By Ronald Sampson
Photo Credit: Arizona Globe
At this point I probably don’t have to tell you about Axon’s awful mega-apartment complex plans for Scottsdale, the fits that it has pitched when it didn’t get its way, and the attempts to circumvent the will of the people and eliminates your rights as voters along the way (you can get up to date here). Its quixotic battle has made its way to the state legislature, and we are starting to have some clarity.
In an unfortunate turn of events, Axon has been getting its way at the State Capitol so far. Scottsdale voters banded together to get enough signatures to put it to a public vote on the ballot to reject or accept Axon’s plans, but that was too much democracy for Axon, and it felt the need to go to the legislature to retroactively take away that right. An original bill would have taken away this Constitutional right to many cities which was a problem for some legislators.
After the bill was modified in a “strike everything” bill, where the language was curated almost perfectly to specifically to impact Scottsdale while leaving other municipalities unimpacted, it received enough support in the House to pass, and will now head to the Senate for a vote there.
But even amongst disappointment and an egregious gaming of democracy, there were bright spots, specifically the Representatives whose district covers most of Scottsdale
Reps. Joseph Chaplik and Alex Kolodin consistently stood up against this bill from beginning to end. They listened to the will of the voters, and they understood that one of the major statements that Scottsdale voters have made in the last couple elections was that runaway development with no checks and balances (let alone with bullying and denying the will of the voters) was not what Scottsdalians want.
And I’m sure that it wasn’t easy. By nature, Republicans are business-friendly and Democrats are housing-friendly, and this particular issue was at the intersection of both. But this issue was just not that simple: it was about a bad corporate neighbor acting as a bully, about a poorly thought out development, and about using all the leverage you have to spit on the will of the people affected. It was far more than just a cut-and-dry business or housing situation.
We should hope that every single representative at the Capitol will look at every bill individually and examine it on its individual merits instead of what the party leaders say or what your personal biases lead you to, but it’s rare. Reps. Chaplik and Kolodin did just that…they listened to their constituents. While I may not agree with them all of the time, they did what was right in this case, and they earned my respect.