Axon CEO Rick Smith. Photo Credit: Jim Poulin, Phoenix Business Journal
Axon’s egregious attempt to short-change Arizona’s schools and bully the electorate in order to construct its unwanted apartment megacomplex for its own benefit has been well-documented (read our coverage here), and yet somehow it manages to get worse and worse.
It recently announced its quarterly financials and stop us if you’ve heard this before, but the stock soared 15% to all-time highs. But it was the commentary from CEO Rick Smith that was particularly egregious.
He complained about an environment “that is making it challenging for businesses like us to invest here.” Mind you, this same environment was also the one that fostered his company’s blisteringly hot growth, and it was only when he pushed us all too far that the citizenry pushed back, but like a petulant child who didn’t get a second dessert after dinner, he just had to throw a fit.
Perhaps King Rick should take some responsibility. After all, it seems as though this scheme was born out in the fact that costs started spiraling out-of-control for their headquarter buildout plans, so instead of biting the bullet and having one quarter of financials that didn’t blow away expectations, selling a massive complex to a multifamily builder was in their eyes a reasonable way to offset costs. His inability to control costs is now our problem. Private gain and public pain.
“We’ve had a setback,” Smith said. “Unlike states like Florida and Texas, Arizona allows zoning decisions to be subjected to political petitions, and frankly, political gamesmanship.” So because YOU, the people of Scottsdale, don’t want nearly 2,000 apartments (i.e. the biggest apartment complex in Arizona history) dropped down into your backyard, you’re playing political games.
Because YOU don’t want tens of millions of dollars de facto stolen from our schools because of an obvious bait-and-switch for his company’s gain, you’re the bad guy.
Because YOU (and the state of Arizona) don’t matter one bit to King Rick, you are simply a worm in the way of his steamroller.
That might be the saddest part of this development…Scottsdale, and Arizona at large, is very accommodative to business. The entire ethos of the state has long been that you are free to pursue your own successes, just don’t impinge on the rights of others and you’ll be perfectly fine. As TSMC and countless other large companies have found out, if you are a reasonably good neighbor, you will be welcome. You will be celebrated.
But another defining factor of Arizona is that if you’re a jerk, we’re going to let you know. This is not a state of silent pushovers, as much as King Rick the Bully would prefer that. Don’t mess with the bull and you won’t get the horns.