By Ronald Sampson

Photo Credit: Scottsdale Independent
Scottsdale voted for change in this past election; it rejected a couple sitting councilmembers and the incumbent mayor. And it only took about one week, but Scottsdale is already getting a strong whiff of that change.
Last week was a very busy one at the council dais, and the new iteration of council is setting its sights on undoing aspects of the last one. It was a packed house last week for what ended up being a highly contentious start to the new council, and dozens of citizens showed up for a vote that would end up repealing the city’s Sustainability Plan. In a 4-3 vote, council ended up repealing the month-old vote for the non-binding plan.
To call it contentious might actually be underselling it. The vast majority of public comments were in favor of keeping it, and apparently sensing pressure towards keeping it in place the conservative majority cut off comments from fellow councilmembers, a move that Linda Milhaven called “one of the most disrespectful displays I have witnessed in 30 years of watching City Council meetings.”
Ouch.
Perhaps even more oddly, they directed the interim city manager to “to establish a sustainability task force to look at the long-term sustainability of the city by examining fiscal, population and conservation needs.” But the sustainability plan they just rescinded did just that except the fiscal aspect.
There were references to concerned citizens as to why those councilmembers voted to repeal it, and we will take them at their word, but when it came time to actually discuss it the comments were strongly in favor of keeping it, so it does seem to be a case of councilmembers listening to what they wanted to hear.
One standout in this instance? Mayor Lisa Borowsky, who voted in favor of keeping it because of the public support of it. She wanted to represent the will of the people even if she may ideologically side with those who wanted to repeal it, and while she may have been given cover due to the four votes to repeal, it is a heartening start to her time as Mayor.
For the rest of them? Thoughts on the plan aside, it’s not a good start to their time in office, silencing the votes of their colleagues. That is the sort of behavior that many of them rightfully criticized former Mayor Dave Ortega about. We deserve better.