Scottsdale Waterfront Redevelopment Area Repealed

The battle was long, but the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter’s (IJ-AZ) war against eminent domain abuse in downtown Scottsdale is finally over. A year ago IJ-AZ, with the help of Scottsdale graduates of the Castle Coalition’s first training conference, submitted to the Scottsdale City Council a citizens’ petition, signed by more than 100 property and business owners, requesting that the council repeal two sham slum designations.

Last September, the Council voted unanimously to repeal Scottsdale’s Downtown Redevelopment Area. But the Council left intact the Waterfront Redevelopment Area by voting to “agendize” a later vote on repealing the bogus slum designation.

We kept up the heat in the court of public opinion, but after a year of waiting for the City Council to act on its promise, a lawsuit was threatened to be filed on a date certain. The Mayor immediately scheduled a vote. In front of a packed chamber, the Council unanimously voted to liberate the remaining property owners from the cloud of condemnation.

Now that the downtown is no longer threatened, members of the Castle Coalition have vowed to begin work on abolishing Scottsdale’s remaining two sham redevelopment areas.

Viva la resistance!