Scottsdale | Scottsdale Sucks

Arizona's wealthiest community: Arrowhead Lakes, Glendale

As the owner of both a sales & marketing organization and an insurance agency, I have access to a lot of demographic data. Guess what - Arizona's wealthiest zip code isn't in Scottsdale, or even Paradise Valley - it's in the Arrowhead Lakes area of Glendale!

Of course, every jealous Scottsdale resident will say "everything west of I-17 is ghetto," but we know they only say that because they're envious that they can't afford the huge houses in Arrowhead Lakes. Just like they bash California, only because they can't afford to live there, and are stuck in Scottsdale for life, pretending to be rich.

Incidentally, the 2nd wealthiest is the Lakeshore Drive area of Tempe. Still not Scottsdale.

An excellent point about Scottsdale

On another message board I found the usual debate about Scottsdale, with its arrogant residents claiming that it's great, and people with brains pointing out that it sucks. Bob from Phoenix made this comment that really says it all:

All anyone can say about Scottsdale is shopping and restaurants. If you go to a mall or restaurants anywhere in America you will find it the same so why is it such a big deal that this place has them? Jobs that pay enough to be able to live here are not plentiful. The people in general are unfriendly and arrogant. Housing is basically unaffordable unless you are wealthy. People pay a lot of money for these homes not knowing that they are poorly made. Flakeboard (wood pieces glued together) and questionable 2x4's make up a majority of these structures. A lot of High School kids do and sell many drugs. It is very hot 5 months out of the year....3 are unbearable.

So true. I've been to few cities that don't offer great restaurants and shopping, and most offer more. In the past year or two I've been to Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and several others, and all offer FAR better shopping (because Scottsdale people dress like crap), and in most cases, equal or better restaurants. I'd also agree that homes in Scottsdale are built very poorly and cheaply. Housing is expensive now, but it's important to remember that 95% of residents bought a few years ago when it was still dirt-cheap (and now have taken out 2nd and 3rd mortgages to buy Escalades and BMWs), and that the few people buying now are doing the risky interest-only mortgages and going into foreclosure when the principal payments come due.

In addition, Scottsdale is the #1 market in the country for the drug ecstasy, Scottsdale high schools are #1 in the country for heroin usage, and on top of all that, Arizona schools in general are terrible. Who on earth would raise a family here? I sure as hell am not.

Unusual experience at Drinkwater's City Hall

We love all three of Mastro's restaurants, and hit up Mastro's, Ocean Club, and Drinkwater's City Hall on a fairly regular basis. However, of the three, we strongly prefer Drinkwater's. Why? Well, due to its location, the crowd consists mainly of wealthy Arcadia and P.V. residents, along with affluent guests of the Phoenician. The result is that it's very classy, quiet, and at least half the men are in suits and ties.

This is a dramatic contrast to the crowds at Mastro's and Ocean Club, which consist mainly of the assbag, phony, north Scottsdale, "look at me" Tommy Bahama shirt crowd, who are obnoxious, loud, and can't spend an evening without bragging to everyone around them about how "rich" they are, even though it's all made up. For that reason we stick with Drinkwater's even though we live closer to the other two restaurants. However, last night we went there and had our first mediocre experience, and I think it's due to the fact that the FBR Open is in town. The restaurant was a lot more crowded than usual, and the golf shirts that are the hallmark of the other locations replaced the usual suits & ties. The servers were trying to rush us out, apparently in order to get as many people through as possible.

This was disappointing in a restaurant where dinner for two costs hundreds of dollars. Sure, they want to get as many FBR Open tourists seated as possible, but this is a high-end joint, not Outback. I think the lesson here is to stay home when the Open is in town. Not only do the tourists overcrowd everything, but the worst of the worst of Scottsdale's "finest" come out for the open and make life miserable for everyone else with their low-class behavior.

To be fair though, the food was amazing as always, and I think the steaks this time were the best I've ever had there! The seafood tower was awesome too although I can't understand why such a pricey restaurant doesn't do a better job of cracking the stone crab claws. I was at Joe's in Chicago a few weeks ago and the shells are shattered and falling off the claws when you get them. Oh well, this is Scottsdale, after all. People don't expect much and overall service and quality suffers as a result.

Earth to Scottsdale: Stop trying to be LA!

Today on AZ Central I read a story about how Scottsdale residents finally got what they wanted with the new Mondrian hotel: A chance to feel like they live in L.A.

Well, in case you haven't noticed, Scottsdale residents have been pretending to live in L.A. for years. Which, to me, is a joke. Scottsdale offers nothing anywhere near what L.A. has to offer, especially when it comes to nightlife, and in fact the real L.A. is nothing like the wannabe L.A. that Scottsdale is trying to create. (And, for the record, I've been to the Mondrian in L.A. and it was a total disappointment. It is absolutely not the "celebrity hotspot" that the AZ Central article makes it out to be. In fact, I didn't even see any "beautiful people" there at all, let alone celebrities, and the service sucked.)

I've spent many weekends on the famed Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, and it's nothing like what Scottsdale is trying to become. People there are laid-back, friendly, and approachable in the bars and clubs. I personally know several people who moved from L.A. to Scottsdale and moved right back to L.A. after experiencing it. Instead of the hip, laid-back, friendly people of L.A., they discovered that Scottsdale is full of dorky guys wearing the Scottsdale uniform (oversized untucked striped shirt with jeans and black shoes) or entire wardrobes from Tommy Bahama, and an endless parade of women who are career strippers and cocktail waitresses, unlike L.A. where the women you meet out have careers and can actually hold a conversation. Believe it or not, despite what you see on television, women in L.A. do not open conversations with, "What do you do?" like they do in mickey-mouse Scottsdale. It's a real world-class city where people are secure with themselves.

I've found that most Scottsdale residents actually believe that Southern California is the land of fake plastic snobs, when in reality it's not - that's a rumor created by the envious, jealous residents of Scottsdale who can't stand the fact that they cannot afford to live in California, where the real action is, and as a result their insecurity forces them to denigrate it. If you doubt this, go spend a weekend on the Sunset Strip and see your yourself. You won't want to come back to this phony snob town, full of the most insecure people in the world.

Bob Brenly's Scottsdale home burglarized

As part of Scottsdale's ever-increasing crime wave, which began when the city decided that the police should collect revenues via traffic enforcement instead of doing their real jobs - fighting crime - former Arizona Diamondback manager Bob Brenley's home off Cactus and 101 was burglarized.

Please note that my criticism of the Scottsdale police is not against the men and women who wear the uniform, and who went into that career with the good intentions of protecting the public. It's against the crooked mayor and city council who don't care one bit about the safety of their citizens, and would rather order the police department to make money instead of preventing crime.

Good news for Scottsdale motorists

As many of you may know, the Agents of the Gestapo for The People's Republic of Scottsdale (also known as the Scottsdale police department), have been known to ticket people for having photo radar license plate covers, even though the Arizona law regarding plate covers is vague.

This week, the Senate Transportation Committee ruled beyond any shadow of a doubt that the covers are 100% legal, and police may not ticket motorists for using license plate covers or other photo radar blocking devices.

So, the next time a Scottsdale police officer ignores the law and writes you a ticket for having a photo radar plate cover, make sure you go to court with a copy of the new law in hand, and then file a complaint against that police officer for dereliction of duty in knowingly ignoring the law.

During proceedings, pro-American Sen. Robert Blendu of Litchfield park states, "The real issue revolving around this is that cities are not getting the revenues off the photo radar," while pro-American Sen. Pam Gorman of Anthem called the use of photo radar unconstitutional. Chalk up another victory against the anti-American, freedom-hating, People's Republic of Scottsdale, and their close ally, Paradise Valley! Here's a link to the full story:

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/related/166004.php

Mary Manross the Hypocrite

Remember last year, when Scottsdale fought tooth & nail to keep the Loop 101 photo radar under city control, instead of handing it over to the state?

At that time, they projected big profits from the cameras.

Now that the cameras have lost big money and have proven to be an expense, rather than a profit center, Scottsdale is frantically trying to dump them on the state. And, if that's not enough, Mayor Manross had the audacity to state publicly, "We're not doing this to make money."

Well, of course not - that's because you've shown that you CANNOT make money with your precious cameras! Now that your entire plan has failed, and your cameras have proven to be a major loss to Scottsdale taxpayers, you're trying to save face with the BLATANT LIE that you did not implement the cameras to make money.

Does anyone really believe you, Ms. Mayor?

Scottsdale desperately tries to dump Loop 101 cameras

If you remember correctly, the People's Republic of Scottsdale refused to allow state control of their precious Loop 101 photo radar cameras when they created the program. Now that the test study is complete, and Scottsdale has lost huge amounts of money on the cameras - they only brought in 1/3 the projected revenue - they are BEGGING the State of Arizona to take over!

Scottsdale's lying, thieving corrupt officials created the Loop 101 speed camera program under the guise of "safety," and repeatedly insisted that they did not care about money.

Now that money is an issue, they're frantically trying to dump the cameras on the state, despite the fact that the preliminary report shows that the cameras actually did improve safety on 101.

So much for their "money over safety" argument. Apparently, they only care about safety when it's profitable.

Welcome to Scottsdale Sucks!

Welcome to this new blog, dedicated to exposing the truth about Scottsdale and the rude snobs who live there! (It's also known as Snottsdale, Snobsdale, Fakesdale, The West's Most Worthless Town, and a host of other names.)

I decided to do this because I've lived in the Phoenix area for almost seven years, including several in Scottsdale. My time both in and around Scottsdale has revealed to me what anyone else who has been in Arizona this long knows: The majority of Scottsdale's "rich" are actually fake. They make a good showing by living on three mortgages, twenty maxed out credit cards, and a five-year BMW lease.

Why do I care? Because I worked hard and devoted years of blood, sweat, and tears to rise from near-bankruptcy to becoming a New York Times #1 Bestselling Author. And - guess what - Scottsdale people still treat me rudely and disrespectfully because I'm a down-to-earth guy who chooses not to wear golf clothes and a Rolex. I've had enough. It's time to call out these phonies out for who they really are.

I know a lot of very rich people now that I've become a bestselling author, and let me tell you, they don't live in Scottsdale, nor would they ever, nor do they look or act like Scottsdale people.

Scottsdale is the Land of the Fake - the rejects who would love to live an uppity lifestyle in Newport Beach, Manhattan, Los Angeles, or Miami, but will never be able to afford to. So, they move to Scottsdale and pretend to live in Newport Beach.

Let the truth be known.