On Dec 19 the Oro Valley Council, as their agenda notes, had "A Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Sanofi-Aventis' Request For An Economic Development Agreement."
For whatever reason, the "Streaming Audio" of this meeting is not available according to the OV web site, "due to technical difficulties."
That's too bad. As such, I'll try and give an accurate take on what was important. Sanofi-Aventis is a great pharmaceutical company with revenues of almost $39 BILLION DOLLARS in their last fiscal year and has been in Oro Valley for 17 years. They have already broken ground for a new 110,000 sq. ft plant on 11.5 acres in Innovation Park.
As one of the speakers against this "giveaway," I quoted what three council members, who incidentally are running for re-election, had to say during the discussion.
Barry Gillespie noted: " I think it would be a nice gesture to give them a minimum of $360K."
Helen Dankwerth said: "I would be very comfortable assisting with the minuscule amount of $360,000"
Terry Parish agreed, saying: "It would be a snub to TREO and the rest of the state if we didn't give this $360,000."
Note: "TREO" Stands for Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities Inc, that Oro Valley supports to the tune of $50,000 per year. (We're not sure what we get in return.)
Why in the world, these people think we need to make a "nice gesture" or why $360,000 is a "minuscule" amount of money, or why we would be "snubbing" the state of Arizona is more that I can comprehend.
What do you think?
Oh. By the way, hopefully the transcript of the meeting will be available, in that the quotes I attributed to the 3 council members may not be 100% verbatim.
