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Opinion

Fishman: Disinformation campaigns ought not to control Scottsdale housing

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I have followed with great interest the disinformation and vitriolic campaign including videos (funded by who?) regarding the apartment proposal. For instance, the number of misrepresentations in most of the posts on NextDoor is substantial.

Instead of focusing on the facts the authors spew forth fear of greater traffic, converting Arizona to California, further driving real estate prices upwards, evil intent of some City Council members, and even the elimination of Sprouts in the shopping center... who obviously support the project.

They seem to have no knowledge that Scottsdale has strategically positioned itself to have multi-use areas near the 101. This proposal obviously fits within that strategy.

More importantly it makes effective use of abandoned buildings and space to provide needed housing in a thoughtful way including open space, parking, and traffic control.

Great cities do not remain stagnant. They are vibrant, encourage diversity, continue to grow their tax base, and improve their footprint on a continuous basis. To my knowledge we have not approved any major project in quite some time.

This will have negative consequences as new construction dries up in several years from now. It will also discourage developers from making proposals in the future.

I am confident that this negative campaign comes from those primarily in north Scottsdale who continue to mostly support single family housing. They have not provided one supported fact or made one counterproposal to make this acceptable.

I would encourage you to do a review of the locations of those submitting negative views. I think you will find a few beating the drums louder than everybody else, and that it does not represent the majority viewpoint.

I suggest you set up a statistically valid cross section of households and use an electronic survey to get more accurate feedback. Since the vote on this proposal has been postponed you should have more than sufficient time to execute this.

I live in a large gated community that has effectively used this process to provide feedback to the HOA board about priorities and projects.

In addition, if you decide to not utilize a survey process I believe you should still favor this project. Sometimes as leaders you have to take positions that may be unpopular, but you know are the right thing to do.

There are many in the history that have done this. Where would the world be without Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Churchill, and Steinem. I am sure you can think of many others.

This opposition group preys upon those without the information and provides misleading and false statements. It is your job to counter that with your own judgment of the facts. This is not political but what is in the interests of citizens.

You will be judged on what has been accomplished during your stewardship not by agreeing with the noisiest dissidents.

Why not focus on making this project a world class example of multi-use including architectural design, heat reduction, use of solar, recreational space, and traffic easing? Saying no may be easier but is probably more costly to the citizens of Scottsdale in the future.

Editor’s Note: Robert Fishman is a resident of Scottsdale.