Does Terry Parish Have Any Credibility?

I'm sure many of our readers remember Council Member Terry Parish, as the unofficial spokesperson for Vestar's Marketplace, stating: "It's A Home Run." Well, this development hasn't opened yet, but if the other two "giveaway" developments are any indication of what we can expect, Parish's "Home Run" will be turn out being a "Strike Out."

An October 24 Explorer article titled "Promises, Promises" points out that Oro Valley expected a "windfall" of sales tax revenue from all their giveaways, and to date, have come up so short of the projections that you have to wonder who can be so incompetent.


Surprise. Surprise. Not.

Council Member Paula Abbott said the town should revisit the issue annually so that citizens know much of the town's sales tax dollars go toward filling the coffers of developers. It's all about being accountable to taxpayers.

But Parish has a really hard time accepting facts. Perhaps as the unofficial spokesman for Vestar's Marketplace--the next development that will bring us that "upscale, unique" shopping experience known as Wal-Mart--he just can't accept things for what they are.

Parish said that Economic Development Agreements have been necessary at certain times because of the economic challenges builders face when they want to break ground in the town. The planned Oro Valley Marketplace retail center at Oracle and Tangerine roads is a prime example of this, Parish explained

Interesting that the Oro Valley Town Manager David Andrews had this to say, as quoted as saying: "The incentives the town gave were not to entice Vestar to build there, but rather to give the developer reason to build there sooner."

Gosh. The story changes all the time.

Andrews doesn't believe the developer would have looked to build the mall elsewhere had the tax breaks not been approved. "I don't think I've ever had the experience of developers playing us off against other jurisdictions," Andrews said.

As the article states: "The discouraging results of the EDAs would seem to beg the question: Didn't the town verify developers' sales estimates before agreeing to share nearly half of the sales taxes each shopping center produces?"

The town's former economic development director, Jeff Weir, worked with the developers to come up with the estimates, Andrews said, but no independent verifications were sought.

By the way, this is the same Jeff Weir who got fired from his Economic Development Administrator job in Kingman, after leaving Oro Valley.

"They certainly were optimistic," Hizzoner Loomis said of the estimates. He's simply a genius. Hey Loomis, its your job to due diligence to make sure that great decisions are made for Oro Valley.

Too bad Loomis continues to oversee our government. He's not up for reelection until 2010. All we can hope for is to get new faces on the council come 2008. We can only hope this bunch, with the exception of Paula & KC Carter, won't do too much more damage until then.

Click here to read Patrick McNamara's full Explorer article.