By Ronald Sampson Political money sometimes buys outcomes. Other times it manufactures the opposite. The campaign against Barry Graham may end up as a case study in the second category. Axon and its allied committees spent heavily to remove him from the Scottsdale City Council. What they produced instead was his clearest identity in years. Graham was not cruising before the … Read More
Getting to Know Your Candidates: AP&G’s Exclusive Interview with Scottsdale Councilman Barry Graham
We reached out to all Scottsdale City Council candidates with the same questionnaire but with two questions personalized for each candidate at the end. The submissions have been posted in the order they were received back. Do you support the Axon development as originally proposed, including up to 1,900 residential units, or the compromise proposal of around 600 units? If … Read More
Better Together’s Latest Trick: Laundering the Money Trail Through Virginia
A Campaign Finance Report That Answers Nothing Better Together wants Scottsdale voters to believe it has nothing to do with Axon. Its second-quarter campaign finance report shows no ties back to Axon, at least not directly. Every dollar the PAC raised this quarter came from a single source: National Horizon Inc., a self-described conservative super PAC based in Alexandria, Virginia. … Read More
Guest Editorial: Scottsdale Apartments QnA
By Councilwoman Solange Whitehead Protecting Scottsdale’s Character My job is to protect Scottsdale—not to cast meaningless “no” votes for political theater. My record of stopping bad development is unmatched. Just as importantly, I’ve negotiated better projects and helped transform blighted, crime-attracting properties into vibrant destinations. I’ve also changed rules and improved the baseline for development: Adopted building codes that reduce … Read More
Axon’s Political Gamble: What Shareholders Should Know
By Vanessa Rogers A Public Company Playing a Very Expensive Local Game Axon Enterprise is no stranger to big bets. But its latest wager may be the riskiest one yet: pouring money into Scottsdale city council races through a political action committee, while the company’s stock sits roughly 27 percent below where it started the year. That is not a … Read More
Guest Editorial: Negotiating Scottsdale’s Prosperity: A Tale of Two Projects
By Councilwoman Solange Whitehead On the surface, Avala Scottsdale (Modus Companies) and Old Town’s AC Marriott Hotel (PEG) don’t appear related. But both followed a similar path—and show what happens when a Council negotiates hard and delivers prosperity for all in Scottsdale. Both projects are in highly desirable locations—though in Scottsdale, that’s every site. Avala, a single-story, net-zero energy rental … Read More
Top Events Ask City of Scottsdale To Deny Residential Density Increases Next To WestWorld
Dear Mr. Caton: Here we go again, unfortunately. For over a decade this group has organized to oppose inappropriate development proposals, especially residential ones, proximate to WestWorld. The premise is no different than what countless cities do when protecting other major economic assets, especially airports. In the case of WestWorld a recent city commissioned economic impact report showed the annual … Read More
The Axon Question That Still Needs an Answer
By Alexander Lomax An Unfinished Investigation By now, most Scottsdale watchers are familiar with the broad strokes of the Lamar Whitmer matter. Whitmer, who served as Mayor Lisa Borowsky’s Chief of Staff, was let go in March following a 65-day city investigation that examined seven categories of alleged misconduct. Five of the seven allegations were substantiated. Two were not. It … Read More
Guest Editorial: We’ve Only Just Begun
By Bob Littlefield Dear Friends: For over a year coverage of the attempt by Axon to build a massive apartment complex in Scottsdale has dominated local media. Yet despite all this attention there is a huge amount of misinformation in the publics’ mind about what is the status of that situation. This misinformation is coming from the proponents of the … Read More
The Elephant That Wasn’t in the Room: What Mayor Borowsky Didn’t Say
Mayor Lisa Borowsky delivered her State of the City address last Thursday with plenty to say about internal turmoil, staff departures, and the need for a Charter Review Committee. She spoke of accountability, transparency, and honoring the authority of voters. What she conspicuously didn’t mention? The single most contentious issue that has dominated Scottsdale politics for the past year: the … Read More