Linda Milhaven had what could generally be considered a successful time on Scottsdale City Council, and while her bid for Mayor wasn’t quite as successful, she has maintained a strong presence in the city, speaking up for issues that she feels strongly about. She has been an asset for this city and one of its best cheerleaders.
However, a recent email from her going after current Councilwoman Jan Dubauskas (screenshot above) left us scratching our heads a bit. She took her to task for…having a high bar for design for projects.
Yeah…a bit unusual.
She is well within her rights to comment and hold a councilmember’s feet to the fire; that is welcome and positive. But this wasn’t that.
She criticized Dubauskas challenging a project that met Scottsdale’s existing design guidelines, but that criticism misses the point. Dubauskas’ vote against the project, because it “didn’t look like a Scottsdale project” reflects a broader, legitimate concern: that the city’s current standards may no longer reflect the expectations of its residents. While the Development Review Board approved the project 5–1, it is entirely within a councilmember’s duty to question whether those standards remain sufficient.
Dubauskas isn’t showboating; she’s signaling that Scottsdale deserves better than cookie-cutter compliance. Her appeal to the City Council, joined by Graham, Kwasman, and Littlefield, was not about optics, but about accountability. Yes, process matters. But so does leadership. Raising the bar sometimes means stepping outside bureaucratic comfort zones and saying, “This isn’t good enough.” High standards aren’t just about following rules; they’re about having the courage to challenge them when the community deserves more.
Does Milhaven think that everything being proposed adds to our city? That they are all architectural gems? If not, then why not raise the bar? If we want to live in a world-class city, then raising the bar is a real need.
Many cities will simply greenlight any projects without a critical eye for how it fits into the aesthetic of the area. The result is often a city that is drab, displeasing, and boring. A city of strip malls and apartment blocks that aesthetically aren’t far removed from the Soviet bloc. None of us want that.
High standards are part of what has made Scottsdale great. Why get in the way of that?