Thursday, July 14, 2011

Is The RTA At All Trustworthy? Read What Josh Brodesky Writes In The Az Star

Our ex-mayor Paul Loomis seems to be doing quite well since he lost his latest re-election bid.

Josh Brodesky writes a very interesting article about Loomis & RTA Executive Director Gary Hayes in today's Az Star.

Remember,it was Hayes that wrote the letter to our present mayor, Hiremath on June 6, stating how disappointed he was that the Oro Valley Council voted 6-1 (Hiremath was the "one") to continue with Coyote Run. (See "Time-Line Concerning Oro Valley's Coyote Run Bus Service" post on July 8.)

Let's not forget, Loomis was on the RTA Board as a result of his mayor's position, and is now benefiting from all these wonderful RTA contracts.

Could Hiremath be thinking about the future when he "fights tooth and nail" to allow RTA to take over Coyote Run?

I'll leave that up to the reader to decide.

Here is the great article by Mr. Brodesky. Please don't miss reading it.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_1d43fcc3-24e1-5ffb-821c-6c680539f415.html

10 comments:

Christopher Fox said...

Yes, after Hiremath is recalled, he can suck out a series of $49,999.99 contracts out of RTA for his contribution to the streetcar in designing floss dispensers that riders can use....

artmarth said...

Hey Christopher--- You may have a good point.

I had trouble understanding why Gary Hayes felt he needed to "give" Loomis all that money. Then Brodesky explained that Hayes wrote in an email:

"I functioned within my authority to comply with the voters' wishes to ensure the completion of one of the RTA's most important projects, the Modern Streetcar. Paul's contributions have been invaluable."

If the Modern Streetcar is "one of the RTA's most important projects," as Hayes says it is; personal hygiene, including flossing, must be at least as equally important.

Victorian Cowgirl said...

Loomis leaves office in June 2010 and gets his first RTA no-bid contract in July 2010.

Purely a coincidence.

Nombe Watanabe said...

and where is the Oro Valley station for this Modern Streetcar????

Just like the local police hunting vampire mexicans in Nogales, the mayor is concentrating on topics of little interest to OV.

All politics is local except in OV.

Ann said...

There's an interesting comment on the Star site from "Tobin R. (trosen1111)" defending Loomis and posted during the work day. Hmm. Who could that be?

artmarth said...

Ann-- Thanks for pointing out that Mr. Rosen, our Town Attorney saw fit ---using a lawyer's term,to come to the defense of Loomis.

So others won't have to go through the multitude of comments, almost all of which did NOT share Mr. Rosen's view---here is what he (Rosen) wrote at about 1:30PM.

Tobin R. (trosen1111)
3 hours, 51 minutes ago
The fact that the reporter emphasized Paul Loomis' college major while completely failing to mention his subsequent multi-year career as a successful aerospace engineer demonstrates an unfortunate bias. I can state that Paul Loomis is a person of the highest integrity, having worked closely with him for several years.

This article paints an unduly negative picture of what is most likely in reality a positive professional relationship for our community as a whole. The RTA fully vetted the proposed relationship with legal counsel and was advised that it could proceed. That should end the analysis. I expect better reporting from the Star.

artmarth said...

Geez--- The next time this RTA takeover of the Coyote Run Bus Service comes up at the Oro Valley Town Council, and a legal opinion is required, can we expect our Town Attorney to be unbiased as it concerns that RTA?

Also, does Mr. Rosen believe the RTA "fully vetted" the proposed relationship between Loomis & the RTA because Brodesky wrote that Hayes said:"he ran the idea by the RTA's attorney, Thomas Benavidez, who gave it the OK."

Might Mr. Rosen be better off spending his time on Oro Valley issues rather than posting comments defending our ex-mayor and the RTA?

Ann said...

Howsabout the RTA produces Loomis's work products and/or invoices so that we can see what we got for our tax dollars?

James said...

Before we run Mr. Rosen out of town, perhaps we consider that he might have been on his lunch break?

Ann said...

I'm not sure why he had to make a comment on this matter at all. The fact that he may have done it on a town computer with a town internet connection only makes it more questionable.