Any occasional readers of this blog knows our feelings about Axon; that it will bully its way into getting what it wants, with the most recent and egregious case being its massive apartment megacomplex plans in the heart of Scottsdale. And while we’d prefer not to have to continue writing about it, the company just keeps on pushing more and … Read More
Whoa is King Rick the Bully: Axon Willing to Throw Arizona Under the Bus to Get Its Way
Axon’s egregious attempt to short-change Arizona’s schools and bully the electorate in order to construct its unwanted apartment megacomplex for its own benefit has been well-documented (read our coverage here), and yet somehow it manages to get worse and worse. It recently announced its quarterly financials and stop us if you’ve heard this before, but the stock soared 15% to all-time … Read More
Axon’s Strategic Keystone Cops
Sometimes you can make this stuff up. Bear with us. A number of years ago Axon said it would build its new corporate headquarters in Scottsdale. It received approval to do so. That turned out to not be true. Years went by and it returned with a new corporate headquarters plan, this time saying it could and would build it BUT . … Read More
King Rick Strikes Again, This Time Attempting to Eviscerate Citizen Rights
By Ronald Sampson Axon has developed quite a reputation for bullying its way through Scottsdale. Its attempts to shoehorn in its unwanted apartment megacomplex (apparently the largest apartment complex in the history of the entire state) into the city met stiff resistance, so it ignored the will of the people and leaned on a lame duck City Council. Once the … Read More
Creative Redevelopment in Paradise Valley: Why Rethinking Old Spaces is the Way
It’s no surprise that Covid changed the economic dynamics of our world in a lasting way. E-commerce went from a dominant economic factor to THE dominant economic factor, millions of square feet of office space have been rendered null and void due to work-from-home and hybrid work policies, and delivery services became ascendent. One of the bigger questions vexing much … Read More
Reimagining Done Right: Phoenix Nails It with Development Project
One of the biggest knocks about Phoenix is a lack of history, especially insofar as architecture goes. If it’s more than a couple decades old, it’s due for a tear down and a rebuild. In the process a good amount of history can be lost and the character of the city is chipped away, bit by bit. That said, not … Read More
They Can’t Be Serious
Fascinating was this recent article in the Phoenix Business Journal about Axon’s comments and challenges to the Scottsdale referendum challenging its hugely unpopular apartment proposal there, you can read the piece here. Basically, Axon’s beleaguered CEO said that if the new Scottsdale Mayor and City Council taking office January 14th don’t schedule a special election in 2025 rather than hold … Read More
Is This the Kind of History Scottsdale Wants to Make?
Scottsdale is a city that prides itself on being refined, on being a leader in luxury. It has culturally led the way in the state by consistently holding high standards and not bending them. The result has been a city that is a national leader in tourism and a destination within the state. Recently however, Scottsdale has been redefining its … Read More
What is Solange Whitehead Doing??
By Ronald Sampson When following elected leaders, you have to be used to disappointment. They need to make myriad decisions on votes and even the best of them have to make difficult and sometimes bad decisions. It’s a part of life…you can never expect perfection. But what this lame-duck iteration of the Scottsdale City Council has done has been beyond … Read More