2011 Phoenix Mayor’s Race Begins

And you thought presidential campaigns were long.  Despite being more than two years out from a 2011 election, Councilman Claude Mattox is the first person throw his hat in the ring to replace Mayor Phil Gordon when he is term-limited in 2012.

Mattox, serving his third term on the council, is also facing term limits after being elected in 2000, 2003, and 2007.  As the article says, he may be the first current or former city councilmember to throw his hat into the ring, but he is not likely to be the last. 

With the first open race in a while, it should be interesting to see who turns up to run.

And the winners are….

Congratulations to election night winners Sal DiCiccio and Bill Gates who both won the rights to officially call themselves elected Phoenix City councilmen.  Both men had been appointed to their positions and will fill the remainder of the terms of the people they replaced.

Today is Election Day

Today is election day for Phoenix City Council Districts 3 and 6.

You can still drop off an early ballot at any polling place.  If you want to vote in person but don’t know where your polling place is, you can find it here.

For information on the candidates.  Here are their websites.

District 3

Bill Gates

Greg Tripoli

District 6

Sal DiCiccio

Dana Kennedy

 

Mayor Gordon floating the tax balloon

The balloon is in the air but I think the balloon boy is hiding in the attic again, only this time not from the mob of cameramen but angry taxpayers.  The Republic reported today that because the city faces an “economic emergency” after slashing $270 million from the general fund earlier this year.

Gordon didn’t offer any specifics about what the tax would look like opting instead to use the announcement as the starting point for a “community dialogue.”

Here’s my thoughts on it.  With the legislature looking at a possible tax hike themselves, it is too early to start acting on anything, especially if newfound revenue calls attention to the city’s state shared revenue.  It’s harder to complain about losing money when you just enacted a tax to bring in more revenue.  It’s also a good opportunity to look at the functions of city government and force yourself to enact some wholesale changes that will make Phoenix a more efficient operation.

Cavazos gets the job

The Phoenix City Council names David Cavazos the next city manager, replacing retiring Frank Fairbanks.  The vote was 8-1 with Michael Johnson being the lone no vote.

As we mentioned before, Cavozos’ history was something of an issue, but not enough to keep him from getting the job.  His past suspension wasn’t ignored and ethics was widely discussed.  Councilwoman Peggy Neely said, “We’ve had some lively debates today and I want to share with you that integrity is of the utmost importance from here on forward.  It should be the No. 1 thing you think about as a deputy or city manager.”

The only other issue that seems to be popping up is that this was a completely private interview process.  While I am a proponent for a completely open government, I can see the point of those that say the City Manager is unique in that they work for and report to the council.
What do you think?  Is the City Manager’s position something that should be debated in public?

Strong candidates or ding on Phoenix?

The list of applicants to replace City Manager Frank Fairbanks came in at 58 and all but four have been sent to exile island.  Interestingly enough, all four are internal candidates.  David Cavazos, David Krietor, Rick Naimark, and Ed Zuercher made the cut but that’s not where the question mark comes in.  I’m wondering why Phoenix couldn’t get one applicant from a city over 500,000 residents.

Is this a knock on Phoenix and a sign that it isn’t a coveted job?  Is it natural for cities of our size to promote from within because of the experience needed?  Is Phoenix on the right track because of Fairbanks and therefore it’s not that big a deal?

Also, as Laurie Roberts from the Republic points out, should we be concerned that two of the four finalists have been suspended before?

Equity, Schmequity.

Yesterday, the financial information and analysis firm Fiserv Inc. delivered a gut punch to the housing industry, predicting that the national median home price will drop 11.3% by the end of this June.

Unfortunately, this news was promptly followed by a knee to the collective groin of Phoenix. In addition to its dire forecast for the nation, Fiserv also called out the markets likely to be hit worst between now and June. You guessed it – Phoenix is one of them. In fact, they’re predicting our homes could drop another 23.4%. That’s on top of the 54% spanking you’ve received in terms of your home value, kids.

Just keep in mind – it could be worse. We could be Detroit. Which would mean we’d have to cheer for the Pistons. Blech.

Phoenix #2 leaving

Alton Washington, currently Phoenix’s #2 guy behind soon departing Frank Fairbanks announced he’s hanging up his hat too.  Some considered Washington a leading candidate to replace Fairbanks at the top but Washington did not apply for the job.

The city council is still reviewing applications and Washington has committed to staying on in the event a replacement isn’t chosen before he’s set to retire on November 5th.

Councilwoman Thelda Williams said it right, “it’s kind of an end of an era.”  Big changes are likely in store for the city that’s for sure.

City North filling up

The last two units on High Street have apparently been rented at the now controversial City North development in North Phoenix.  The controversy is ironic since the city hasn’t had to pay the developer any money yet while it is slowly but surely filling up.

While the live portion is just one part of the live, work play benefit of City North, it is encouraging to see the project hasn’t been a bust.  As the economy rebounds, the full scope of the project will hopefully be realized since the city could definitely use all of the sales tax dollars the project is expected to generate.

Early ballots and endorsements

Early ballots arrive today for Districts 3 and 6.  Along with early ballots come newspaper endorsements and the Repuplic has chosen Sal DiCiccio in District 6 and Bill Gates for 3.

The full endorsements online can be found here.