Council Member Betty Drake began her first term on the Scottsdale City Council in June 2004.
She has served in a wide variety of official positions at the local, state and federal levels, and has extensive experience in Valley land use, transportation planning, downtown planning, public art and public space design.
In Scottsdale, she served from 1996 to 2002 on the Scottsdale Planning Commission, from 1993 to 1996 on the Development Review Board, in 1993 on the Historic Preservation Task Force, and in 1992 on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan Task Force. She also served two terms on the Phoenix Planning Commission, as a member of the Phoenix Indian School Task Force and on several other Phoenix committees and task forces.
At the state level, she served six years on the Arizona State Parks Board, and seven years on the Arizona State Committee on Trails, including terms as chairman for both bodies. She was a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Recreation on Federal Lands, Chairman of the Arizona State Land Department Urban Lands Advisory Committee, and on several other advisory committees on transportation and outdoor recreation.
At the federal level, she was a member of the U.S. Forest Service Blue Ribbon Task Force on Forest Planning, National Park Service Grand Canyon Greenway Collaborative and the U.S. Department of Transportation Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee, as well as the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Bicycling Facilities.
Council Member Drake has lived in Scottsdale since 1987 and has been an Arizona resident since 1947. She has been active in many community groups and is currently a member of the Arizona Town Hall Board of Directors, the Board of Trustees for Childsplay, professional theater for young audiences and the Papago Salado Association Board of Directors. She is a former President of the Casas Dia Festivo Homeowners Association.
She is President of Drake & Associates, which she founded in 1979 to provide consulting services in city planning, public art, bicycle and pedestrian planning and urban design.
She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
Last Updated: June 2008