Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Oro Valley Resident Raises "Crime Issue" On Defeated Naranja Park

In his letter in the Dec. 24 issue of The Explorer, Oro Valley resident David Berry raises the point that crime might have been an issue for some of the "no" votes in the recent Naranja Bond defeat.

As Mr. Berry notes, The OV Marketplace has already had its fair share on crime in the short time it has "graced us."

We think Mr. Berry's views are "right on."
*****************************************************************************************************************

OV is a crown jewel without that mega park

This letter is in response to Mr. McEldowney’s comments in the Dec. 17th issue of the Explorer.

As a vehement opposer (sic) of the park bond issue, I too polled my friends and neighbors on their opinions about the failure of the bond issue and found that their concerns went far beyond the property tax aspect.

The feedback I got had as much to do with the “crown jewel” aspect of this wasteful endeavor as the funding element. Crown jewel for who? The druggies? Vandals? Or the many other undesirables that will descend upon our community? Regardless of where the funds come from for this project, I have not heard one word from the town council or the Oro Valley Police Department as to how security for this park would be carried out, or how much it would cost the town annually and how many additional police officers would be required to secure such a massive undertaking.

Just read the police blotter section of your Explorer, sir, and you will see how rapidly the police activity is on the rise at the last boondoggle we approved called the Oro Valley Marketplace. The statistics that were stated over and over again with regard to the crime rate in the Foothills Mall should have been a warning of the crime and traffic congestion that you will import by bringing a mall of that size to Oro Valley. Same warning goes for a park project of that scale. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Oro Valley is and will remain a “crown jewel” in southern Arizona as it stands, without the need to ask the people of this fine city to bear the cost of providing a “pie in the sky” recreational Mecca that anybody from any place on earth can come and enjoy or destroy at our expense. We have plenty of parks, community swimming pools and other recreational activities in addition to just plain sheer beauty to enjoy in this wonderful town of ours without the “mega park.”

You and all the other people in this town that are for the park are certainly not “nobody,” and you are entitled to your opinion on this issue. By a 2-1 margin the rest of us respectfully disagree.

David Berry

Oro Valley

1 comment:

mscoyote said...

When will some get it?? To me the crown jewel is not something man made, like a hotel, a shopping center, etc
Our crown jewel in Oro Valley was our beautiful view of the Catalina Mountains and what is left of our natural desert environment and having all this within a town, not a "city"
About the Oro Valley Marketplace, well I will try to be fair, geez I tired but honestly when I ride down Oracle and see the entrance , it really is freaking ugly Looks like little kids designed it , really tacky!!1
About the crime, people need to open their eyes in OV, more and more we are experiencing the crime that plagues the surrounding area of Tucson. Ok, not on a large scale, but realistically we are only a few minutes ride from a city with a big crime problem
Also note that from what I can tell very little of what crime goes on is actually printed in the paper
You can read the real crime stat's in the town council reports, well at least you could in the past
So the Oro Valley Marketplace is one big ugly pimple on the face of OV
Merry Christmas