Tuesday afternoon Joanne “Copper” Phillips filed her paperwork to explore a run for Scottsdale City Council. She’s currently serving on the Bond Task Force and would have had to resign if she’d filed for a formal campaign. Thus the exploratory committee.
Copper has been involved in issues in North Scottsdale for some time, and she has a business in the Airpark. Consensus among community leaders seems to be that she’ll be a advocate for the residents and neighborhoods.
This afternoon a fellow by the name of Christian Serena filed to run for council. Serena’s application says he works for “Swiss America Trading.”
I had not heard of Serena until this past Tuesday night when he made a comment during the open call to the public at the city council meeting. That appears to be his one and only trip to the Kiva so far. His comment seemed intended to encourage some sort of compromise between the bars in the entertainment district and the residents of the area who have to put up with them. Clearly he doesn’t live just across Camelback from The Mint.
One can only assume Serena has good intentions. However, his lack of understanding of this issue is going to leave him with a big black hole in an area with the one of the highest voting turnout rates in the whole city.
And like with earlier declarants Debra Komarnicki and Joe Meli, Serena has never to my knowledge met with any neighborhood advocates prior to running for council. Tough to know the issues if you don’t talk to the players.
Track record is the best way for the voters to know what they need to know about candidates. So far, the only two candidates who have proven history of fighting for a better Scottsdale for the neighborhoods and residents are Chris Schaffner and Guy Phillips.