It hasn’t been a big secret that Mayor David Ortega has had a sometimes contentious relationship with a few other members of the city council. That has recently come out in the open even more however, with a recent tift with Councilwoman Tammy Caputi coming to light and with potential stakes including a significant lawsuit. The most recent conflict is … Read More
Guest Editorial: 20 Applicants for Every Vacant Apartment
By Larry Kush I recently read an article in a nationally published apartment industry report called Rent Cafe, which stated that Scottsdale” renters struggled to find an apartment in our city where they met an awful mix of high occupancy rates of 96.3%, and 20 applicants competing for every vacant apartment that on average, stayed available for just 25 days.” … Read More
A Crisis In Part Caused By Scottsdale (But Also One That Can Be Cured By It Too)
If there is one defining characteristic of Arizona, save the desert, it’s our natural disdain for the government telling us what to do. But every once in a while, they feel like their hand is forced and that they need to do something. Well we are quickly hurtling towards that point with rent prices in Arizona. Rent prices have risen … Read More
Econ 101: How to Solve the Valley’s Housing Crisis
I believe that we have a pretty sophisticated readership here, a subscriber base of highly educated people. As such, I assume many of you who are reading this have taken an Economics class or two. If you haven’t, I’ll explain one very simple principle: supply versus demand. Simply put, when supply of a good or service remains steady but demand … Read More
Canyon Trails Towne Center – A West Valley Great Recession Success Story Roars Back to Life With a New Owner And New Focus to Bring Multi Family Housing and Other Uses to the Key Property
Canyon Trails Towne Center Just Received Zoning Approval for Important Revitalization Elements; Speaks to Economic Development Momentum in West Valley The year was 2013 and Canyon Trails Towne Center, a 90-acre shopping center located at Yuma Road and Cotton Lane in Goodyear was struggling to attract new tenants after the Great Recession. Two key retailers had left the center and … Read More
Stopsdale or Scottsdale?
The Valley’s business community has been paying close attention to the turn Scottsdale’s 2020 elections have meant for one of the state and country’s more outstanding cities. Would major investments still be rewarded or reviled by the new, slower-growth governing majority? Last night, Scottsdale’s City Council, including Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield, showed a sagacious balance of the anti-everything inmates trying to run … Read More
Sobriety Not Silly
As others have observed, not all residential project proposals are made equal. Year after year, overly ambitious developers attempt to cajole planning commissions and city councils all over the country, including in Scottsdale, trying to convince them of the sometimes dubious merits of the projects they’re championing. On the flip side of that, many developers do the right thing. And … Read More
Guest Editorial: Solving the Housing Crisis By Stopping NIMBYs
By Ronald Sampson Economics is a complex subject, but some aspects of it are incredibly simple. For instance, supply and demand; when supply is low and demand is high, prices will move higher. Alternatively, when you increase supply, prices drop. And with housing prices surging to incredible highs in the Valley, it seems fairly common-sense that one good way to … Read More
Scottsdale’s Impact Of Activism
While Scottsdale has always had an engaged electorate, what happened in 2018 supercharged it. The ramifications are now becoming clearer, importantly and insightfully. Three years ago about this time the “Desert Discovery Center” proposed for the Gateway in the city’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve was on its way to a landslide defeat at the ballot box. Years of wrangling … Read More
Guest Editorial: Old Town Becomes a Battle Zone
By Alexander Lomax One of the first real battles of David Ortega’s time as Mayor has now come, and to the surprise of few, it comes in the form of development disagreements. Ortega campaigned strongly on the message of quality growth, a message that numerous city council candidates also pursued in their successful campaigns. Recently … Read More