Herb Drinkwater
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GA H2OBUG
N 33° 29.563 W 111° 55.289
12S E 414399 N 3706291
Herb Drinkwater was loved by all the citizens in Scottsdale. He served as mayor for 24 years. This bronze work was erected in honor of his friendliness and love of animals.
Waymark Code: WM1V5E
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 07/10/2007
Views: 157
The Honorable Herbert R. "Herb" Drinkwater passed away on December 28, 1997 at the age of sixty-one after a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer.
Born in Batavia, New York, Herb Drinkwater moved to Arizona with his family as a young boy, expecting the therapeutic Southwest climate to restore his poor health. He recovered from his illness with vigor, going on to graduate from high school, marry the love of his life, Jackie Atkerson, and begin his career as a janitor and later as an assistant business manager in the Phoenix Union High School District. An astute businessman, Herb Drinkwater served as president of Hercules Construction, a homebuilding company, before establishing Drinkwater's Wine and Cheese shop in Scottsdale.
Embarking on a remarkable, quarter-century career as a public servant, Herb Drinkwater ran for and won his first bid for Scottsdale City Council in 1970 and was reelected to a second term. In 1980, he was elected to the office of Mayor of Scottsdale, a post in which he served an unprecedented four terms. Before retiring in 1996, he achieved an extraordinary 96 per cent approval rating from his constituents. Herb Drinkwater so ingrained himself in the community he loved and in the lives of the citizens he served with integrity and distinction that he became known as "Mr. Scottsdale."
Herb Drinkwater's infectious enthusiasm for and dedication to his community made him a natural and highly effective "ambassador" for the City of Scottsdale. Under his capable direction, Scottsdale more than doubled its population and land mass, growing from a small desert community of fewer than 70,000 residents to a major metropolitan business, cultural and tourist center. He helped persuade countless businesses to locate in Scottsdale, including the world famous Mayo Clinic, and it was during his tenure as mayor that voters approved the McDowell Sonoran Preserve tax, which will help pay for preserving the area's pristine Sonoran Desert mountains. Herb Drinkwater's outstanding service to Arizona earned him the Distinguished Achievement Award from Arizona State University's College of Public Programs in 1986. His accomplishments in bettering his community also achieved national recognition in 1993 when the United States Conference of Mayors named Scottsdale as a "Most Livable City," and he was further recognized when Valley Leadership selected him as its 1996 Man of the Year.
Despite the magnitude of his business and political success, Herb Drinkwater never lost his inherent sense of humor, modesty, exuberance for life and genuine concern for the well-being of those around him. His commitment to his community, state and fellow citizens was evident through his tireless efforts on behalf of such organizations as the McDowell Sonoran Land Trust, the Scottsdale Jaycees, the Scottsdale Charros, the Scottsdale Boys Club, the Scottsdale Foundation for the Handicapped and the Church of the Beatitudes. Herb Drinkwater's selfless dedication and hard work earned him the well deserved respect and admiration of all who had the privilege of knowing him over the years.
Herb Drinkwater will be greatly missed by his family and many friends as well as the citizens of Scottsdale and the State of Arizona.
Not all show favorite son:
The latest Edition of the Scottsdale Activist has caused a firestorm of
activity from a few current and many former city employees as well as
some disgusted citizens.
The activity on the website has doubled and the response has been
overwhelming against the Manross Administration and Jan Dolan in particular
as the apparent "Manross Enforcer".
The overwhelming consensus we’ve received in the last 24 hours seems
to be that under orders from Mayor Mary Manross, City Manager Jan Dolan
has been apparently directed to "cleanse" the city government of
Drinkwater Loyalists who continue to try to practice the open and honest
government as required by Mayor Drinkwater with any means necessary.
According to many, Manross has been furious that certain things have
been made public through the Activist and other mediums and apparently
wants the "leaks" stopped under any and all conditions including the
firing of employees who have been suspected if necessary as expressed in
the letter about Hamilton and the Library.
The letter from former Drinkwater City Manager Roy Peterson and the
anonymous letter exposing the anti-Drinkwater and anti non-computer users
activities by Rita Hamilton apparently broke the camels back for many
and has infuriated readers in the public sector.
We have felt all along that the deep secrecy heavily pursued and
practiced by the Manross administration was because Manross could not gain
the loyalty of the Drinkwater Loyalists because secrecy was not practiced
or allowed by Drinkwater and Manross has not made any attempt to
change direction.
Was Drinkwater perfect? No. Were there things that went on within the
Drinkwater Administration which may not have been able to stand the
light of day? Possibly! That being said, there has never been a public
official in Scottsdale who received 94% of the vote in an election such as
Drinkwater did, nor was as well respected and liked or loved by the
city employees and the citizens as a whole.
Manross has never been able to garner even less than half the respect
or loyalty given Drinkwater due to her apparent failure to understand
the needs of the city and its employees including her desperate need and
drive to have total control.
The hiring of Jan Dolan as her apparent "Hired Gun" has been
devastating to the current employees who are running scared and can not or do not
dare do anything for fear of losing their jobs and their state
retirements as exposed in the letter concerning Rita Hamilton as well as the
unexpected exiting of former HR General Manager Teri Traaen.
The employees combined question is simply "Who do these people think
they are and who gave them the right to run the city in secrecy and like
a Gestapo?" We have a simple answer: Citizen apathy at the polls, and
the ability of Manross and Dolan to misrepresent the complete truth on a
number of situations by bringing the facts out a little at a time as
they have done on SkySong. Another would be the Hualapai Water Plant
debacle in the north and now the "need" for more Bonding to do what they
should have done with the taxpayer monies they squandered on many
nonessential things which were never made public until after the fact in
typical Manross-Dolan fashion.
Has the public had enough of this nonsense yet?
About the artist:
In June of 2002, Morgan was selected from a group of four national finalists to create a larger than life-size bronze sculpture of Scottsdale’s late Mayor Herb Drinkwater. This work was dedicated and installed on May 10, 2003 in the Scottsdale Cultural Park.
Location description: Scottsdale Cultural Park
Statue's Subject: Herb Drinkwater
Artist: Clyde Ross Morgan
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Visit Instructions:
Photo of the statue with person sitting on bench next to the statue, standing next to the statue or other-wise interacting appropriately with the statue(face of person does not need to show, gps does not need to be in photo).
Extra credit for having fun!!!