In their September 23, 2011 edition the Scottsdale Republic printed my response to an ealier editorial of theirs that implied my efforts to protect Scottsdale's special character were anti-progress:

Recently an editorial appeared in these pages criticizing my fellow Councilman Ron McCullagh and I for our opposition to development we believe will change Scottsdale's "special character." In particular I was described as "nostalgic for a lost Atlantis." Nothing new here - I hear this same nonsense every time I have the nerve to question the value of any of the character-destroying, infrastructure-taxing, blandly-designed and taxpayer-subsidized developments this newspaper loves to promote.

What makes this criticism of me so funny is, during my 41 years in the computer industry I have experienced -- and embraced -- more change than most Scottsdale residents even contemplate. Not to mention the changes I have seen living in Arizona for 47 of the last 55 years!

However, my experience has taught me that not all change is for the better, not everything new qualifies as progress," and, most importantly, having some high-priced developer lawyer label a project as "bold, visionary, iconic and world class" does not make it any of those things.

Scottsdale has had many bold, visionary projects in our history - the McDowell-Sonoran Preserve, the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt, The Civic Center Mall, and our award-winning Public Art Program are just a few of the great ideas that have made Scottsdale a special place to live. But, sadly, much of what has been proposed to the City Council during my nine year tenure has been bland condo projects and run-of-the-mill office buildings. They have been pitched to the residents by the development community and this newspaper as "bold, visionary, iconic and world class." But the only thing bold about them is the level of greed exhibited by the special interests who want Scottsdale to compromise our high design and development standards for their profit.

There is no better example of this unfortunate trend than SkySong, which I opposed. In 2004 this project was hyped by this newspaper as a “once-in-a-lifetime chance for southern Scottsdale's rebirth" and a “quantum leap of progress on the broader city priority of revitalizing southern Scottsdale." The spin used to sell this project (including its $120M taxpayer subsidy) to the public was so outrageous that one Councilmember who supported it actually claimed publicly that the project would not only keep the car dealers on McDowell, it would attract new car dealers to the area!

Of course, this overhyped project delivered on none of these ridiculously inflated promises. Instead of revitalization the public got a blandly-designed office park which costs the taxpayers of Scottsdale $2.8M per year in debt service out of our general fund and which has yet to return even a penny of revenue to Scottsdale's treasury.

When good projects come along I have been happy to help make them happen. Just to name a few, I have supported completing the McDowell-Sonoran Preserve, building the Granite Reef Senior Center, protecting Papago Park, and acquiring the land for Camelback Park. But I make no apology for opposing projects which threaten Scottsdale's "special character." In fact, I believe that is exactly what Scottsdale residents expect their Councilmembers to do.