One of the Supervisors is quoted: "While I recognize that your community has affluence, that doesn't give you intellectual superiority," Elias said.
Are the proponents of an independent Oro Valley library actually saying that Oro Valley has an intellectually superior reader group?
There must be more to this movement than that if it has any chance of succeeding.
The issue, as Art has noted in a recent blog comment, is that Oro Valley residents are being double taxed for our library; and that if we can't change this then we need to be part of the Pima County System.
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4 comments:
The comments by Supervisor Elias that the reason residents of Oro Valley don't want to be taxed twice is due to their "intelellectual superiority" causes me to shake my head. Apart from other issues, this is another example Elias' disconnect from reality.
However, I believe the whole issue can be solved by turning over the OV Library to Pima County.
Better to turn Oro Valley over to Pinal county.
Supervisor Elias' comments are severely misguided. How he or Chuck Huckleberry can support the status quo when Oro Valley taxpayers are being double-taxed and essentially subsidizing the libraries in other parts of the metro is inconceivable.
Oro Valley parted ways with Tucson in the 1970s, deciding that OV residents could do it better. The library issue is another example where OV can indeed do it better.
Elitism is not at issue. The issue at hand is a town's ability to provide services to its residents and not be compelled to relinquish such services to a greater "regional" authority.
If we as OV residents decide to fully fund our library, we should be entitled to establish our own library district. This is a decision OV residents must make.
We must decide how important local control over our library is, and whether we are willing to find dollars in the town budget or alternative funding sources to supply the requisite financial support to our library. Otherwise, the library should enter full membership in the county-run system.
In the meantime, I suggest that Supervisor Elias understand the intricacies of a complex issue before broadly labeling an entire community of 45,000 "elitist" and feeling "intellectually superior." This is dangerous political ground on which he treads.
Supervisor Ellis to Oro Valley:
"nuts to you"
NW
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