By Former Scottsdale Councilman Bob Littlefield
Dear Friends:
For the 5th election in a row Scottsdale voters have soundly rejected candidates who support overdevelopment! Every member of the City Council who was up for re-election in 2024 who voted for the overdevelopment of the last few years was either defeated at the ballot box (Ortega, Caputi, Durham) or seeing the handwriting on the wall, declined to run for re-election (Janik). Scottsdale residents have made it abundantly clear they do not want the City Council to approve any more tall, dense, ugly, traffic-snarling, water-guzzling view-blocking apartment projects.
And yet, on Tuesday night the 19th the City Council will be voting on the biggest apartment project (1,975 Multifamily Units in addition to Commercial & Hotel on the 101) ever proposed in Scottsdale, Axon! And the decision will be made not by the newly elected resident-friendly Councilmembers (who do not take office until January) but by the lame-duck Councilmembers we, the voters just soundly rejected. This is a project that would clearly not be approved if the new Councilmembers were in office, so Axon is trying to sneak it through Council before the lame ducks leave office.
So, the question is, will the lame ducks vote to spite the residents by approving this terrible project, or will they show some character and vote with the residents by denying the proposal? There is still time to make your feelings about this project known to the current Councilmembers. If you wish to provide input via email on this upcoming vote you can contact the Mayor and City Council at citycouncil@scottsdaleaz.gov (on your subject line please put: AXON 13-ZN-2020#2). Even better, speak in opposition to the project in person at the meeting next Tuesday. Here is the link to sign up to speak (Meeting date 11/19/24, Agenda Item #4):