By Bob Littlefield
Dear Friends:
For over a year coverage of the attempt by Axon to build a massive apartment complex in Scottsdale has dominated local media. Yet despite all this attention there is a huge amount of misinformation in the publics’ mind about what is the status of that situation. This misinformation is coming from the proponents of the Axon plan, who are busily trying to find a way to escape accountability for their betrayal of Scottsdale voters, 70% of whom vehemently oppose this project.
For instance, Councilwoman Solange Whitehead, the original architect of this debacle, has publicly claimed “the Axon debate is over.” It is easy to see why she wants citizens to think this because she is running for re-election in a mere five months and she doesn’t want the voters to remember her betrayal of them when they cast their ballots.
But she is dead wrong; the Axon debate is actually far from over. In fact, in the last two months TAAAZE has filed lawsuits against the State of Arizona (to overturn the odious “Axon bill” which took away the right of Scottsdale voters to refer bad decisions by their City Council) and against the City and Axon (for trying to bypass the legal process for approving developments in Scottsdale for Axon’s benefit). Both of those lawsuits will be heard by the courts over the next few months, and I am optimistic the will of Scottsdale citizens will prevail!
The other leader of the pro-Axon faction, Mayor Borowsky, is trying to justify giving Axon even more than they asked for by whining “I had no choice, the State made me do it.” Scottsdale is a charter city, and other charter cities in Arizona have successfully overturned state mandates in the past. But the Axon wing of the City Council has refused to challenge the state in court, leaving it to TAAAZE to carry that ball! TAAAZE is doing the job the city should be doing and would be doing if Mayor Borowsky and her allies had voted with the residents instead of caving to Axon.
So don’t believe the pro-Axon crowd when they try to gaslight you into believing that the fight against the Axon apartments is over and it is time to move on. Actually, the upcoming city election is your opportunity to take meaningful action by voting for those candidates who supported the residents and against those Councilmembers who bent the knee to Axon.
We will keep everyone informed as events develop.
My campaign to rejoin the Scottsdale City Council is going nicely! However, the state legislature has decided to move the primary election date back by two weeks, which means we have two weeks less time to collect petition signatures. So, if you haven’t already signed my nominating petition, please do so online at https://go.azsos.gov/6dmk. It only takes a few minutes!