The Explorer was good enough to publish my letter in their Nov 7 issue as I saw fit to refute letters from Mr. Cox & Mr. Cunnington in the Oct 31 issue. In the interest of fairness, I linked to their letters, if anyone is interested.
Art
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Rebates: dumb, dumber
In reference to the letters to the editor in the Oct. 31 EXPLORER, Cox and Cunnington still don’t get it, but that’s not surprising. Being familiar with their letter writing campaigns, it seems both these individuals have a major problem accepting facts.
Cox writes: “I guess we are supposed to feel bad about the additional $485,000 in tax revenue.” Right off the bat, he misleads the reader. Quite conveniently, Cox fails to note that almost half of this “windfall” goes right back into the pocket of Bourn Partners, or at least to whomever they sold the property.
Interesting to note, the contract Mayor Loomis signed says nothing about voiding the contract if the original developer sells.
As for Steam Pump Village, it was projected to generate in excess of $500,000 in revenue by now. That projection was off target by some 90 percent. Sadly, it’s only about $50,000 with almost $25,000 “kicked back” to the developer.
Giving the developers our revenue wasn’t smart then, and it’s looking even dumber now.
Those are the facts whether Cox can accept it or not.
If Oro Valley had any semblance of an economic development program, they would not have found it necessary to “throw money” at the developers who were ready, willing and able to accept these “handouts.”
As for Cunnington, he wrote: “It sounds like neither (reporter Patrick) McNamara nor the town finance staffers have a clue how to run a business,” speaks volumes. Patrick is a fine reporter, not a businessman. Sadly, Oro Valley government had neither a reporter nor anyone with any business sense when these giveaways were signed off.
Cunnington writes, “Marana is full throttle on commercial development.” Perhaps he didn’t notice that Marana seems to bring in upscale, unique shopping to their community, without resorting to these foolhardy giveaways.
We trust our friends at the EXPLORER and realize there are many Oro Valley citizens that appreciate their honest reporting and editorial despite Cox’s and Cunnington’s uniformed comments.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am responsible for putting out a local blog: www.letorovalleyexcel.com.
Art Segal,
Oro Valley
http://www.explorernews.com/article/show/20569
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