We hear “Only in Scottsdale” comments a lot from those suffering
from “Scottsdale Envy.” If you read between the lines you know that what they
are really saying is “Gosh, I sure wish
I lived in Scottsdale!”
Who can blame them? Where else can you find a city that
preserves its classy individuality along with the ability to laugh at itself?
For example, a woman from Scottsdale once made it to the finals
of a contest to determine PETA’S “sexiest vegetarian next door.” Even better,
she had gone vegetarian 16 years earlier as a tribute to her dog! Unfortunately
for her, she didn’t win the contest but it wasn’t because her dog didn’t vote
for her.
Even funnier was the “Tuesday Night Book Club,” a CBS reality
show that ran for two episodes in June, 2006. To say this show was “reality”
would be stretching the truth a bit.
The premise was for a group of typical Scottsdale housewives to
get together once a week to discuss recent books they had read. Unfortunately,
there was very little book talk but plenty said about sex and gossip. Besides
that, only a couple of the women were even from Scottsdale and while the
meeting place was supposed to be the home of one of the ladies, it was actually
a rental used only for the show. I think they did well getting through two episodes
before the inevitable cancellation.
In February of 2010, Scottsdale decided that with the population
explosion in the northern part of town it would make sense to widen Pima Road
north of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard. It was a great idea as two lane Pima was
becoming a bit of a bottleneck south of Pinnacle Peak Road.
Today, north Pima runs smoothly with its extra lanes all the way
to and from Pinnacle Peak Road. However, that doesn’t mean that the final
result was obtained without the usual construction difficulties that are
typical with extensive roadwork.
The construction with its many barricades became reminiscent of
riding the roller coaster at an amusement park. To make it even more fun, the
barricades were changed regularly to accommodate the construction. Every
day was a new adventure especially for cell phone users as they had to actually
pay attention to their driving. Fortunately, it ultimately was worth the
hassle.
North Pima Road construction, 2010 (Mark Henle, AZ Republic)
Speaking of classy individuality, can anyone name another city
with public art displayed on its freeway walls? Scottsdale has it plus when
they built original sections of the 101 freeway through the north part of town,
there were some complaints from homeowners living near the road that the
surface that was used created a bothersome noise from the friction of the car
tires. A special rubberized coating was applied to the road in that area and
the complaints ceased. I doubt if many other places would have been so
accommodating.
Can you name which city was the first to use the mechanized, one
armed, garbage collection trucks we see today? If you said “Scottsdale” you may
go to the head of the class. When compared with art covered freeway walls,
garbage collection doesn't seem very romantic but having the “Godzilla” truck come
by weekly to empty one large container on wheels sure beats dragging several
cans to the curb on garbage day.
Unfortunately into every life some rain must fall. With the
economy foundering a few years ago, Scottsdale had to announce some cutbacks in
city services. The City Council at that time was looking for some viable method
to increase revenue and one suggestion was to sell advertising space on city
owned property. They may have actually done that somewhere in town that I don’t
know about but the first thing I thought of was the possibility of a large
billboard on the edge of town reading “Welcome to Scottsdale, brought to you by
Walmart!” If that would have actually happened, one can only wonder what
McDonald’s restaurants would have dreamed up for McDonald Drive.
As far as rain actually falling rather than metaphorically, one
of the fun pastimes in Scottsdale before a bridge was built, was to visit the
Indian Bend Wash between Hayden and Scottsdale Roads during a heavy rainfall to
watch some foolish people try to navigate their cars through the rushing water
only to be disappointed when the car stalled and they had to be rescued. It was
an expensive proposition for them to pay the towing charge plus a fine from the
city for acting a few levels below what most would consider normal
intelligence.
I remember one guy in particular who had a new Lexus practically
destroyed by attempting the crossing. He was an older, distinguished looking
guy who looked like he was successful at making money but not intelligent in
the area of water since he said that the next time it rained he would try
again. For him, “Only in Scottsdale” seemed appropriate.
