Johnson: As a property owner, merchant within the SouthBridge 2 area I strongly support it

I love Scottsdale; if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here. But downtown Scottsdale is dying. It doesn’t have enough foot traffic and its older business buildings need to be replaced.”

Steve Johnson, Scottsdale resident and property owner

I have been a property owner and businessman in, and resident of, downtown Scottsdale for 21 years and I strongly support the SouthBridge Two project because it will be good for Scottsdale and downtown businesses.

My business is located on Craftsman Court. I love Scottsdale; if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here. But downtown Scottsdale is dying. It doesn’t have enough foot traffic and its older business buildings need to be replaced.

Currently the area in which SouthBridge Two would be constructed pays $400,000 in property taxes; after SouthBridge Two is completed, property tax payments would increase to $4 million annually. That shows how worn down the area is today and how much the new project would help.

I am firmly convinced that SouthBridge Two will help downtown merchants survive, which is why 90% of them within the planned project area in favor of it.

On Dec. 4, with many more citizens appearing in favor of SouthBridge Two than opposing it, the City Council approved the project.

I am very disappointed now to see that three members of the City Council are pushing to get citizens to put this matter on the ballot in November 2020. This project has been before the public for years and meets the guidelines set by the city and approved by the City Council in 2018 and 2019.

Now three members of the council have changed their minds and are ignoring the very rules they set.

I believe everyone worked hard on this project, but the vote had been delayed multiple times and the more it gets dragged out, the more it hurts merchants.
Rejuvenation is needed; more foot traffic, whether it be by tourists or residents, helps merchants and the city. In my memory, no proposed development has had nearly the amount of review as this project.

In this case, I know personally that the developer has interacted positively will all people impacted by this project including me.

I am concerned at the false statements being spread by the PAC opposing the project. The negative statements are false and designed to scare citizens into signing the petition challenging SouthBridge Two.

The City Council has totally ignored the downtown for the past 20 years while it has promoted other areas of Scottsdale. Because the downtown has been allowed to go stale, tourist and business dollars have left the downtown.

SouthBridge Two is a long overdue effort to update the downtown. Please do not let it all fall apart... more importantly, let the vision of the downtown Scottsdale adopted by the City Council, including those council members who voted against SouthBridge Two, finally take shape.

SouthBridge Two is what we were promised.

Editor’s Note: Steve Johnson has been a resident of Scottsdale since 1994 and has been a downtown property owner and merchant since 1999.