By Ronald Sampson It has been quite the turbulent first half of the first year for Scottsdale’s new mayor and newest iteration of city council, and somehow the hits keep coming for this crew, with the latest point of contention being fiscal. Scottsdale’s 2025-26 budget has sparked significant controversy despite its superficial appearance of fiscal responsibility. While city officials tout … Read More
Lisa Borowsky Keeps Being Snubbed by Republicans. What’s Up with That?
By Ronald Sampson We are officially past the halfway point of the first year of Lisa Borowsky’s time as the Mayor of Scottsdale, which is enough time to reflect on how things have been going. The verdict? It’s been tough…very tough. But the obstacles haven’t come from where one would think. The obstacles are internal ones. The latest obstacle came … Read More
Guest Editorial: What Scottsdale should say to Axon
Dear Friends: Over the weekend the Scottsdale Progress printed my opinion piece about Axon. If you didn’t get to see it in the paper, I have reprinted it for you below: Scottsdale is a spectacular city. It was so long before Axon. It will be long after Axon is gone. We can both applaud a local company’s success over the past many … Read More
Projection, Thy Name is Isner
By Alexander Lomax The fight against Axon’s apartment megacomplex goes on, as much as most of us wish it would be relegated to the dust bin of history’s bad ideas (get up to date here). And even while the city bravely decided to defend the will of the people and explore legal options, it was still willing to come to … Read More
Will Scottsdale Leadership Kowtow to Goldwater? A Ritzy Banquet May Offer Clues
By Ronald Sampson Perhaps I’m biased, but Scottsdale voters have a pretty good track record when it comes to voting on propositions. There are very few that I believe we collectively made the wrong choice on. This past cycle was no different, as despite a very vocal minority the citizenry voted with a large margin to fully fund and expand … Read More
A Kumbaya Moment on Council? Councilmembers Backtrack on Fight Against Mayor
It has been a rough few months for new Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky. What should have been smooth sailing with a conservative majority in city council has been anything but, culminating in their attempt to take away staffers from her office (get up to speed here). Things were looking dire, but it seems as though there may be reason for … Read More
Promises made, promises kept: Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky details wins for Scottsdale
By Mayor Lisa Borowsky Politicians talk. My focus as Mayor these past five months has been to deliver for Scottsdale. When I was running for Mayor last year, I made a simple, six-point pledge to Scottsdale voters. This is where we stand in accomplishing those goals: Demand High-Quality Development, and Reject Density Scottsdale is special, but protecting what makes us … Read More
DiCiccio an Unneeded Bomb Thrower in an Already Shaky Council
By Alexander Lomax It will be no surprise to anyone who pays attention to Scottsdale politics when I say that 2025 has been a very…spicy year at City Hall. Instead of typical left-vs-right battles, the main battle has been between the conservative faction on City Council against Mayor Lisa Borowsky, herself generally also considered conservatives (or, to be more factual, … Read More
ParkingGate Meets the Public, Silly Pseudo-Scandal Gets a Public Hearing
By Ronald Sampson When it comes to a city like Scottsdale, where there are precious few issues to complain about, the silliest and smallest things sometimes get elevated to crisis mode. We all need something to talk about, after all. And one of the silliest pseudo-scandals in recent memory is now getting new life and a public hearing. Behold, Scottsdale’s … Read More
Our Leaders are Fighting for Our City, and We Should Be Thankful
By Alexander Lomax Checks and balances are important in life. We need checks and balances in our government, checks and balances in our interpersonal relationships, and checks and balances within the corporate world. Complete overregulation is bad, but a world where corporations have no checks on their power isn’t any better either as the industrial revolution taught us (if you … Read More