For The Best Scottsdale
Scottsdale is a wonderful place to live, visit, work, raise a family and retire. You know that. We all do. We enjoy our beautiful city thanks in large part to investments made in the past.
Now, it is our turn. And we must be the ones to continue to invest in our community’s quality of life.
Voting Yes on Questions 1, 2 and 3 on the November 5th ballot is the best way to secure Scottsdale’s present needs and future through a 58-project, $319 million infrastructure investment program.
For the first time in a long time, all seven Scottsdale City Council members agree that investment is needed to maintain our quality of life and enhance it and our community’s prosperity in the future. We all support all three questions. The seven of us don’t agree on much. But we do on this need and these questions.
You can see all the projects here: https://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/elections/bond-2019-project-list.
The bonds will boost public safety. New fire stations will be built at 90th Street and Via Linda as well as the Hayden Road and the Loop 101. Police stations will get bulletproof glass. The City Jail, downtown public safety facilities as well as the Via Linda and Foothills police stations will get much needed renovations. Training facilities for our first responders will be modernized.
Questions 1, 2 and 3 will also help Scottsdale’s seniors, families and kids in all parts of our city. Among other items, Granite Reef and Via Linda Senior Centers will be renovated and expanded. The Granite Reef center will get new adult care services to help families needing care and assistance for their loved ones. A new 17-acre park will be built in the Whisper Rock area. Thompson Peak Park will get a new dog park. The Paiute Neighborhood Center in the southern part of the city will get much needed improvements so it can continue to offer critical community and social services including Head Start, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Scottsdale and support for those escaping domestic violence.
Scottsdale voters have not approved a major bond campaign since 2000. Questions 1, 2 and 3 invest in some overdue infrastructure repairs including fixing leaks and crumbling infrastructure at the southern end of Indian Bend Wash and restoring Civic Center Plaza so it can host events after the emergency closure of Drinkwater Boulevard because of the crumbling bridge.
Many of the 58 infrastructure investments and repairs will not get done at all without voters’ approval in November.
If passed, the new bonds will replace the old bonds from 2000 that are being paid down. As a result, there will be little impact on our second property taxes that fund the bonds. The City Treasurer’s Office expects second property taxes to go down even if Questions 1, 2 and 3 all pass.
That is yet another reason to vote Yes on all three questions.
The bonds make financial sense for taxpayers and will have a big impact on Scottsdale’s quality of life now and brighten our community’s future.
I hope you will join me and countless others throughout the city in voting yes.
Ballots have been mailed to Scottsdale voters. This is an all-mail ballot election so be sure to return yours. Thank you for considering and hopefully the support for the best Scottsdale.
Linda Milhaven serves on the Scottsdale City Council.