Why she matters
Solange Whitehead came to the Scottsdale council from the Preserve fight. She argued for Proposition 420 in the 2018 pamphlet and won her seat on the same ballot that passed it. Her 2010s record is short, a year and a few months, but it runs straight through the decade’s last two arguments: the 2019 bonds, which she backed, and Southbridge Two, which she opposed.
Where to find her work today
In the 2018 and 2019 city pamphlets and the council minutes. The Desert Discovery Center and Southbridge Two referendum pages tell those fights.
2018
Signing as a “former Preserve Commissioner,” she argued for Proposition 420: “A YES vote means only voters—not City Council—can authorize development proposals in our Preserve.” Her candidate statement counted the petition at 37,608 signatures. Voters passed the amendment with 71 percent and elected her second of five, behind Kathy Littlefield and ahead of Councilwoman Linda Milhaven.
2019 and 2020
She signed for the 2019 bonds: “Citizens influenced the collection of projects in the bond package which City Council unanimously voted to approve.” On December 4, 2019 she voted against Southbridge Two. When the developer asked for repeal in April 2020, she objected that the package as first written “removed the zoning aspect, but still kept the City obligated in a contract to have to sell the Rose Garden,” and voted no: “I’m not going to be the one to deny a public vote.” Bisnow also quoted her criticizing marketing material that claimed “30% open space when it was really 2%.”
Background
Her 2018 statement describes her as an electrical engineer, a University of Florida graduate and owner of Whitehead Realty, and names an Arizona Wildlife Federation award; her city biography repeats the Preserve Commission service. The commission’s own rosters were not read for this page, so the dates of that service are not given. The Scottsdale Progress reported that she was inspired to run by the Preserve issue. Her later years on the council belong to the 2020s.