Henninger: Is Scottsdale a ‘city’ or is it a ‘suburb?’

The idea that Scottsdale is a bedroom community or a suburb of Phoenix is an argument lost many decades ago. Scottsdale is a vibrant, progressive city that is a premier destination for residents, visitors and businesses alike. There is no way you can turn the clock back on that.”

Don Henninger, SCOTT executive director

That depends on who you ask. The view from here: It’s a city. Although it looks like a lot of people would take offense to that.

And technically, it is the city of Scottsdale.

But really, when you ask people that question it usually comes down to what they want. Their vision of Scottsdale is more like a high-class suburb, a bed-room community, and it’s at that intersection — city vs. suburb — where the sparks start to fly.

Soon the city will be revisiting the future of downtown Scottsdale when it reviews the Old Town character area plan, the first step in potentially limiting the height and density of projects in the city’s core.

Mayor David Ortega is leading the charge on that, as he’s been a critic of the current plan, which was reviewed three years ago. In that plan, it says Scottsdale is “boldly looking into its metropolitan future.”

Ortega, who is especially averse to using the words “metropolitan” and “Scottsdale” in the same sentence, told reporters that he views the city as “suburban community with a low profile.”

The city-suburb split also surfaces when talking about the need for attainable housing so that critical workers — like police officers, teachers, firefighters, health care workers — can afford to live in the city in which they work.

An example: we wrote about one builder — Toll Brothers — that is proposing to include five attainable housing units in a 148-unit complex proposed at Miller Road and Sixth Avenue. That’s a nice start, though hardly an overwhelming number. Yet it got this reply from a friend and someone whose intellect I generally respect.

“There is no ‘community need’ to drag Scottsdale down to Avondale’s level. Every city in the country has high-class suburbs. Even Detroit has Gross Pointe. No shame in that. I doubt that Paradise Valley has an overwhelming desire to build low-class housing.”

Apologies to Avondale. There is nothing wrong with that community. This is where emotions often start to overcome intellect.

The facts argue against considering Scottsdale a bedroom community or suburb.

• Every day, 160,000 people come to Scottsdale to work. Another 30,000 residents work in the city.
• The city has over 18,000 businesses.
• Major corporate and regional headquarters with thousands of employees are based here — HonorHealth, Nationwide, AXON, JDA Software, CVS Caremark, Vanguard, to name a few.
• It has one of the largest employment hubs in Arizona, the Scottsdale Airpark. Over 50,000 people work there.
• Its airport generates over $1 billion in economic benefits for the region every year.

Sure sounds like a city.

Another way to look at it. Scottsdale, perhaps unlike any other city in Arizona, has the best of all worlds in its geographic diversity. It has an urban center downtown, its own “suburbs” north of the 101 Freeway and some of the most pristine desert in the Southwest that will be forever unscathed in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

The idea that Scottsdale is a bedroom community or a suburb of Phoenix is an argument lost many decades ago. Scottsdale is a vibrant, progressive city that is a premier destination for residents, visitors and businesses alike. There is no way you can turn the clock back on that.

We hope the community works together to sustain it.

Editor’s Note: Don Henninger is executive director of Scottsdale Coalition of Today and Tomorrow — SCOTT. Mr. Henninger also serves on the Independent Newsmedia board of directors.