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DEAD AGAIN Scottsdale district system supporters aim for ballot By J. Graber
T
he perennial issue of districting in Scottsdale is dead again as far as city council is concerned, but it could become very much alive for voters this November. Although council on a 5-2 vote February 15 instructed city staff not to look into the issue any further, the 3-2-One Scottsdale Political Action Committee intends to try getting an initiative on the November 8 ballot. “Yes, we most certainly plan on going out and obtaining the signatures required to it put to a vote by the people Scottsdale,” 3-2-One Scottsdale President Paul Simonson says. The committee will have its work cut out for them, though: The PAC will need to get 27,244 signatures to city clerk Ben Lane’s office by early July to give him time to certify them. Scottsdale has had at-large councilmembers since it incorporated 1951 with a population of about 2,000 living within an area of less than a square mile. With a population of almost 250,000 people in 184.4 square miles today, some feel the city has outgrown that system. Scottsdale is the second largest city in Arizona that uses an at-large council system. The state’s three largest cities — Phoenix, Tucson and Mesa — all use a district system along with Glendale, which has a slightly smaller population than Scottsdale. Both Chandler and Scottsdale, the state’s fourth and fifth largest cities, respectively, use at-large systems. The topic has been coming up periodically for years. The city explored a six-district system, with the mayor elected at large, in
Scottsdale’s population has grown since its incorporation as a city and adoption of an at-large council system. (Photo courtesy of the city of Scottsdale)
2003 by forming a citizens task force to research the topic. The in-depth report compared Scottsdale to similarly sized cities across the country and found that of 48 “comparably sized cities” nationwide, only nine — or 19% – had at large forms of government. The proposition went on the ballot in 2004 but failed with just 39% of voters supporting it. Then-Mayor Jim Lane brought the idea of three districts to council in 2016, but the idea died there. The two dissenting votes in support of further staff research were cast by Mayor David Ortega and Councilmember Betty Janik. Ortega pointed out that no councilmembers live south of Indian Bend except for him. He likens the city council to a jury: “If this were a map of jurors in a court system … and for 10 or 12 years no juror was selected from area one, it would not fly as a jury of your peers.” He pointed out that in the 2014 council
election, 33% of possible votes were not cast. That number was 46% in 2016, 38% in 2018 and 32% in 2020. “Either people could not relate to somebody in their area, (or) they hadn’t got the message of who they were,” Ortega says. “You know what, that’s, in my opinion, a failure of the at-large system.” He said the at-large system makes it easier for big developers with deep pockets to come to Scottsdale and get whatever they want. “One of the biggest problems of this at-large system is the developers come in and they divide us into growth and no growth,” Ortega says. “No, we have revitalization, we have blight, we have security, we have so many other issues, but the big money goes for ‘Are you a pro-growth or a no-growth?’ That’s really not what the city is about. The city is much more complex.” He also notes the 2003 task force found a district system would lead to greater local accountability, lessen costs to run for
MARCH 2022 / SCOTTSDALE AIRPARK NEWS /
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