Scottsdale mural honoring Sen. John McCain halted after council vote

PHOENIX — A giant mural in Scottsdale that was set to honor the late U.S. Sen. John McCain has reached a bump in the road.

The Scottsdale City Council on Tuesday voted to formally review a development review board decision from Dec. 20 that approved the creation of the “Maverick Mural.”

Scottsdale city spokeswoman Kelly Corsette told KTAR News 92.3 FM that the formal review will likely occur at a February city council meeting.

The board had approved the mural to cover a 30-foot-high, 120-foot-long wall on a building near Goldwater Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Old Town.

Artist Aaron Bass, who created the mural, told KTAR News that the review was initiated after the property owner adjacent to the building brought the issue to Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield.

The owner “is doing anything in his power to undermine the mural,” Bass said. The neighbor also claimed Bass never got permission from him to create the mural.

“The neighbor is trying to turn the mural into some property rights issue and he convinced another member of that,” Bass said.

“This is a way to shut the project down under the rules of the board,” Bass said.

Littlefield said in an email to KTAR News that her concern with the mural is not about McCain, but a “process and procedure issue, as well as an explanation of what the (development review board) actually approved.”

The councilwoman explained that the mural did not follow the downtown color palette and the work already done was “very unprofessional and sloppy.”

Bass raised $20,000 through a Kickstarter campaign last year to build the mural, and he said he has spent most of the money on equipment that is already fitted to the building.

If the city council does not approve the application, he said he would end up eating more of the costs but would figure out a way to do it.

But for now, Bass said he is still “very open” to working with the neighbor.

“It’s a project about civil discourse and discussion. We want the neighbor to accept our olive branch and work with us,” he said.

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