Scottsdale’s Bully Taking Its Bullying National

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

Tearing Apart the Data of the Scottsdale Elections: Propositions 490 and 491

Scottsdale’s recent elections were interesting ones, with an incumbent mayor losing and two incumbent councilmembers losing their bids for re-election. And there was one (well, two) very clear winners in this election: Propositions 490 and 491. As a reminder, Proposition 490 served as an extension of the existing 0.2% sales tax which was expiring this year, reducing it to 0.15% … Read More

Tearing Apart the Data of the Scottsdale Elections: the Mayoral Race

It was a truly interesting election season in Scottsdale this year, as incumbent Mayor Dave Ortega was ousted by a significant margin, the city council will welcome three new members, and two propositions won by wide margins. Some of these items are related and some are indicative of wider trends within the city’s electorate. In this three-part series we get … Read More

Lisa Borowsky’s Path to Victory: How’d She Do It?

In a season of many election surprises locally, few were as surprising at the Scottsdale Mayoral race, where Lisa Borowsky overcame a significant deficit in the August primary to win a decisive victory over incumbent Mayor Dave Ortega. Now that we have the value of hindsight, it’s worth considering how this significant upset happened. So how did it? First, it’s … Read More

Thank You Councilman Durham! I’m Honored to be Cannon Fodder for You!

By Alexander Lomax For Scottsdale political wonks, it’s been a fun year regardless, but few developments have been as fun as Councilman Tom Durham essentially peacing-out of his re-election campaign and turning all of his efforts towards defeating Adam Kwasman in his race to defeat him. Rarely has an active candidate told everyone publicly, “Don’t vote for me, vote for … Read More

Guest Editorial: Time to Vote

By Councilwoman Betty Janik I urge you to re-elect Mayor Dave Ortega for a second term on Scottsdale City Council. Much has been accomplished in his first term.  He was instrumental in passing the General Plan, he has been the regional leader in controlling short term rentals, he has kept city finances in the black while increasing reserves and reducing … Read More

Guest Editorial: Scottsdale City Council – Caputi and McAllen

By Linda Milhaven Hello again, I got several emails asking about the Scottsdale City Council race so I am reaching out again. I am voting for Tammy Caputi and Maryann McAllen for City Council. Tammy is finishing her first term on City Council and has served with distinction.  She is a smart and thoughtful businessperson.  She listens, researches the issues, … Read More

Guest Editorial: Happy 30th Birthday Sweet Lady

By Councilwoman Betty Janik Our beloved McDowell Sonoran Preserve turns 30 years old on October 3, 2024.  I applaud the vision of our city leaders who recognized the value of the McDowells and preserved it for posterity.  I applaud the wisdom of our citizenry who supported the land acquisition with their vote and dollars.  The Preserve has grown to over … Read More

Repost: Finally, an Arizona politician does the right thing. He quits.

By EJ Montini (original article can be found here) Scottsdale City Council member Tom Durham did something Thursday night that anyone who follow politics on any level would find to be shocking, even bizarre. It’s called … the right thing. I know. I had a hard time believing it myself when I read the article by The Arizona Republic’s Sam Kmack. Durham … Read More