A political newcomer, Henry Silbiger is running for Sedona mayor.

Candidate Profile

• Sedona mayoral candidate Henry Silbiger
• Time in Sedona: Two years
• Professional/personal background: Born in Poland, emigrated to New York City in 1960, became a U.S. citizen in 1966. Began career with the IRS, later worked for YKK zipper manufacturer, founded a handmade, rigid specialty packaging company serving brands like Avon, Estée Lauder, Ralph Lauren, Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.

Questions

What is your vision for the Western Gateway / Sedona Cultural Park?

The Cultural Park should be a sanctuary that both residents and visitors can enjoy, featuring sweeping lawn areas shaded by native trees that thrive in our high-desert climate. Imagine a serene space where families gather for picnics, surrounded by the unobstructed, breathtaking views that make Sedona unique.
My vision includes dedicated spaces for a vibrant Farmers Market and an open-air gallery where local artists can demonstrate their crafts and exhibit their work.

Do you support or oppose the restoration of the Georgia Frontiere Performing Arts Pavilion?

An amphitheater would also be a spectacular addition to the site — provided resident concerns remain our top priority. To fully protect the peace and quiet of surrounding neighborhoods, the amphitheater will utilize natural earth beaming and acoustic landscaping to trap sound and direct it away from nearby homes. Furthermore, evening events should strictly utilize dark-sky compliant, downward-facing lighting to eliminate light pollution.
These are just some of my initial thoughts and active resident involvement will be critical to shaping this project. The city unfortunately filed a lawsuit to block Proposition 403, the Sedona Cultural Park Preservation Act, from going to the voters, attempting to prevent you from deciding between this community vision and high-density housing. Fortunately, that initiative will be on your ballot. I encourage you to review it, understand the choice before us and make your voice count

Do you support crossings over Oak Creek outside city limits? What other alternative routes do you support and how would you pursue them?

When it comes to the Uptown traffic congestion, we cannot afford another two years of stall tactics. My first week in office, I will personally audit our communication with Yavapai County regarding the crossing to find out exactly where the breakdown occurred. If the county is resisting, I will counter that resistance with persistence. But I won’t rely on city bureaucracy alone; I will immediately engage our own local talent — appointing a resident civil engineer to independently review the city’s proposed traffic plans. Once we have the unvarnished facts and an expert resident review, we will move forward without delay.

How will updates to the city of Sedona’s Land Development Code address affordability, residential and commercial development while still balancing what makes Sedona unique?

The LDC update offers a major opportunity to address affordability, but only if Sedona stops treating affordability and preservation as opposites. The real challenge is to write a code that allows more attainable housing and small-business flexibility while demanding design that respects the land, the views, the scale and the soul of the city.
We can make Sedona more livable without making it less Sedona. The Land Development Code should open the door to workforce housing, smaller homes, mixed-use development and local business opportunity while still protecting our red rocks, dark skies, neighborhood character and sense of place. While workforce housing is important and is in short supply, the problem does not have to be solved entirely within Sedona’s city limits. Workers need housing within a reasonable commuting distance from their workplace.

What plans do you have to alleviate traffic congestion?

We cannot fix Sedona’s traffic issues with a piecemeal approach. True relief requires a unified strategy that connects regional infrastructure, transit optimization and smart growth.
First, we address the immediate bottleneck. I will bring relentless persistence to our talks with Yavapai County regarding Oak Creek crossing, backed by an independent review from our own local civil engineering talent to ensure our plans are flawless.
Second, we take cars off the road by optimizing our public transit and micro-transit systems — making them so efficient and well-routed that utilizing them becomes a no-brainer for visitors heading to our trailheads.
Finally, we protect our future through smart growth. We will enforce zoning strictly so that no new development is permitted to outpace our infrastructure or add to our congestion. By fixing the crossing, optimizing transit and capping growth to what our roads can handle, we keep Sedona moving without losing the character of the place we call home.

Essay

Preserving sedona’s soul: As public servant, not politician.
I am running for mayor of Sedona because I believe this community deserves a true public servant, not a career politician. Throughout my life, I have been a practical problem-solver, a successful salesman and a bold businessman. My leadership style is anchored entirely in open communication, absolute transparency and thorough evaluation.
To put it simply: I will totally and completely understand a project, its data and its long-term consequences before I act.
Since making Sedona my home, I have paid very close attention to our local politics. Over the last few years, I have watched a steady, troubling political shift — a deliberate effort to transform Sedona into an industrialized, urbanized vision that simply does not match the character of our community. Residents and business owners are finally waking up to this shift and they are rightfully unhappy. The aggressive urbanization of this magical place is fracturing our small-town charm. We are at a critical turning point and we must pivot immediately to bring Sedona back to its cultural and artistic roots.
To fix this, we must understand how our local government is structured. Sedona operates under a council-manager form of government, where the city manager acts as a CEO tasked with carrying out the strategic vision of the City Council. Because of this exact systemic layout, it is critical that the mayor and City Council remain fully engaged, deeply informed and directly accountable to the residents. We cannot simply hand over the keys to the city and look the other way. The council sets the direction; the manager executes it. If leadership takes a back seat, the community loses its voice.
As your mayor, I will insist on strict fiscal responsibility. For too long, city government has operated with a “spend because we have it” mentality. Spending millions of dollars on massive projects without clear direction and then spending millions more on outside consultants to justify them, is completely upside down. That is not sound management and it absolutely must change. We need to thoroughly review projects and discover the true motivation for spending public funds before the money is gone, not after it has already been spent.
Under my watch, the unchecked urbanization of this beautiful community will be stopped. I will carefully review the city’s housing plans and critically analyze the data being used to justify high-density apartment developments and aggressive zoning changes. Growth should never outpace the infrastructure or environmental integrity of our home.
Furthermore, I will ensure a culture of respect where residents are never again sued by their own City Council just to silence their voices. True public service means listening to dissent, encouraging public discourse and working collaboratively to find common-sense solutions. Together, we can preserve the natural splendor and unique character of Sedona for generations to come.
I respectfully ask for you vote: Henry Silbiger for mayor.

Sedona City Council Election

Lita Loesch Boyd, Jean-Christophe Buillet, incumbent Councilwoman Melissa Dunn, Rich Gay and Tony Hauserman are running for three open seats on the Sedona City Council.

Vice Mayor Brian Fultz and Henry Silbiger are running for Sedona mayor.

Election day is Tuesday, July 21.