On Thursday, January 25, longtime Tempe, Arizona resident Jack Maverik dressed up like Fred Flintstone to provide public comment at a Tempe City Council meeting. The eye-catching outfit was a nod to Tempe Council Members who, in a secret and illegal meeting held on December 15, 2022, mocked citizens of Tempe who opposed a recent ballot initiative to use tax payer money to build a new arena for the Arizona Coyotes hockey team.
A recording of the secret meeting was released by the City of Tempe on January 10, 2025 in response to a public records request from Tempe resident Mario Martinez. In that recording you can hear a consultant from the firm Strategy 48 that the city hired to monitor social media and IRL vibes regarding the arena project refer to Tempe residents as "cave people—"CAVE," in this context, explained the consultant, means "citizens against virtually everything." As Council Members laughed, Mayor Woods himself joined in, calling Tempe resident Ron Tapscott the "emperor of the cave." Phoenix New Times reports:
In the recording of the Dec. 15 meeting, which Tempe officials held with consulting company Strategy 48, Woods and others vented their frustration with anti-arena activists. Woods harbored a particular disdain for Tapscott, whose Tempe 1st organization played a major role in whipping up opposition to the arena ballot measure.
"Ron is your crazy uncle forwarding a chain letter," Woods said during the meeting. "I mean, at some point, people begin to tune you out because it just becomes … he just won't stop ranting about it. It's like, oh my God, we know you don't like it, just vote no in May and leave us alone."
The people of Tempe did, in fact, vote "no" on the arena referendum in May 2023.
In Jack Maverik's public statements on Thursday's City Council Meeting, he fully embraced the role of "caveman," opening his remarks with, "Hi guys, my name's Jack. I'm from the cave in Tempe." In the rest of his remarks, he made a plea to the city to abandon their plans to bulldoze Danelle Plaza, one of Tempe's last truly artistic spaces, to preserve the greenspace at Shalimar Golf Club instead of developing a new housing project on that land, and to stop its surveillance and policing of unhoused people and advocates who help them out by providing meals.
He also called out City Council members for their hypocrisy, for smiling and nodding in front of residents' faces while mocking them behind closed doors:
"When we come in front of you, it's sincere looks and head nods. And you stand in front of colleges and schools and businesses and you tell them, 'We must disagree better.' And meanwhile, in your back channels, you're calling us disruptors and instigators and cavemen. Just be honest and open. Just come up here and go, 'Yeah, we don't really like you guys; we're just supposed to listen to you for three minutes.'"
His main ask was for the city to simply, in his words, "Leave us alone and do what you said you were gonna do."
In an interview with the Phoenix New Times, Maverik stated that he doesn't have any ill will toward the Mayor and Council, but is bothered by how they spend their time and resources. Maverik told the New Times:
"We're talking about tearing down an art wall and arresting people for feeding the homeless. . . I hope that the chorus of voices that were there last night are telling city council, 'Look, how are these your priorities?'"
Maverik also told the New Times that he doesn't know if his public comments will make any difference, but wanted to expose the performativity of much of what happens in city government. New Times reports:
No matter the city or town, councilmembers tend to sit back, weather the storm and move on. But if three minutes is what Maverik gets to vent his frustrations at the people in charge, he's going to make a meal of it.
If this is just theater, let's make it theater," he said. "If this doesn't do anything, if this is just a dog and pony show, I'm showing up as a dog and a pony."
On Saturday, I reached out to Maverik, who has lived in Tempe since 2002. During his almost quarter century in Tempe, he has been deeply involved in the community, and specificially in the Tempe arts and music scene—he's managed bands such as The Loveblisters and The Reign Kings, has played keyboard/synths in Playboy Manbaby, and has owned Long Wongs and Last Exit.
He told me that he's not a huge fan of being in the spotlight, given all of the other awesome people who also spoke publicly at the Council meeting and who have devoted countless hours to making Tempe a better place to live. Even so, he'll embrace the role and responsibility he's been given:
Dozens of really heartfelt personal stories from a diverse and amazing group of people were given at the city council meeting. I'm a little uncomfortable being the one who gets amplified because I wore a cheap Halloween costume and called the mayor a clown. It feels kinda unfair. But if someone needs to call out these yabba dabba douchebags, I'm glad it could be me.
Read more about the secret meeting here and listen to the clip from the meeting where residents are called "cave people"here.