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~ Scottsdale Planning Process

It’s time to take a good look at the whole Scottsdale Planning process and that includes the Planning Commission and the Development Review Board (DRB), and those who use (or abuse) them to get their projects approved.

Long range planning is critical to the positive growth and development of all communities, especially including mature areas of a city that is facing redevelopment infill projects to address growth and economic vitality while still maintaining the historical aspects and ambiance of the area.

Our General Plan is supposed to be a tool to guide such growth. The problem is that two elements of our General Plan lack implementation processes; Housing and Neighborhoods. These two elements are critical parts of area South of Indian Bend Road to the Tempe border and have been ignored by the past administration.

Transportation is also a critical part of this fabric and while it does have an implementation process, it is not working the way that it should with effective community outreach and public input. A clear process for the decisions being made and a clear accounting of monies spent on some neighborhood street projects would be a big help too. We see traffic islands, street furniture, and roundabouts being built willy-nilly while the streets, sidewalks, curbs, and gutters are deteriorating at an alarming rate.

Every effort possible needs to be made to make sure that our Planning Commission and DRB truly represent the city, taxpayers, and residents best interest. No Planning Commission or DRB should be made up of just architects, contractors, and developers. There are no requirements in the City Charter that mandates ours should be manned by those people alone and yet that is what has happened of late.

This is not to demean architects, contractors, or developers. However, their entire perspective as to what is good for your neighborhood is heavily affected by where they live, their education, their personal point of view, their time living in Scottsdale, their employment, or the projects in which they are directly or indirectly involved within Scottsdale city limits. No member should ever be allowed to participate in any manner on a project built within the city limits 1 year prior or 2 years after serving on either the DRB or the Planning Commission to eliminate possible conflicts of interest.

Most of our Planning Commission and DRB members have chosen to confine their community outreach to public hearings in the Kiva or other city buildings, some during times when the working public cannot attend. They do meet individually with developers to discuss projects off the public record. Getting out into the impacted neighborhoods and talking with residents is not something they readily, if ever, do.

Should the Planning Commission or DRB be allowed to meet individually off the public record with those proposing plans for Scottsdale development? This is a serious situation that needs to be discussed and corrected by the City Manager and the City Council from the basis of ethical conduct based on any possible conflict of interest.

Considering the time of day that Planning Commission and Development Review Board meetings are held, it makes it difficult for residents to attend hearings in the Kiva or other city buildings which adds to the mystique and questionable actions concerning how their decisions are made.

Since the city is required to address amending the General Plan every ten years, according to state law, this is an excellent time to review our boards and commissions critical to the planning process. Under the last administration, those boards and commissions were not allowed to discuss any projects as combined groups and that didn’t allow for good and productive work that would benefit the residents or the city as a whole.

Neighborhoods and Housing have not been discussed by staff, the DRB or the Planning Commission as part of the checklist for new projects facing approval. Due to the lack of communication between all of them, the boards and commissions, other than the DRB and Planning Commission, can offer little in the way to guide a developer in how to do the outreach or how extensive that outreach is to be. In fact, there is no requirement for developers to provide materials used in outreach or to show how they carry out their outreach process.

What we have experienced of late is public relations firms and such as Technical Solutions and law firms such as John Berry’s representing prospective projects and developers who have been allowed to do public outreach without any of the material they use being made available for public scrutiny or to the DRB, Planning Commission or City Council. Yet we’ve been told that select people within the city government DID know what was being done but denied they knew anything.

These are usually important area-changing or prominent projects that affect the citizens as well as the ambiance, historical flavor and tax revenue of our fair city. The public as well as the council, staff, and boards and commissions should be given the chance to see how the project was represented or probably more correctly of late, misrepresented. This means that all of the public outreach is currently deemed secret and owned solely by the developer and their representatives (or those select few in city government) which is NOT in the best interest of the project, the residents or the city.

To stop this travesty and any chance of unethical or slanted practices, any and all processes from day one to the end of any project need copies of everything dated and kept in a public file which is to be available to all for perusal so we all know exactly what has been represented and why. There are a number of projects of late that have been represented as "golden" when in fact they are albatrosses of the worst kind and of even worse design; take the new shiny and reflective aluminum eyesore at Scottsdale Road and SR 101, plain-jane SkySong and its diapers, or what has been called "The Space Ship" in our downtown as examples. What we have is NOT what was presented to the public originally. Thank God the building of the "space ship" on Scottsdale Road has apparently been scuttled.

The only way that neighborhoods have been included is when the leaders of the neighborhood affected are forced to take a confrontational stand which is a sad commentary on the city government processes over the last few years. It never used to be this way in Scottsdale and appropriate checks and balances needs to return to city government that we feel John Little, Mayor Lane and the new council will reimplement quickly.

Oddly, those who rightfully take the confrontational stands then join the ranks of the "dreaded community activists" simply because they care about their home, their street, their neighborhood and they exercise their right to question and be proactive in solving problems. If more citizens became involved, the problems would go away and with the new city government, we think that will be a real possibility, finally.

From our experience so far, we think that Acting City Manger John Little and his team are doing an excellent job of identifying and solving problems as he uncovers them. Trying to fix 7+ years of secret doings contrived by slanted and possibly unethical smoke and mirror politics is a very trying endeavor.

We trust that John Little will continue making headway that is being done amazingly fast to date, but unseen by the average citizen because he has to get to the root of the problem, and solve it without legal retribution before he can address that part the public sees and hears.

It has been said by some in our new city government that some citizens believe their individual peccadilloes should rise to the top of the public policy agenda no matter their place or importance in the scheme of things. Civility needs to be reintroduced to our dealings with citizens as well as the citizens toward a responsive city government.  Without it we may just as well be snarling, biting animals hoping our threatening postures evoke fright and terror from the intended victim. There is indeed a new day in Scottsdale as has been pointed out by Mayor Lane and others which is full of new opportunities to rebuild old relationships.  Those that recognize this will want to participate while the others, well, ........their lights will burn fiercely, fade and eventually go out without anyone noticing or remembering.

Please use your voice to let the City Manager and City Council know where you stand on the Planning Commission and DRB process and any projects that concern you. They DO want to hear from you.

When you contact them, do it in a respectful manner and present a reasonable time frame and some solutions for the problem while fully understanding that they already have a lot to handle based on priorities and the miserable mess they were handed.

Keep these email addresses handy:

jlittle@scottsdaleaz.gov   Acting City Manager John Little

citycouncil@scottsdaleaz.gov  All City Council members

jlane@scottsdaleaz.gov  Mayor Jim Lane

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~ Time for Some Major Changes

With the election of a new council and a "the beginning of a bright new day" for Scottsdale, we would like to see the following changes implemented as soon as reasonably possible to help bring the city and the residents closer together.

City Attorney Deborah Robberson: Immediate resignation or firing

As the Scottsdale Activist broke the story about 2 years ago, Robberson publicly admitted approving the ^$10 million dollar Hualapai Water Plant Lease contract with the State Land Trust Department "in form only" when it was handed to her by, we assume, Jan Dolan or one of Dolan’s people as ordered by Dolan and/or Manross. She has refused to take any responsibility for allowing or asking Dolan to ask Manross to sign the lease.

Why didn’t Robberson require or demand a complete and comprehensive review before she gave any approval for the entire lease and its provisions, even in form only, which could now cost the city up to ^$13 million additional dollars and legal fees depending upon a decision of a jury?

Why didn’t she inform the City Council of the Hualapai lease when she first learned of its existence in either Manross’ or Dolan’s possession? Wouldn’t that have been the prudent and legally proper thing to do?

Why didn’t Robberson stop Manross from signing the lease when the legal department hadn’t reviewed it for content, legality, or liability? Or, was she ordered not to stop her?

Isn’t the City Attorney’s #1 job to protect the city from any and all legal or legally negative financial problems that could possibly occur while he/she is on the job?

Wasn’t it one of Robberson’s city legal department stable-mates that wrote the still questionable legal opinion that she should be seated as a Charter Officer without having to reside in the city as outlined in the City Charter? Why wasn’t an independent outside firm used to make that important determination?

When brought to an outside legal firm with an impeccable and highly regarded reputation by a private citizen, the person asking for the opinion was told that there was a very excellent chance that the opinion could be found in error and reversed.

It was decided that due to the high cost to file the suit to stop the appointment, and the possibility that Robberson’s supporters, the mayor and city manager plus the council majority, would just find another way to have their puppet Robberson reside in a city owned or "friendly" supporters home, condo or apartment just so they could claim her to be a "legal city resident". With those options available to Robberson's supporters, the thought to file the suit was dropped.

Any replacement for Robberson must be from outside the city and even the valley but within the state so they are very familiar with Arizona law. Possibly the well qualified attorney from Tucson who was on the final list twice (if she’s still interested) would make a good choice with the caveat that whomever is to replace Robberson must clean out the department and get it back on tract. This city has more attorneys on staff per capita than any city in Arizona PLUS hired outside attorneys who also do work for the city. Is that because of the complete incompetence of one Deborah Robberson?

Currently under Robberson, it reportedly takes so long to get any Code Enforcement violations through the legal department that Code must go back out and re-cite the property (sometimes twice) to make any fine assessment or legal action valid. There are properties that need to have search warrants approved to facilitate an immediate search for illegal activity. Reportedly, by the time the city legal department gets around to issuing the warrant, the threat is either past or the violator has figured out what Code is looking for and temporarily ceased the supposed illegal activity.

We wonder if the city police department is having the same problem but just hasn’t said anything?

Neal Shearer, Assistant City Manager: Investigate for possible illegal activities

Formerly overseeing Human Resources after the questionable removal of Terri Traeen.

Shearer needs to be fully investigated for apparently illegally taking a contracted employee (a retired city employee with an excellent record) off city property with Frank Gray to a public restaurant (IHOP) for interrogation by both Gray and Shearer on three (3) separate occasions without offering representation, legal or otherwise for the contract employee.

The investigation should include why Shearer and Frank Gray reportedly violated the personal property of yet another employee they reportedly charged with a number of crimes (we couldn’t find any record of said charges) after breaking into the employees locked desk and rummaged through his files without a legal warrant or the employee’s presence or permission while he was still employed by the city.

Both of these employees were fired. One just short of 20 years with the city, the other only half way through a one (1) year written contract. The one who was just short of 20 years of service reportedly had all charges dropped for unknown reasons and was granted a full retirement.

This appears to be an illegal roust of the worst kind. Could it be that both employees were so knowledgeable that they were a threat to Jan Dolan and her and the Manross empire which demanded that no one email her anything nor leave any voice mails on her city phone? Dolan, who demanded that no one question her authority or her orders no matter how wrong or off base?

Was Shearer just following orders and if so why didn’t he go to the Scottsdale Police Department or the State for help?

Something is really wrong with this action by Shearer if it’s found to be as true as reported by those employees and he needs to be fully investigated, then removed if found to be guilty of any of the charges.

How would you like to be treated in that manner by your employer?

Ralph Noriega: Inspections and Land Survey Services Director

These subjects and reported allegations are not new but have never been fully investigated by the city to the best of our knowledge.

There are a number of reports about possible illegal activities within this department that are reportedly tolerated by and possibly practiced by Noriega and need to be fully investigated. There is reportedly already one employee who is in process of being investigated and charged with a crime against the city. We are under the impression based upon conversations with former employees that there were possible falsehoods told to investigators by some of Noriega’s employees to protect Noriega in that investigation.

There are other allegations that Noriega is personally participating in extracurricular activities on city time in his office with doors closed. There are reportedly also allegations of him watching Channel 10 TV in the morning on city time in his office as well as other activities unbefitting an employee of the city of Scottsdale.

It is alleged by some that he plays favorites with employees and with vendors and this needs to be fully investigated by pulling all contracts approved by Noriega during his tenure to make sure he isn’t signing multiple contracts with the same vendor for the same job so the contracts don’t have to be approved because of the dollar value. By signing five (5) identical or somewhat identical contracts for ^$10,000 instead of one (1) ^$50,000 contract, there is no overview by his superiors or the audit department. Reportedly, by playing favorites with employees, he keeps them from talking about what he does by holding false threats over their heads.

It is also alleged that he has told his field inspectors that if they have nothing to do, just drive around but stay away from the office so no one questions what they are doing. In other words, stay moving and it’ll look like you are working. That can be easily verified by checking how many legitimate inspections are reported against how many are bogus just to make the daily log look good. How about checking their GPS tracking to verify where they were during the day and how long they stopped at each place they stopped?

Should the allegations against the inspectors be found to be true, transfer them to Code Enforcement or train them in the art of electrical sign inspections which apparently are not currently available in the city of Scottsdale?

Mary O’Connor: General Manager of Transportation
Paul Porell: Assistant to O’Connor

Brought on board by former City Manager Jan Dolan, Ms. O’Connor has followed the Dolan plan to the letter, at least up to now.

We have seen costly neighbor entry islands, roundabouts, humps and bumps, street furniture and other costly but unnecessary items installed when our streets, sidewalks, curbs and gutters are deteriorating at an alarming rate. Some are over 50 to 60 years old and are crumbling, yet O’Connor is spending taxpayer money that should be used to repair the deteriorating infrastructure on frivolous items which do nothing but restrict traffic, decrease gas mileage, increase dramatically the repair and upkeep of the frivolous installations, and frustrate residents. The entry island on 87^th Street which is continually being repaired and new installations on Granite Reef at Oak Street being just another prime example of unnecessary spending by the transportation department.

Next thing we know, O’Connor and Porell will tell us that street repair is another department over which they have no control. If that IS the case, then the City Manager needs to make an emergency reappropriation of the necessary funds to stop the nonsensical spending of taxpayer monies on things we don’t need, so the streets, etc get the repairs and upgrades necessary. I’m sure the city council will agree to such as reappropriation when the facts are known.

Apparently, just one resident asked for speed tables on Granite Reef near Highland a month or so ago, so O’Connor and Porell seem to be falling all over themselves to accomplish the request…. Until the action was questioned by another citizen who caught the action and who really knows his business as well as the city codes and how Dolan indoctrinees twist the city codes and ordinances to their advantage.

Our Park Scottsdale neighborhood has been trying for OVER TWO (2) YEARS to get the double yellow lines restriped on 86^th Street between Chaparral and McDonald which had been there for decades (the original strip can still be seen on the grate at Jackrabbit) but not repainted when the street was last slurry sealed, and we barely get the time of day from O’Connor or Porell up until now!! Yet, 86^th Street south of Chaparral and 86^th Street North of McDonald ARE both striped.

86^th south of Chaparral and north of McDonald DO NOT have a school (Mohave) nor are there curves as there are on the section between Chaparral and McDonald yet our section remains unstriped. We are in talks with O’Connor on this one which will tell whether her department, including Paul Porell, is going to start listening to the neighbors or stubbornly standing their ground of refusing to strip the street which has zero basis according to those I have talked with on both the federal and state levels.

In addition, we have asked for the east side of the street between Jackrabbit and Valley View to be marked with "No Stopping or Parking" during school hours to reduce the chance of a child being killed while trying to cross 86^th Street to enter a car parked on the east side of 86^th Street.

We have asked for crosswalks on all four frontages of Valley View as there are at Jackrabbit again to protect our children as well as bike lanes for four to six blocks from the school both north and south from the school for obvious reasons.

When Paul Porell met with a group of citizens, he acted like we were asking for the something ridiculous, was incredulously pompous, arrogant, and should never be allowed to represent the city at any public meeting. He had the same demeanor when the Pima Road expansion was discussed at Scottsdale Community College. Many citizens were exasperated and wanted him fired at that point and their opinions were only heightened after his appearance at the meeting of neighbors on the Mohave school situation.

I had a discussion with O’Connor last week and we’ll have to wait and see what she comes up with on the 86^th Street situation before we pass full judgment on her, but the street infrastructure needs to take immediate precedent over any new construction of Entry Islands, roundabouts and street furniture, especially in these economic times.

What would it cost the city to paint a simple double line from Chaparral to McDonald, three (3) more sets of crosswalk lines at Valley View and put up six (6) "No Parking or Stopping" signs on the east side of 86^th Street between Jackrabbit and Valley View Rd? A whole lot less than just one (1) Neighborhood Entry Island, and the simple lines could slow traffic and possibly save a child’s life. Can a Neighborhood Entry Island do that? Does street striping have annual repair and maintenance? We think not!

Hopefully she and Porell will understand Little and Lane’s full commitment to answering the residents with a full understanding of THE CITIZENS needs, not some rule in a book that the city can break themselves at any time with a simple, meaningless explanation.

Raun Keagy: General Manager, Citizen & Neighborhood Resources

Although under extreme fire from many sides for apparent failures to enforce the city codes, Keagy has been under tremendous pressure to rework and reorganize all of those departments under his umbrella, especially after a very critical but accurate audit by the City Auditor.

We have seen some positive movement internally to date and have learned that many cases of apparent lack of action on the part of Code Enforcement have been tracked back to the dismal failure of the Legal Department and City Attorney Deborah Robberson to act in a timely manner on many of the serious Code Enforcements violations.

Keagy, with the full support of Acting City Manager John Little, will reportedly continue making changes, reassignments and upgrades at all levels to bring his departments back into line after 7+ years of Dolan’s Gestapo Regime and staffs lack of attention to detail.

An ongoing case in North Central Scottsdale, and the NAOS and ESLO illegal plant problem in the Carriage Hills and other subdivisions in North Scottsdale are prime examples of the failure of the legal department to get the necessary paperwork together to solve the situation for Code Enforcement and the city residents in a timely manner.

Final Comment:

Unless a few city employees, managers and directors understand that there IS a new brighter day in Scottsdale and the citizens and residents are again the good guys, not the royal pains in the butt Manross and Dolan painted them to be, there will be many more changes for the non-believers.

There is absolutely no reason this city cannot become again what we once were: Proud and happy to help one another as well as our city government being a solid part of that helping and participating partnership.

We don’t need to keep up with the Jones’s, we ARE the Jones’s others try to emulate, and we need to remember to be proud but humble with that knowledge.

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~ New Plant List for NAOS & ESLO Areas

Here is an updated allowable plant list proposed for the NAOS and ESLO areas of North Scottsdale.

Revised and Updated NAOS & ESLO Plant & tree list

This problem was first reported in the Scottsdale Activist almost two years ago and we have stayed on the process since that time.

We will yield any decisions to those who live in those sensitive areas to approve, remove some, or at least meet with the city's Dan Worth dworth@scottsdaleaz.gov or Raun Keagy rkeagy@scottsdaleaz.gov  concerning the city's decisions.

I would ask that someone please get this list to Jane Rau so she can give her vitally necessary and highly respected input also.

From what I can see and from what I understand, this still doesn't allow most of the illegal plants currently planted in the offending and targeted Carriage Hills Subdivision or possibly others which caused the Scottsdale Activist to strongly prod the city to start this needed investigation almost two years ago.

The illegal planting needed to be stopped and offenders need to remove the offending plants and trees ASAP or be assessed large fines with the city getting a court order allowing the city to remove said plants at the owners expense.

If the HOA Boards or any of their past officers or board members personally gave their approval for these plants to be planted, maybe a class action suit against each of those parties (NOT the HOA) would be in order. That may be the only way for unsuspecting property owners to recover the costs of plant removal and the planting of city approved plants in place of the illegal and removed plants.

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~ Letters to the Editor  

letters@scottsdaleactivist.com

 ~ A Sincere and Heartfelt Thank You !!

Dec 20, 2008

I don't know if the citizens in Scottsdale who really care about our city will ever see another issue of the Scottsdale Activist, so it is imperative that I express my profound sadness at it's loss, at least to the staff of the website if no one else.

I have followed the Activist since I heard it was on-line almost 4 years ago and have come to understand that it must have been a tremendous and time consuming effort taking all the information they receive from so many sources, then investigating as best they can for truth and the real facts, then breaking it down into ideas and facts we can understand. It must also take much of their family time which would put a heavy stress on the families of those who published the Activist every week.

I personally credit the Scottsdale Activist for putting out excellent information which helped, or was maybe even instrumental in some cases, to cause the changing of procedures, the changing of the way projects were brought to the attention of the public, the firing of Jan Dolan, the unexpected but very welcome exit of Frank Gray, and the election losses of Mary Manross and Betty Drake, just to name a few examples.

I'm sure that much of their information and continual strikes against what I deemed as corruption and favoritism within the city government has caused the employees and the elected and appointed officials to take a closer look over their shoulder before they try to again do stupid and unethical things they got away with prior to the Activist going on line.

During the last approximately four years, many pressing and crucially important issues have been brought to the attention of the public through the Scottsdale Activist long before the Scottsdale Tribune got on the story, and when the Scottsdale Republic didn't even bother to take a glance at the information and published nothing, not even on the Hualapai lease or Toll Brothers things until they saw they had missed the boat, then only in a general manner.

We will miss the sometimes pointed and caustic editorials prompted by nasty and possibly illegal missteps of the Manross group, as well as those editorials which were very informative and enlightening. Living in the Land of Oz was a hoot especially being that it actually dealt with the foibles and missteps of the city government and exposed them for whom they really were; scoundrels! Who will forget the Craven Weasle, the Wicked Witch, and all the other monikers that were used to describe to a "T" the jokers within the city government who failed miserably in representing the ideas and needs of the citizens while falling all over themselves to help the governments favorite developers or money bearing movers and shakers?

I want to sincerely give my heartfelt thanks to the entire staff of the Scottsdale Activist for the enormous sacrifice they have made for the betterment of the city of Scottsdale.

I wish there was a way the Scottsdale Activist could continue, but maybe it sparked a flame within many of us that will cause us now to really question what our elected and appointed city leaders do for us and our city.

E Slocomb
Scottsdale

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