By Bob Littlefield
Dear Friends,
For 25 years, overdevelopment has been the dominant issue in Scottsdale elections — and the biggest threat to our city’s character and quality of life. Clogged roads, blocked views, higher taxes, and strained infrastructure are its lasting legacy. In 2024, voters delivered a clear message by rejecting every pro-overdevelopment candidate: Ortega, Durham, and Caputi were defeated, and Janik didn’t even run.
Yet incumbent Councilmember Solange Whitehead, along with 2026 challengers Raoul Zubia and Ethan Knowlden, continues to support more overdevelopment — especially the controversial Axon apartments. Whitehead has voted for the project eight times!
Unable to win honestly on their real platform (more apartments), Whitehead, Knowldon and Zubia are now depending on their patron Axon to defeat Barry Graham, Michelle Ugenti-Rita and I – the only Scottsdale City Council candidates in this election who stood up for you to oppose Axon’s massive apartment complexes – by spending literally hundreds of thousands of special interest dollars to run attack ads against the three of us.
Since Axon got all they asked for (and more) from Whitehead, Ortega, Durham, Caputi and Janik, you might wonder why they are working so hard to literally buy our City Council? Because they want more! Bottom line, if Axon defeats the candidates who told them “no,” Axon will NEVER hear “no” from the Scottsdale City Council again! If Axon manages to defeat us their current approval for 1200 units will magically revert to what they originally requested, 2500 units. Or even more – the sky will become the limit on how much they will be allowed to build!
The big lesson here is it matters more than ever who you elect to City Council! The whole reason we are in this mess is because in 2024 five Councilmembers (Whitehead and lame ducks Janik, Durham, Caputi and Ortega) went back on their campaign promises to be resident-friendly and approved the largest apartment complex ever proposed in the entire state, despite massive opposition from Scottsdale residents!
That’s why, if you want to preserve Scottsdale’s special character and high quality of life, I ask for your support me in the upcoming city election. For twelve years I served on the City Council and have a documented record of fighting overdevelopment. In the last ten years as a private citizen, I have been involved in every major resident-driven battle to keep Scottsdale special. Bottom line, I am the proven commodity you can trust to stay true to my resident-friendly promises once I get in office!
Learn how you can help at: https://www.boblittlefield.
Former Councilman Bob Littlefield
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