By Ronald Sampson
Here we are yet again…another trip around the sun, another year of wins and losses, of mistakes and corrections, or joy and regrets. I prefer not to make resolutions, because I don’t want the accountability and expectations put on myself. I don’t need anyone reminding me of what I thought I should be doing months before. I’m probably not going to exercise more, I’m probably not going to drink less, I’m probably going to continue to be a curmudgeonly cynic.
Now that I got that out of the way…I’d like to focus on what I would like to see in 2025. Not from myself, but from everyone else.
We will have a brand-new mayor and new city council in Scottsdale. What would I like to see from that? First of all, a mayor that plays well with others, regardless of their views. David Ortega’s inability to deal with good-faith disagreements partially sank him. Will Lisa Borowsky be able to find points of agreement with councilmembers who have fundamentally different views (and there will be a couple)? To be determined, but we’d all be better off as a result.
Our new city council will have a drastically different makeup. The last one went from being relatively anti-growth at the start to approving the two biggest apartment complexes in the entire state…I’d like to see one that follows up with what they promise instead of paying lip service.
This iteration of city council also comes with three new members that could reasonably be seen as being more political animals, more partisan than their predecessors, more helped by local political machinery than years past. I hope that this doesn’t play out within the council, that political party membership is about as relevant as the sports teams they like.
What about our new makeup of the state capital? In a national trend it lurched towards the right as voters rejected the lack of ideas that Democrats were putting out there. I hope that Republicans use this opportunity not to stoke partisan flames, not to find opportunities to financially capitalize, and not to get involved in the culture wars, but instead to find reasonable solutions to problems (allowing municipalities to better regulate short-term rentals and allowing for new and innovative housing solutions would be a good place to start).
Yes, I expect them to blame Governor Hobbs quite a bit. She is the only person that stands in the way of their mandate, after all. But checks and balances are a positive. The only thing worse than a two-party system is a one-party system. I hope they learn to play well in the sandbox and find points of agreement that benefit all of us.
Those are my wishes for the new year. And like with resolutions to get in better shape, I stand ready to be disappointed.