Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Editorial: Naranja Town Park and Beyond

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Oro Valley is growing. There were more young families living here than ever before. The town's desire to increase employment through its economic development efforts are a statement to young families that Oro Valley wants them to not only live here and but also to work here.

Jobs are one half the equation of a successful town.  Jobs enable people to work here. The other half of the equation for the town to have great parks and recreational facilities.

The Oro Valley Parks and Recreation Department ("Parks and Recs") maintains the Oro Valley recreational facilities. The renovation of the Kreigh Park Aquatic facility is their responsibility. The new archery facility is also the responsibility. The eventual paving of the unpaid portion of the CDO Wash Trail schedule for 2013 is also their job; as is the maintenance of the town's two major parks.

Have you visited the Oro Valley Parks and Recs web site?  We have. From this site you can:
  • Become a "Friend Of The Pool" by sponsoring a plaque
  • Read about the "60.15 miles of signed bike routes, 36.1 miles of paved shoulders, and 14.9 miles of shared use paths"
  • Get a metal detecting permit for use in our parks
  • See a Calendar of Events
You can even read about Naranja Park:  "Information Coming Soon"
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Council Members Bill Garner, Brandon Burns and Mike Zinkin are interested in improving the quality of life for young families and young professionals in Oro Valley.  They believe, as do we, that "Parks and Recs" is a critical Town function

Both Mike Zinkin and Bill Garner bring some creative ideas on how to build Naranja Park.  Their ideas would build the park such a way that the growth would be orderly and done without the need for property tax.

In the future, it is our intention to post more regarding building great parks and great recreational facilities in Oro Valley. 
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5 comments:

chuck davis said...

Maybe their is a balance between budgets for parks and recs and police department. How about starting with using 5% of the police department budget to start the funding for a new park.

Nombe Watanabe said...

How about no tax or new tax for the park?

OV Objective Thinker said...

Chuck......And from what part of the police department budget would you take the 5%, officers or equipment. It's easy to pick some arbitrary number and throw it up against the wall but it is not meaningful.

Nombe...Why not just eliminate taxes all together? Maybe we can get an all volunteer government, get land owners and construction companies to donate their stuff and run the community that way. If something catches on fire the neighbors can use their own hoses to fight the fire.

That makes as much sense as your statement.

chuck davis said...

Don-- of course you are right, the number is arbitrary. At the same time, it does raise the question about what is important to our community. We can't have it all as the taxpayers will say enough, as they did when the bloated park bond request was voted upon a couple of years ago. What I am suggesting is that if parks are an important priority, the money must come from somewhere. Why not ask the department with the highest budget to determine what they would have to give up if they had to operate with 5% less money.

OV Objective Thinker said...

Chuck....I suppose you misspoke earlier when you suggested that the police department should give up 5% of their budget.....since you mentioned them.

But according to last year's budget and again this year's proposed budget, you must want the Water Utility to give up their budget money.

Now I suppose we could have a discussion. Because I don't want to give up any of the police budget, but I am willing to join you and talk about the water utility budget. You see it's about 2 million more than the police budget in FY 2012/13.