Screen shot 3-2-ONE Scottsdale FACT Intro Video
By J. Graber | Progress Staff Writer
The perennial issue of splitting Scottsdale into three districts for the city council members to represent is dead – again – for now.
The political action committee 3-2-One Scottsdale, which was pushing for districting, failed to turn in any signatures by the July 7 deadline to get the issue on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Paul Simonson, chairman of 3-2-One Scottsdale, said the group isn’t giving up for good though. The group hopes to bring the issue back before the voters in two to four years.
“This was not us throwing in the towel, it’s about just understanding it was not going to happen this round,” he said.
Starting in late February, the group, which numbered somewhere between 20 and 30 people, had about four and a half months to collect 27,244 signatures.
“We didn’t get the amount we needed so we just didn’t turn anything in,” Simonson said.
He didn’t know how many signatures the group collected but did say, “it wasn’t close.”
Other than the truncated allotment of time to gather the signatures, the team faced a number of hurdles, Simonson said.
First, they were primarily trying to gather signatures during the summer months “when people are more interested in just getting in their cars,” Simonson said.
Second, “I think there were some party politics involved,” he said.
The group unsuccessfully asked both the Democratic and Republican parties to support the measure.
The Democratic Party felt it could win in the south and central portions of the city but would be giving away the north, while the Republican party felt the same in reverse, Simonson said.
City council races are non-partisan.
