John Washington out, Bill Crawford in race for mayor

By Curtis Riggs | August 13, 2008

Transportation issues key in battles for council, mayor
SCOTTSDALE – With the Sept. 2 primary just a few weeks away there have been a few changes in the race for mayor.

Candidate John Washington has withdrawn from the race. Activist and business owner Bill Crawford has entered the race as a write-in candidate and will oppose incumbent Mayor Mary Manross and former City Councilman Jim Lane, who gave up his council seat to run for mayor.

The three candidates, along with eight candidates for City Council will be vying for election in the Sept. 2 primary as well as the Nov. 4 general election.

Council incumbents Betty Drake and Ron McCullagh are up for re-election. Lane’s seat is also open.

Lisa Borowsky, Joel Bramoweth, Oren Davis, Tom Giller, Suzanne Klapp and Nan Nesvig are candidates for the three council seats.

Building heights, both downtown and throughout the city, citywide transportation issues and criteria for building density are key issues in the election as is the openness, or lack thereof, by the mayor and council. Several candidates are running on the platform of restoring trust between the council and Scottsdale citizens.

When responding to a Coalition of Pinnacle Peak (COPP) candidate’s questionnaire Lane and Manross squared off on the viability of the City’s pending transportation master plan.

Lane said the most valuable elements of the plan were the deletion of the study of a light-rail project and the addition of study of transportation issues at the Airpark.

“Street and traffic control changes planned to improve ingress and egress to and from the Airpark and the 101 were valuable and addressed some immediate traffic issues,” he said.
Manross pointed out the transportation plan identified approximately $1 billion in transportation projects that will be needed over the next 20 years.

“A significant amount of the funding will come from the current two tenths of 1 percent sales tax dedicated to transportation,” she said. “But we also need other sources for funding and will look for all opportunities to speed up regional, state or federal funding for projects which serve our city.”

The COPP Political Committee endorses Manross for a third term as mayor and recommends Drake be re-elected. COPP also endorsed Nesvig and Giller.