Election day is Tuesday, Aug. 30. The mayor’s and the two-year council seat will likely be decided then. With four candidates running for three four-year seats, under our current state laws, the highest statistical probability is that two candidates will be elected with the other two in a runoff for the third seat until Tuesday, Nov. 8. Slightly less statistically probable is that all three seats will be filled with one candidate left out.

All the candidates running for office, incumbents and challengers alike have said they want to tackle Sedona’s traffic problems, but are ambiguous about the details.
Part of this perennial ambivalence is what prompted us to draft and publish our two-page map spread “A Comprehensive List of Potential Improvements to Fix Sedona Traffic” in our Nov. 6 edition.

The maps and details are downloadable for free here.

At a forum, one candidate said the map was a good read but the solutions would be too costly, which wasn’t really the point, nor would it be entirely the city’s burden to bear. New roads cost about $1 million per mile, more so in rough terrain. The map’s opening paragraph read, “Any projects would require a mixture of city and outside government funding sources as well as the support of local elected leaders.”

County and state funds dwarf the city’s budget and exist precisely to help municipalities pay for projects like new roads they could never afford on their own. “… The support of local elected leaders” statement demands our council to actually do something productive rather than lament during election season for votes.

A handful of new, vital connecting routes are not the only solutions. Private or publicly built parking garages, a widespread and efficient shuttle service, more bike trails and walkable shopping and gathering hubs — known as Community Focus Areas in the Sedona Community Plan — can also reduce the need for residents to run errands all over town every day.

Public transit regrettably faces an uphill battle in Sedona. The Sedona Roadrunner was a spectacular failure, in part because the then-Sedona City Council and mayor bought costly trolleys instead of normal buses, inexplicably stored them in Cottonwood, and established a route for tourists from one shopping destination to another while completely ignoring the needs of residents to get to work, grocers, parks, bars, the library, City Hall, etc.

Conversely, the Verde Lynx bus system is quite successful in part because it serves residents, travels along Sedona’s arterial route, makes frequent stops and connects to the successful Cottonwood network.

The Lynx is also primarily run by another city thus — and let’s be honest, people — is harder for out-of-touch Sedona officials to foul up.

That caveat being made, the current council and candidates all seem like bright, responsive individuals who could take the Lynx as a template and slowly build a citywide shuttle system if residents see the benefits and agitate for transit expansion.

The city is currently in the midst of a major traffic study which looks at traffic flow citywide not just bottlenecks and bad pockets. When complete, the study will also offer suggestions for improvements. The firm has a copy of our map and has been discussing problems and proposals with local property owners, business leaders, public officials, city staff and community groups to propose solutions that maintain Sedona’s vision while also working with data.

However the election comes down Aug. 30 — Nov. 8 if there is a runoff — it is up to residents to demand campaign promises result in real solutions, not another two years of talk and clogged roads.