Jewish News | Politics ‘Natural Fit’ For Scottsdale City Council Candidate
Doug Cranmer
POLITICS ‘NATURAL FIT’ FOR SCOTTSDALE CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE
JEWISH NEWS By Ellen O’Brien | Staff Writer Jun 10, 2020
“When you want something done, give it to a busy person,” Tammy Caputi likes to say. And she should know — as a business owner, mother of three and candidate for Scottsdale City Council, she’s certainly been busy the last few months.
Caputi moved to Arizona from her hometown of Boston more than 20 years ago. At that time, she never would have predicted how deeply she’d become involved in the Scottsdale community.
“I was 25 years old, and it was a whim,” Caputi said. “I absolutely loved the beauty of the environment and the weather. I originally thought I would just spend a couple of years and see how it went, but it was just love at first sight. I’m stuck. It’s become my home.”
Caputi has also been a member of Temple Chai since arriving in Arizona.
“I’m definitely big on giving back to the community, and Temple Chai really spoke to me in that regard,” Caputi said. “I’ve met the greatest friends there and everybody seems to be on that same page. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, right, left, whatever, it’s all about being a good citizen, being part of a family, giving back to the community.”
For the past twenty years, Caputi blazed her own trail as the founder and president of Yale Electric West, which provides lighting and electric supplies to commercial construction projects all over Greater Phoenix. And while she didn’t always see herself suited to politics, so far, she said, it’s been a “natural fit.”
“I’m small and diminutive in stature, so I’ve always had to be a very outgoing, friendly, social person. And I grew up in a family of brothers and had a dad who didn’t always give me the floor, so I’m used to having to speak very loudly and forcefully to get my words across,” Caputi said.
Having always felt that it’s better to step up and change things than to just sit back and complain, “I should have known earlier that I would go in this direction,” she said. “But it took me a while to find my path.”
The tipping point, she said, was seeing her kids start school. While her family lives in the Paradise Valley School District and has access to a great education, Caputi also saw the inequities that exist between different school districts throughout Greater Phoenix and the state of Arizona.
“It just really motivated me to jump in and try to make some changes,” Caputi said.
After an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the Arizona legislature in 2016, she decided to switch gears and get involved at the municipal level. She joined the city’s Development Review Board, which “was a perfect alignment for my skill set,” Caputi said. “It seems really nitty gritty, but having served for three years and one year as the vice chair, I think it’s endlessly fascinating … It’s amazing how the decisions get made and how they translate to actual things in the city. It’s just really, really fascinating to watch that process.”
One of her favorite projects to work on at the Development Review Board was an attainable housing project called Cabanas on Hayden that met some pushback from homeowners in the neighborhood. By bringing the developer and the neighbors into the same room, the board was able to make the project “1,000 times better,” according to Caputi.
Affordable housing is one example, she said, of where her values and Temple Chai’s commitment to social justice overlap. One of her priorities is to see more affordable housing built throughout Scottsdale.
“Being able to provide a more attainable home for people crosses over my values in the temple and my values in the community … If you’ve got diversity of options, it’s just my deep belief that that makes for better communities,” Caputi said. “You just have to decide that you want to do it, and then you do it.”
When Caputi arrived in Arizona, it was Rabbi Mari Chernow who drew her to the temple.
“I met Rabbi Mari, fell in love, and I just can’t say enough good things about our community there,” she said. “I feel like Temple Chai is all about family — they’re all about giving back to the community. We do so many social justice projects there, and that’s what really speaks to me.”
Beyond social justice, Caputi finds other ways to stay involved and give back to Temple Chai directly. “I’m very proud of the fact that I supplied the light fixtures for our sanctuary,” she said. “Every time I’m in there for a service I think, ‘I lit this up, this is so cool.’”
In January, her family traveled to Israel with a group from Temple Chai. For Caputi, one of the highlights of the trip was her second daughter’s bat mitzvah.
“I feel like we were the last international travelers in the world before everything shut down,” Caputi said. “It was an amazing experience. I’ve spent my whole life being a Jewish person and then finally being in Israel — that experience was just so incredible. I can’t wait to go back.”
She may get the chance in a few years when her youngest daughter, who just turned 10, is ready for her bat mitzvah.
“We already did it two times, and I feel spoiled now because it was just the most beautiful, meaningful way to do a mitzvah,” Caputi said. “I don’t know how anything else can ever compare now — the bar is too high. If you’re going to spend all that money having a party, why not take a trip of a lifetime that your kids are going to remember forever too?”
Since COVID–19 broke out and stay-at-home procedures went into place, Caputi has stayed busy campaigning, running her business and staying active by running, paddleboarding, biking and hiking.
“I feel like I’ve never been busier in my life, honestly, which is so weird,” she said. “Because I work in construction and I understand that there are economic downturns, I’m very good at pivoting and diversifying. So instead of working with hotels or restaurants or bar projects, at this point I’ve really pivoted toward doing a lot of work with the hospitals, with health care facilities, with infrastructure projects.”
As a two-time marathon runner and lifelong health and fitness aficionado, Caputi stays active — even in Arizona summers.
“I was out running at five o’clock this morning. It was so gorgeous watching the sunrise,” Caputi said. “It fills my heart. It sounds so hokey, but it’s just good for the soul getting out there in the morning and having my thinking time while I’m running, and I’m watching the day start. That’s my spot, that is my place.”
“It was actually one of the reasons I fell in love with Scottsdale in the first place,” she added. “I’m able to be outside almost every day of the year. So that is the one thing I never get enough of, having grown up in an environment in which it was snowing half the year and cold the other half, I’m grateful every day that I live here — it feels like I’m on vacation every single day.” — JN