Amongst the many partisan primaries that will be decided in the July 30th election, Scottsdale will also have its municipal races on that same ballot, both mayoral and city council races. While perhaps one city council candidate will avoid a run-off and win outright in July (Tammy Caputi has the best chance with an enormous fundraising lead), the mayoral race … Read More
Political Observations in Scottsdale: If Signs Could Vote
By Ronald Sampson As a political nerd, I love to read the tea leaves of an election by strolling through the area. You can learn a lot about the dynamics of a race by simply driving around and seeing the street signs in the area. Granted, signs don’t vote, and sometimes an overabundance of street signs is more of an … Read More
Scottsdale Politics: How is the Mayoral Race Looking?
This year’s Scottsdale mayoral race won’t be anywhere near as wild as it was in 2020. Back then there were five competitors, including five current and past city councilmembers, vying for an open seat. This year it is much more tame, with an incumbent running against two former councilmembers. As is often the case in politics, the campaign finance reports … Read More
Don’t Let the Door Hit You…
We have spoken at length about Axon’s unwanted attempts to shoehorn a staggering nearly 2,000 apartments into North Scottsdale; about the apparent bait-and-switch that it pulled with both the city and the Arizona State Land Department, and its aggressive dismissal of the concerns of the area (get up to date here). Well Axon recently announced its quarterly financial results, and … Read More
Lisa Borowsky and a Feisty Detractor
Typically in politics, enemy combatants are sly. Shots are very calculated and carefully done; after all, if your enemy assumes power, you don’t want to be the obvious target to which they can affix their ire and attempts at retribution. But sometimes, people of importance simply don’t care to fly under the radar. They dislike the candidate so much that … Read More
BOMBSHELL REPORT: What is the REAL Axon?
You are probably aware of the complete mess that Axon put itself in recently with its outrageous plan to dramatically alter zoning laws in order to put up some 2,000 apartments in an area that doesn’t want them and can’t support them (get up to date here). While on its face this attempt is bad enough, a recent bombshell report … Read More
The Other Ortega is Off the Hook: Should He Be?
Many local folks are aware that there are two prominent Ortegas in the city of Scottsdale: not just the mayor (and former architect) Dave Ortega, but also art gallery owner Gilbert Ortega Jr.. It is hard to miss if you’ve spent any time in the shops in Old Town, as the name of the latter (technically, his late father Gilbert … Read More
Axon Rezoning Debacle Already Causing Major Uproar
Regular readers and folks in North Scottsdale very likely already know about the extremely controversial rezoning plan by taser manufacturer Axon. In short, they purchased a very large parcel of land right next to their headquarters that was originally zoned as being specifically for industrial or office use with residential use specifically prohibited. However, they later decided to attempt to … Read More
Scottsdale Mayor David D. Ortega Files for Second Term
Editor’s note: this is the press release sent out by the Ortega campaign this morning The Right Mayor at the Right Time for Scottsdale Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega files to run for a second term. Under his leadership, Scottsdale’s reputation as a beautiful, safe, clean and health-driven, world- class community has been strengthened. Mayor Ortega focuses on supporting public safety, … Read More
A Positive Development Comes at a Risk
It has long been spoken about on this blog and in other places the degree to which the unfettered development growth days are over with in Scottsdale. Instead, today’s ethos is leadership that requests a significantly higher bar for developers to hurdle over in order to earn a blessing from the council dais, and an engaged and active citizenry that … Read More