Community advocate Mark Stuart had a great letter published in the Republic today. I’ve copied it here because you can’t get to it via the Republic’s AZCentral.
Why is The Arizona Republic so focused on creating the news rather than reporting the news? Reporters for The Republic consistently bias their stories against Scottsdale City Council candidates not endorsed by the paper [Note: I believe most of this bias occurs in the editorial process, either in story assignments or editing the stories after the writers turn them in].
No candidate in the election is opposed to economic growth. Unfortunately, The Republic would have us believe that the homeowners coalition — Schaffner, Phillips and Phillips — don’t favor growth.
Urbanization is the major priority of our current City Council, as well as of the land developer coalition — Klapp, Korte and Luoma. Unfortunately, The Republic doesn’t focus on the ramifications of urbanization: lower home values and a degraded tourism industry. How will the current apartmentbuilding binge in Scottsdale affect future home values? The Republic never discusses this, but it is a very real concern for homeowners.
Urbanization always reduces home values in cities like ours. There is no exception to this outcome in recorded history in the U.S. Nary a word from The Republic about this very real issue.
Our current City Council has mismanaged our finances — so much so that we must borrow to fund projects normally funded out of reserves. Again, not a word from The Republic . Why?
— Mark Stuart , Scottsdale
1 Comment
Let’s hope a lot of Scottsdale voters read Mark’s letter and realize that he is telling the truth before they go to the polls.