By Scottsdale City Council Solange Whitehead
Last November’s resounding Prop 490 victory was challenged – yet again – by the Goldwater Institute. On Tuesday morning we prevailed in court.
To be clear, voters in every Scottsdale precinct approved both Propositions 490 and 491 this past November. Despite frivolous legal challenges and an egregious misinformation campaign to defeat Prop 490, Scottsdale voters stuck to their guns and voted to invest in our continued prosperity. The importance of these propositions that fund Scottsdale parks, Preserve wildfire mitigation, and public safety cannot be overstated. Preserving open space, maintaining world class parks, and retaining local control have been community priorities for generations.
Rather than accept the court’s ruling. the Goldwater Institute is appealing the decision and thereby wasting more of our resident’s tax dollars in an effort to overturn our votes. Their actions appear to go against everything that the institute namesake, Senator Barry Goldwater, cherished. According to his grandchildren and as evident in his writing and photography, Senator Goldwater was an environmentalist that appreciated and wanted to protect Arizona’s wild places.