You are receiving this email from our new URL: www.letorovalleyexcel.com. No more “.blogspot” needed. We are in the process of expanding our reach. We are on the move!
You sent a note to us yesterday asking: “What will it [the blog] achieve?”
We believe the blog is going to accomplish three things:
We know that all of this sounds a bit “distant”. But, we can not win the battle for a better town by fighting one issue at a time. We need to bring together any of us who have any issue. The common thread: Our disgust with the decisions made at Town Hall.In addition, it is our opportunity to get ahead of issues as they arise by “watchdogging” the Council; keeping their feet to the fire.
We have no ax to grind.We simply want more responsible, citizen-centric decisions made by the Council.We believe that that will only happen when we change the members of the council. One by one, if needed. One by one...
6 comments:
I found the posting titled "An email to one of our readers" very interesting.
Allow me to quote from that posting.....
" so many bad decisions", "All those of us who have been "wronged", "we cannot win the battle", "Our disgust with the decisions made at Town Hall".
The last paragraph of the same posting begins with "We have no ax to grind."
Does anyone else see a possible contradiction here?
No! Not really! What I see is a group or groups of people who refuse to just keep silent and go with the flow!
People looking out for people!
People who want the best for our town, not the best for the growth lobby!
Ov has made too many bad decisions, too little listening to the residents .
Think about this, they promised us the Ritz, yes they did, instead we get a Super Wal-Mart, we share tax revenue with a devloper .Why would any normal person give money away when they did not have to! This is just plain stupid. Sorry but the members who voted for the deal were stupid. These are not guys I would take shopping with me. They were too stupid to make a good deal. What were they thinking? They obviously were not thinking.
Oro Valley is going downhill while Marana goes uphill. Shame on us.
Good Evening MsCoyote. We could argue all night over whether the tax incentive was a good deal or a bad deal. I happen to think $67 million in forecasted tax revenue is a good deal. That's $67 million you and I don't have to fork up.
Secondly, just to set the record straight, the Town of Oro Valley never "promised" a Ritz-Carlton to anyone. The ONLY reason the Ritz is not building here, and chose the Dove Mountain area, is because of the availability of a golf course. Stone Canyon was not willing to provide the accessability to it's course that the Ritz felt they needed. The Town of Oro Valley did everything within its limited power to consumate the Ritz deal.
Hi Ov objective thinker. Please I am not arguing.
About the tax incentive, the money would have flowed in without the tax incentive. It was not needed. I am sure you know that corner is one of the most desirable peices of real estate for a business. Why would our town need to offer this developer anything at all!!! It may be ok for an improvised area to offer some type of incentive, but I stand by my opinion that it was a bad deal.
About the Ritz Carlton, you seem to have more info then the rest of us, interesting about Stone Canyon, but I seriously doubt that the inacessability of their golf course was the only reason that the Ritz went to Dove Mountain.
So regardless of the differing views on the eda, can you really say you are pleased with the stores offered so far by Vestar for the Marketplace?
I have always preferred a closed shopping mall on the site to attract some retailers such as we see at the Tucson Mall. That would have meant at least two and maybe three stories however, so there is a trade off. I have no objection to the others announced since it is the types of stores that a majority of those polled requested. Those who still think that we should have held out for a Nordstrom's or like stores simply do not understand the marketing strategy of those retailers. We don't have the population or income level close enough to attract that level. And I am confident that you know that the Town has no authority to dictate which retailers can occupy a space as long as the appropriate zoning is in place.
You are correct that the land is a great location. It's drawback is that it is a tough and costly build. There are some 60,000 truckloads of dirt that have to be brought onto that site. There is a well on the site that must be accomodated. When Vestar first approached the Town it was Vestar that initiated the incentive discussion, not Oro Valley. The Oro Valley council parred the initial offer donw to it's currect level. I personally think we could have gotten a couple more million out of Vestar but I guarantee you without an incentive, there would be no development and no income to the Town. And we do need the additional revenue....if we continue to demand the level of services we currently enjoy.
The immediate reason for the Ritz not building was the 9/11 disaster. They (Ritz) was ready to start work when that incident took place. By the time the dust settled the opportunity at Dove Mountain prtesented itself and they decided to build there. I can assure you Oro Valley did everything within it's powers to get them to build here.
OV Objective Thinker
Hi Ov objective thinker. You raise some good points.
About the shopping center having to be 2 0r 3 stories to attract a nicer type of store, I doubt most would object to that, its my understanding that its a height limit in regard to town code not a strict 1, 2 story etc.
Not sure about what we should have held out for but the surveys they mentioned in the paper,not many people voted a wal-mart as their top choice. If I recall they only surveyed a small pool of people, like 200!!!
I think the town should have tried to get other developers interested in that property!
Most people I talked to wanted a variety of stores and stores we did not have here already.
Personally I would have liked to have a restaurant row with price ranges for all. Can you imagine the beautiful views while dining, not only for us but for visitors. Instead Wal-Mart gets the best views. Really pathetic I think.
Also nice would have been some decent department stores, maybe some higher end outlet center stores. You get my drift, not the same old, same old!
You say the Ritz was ready to start and then 9/11 happened.
So then what was the policy of the Stone Canyon golf course/club then at that time, were they going to accomodate the Ritz then. My gut tells me that the Ritz saw things that were going on in the surrounding area of the planned resort and decided to back out! Just my feeling.
Regardless of how you feel, I feel, bottom line is we are getting a big box super store inside another strip mall!
Very different then what the developer promoted and what the residents wanted!!!
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