America knows Beverly Hills 90210 as one of America’s most famous zip codes. It’s starting to know Scottsdale 85255 as one of its best.
According to the Arizona Republic’s Catherine Reagor the northern Scottsdale neighborhoods of McDowell Mountain Ranch, DC Ranch and Grayhawk have surging property values.
And for good reason. They are uniquely somewhere. At the base of the McDowell Mountain Mountains. With great recreation and parks nearby. Proximity to the 101. Great golf courses. A terrific aquatics center. Good schools. The family mecca that is the Ice Den. And even its own version of Central Park known as WestWorld.
The celebration of this area is a lesson in the Scottsdale politics of 2016.
When proposed these developments were contentious. They involved “rezonings.” And it’s hard to believe that the Ice Den itself took a tortured trip all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court just to be allowed to open.
Yet today they are part of Scottsdale’s signature. The success of the 85255 is part of what makes Scottsdale so strong. When combined with revitalizing southern neighborhoods, the constant quality of life offered in Scottsdale’s central regions and the distinctiveness of the northern reaches its not wanting to claim the city as one of the best in America as Mayor Jim Lane often does.
But to listen to politicians like Robert Littlefield who are anti-business and anti-progress (and who probably sit at home watching television with rabbit ears) is to understand these neighborhoods would have never been if he was in charge. He never would have approved their “rezonings.” Good thing he wasn’t in charge judging from how good they have turned out and how much they have enriched Scottsdale’s reputation and quality of life.
As we celebrate Scottsdale successes like the 85255 it’s important to consider the kind of people that made them possible in the first place. They certainly weren’t like Robert’s Rules of Order.