Why he matters
Jim Lane’s twelve years as mayor line up almost exactly with Scottsdale’s recovery decade. He took office in 2009, when metro Phoenix was one of the centers of the national housing collapse and cranes stood still across the city, and he left in 2021 after a rebound that had broadened the economy into tech, finance and healthcare alongside the resorts.
The era’s defining local arguments ran through his tenure too: how tall Old Town should grow, and how firmly the Preserve should be protected. Voters settled the second one themselves in 2018.
Where to find his era today
The Preserve. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve kept growing through the bust on earlier tax votes, and Prop 420 now protects it.
The recovery landmarks. The Soleri Bridge on the canal and the Museum of the West downtown both date from his years.
The recovery decade, day by day
The best way into his years is the day pages: December 11, 2010, when the Soleri Bridge was dedicated with the 91-year-old Paolo Soleri present; January 15, 2015, the Museum of the West; September 3, 2016, OdySea Aquarium; and November 6, 2018, Prop 420. The last one, March 12, 2020, is the day spring training stopped.
The full story
Jim Lane succeeded Mary Manross and took office in 2009, a year when the city’s construction- and finance-heavy economy had frozen and home values were falling hard. The rebound, when it came, was broader than the boom it replaced.
His three terms covered the whole arc of the 2010s: the arts investments downtown, the Airpark’s growth into a tech and corporate employment center, and the repeated fights over high-rise projects in Old Town. In 2018 a citizen initiative born from opposition to a proposed Desert Discovery Center at the Gateway Trailhead became Prop 420, which passed with about 71% and amended the charter to require a public vote for any non-preservation use of Preserve land.
The pandemic arrived in his final year, stopping spring training mid-season and emptying the resorts for a time. He left office in 2021, and David Ortega succeeded him. The wider era is in the new West chapter.