pursuing!

If you agree please contact Scottsdale’s Mayor and City Councilmembers at citycouncil@scottsdaleaz.gov and insist they stay strong and focused to vigorously oppose this bad bill in the courts. Don’t let them get cold feet and give up the fight to prevent Axon from forcing the biggest apartment project (1875 units) ever in Arizona on the residents of Scottsdale. Even more important, don’t let them sit idly by while Axon destroys the right of Scottsdale citizens to challenge bad decisions of their city government via referendum!