It was so 2025.<\/p>\n
The first Scottsdale City Council meeting of 2026 was certainly “retro.”<\/p>\n
Indeed, the Jan. 7 crowd that packed City Hall might have thought they were in a timely machine. After three hours of excited talk … nothing happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mayor Lisa Borowsky,\u00a0 who called the special “downtown summit,” echoed her intro speech of last January as she again pledged to “revitalize Old Town.”<\/p>\n
Then, as they did throughout 2025, City Council members frustrated the mayor\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
In a nod to the 2025-dominating “Parkingate,” though not quite “Parkingate 2: The Sequel,” Councilman Adam Kwasman challenged Borowsky over a potential procurement violation. Rather than speaking to a county detective,\u00a0 as he did last year, Kwasman interrupted one of Borowsky’s invited speakers, Chris Milke of the company SoniPark, calling for a Council-city attorney huddle.<\/p>\n
After a brief executive meeting, Borowsky said she was ceasing Milke\u2019s “Downtown Parking Solutions” presentation “out of an abundance of caution.” But, later in the meeting, she vented her frustration.<\/p>\n
Though a majority of the crowd that packed City Hall seemed to share Borowsky’s vision for a task force to study Old Town, City Council stiff-armed the mayor \u2013 as they did repeatedly in 2025. Remember Borowsky’s failed volunteer fire department? Or her vain, repeated attempts to move a planned parking garage?<\/p>\n
Just like 2025, several public speakers passionately pleaded not to move forward on the First and Brown garage \u2013 and to let the farmers market remain there.<\/p>\n
Another failure, for Borowsky.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After 5-2 opposition to the mayor\u2019s Old Town task force, a 4-3 majority rejected her pitch to \u201cagendize an item for a future City<\/p>\n
Council meeting related to future action on downtown parking solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBig surprise,\u201d one in the crowd grumbled, after Kwasman, Barry Graham, Jan Dubauskas and Kathy Littlefield voted against the future agenda item.<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Solange Whitehead, who dubbed the above four \u201cthe bloc,\u201d voted with the mayor and Councilwoman Maryann McAllen on the agenda item. But Whitehead joined the majority in the winning vote against \u201cforming a Downtown Task Force to provide recommendations on improving the Downtown Character Area Plan and the Downtown marketing effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitehead noted: \u201cI support the need for a parking study, I have all along.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitehead said the voter-approved General Plan \u201creferenced pretty much all the things you guys mentioned tonight \u2026 again and again we reference the need to protect Old Town.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stressed a previous City Council action limited heights of buildings in Old Town.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way the task force is described now undoes the General Plan,\u201d Whitehead said. \u201cWhat I am looking for is more time to describe the task force.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis task force is too broad,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Dubauskas followed Whitehead, saying, \u201cWe realize Old Town is a gem.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said City Manager Greg Caton has focused money on paving projects and “beautification of Old Town.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dubauskas pointed to a new hire: \u201cWe are going to have someone whose full-time job is to talk to all the businesses in Old Town.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield then said she agreed with those points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not believe another task force creation is necessary right now. I think that would be counteractive to helping Old Town. \u2026 we\u2019re doing so much now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother task force is just another level of bureaucracy and slows things down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Borowsky said Littlefield\u2019s criticism \u201csurprises me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an overwhelming sentiment we\u2019re not hearing residents and we\u2019re not taking action,\u201d the mayor said \u2013 supported by applause from the audience, though not by City Council votes.<\/p>\n
Public scolding<\/strong><\/p>\n The crowd was energetic and vocal to the point of being rowdy, booing and groaning at the votes against Borowsky\u2019s dual ideas.<\/p>\n Several spoke harshly to City Council during the public comments sections.<\/p>\n Yvonne Cahill, a real estate professional who briefly worked in Borowsky\u2019s office last year,\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m very disappointed the council shut down the most productive presentation we had tonight \u2026 he was just giving a solution and you guys shut him down \u2013 shame on you,\u201d she scolded, to applause.<\/p>\n She said when she worked for Borowsky she was told the city does not have a list of downtown merchants. \u201cI have personally experienced staff members telling me Greg Caton is telling staff members he\u2019s not allowing them to work with the mayor or her staff,” Cahill alleged.<\/p>\n (The Progress asked Caton to respond to the accusation. “That statement is not true,” he said, via a spokeswoman.)<\/p>\n Cahill also criticized the Milke presentation shutdown, following advice from Acting City Attorney Luis Santaella.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m disappointed in the city attorney,\u201d Cahill said. \u201cI just think he listens to \u2018the bloc\u2019 and just does whatever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n Crystal Carroll, the owner of an Old Town cafe since the summer of 2024, followed Cahill.<\/p>\n She questioned the need for spending some $20 million on a new garage, with an explosive suggestion: \u201cObviously there\u2019s some incentives going on behind the scenes.<\/p>\n Before spending money, she demanded, \u201cwe need to know if those (current Old Town) parking garages are being utilized; and the only way to know if they’re being utilized is to do what Chris (Milke) was talking about \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Taking off her glasses for emphasis, she pointed at Kwasman.<\/p>\n \u201cDisappointed in you,\u201d the business owner called out. \u201cDisappointed you would stop Chris from speaking. We need education. This was about nothing other than educating us on our parking situation. And shame on you and shame on anyone up there that doesn\u2019t want to educate the public.<\/p>\n Dan Ishac criticized the parking garage process as \u201cdecisions on spending enormous amounts of money without data to support it.<\/p>\n To proceed without data is mismanagement and inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n French Thompson, an Old Town business owner, pushed back on the critical public comments that preceded him.<\/p>\n He said he has been attending meetings on Old Town parking for years, never seeing most who packed City Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere the hell have you guys been?\u201d he wondered.<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys are applauding on stupid things you know nothing about because you\u2019ve been brainwashed to believe it,\u201d Thompson said, as many hissed and booed him.<\/p>\n \u00a0Mayor reloads<\/strong><\/p>\n The day after the Jan. 7 meeting, the Progress asked Mayor Lisa Borowsky how she felt it went.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m disappointed by my colleagues ongoing focus on creating division and chaos,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur constituents deserve better. We had a packed house last night of dedicated stakeholders who are passionate about not only keeping Old Town strong but enhancing the visitor experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is too bad that, once again, (the public\u2019s) voices were disregarded and shot down by the council majority. We would have kicked off 2026 on a positive note,\u201d Borowsky said.<\/p>\n After her pitch for an advisory committee was rejected, the mayor said she has a new plan:<\/p>\n \u201cI will be appointing an ad hoc Downtown Task Force.\u201d<\/p>\n And, Borowsky added, \u201cthree qualified individuals expressed their intent to run for council after witnessing the nonsense from the dias \u2014 civic engagement is alive and well in Scottsdale.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was so 2025. 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