Volume '07-04
Published Saturdays Jan
27, 2007
The Scottsdale Activist
will not publish unsubstantiated allegations, libelous
statements, profanity, or personal attacks without a verifiable basis.
All letters, columns, pictures, or political cartoons submitted must
include the authors or artists name, address, daytime phone number, and
email. All personal information except the author, photographer, or
artists name will remain strictly confidential without being released,
sold or distributed in any manner. We assume no responsibility for the
contents of letters, columns, or cartoons and reserve the right to—at
our discretion—edit or refuse to print any submissions or parts thereto without the need
for justification. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of the named authors/artists and not necessarily the opinions of
The Scottsdale Activist
.
To send our
Brave Troops "Something from Home",
Click
on Any of the
Links below.
==================================================
This a
"No Cost"
website
dedicated to the Citizens of
Scottsdale who care enough about their city
to get involved.
Just Click the Sign up Button iiii
This is your personal palette from which you may "Paint the Tone" of the Scottsdale picture as YOU see it!
==========================================
Just click on the logos below to go to these websites.
==================================
Point to an Article you wish to read, then Just Click
~ Weekly Editorial -- Staff
- Manross Re-Election Support Vaporizing
- City Election 2008 is Here?
- A Cancer on ASU
- Up Date: Scottsdale Canal Development LLC
- Up Date: New Hayden Water Plant Dangers?
- Up Date: Sales Tax from Barrett-Jackson?
~ Food for Thought - Take It or Leave It
~ Shout and Spout, Short but Sweet.
~ Thought for the Week -- Joseph Story
~ Quote(s) of the Week -- Various
~ Information You Can Use
Other Stuff of Interest
~ Look up Prior Editions? Click a on date to open.
~ Manross Re-Election Support Vaporizing
The support for Mayor Mary Manross is quickly and surely vanishing into thin air through her own failure to perform as she used to in the past for the citizens of the city instead of just herself now while being urged on by her personally anointed legal eagle city attorney Robberson and hatchet woman city manager Dolan.
Interestingly, the majority of the city council is as blind as Manross and applauds her and their every move.
Many of the well known and longtime supporters of Manross, excepting "her" developers and those who contribute heavily to her campaigns to gain advantages of some sort, are telling us they are jumping off her sinking re-election ship because it's a kin to the Titanic and she has no clue.
The mayor who was heavily supported financially, spiritually, and emotionally by her supporters during her first Mayoral run is quickly running out of favor with those same supporters who remember her as a "People Person" who has sadly forgotten her supporters, her roots, and that Scottsdale is all about: the people, not the politicians or legacies or money.
They emphatically say that person they once knew no longer exists. Instead she has become the consummate plotting and conniving "must win at any cost" politician who couldn't care less about anything but her legacy and her election; citizen and citizen wants and needs be damned.
It is also been obvious that the mayor is so out of touch that she cannot see or understand how city manager Jan Dolan is driving excellent city employees away from the city in droves as well as making the remaining employees morale drop like a rock and HR manager Terri Traaen has done nothing to stop the bleeding except possibly expedite the exodus. "Kinder and gentler" no longer exist for most Scottsdale employees.
The Health Care Audit which they would love for us not to remind them about, spelled out the 35% increase in costs is decidedly caused by poor employee morale but they reportedly wouldn't allow that fact to be entered into the report for obvious reasons. Anyone who has even an elementary knowledge of poor employee morale knows that when the morale drops, you have a serious management problem that needs to be corrected immediately by firing the top of the ladder manager responsible who would be Jan Dolan in this case.
After living here over 25 years and seeing and working with the same employees for years, I have recently seen too many employees leave the employ of the city, or so many complain about the hatchet management style of Jan Dolan who has been described as "prickly" and who will get the job done at any cost. Dolan then replaces those gone or removed with "yes" people to make her look good, or else!
The final straw was the dedication of the wonderful new Lowes Home Improvement Center at Hayden and McDowell where the proclaimed city leader and the "mayor of the people" Mary Manross couldn't even cut a simple board with a simple hand saw, then refused to make the final small remaining micro cut to finish the cut by remarking "I've done some weird things but never this". Sounded a little like "Let'em eat cake" to me.
Truth be told, this kind of thing is now apparently "below her station" yet tens of thousands of city women would have gladly grabbed the saw and finished the cut and probably have and still do use a hand saw many times in their homes or businesses.
So much for the "Mayor of the People and for the People".
Election 2008 is being brought to you way too early by a very worried and running scared Mayor Mary Manross.
In doing some research and talking with many citizens city-wide, it seems that Councilman Ron "McOsterman" McCullagh is really on the bubble because he hasn't done anything he has been asked to do nor what he promised to be as a fiscal conservative in his campaign. He seems to use the partisan play card in a city that is nonpartisan by Charter and will be very easy to beat.
Most citizens feel that Councilman Jim Lane is doing an excellent job as a councilman and needs to run again to retain his council seat, not the Mayoral position some rumors claim, because of his ability to ferret out the financial problems and work with those who see the way the citizen feel. Lane would be doing the city and the citizens a huge disservice by running for an office he could well lose instead of running again for an office where he does an exceptional job and has the inside track to win.
Councilwoman Betty Drake is on very thin ice in many eyes because of her consistent support for urban density, increased height, and other issues favoring developers which are supported by the mayor which do not follow the philosophy of those who founded and fought for decades to keep Scottsdale an open, low density, low height residential city with a downtown core to support it. Urban density is NOT the answer to the longevity and prosperity of a city, but open, well kept and upgraded residential areas and infrastructure and utilities with a strong retail core area downtown are.
It would appear that there will be some very excellent and fully qualified candidates on the horizon for council positions who fully agree with the decades old open and low density residential philosophy including a well qualified unbeatable dark horse candidate or two for mayor. The coming election could rattle some very high end cages and developers which could turn this city around for the better, much better!
These possible candidates are total believers in "living within your means" and "strengthen the foundations and infrastructure before you build more walls". Building more taller and more dense buildings to generate more revenue historically runs out of gas which causes mass destruction of parts of the city which don't need to be destroyed. It's a vicious cycle if allowed to happen.
These potential candidates also don't believe in subsidies unless they are paid back to the taxpayers in full with interest (otherwise known as a loan) and they believe that Scottsdale is a very unique World Class City which deserves to be treated accordingly. Scottsdale is a World Renown Destination, not just a city. None of the potential candidates to whom I've talked believe that high density or tall buildings are a realistic or economic solution to any problem but solid "green" planning and set in cement rules and regulations for buildings are.
Sound like the city of Scottsdale and her citizens just may be on the verge of a great new beginning!!
~A Cancer on ASU
Could Bob Pettit have cured cancer in his lifetime? We might never know, thanks to nasty university politics perpetrated on the unsuspecting public and the students by ASU President Michael Crow.
By Megan Irwin
Read the Article Published Jan 18, 2007 click on the link below:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2007-01-18/news/feature.html
Side Note: Dr. Pettit is suing ASU for what Crow did to him and his programs after being at ASU for over 40 years and it would appear he will possibly win costing the state of Arizona and ASU millions in damages and an institutional "Black Eye". Stay Tuned!!!
ASU has gone from student friendly to money hungry in the short time Crow has been in charge. How much worse is it going to get? Why does the Legislature continue to support Crow? Why do there need to be such excessive increases in tuition? Is that money used to build the Crow legacy or to improve the education programs at ASU?
~ Up Date: Scottsdale Canal Development LLC
We've been informed but have not yet totally been able to officially verify that residential buildings can only be built as high as 65 feet. A hotel can only go as high as 75 feet. The bulk of the project is proposed to be residential.
That being said, residents are loudly complaining that 65 foot building(s) across the street from their single and some 2 story homes in the Villa Monterey neighborhood would be devastating and would cut off their views of over 50 years and therefore reduce their property values.
When property values are reduced because of urban density and more traffic, the table is set for developers to come in, start another assemblage, run down the properties even more as we saw with the current 10+ acres, then continue assembling the properties into larger areas which they can again try to raise heights and drive out more residents with urban height and high density because of precedents being set.
The general consensus is that heights over 36 feet should be stopped at the canal and south of Chaparral to Camelback. Everything east of the canal should have a height limit not to exceed a total height of 36 feet.
|
~ Up Date: New Hayden Water Plant Dangers? Although the city denies that there is a problem with cancer causing agent THM's at the new water plant, none of the city officials have seen fit to supply the Scottsdale Activist with an EPA certified test results paper to prove the charges levied as false. That would lead us to believe that the levels are or at least were at the levels reported when our article ran. It would seem that the City Manager, Jan Dolan would be very anxious to clear this up if the facts were wrong. Seems she doesn't care or we were right on target. If we are on target, we need to be told, the plant shut down, and corrections made to make the plant saffe.
~ Up Date: Sales Tax from Barrett-Jackson? We asked the question last week as to how the actual and realistic sales taxes received from the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction was determined and how much was it. Below is the answer from the city CFO which was probably ordered by city Manager Jan Dolan: Mr. Knowlton, I have received your request for a complete breakdown of the taxes received from the Barrett Jackson auto auction as well as the amount in total sales generated by the auction. The sales and tax information is (self-reported) by the taxpayer and is confidential under Section 510 of the Scottsdale Revised City Code (see below) Sec. 510. Divulging of information prohibited; exceptions allowing disclosure. (a) Except as specifically provided, it shall be unlawful for any official or employee of the City to make known information obtained pursuant to this Chapter concerning the business financial affairs or operations of any person. (b) The City Council may authorize an examination of any return or audit of a specific taxpayer made pursuant to this Chapter by authorized agents of the Federal Government, the State of Arizona, or any political subdivisions. (c) The Tax Collector may provide to an Arizona county, city, or town any information concerning any taxes imposed in this Chapter relative to the taxing ordinances of that county, city, or town. (d) Successors, receivers, trustees, personal representatives, executors, guardians, administrators, and assignees, if directly interested, may be given information by the Tax Collector as to the items included in the measure and amounts of any unpaid tax, interest, and penalties required to be paid. (e) Upon a written direction by the City Attorney or other legal advisor to the City designated by the City Council, officials or employees of the City may divulge the amount and source of income, profits, leases, or expenditures disclosed in any return or report, and the amount of such delinquent and unpaid tax, penalty, or interest, to a private collection agency having a written collection agreement with the City. (f) The Tax Collector shall provide information to appropriate representatives of any Arizona city or town to comply with the provisions of A.R.S. Section 42-6003, A.R.S. Section 42-6005, and A.R.S. Section 6056. (G) The Tax Collector may provide information to authorized agents of any other Arizona governmental agency involving the allocation of taxes imposed by Section 435 upon publishing and distribution of periodicals. (H) The Tax Collector may provide information regarding the enforcement and collection of taxes imposed by this Chapter to any governmental agency with which the City has an agreement. Results of the auto auction (total sales) are often quoted by Mr. Jackson and/or may be reported in local newspapers concerning the success of the event. However, It would be inaccurate to estimate City sales tax collections from the reported total sales for the event because of State Legislation, which exempts auto sales to non-residents of this State (or City) if the criteria of Code Section 465(l) is met. This exemption became effective July 20, 1996 as a result of State Legislature action. Sec. 465. Retail sales: exemptions. Income derived from the following sources is exempt from the tax imposed by Section 460: (l) Sales of motor vehicles to nonresidents of this State for use outside this State if the vendor ships or delivers the motor vehicle to a destination outside this State. I'm sorry but we are unable to fulfill your request due to Code Provision concerning confidentiality of sales and tax information. We could release this information to you (as the taxpayer's personal representative, administrator or assignee), upon our office receiving written permission from the taxpayer to do so. If the above is so, why should we believe anything that is printed concerning this issue? This allows the city to fabricate any number they want because the public apparently has no right to see the actual numbers. Isn't that just like this city to continue to maintain the secrecy and the increasing lack of credibility we have been complaining about since the Manross-Dolan administration took charge?
~Letters to the Editor ~
letters@scottsdaleactivist.com ~ The Lies They Tell, Revisited It is funny how the media works when they don’t want to print valid opposition to one of their stances, where they approve to quickly in their editorials of something that they never really researched. We have made so many attempts to get our points printed and out to the public through our 2 major newspapers we are making this our last attempt to inform the public of what the media does not want to print or have to say they are condoning such actions. The media won’t tell you that the Arizona Department of Transportation has already conducted a study of the use of photo radar on the valley freeway systems, and they refuse to tell the public that the study recommended no field studies at this time because the vendors equipment does not perform to standards required for the valley freeways, and that the study was completed in October 2005. The media also refuses to tell you that these systems are already being found illegal under Arizona State Laws, and that the city of Scottsdale has violated its own laws regarding this experiment. The State Laws require that a "sworn officer" be the party giving you a traffic ticket on the States Freeways but the company Redflex who is issuing you a ticket is neither a sworn officer of the State, nor is there equipment even owned by the police department or DPS. The city of Scottsdale violated their own city ordinance that states that while this type of program can be conducted, it can only be conducted for 90 days. They don’t want to tell you that ADOT, the City of Scottsdale, and Redflex have all colluded with each other to violate these laws under the guise of safety. The media also appears to not want to tell the public that there are multiple Superior Court cases from not only Arizona, but also wherever you find these systems in other states, that are continually overturned by higher courts as illegal. Finally, one point we know will bring out anger about this whole "study" is that if you pass all 3 camera systems on the loop 101 and have your picture taken by each of them, you have now totaled 9 points on your driver’s license and you have now had your license suspended. I would like to know since when a "study" penalized the persons involved with the study who have not been asked to participate in it? Instead the media would prefer to chastise those of us who are opposed to such actions by our government, and they would also prefer to have our legislators leave the issue alone so that they can also be considered part of the "crowd" who are not interested in how many laws we have broken to adopt a "study" of safety. I find it funny that the media would prefer to cover up the "other" issues in this mess when it is their responsibility to shine a light into such illegal actions of the government. It's time for the State Legislature to either totally outlaw Photo Radar on roadways within the State Highway System and those under State jurisdictions, or determine that all profits from ALL photo radar systems be put in a special fund for the improvement and addition of new equipment and the fund to add at least 250 new DPS officers and the necessary equipment to better patrol our state roadways. Michael Merrill
~ Thank You for Your Hard Work We're back for the winter and glad to be here except you didn't have to leave the A/C on from last summer just to make us feel at home. Please: No snow or frost on the links? Seriously, your website has given us more real insight into how the city really works while making total sense for a change about what needs to be done to control of the growth than anything we have read or seen in our 15 years of wintering in Scottsdale. We're glad someone has finally had the intestinal fortitude to stand up to those who would destroy the city Herb Drinkwater helped to built and nurtured with his heart and which he loved so very much. Sincerely, Bob & Emily |
~ A Total Bad Joke Upon the Residents
If you really think the "city by and for Manross" is going to tell you how they "figure" the sales tax revenue from the Barrett-Jackson Auction or any other venue, you're smoking funny stuff.
I know what they do and how they figure those things to make it look good so they can spend more taxpayers money. You will never get the figures from them, Dolan will see to that. Why do you think she wants to be the city manager as well as the treasurer?
Manross and Jan Dolan, with the help of the new HR manager Traaen have taken total control over the employees who are scared to death that they will be fired or demoted if they make one mistake. You don't dare suggest anything for fear of retribution or worse. Do you have any idea how many excellent city employees have quit or been forced out by Dolan and her partner in crime Traaen?
Thank you for what you do to expose the bad things going on in a city that's in dire need of help getting rid of these bad people who are ruining the city we love.
Anonymous by mail for obvious reasons
A Scottsdale employee
"In a general sense, all contributions imposed by the government upon individuals for the service of the state, are called taxes, by whatever name they may be known, whether by the name of tribute, tythe, tallage, impost, duty, gabel, custom, subsidy, aid, supply, excise, or other name."
-- Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)
“In the writings of the Ephesians there was this
precept, constantly to think of some one of the men of former times who
practiced virtue.” —Marcus Aurelius
“I am entirely persuaded that the American public is more reasonable,
restrained and mature than most of the broadcast industry’s planners
believe.” —Edward R. Murrow
“When the political columnists say ‘Every thinking man’ they mean
themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘Every intelligent voter’ they
mean everybody who is going to vote for them.” —Franklin P. Adams
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it
exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong
remedy.” —Ernest Benn ++ “Politics, n. Strife of interests
masquerading as a contest of principles.” —Ambrose Bierce
~ Food
for Thought, Take it or Leave it
By popular request, here is the famed "Bill of NO Rights" below which was written in 1993 by Lewis Napper, a self-described amateur philosopher and from Mississippi who ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 2000 as a Libertarian.
"We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NO-Rights."
So here they are..........
ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new
car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if
you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.
ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This
country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not
just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different
opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will
be.
ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.
ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.
ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.
ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.
ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.
ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job.
All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in
hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of
education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself
useful.
ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an
American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the
way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of
idiots created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.
ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it!
(NOW lastly....)
ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!!!!
~Americans
Can’t Tell S_ _t from Shinola
By Craig J. Cantoni
Jan. 16, 2007
Many years ago, I stopped reading new weeklies and most other mainstream publications, replacing them with sources of news, information and analysis that are not agenda-laden and insulting to one’s intelligence. If it had not been for a recent visit to my doctor, I wouldn’t know that the national print media has become much more vapid, banal, superficial, unoriginal and statist over the intervening years.
The choice of reading material in the doctor’s waiting room was Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Time, and US News & World Report. Remembering that US News used to be more balanced politically than Time, I chose it. Bad choice. I should have read Family Circle and learned how to bake a cake. Instead, as you will see momentarily, I didn’t even learn something as useful as a cake recipe.
It is clear why Americans have more years of schooling than ever before but believe more claptrap and canards than ever before, especially about economics, foreign trade, public education, race, the environment, and health care. That’s because they’re reading comic books like US News, which has a circulation of slightly more than two million. When this circulation is combined with the circulation of such peer publications as Time, Newsweek and Reader’s Digest, it means that 25 million Americans can’t tell “s--t from shinola,” to borrow an expression my working-class dad used to use.
Don’t get me wrong: It’s not as if conservative talk radio is full of shinola instead of the other stuff. The most pedantic human being who ever walked the earth, Sean Hannity, has an audience alone that numbers in the tens of millions.
Tellingly, at the other end of the IQ spectrum, the nonpartisan, non-statist, non-copycat magazine, Reason, has a circulation of only 60,000. Well, at least 60,000 Americans can tell shinola from the other stuff.
Speaking of the other stuff, let’s return to the waiting room and look through US News.
The magazine had a feature story on the 50 things that Americans could do to improve their lives. Written at a See Spot run level, it included such advice as leaving a smaller environmental footprint and reading Al Gore’s book on global warming.
Funny thing, but the magazine’s environmental advice didn’t include not buying magazines printed on paper coated with kaolin clay to make them glossy. Because it is mined in large open-pit mines, kaolin leaves a huge environmental footprint.
According to US News, another way of improving your life is to do community service. How original. How communitarian. No mention was made of how government has crowded out mutual-aid societies and corrupted nonprofit community-service organizations with public money.
In fairness, the magazine did have a very original recommendation for improving your life. It recommended that you should learn about the glories of Islam.
Well, on second thought, maybe it wasn’t so original after all. It was just more of the same diversity drivel found in the mainstream media.
Note to US News editors: Thanks, but I prefer to read the truth about racial diversity from such authors as Thomas Sowell, who, as a black intellectual, says insightful things that you won’t say in your magazine.
Turning to the last page of the magazine, I read an editorial by the magazine’s editor-in-chief and chairman, Mortimer Zuckerman, who is a graduate of Harvard Law School, which might want to change its entrance requirements and curriculum.
Full of leftist misinformation and disinformation about the economy and the wealth gap, Mortimer’s editorial advocated nationalizing the American health care system. It included this non sequitur: “Think about the fact that raising a child to the age of 18 will cost over $200,000 for a middle-income family--and that doesn't even account for college tuition, now a required ticket for admission into the middle class. Perhaps that's why for the first time, according to the Census Bureau, households headed by single people outnumber those headed by married ones.”
No, Mortimer, single households outnumber married households because women have been given incentives to marry the state instead of the fathers of their children. I know it is gauche to talk about this at Manhattan parties, but single-parent families and out-of-wedlock births are the primary causes of poverty, school dropouts, behavioral problems and academic difficulties.
Anyway, thanks to US News & World Report, I know what I’m going to do to improve my life. I’m taking a good book on my next visit to the doctor and not touching the stuff that is the opposite of shinola.
An author and columnist, Mr. Cantoni can be reached at ccan2@aol.com.
shoutandspout@scottsdaleactivist.com
~ Jan Dolan is a loser and we need to "lose her".
~ Why is it that the Governor now likes Photo Radar and wants it state-wide? Could it be she plans to use the money for her pipe dream of rail from Tucson to Phoenix? Why wouldn't she use the profit to fund DPS so we can get more cops on the highways?
~ The poison in the Hayden plant is coming from those ridiculous rusty pipes on the outside. Between that ugly dark brown paint and the rusty pipes, what a ugly joke has been played on the taxpayers.
~ If photo radar is kept, it needs to have all the money go to DPS alone.
~ The audit on Code Enforcement shows what a poor manager Judy Register is and how blind Manross and the council are. Why is she still there?
~ Thank you for asking about the taxes from the Barrett-Jackson Auction but I'll bet big bucks they have figured out a way to hide it.
~ Did the Art Council chose the colors and the Rusty pipe for the Hayden water plant? If so take away any city money they get from the taxpayers.
~ So what's new, the raises go through, same old stuff, different day, get over it. Next time maybe we can get the voters out for a change to throw these fools out of office.
~ Wasn't Terri Traaen, the new HR manager in Scottsdale fired from PV School District for costing them millions? If so, why did Scottsdale hire her?
~ Henry Becker's Kokopeli's are far more artistic and attractive than those stupid flowers they want to put up in south Scottsdale.
~ Poison in the city water system? Surprised? We're not, look who is in charge, the same one who screwed up the Hualapai water plant to the tune of 15 million: Dolan.
~ Information You Can Use
~ 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,
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
~ View Past City Council Meetings
We can now access the city council meetings by clicking on the following link:
http://scottsdale.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3If 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.
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.
~
For Continuing Information
on Photo Radar,
Click on the Logo below.
~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
~ Scottsdale Legal Defense Fund
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:
72nd & 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.
Hello All,
This seems to work well. Click on the link below to Check it out. Helpful hint! Just plug in your zip code and it tells you which gas stations have the cheapest prices (and the highest) on gas in your zip code area. It's updated every evening.
Be a good neighbor and pass this along.
|
~
Scottsdale Development Update
~ ~ Report a Problem ~ ~ City Services ~ ~ Mayor & Council ~ ~ City Council Members ~ ~ Mary Manross ~ ~ Betty Drake ~ ~ Wayne Ecton ~
~
WJ "Jim" Lane ~ |
~
Important City Meetings
~ ~ Website Contacts ~ ~ Shout & Spout ~ ~ Editor ~
~
Webmaster
~ |
The Scottsdale Activist is published, and edited in Scottsdale AZ ~ 480-326-2475