Freshman mayor David Ortega looks back on first Scottsdale year

Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega is no stranger to firsts.

In January, he reportedly became, for Scottsdale, the first politically independent mayor, the first Latino mayor, the first to spend his whole career working in the city which he serves, and the first mayor with 20 years of experience as an architect.

“Start voting at the bottom, because that’s where the local impact is,” Ortega stressed when mentioning his promotions for the election earlier this year.

Instead of spending millions of dollars on campaigning for himself, he stuck to simplicity, and for the people to recognize his love for the city and its traditions.

His dedication to the Scottsdale community is evident through his architecture work as well as his time spent in the city council. His introduction to politics started when he became a council member from 2000 to 2004.

His term as mayor so far includes co-authoring the general plan update, navigating ongoing growth of Scottsdale, and everything in between. It is safe to say that Ortega’s political and architecture work has paved a path leading to success.

Wayne Ecton was on the city council with Ortega. While they disagree on policy, they have respect for each other during a time when the other council members and they voiced varying opinions.

“The vote many times was 4-3 one way or 4-3 another way, but we had good discussions,” Ecton said when describing the environment between the council members that included his time spent with Ortega.

With the addition of his architecture experience, working with clients is second nature to the mayor, making his work with others passionate and compelling.

During Arizona’s peak of COVID-19 cases and deaths, communication with Scottsdale residents was present. Ortega took responsibility for the health and safety of the citizens, leading him to make proclamations in an emergency status in his early days of being in office.

Enduring the peak of the global pandemic isn’t the only thing on the list of achievements for Mayor Ortega since January.

“Within 60 days I worked very hard with my colleagues and we got the anti-discrimination ordinance passed, which had floundered for decades,” he said.

Along with the push for the general plan, the passing of the ordinance in April was a huge win for those that deal with prejudices and discrimination.

Dating back to his past, Ortega met Anne Rysdale who was the first architect that Ortega began working for, following the time that he graduated from the University of Arizona. After that, the well-known Scottsdale architect who worked on the city hall, Bennie Gonzalez, not only became his boss but also an inspiration.

Between 1978 when Ortega first arrived in Scottsdale, and now, he has built his career from the ground up and has enjoyed working with Scottsdale clients ever since.

Ortega has built a foundation for himself in Scottsdale. He was a member of the City of Scottsdale and SUSD Joint Planning Committee and a past president of the Scottsdale Sunrise Rotary Club. Being an active member of the community including his involvement with the school system that both his children attended. Raising a family in the nearing neighborhood to Saguaro High School allowed for him to orient his governing style to appeal to a family-friendly environment.

“As mayor, I will ensure that citizen’s guiding principles direct city council decisions, not the other way around,” Ortega said on his election website. A statement that helped residents of Scottsdale envision the future of the city in his power, which has now become a reality.

Editor’s Note: Sabrina Baker is a student journalist at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.