We happily report that with the 100th edition of the Scottsdale Activist, we have continued to grow with over 38,000 recordable hits last month which is a lot for a single subject,  word-of-mouth website in a summer month. We have already hit over 10,000 for the first week in September, thanks to your loyalty and continued interest.

We promise to continue digging up the stuff the city management and staff refuses to admit or to report to you as they should. We want to thank the "Insiders" who put their jobs on the line by keeping us up to date even though Dolan has tried continually to intimidate these loyal city employees with threats of lost jobs, etc. if they get caught giving us information.

I can tell you that the leaks from city hall are so many that they might as well come clean because it's all coming out anyway. We just wait until they think they've gotten by with something and lie about it then we let the truth come out.

Thanks to all of you, you are appreciated by the citizens, voters and taxpayers of Scottsdale more than you could ever know. Hopefully, we'll be instrumental in giving you back your city in '08.

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The city as well as the senior staff and council majority seem to be defiant, illogical, blind, deaf, and ignorant to the actualities of fairness and reasonable issue resolution concerning the downtown area of Scottsdale.

They have consistently gone against the original intent of the condemnations Mr. Funke experienced financially and has discussed to no avail for a number of years while files detailing the conditions of the land deal given to former Councilman Richard Thomas and others apparently are "lost somewhere" in the system.

Below is his latest plea for fairness and the city’s failure to follow protocol yet again to Frank Gray which has still gone unanswered with any reason and fairness, as usual with the Manross-Dolan administration and their puppets.

What does a citizen and property owner have to do to get this city to properly and fairly answer for failures and unfairness that has obviously occurred concerning the condemnations in the downtown area?

We feel it’s incumbent upon this city management staff and legal department to quickly re-evaluate this unfair and ridiculous decision and come back with a fair conclusion for all involved concerning the following:

• Vicious spite for even publicly asking,

• paybacks for publicly pushing legally correct issues, and

• revenge for publicly calling a situation as it really is,

All of the above should not be part and parcel to any decisions by our city government which this situation seems to be. This never happened under previous administrations and in fact never started until Manross took office and allowed Dolan to "run wild" with her personal management style correctly described as "Gestapo" by scores of current and former city employees.

Retail establishments and private ownership of property makes money for the city and the entrepreneur through sales, sales taxes, and property taxes on many levels. City owned properties bring nothing to the city coffers but instead become annual expenses and liabilities to the taxpayers.

Why would any city manager, especially the chief land planner and zoning administrator who should know better, resort to childish, underhanded misinformation and the hiding of actual/factual information to stop a plan that would be a win-win for everyone?

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The Arizona Federation of Taxpayers financial scorecard is a total farce as far as the Scottsdale city council majority and mayor is concerned.

The mass manipulation of the city’s financial health, lead by City Manager and Treasurer Jan Dolan, doesn’t give anywhere near a clear picture of the true financial condition of the city of Scottsdale, in fact it totally skews the financial picture to make the city look good when it’s really very sick and needs help desperately!

To call Councilman Ron McCullagh a "Friend of the Taxpayer" is truly a sick joke. This guy hasn’t seen a costly plan he didn’t like and has voted for them on almost every occasion possible.

In our opinion, Councilmen Lane, Littlefield, and Nelssen should have all received higher ratings while Councilmen Ecton & McCullagh along with Mayor Manross should have been rated a -6 at the bottom of the barrel. Councilwoman Drake, seeing the need to "look better" for the elections has moderated her spending ways to a small degree so we could give her a possible -2 on the scale.

Here are the ratings:

To see the entire list of ratings and the legend that goes with them, click on the link below:

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/includes/filemanager/files/az/local_govt_scorecard_2007.pdf

For any publication, especially the Scottsdale Republic to actually believe these scores, knowing how these people vote, is hilarious and extremely pathetic at the same time.

How can you have a City Council majority and Mayor sit firmly on their hands while the City Manager blows up to ^$16 million dollars in taxpayer’s money on one single very bad, unconscionable decision and allow it to be called simply a "learning experience"? How can they, with straight faces, look the citizens straight in the eye and allow her to manipulate the treasury spread sheets to make things look better when they are really a lot worse than she allows everyone to know?

To use tricky California gray-area financial tools as Dolan appears to use to hide the financial truth is what got Orange County CA in trouble so deeply they had to file bankruptcy to get clean and back on course.

Do we want that to happen to Scottsdale? Think about that for a minute or two……

We know of many other terrible decisions this Council has allowed the City Manager to make which would have cost her the job, her "golden parachute", and any benefits available had she been in the private or corporate sector.

Worse yet, how can the Scottsdale Republic which considers itself a "Hometown Newspaper" conclude from this off-the-wall survey alone that spurious spending by this council majority and the incumbents can’t be an election issue in the ’08 elections?

Trust us folks, spurious and secret spending by the Mayor, Council Majority, and City Manager WILL be a major issue in the upcoming election as will Secrecy, Honesty, Ethics, and nepotism.

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Does Code Enforcement really have a handle on weekend or any other signage violations???

I think not. Every weekend our street corners from northern most edge to the southern most border including east to west are inundated with numerous For Sale, Real Estate, and other sundry signs which are illegally placed totally in the rights of way. One merely has to play "follow the signs" for half a mile and numerous signs to the destination home advertised "For Sale".

Worse yet, the condo complexes have become desperate to sell their conversions and begun using rather ghastly, unorthodox means of abuse to attract the eye of the passerby. Here is a good example of what not to do if you are trying to sell your condos.

And yes, according to Raun Keagy, the Scottsdale Code Enforcement Guru, the sign on the storage container is a GREAT BIG VIOLATION, and yet, the City has yet to cite Bella Vita for this infraction which was pointed out to them two weeks ago.

This complex on the corner of 78th Street and McDonald Rd. has already been warned once...Raun, are you going to fine them this time? That's a double wide storage container advertisement!!!!

Maybe my next garage sale signage should be that big and be left up for months on end like this signage!

Why would anyone complain when complaints apparently don’t mean anything to Keagy and company???

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Former city employees Ed Gawf and Randy Grant have joined forces to open a consulting business. We wish them well but, how does this set with the law that says that former employees must wait one full year from the date of their separation (or city manager’s strongly suggested "voluntary" departure) to either lobby or own a firm that lobby’s their former employer or that employers clientele?

We think that as good (or as bad as some might argue) that these men were/are, they very well might be pushing the legal envelop a might far and getting into dangerous ground legally and ethically which could come back to seriously take a bite out of their new venture.

It’s also very interesting to note that they are leasing a suite in the building reportedly owned by the owner of the "W" Hotel (and many other downtown properties) which they helped push through the city planning process.

Please note the announcement as we received it below:

========================================================

Created by Ed Gawf and Randy Grant, G & G Consulting, LLC offers our clients the strength of more than 65 years of combined experience in City Planning, Zoning and Land Development, Municipal Management, and Environmental Services.  Having worked in such progressive communities as Boulder , Colorado ; San Jose , California ; Palo Alto , California ; and Scottsdale , Arizona , the principals at G & G Consulting have the knowledge and ability to provide a comprehensive range of consulting services, including:

·         Zoning, site planning, feasibility analysis of land development
·         Zoning and development ordinance review, analysis and updates
·         Process facilitation and public outreach
·         Development representation
·         Evaluation of municipal organization structure, function, and processes
·         Environmental services such as environmental auditing, systems development, and compliance management
·         Organizational development for local governments

G & G Consulting, LLC represents a unique value in consulting services.  We invite you to review our qualifications (see bios attached to this announcement) and to contact us for further information at:

Ed Gawf, AICP                                                   Randy Grant 

Our new office is located at: 

7434 E. Stetson Drive
Scottsdale , AZ

===========================================

We show the above to expose the extent to which these people have gone to get their business on track BEFORE the one year period has expired.

When the Scottsdale Activist anonymously receives an announcement like this, it must have enjoyed a very wide-spread circulation, and someone must feel there is something that is possibly unsavory a foot here.

If this is not illegal or unethical, it is at least in bad taste and quite obvious how and where they hope to derive their clientele from a deep and money-filled well.

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Here we go again, the city refuses to take responsibility for faulty flood control in the northern reaches of the city when it was city offices, city officials, city personnel, the DRB and Planning Commission who had the final "yea" or "nay" over all designs for the developers.

In addition, the city inspectors had the same "yea" or "nay" over the actual construction and completion of the projects which they apparently failed to properly apply.

Could it be that the inspectors as well as the planners and others involved in this travesty "overlooked" the obvious flood control problems so the developers could get what they wanted, take their windfall profits and move on?

There should also be some of the blame put upon those residents who fought any flood control project in that area. The original plan may have been garbage and badly planned but had the residents not taken serious flooding so lightly, they might have been able to forge a flood control plan that would have served all purposes while preserving the character and ambiance of the critically important and especially sensitive and beautiful Sonoran Desert we are so privileged to enjoy including the residences built in those critical areas.

Why is it that the current administration never admits to anything which goes awry while always taking full credit for accomplishments that weren’t even of their doing and in which they generally don’t understand the reason for the success anyway?

Maybe the upcoming election can iron out some of these ridiculous errors in judgment.

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The Scottsdale Republic and its editorial staff have extremely short memories.

It’s only been a scant few years ago that Mesa totally redesigned its downtown portion where Main Street was reduced to 2 lanes in each direction which wasn’t too bad. But to make matters horrendously worse, they added trees and shrubs for "green ambiance" which totally blocked the display windows and signage which should have allowed the public to see what businesses were available and where they were.

End result? A large percentage of those businesses went broke or moved out to an area where they could survive. The area still hasn’t recovered sufficiently to call the program even a little bit successful. It’s a nice drive if you have time, but there isn’t much to stop for anymore, even though they have trimmed back the trees and shrubs somewhat.

The same happened in downtown Phoenix with the dreaded black financial hole called light rail. Phoenix businesses will never recover fully from that disaster because most drivers now totally shy away from going downtown unless they absolutely have to. If they do go into downtown Phoenix, they pick the routes which are as far away from the light rail debacle as possible.

The most telling about the plans for the southern portion of Scottsdale Road as reiterated in a Letter to the Editor this week is that Otek, the designer of the Scottsdale Streetscape project is apparently also an expert in designing light rail and modern streetcar projects.

Is there any doubt in your mind what the Manross/Dolan team and the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce is secretly cooking up for us here?

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In 2006, the Scottsdale City Council unanimously adopted a nationally unique ethics code, initially opposed by Mayor Manross and Council Members Betty Drake and Wayne Ecton, that provides, among many other things, as follows:

Why, then, is Scottsdale city government run with such an obsession for secrecy and why should we care? Let me count the ways.

Mayor Manross originally opposed the Scottsdale Ethics Code, stating that she couldn’t do her job if she had to contend with an ethics code that, among other things, required her to do so openly and transparently. What a sad, unfortunate, pitiful state of mind. Amazingly, however, she has the support of three rubber stamp co-conspirators (Council Members Wayne Ecton, Betty Drake and Ron McCullough) who believe that they cannot do their jobs if citizens know what they are doing.

Too many elected officials think like this—i.e., that they are smarter than those who elected them; power hungry, arrogant people tend to think that way. They think that they are doing things for Scottsdale when they strike secret deals when, in fact, they are doing things to Scottsdale when they do so. Since the retirement of Herb Drinkwater, secrecy and government-by-executive-session have become the trade marks of the West’s Most Western Town.

But then, Mayor Manross and her co-conspirators have never claimed to be anything other than what they are--run-of-the mill, status quo, visionless, getting-re-elected-is-the-most-important-thing, I-know-better-that-the-people-who-elected-me politicians.

Mayor Manross and her rubber stamp co-conspirators don’t want to, and in fact have intentionally decided not to, do their work in public—enabled by an ineffectual City Attorney who, herself, is a rubber stamp. This is the same City Attorney who signed a contract stating that she is a City Charter Officer; then denied that she was a City Charter Officer because she didn’t want to move to Scottsdale as the City Charter provides; then had one of her subordinates give an oral opinion to the City Council in a secret Executive Session that she is not a Charter Officer; and then forbid the City Council to discuss the opinion based on the fact that it was given during a secret Executive Session. Just because the City Attorney is spineless does not mean that she is guileless.

The Mayor and her rubber-stamp supporters on the Council argue that secrecy is necessary to benefit the City; in fact secrecy only benefits them because then they never have to explain what deals they have struck, with whom and why.

Secret government is the direct opposite of honest government; it directly leads to secret deals and dishonest government and violates both the letter and the spirit of the Scottsdale Ethics Code that they voted for.

Scottsdale city government today is a farce; there is no accountability. Honesty and professionalism are treated as old fashioned values and, thus, are not valued. Witness the mess over the Hualapai Water Treatment Plant which has already cost the City millions of dollars. An unidentified City official (whose name has been kept secret) approved building a portion of the City’s water treatment plant on state land based on a verbal authorization from the State Land Department to do so. When the SLD decided that it needed a lease, an unidentified City official (whose name has been kept secret) signed a ten year contract without City Council approval for ^$10 million—with the idea that the City would buy the land, at auction, from the SLD.

Who signed this lease without City Council approval? Jan Dolan says: "Not I." But, Jan, if you didn’t sign it or tell someone to sign it, you weren’t doing your job; it’s called negligent oversight. If you did sign it or tell someone to sign it, then you were incompetent and you are lying. In the process, the always dependably malleable City Attorney reviewed the lease "for form," but did nothing to assure that the City Council was informed about it and considered it. Maybe she was embarrassed by the fact that the lease was already signed. Regardless, I sure wouldn’t want this watch dog guarding my hen house. Somehow, however, some unnamed person (whose name has been kept secret) delivered the lease to the Mayor. And the Mayor, being committed to secrecy and having a history of acting extralegally, signed the lease without submitting it to the City Council.

Having now been sued by the owner of the land for lease payments, the enabling City Attorney is arguing in Court that the lease was invalid because it was never approved by the City Council. In other words, the Court is being told: Judge, because our City Manager was negligent, our City Attorney is incompetent and our Mayor is arrogant, please let us off the hook and don’t punish the taxpayers. After all, Judge, we are Scottsdale and the normal rules of lawfulness don’t apply to us." Of course, all the facts are kept from the public because Mary and her co-conspirators on the City Council, enabled by the dependably malleable City Attorney, are conducting all their business on this issue behind closed doors. Where art thou accountability? Where art thou integrity? Jan, maybe your reported trip to California to look for a new job was a good idea because the City Council will not always be controlled by those as pliable as Mary and her majority.

Citizens, both North and South, know that Mary Manross and her co-conspirators are sticking it to them on a regular basis. They know that the allegiance of this bunch is not to them (except for the election season), but, rather, to themselves, their craving to get re-elected and the beneficiaries of their secret decisions. They also know that if they conduct themselves in a transparent way, this will become—well, transparent. It is easy to understand how Mary, Wayne and Betty, all long term dedicated secretists, would be so committed to secrecy. It is harder to understand how Ron McCullough, a strong supporter of the Scottsdale Ethics Code, could be seduced away from his core values to become such a strong supporter of secret decision making. It is a sad story and one that he will have to defend next year.

I say kudos to our local newspapers when they sue the City to get public documents from the City. Mayor Manross’ philosophy, with the full support of a weak City Attorney, is to break the law and only worry about complying with it when challenged. Most recently, this foolishness cost the City ^$50,000 in legal fees in a dispute with The Tribune over the self-appraisals of the City’s Charter Officers. A crusading media, and a crusading populace, are the only elements of Scottsdale that can restore honesty to city government.

Certainly the Mayor, the City Manager and the City Attorney won’t protect the integrity of city government because they are too committed to manipulating the process and the information it releases. They, and Council Members Drake, Ecton and McCullough, are only committed to getting themselves re-elected. They give the term "public service" a bad name because they don’t hold public office to serve the public; rather, they hold public office to serve themselves. Otherwise they would not conduct their decision-making in secret. Inasmuch as they don’t serve the public interest, hopefully the media will.

Jim Derouin
jimderouin@scottsdaleactivist.com
Scottsdale

~ Pandering? By Whom???

In a recent editorial the Scottsdale Republic accused me of pandering when I oppose increases in height and density.  Of course, what the Scottsdale Republic calls pandering I call listening to the wishes of my constituents.  That is exactly what a good elected official is supposed to do.

Ironically, by accusing me of pandering the Scottsdale Republic is admitting that the positions I support are popular with voters.  That is because the voters are tired of the real pandering at City Hall, which is the pandering to developers and other special interests.  The voters are tired of city government helping these special interests score big $ by giving them profitable upzonings and height variances even when it negatively impacts Scottsdale residents or, even worse, passing out $ in the form of corporate welfare subsidies. 

As they so often do the Scottsdale Republic mischaracterized my position when they claimed I said I would never vote for an upzoning. What I did say is that I will not vote for upzoning unless I can see some benefit to the residents of Scottsdale. 

While every property owner is vested by right in their current zoning no one has a right to an upzoning, especially those that increase traffic congestion or detract from Scottsdale’s quality of life.

The fact that my colleagues who are up for re-election are listening to their constituents instead of the developers and other special interests is a good thing.  Since those constituents include the Scottsdale Republic’s readers, the paper’s editorial board might consider doing the same!

Councilman Bob Littlefield
bob@boblittlefield.com

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Whenever there is discussion of apartments, rental properties and renters, the focus always comes around to how irresponsible tenants are and what bad neighbors they make, whether multifamily or single family, residential. I am not naïve enough to believe that there are no problems on the tenant’s side, but there are problems aplenty with landlords and property management in fulfilling their responsibilities, too.

Last January some of us found the condition of properties being assembled for the WaterView Project, in the 73^rd Street and Minnezona neighborhood to be in deplorable condition with people still living in the apartments. There were numerous property maintenance violations that had been going on for some time.

Compounding the problems was the fact that City Councilman Ron McCullagh and other City staffers had decided that the degradation of the neighborhood was "to be expected, because of some resident’s "station in life." The Councilman knew because he takes his daily walks often in this neighborhood, and the staffers knew because he discussed it with them and they, collectively, chose not to do anything about enforcing the property maintenance codes.

In other words, it was OK with them for the tenants and the neighborhood to be exposed to unhealthy and unsafe living conditions while the developer who owns the property now gets his act together, I mean getting the properties the developer wanted assembled, in hopes of getting rezoning and approval of his project plans.

That idea was flat out wrong in January, and it is today. It is more so today because they, owner and property manager, have been warned and cited by Scottsdale’s Code Enforcement Division. Residents and activists contacted Code Enforcement Director, Raun Keagy back in January, and he looked into it and found serious problems.

The WaterView Project is huge in size and ramifications. It will alter the neighborhood character permanently, requires rezoning, asks for additional building height in a fringe area between residential neighborhoods and the Downtown development area, moves the SRP Electrical Substation into a historically residential neighborhood, and is far, far from being a "done deal".

The two principals of Scottsdale Canals, LLC, John Wanninger and Mark Madkour, have development experience in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area as stated in an article by Peter Corbett in the Arizona Republic.

They might be ahead of us in knowing what should be done by developers during assemblage, but do we have the policies and processes to require them to do what is good and necessary for the whole neighborhood here in Scottsdale?

Below you can see the lay out of the apartment complexes that have been assembled for this project. Note that everything is on the East side of the canal which means it intrudes into a historically low density residential area. (This does not show the four single family dwellings that have been included.)

To see the entire proposal as we have received  it click here

Any kind of neglect of properties this size will have a negative impact on the neighbors who will continue to live in the area, especially while the assemblage goes on.

This applies to any and all similar properties and assemblages of such size and dimension including the Cortesian/Citro project, OrchidTree project, and Hanover projects.

In addition to the multifamily properties that have been assembled there are four single family properties that have been acquired to accommodate the relocation of the Salt River Project Sub-Station from the Camelback and Scottsdale Road site that it now sits on. Those four houses are at the far north end of the assembled area.

Add to this the relocation of a water pumping station to the east across 73^rd Street.

Assemblage has already taken place in the same neighborhood for the Sundial Project now under construction. It is important to note that the WaterView Project requests to the City will also impact the integrity of the Sundial Project. There were problems with the previous assemblage process, too.

We are getting into tricky planning issues now, when approved projects are impacted by plans going through the system for other projects before the one is finished construction. Only in Scottsdale and again, not the fault of the developer!

The residents of the 73^rd Street and Minnezona neighborhoods and the Villa Monterey neighborhood that the WaterView Project borders, know that they have to keep their eyes open and their voices heard to make sure their neighborhoods stay viable and safe. All neighborhoods, especially in the mature neighborhoods, need to do the same.

Nancy Cantor,
Co-Chair Scottsdale Coalition
COGS Board Member
Email me here

Regarding Wednesday's Scottsdale Republic’s article, it is not surprising that the newspaper would support the Scottsdale Road Streetscape project.

The Republic continues to support the sinister strategy of the City manager, Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce, Mayor, and some Council members. Their secret goal is to drive small business out of the downtown and replace them with high rises and light rail.

Otek, the designer of the Scottsdale Streetscape project is, you got it, the expert in designing light rail projects.

Once the City moves the sidewalks to secure additional right of way, there will be plenty of room for light rail.

You have to admit, the Manross/Dolan dictatorship is very creative. 

Tear up the road and parking, then and block customers from the shops for at least a year during construction as Phoenix did for light rail.

Then, under the guise of beautification, plant trees and move the business owners' signs to obscure them as Mesa did a few short years ago which decimated the Mesa downtown business district. 

When the revenues drop and they can't make ends meet, the businesses will be far more co-operative in selling out to developers at much lower prices facilitating the cheap assemblages all developers are drooling over. 

When developers are looking for land along Scottsdale Road, the message has been sent and it’s crystal clear - Be patient. In just a couple more years, you will have your pick at the remainder of the properties along the southern stretch of Scottsdale Rd.

Susan Wood
Scottsdale

The recent Scottsdale Republic opinion article is the height of hypocrisy and ignorance.

For the Republic to criticize anyone of pandering to anyone is a real case of the pot calling the kettle black. By constantly pandering to the development community, continuously promoting (the Scottsdale Area) Chamber of Commerce and other pro development stooges, what little credibility this editorial staff may have had is obviously unwarranted.

Representing the interests of citizens and neighborhoods who have a real interest in Scottsdale and our quality of life, Councilmen Littlefield and Nelssen are not pandering, they are doing their job. Something that Mayor Manross, Council members Drake, Ecton, Lane and McCullagh and top staff fail to do, regularly.

Further, the Scottsdale Republic editorial goes on to criticize Council’s legitimate oversight efforts saying that a recent meeting "devolved into theater of the absurd", by having "no cogent reason" to review a development application for a hyper-modern building design for a property located on Scottsdale Road, in the heart of downtown. The Republic supports its position opposing such oversight because the proposed project is located in surrounding blocks which are "a mish-mash of contemporary and faux Western, oversize Roman columns and modern non-descript" (sic) architecture. This argument seems to me is exactly why the City Council and staff should begin a greater level of scrutiny on downtown projects which have been, of late, a pig’s trough of developer incentives, height variances and a lack of fundamental urban planning and administration.

Rather than the Republic warning "developers to take heed, an election is coming", it ought to be warning city staff and those incumbent politicians who seek re-election and any new comers, who want to be developer stooges, that they should perhaps consider a different career path.

The 2008 election is a time for the citizens to change direction and back candidates who really do love Scottsdale and are committed to having a livable downtown with great architecture and a true sense of place which is unique. Until then, all major zoning changes and development plans should be denied until there is a real plan in place which provides for neighbor and neighborhoods to be fully involved in our continued growth.

Tom Giller
Scottsdale

The incident you mentioned (Sept 1, 2007 Issue, "A Just Reward for Stupidity and Ignorance") actually occurred in 2005.  If you do a search using the string "luke arrowhead mall missing man", you’ll come up with several links including one to an E.J. Montini Arizona Republic article. 

I get emails recycling this story every so often.

I live in Scottsdale and look forward to reading each of your issues.

Thanks,
Deke

Deke Joralmon, PhD, Q CTR USAF AFRL/HEA
Night Vision Program
Air Force Research Laboratory

While at times it pains me to have to say thanks to the Wicked Witch, and it is a rarity that you will ever catch me doing it, I do thank her. I would like to thank the other Council members who joined the 5 to 2 vote to pull back a DRB decision, the 4333 Building, which SCREAMS of stupidity.

Now, I am not going to pick on the DRB as they are Ozites that are devoting their time to a City sponsored commission, but I do have to ask if at times they have their heads so far up their rectums that they cannot understand and/or read the Downtown Policies and Overlay "purposes".

I mean lets face it; some of them may need to re-think their commitment to the City and not their own views of what "they" believe is right for an area. After all, the City "codes" on this issue under "purposes" is "to protect the downtown from the encroachment of architecture and design for the DOWNTOWN, (not just Old Town, Fifth Avenue, and Main Street) that does not match its surroundings.

The code does not state that people like the Council or DRB can consider any area of "Downtown" exempt from the Codes of the City and the 4333 property is in the Downtown and is even in the "Downtown Overlay".

The Council nor the DRB can decide that we are going to deviate from the Downtown Plan just because it is not up to date and they cannot deem it is "the model we have been pushing for years," when it is not the model that appears in the restrictions and design standards for "Downtown," south of the Canal Bank.

We made exceptions to design standards and architecture north of the Canal Bank and have even incorporated some sights into the overlay so developers could get special bonuses by getting that rezoning.

The comment that we have been pushing this model came from none other than the newly named flaming ($#%&$) of Oz and supposed leader Ron "McOsterman" McCullagh who is too stupid to understand that the model that has been pushed is retail, office, and residential not space ship designs. It is not throwing away the purpose of the codes. It is not deciding that since the plan is being re-worked, you can deviate from what language and intent is already in place, and is still part of the "adopted" city ordinances that your sorry ($#%) does not seem to understand.

Further showing his stupidity were the comments from him about having a hard time calling back something by the DRB because he does not like the design, which he basically said he did not care for.

When it goes back to making sure we are upholding the Codes of this city and the stated purposes laid out in the zoning ordinances which dealing with architecture, design, and character of the areas, it IS the flaming ($#%&$) responsibility to hold up those codes and purposes even if he does like the design

Then we have the flaming ($#%&$) stating that the design showing did not represent what it was going to look like color wise.

Since the tin man (Osterman) forgot to lend the flaming ($#%&$) his brain when he left office or he would have noted the block was going to be natural in color, which means it was probably going to be grey block. The window mullions were going to be black aluminum. The windows were going to be bronze in color, and the roof, trim and projections, would have been aluminum painted a copper color not quite like a penny.

I mean hell you moron, could you figure it out if I hung some arched red canopies over the windows so it look like an unpainted Wendy’s Burger building with a space ship roof made of corrugated aluminum painted copper?

Finally, in the flaming ($#%&$) opening statement he makes this brilliant comment, "I do not like when the City does something that would restrict the use of a neighbor in the operation of his business".

Well, wait a freaking minute here and back up the bus! Is this not the same flaming ($#%&$) who

Could it be that because certain issues are brought forward by certain people in this City, to our supposed leaders of Oz, who the flaming ($#%&$) does not like, he intentionally makes an ass of himself in hopes of finding an excuse to vote against them? Is he so made of tin that he could only wish he had a brain?

Even worse on this issue is the person we are now going to refer to as the new Flatulating Butthead, since Ron "McOsterman" moved up a peg.

I have tried to temper my remarks about newly crowned Wayne Ecton, the Flatulating Butthead of Oz and the Emerald City, because of his plea for civility and political correctness. Well, no more!

This Flatulating Butthead worried so much about civility and political correctness, but he has become the most pompous and arrogant ass that ever dealt with a round of this disease. Of course it was right before re-election time.

Let’s get something straight about the Flatulating Butthead, here and now. This person comes from and has loved living in a high rise building in Pittsburgh, so much so that when he first heard of high rise living in Downtown he sold his house and moved to McCormick Ranch to wait for his new unit to be completed.

The Flatulating Butthead has his own agenda he is seeking before his last 4 years are up. He has become hell bent on making sure that Downtown is cast in high rise living and his "opinion" of what the architecture of Downtown should be like. The Flatulating Butthead made it clear the night of the 4333 Bldg. hearing that he is no friend to "Downtown" and the history, architecture, and character of the area that people for many years have come here to enjoy.

This rat ($#%&$) of a City-elected title found that in "his opinion" the objections were based on the issue of the design being too modern for this "particular area". The Flatulating Butthead could not say the word "Downtown" after knowing damn well it is in the Downtown Area and part of Downtown Overlay. Even the developer noted that in the statement of "this is an entry point to ‘historic downtown’".

The Flatulating Butthead goes on to say that this is a matter of "opinion." This is incorrect as the codes, like them or not you rat ($#%&$), require that the project keep to the "development standards and character of the area" in order to conform with its surroundings. (if the editor would be kind enough to post the picture again).

This conniving little pompous ($#%) goes on to state that there may be others with opinions who may not like the design, but there are those who do like it, so "this is not an important part of the debate." Yet the developer never even showed up to the meeting and there was no one there to support the design.

There were merchants and residents there who came down to speak who were against the design, and only a person as hell bent on destroying our codes, character, and what Downtown has always been and will be as, your miserable ($#%) can’t understand that.

Wait, this only gets better. Showing his arrogance, once he heard Buckaroo Betty put the project down for architectural and site plan reasons (and actually trying to use parts of the Downtown Plan to do it), and also noting the Mayor herself staring at the picture on the screen and trying to form words that would say whether she likes the design and the location, this Flatulating Butthead turns cheek and says, "It might be good to bring it back." "after listening to the comments made, it has drawn him to a different conclusion". Then he states, "I don’t think I am qualified to give a lot of input to design a building". And the worst part, this arrogant Flatulating Butthead was the council’s representative (chairman) on the DRB when the "space ship" design was approved.

If you have no qualifications for design, and you heard the same arguments that you heard when you were chairing the DRB as you heard tonight, than why in the hell did you vote in both instances to move forward, and not bring the issue back before the Council? Could it be because you are a two faced "liar" and people have figured out "your plans"?

This arrogant carpet bagger, even after saying it might be good to draw it back and that he has now drawn a different conclusion from his DRB vote, still voted not to bring it back!

The Flatulating Butthead will not bend to anything other than transforming Downtown into his little dream world which it can never be because of past planning issues still unresolved. This is what he is basing his new concept of downtown on.

He is lying through his teeth like a kid caught in the cookie jar as to his intentions. He is plenty happy to bastardize downtown, at any cost, as long as it is part of his deluded dream. Maybe it was his face that he wanted painted all over downtown on manhole covers and maybe we should do that so everyone can agree with where he belongs. Stuffed in a sewer pipe!

Honestly, folks if there is a reason to pull recall paper-work shortly before the elections, this bag of wind and a Flatulating Butthead would be the reason to do such a thing. Just think instead of 4 seats, we would have 5 open for real leaders to apply.

For what ever reason the other council members wanted to use to bring this issue back for discussion it was clear that all of them did so because of the real underlying issues and they wanted to make it better.

To all 5, we have to give them the "leaders" of Oz classification .........  this week at least.

Well this one should come as a big chuckle to any Ozite who has had to deal with the City staff, and I was trying to make no comments regarding the Northern section of the City flooding. Most of those residents had been telling the City about the problems for years now. As usual though, our supposed leaders of the past had dropped the ball and considered residents as secondary factors in an issue they never understood even after residents explained it to them.

Hmm, sounds a lot like our present Council when it comes to Downtown and South Scottsdale. Okay, get this one. The City now claims that it is not their fault that homes have flooded and routing water under roads will now cost up to 100 million dollars and that cost may be true if we had the money to start now.

So whose fault do we claim it to be now? Well, according to the press of Oz it is the developers and the engineer’s faults that this problem is happening. It is their fault for poor drainage designs or "inappropriate building in the natural washes" according to the City’s storm water chief.

Okay back up the Emerald City boat a second…… (Sounds of mechanical failure). Okay, now we did it, we have backed up the boat on so many occasions when it comes to the City planning, policy, guidelines, standards, and ordinances that we just lost our reverse gear on the Umpa Lumpa turd lined streets.

Now, also consider we have had to do this, backing up, across the entire city and our supposed leaders still have no clue. So, the city claims no responsibility because they have blindly approved plans submitted by none other than developers and their engineers.

We have had planning commissions and DRB, in some cases, approve plans based on developers and their engineer’s submittals. We have also had these plans passed by Council members, new and old like the Wicked Witch, the City’s career politician, who is as lost as her followers and sidekicks. We have had the plans looked over by City staff and sent forward to these folks on commissions and Councils and now the City wants to claim ignorance of the blunders they have created for the northern section of the City while we allow them to do the same thing in the South and Downtown?

So the city solution should not come as a surprise to those of you who are used to dealing with the City. One of the proposals is to hire full time drainage inspectors to be proactive in enforcement and who, by December, will recommend that corridors be created around major washes that would prohibit construction.

Well, excuse the hell out of me if I find the resolution a rather bitter pill to swallow under the circumstances. We should have been doing the inspection thing all along, but when you are just approving the developer generated plans willy nilly, I guess there is no need to think that maybe, that developer-paid engineer might be pulling your leg? Besides, are these homes not required to go through a building inspection process, and if so where the hell are these folks looking, under their car seats?

Don’t we already have design and planning ordinances that tell you that you cannot build in a wash already?

Why is it that there was no recommendation to hire someone to staff that can read the blue prints and design plans, submitted by developers and their engineers? Look, it is apparent that we do not have anyone on staff with these capabilities, and if we do have one then we need to fire him, NOW!

If the City can actually say with a straight face that they hold no responsibility in this fiasco and the same ones they are perpetrating in South Scottsdale, by giving us no plan, and then with the bastardization of the Downtown area, then everyone better remember election day and vote this council out of existence! It’s a sham against the public and their rights and expectations of what a city government is supposed to be doing, including not playing developers.

Just remember folks, this is a day to day operations issue and we all know who is in charge of the day to day operations, but we have a majority of the Council who do not see fit to fix that problem either.

So, why re-elect them for 4 more years of the same crap? It makes no sense and neither does the City’s response to North Ozites. What, could we be right about doing it, again?

Well Ozites, as we have been saying for a long time now, there are some major problems with what is going on Downtown and our supposed leaders have either turned a blind eye and are praying, or they have had their minds sucked out by aliens.

We have mentioned before about rumors of developers with Downtown property putting expansion plans on the far back burner. We have given you the history of Downtown and what the City started building upon. They have no plans for what they are doing because even the "Which Way Oz study" is not being followed, by any means.

For that matter we have also told you how well we aren’t even following the one plan we do have for Downtown no matter how outdated it is. Well, one of the largest developers with deep pockets that goes by the name Toll Brothers, has decided to place their "Regency Project" on hold. Their first phase called the "The Mark" which has 85 condos has only been able to sell 1/3 of their units. Funny how a company with the wealth of Toll Brothers and their brand of known style has the shear intellect to know when there is a problem with the market not only in this area, but on a national level. They know that going forward now is a big mistake.

Problem is, as we have stated before, underlying problems that the city never resolved, infrastructure issues, no residential services in Downtown. Hell folks, there is not even a grocery store in Downtown, let alone any other services.

This is just the beginning Ozites. As I have told you before, there are problems with this grand plan of the Wicked Witch and her jesters. It is being portrayed as everything is great in Downtown with our plans, or shall we say the Wizards plans, that are going to cost all of us, and our kids, over the long run. These fools are going to keep approving all of this density and height no matter what the future costs will be, because they won’t be here to pay the bill.

Michael Merrill
F8713@aol.com

 ~ The newspaper trashed the Council for voting to review the Development Review Board (DRB) approval of the ugly 4333 building Downtown.  The paper said that the building (which looks like a spaceship) was OK because the area is "a mish-mash of contemporary and faux Western, oversize Roman columns and modern nondescript."  They just made the activists’ case that the city (especially the DRB) is destroying Downtown!  This is exactly why the system needs to be changed.

 ~ YES!!! The Trib says Nan Nesvig is going to run. Now we're getting somewhere. All we need to do is have Jim Derouin beat Manross for mayor, Keep Lane on as a council person, then Derouin, Littlefield, Nelssen, Lane and Nesvig can vote Dolan and company out and down the lonely road of defeat.

 ~ Your article on the "Greening of Scottsdale Road" hit the nail on the head. We had a business on Main Street in Mesa when they did that stupid remodel and it cost us our business and almost everything we had. All Scottsdale residents need to take up arms, get vocal, and stop this nonsense while you still can. If you don't, you'll all be very sorry.

 ~ Your kind words for my friend Lyle Wurtz were comforting and well said. Lyle would have been very appreciative. Thank you.

 ~ Thank you so very much for the article "A Just Reward for Stupidity & Ignorance" last week. My first expression after reading the article was a huge "YES!!!!" I have a son and son in law in Iraq and they abhor the way the American Press and Media treat the military effort in Iraq. What's actually going on over there is never reported by the press, they only report the negative things which in no way describe the real story. Again Thank you so very much! Editors note: By popular request, we will reprint it again in this issue.

 ~ The conversation you described with the young fellow who experienced the "24/7" downtown Scottsdale also describes my sentiments exactly. The "new" downtown is fickle, shallow, and a place you can only go a few times before you've "been there, done that". Scottsdale needs to grow up and provide some stability for the residents and taxpayers instead of a place for us in the younger crowd to go and get blitzed.

 ~ Thank you for your article exposing Code Enforcement for what it really is. I think the employees are mainly a good group but the management sucks from everything we've seen and heard from those getting violations in the mail. What happened to friendly, personal Scottsdale. It appears that management wants nothing more than to be the hard-ass group to prove their power over weak and elderly residents.

 ~ We saw the possible candidates for council so far in the Trib. Suzanne Klapp is a Chamber supporter which is a big negative to us, Lisa Borosky is associated with the strip clubs through family which means she's probably a "One Issue" candidate. The only one I can see who can be independent and has been involved in many city issues is Nan Nesvig. I hope we get at least one more besides Nesvig we can vote for because Klapp and Borosky don't flip my switch to fix the city government and we need one more besides Nesvig to get the necessary 4th or 5th vote to throw Dolan and her puppets out.

 ~ I pray to Almighty God that the Manross-Dolan-Robberson group including the state people involved in the Hualapai fiasco are forced by law to give the depositions which they cannot lie their way out of. This group of idiots need to be slammed legally into the ground, tarred and feathered and thrown out of town on their ears. Thank you for keeping us abreast of the nonsense going on in this city. Yes! '08 is coming and boy are we ready to vote.

~ Information You Can Use

Just click on the logos below to go to these websites.

Send our Brave Troops "Something from Home", Click on  Links below.

Gathering of  Eagles Website was launched 2/9/07. Click on the Logo above for more information on how they are protecting America's Memorials.

~ UPDATE!! A "Must See" for All Americans

Every American should check out all of these websites to learn more about what the American population is about to have to deal with.

This is NOT for Children.

I don't normally allow anything but Scottsdale information in the Scottsdale Activist but after receiving many emails about this and viewing it, I think that it's imperative that every adult at least look at what's offered here if for  nothing more than their own education and to have everyone stop and think about the future of our country. Click on the link below,

 www.obsessionthemovie.com

If you don't have Adobe Flash, install it from the bottom of the page that comes up after you click on the link above. You should be able to view all available links within the main page.

The website below is of great interest as seen from a Lebanese point of view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8fa9yKQeTY

The website below gives some history of Terrorist attacks:

http://patriotfiles.org/civilizationcalls.htm

This website tell you what REALLY happened:

http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened

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~ Arizona Tax Revolt

~ Prop 13 Arizona

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~ View Past City Council Meetings

We can now access the city council meetings by clicking on the following link:

If you have any problems, check your firewall and other safety features which could block access to the city site.

~Continuing Light Rail Information

The Scottsdale Citizens Transportation Study Committee invites you to view their website for more questions and answers at  www.norailforscottsdale.com .

================================================================

Simply click on the links below to get all the information you'll ever need concerning Light Rail.

     Goldwater Institute Report

     American Dream Coalition

    The Public Purpose

If you have any questions about light rail, send them to editor@scottsdaleactivist.com and we'll get the answers to you as soon as we can.

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~ For Continuing Information on Photo Radar,
Click on the Logo below.

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 ~Are Red-Light Cameras Fair to Drivers?

These modern-day robocops make ticketing easier and can be huge moneymakers for local governments. But critics question their accuracy and fret over privacy issues.

Click on the link below , then scroll down to read the article:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourCar/AreRedLightCamerasFairToDrivers.aspx

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The Scottsdale Activist is very pleased to announce an effort on the behalf of the residents and taxpayers of the city of Scottsdale to promote open, honest and accountable city government. The Scottsdale Legal Defense Fund (SLDF) has been created to take legal action to hold the City accountable when its actions are contrary to state law, the City Charter, City ordinances or the public interest.

The most necessary ingredient to make the SLDF work will be confidential contributions from concerned Scottsdale citizens who are willing to help their community.  By contributing, we can change the way City Hall does business and insure that our tax dollars will be spent wisely.

No funds from the SLDF will or can be used for any political purpose.

Contributions shall be kept confidential as permissible by law and can be made in any Washington Mutual Bank to account number 3114165786 for the Scottsdale Legal Defense Fund. Branch locations are listed below. Contributions are not tax deductible.

The SLDF has retained the law firm of Miller LaSota & Peters, PLC, in connection with the patently illegal action taken by the Mayor and Council appointing the most recent Scottsdale City Attorney, while ignoring the residency requirement of the Scottsdale City Charter even though the new City Attorney’s contract (according to Scottsdale Republic reporter Laurie Roberts) requires that she reside in Scottsdale.  The City Council action was based on a legal opinion which was reportedly rendered during a closed door Executive Session of the City Council by a subordinate to the then acting City Attorney, who was subsequently appointed to the City Attorney position by a vote during a public City Council meeting. The opinion has been requested as a public document under state law, but the City has not yet provided it. The SLDF will take other appropriate legal actions based on the conduct of the Mayor and Council.

Washington Mutual Bank Locations at which contributions to the SLDF can be made are:

72^nd & Shea                    7337 E. Shea Blvd #120                480-609-8524
Hayden & Chaparral     7908 E. Chaparral # C-113            480-949-0069
Horizon                            14854 N Frank Lloyd Wright         480-614-6660
Scottsdale Ranch          10155 E. Via Linda Blvd #131       480-767-2060
Kierland Village              6501 E. Greenway Pkwy #133     480-315-2905

There are many other branches throughout the Valley.

The Scottsdale Activist is published, and edited in Scottsdale AZ ~ 480-326-2475