Sedona News – The League of Women Voters of Northern Arizona will host a forum featuring Samaire Armstrong and Scott Jablow, the two runoff candidates for Sedona Mayor in the November 8th general election. The mayoral forum is co-sponsored by the Sedona Chamber of Commerce. The forum will be held Wednesday, October 12, 2022, from 6:30-8:00 pm at the Sedona Performing Arts Center.
The forum is free and open to the voting public. Questions will not be provided to the candidates in advance of the forum. The forum will be videotaped, posted to YouTube, and publicized when available.
The last day to register to vote is October 11th for the November 8th general election. Mail-in ballots will be sent beforehand and early voting begins October 12. For voting information, see www.lwvnaz.org under the Voting and Registration tab.
YOUR VOICE – YOUR VOTE – Many local elections are won by a small number of votes.
The League of Women Voters Northern Arizona is a nonpartisan political organization open to all individuals. We encourage informed and active participation in government and work to influence public policy through education and advocacy. LWVNAZ is an organization fully committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in principle and in practice.
6 Comments
I hope that Ms Armstrong emphasizes the following points in her debate:
Sedona needs to have a balanced economy, not just day tripper tourists.
Sedona should reclaim its roots, the beauty is still here. Once upon a time it was an upscale tourist resort, with families and a quirky positive New Age appeal. It will take time, but it can be restored.
The past administrations, including Mr Jablow, contributed to the present Sedona tourist trap, traffic clogged image.
Government is usually the problem , not the solution. Let freedom and free residents do what they do best.
I wish her the best. We desperately need change.
I agree. We very much need a leader who can look at the big picture with a fresh mind. Sandy is a decent person and was a decent mayor in many regards. But of all the issues we face, the most concerning to me was her quickness to restrict everyone’s constitutional and natural freedoms in 2020, despite many of us presenting strong arguments as to the ineffectiveness and the health, social and financial costs of all the mandates and narratives around COVID. Finally, even the too little-too late CDC is acknowledging their ineffectiveness (if not their cost) —something that many top scientists and doctors warned us of from the beginning, risking both widespread censure and censorship to do so.
Samaire has done her homework. She is clearly alert to the global power plays behind the most massive assaults on humanity’s health, economies, cultures and freedoms we have ever seen, information easily found many places EXCEPT the mainstream media which they so thoroughly and provably control. But too many still cannot see past party loyalties and conditioned beliefs to look at the very real threats to humanity today, take a deep breath, and explore what we can all do to preserve the things we all treasure: health, connection, peace, freedom, harmony and natural abundance. She may be outnumbered on the council, she may be new to politics and bureaucracy, but to me, she is so clearly our best hope for local leadership in critical times. Beyond that, our best hope is the awakening of each of us, with the clear courage to step out of the herd, if necessary, risking whatever it take to follow the call of conscience, intelligence and right action. This is what it takes, and has always taken, to see through tyranny and uphold the noble virtues and responsibilities of freedom. For more information, search for a free download of Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s “A Letter to Liberals: Censorship and COVID: An Attack on Science and American Ideals (Children’s Health Defense).”
Sedona has over emphasized tourism since I moved here in 1985 without hardly any regard for locals? We need a more balanced economy not just based on tourism. Yes tourism is very important to Sedona and I know the businesses probably love the roads clogged with cars. But this is something that really gives the tourists good impression of Sedona and our care for it? Do we keep building roads indefinitely as traffic increases? Sedona has been on the map at least since the 80s and probably before is it really necessary to continue to fund the chamber of commerce to the tune of $2.5 million a year on average? These are important questions we need to ask our leaders I have repeatedly asked Mr.Jablow for an answer to the high chamber funding and he has repeatedly ignored or made an excuse for not answering my question? Whereas we know where Samaire stands on this question…Will we be good stewards of the land(ATVs making donuts out in the desert etc..)or continue to trash the place ie finding diapers in the creek etc…
This only gives the forest service more reason to continue to restrict camping opportunities!I know there are no easy answers but we must make an attempt to find some! Or 50 years from now our grandchildren will be asking us why didn’t you stop the destruction and where was your respect for one of the most beautiful places on this fragile planet😔🙏❤️
Balanced economy? What do you want factories in Sedona? Like Im dying to hear this answer! You dont Remember George 43 after 911? Americans go shopping. We dont make anything anymore, should we build a big mall?
Do we keep building roads? Can I ask what roads do we keep building?
The chamber is getting money from bed tax. Its for advertising as its the state law. Would you feel better that same money goes to a big ad firm out of Phoenix, Chicago, NY? You do know this is a law to be spent?
I really get a laugh that everyone thinks that the mayor is King or Queen! You should understand how small governments work. When you play monopoly, do you not follow the rules? This is simple stuff, either person who gets elected has very little power! VERY LITTLE!
I would love answers from you on any of my questions, and would love both mayoral candidates tell us what they know about and how our council works! I know for damn sure one of them knows as they have been on council for years. The other just loves to talk, and will get a rud awakening if they think they can make any major changes!
People like you are the reason Sedona is about to stagnate into a ghost town. Businesses are the backbone of Sedona. Obviously, you could not give a hoot about their survival. A day or two of traffic jams is nothing for a town whose survival is based on tourism. We need our businesses. We need our Chamber. We need tourists. A good mayor can influence the other council members with leadership and amenable ideas. You really should move out of this town, Relocate to Cottonwood.
@ Bryan Turner
” A day or two of traffic jams”??? What about every weekend gridlock and being trapped in your home?
What about quality of life?
What about trash and diapers dropped on the trails and the creek. What about a tourist taking a dump in your front yard as some resident off Posse Grounds recently told me. Karmically he also owned an Air B&B. You think business are the only reason to exist? What about nature, those that are retired, people spiritually minded. YOU just want to chase a buck!! Guess what genius, life is about more than money. Ever see an armored car in a funeral procession?
Do you think there might be another reason that city staff only works 4 days a week and has every holiday Monday off? Those same weekends and holidays Sedona is gridlocked!!
Sedona used to be an upscale resort with the hightest housing prices in Arizona. Now people with your attitude have made it a tourist trap.
Time to care about more than making a buck. Honestly, while highly unlikely, a beautiful ghost town would be an improvement over the traffic jammed tourist trap Sedona has become.
Time for a change.