Homeless in Arizona

This time it's in Scottsdale and they want $25 of $75 million to build a stinking half mile pedestrian path along McDowell Road.

It will reduce McDowell Road to 66 percent of it's current size down to 4 lanes from 6 lanes. I am sure that will cause nightmares for the people who use McDowell Road in Scottsdale.

Source

Scottsdale elevated-trail backers eye '13 ballot

Initiative would seek $25 mil for Scottsdale High Line Park

By Peter Corbett The Republic | azcentral.com Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:29 PM

Two backers of a plan to build an elevated recreational trail over McDowell Road in Scottsdale say they will pursue a November 2013 ballot initiative that asks voters to provide $25 million for a first leg of the project.

Architect Doug Sydnor and public-relations executive Jason Rose announced their plan Thursday. Billed as the Scottsdale High Line Park, the 1.6-mile trail along McDowell Road would run from Indian Bend Wash to Papago Park and include an amphitheater at the park.

The $25 million initiative, if successful, would only finance an initial segment of roughly 0.6 miles, they said.

Sydnor and Rose first presented the proposal in December to spark economic development in south Scottsdale.

“This is the first transformative idea for McDowell Road since 1999,” when a hockey arena was proposed for the former Los Arcos Mall site at the Scottsdale Road intersection, Rose said. Yea, and the hockey arena is was just as much of a turkey project as this elevated pedestrian path project is!!!

The area around Scottsdale and McDowell roads since has been left economically stagnant, he said.

The idea is to revitalize south Scottsdale and create a vibrant city from “McDowell to the McDowells,” Rose said.

SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, is located on the former Los Arcos site, but city officials continue to wrestle with ways to revitalize the area, which was once home to numerous car dealerships, most of which have since relocated closer to freeways. Yes, and SkySong is another turkey project in Scottsdale. It turned the nice Los Arcos Mall into a government office for bureaucrats IE SkySong

Sydnor and Rose presented their proposal during the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau’s annual meeting with a “Focus on the Future” theme. The meeting included updates on other proposed new attractions: the Desert Discovery Center at the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, a Museum of the West in downtown Scottsdale and improvements to the Civic Center Mall and downtown canal banks.

The cost of building the entire 1.6-mile trail from the Indian Bend Wash greenbelt to Papago Park is estimated at $75 million. A resident panel would decide whether to build the trail at street level or elevate it, Rose said.

New York City’s High Line, which transformed an elevated 1.45-mile railroad spur into a park, was the inspiration for the McDowell trail idea, Rose said.

Lanes cut on McDowell

City transportation engineers said McDowell could be reduced to four lanes to accommodate the trail without negatively affecting traffic flows, Syndor said. You can give me a bunch of government mumbo jumbo all day long, but if you reduce McDowell Road to 66 percent of it's current size I don't care what you say, it's going to cause huge traffic jams!!! He is also the architect for the newly announced Goldwater library in Mesa. Yes, and I bet Architect Doug Sydnor's business will probably design and build the project. About the only thing in South Scottsdale this project will re-vitalize is Doug Sydnor's bank account

Sydnor said phasing in the trail project is intended to “earn the trust of the citizens.” Any citizen that "trusts" the government to spend their money wisely is a sucker, and as P. T. Barnum said a sucker and his money are soon departed!

If voters approve, the Scottsdale High Line Park would be funded by municipal bonds backed by property taxes.

Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane said the proposal caught him off guard. “I was a little surprised because I’ve talked with Jason about this a fair amount since he and Doug first initiated it,” he said. “The way they were running up the tab, it was becoming a very costly thing to put on the ballot.” Heh, heh, you think the proposed cost is too big, just wait till you see the actual cost after the cost overruns.

“On the overall, it’s an interesting concept,” he said. “It would transform McDowell Road and have some real impact on it, positively.”

City bond package

The trail initiative could land on the November 2013 ballot at the same time the city is considering a wide-ranging bond package of up to $250 million that could include improvements to senior centers, fire stations, parks and roads.

The Desert Discovery Center, focused on environmental education and the Sonoran Desert, is not currently on the bond list but could be reconsidered later this year.

Scottsdale City Councilman Bob Littlefield dismissed the plan and framed the ballot initiative as an end run.

“Jason knew (the council) wouldn’t put this on the ballot because it’s a boondoggle,” Littlefield said. You can say that again - "the project is a boondoggle"

Rose said it will cost up to $50,000 to gather signatures on petitions for the initiative.

Carolyn Jagger, Scottsdale city clerk, said city ballot initiatives currently require 21,025 valid signatures from registered Scottsdale voters, but that figure will be adjusted after the Nov. 6 election.

“We’re ready to hit the streets,” Rose said of the ballot initiative.

He compared the elevated trail to the efforts to create the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, which took years and several tax votes to accomplish.

Reporter Beth Duckett contributed to this article.