Raoul Zubia Wants to Be the People’s Voice on the Scottsdale City Council

With a majority of the Scottsdale City Council committed to a reactionary agenda to ignore the wishes of the people and turn back the clock, lifelong resident Raoul Zubia wants to be the people’s voice, seeking the one open seat in the upcoming Council elections. 

Two incumbents are running for re-election. 

A long-time activist, if elected, Zubia will work to “keep Scottsdale safe, livable, and economically strong, while preserving the character and values that make our city special,” while “building a future Scottsdale will be proud of.”

Mr. Zubia graciously sat down with the Blog for Arizona to discuss his candidacy for the Scottsdale City Council. 

The questions and his responses are below. 

Please tell the readers at least two reasons why they should vote for you for one of the three seats on the Scottsdale City Council this election cycle.

“I am a lifelong resident. Been here all my life. I’m 65, and I’ve been here all my life. For those that live in Scottsdale, I went to Coronado High School, which kind of gives you an idea of where I grew up, which is South Scottsdale. Retired banker, and then for the last 20 years, I dedicated my life to giving back to the community through different boards and commissions.”

“Everything that I’ve worked towards has been to help citizens either directly or adjacent to Scottsdale. As I said, retired banker, professional, looking for that adult in the room trying to get rid of the chaos. Because right now we’re having a tough time on the Council listening to the residents.”

“My path does show professional accountable leadership. So I bring that to the table. And then I want to focus on safety, livability, balance, and manageable growth in Scottsdale because we’re an enviable city. People want to move here. So we have to figure out a way to allow them to get here, move here, live here, and then work and play while they’re here, too.”

Please advise on at least three major issues that you would like to advocate for if elected to the Scottsdale City Council.

“So, the first thing that comes to mind for me is public safety. Right now, the fire department is going through the beginning of a retirement; we call it the retirement tsunami because it’s a huge wave of men and women who are going to be retiring. And we aren’t bringing the new recruits, the new staff, up as quickly. And it’s not anybody’s fault. It’s just more. And I think for every three that are retiring, only one is coming in. So we have to make sure that we fully support and staff that. Of course, our police and fire just started their emergency ambulance service. We need to make sure that it runs smoothly and that it helps residents whenever it’s needed.”

“As I said before, what an enviable city that we are, Scottsdale attracts a lot of people through tourism. You have your spring training, you have your Waste Management open and Phoenix Open. And then you have Barrett-Jackson. Those are probably the three biggest ones that happen right at the beginning of the year. So people come here, they go, ‘Wow, this is great.’ Maybe visit a couple of times and go, ‘Okay, I want to move here.’ Well, we’ve got to figure out how they can get here, but still create a way for us to keep the character that Scottsdale is. It’s still considered the westernmost town, but we’re getting a lot of people who are coming from various places throughout the country. We’re trying to keep that charm, trying to get people here who want to stay here, want to live here, and want to get involved with the city in different ways, raising their family, working here, and maybe even getting involved in community services.”

“And then of course, the McDowell Sonoran Preserve is a huge tract that we started in 95, bought a bunch of land that now encompasses more than, there’s more square miles or acreage than the city of San Francisco. It’s bigger than San Francisco. So we just started to make sure that we use tax funds to preserve it, keep it maintained, and make sure it’s responsible for fighting fires and that kind of thing. So we’re supporting long-term environmental infrastructure planning.”

“Finally, it’s getting rid of the chaos that’s on the council.  The council is chaotic right now, and I’m the one who can bring the stability back. I can be the adult in the room. It’s just that right now they have a 4-3 majority on the council. So, they get to do whatever they want. They don’t have to listen to the residents. They don’t have to be concerned about how it’s going to affect the city. And we’re seeing things like that. We’re seeing things like the sustainability plan was kicked out on day one, almost hour one, of the first council meeting. We’re seeing other things that happened. We had a grant for a roundabout in North Scottsdale. Well, the majority pulled it back, and we lost 31 million. Then we had to scramble to find money so that we could build just a regular streetlight, a stoplight, and an intersection. So those are the kinds of things that are happening on council right now.”

“And nobody’s listening to the citizens. And that’s where I would come in.”

Please describe your campaign strategy to reach voters and drive up voter turnout for your race, including your outreach to Independent and McCain Republican voters.

“So the big one, or the number one thing that I’m doing, is face-to-face, door knocking, walking the streets, making, talking to everybody, not only Democrats but Republicans and independents, because in a nonpartisan race like this, you have to appeal to everybody, because it affects everybody to see the issues that I bring up. The ordinances that I want to pass are going to have to affect everybody. So I want to make sure I talk to everybody, get their point of view, and then listen to what they have to say. So that when I get on council, I’m doing what they asked. I’m actually listening to the residents and putting them first.”

“And then I also do what are called meet-and-greets or house parties, where you get 15, 20, 25 people in one location. I can stand in the front of the room and talk to them. It’s a great way to be able to bring people that I might not otherwise be able to touch into the room so that I can meet and greet and talk to them about the issues.”

“Independent voters are another thing that I’m going after. Thirty-five percent of voters in Scottsdale are independent. So it’s a huge chunk that you must appeal to. So I’m literally looking at sheets, voting sheets, and roll calls and going and finding Independents so that I can reach out to them, knock on their door, call them, and get their perspective and let them know why I’m different than the other ones. And then, of course, when it comes to digital, doing social media, getting newsletters out, and all kinds of things that normally you’d have to go and mail to people, now we can use the internet to get these things out. And we can do them on an hourly basis, definitely on a daily basis, and quite often. So more often than you would see if you just do mailers out there.”

“Finally, one of the things that I’m looking at too is, it goes back to what I said in the beginning. Principal governance, back to basics, making sure that people know that they’re being listened to, and then keeping Scottsdale because we are such a unique city that we have to make sure we keep it that way for those that come after us.”

Is there anything not covered in the first three questions that you would like the readers to know about you or your candidacy for the Scottsdale City Council? 

“As I said, I’m a lifelong resident; I have been here all my life, 65 years, and I have a 20-year record of service. And in fact, because of that service, I was inducted in 2024 into the Scottsdale History Hall of Fame. And then in 2021, I was given the Hodges Award, which is a Scottsdale Leadership award that recognizes community service.”

“For those reasons, I want to get back to the city that I grew up in, that I love, and that I think has a lot of potential. So as I said before, I just want to keep safe neighborhoods, a strong quality of life, and responsible growth that respects our city’s history.”

Please click here to find out more about Raoul Zubia and his candidacy for the Scottsdale City Council.