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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS............................... 6 Voter pamphlet scandal reverberates.
NEIGHBORS ......... 23 Polo championship galloping into town.
Downtown bar transforms itself / P. 36
Sunday, October 20, 2019
City Council Untypical school musical agrees: Museum Square is in BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Progress Managing Editor
W
ell over two years after the developer introduced the project, Museum Square received a unanimous green light from the Scottsdale City Council, setting the stage for the developer to break ground as early as next summer. “This has been a long road,” developer Rob Macdonald told the City Council, noting the project began back in early 2017. Macdonald’s development corporation is one of the entities backing ARC Scottsdale Holdings, which is under agreement to purchase city land, to build Museum Square. The City Council voted 7-0 Oct. 16, to approve zoning amendments and a develop-
see MUSEUM SQUARE page 10
Chaparral High School's theater department is preparing a somewhat daring musical for a school production and student thespians are delighted. Rehearsing for the upcoming show are, from left, Noah Hatton, Lilli Danseglio, Kelly Kazmierczak ,Allie Gibson, Isabella Barone, Vivian Conte, Abby Manhoff and Kyler Glazier. To find out what the talented actors, actresses and crew have in store, see page 32. (Pablo Robles/Progress Staff Photographer)
Scottsdale recycling program a unicorn these days BUSINESS ............... 26 Airpark medical flight firm growing fast.
NEIGHBORS .........................18 BUSINESS .............................26
OPINION ..............................28
ARTS ..................................... 32 FOOD & DRINK...................36 CLASSIFIEDS .......................39
BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Progress Managing Editor
G
lobal pressures and a changing market have forced many cities in the Valley and around the country to cut back or outright cancel their recycling programs, but Scottsdale has thus far found a way to buck that trend. In fact, the city still earns over $100,000 per year through its recycling program. A few years ago, that number would not have raised any eyebrows as recycling
Andrew Bloom REALTOR®, Senior Partner Andrew@BVOLuxury.com VOTED #1 SCOTTSDALE REAL ESTATE TEAM FOR 2018
once was a consistent revenue generator for most municipalities. However, Scottsdale’s ability to continue turning a profit in 2019, makes it something of a unicorn. Most city contracts, including the contract between Scottsdale and its recycling vendor, use the global recycling commodities market to determine how much revenue cities generate from their programs. That market took a major hit in recent years following the enactment of China’s “National Sword” policy in Jan. 2018.
That decision banned the import of most plastics and other recyclables, effectively cutting off the U.S. and other nations from a country that had processed nearly 50 percent of the world’s waste over the past 25 years, according to “Yale Environment 360,” published by Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. As commodity prices dropped in the wake of the China decision, the profitability of recycling dropped with it, forcing
see RECYCLE page 12
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