I received this message indirectly from someone who is using a mutual friend as a middleman rather than just saying it to me.
…the tenor and fervor of the opposition to the Bond sure helped make people distrustful of government etc. It is just grievous that the override failed. I was just falling in love with Scottsdale. Now I have to watch our great city fall behind.
Instead of opposing the bonds and override, all that hateful rhetoric could have fought for good. If it would cost me $100 a year to contribute to our share place, I gladly will pay. We are an affluent town that should gladly spend on infrastructure.
This is a case of microcosm, microcosm. We all love driving on safe roads, and priding ourselves on great schools.
No one lives on their own island.
I feel sad and disappointed over these votes.
All of you who fought against it, shame on you.
As I have explained to this woman at least a dozen times via hours’ worth of carefully composed email messages, the Scottsdale Unified School District is not a department of the City of Scottsdale. It is an independent political subdivision of the State of Arizona. The city bond election had nothing to do with the override election. Yet, she’s obviously still confused.
No one—I repeat, no one—from Keep Scottsdale Special or anyone affiliated with us opposed the SUSD “override.” In fact, we took great pains to distinguish between the CoS bonds and the SUSD override. I sent several messages explaining the difference. I also made several calls and sent several emails to the Yes for Children committee suggesting improvements to their campaign messaging.
Furthermore, most of the folks who are trying desperately to blame KSS for the failure of the override never lifted a finger to provide any real help to the SUSD override committee.
It is the zenith of ignorance and irony for anyone to accuse or imply that the failure of the override is anyone’s fault but their own.
“Hateful rhetoric?” I guess she didn’t attend any of the forums where bond supporters leveled personal attacks against their more fiscally prudent opponents, who were only trying to get out the facts of the ballot language and legal realities of the ballot questions.
I’m reminded of a recent Quote of the Day from Emerson:
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
“Watch our great city fall behind?” I have news for you…we are ALREADY behind, and that has nothing to do with the failure of the bond election. It’s because the mayor and his cronies are so busy giving our tax dollars to their friends. The don’t have time or money left to pay attention to infrastructure. And you still aren’t “distrustful of government?” Do you really trust these folks with MORE of your money?
If so…as for your offer to pay $100/year, make your check payable to:
Jeff Nichols, City Treasurer
City of Scottsdale Finance Dept
7447 East Indian School Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
4 Comments
I go to more neighborhood meetings than any other Councilmember and I actually listen to what citizens have to say. What I heard over the last few weeks was that the reason so many voted against the SUSD override was they don’t believe the SUSD administration is spending the tax dollars they already collect wisely. Voters are not going to increase their taxes for anything, no matter how worthy, unlesss you convince them why those $ are necessary, which the voters I spoke with told me the “Yes to Children” campaign did not do. You can no longer just toss out the phrase “it’s for the children” and expect taxpayers to automatically throw money back. You have to earn their vote.
I know this person well and she never attended any of the bond debates. I invited her several times to go and get educated. She is a Realtor and never mentioned the gross negligence of the SAAR of which she is a member. Some people just don’t get it. I do believe the city made a big error in even presenting this election to the public for 2013. It should have been only for the school bond issue so not to confuse those poor souls who can’t read. I have come into contact with a couple of retired teachers who voted yes on the entire ballot because “they did it for the children.” It’s amazing what smart people do..that is really stupid. The defeat of the bond issue is a big victory for the citizens whether they no it or not. Maybe if a few more residents will get involved and vote for the right people to represent them in the future their city can be saved from ruthless developers. I observe so much waste in this city, Residents need to start paying better attention to their government or keep their misinformed opinions to themselves.
Last week’s Republic article about the $8.5 Million Park and Ride showed a City Staff with a bad case of “spenditis illness”. Built on a questionable site (Scottsdale Road) because the primary site where it made some sense (Loop 101) was “too expensive”. Opens without bus service, City settled a $400,000 construction lawsuit and has solar panels. Gave more than afew residents little confidence another $200 Million would be spent wisely.
This is one of the few elections where I was confident of the outcome on everything; almost as confident as when Ike thrashed Stevenson twice in the 50’s.
I’ve been to those gray hair meetings at the Senior Center and see how those people react when they are dissatisfied. They are the ones who get up in the morning and produce a 90% turnout and good for them. They are on top of the issues.
Thanks, John for your reporting down the line on this and keeping your readers up to date.