Regular readers know about the Arizona Coyotes proposed move to Tempe, the proposal of the Tempe Entertainment District, the lawsuit from Phoenix, and the opposition of some local muckrakers in Tempe (get up to date here). Well this Tuesday you can move past just reading our takes on it.
Indeed, there will be a debate this Tuesday from 6 to 7 PM between some of the players involved on both sides of Propositions 301, 302 and 303. Former Tempe mayor Hugh Hallman will join Coyotes CEO Xavier Gutierrez to demonstrate support for the project, a project that would almost certainly serve as a source of many local jobs, millions of dollars of tax revenue generated, as well as bring environmental remediation of a toxic landfill.
On the side that is in opposition to progress, what some might call Team Regression, public relations gun-for-hire and unusually proud PhD Dawn Penich-Thacker will be leading the way. She will be joined by the owner of Changing Hands bookstore Gayle Shanks. That the Tempe Entertainment District has anything to do with Changing Hands is extremely unclear, but the more cynical of us would tend to believe that since the bookstore is extremely popular that the owner’s participation would be a useful tool to sway more voters, not unlike getting a sports star to be in your political commercial.
As always, while we appreciate that you read our takes on important issues like this, the best way to be informed on a subject is to get even closer to the source yourself. In this case, you will be able to watch this debate live via the city of Tempe’s website; the details are found here.
We are confident that when you watch, you will see the dichotomy between ideas rooted in economic and environmental progress and ideas rooted in politics. That you will see the difference between the nexus of pragmatism and ambition and the nexus of talking points and narcissism. The difference between progress and regression.