Developers Aren’t the Problem. The People Who Demonize Them Are.
Yes, the title is deliberately provocative. Good. Because too many of you need the wake-up call.
The deepest divide in Prescott right now isn’t political, it’s about that dirty word “growth.” One side gets labeled “greedy developers who will pave paradise,” the other side gets labeled “no-growth radicals who want to turn Prescott into California.”
Here’s the part that should make every Trump voter in Prescott squirm: many of the loudest voices screaming “stop the developers!” are the same people who wore MAGA hats and waved Trump flags. The irony is thick enough to choke on. President Trump, the most iconic developer in recent history, won your vote on the promise to Make America Great Again. To bring back manufacturing and high paying jobs, to lower taxes and make the American Dream of owning a home and having a family real again, today and for future generations. Yes, the majority of Prescott voted to Make America Great Again… but only somewhere else. Not in your backyard. Not if it means a new neighborhood or office park might be visible from your deck.
Let’s Talk About Who These “Evil Developers” Actually Are.
Most of the major developers in the Prescott area have lived here for decades. They raised their kids in our schools, coached Little League, and went to church here. They’re some of our largest employers who also sit on the boards of local nonprofits and write the checks that keep them alive.
Do you enjoy the Jim and Linda Lee Performing Arts Center and Planetarium at Embry-Riddle? How about the James Family Heart Center at YRMC or the James Family YMCA and Discovery Gardens? Ever heard of Fain Park and the Fain Family Foundation grants that fund half the good things in this town? These families and many others didn’t just build houses. They built the community you claim to want to “protect.”
And what do they actually deliver when they develop land responsibly?
Paved roads instead of dust clouds
Integrated, metered water supply not dependent on personal financial investment in a well to maintain
Sewer infrastructure (rather than septic systems) that allows reuse of pumped groundwater
Master drainage plans so your house doesn’t flood in the next monsoon, and reasonable “recharge” of stormwater to local lakes and aquifers
Preserved open space, parks, wildlife corridors, and trail systems most cities can only dream of
No one is asking for unchecked sprawl. But the cartoon villain version of “the developer” you’ve been sold is a lie. Meanwhile, the “no-growth” vision that our newly elected mayor and council members campaigned on, and you voted for, has already been tried in other places. Here’s what it actually produces:
San Francisco, California: Once the innovation capital of the world, now has the highest office vacancy rate of any major U.S. city (over 36% downtown as of 2025), a shrinking population, and entire neighborhoods of empty storefronts. Why? Decades of bowing to anti-growth activists who blocked housing and manufacturing at every turn. Result: median home price still hovering near $1.4 million, tech workers fleeing, and the city literally paying people to move away, with “ghost town” vibes in parts of downtown.
Boulder, Colorado: In the 1970s, Boulder proudly capped home and business growth to surround itself with a greenbelt to stay “small and charming.” Today it has the highest housing costs relative to income in Colorado, an aging population, and local employers who can’t hire teachers, firefighters, or nurses because they can’t afford to live within 50 miles of town. The university routinely loses top faculty because even tenured professors get outbid by tech remote workers from California.
The Entire State of California: Between 2020 and 2024, California lost a net of over 700,000 residents to domestic out-migration—the largest sustained exodus of any state in U.S. history. The #1 reason people cite when they leave? Housing costs and regulations driven by 50 years of making it impossible to build or run a company there. Texas, Florida, and Arizona gained those people and their businesses, income, property and sales taxes, and energy.
By supporting No-Growth policies, that’s the future you’re creating for Prescott. A town where only the already-rich and the wealthy retired can afford the taxes and insurance to live here. It will no longer be “Everybody's Hometown” because your kids and grandkids will move to Phoenix or Texas because they can’t buy a home here. Where the waiters, teachers, cops, and nurses all commute from Paulden or Chino or PV because even a condo is out of reach financially.
Growth Isn’t the Enemy—No Growth is Suicide by Slow Suffocation.
The developers you’ve been told to hate, demonize, and in some cases, dehumanize, aren’t outsiders parachuting in to ruin your town. They’re your neighbors and business owners who’ve already proven they care about this place more than most. So, here’s a crazy idea: how about residents and city leaders stop treating them like the enemy. Because if they leave, the city will have to negotiate with outside contractors who have no skin in the game and could care less about keeping Prescott, Preskitt.
We need to stop pretending the only two options are “unlimited sprawl” or “fortress Prescott with a locked gate.” Both options have already been tested and the results are either overcrowding or a city chocked full of “For Sale” signs, empty offices, and “Going Out of Business” banners. We are already seeing the later in every part of Prescott
We Can do Better!
Prescott can grow without losing its soul, but only if we work with the very people who have the capital, expertise, and (yes) love for this town to make it happen responsibly.
The choice is ours. Let’s not become the next cautionary tale.
First, let me say in general I support the Prescott Pulse, but on this issue you can do better. In your attempt to make development in Prescott an either or issue - (Either we develop and prosper or stop development and die) your article is filled with gross exaggerations, unsupported claims and really does nothing to bring both sides together to tackle the issue of how we develop and move forward responsibly here in Prescott.
The citizens of Prescott understand the issues - concern for the cost of water, thought purpose driven infrastructure / development and protecting the more simple traditional value driven lifestyle that the city of Prescott has developed over the years.
Attributing inflammatory language like "Evil Developers" to the citizens of Prescott is sophomoric at best and quite frankly intellectually lazy at worst when it comes to dealing with the issues. The majority of people that care about development of Prescott 100% do not use language like that and it is only the fringe extremist (on both sides) who use inflammatory language and fear that results in nothing but further division.
The reality is that the developers that you characterize as just "citizens for decades" who are altruistic in nature are also people with a lot of money who want what they want and are used to having it their way. Nothing wrong with wanting it your way, but guess what, your "citizens for decades" each have one vote that has no more power than the rest of each citizen here in Prescott - and it is obvious there is a difference of opinions regarding how we collectively move forward and use those votes.
Blaming MAGA voters and labeling people from the state they came from does nothing but flame the fans of division.
This little experimental idea of a Republic consisting of representatives that our Founding Fathers came up with a few years back actually works pretty good when our representatives (ie Mayor, city council) actually listen to the people and provide solutions we can ALL agree on.
I do share your concerns that we have somehow found ourselves in a position of a stacked one way leaning city council and mayor that are not truly representative of the majority of conservative people here in Prescott, but although one can attribute this to a result of apathy and laziness on the citizens part (failing to get out and vote)I think it is primarily a result of people checking out as they are sick and tired of the fear mongering and name calling our political arena has become.
We need to get away from all the name calling and division and the Prescott Pulse can either join the fringe extremist or set themselves apart by offering ideas and solutions that center around bringing people together.
The article above is written in a way that reminds me of nothing but an old angry man shaking his fist and shouting at the television. It may make him feel better, but offers no real solution of substance.
Yes, offering solutions to opposing sides that have passionately different points of views is tough work and requires multiple tries and stretches the limits of patience, but there is one thing I know of Prescottanians, they are not quitters.
Now that you have your angst out of the way, how about writing articles that bring people together and find ways to value, to the best of your ability, everyone's ideas and apply worth to them instead of the tired old way of the blame game that resolves nothing.
Prescott Pulse does good work. This article is not that.
The problem is the city council and YES, it is the developers. Again why do we need 3 hotels on Whiskey Row. What about the propery on Gurley where the old Allen Flower shop is and Prescott could make a hotel row and with that more returants and shops and the old downtown can stay old downtown. Someone needs to ask the council why the are not collecting the fees from the developers I have heard from city employees that the council has waived all the fees therefore Prescotts streets have not been improved (yes, I do know the work on 69) but the rest of the to roads suck especially downtown and 89, about schools we have had no new schools built or the existing ones not going through any upgrades. All the items you noted that developers do please supply the info what all current developers are paying. Next how is it legal that the exiting council members can change their mind and the residents are not involved. Next why are all the businesses so silent on this as whiskey row when construction starts the street will be closed the sidewalk will be closed for long durations which will impact their bottom line, tourism will suffer as why take the time and money to come see whiskey row when they cannot see it or enjoy it. Also all the events will have to be rerouted or cancelled and when that happens very rarely do they return. So with closures, businesses closing, events cancelled tourism will stop and now we will have a useless hotel and Prescott will no longer be able to call themselves Arizona's Christmas Town and or town Motto of Everyone's Hometown will have to be changed to Prescott a suburb of Phoenix. Instead of the hotel for revenue how about working on getting doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professionals with insentives such as finders fee, waived taxes and start up fees, promote the small town living, promote all the activites we have. Prescott does not need to look like Prescott Valley, Prescott needs to stay Prescott.