Scottsdale looks better from the outside

I was immensely pleased by the fact that The New York Times cited Scottsdale as one of the Top 10 “Places to Go This Summer.” Comparing it to a desert version of South Beach, the Times specifically cited Scottsdale’s nightlife and vibrant resort scene.

I don’t read The New York Times and you probably don’t either, but I’m glad they’re encouraging their readership to come here and spend their money.

This is a confirmation of something I’ve felt about Scottsdale for a long time now — that folks who don’t live in our beautiful city appreciate it more than we do. Such was the case recently when my wife and I went to P.F. Chang’s on Scottsdale and Camelback roads; you know, the one with the giant, barnyard doors leaning against each other out front, pretending to be art.

We sidled up to the bar and had been there only a short time when a lovely family from El Paso, Texas, commandeered several stools next to us. They had walked to the restaurant from where they were staying, in one of those high-density, high-rise condos you hear the anti-growth folks complaining so much about.

They were here because dad/husband was filming a pilot called “Rollers” for a major cable network in, yes, you guessed it, beautiful Scottsdale.

I asked mom what she thought about Scottsdale and she gushed with praise for its restaurants, night life and shopping. The fact that her family could walk to any of several five-star eating establishments was especially gratifying to her and her crew. But it was the people of Scottsdale that impressed her the most. All of her interactions with Scottsdalians had been positive and memorable. The people of Scottsdale, she firmly asserted, were genuinely fine folk.

While she was happy living in El Paso, she made it clear that if she ever had to move, she hoped it would be to a city like Scottsdale. She couldn’t imagine a better place to live and raise a family.

I found this perplexing. Hadn’t she heard about Scottsdale’s problems: abysmal traffic congestion, battles over development, accusations of low morale in city workers, lack of openness in government, the unfinished preserve? And what about the upcoming elections in Scottsdale? Wasn’t she aware of the ineptness of our mayor as implied by our not-so-subtle activist community? Hadn’t she heard about the turpitude and downright incompetence of our recently disgraced city manager? How could anyone, I wondered aloud, find happiness in such a neurotic mish-mash of discord?

My newfound friend from El Paso laughed and confessed that she didn’t know anything about that. As she gathered up her kids and prepared to go, she turned to me one last time and remarked, “You know, anyone that lives in this city and can’t see how beautiful it is, must be nuts.”

As I watched her and her family leave the restaurant, I thought, “How right you are.”

Dave Bachmann is an English teacher and a member of the Scottsdale Human Services Commission.