I read a piece in a Seth Godin posting recently about the dangers of being spoiled. In specific, he wrote, being spoiled creates two big problems:

--“It makes it difficult to appreciate what you have. If perfect is the standard, it’s rarely met and never exceeded.”

--“It leads to tantrums. Tantrums about sharing, about the lack of ‘more’ and about the endless poverty of comparison.”

 He continued: “As a community increases in wealth, the number of spoiled citizens increases as well. It’s often the acid that corrodes the magic that created the wealth in the first place.

“Whining is a symptom, it’s rarely a cure for anything.”

The city of Scottsdale immediately came to mind.

The voters have made their choices and we're about to enter a new era of change at nearly all levels of governance. To say this election brought surprises would be an understatement, including right here in Scottsdale.

We’re not going to analyze the results; pundits everywhere have already done plenty of that. Now it’s time to think about how Scottsdale will move forward with a newly configured City Council.

In January, the city will install a new mayor and three first-time councilors. It will be interesting to watch these four newcomers transition from campaigning to governing, two very different challenges.

The council now will have a decided slow-growth majority that seems intent on cutting “excessive spending” and “project costs overruns.” Those make for good – and as it turns out, winning – campaign themes. But executing on those themes – while keeping the city fiscally sound – is no small feat. As they say, the devil is in the details.

They'll also be facing this challenge without the steadying influence of Jim Thompson, who has served as city manager for the past eight years. Amid all the election noise, it was quietly announced that Thompson will be moving on at the end of the year

As we near the final days of voting at a critical time for our city I am frequently asked by friends, neighbors and peers for advice on who to vote for in Scottsdale’s elections for mayor and city council.

I don’t tell people who they should choose or who I am supporting. I do share the qualities that I use when considering who should guide the city (or our school districts) into the future.

Here are some of them:

--Vision: One of the most important qualities in a leader is having a clear long-term vision, especially in economic development, sustainability and urban planning. I’m amazed at how many candidates can’t articulate a basic response to their vision for the city. Makes you wonder why they are running in the first place.

The 2024 elections are now officially under way.

And not a minute too soon.

Never before have we been so swamped with information -- some of it is even factual, though it’s often hard to tell the difference! This the most contentious and perhaps important election of our lifetime.

... Now that ballots are in the mail and early voting has commenced, we can’t forget the need to stay focused on local elections in Scottsdale. The races for mayor, City Council and the Scottsdale Unified School District’s Governing Board in the final weeks have been contentious and sometimes just as nasty as the races at the state and federal levels.

And in many ways, the local races are even more important than the national races as the people we elect can have a more immediate and noticeable effect on our communities.

Life is full of irony, often revealing itself with bittersweet timing.

Take this example:

Last week, Scottsdale approved plans for ASM, a Netherlands-based company specializing in machines for computer chip manufacturing, to build a facility south of Loop 101 near Miller Road. This facility, focused on research and development, is expected to employ up to 1,200 people.

A major win for Scottsdale’s economy.

Around the same time, Banner Health’s $400 million medical campus project, located just east of ASM along Loop 101, cleared another significant hurdle in its approval process. Hundreds more jobs there.

Both developments bring something every city craves: jobs. Lots of them.

But here’s the ironic twist:

“Scottsdale to workers: We don’t want you here,” declared a headline in Sunday’s Arizona Republic.

Wait, what?

We are midstream in a contentious election season and this week’s presidential debate magnified the differences that exist at the national level.

We are just as divided at the local – supposedly non-partisan – level, and the tenor of the campaigning can be just as nasty. That is visible in races for city council and school boards in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and across the Valley.

Because local elections hit so close to home, they can create intense reactions and divisions that go even deeper into our communities than the national elections.

In November, Scottsdale voters will be asked to approve a ballot proposition that some may try to convince you is a tax increase. It clearly is not.

But given recent events, sometimes you have to pay close attention.

It’s the “expenditure limit” measure, known as Proposition 491, which will allow the city to spend all the money it already has collected. The city is operating under state-mandated spending limits determined by a formula that factors in the city's population and inflation. It was last updated right after the turn of the century and a lot, obviously, has changed since then.

We’re back in the newsletter saddle after taking a few weeks off and now catching up with Scottsdale politics as we enter the “second half” of this year’s election season.

In just a few weeks, we’ll start voting to fill the remaining two City Council seats and determine who will be our mayor. These are important decisions, to be sure.

Sometimes when you pause for a breather, as we did in July, it helps you adjust your focus on other important aspects of what it takes to manage and lead the city.

My focus keeps coming back to the staff – the workers who are directly responsible for delivering the kinds of services that make our city great.

As we get ready to take some time off in July, I’d like to share some thoughts about the work I’m doing with the Arizona Democracy Resilience Network, related to this year’s election season. The issues here apply to Scottsdale, which is not immune to the rhetoric, divisiveness and mis-information that we are seeing around the campaigns for City Council and the school board.

Picture a country where fear of one’s neighbor is rampant, distrust of law enforcement is the standard, destructive riots occur regularly, and threats of political violence loom large over the minds of its citizens.

We had a chance recently to spend time with Nathan Slater, the district athletic director for the Scottsdale Unified School District. As he nears retirement after 30 years in the school system, he was most proud of how he has made core values and academic standards the No 1 priority for his student athletes.

Winning on the field of play is important. Being positive contributing members of a community is even more so.

Proper student-athlete behavior encompasses a range of actions and attitudes that reflect positively on themselves, their team, their school and their broader community.

Nathan’s emphasis on values is particularly poignant as we are in graduation season and sending the Class of 2024 into the world to make their mark on our communities. At the same time, we are approaching an important election season this year, too.

Four outstanding members of our community were inducted into the Scottsdale History Hall of Fame this week.

All are outstanding role models for our city – at a time when community stewardship and leadership heroes are needed now more than ever.

We add our salute to Jim Ford, long time deputy fire chief; Jim Lane, former mayor; Linda Milhaven, former council member and current mayoral candidate; and Raoul Zubia, who makes community service part of his DNA.

As it turns out, all four also have been guests over the past few years on our weekly podcast, “Today and Tomorrow In Scottsdale.”

In the spirit of recognizing others who are doing great things for our community – like our four new Hall of Famers – we’d like to add another top 10 list of people who live and work in Scottsdale and who we have come to know via our podcast over this past year.

Sometimes you just have to chuckle.

Like last week, when the Scottsdale City Council spent time during another very long meeting full of important issues to talk about requiring everyone on the dais to stay off their cell phones while conducting the people’s business.

It’s like they were back in a school classroom, where teachers often have to scold students who can’t keep their fingers off their phones. It felt like “Back to the Future.”

Actually, it’s not a laughing matter.

Growth and development are emotionally charged words and the primary source of political division in Scottsdale.

Many City Council candidates build their campaigns on anti-growth platforms. Critics, some on council now, consistently claim the city is overdeveloped. And it’s having a ripple effect. The pipeline of new projects is drying up against the city’s reputation as a tough place for business investment.

But the hard truth is this: economic expansion – yes, growth and development – is not optional, it’s a necessity. It’s essential for the vitality of the city. Cities, like all organizations, have to evolve and grow or they become stagnant and irrelevant.

Those thoughts came to mind recently when Colliers Arizona released its latest report on the Greater Scottsdale Airpark area.

The Airpark region is one of the most successful business centers in all of Arizona. It has continued to grow and develop – and prosper – despite the political challenges that have become so prevalent in this city.

I have had the privilege for over two years of working as “board chairman” for a remarkable “CEO” who has reached a mandatory retirement age and now is moving on to the subsequent chapters of his life.

And during that time, this is a leader who I have come to admire.

Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of working alongside numerous influential leaders across various sectors in the Valley, fostering invaluable learning experiences.

As Yogi Berra said: “You can observe a lot by watching.” And I’ve been able to watch some good ones.

But I’d have to say, I saved the best for last.

It may be branded as the WM Phoenix Open but in Scottsdale we like to embrace it as our own.

The tournament has been called many things in its storied 90-year history – from the Western Open to the Ben Hogan Invitational, and the Arizona Open to the FBR Open. Just about everything but Scottsdale.

But since 1987, it has been played at the TPC Scottsdale and it’s a natural fit with Scottsdale’s brand as a golfing-tourism destination.

It is uniquely Scottsdale.

And for the first time since it arrived in Scottsdale and grown to become the largest tournament in professional golf, people are wondering whether it has become too big for its britches. Has it become too much of good thing?

As we dig into the new year there are lots of reasons to be optimistic about Scottsdale.

A recent headline caught my eye and reminded me of why that is. The headline wasn’t about Scottsdale specifically but it applies to this, or any other successful city for that matter.

It said: “A Great City Can’t Stop Evolving.”

How true that is. Scottsdale is a great city, and it is evolving – sometimes in spite of itself.

We’re about to turn the last corner of 2023 and barrel headfirst into a new year. Among other things, it serves as a reminder that we’re all getting older. That’s true for each of us individually; it’s also true for the city itself.

Like many of us, Scottsdale is not a youngster.

A new survey that tracks baby boomers on the move says the city added 6,903 members of that esteemed generation in 2022, and boomers now make up nearly 29 percent of its total population – the second highest percentage of any city in the U.S.

The trend raises all sorts of serious economic, social and educational issues. Putting them aside for the moment, the question I have for the city (and perhaps for each of us who are of an advancing age) is this: Can we age gracefully?

We’re about to turn the last corner of 2023 and barrel headfirst into a new year. Among other things, it serves as a reminder that we’re all getting older. That’s true for each of us individually; it’s also true for the city itself.

Like many of us, Scottsdale is not a youngster.

A new survey that tracks baby boomers on the move says the city added 6,903 members of that esteemed generation in 2022, and boomers now make up nearly 29 percent of its total population – the second highest percentage of any city in the U.S.

The trend raises all sorts of serious economic, social and educational issues. Putting them aside for the moment, the question I have for the city (and perhaps for each of us who are of an advancing age) is this: Can we age gracefully?

There was good news in the Scottsdale Unified School District this week.

Voters approved the district’s request for a maintenance and operations budget override, which will fund all-day kindergarten, maintain class sizes, keep teachers’ salaries competitive and support programs like arts, athletics, music and more.

And it looks like a good investment. Because a few days before that, we learned that the district is racking up some good scores from the state Board of Education.

The district earned a letter grade of A or B for 28 of its 30 schools and its overall district grade was an A from the state board’s examination of all public schools across Arizona.

It’s a sign that the district is doing the job voters expect them to do.

Scottsdale city officials are looking for feedback from residents on changes and updates to its noise ordinance.

I must say that I was encouraged to learn of this. I agree, we should get noise under control, as it can be disruptive, create stress and erode the quality of life that residents have enjoyed for so long.

In thinking about what kind of feedback to provide, I thought it might be good to define exactly what noise is.