One of the bigger surprises of the November election was the relative trouncing that incumbent Mayor Dave Ortega received at the hands of Lisa Borowsky. Most pundits figured it would be a close election but that the power of incumbency would win out; instead, the mayoral race mirrored a significant rightward shift across American politics, and Borowsky won by over … Read More
It’s Official: Councilmember Tom Durham is Sacrificing His Own Campaign to Knock Out Kwasman
We had heard rumors, we had heard speculation, but it’s all just that until confirmed. When we had heard that Scottsdale Councilmember Tom Durham was going to “quiet quit” his race for re-election, we took it with a grain of salt. Now we can confirm that our sources were indeed correct. In a recent City Council candidate forum, Durham … Read More
Leaving an Unfortunate Legacy: What Bob Littlefield has Wrong About Prop 490
By Alexander Lomax For those of you who have followed Proposition 490 and Scottsdale politics as a whole, you probably have noticed some familiar teams shaping up. Where absolutely anything related to tax dollars comes to a vote, the Goldwater Institute will pipe up and go to war against it, no matter how much it’s in the best interests of … Read More
Critical Conversation in Scottsdale City Council: the Future of the City is At Stake
Many city council meetings are full of boring minutiae: zoning issues, liquor licenses, talking through budgets and small changes, things of that nature. But every once in a while, a conversation happens that is truly critical to the future of a city, and this Tuesday represented one of them. The Protect and Preserve Scottsdale Task Force was assigned the job … Read More
Axon Wants You to Subsidize It? Seriously?
Our readers know the deal about Axon by now; it is threatening to take their ball (in this case, their headquarters) and go to a new home if it doesn’t get what it wants, in this case nearly 2,000 apartments plopped right into North Scottsdale. Perhaps you read our piece related to its more recent threats during its quarterly financial … Read More
Guest Editorial: Trash Talk, It’s In the Bin
By Councilwoman Betty Janik In the summer of 2022, Scottsdale initiated the Old Town Scottsdale Recycling and Old Town Alley Refresh Campaign. Commissioner Andrew Scheck and I were founding members of the committee that included Scottsdale’s Solid Waste (SW) and Code Enforcement (CE) Departments. The goal was to provide recycle opportunities for businesses, beautify business alleys, and enhance sustainability in … 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
The 2024 Scottsdale State of the City Address: What You Should Expect
This Wednesday, Scottsdale Mayor Dave Ortega will be leading the 2024 iteration of the Scottsdale State of the City address. Like most State of the Union or State of the State addresses, they often follow the same general template: they are designed to tout the administration’s successes of the past year and tip the administration’s hand for the future, a … Read More
Scottsdale Draft Sustainability Plan Being Examined: What Should We Look Out For?
Last year, Scottsdale voters voted in favor of adopting the Scottsdale General Plan 2035 last year, a significant win for Mayor David Ortega (considering that a decade previous, it did not pass), although it came far from a mandate with only a 5 point win. But a win is a win, and soon thereafter the work began to start to … Read More
Looking Forward: The Scottsdale Mayoral Race
Next year will present many interesting electoral races; along with a Presidential race, Arizona will showcase what is likely to be one of the most interesting Senate races in the country, as well as all of the countywide races. But there will also be a host of local races, and for those of us in Scottsdale, the headline municipal race … Read More