By Larry Kush Today, I needed to drop off a document at the state land department on West Adams in Phoenix located just a block East of the Arizona State Capitol. This neighborhood has become the settlement area of a major portion of Arizona’s Homeless population. Lining most of the cross streets in the area are countless tents housing individuals … Read More
The New Battle Lines with the Rio Verde Foothills Water Crisis Emerges: the City of Scottsdale v. Maricopa County
For a few moments, we thought that the Rio Verde Foothills water crisis was mostly resolved. We thought we had turned a corner, and that an agreement had been largely agreed upon. But to the detriment of the citizens of the Foothills and to the benefit of the pundits who appreciate good stories to write about, the story is clearly … Read More
Breaking News: Letter to Mayor and Scottsdale City Council – Proposed Changes to Zoning Ordinances
From the Goldwater Institute Mayor David D. Ortega & Scottsdale City Council Members City of Scottsdale 3939 North Drinkwater Blvd. Scottsdale, AZ 85251 Re: Proposed Changes to Zoning Ordinance Dear Mayor Ortega and Members of the Scottsdale City Council: As an organization dedicated to the protection of private property rights, we are writing to express our concern with respect to … Read More
Guest Editorial: Councilwoman Solange Whitehead needs to get her facts straight
By Larry Kush On February 10th Councilwoman Whitehead submitted a guest editorial to this paper citing her outrage over a proposed state senate bill known as SB1117. This proposed bill is in response to the likes of councilwoman Whitehead who, along with other council members throughout the valley, have done everything in their power to deny the rights of private … Read More
Ruben Gallego is Running for the US Senate: What a Potential Three-Way Race Means
Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been quite the magnet for attention. She has relished her position as a swing Senator, one of the very few of the 100 senators that is a genuine question mark on many votes. She seems to enjoy the spotlight, with her fashion and mannerisms often getting the press’s attention. But one very clear point of attention … Read More
Scottsdale is Leading the Way in Water Conservation: Plenty of Pain is Left Though
Photo Credit: azcentral.com Water is the most critical issue in our area, as nearly everyone knows (you can get up to speed on our perspectives about it here). To that end, we had some good news recently, but it also comes with concern and potentially even dread at what is to come. We found out recently that the city of … Read More
Rio Verde FootHills Water Update: They’re Suing the City, and It Could Have Been Avoided
Regular readers are well aware of the water crisis that’s been unfolding in the Rio Verde Foothills on the outskirts of Scottsdale; if you have not kept up you can get up-to-date here. Now that the water cut-off deadline has come and gone the situation has gotten ever more tense in the unincorporated municipality, with the desperation of the citizenry … Read More
Scottsdale City Council Swearing-In Remarks: What We Learned
The Scottsdale City Council held its inauguration and swearing-in event last week, with two members (Kathy Littlefield and Solange Whitehead) being re-elected to a second term and one (Barry Graham) being new to the council dais. Each of the members was given an opportunity to speak, and as such gave an opportunity to peer in and speculate as to how … Read More
The Winds of Change: Regulation is Now in Fashion in Scottsdale
My ohhh my, what a change only a handful of years can make. It wasn’t too long ago that a Jim Lane-led Scottsdale embraced development and growth. It would seem that the pendulum has swung and swung hard in the other direction. In a 6-1 vote, the Scottsdale city council recently voted to adopt a series of international green building … Read More
Unfortunate Requests for More Unnecessary Density in Scottsdale
By Ronald Sampson There has been a concerted shift away from the development hey-days of the past in Scottsdale, when it felt as though any interesting and well-financed idea conceived by developers would make its way through the city council with relative ease. More recently traffic, crowds (i.e. population density) and construction have made activists out of everyday people, and … Read More