We appreciate the fact that Council Member Salette Latas took the time to comment, and offered Jerene Watson, our Assistant Town Manager's explanation as to how this stimulus package came to be.
There is certainly no argument that the request came from Gabrielle Gifford's office on Dec. 17, and the "wish list" needed to be addressed in a very short time-frame.
That in itself raises the question: "Why would something of such importance that required a list from our government for a stimulus package with a value of tens of millions of dollars, have only "sixteen waking hours" to respond?"
We believe the more important issue is this: "Is our town government run by "staff" or our seven elected officials?" The answer should be the latter, but in this case, our readers can be assured that the members of council (supposedly other than the mayor) had no input into the priory list, and furthermore, regardless of what "boobie-baby" our mysterious blogger may say, these individuals did not find out the particulars until the information was forwarded on to Ms. Gifford's office.
We reiterate the fact that it was totally presumptuous to rename the Naranja Park as "The Naranja Recreational and Cultural Complex," and request $150M in funds when the voters turned down a $48.6 bond issue. To speculate that the citizens would rather spend $150M of potential government money (it won't happen!) rather than repair our roads and make sure we have enough water, was more than indiscriminate.
We would pose this question: What would you consider "pork barrel,"
1) A Municipal Operations Center
2) An historically facility (Steam Pump Ranch),
3) A Park (Naranja Park)
4) An additional upgraded phone system (Town Hall)
or road repair and water concerns in a desert environment?
Well, Oro Valley's priority list didn't get to road & water concerns until they took care of the "pork barrel" items 1-4.
Whether you call them "earmarks," entitlements" or "pork barrel, that makes no sense whatsoever!
Perhaps the town staff should have asked Senator McCain to help with the priority list. After all, he knows an "earmark" when he sees one.
