Until the last election, Scottsdale had a 100% “Republican” city council and mayor. I put “Republican” in quotes, because I always thought the party platform’s primary plank was fiscal responsibility. During the last decade, our elected officials (including Mayor Jim Lane, Virginia Korte, Suzanne Klapp, and even some who are supposedly populist politicians who are […]
City’s apartment boom raises residents’ concerns | City News | scottsdale.org
City planning double-speak: Scottsdale Senior Planner Jeff Barnes said. “Although the land use is not in direct review as part of that process, there is focus on how the allowed land uses are applied to a site and conformance of that application with established code and policy parameters.” — Read on www.scottsdale.org/content/tncms/live/
Scottsdale Police Still Classify Many Rapes as False or Baseless | Phoenix New Times
So typical of SPD administration, particularly Chief Rodbell, who never saw a statistic he couldn’t misuse. Many of these cases undoubtedly trace back to Scottsdale’s bar district, from where property owners and bar operators donate massively to the political campaigns of Mayor Jim Lane, and council members Suzanne Klapp, Virginia Korte, and Linda Milhaven. High […]
The Noblest of Dogs
“Noblest of all dogs is the hot-dog; it feeds the hand that bites it.” Dr. Laurence Johnston Peter, EdD (1919 – 1990), Canadian educator and “hierarchiologist,” who postulated the Peter principle: “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence… [I]n time every post tends to be occupied by an employee […]
One-Eyed Jackass
This crazy ‘public art’ installation was recently… ahem, erected, at Indian School Road and Marshall Way. “In the end, they [the artist and the public art division of Scottsdale Arts] went directly to the city council, which has the power to overrule the [city] design board. In February, all but one city council member voted […]
The Great Spring Training Hoax
Neil deMause (http://www.FieldOfSchemes.com) comments this morning: A study by Arizona State University found that spring-training baseball was worth $373 million to the Arizona economy in 2018. I can’t find the actual report itself, but it looks like they came up with this number by interviewing a sample of out-of-town visitors at spring training games about […]
Gadflies
It’s more of the tired old sentiment that those in power can do whatever they want, and we mere peasants can only object via “civil dialog.” Plus, “gadfly” is easier to spell than “concerned citizen and taxpayer.” Why does the Scottsdale Independent constantly refer to those opposed to the Desert Edge [formerly known as […]
Developer Dishonesty? Say it isn’t so!
Vicki Falen and her husband Dana live in the Montana Ranch community south of Shea Boulevard at roughly 117th Street. Late last year an adjoining parcel which was similarly-designated as rural residential, was rezoned via “major general plan amendment,” by mayor Jim Lane and the Scottsdale city council to commercial use, for a developer who […]
The most important government
SRP’s Trish Moeck posted a well-written article (which I’ve copied below) yesterday on the Scottsdale Leadership website, and I’d like to use as a jumping-off point for an expanded look at some of the topics Trish discussed. As you may know, Scottsdale Leadership is at its core a training program run by the Scottsdale Area […]
Scottsdale Journalism, Jumbo Shrimp
“Scottsdale Journalism?” Is that even still a thing? I’m reminded of the George Carlin shtick about “jumbo shrimp,” “military intelligence,” and “business ethics.” More on that last phrase momentarily. Did you know that Carlin was a US Air Force veteran? He was also court-martialed three times. The USAF apparently doesn’t have a sense of humor. […]