Above is the supposed contact list for the DRB and Planning Commission. If these links fail to work, blame the board members for participating in the super-secret government run my Manross and Dolan.

If you have any questions concerning any planned projects, don't hesitate to contact the ones above who make the decisions.

~ The Truth? PLEASE!! Spare me!!

Got to thinking, as I was reading the Mayor’s State of the City speech, while fielding phone calls from outraged residents asking me if I had attended or if I had read her speech, there are a lot of angry people out there. Click the link below to read the speech for yourself to see what they’re upset about.

 http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/council/StateofCity.asp

It reminded me of a Tom Petty song, "I Won’t Back Down."

That was a motivational speech, but I don’t think the people that were motivated were the people the Mayor and her supporters wanted to be motivated.

Fact is when you deny people their very existence they tend to coalesce and this Mayor is very good at doing that little thing.

When I was taking Catechism classes with then Fr. Maguire at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the 1960’s we talked at length about the "sin of omission" and compared the "sins of denial." I miss him, those were good talks. He told me I had a tendency to think too much, "but t’was better than nay thinkin’ a’tall." I am not so sure about that, these days.

The Mayor sure knows how to streeeeeetch the truth.

Let’s talk about the Granite Reef Senior Center. It was not the Mayor’s idea or the Council’s. It came from former employees of Smitty’s and residents of the area who saw the opportunity to set the bar for revitalization, energy conservation and community building. Those residents met with Anthony Floyd and some former council members to put the plan to make the site the "greenest it could be" with a strong sense of neighborhood place. Anthony did the job. Anthony and the Environmental Quality Advisory Board, especially the late Daniel Bassinger, should get the honors.

So how did the Granit Reef Senior Center impact other development in the McDowell Corridor and in the Downtown condo construction that came after?

Well, not at all. You see the Mayor did not choose to fight for those elements at SkySong or with any of the high-rise luxury condo developments in Downtown, especially the Waterfront condos.

ASU Alumni Foundation said being "green" or LEED certified was too expensive and the City let it go at that.

So it does not matter how many solar businesses locate there, the deal is done and SkySong is not and will never be LEED certified. And look out for the heat effects from the above ground parking and the multi-story parking garage because it was too expensive to go underground with parking at SkySong.

Let’s take a look at her comments about Planned Unit Development (PUD). In 2003 The Scottsdale Coalition asked her in private talks and in public at Council meetings to look at the standards for redevelopment in the southern part of Scottsdale as the community was running out of developable land.

This Mayor took an advance to the rear stance and did nothing. Said nothing.

Now before the process to address South Scottsdale Area Long Range Planning is even off of the ground, she comes forward to strongly support the Planned Unit Development addition to Scottsdale’s planning process.

The developers love this one. It’s a 1940’s relic which was retired long ago due to it’s problems then, but thanks to the suggestion of our mayor, will allow them to now put more mass on a smaller property. Make it easier to assemble properties because they will not have to acquire as much property to build upon. It will also allow them to bring higher buildings and increased density and commercial uses closer to existing single family residential neighborhoods.

The Mayor reminded us of the "4020" building and her noble stand on it’s relating more to the Old Town design style.

Remember the "4333" building more recently? First she supported Councilman Littlefield in calling the DRB decision back because the design was not in keeping with the area, nor was it what she thought it should be as an entry feature for the area coming over the bridge from Camelback Road. When the project came to them with no changes save for tree, she supported it whole-heartedly.

When considering condo projects and green building, you may recall Optima Camelback Village. This project is not in the existing Downtown area. The developer of this project spent years perfecting the design, energy conserving techniques and multi-story landscaping. David Hovey is to be commended for voluntarily bringing REAL cutting edge design and construction to our community. Hovey and his partners took the time to work with community and well communicate his philosophy and his plans, prior to the City's approval process.

I am thinking the lady will sell us all down the river with little if any conscience.

Nancy Cantor
Chair, Scottsdale Coalition
nancyanncantor@cox.net

The Official Result of the signature verification is complete and we received the following message from Carolyn Jagger. (Click here to see city file)

Thanks to everyone’s efforts we are on the ballot! While there is still the ten (10) day period in which a legal challenge can be filed, based on my conversation with Eric Kenney and the strong margin of verified signatures, I doubt very much that we will have this obstacle to overcome. We have to begin looking forward to the election in September!

I feel our success with Hanover will slow up the other projects in the pipeline, such as Waterview/Solis and others, and therefore I would imagine there is a heightened level of concern on the part of development community. Furthermore, the Hanover success has created a “plank” in a campaign platform for “smart growth” and moderate density on which those candidates, who we support like Nan Nesvig, can stand.

Probably of equal or even greater importance than winning the Hanover vote is that we elect two more people to City Council that will support the good work currently being done by Bob Littlefield and Tony Nelssen. 

This process and my experience with everyone involved has given me hope that it is not too late to save the character of our downtown and the way in which governance occurs in Scottsdale. Thanks for your support and confidence. Let’s show the development community, city staff, and the council that we (citizens and neighborhoods) can take the initiative and control our destiny to make Scottsdale a reflection of the vision we all share. 

Thank you everyone for the continued hard work!

Contact Height And Density (480) 994-1181 or Tom Giller (480) 227-4150 for more information on the Hanover Referendum and upcoming vote.

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I’ve had many calls suggesting that the Mayor made a serious "Freudian Slip" by scheduling her State of the City speech as the glorious Arizona sun set in the west behind the Stetson Trolley Bridge instead of in the morning as the golden sun rose dramatically in the east starting a bright new day.

Could it be that the Mayor has subconscienciously already admitted defeat in the upcoming election as emphasized by the sun setting in the west as she spoke of nothing new or innovative?

Could it be that the pressures upon her now that her apparent chief speech writer and planner Jan Dolan is gone by council edict has increased 10 fold, which means she may have no one to turn to for help or to bail her out of the obvious dilemmas and the election she faces?

She did get the Hualapai trial date and deposition moved until after the election to save her from having to "tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth" about why she signed the lease without council approval or knowledge, but that’s no real surprise considering who she is apparently connected with in the county and state is it?

Keep intently watching, scrutinizing and listening to how, what and where she does what she does and says, and you’ll see the "Freudian Slip" showing up again… soon, and often I’m afraid, how could she do any differently?

Subconscious actions and spoken words many times belie what’s consciously said and done doesn’t it?

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We would strongly suggest to John Little, the acting City Manager, that he meet with the local activist community to determine what they have to say and need to see before there will be any support for any city program, revised general plan, or zoning and height/density issues.

We didn’t fall off the melon truck yesterday and have some very educated and informed individuals among our masses who can express those needs and wants very specifically and expertly.

We have been totally ignored as if we don’t exist by both the city managers office as well as the mayor and council majority since the arrival of Jan Dolan.

A meeting of this sort would not be a whining session, but instead a collective, in depth and strong discussion about the needs and wants of the citizens and taxpayers of the southern portion of the city which has not been heard.

We think the city and the city managers office owe us these discussions no matter how long it takes before any more decisions are made concerning the city.

COPP (Coalition of Pinnacle Peak)
Bob Vairo, president coppeak@coppeak.org

COGS (Coalition Of Greater Scottsdale)
Sonnie Kirtley azsonnie@cox.net

Community Council of Scottsdale
Jerry Lennemann jerrylenne@yahoo.com

Citizens for Responsible Redevelopment
Michael Merrill F8713@aol.com

Scottsdale Coalition
Nancy Cantor nancyanncantor@cox.net

TOPS (The Other Plan for Scottsdale)
Sam West sam@samjwest.com

When the city council was asked what would be required for a City Manager to be successful in the 04 April 2008 Scottsdale Republic, we interpreted their responses as follows::

It would appear that the only members of the council who remember and care who pays the bills were Councilmen Littlefield and Nelssen.

To read the entire editorial, click below:

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/SREditorials/20806

Deceit in government is not acceptable at any level. Here in Scottsdale we have had too much of it late coming from our City government.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, one of the definitions for deception is "to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid."

Now we have the Hanover Project, and a hard fought, oft times dangerous, citizen petition drive to get the Hanover project referred to the ballot.

On February 21, 2008, I received a response from Mayor Manross to an email that I sent on February 18, 2008 to the Mayor and the Council regarding the Hanover project. I am enclosing that exchange here:

---- "Manross wrote:

----Cantor reply to Manross:

I took the email that the Mayor sent to me with me to the COGS meeting the evening of the 21^st of February, and gave it to John Berry, the attorney for Hanover to read and try to explain to me. He did not understand what she meant.

Then I gave the email to the two gentlemen from Hanover who brought the supposed model of the project to the meeting to explain the changes that had been voted on and accepted by the Council and the Planning Commission, and they could not explain what the Mayor meant either.

The referendum petitions have been certified and now we hear that apparently what they showed the Planning Commission, the Council and COGS is not the reality for design of the project after all! Does this mean that the plans and mock ups of the project were all vanilla and not really what was being planned for the location? Does this mean that the council voted to approve a project which literally has no architectural plans drawn at all? That the council approved a "pig in a poke"? Did anyone even think to ask if this was the real thing or just another project that would be somewhat like what they would build?

So what does it all mean? That we cannot count on the Planning Commission and Council to understand what the developers are putting before them? That we cannot count on either body upholding the process and policies they have sworn to uphold? That we cannot trust them to deal clearly with the public when doing the business of the people? Does it mean that, when push comes to shove, developers and the elected officials all "dummie-up" when asked to clarify their comments?

Whatever it means, from here it does not look like anyone knows what the heck is going on.

Let the referendum begin and let the people decide how Hanover should be settled.

 ~68th Street & Indian School

Here's what the west entry into the city of Scottsdale would look like at 68th Street and Indian School with the SRP Electrical Distribution station located on the newly proposed corner. Isn't it a pretty sight? Fits right in with the neighborhood doesn't it?

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 ~ Down Town Nightmare

Below is the nightmare Mayor Manross, the council majority and MAG are trying to bring to our beloved "Old Town" Scottsdale. Pretty picture isn't it?

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~ Fiscal Bait & Switch

State of the City speeches are always most interesting to analyze for what they don't say. The Mayor stated that Scottsdale's population has grown 7.2% since 2000, she then went on to talk about how "fiscally conservative" she was.

Do the facts support such a celebratory, self-serving statement by the mayor? Of course they don’t in any way shape or form of reality!!

Let’s just look at the budgets adopted/proposed under the Manross second term of office i.e. 08/09 v 04/05 - these numbers of course were not in her State of the City speech. So at a time when…………

………and she claims to be a "Fiscal Conservative"?

This certainly is not fiscally conservative management, it is the exact opposite.

The five year plan numbers suggest that a magic wand is going to be waved and cost escalation will be kept down to 2% per annum by the end of the plan - something that has not been achieved in years.

Who’s trying to kid who here????

THE FACTS  

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The Scottsdale Activist website must be really hitting home and hard where it really hurts, with the truth.

I was called by two of our readers ("pioneer" & "Dodie") telling me that some bloggers in the Scottsdale Republic had made some unkind remarks about me in the blog below the Mayors speech Soared article.

Being that I don’t normally have time to read blogs, I took the time to check it out and I responded as the "activisteditor". Below is the link to the blog which you might find the written conversations very interesting at the least.

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This year’s Mayoral election will inevitably be a crap shoot. That’s too bad for Scottsdale voters who, for the first time in our city’s history, have an opportunity to turn the current defunct government system on its ear and make significant, positive changes in the future.

It seems that Scottsdale’s voter base has become an eclectic mix of young-misinformed-politically unengaged residents who seek short term satisfaction and enjoyment from our city and older-stable-struggling residents who recognize the importance of good leadership. In some cases, this mix is as prevalent as the North-South Scottsdale divide. Still, residents hold out hope that smart minds and common sense will prevail.

Mayor Manross’ State of the City speech this past week was Plain Jane Vanilla at best. Flat, tasteless, lacking in staying power, and without many verifiable facts. Are we left without hope if she is re-elected? If the number of protesters and free anti-Manross swag being swooped up by attendees at the speech location were any indication of just how angry the residents are about Manross’ inability to lead this city in the future, then hope springs eternal. With the recent departure of Dolan as City Manager, Manross appears even more clueless about how to lead this city than residents originally thought her to be. If anything, it confirms the fact that Manross never actually did lead this city, Dolan did. So it begs the question, why elect a leader who can’t lead? There’s that common sense thing again.

Whether you are just looking for a quick entertainment fix in Scottsdale or to put down roots and embrace our city’s history, you deserve leadership who understands your needs and truly is representative of them. When was the last time anyone saw Manross attend a local citizen’s group meeting? As an elected official, you represent the interests of the people. Would it not make common sense that you’d take the time to understand their concerns instead of just having one of your seven PR people "handle" it on your behalf? Manross doesn’t think so. What is she afraid of?

Being in touch with Scottsdale’s residents and businesses and understanding what they require in order to sustain livability in the future means being invested, as a leader, in what you do and how you serve. It’s not about sitting in the Kiva and the windowless Ivory Tower barking out nonsensical orders to subordinates, taking less than sage advice from personally, financially motivated developer cronies and political insiders, or being afraid to face the music, dig in the trenches, walk the streets, and resolve even the minutest of problems for the residents. And it surely isn’t turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the public, who for all intents and purposes, elected you to that office. It’s an emotional, physical, one on one relationship-building experience that frankly, Manross neither has the personality for nor the interest or energy to handle. What she’s afraid of is not having an answer to anything – if, for so many years, you have relied on others to tell you how to lead, then you have no plausible "mind of your own." This truly is the obvious case with Manross.

Yes, the race for Mayor will be a crap shoot. Scottsdale has become a Mecca for greedy fly-by-night developers, unethical political insiders, and those 20-something partiers. The Manross vision for this city has never involved sustainability for those residents who actually pay taxes, shop on a regular basis, and have put down roots here with an eye toward raising their families.

We can only hope that the odds of the game are with those residents who truly love and care about Scottsdale on Election Day.

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~… Have You Ever Seen Kidder…..?

Rick Kidder, the CEO of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce, is long on jawboning about all kinds of city issues and his supposed expertise thereto in many cases but, have you ever seen him at any citizen sponsored community meeting? In contacting most of the known large or small citizen groups in the city which we have listed in the Activist, none can remember Rick being at any of their meeting to speak or listen as far back as they can remember.

You would think that before a supposedly educated person on city and community affairs as well as on council decisions makes suggestions and comments about the health, needs, and operations of a city operated and paid for by the taxes of the residents, he would at the very least attend some community meetings to check the pulse of the residents.

Oh, I forgot. Rick couldn’t care less about the residents unless they own businesses AND belong to his beloved chamber, even if reportedly over 40% of his members ply their trades and their business addresses are OUTSIDE the city limits of Scottsdale and therefore don’t pay Scottsdale property, property improvement, or retail sales taxes.

So what’s happening is that Kidder continues his pursuit of having more and more say in city affairs including sponsoring and promoting council and mayoral candidates using monies he has collected OUTSIDE the city limits of Scottsdale.

If Kidder is so damned cock sure he has all the answers to make the city a better place, why doesn’t he or Virginia Korte allow the residents to tell them how much they appreciate their interference into strictly city taxpayer issues by running for a council or mayoral seat?

Both Kidder and Korte hate losers or losing so they’d never do such a thing now would they?

CEO Rick Kidder and the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce have finally awakened to the fact that "Green" does exist, has for well over a decade, and that there are scores of customers that are sure to shop "green" businesses as discussed in an article by Ari Cohn in Saturdays Scottsdale Tribune.

The sub-headline states "Forum aimed at educating community on benefits of environmental friendliness".

Unfortunately in our opinion, Kidder and the Chamber still haven’t awakened to the fact that there are citizens and taxpayers in Scottsdale to whom their member businesses can only add customers by being fully aware of their customers wants and needs, not those dictated by the Chamber.

If Chamber members or board members never attend community meetings or get involved with those organizations, how can they realistically advise said business members on how to attract these potential customers?

A more telling question might well be why does this Chamber represent reportedly 40+% of their members whose businesses are OUTSIDE the Scottsdale city limits and don’t pay Scottsdale taxes but get all the benefits including the use of the name of our city?

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In 1993 a large group of residents made up largely of Scottsdale Unified School District parents (most from South Scottsdale schools Pima, Hohokam, Supai and Coronado), a member of the Governing Board of SUSD, and City staffers including Scottsdale Police Officers and representatives from the Human Services Department, met to create an organization that would:

"Collaboration" was the key point to creating LINKS. This organization is alive in Scottsdale.

You don’t hear a lot about LINKS in the news which is sad because communication, being one of the original goals, can be accomplished through newspapers (and Robert Leger the editorial director for the Scottsdale Republic is on their board, and he chooses to run my columns, or not).

Being as I was part of that founding group, I am stumped to understand how LINKS works, especially with the City of Scottsdale, on shared concerns.

More and more I am baffled. Though I am a member of the Housing Board, I speak only for myself. We are constantly dealing with issues pertaining to all facets of housing.

Keep an eye on those CDBG funds used for Neighborhood Service Programs, including code enforcement, and the HOME funds for housing rehab, emergency repairs and assistance to seniors for housing issues and more. If Scottsdale does not make some changes fast, those funds will be in jeopardy and may have to be repaid with interest to the federal government for a failure to consummate the contract as written and accepted.

LINKS Board of Directors and senior fellows and staff have seen fit to communicate with the Housing Board on one occasion and that was by invitation from the Housing Board. And that seems strange because the former head of Neighborhood Services, Judy Register, is on the LINKS board and she oversaw the Housing Board.

Apparently LINKS has been working on housing affordability issues for some time. The have put together research on condo conversions, affordability, and possible solutions to some of the problems.

When considering condo projects and green building, you may recall Optima Camelback Village. This project is not in the existing Downtown area. The developer of this project spent years perfecting the design, energy conserving techniques and multi-story landscaping. David Hovey is to be commended for voluntarily bringing REAL cutting edge design and construction to our community. Hovey and his partners took the time to work with community and well communicate his philosophy and his plans, prior to the City's approval process.

I know that my perspective, being a member of the Housing Board, we are trying to do the same and being limited by staff leaving and their replacements not familiar with the issues or the work we have been doing, or what needs to be done overall. We are limited by lack of communication between boards and commissions within the City government, and we get ZERO feedback from the Mayor and Council.

Obviously, we as a community are still limited because of lack of communication all over the place. Is it politics as usual in Scottsdale? Is it a purposeful disconnect because our community does not really want to deal with the issue of affordable housing needs?

We have a Housing Element in our General Plan that no one, and no board or commission seems to know what to do with. We must update the General Plan so we had better figure that out pronto.

The more mature the City becomes, the more there is a need to look at housing needs across the board from rehab to green building, to sustainability to affordability.

So, LINKS, what’s happening?

Nancy Cantor
Chair, Scottsdale Coalition

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Our friends in Paradise Valley are having the same problems we are having in Scottsdale. Below is a news release we received. We don’t usually include items which are not directly Scottsdale related by we feel that this one is close enough and might interest some of our readers being that they live on the border of the 2 cities.

Paradise Valley  Preserve Our Paradise, a Town of Paradise Valley concerned citizens group, will present and discuss the facts surrounding the Five Star Development project being presented as a Ritz-Carlton Resort Special Use Permit.

On Tuesday, April 8, 2008, at 8 p.m., we will be privileged to hear Nan Nesvig, Scottsdale City Council candidate, and Tom Giller, both key players in the recent successful Hanover referendum in Scottsdale. They will talk about how to conduct a successful referendum. The discussion will be held at the Town of Paradise Valley Police Station Auditorium, 6433 East Lincoln Drive in the Town Complex at the southeast corner of Lincoln and Invergordon.

The Paradise Valley Town Council is scheduled to hear Citizens input once again at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, at the Town Hall, 6400 East Lincoln Drive. It is expected that the Council will vote affirmatively to approve the Five Star project as submitted. The high-density housing component of this project will result in the construction of 100 high-density housing units at 8 units per acre which will;

It has yet to be demonstrated how these high-density housing units will benefit the Town in any way. It is important that concerned residents express their views to their Town Council members. Paradise Valley has always prided itself on having a representative government. Let us keep it that way.

Preserve Our Paradise, a nonprofit organization, identifies issues impacting the town, promotes public awareness and reports findings with recommendations to PV citizens and town leadership. E-mail may be addressed to pvpop@cox.net. View the POP website at pvpop.org and add your comments to the POP blog at pvpop.blogspot.com.

###

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 ~Letters to the Editor  

 ~Racial Discrimination??

I don't have time to verify this, but I heard from a reliable source that seniors at the Scottsdale School District's Chaparral High School are angry about racial discrimination.  For those of you who don't live in Scottsdale, Chaparral is considered the best school in the district for academics.

Apparently, instead of accepting the best applicant from the school, Stanford Univ. accepted a minority from the school who has lower grades, SAT scores and extracurricular accomplishments.  Now, kids who have been seeped in tolerance and diversity, and whose guilt-ridden parents will probably vote for Obama, are seeing firsthand how society is repaying them for their open-mindedness and how the racial deck is stacked.  It's beyond my mental capacity to understand how such discrimination (aka affirmative action) is going to help race relations or America's competitiveness.

Perhaps the Chaparral story has been in the news but I missed it, due to spending all my free time helping my son, a high school junior, jump through all the hoops required to get into a good college in this era of extreme competition for the relatively few available slots.  On second thought, this isn't the kind of story that would fit the racial template of the mainstream media.

Regards,
Craig J. Cantoni

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 ~ Council Corner By Councilman Jim Lane

 ~ No Disclosure

Live with no disclosure, leave with no disclosure. That may be the best way to describe the time spent and the ultimate "separation" of our recently resigned City Manager (CM), Jan Dolan.

The majority of the Council, including our Mayor voted to have all matters involving Charter Officers’ evaluations and resulting disclosures to be kept completely secret. I voted against that Council action because it eliminates any accountability for the actions of Council and Charter Officers.

Several months ago a legal action was brought by the media against the City regarding the release of the CM’s self-evaluation under the "Freedom of Information" Act. The same Council majority voted to fight the lawsuit rather than release the information. I opposed that action. The Judge subsequently ruled against the City. That fight cost the taxpayers over $50,000.

Vice-Mayor Ecton has been the swing vote on retaining Ms. Dolan for some time. His change of position on the subject changed the equation. That didn’t alter the majority’s policy and history of "no disclosure". The question is: why the outcry now? Jan Dolan’s separation was handled correctly in executive session. She could have requested it be held in public, but she chose not to. I contend that City Hall’s propensity to keep things secret where it is not necessary or proper to do so hurts our trustworthiness and believability. Why should the public believe we are leveling with them now when we haven’t chosen to so before?

If I had known how this accountability thing was going to be minimized in adulthood, the threat of, "that’s going on your permanent record" wouldn’t have kept me up at night as a seven year old worrying about being denied a job at IBM for childhood pranks. It is tough but that "permanent record" thing helped keep a number of us mindful of the value of our reputation.

John Little, the Executive Director of the Downtown Group is now to serve as the interim City Manager. John is a bright, open, matter of fact kind of guy who is certain to provide a positive change in style and approach to City management. He is a consummate professional who is committed to give the Council time to select a permanent candidate who exemplifies the skill & qualities that we believe are most important for City staff and our Citizens. He has indicated he has no interest in the permanent CM position.

We have an opportunity here to start the changes necessary to move our City government back to an open and trusted institution. With the citizens’ help, we can and will do better.

W.J."Jim" Lane
Scottsdale Councilman
jlane@scottsdaleaz.gov

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Mike is on Vacation and we've been far too busy to write the column in any manner which would come close to what Mike can write, so we'll have to forgo this feature for this week and add a feature called Scottsdale's Golden Treasures.

Southern Scottsdale is beginning the long range planning process and that includes recognizing what we prize as part of our neighborhoods.

Growing up just around the corner from Harpers Nursery at 2529 North Hayden Road you could always count on a world of wonders come spring. Happily they are still there and can be counted, to my mind, as one of Scottsdale’s Treasures.

When Mayor Drinkwater put together the "Neighborhood Beautification Awards Committee" back about 1987, one of the founding members of that committee was John Harper, the son of the founder. The others of us learned a lot from him in the short time that the committee met. But that was not the only Harper that got involved because when Mayor Drinkwater decided to take the committee to the Neighborhood Enhancement Commission Jeff Harper came on board for a term.

Over the years my late husband sought Harpers out for questions on companion planting (not what you think though the idea probably crossed his mind on occasion), tomatoes and everything about them, citrus trees and how to hide Zucchini plants in the Cat Claws.

This year the Harper’s Garden abounds with treasures. The roses are always gorgeous and the Lobelia color is so intense it makes your eyes water. Companion planting is big in the garden whether in pots or in the garden plot.

This spring there is more…..there is music and coffee in the garden along with the Gardening Club and information on any plant you might want to know better.

The music group "Ted Alan featuring Sherman Mitchell," is perfect. It was their second Sunday morning "gig in the Harper’s garden" and they were the frosting on the cake.

The members of the group with Ted Alan on guitar and vocals and Sherman Mitchell on trombone and flute, Tommy Miles on trumpet, Dennis Sexton on bass, Tom Goodwin on drums, Devon Bridgewater on trumpet, Chris Gough on the Hammond B-3 and James Taylor on percussion have cut a CD which you can also get in the Harper’s Garden.

If you like smooth jazz, and know Gershwin, Oscar Peterson, Rene Luis Toledo, Sy Oliver or Luis Bonfa go to the Harper’s Garden on Sunday, listen while you pick out the tomato plants, trees that are drought tolerant, and xeriscaping essential to our climate.

Bringing "Oscar’s Coffee Bar" to the garden was a treat, but now with the music there is a wondrous audio and visual event.

Yes, South Scottsdale is the area south of Indian Bend Road and includes the special planning area of Downtown.

I attended the workshop at the Kerr Cultural Center, 6110 North Scottsdale Road, just south of the Borgata. Anyone living in the vicinity is in South Scottsdale and your voice needs to be heard. So be aware the process is just beginning and you can get more info about it contacting the Advance Planning Team at 480-312-7990 or e-mail

planninginfo@scottsdaleaz.gov.

Below are items of interest you won’t get from the U.S. Propaganda Ministry, which consists of the establishment media, K-12 government schools, leftist universities, presidential candidates, apparatchiks in federal agencies, and our overlords in Congress and the White House. If you think that’s hyperbole, please read this article in its entirety and then tell me what you think.

Warning: If you’ve relied all of your life on the Propaganda Ministry for your news and information, you’ll be too apathetic, pathetic and pedantic to think differently from what you’ve been taught.

U.S. Representative James Oberstar (D-MN) recently held hearings on the cozy relationship between the airlines and the FAA. He was shocked by what he heard. The media were shocked by what they heard. And Americans were snookered once again by the Propaganda Ministry.

In the late 1980s, I headed a 5,000-member grassroots group that fought the FAA and the airlines. I met with Oberstar and the head of the FAA in their offices, and testified before Oberstar’s transportation subcommittee, along with 12 members of Congress, including Senators Bill Bradley and Frank Lautenberg.

Twenty years ago, they knew, I knew, and the members of my group knew that there was a revolving door between the FAA, the airlines, airport operators, congressional staffers, and the Air Transport Association, which is the lobbying organization for the airlines. We also knew about the wheelbarrows of PAC money that went to Oberstar, Lautenberg and other members of Congress.

Nothing has changed in the intervening years. (It’s the same situation in other government agencies.) But the Propaganda Ministry didn’t report any of these sordid facts in its recent stories about the FAA and Oberstar. Instead, it portrayed Oberstar as a Clark Kent of Congress who is going to use his Superman power to hold the airlines accountable and make sure that wings don’t fall off airplanes.

If reporters had a smidgen of inquisitiveness and industriousness, it would have taken them about 15 minutes of Internet research to get the facts about the revolving door and PAC money. Not to defend their laziness, but they know that anyone who breaks from the Ministry and tells the truth about what goes on inside will be ostracized and not given access to the Politburo.

Incidentally, the airlines don’t want planes falling out of the sky and have more to lose than FAA bureaucrats if they start killing their customers. Personally, I trust Southwest Airlines more than I trust the government. After all, our government has sent hundreds of thousands more Americans to their death than Southwest has.

The Propaganda Ministry won’t say this, but the government created the housing bubble by easy money, by caving to pressure from ACORN and other leftist advocacy groups to make mortgages affordable to minorities and the poor, by allowing Fannie Mae to securitize mortgages and lower its lending standards for minorities, by the tax deduction for mortgage interest, and by a misguided government policy that wrongly believes that home ownership is good for people of modest means.

At the same time, the establishment media failed to warn the public about the housing bubble, just as they failed to warn the public about the dot-com bubble. Once again, reporters didn’t have the inquisitiveness and industriousness to do 15 minutes of research on historic home price inflation. If they had done such research and published the results in bold type on their front pages, the public would have known that home prices barely exceed inflation over the long term--that the inevitable real estate booms are followed by busts, and that the gains and losses cancel out each other so that it’s difficult to make money on real estate over time.

Now the Propaganda Ministry is encouraging the bailout of gamblers--of borrowers and lenders who gambled that home prices would go up. That’s no different from bailing out gamblers who lose money at casinos or on state lotteries. If it’s okay for the government to bailout people who gambled on homes, then why isn’t it okay for the government to bailout people who gamble on hitting 21 in blackjack or three cherries on a slot machine?

By the way, state lotteries are rigged against gamblers to a much greater degree than the sub-prime market was rigged against gamblers. The chances of losing money in state lotteries are far greater than the chances of losing money in sub-prime mortgages. Of course, the Propaganda Ministry keeps this truth from the public.

Imagine a liberty scale, with a "0" representing a highly centralized national government that (a) engages in mercantilism and economic planning and controls; (b) engages in collectivism and redistribution; and (c) continues the imperialist tradition begun by the Spanish-American War and embodied in John McCain’s hero, Teddy Roosevelt.

At the other end of the scale, a "10" would represent a highly decentralized government that (a) stays out of the way of the free market and individual liberty; (b) doesn’t take money from some people and give it to other people, but, instead, takes money only for the common good of the protection of life, liberty and property; and (c) doesn’t meddle in the internal affairs of other countries.

Where would John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton rank on such a scale? Well the Propaganda Ministry doesn’t want you to know the answer, because the three presidential candidates rank low on the scale, for different reasons. In other words, whether Democrat or Republican, all of them are in cahoots with each other to replace individual liberty with varying degrees of statism, collectivism and imperialism.

Believing in subjugating the individual to the state instead of vice versa, all of the candidates deserve a "3" or "4" at the most on the liberty scale and thus do not deserve being the chief executive of our constitutional republic. But instead of using the scale or something similar to show that there is little difference between the candidates where it matters the most, the establishment media cover how the political game is played, reporting who insulted whom, who has the most money, who is getting the black or white vote, who is the better speaker, and who made the best appearance on the Jay Leno show. If today’s media had covered Hitler’s rise to power, they would have focused on his style and his swooning admirers, while ignoring what he wrote in Mein Kampf.

In summary, the U.S. Propaganda Ministry makes Josef Goebbels look like an amateur.

An author and columnist, Mr. Cantoni can be reached at  ccan2@aol.com.

Council Candidate Nan Nesvig asked that those carrying petition sheets for her have the sheets properly notarized and turned in to her by contacting her at;

nnesvig4scc@aol.com

She will be happy to pick them up from those petition carriers if they will leave a contact phone number or address where they can be picked up. Her goal is to turn in over 3,000 pre-certified signatures by the deadline in June.

 ~ Mary Manross