Will Council Make The Non-Discrimination Issue A Non-Issue in Next Year's Campaigns?

Save The Date: August 25th.
 
In a little less than a month the members of the City Council return from their summer recess.  They should be rested and ready to take on the issues that were put on pause earlier this month -- including a dialogue about the General Plan process and a discussion about how best to brand South Scottsdale.  Not to mention the usual potpourri of zoning cases.
 
The Council is scheduled to convene at 5PM the last Tuesday in August.  Early that same morning, scores of business leaders will meet at the new offices of the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors to discuss a topic that remains unresolved: The city's adoption of a non-discrimination ordinance.
 
The issue continues to nag at the city's leadership. In fact there's evidence that the majority of the Council is beginning to fall out of step with the business community whose support for passing an ordinance has been steadily growing this summer.  
 
Some say the Council may be starting to run the serious risk of leading from behind. 

In 2007, Mary Manross, during her final year as Mayor, championed the passage of a non-discrimination policy for LGBT city employees - something that remains an important part of her legacy.  The only member of the current Council who voted on that non-discrimination policy eight years ago is Jim Lane.  Councilman Lane opposed the policy.

 Many wonder why city employees are protected, but not everyone else.  What about all of us who live here and don't work for the city?  And what about those who are considering visiting Scottsdale to eat at our restaurants, shop at our stores and stay at our hotels and resorts?
 
What kind of message is being sent about Scottsdale by not having a non-discrimination ordinance?
 
The city's effort to remarket the UNITY Pledge is chugging along.  Earlier this summer flyers were inserted into water bills encouraging customers to sign onto the Pledge supporting LGBT protections.  So far, a couple hundred residents and 50 Scottsdale-based businesses have signed up.  The businesses that have recently taken the UNITY Pledge join about 200 of the other businesses that had already pledged their support to the LGBT Community.
 
The city's campaign that is scheduled to expire shortly after the Council resumes meeting in August is working slowly but surely.  But according to those who support putting protections in place for members of the LGBT Community, it's only a start.  "Pledges" are nice, they say, but the city needs to make a "commitment" by passing a non-discrimination ordinance.   
 
After all ... pledges are only "rhetoric" and ordinances are "real" because they hold people accountable.
 
The incumbents running for re-election to the Council - Suzanne Klapp, Virginia Korte, Jim Lane and Guy Phillips - would like to avoid making the non-discrimination topic a campaign issue next year.  That's the kind of hot-button issue that can destabilize the political environment and turn campaigns topsy-turvy.
 
The City Council would be wise to quickly resolve the current non-discrimination dispute so it's a non-issue in next year's election.

Kidder Leaving A Legacy.

Last week's announcement caught most people by surprise -because Rick Kidder, who has served for nine years as President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, was pretty much taken for granted.  That's often what happens when someone like Kidder is good at their job.

Kidder is moving on.  Technically, he's moving "back" about 2,000 miles.  Kidder is returning to his home state of Massachusetts to take a job similar to the one he's leaving here at the New Bedford Chamber of Commerce, effective July 17th.

Eric Larson, a former Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Chamber, will serve as the interim President and CEO while a committee conducts a search for someone to fill Kidder's position.  But don't be surprised if Larson, who is well liked in the organization and by the business community, is asked to permanently lead the Chamber.

Kidder steered the Chamber through the most stressful time in the organization's almost 70-year history.  He had barely settled into his job of what he calls the Chamber's "chief cheerleader" when the Great Recession hit like a financial Haboob.  It crippled, even wiped out, many businesses.  As a result, the Chamber's membership and revenue both dipped to anemic levels.  

While the Chamber's budget and staff shrank, Kidder remained steadfast in his commitment to see the organization through an especially tense period of economic recovery.

During the same period, politics compounded the Chamber's challenges.

In 2008 the Chamber supported Mayor Mary Manross in her re-election campaign against City Councilman Jim Lane.  Unfortunately for the organization, Lane narrowly nudged out Manross in a run-off election.  Mayor Lane didn't take kindly to the snub by the Chamber, and it took several years, plus a couple of lawsuits, for the relationship to be repaired between the Mayor and the organization.

Of course almost everyone recalls it was the same election that the Chamber ran afoul of campaign finance law with its "non-political" campaign supporting City Council candidates.  The Chamber refused to disclose who paid for its six-figure direct mail and TV campaign, so a criminal complaint was filed against the organization. The suit was eventually dismissed.  But following that ruling, the Lane for Scottsdale Committee filed a civil complaint against the Chamber that was settled out of court.

The campaign donors were never disclosed.

For nearly a decade Rick Kidder has been the face of the Chamber of Commerce.  It's hard to imagine that anyone could have done a better job than Kidder through thick (politics) and thin (economy).  His ability to rally Chamber members when some felt the sky was falling was nothing short of fantastic.

Kidder, who has worked at the Chamber for 15 years, will probably not be remembered as much for what he did, but for how he did it.  Kidder built consensus and created compromises between strong personalities with diverse opinions in both the business and political communities.  Those are some of the same techniques he has been successfully using to help advance the community outreach effort for the non-discrimination issue.

Non-discrimination Update:  Last week, in record high temperatures, 24 canvassers for the LGBT Community took the non-discrimination issue to the streets. The two-dozen volunteers plan to knock on 31,000 doors this summer to discuss the issue with citizens and gather data about it. 

Meanwhile, businesses are planning a community-wide non-discrimination forum for Tuesday, August 25th.

In his resignation letter to the Board of Directors, Kidder wrote that "for the last few years the siren song to return home has been powerful."  In classic Kidder fashion, he continued: "I have loved my 15 years at the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce and am truly humbled by the show of support you have shown me and this great organization, especially during challenging times.

Recently, Kidder was asked what advice he would give young people.  He said: "Look to do something you love, and never forget to give back because your success came with the help of others."

Rick Kidder will be missed. 

Non-discrimination Supporters Gaining Ground Against Odds.

It's like clockwork.
 
At every City Council meeting for more than the past two months, citizens from the LGBT community, faith groups and parents of lesbian or gay children use their three minutes during the public comment period to tell their personal stories. 
 
Often there are two, sometimes three people who speak at the podium in the Kiva. Their stories are different.  But all the speakers share the same mission:  Stressing the importance of the City Council passing  a non-discrimination ordinance.
 
Advocates of an ordinance are not giving up, so the issue isn't going away - which is what the closed-minded conservatives and religious right-wingers who oppose an ordinance had originally hoped.  In fact, support for an ordinance seems to be picking up steam.  That's probably why some city staffers have started doing their best behind the scenes to sabotage it. 
 
It's unclear whether or not the saboteurs are acting on their own or following a directive from their bosses - the latter of which is most likely.
 
On March 31st the majority of the Council rejected the idea of creating a community outreach program to get citizen input on a non-discrimination ordinance.  Instead, five of the seven councilmembers agreed to remarket the UNITY Pledge to the public for 90 days.  Now, more than two months later, next to nothing has been done.  Oh, sure, there have been meetings ... lots of internal meetings.  But in city government, talking about what to do is the bureaucratic political placebo for actually doing something.

Earlier this month the city's Communications and Public Affairs Director, Kelly Corsette, drafted a statement to be signed by all councilmembers that was supposed to encourage citizens to sign the UNITY Pledge.  However, after several efforts to reach consensus amongst councilmembers, Corsette had to throw in the towel because he was unable to develop language acceptable to all seven members.
 
Corsette was forced to go to Plan B.  Sometime this summer water customers will receive a card in their monthly bill from the city and One Community, the LGBT advocacy group, urging them to go to OpenAZ.co to sign the UNITY Pledge.
 
While Corsette was futilely working on getting a Council consensus, the Human Relations Commission voted unanimously to approve the UNITY Pledge communications program. The campaign was developed by Corsette, Diversity Liaison Sharon Cini and Strategic Initiatives Director Brent Stockwell.  Other than the card arriving in people's water bills, the campaign is primarily driven by social media.  The three-member team says they're also relying on some of the city's largest employers to help promote the program.
 
Those in the tourism and hospitality industry find themselves in a particularly precarious position.  After all, they appreciate the importance of the LGBT community and their friends and families' significant contribution to our city's revenue.  From a practical point of view, there is no bigger supporter of the LGBT community than our restaurants and hotels - including the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which receives millions of dollars from the city to market Scottsdale as a destination.
 
The CVB, like others in the tourism and hospitality industry, is being discretely discouraged from advocating a non-discrimination ordinance by the opposition at City Hall.  Several other prominent businesses are receiving the same subtle message.

Undeterred by the effort to derail their advocacy to pass a non-discrimination ordinance, the LGBT community, with support from the Chamber of Commerce and Councilmembers Korte and Milhaven, are working on organizing an event for businesses to advance the discussion about the issue.
 
While the deck may be stacked against a non-discrimination ordinance being passed anytime soon ... its supporters are convinced they can beat the odds.

"The Mess on the Mall."

The more Neale Perl attempts to assure the arts community that things are under control at the Cultural Council --- the worse it gets, along with his ability to manage the obvious mayhem.
 
How bad is it? Several of those in the arts community have started referring to the Cultural Council, whose headquarters is on the Civic Center Mall, as the "Mess on the Mall."
 
Truer words were never spoken.
 
Cory Baker, the Director of the Center for the Performing Arts, was fired Wednesday.  The news release announcing Baker's sudden departure wasn't issued until Friday - and principals of the Cultural Council, including the Board of Trustees, didn't receive it until Friday evening.
 
The official announcement started by saying:  "Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts Assistant Director Ally Haynes-Hamblen has been appointed interim director.  She begins her new responsibilities immediately, taking over from Director Cory Baker, who left the organization on June 3."
 
Baker hadn't just "left." She was given the heave-ho.
 
It was exactly this time last month that Perl was defending his plan for reorganizing the Cultural Council in the face of rumors that people's jobs were in jeopardy.  He told the New Times arts reporter: "We're not looking to eliminate any positions."
 
He didn't, however, say anything about eliminating any people.
 
According to Cultural Council staff members, the only thing lower than ticket sales at the Center for the Performing Arts, down about $500,000 for the year, is the organization's morale - which they say has returned to the low level of the Bill Banchs' era. 
 
Just as bad is the division that insiders say is plaguing the Board of Trustees.  There are apparently two camps on the esteemed advisory board: Those who support Perl, because they think the arts organization should be run like a business - and those who distrust Perl, because they feel the organization should be more focused on art than business.
 
Even some Perl backers are starting to doubt his management abilities after several months of frequent public relations faux pas. And the absolute worst thing that's beginning to emerge for the Cultural Council is that its support on the City Council is eroding.  If that erosion continues at its current rate, the organization runs the risk of putting its relationship with the city in peril.
 
Personalities and institutional dysfunction aside, some of the most influential members of the Scottsdale arts community have long wondered if the structure of the Cultural Council is the real culprit.  Few if any cities in the country have an umbrella organization such as the Cultural Council that's responsible for managing such a diverse array of art entities like the Center for the Performing Arts, Public Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
 
The Cultural Council has had a public-private partnership with the city for almost 30 years.  It started modestly with managing the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.  Today, it has grown into a full-fledged arts bureaucracy.  Its identity is complicated, its image is confusing and its brand is baffling.
 
The Cultural Council has been operating on institutional inertia for years - perhaps it's time to hit the reset button on how the promotion of arts and culture in our community is managed.