In our previous post on this issue, a number of comments were made as it concerned Council Member Paula Abbott being the only "no" vote on this General Plan Amendment.
In fact, the Explorer reporter saw fit to use the sub-headline, "Abbott votes against plan, claims developers will have their way in future."
Sure, Paula has her detractors, but we stand by our position, that this Council Member votes her conscience, and doesn't mind if she stands alone on an issue. Having served on the council from 2002-2004, Paula knows only too well what it is like to "stand alone."
One additional point.
Reporter Patrick McNamara notes in the article, "Arroyo Grande myths and realities." He discusses such issues as water, cost & wildlife corridor, but conspicuously absent is the traffic issue. Could it be, that regardless of who develops Arroyo Grande, or whenever it happens, the traffic issue is not a "myth" but a "reality" in the sense there is no good answer?
Read the article here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2008/11/26/news/doc492c90d2af89d213991958.txt
7 comments:
Water...wildlife...traffic...all valid concerns, but there is another concern that I haven't heard anyone address yet...JOBS! Can someone tell me where all of these thousands of people are going to work? Wal-Mart?
Every week another employer shuts down. Some major chains are closing some of their stores, another restaurant goes out of business every week. Pella Windows announced that they're closing. American Home Furnishings announced that they're closing. Everyone can't work at Raytheon and UA.
So what's next? Are they all going to drive 2 hours to Phoenix every day? I thought we were trying to cut down on auto pollution. (Remember, THAT was one of the big arguments for why Oro Valley Marketplace was such a great idea...people wouldn't have to travel so far to shop.) So now we'll just have them travel 2 hours to go to work instead.
So I-10 will have even more traffic, half the people will decide to take the scenic back road instead (Route 79). Then there goes that scenic road which will be turned into a 4-6 lane highway and then more development will pop up all along that route. The domino effect will be ruinous.
Hi "VC" --- One issue you missed is timing.
By the time this area gets developed----if it does, the economy will be much different than it is now. Keep in mind, if not a decade or more away from development, I think we all will acknowledge, it will be at the very least, a good number of years.
As for the OV Marketplace, that's a great deal for those in Oracle, Saddlebrooke, Catalina, etc. at least until more retail comes to our north. It's just those of us in OV that end up giving OUR revenue to Vestar to the tune of $23,2 million.
VC,
The jobs issue is addressed in the GPA policy statements. We have worked hard to provide for a jobs/home balance. The Planning and Zoning Commission saw fit to increase the Commercial Office Park acreage from 47 to 600, which is huge. Ventana is doubling in size, creating hundreds more high-paying jobs in Oro Valley. In order to attract more companies like that, we need to have a place to put them.
One glaring inaccuracy in this article is the following statement:
"One lingering concern about open space, however, stems from a proposed Tucson Electric Power substation that would stand in the middle of the corridor and area labeled 'natural open space.'"
I'm not sure how Patrick McNamara missed the fact that I made a successful amendment that removed the substation as a proposed exception to the natural open space in the wildlife linkage.
The Star article at least gets that part right.
I hope you're having a happy Thanksgiving.
Salette,
Thanks for the info. I should have elaborated in my initial comment that when we moved here 5 years ago, the economy was doing well and STILL it took my husband A YEAR AND A HALF to find a decent job. This despite attending every job fair, signing on with employment agencies, going door to door with his resume, and having about 2-3 interviews per week.
He ended up taking some temporary $10.00 an hour jobs with no benefits just so we would have something. We realize there are more high-tech businesses in OV now than there were 5 years ago, but still don't see how they can employ 16,000+ people.
Funny story. My husband actually took one minimum wage job in a call center. He quit after just one day when they told him he was required to get a pass to go to the bathroom! He thought..."Hmmm, I have a Master's degree, a military background and 30 years of experience and I'm being treated as if I'm still in junior high school." He walked out. He thinks Tucson is still very parochial.
At the job fairs, he was the ONLY ONE who showed up in a suit and tie. Other men were wearing shorts and flip-flops. Women were dressed in "club wear." THIS is considered professional business attire in this town??
Anyway, from what we've witnessed, even when the economy is good, as it very well may be again by the time the AG homes are built, it seems to take much longer to find a job in the Tucson area than it does in other parts of the country. You can quit a job in the Northeast and find a comparable position in 2-3 months. We just wonder if that scenario will ever play out in this area.
VC,
I understand what you're saying. When I moved back here 7 years ago, it took me about 6 weeks to find a contract job in my field, and a total of 6 months to find a permanent job. And that was a 44-mile roundtrip to the east side of Tucson every day.
But the good news is that we're building a critical mass in the biosciences here in Oro Valley. That attracts talent, which attracts more employers...IF we have the space to put those new employers. Oro Valley was quickly running out of land that was zoned for tech park. That's why I think it was really important to increase the amount of commercial office park/campus park industrial envisioned for Arroyo Grande.
Salette,
That sounds much better than the scenario we envisioned. Hopefully as more high-tech businesses locate here, those who show up for interviews wearing shorts and flip-flops will be the ones who are considered to be undesirable and my husband (in his suit and tie) will finally fit in!
One person who interviewed him actually told him to, "Lose that Master's degree off your resume' Mister or you'll never get hired out here."
It's a Tucson thing!
Given the present standing of our economies in this country and elsewhere, I do not believe that any scenario is even mildly predictable as to the future of tech, biotech, or whatever else that could effect our business future here. Understand that due to a decrease in existing business entities accross the board in this country as well as the question of future capitalization, when this country does start to 'come alive' again, a great tug-o-war between municipalities and regions to 'get the goods' most probably will agressively rear it's competitive head. There are MANY desirable places to work and live throughout this country, many of which already have an abundance of infrastructure and amenities in place. What will it come down to here? Will the 'chicken or the egg' concept come into play? Are we being realistic in our outlook for the types of businesses we think we can get? For me it's all a big IF right now and, even though we must progress with optimism, we must also utilize caution in that we do not overestimate ourselves. I have stated my agreement in going forward with the annexation plan in part because I fear the potential REAL alternatives; I feel fairly comfortable that those most intimately involved as OUR representatives do, in fact, have OUR interests at heart.
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