Well, that didn't take long ... only halfway through the first month of the new year and we already have our first "conspiracy" of 2015.
Who would have thought? It's a conspiracy theory that clouds the future of a closed school: The original Tonalea Elementary School at 68th and Oak Streets.
A couple of weeks ago, residents of the South Scottsdale Tonalea neighborhood learned the Scottsdale Unified School District had arranged for Denny Brown, who recently retired from the SUSD Governing Board, to turn part of the shuttered school into a Resource Center. The 56-year-old elementary school was closed last year because it was structurally unsafe and had a shrinking enrollment. So students and teachers were moved down the street across from Coronado High School at Oak and Miller.
The agreement between the School District and Brown was for the facility to be used "temporarily" by some social service agencies until the District figured out what to do with the school. According to Brown, a South Scottsdale resident, several of the organizations that expressed interest in using Tonalea were First Teeth First, Scottsdale Prevention Institute, Women, Infant and Children (WIC) and Scottsdale Training and Rehabilitation Services (STARS). The City of Scottsdale also considered using the school as a satellite location to help deliver services to where and to whom they were needed most.
What initially sounded like a perfect way to repurpose an abandoned school building, at least in the short-term, quickly became a neighborhood melodrama. The political theater is being fueled by confusing stories and contentious scenarios cooked up by some of our community's usual suspects.
People of all ages jammed into the District's Education Center auditorium last week. It felt like traveling in steerage-class on a cut-rate cruise line. Those, and there weren't many, who didn't know any better would have come away thinking that Brown was the biggest scoundrel who ever worked for SUSD or set foot in South Scottsdale.
"Ugly" was one of many four-letter words that described their diatribe.
Those who spoke the loudest and longest identified themselves as living in the Tonalea neighborhood that surrounds the shut down school. Each one of them proudly paraded in front of the five-member Governing Board, proclaiming how long they had lived in the neighborhood before proceeding to dump on Brown. They were 20, 30 even 40-year residents of the neighborhood. And almost everyone of them said they opposed "Denny Brown's food bank."
Food bank?
Yes, in December Brown was guilty of arranging to use Tonalea as a distribution center to make sure down-and-out families got food to get them through the holidays. And he also used the school as a staging area for needy children to receive Christmas presents. But that was it. Brown says he never intended to convert Tonalea into a food bank ... sperm bank or any other kind of bank.
Tonalea residents are holding out hope that students and teachers will return to the school sometime soon. But they shouldn't hold their collective breath - because the District estimates it will take $13 million to totally restore the school. Neighbors are also ignoring that Tonalea was one of three elementary schools in South Scottsdale that was operating at less than 55% capacity before it was closed.
Unfortunately, chronic critics like Edmond Richard cling to the assumption that Tonalea will rise from the ashes. In fact he recently wrote: "During the closure of that location (Tonalea), there was an implied promise to reopen and rebuild the school for the community and children."
An "implied promise," really? Obviously Mr. Richard isn't a product of the Scottsdale education system.
After all the heat from the neighborhood and other conspiracists, the School District and Brown backed away from turning Tonalea into a Resource Center. The two parties tore up their contract that leased a portion of Tonalea to Brown for $1.00. (That's not a typo.) Brown wasn't being paid one red cent. And this entire affair wasn't a conspiracy between SUSD and Brown to run a scam on a South Scottsdale neighborhood as some paranoid people insinuated.
If SUSD and Denny Brown had the opportunity to do it over again, they would probably do it differently. But they're not going to get that chance.
The Tonalea neighbors got what they wanted. They still have an empty school that looks like a docked aircraft carrier sitting in the middle of their neighborhood. For now, they believe it's their spoils of war. Let's see what they say next year and the year after that when they watch the buildings slowly but surely deteriorate and become a poor reflection on their neighborhood ... not to mention their property values.
This hasn't been a conspiracy ... nor a scandal or a scam.
It has been a classic case of "be careful what you wish for."
To Be Continued
Our Political Generation Gap.
It's "Event Season." If you live in Scottsdale, you know what that means.
This is the annual period of time after the holidays that puts our city on the map as the place to be if you like expensive cars, millionaire golfers and hot women ... or at least more expensive cars, more millionaire golfers and more hot women than usual in Scottsdale.
And this year jerks wearing Tommy Bahama shirts smoking Cuban cigars will be legal ... the cigars, that is.
It's the time of year that the Rich and Famous, and those who want to be Rich and Famous, flood our streets, jam our restaurants and generally create havoc and chaos in our city. And this year the ante for the affluent is being upped by a football game called the Super Bowl - which will be played in Glendale, but the real action will be a 45-minute limousine ride to here in Scottsdale. Especially after dark.
Bring it on! Because, after all, tourism is Scottsdale's number one industry - and snowbirds, celebrities and VIPs are our bread and butter.
Yes, it's that two weeks when the entire city is turned into one big Entertainment District in which (almost) anything goes. Downtown advocate and neighborhood activist Bill Crawford may have to look the other way while public safety personnel becomes the City of Scottsdale's greeters to make sure everyone enjoys themselves during our city's version of Mardi Gras. But don't expect to be handed any beads - do, however, anticipate seeing a fair share of flashing.
It's impossible for so many people to get together, like the nearly 170,000 who turn out for a typical Saturday at the Waste Management Open at TPC, without attracting some rascals - like pickpockets, drug dealers and ladies of the evening who are willing to make a rare daytime appearance. The golf tournament is a sea of humanity, half of which are people who only set foot on a golf course once a year in their 5-inch heels and pointy-toed loafers. It's safe to say they won't be traipsing around the course in the gallery following Tiger Woods.
These 20 and 30 somethings are all about the Birds Nest - and, according to the golf tournament's website, that's where "great music, beautiful patrons and enthusiastic partying has earned legendary status on the PGA Tour." Translation: The Birds Nest is a high-octane cocktail of testosterone and estrogen where libidos are unleashed. It's a place where the young and restless can escape worrying about how they're going to pay off their student loans.
That raises the topic: Who is this growing Millennial Generation?
They're the ones who want to live in the apartments that so many others abhor. They're the people who want the downtown lifestyle and are unaffected by issues like height and density. They want to walk to restaurants close to where they live. They want to work out of coffee shops with their laptops. They're both the employees and customers of the Entertainment District. They like living in Scottsdale because of all our amenities and outdoor activities.
This next generation also prefers a high-speed way of life - including the latest technology and light rail transportation. History has little to do with how they lead their lives. They're focused on the future. They scoff at someone who insists on calling Scottsdale "The West's Most Western Town." That's our past, not their present.
Moreover ... these folks have to use their GPS to find City Hall.
For most of them, politics are irrelevant. Voting in elections is like subscribing to the newspaper. Those are things their parents do.
For example, last November, approximately 75% of those who voted in the Scottsdale election were over 50 years old. Even more startling was that 50% of those who voted were 65 or older. The Millennials made up less than 10% of the total vote.
So, ironically, it's AARP members, those drawing Social Security and people on Medicare who are guiding Scottsdale's future. The Millennial population has virtually no voice about who's being elected to shape the vision and make the important decisions for our city.
As long as that political phenomenon continues, we'll be rehashing the same issues and considering the same retreaded ideas ... and, obviously, continuing to get the same results.