In his letter to The Explorer, Bob Peters stands up for Paula Abbott, in reference to the diatribe against her in last week's letter by ex-council member Conny Culver.
Much as been discussed here on Culver's letter.
Hopefully, those that continue to lash out at Paula will realize all the good she has done for our community over the last 7 years.
Also----let's not forget, Paula stood alone in 2004 when she saw fit to vote "NO" on the millions of dollars the council foolishly gave to retail developers.
Here is Bob's letter.
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Abbott's critic has completely missed the mark
Conny Culver's description of council member Paula Abbott in the April 15th Explorer reveals that she has completely missed the mark on Paula's contribution to the Town of Oro Valley.
What Paula does very well is that she represents the people rather than the special interests. In short, she watches over our neighborhoods. If you look out your front or back door and like what you see, it is because people like Paula Abbott have stood up for the intrinsic value of our precious landscape. She stands in the way of people who would bulldoze the last prickly pear in town if they stood to make a buck off of it. Her constituents have thus rewarded her with two consecutive four-year terms in office.
Ms. Culver, on the other hand, was removed from office after just one two-year term. This speaks volumes about why she is now merely an observer and no longer a player.
Ms. Culver states that she was "shocked" at Abbott's remark, "If you squelch my voice, you squelch the citizen's voice." September 11th was shocking. Ms. Abbott's comment was not. Ms. Culver needs to get a grip.
Robert Peters, Oro Valley
5 comments:
Good Letter from Robert Peters.
If we are lucky enough to have Paula Abbott run for council again, she has my support, my vote and will even volunteer to help get her elected.
Robert,
Kudos to you for letting the people know what it is that Paula does so well, ie "listens, hears and acts for her constituents."
Attending the TOV meetings regularly for two years, I've admired her fortitude in the face of the dismissive attitudes of two people on the previous council. I've often wondered where she got her courage to conscientiously voice what she thought was the "right" thing to do.
For those who are dismayed that she may not have answered emails or calls, I wonder if you have ever considered that she and Bill Garner bring to their Council service the voices of those who are still raising their children?
OV considers itself a wonderful place to raise a family. Paula brings this experience with her to the Council. She has been active in Parents' Asso in schools as well. In addition, she is a wife, a mother, with all those homemaking responsibilites. Sounds like a very full schedule to me.
Why are expectations for her performance higher than for anyone else?
Mayor Loomis has no children. KC and Mr. Kunisch are now grandparenting. Ms. Latas and Mr. Gillaspie have adult children.
If children are our future, the Town needs council input that "feels" children's needs and issues. Let's honor her and Bill Garner's special contribution.
Robert Peters and mscoyote: The Town Code protects the prickly pears, not Abbott. Taking classes offered by the Town explain the General Plan and the Town Code.
Maybe Ms. Abbott should attend.
I go to Council meetings or watch on the internet. One must ask why Abbott is disliked by other council members, the town staff and many in the audience. Observe the looks on their faces when she talks or reads statements that she has written for her. Comments in the audience are generally negative.
I give the credit to members who do the work such as Latas and Gillaspie. Garner is also a parent and he is present for meetings and seems ready to find solutions. They have my vote.
I was Mayor in a small town many years ago. Our council would not have tolerated Abbott's history that demonstrates her inability to work with others.
Native Spirit: The expectations for Abbott are that she attend Council meetings, just like the other council members. Where is the higher standard?
Abbott did not stand alone voting no in the 23+Million Dollar Giveaway. Loomis voted no too.
Deacon,
If the Town Code protects prickly pears, then why are they bulldozed with reckless abandon along with barrel cactus, mesquite trees, palo verde trees, creosote bushes, etc.? Are all of those plants/trees protected by the Town Code, too?
Paula stands up to developers, which was one of the points made in the letter. In fact, at the last council meeting, she defended the citizens once again when a developer failed to show up for the meeting for the second time. She pointed out that this was the second time that citizens came out to speak during the Public Hearing about the Miller Ranch development and this was the second time the developer asked for a continuance. She hinted that it was possibly a ploy by the developer in that each time he postpones a hearing, less and less citizens will show up to speak out against him because they get tired of showing up every month only to have the hearing cancelled. I also think developers delay hearings until the summer months knowing that many people leave town for the summer, and again, this means that there will be less "resistance" at the hearing when it finally does take place.
So, yes, it's true, that "What Paula does very well is that she represents the people rather than the special interests."
And no one has argued with that.
VC,
Owners of land have certain rights that cannot be taken away. If you had a lot where you wanted to build a home, state law would not have power to stop you from removing all the plantlife you describe. Look at the horse properties in OV. They are barren.
Most of us live in a home that could not have been built without bulldozing first. This is sad but true.
My beef with Abbott is she grandstands and acts like the council can stop the developers. The council does NOT have the legal authority to stop any landowner from building within the zoning on the land they own. The STATE LAW protects the landowner and gives them the rights to do this.
OV local ordinances are stricter than most other places. OV has pushed the law about as far as possible.
Abbott is deceiving the public that she is 'standing up for them' when she is denying a landowner their legal rights. I don't always like what landowners want do build either.
Blame the council that INITIALLY gave the land the zoning that allowed it. Rancho Vistoso zoning was, except for re-zonings which is another issue, around 20 years ago.
FOR ART:
I would like to see Art dedicate some discussion to WHO and WHEN many of the undesirable policies were written. Then address what the current council can do, if anything, to improve the conditions of those approvals.
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