Happy 6th Birthday LOVE

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Happy Birthday LOVE...

This month, February 5 to be exact, marked the 6th birthday of  Let Oro Valley Excel.   We have  made 1,935 postings.   You have made 10,409 comments.

Our postings have included a potpourri of subjects:

•  Our initial posting was about the Oro Valley Marketplace.  It was a letter from  Art Segal about how Vestar  had hoodwinked voters into approving an upscale shopping experience that was never going to be.  Art was right. The Oro Valley Marketplace is anything but an upscale shopping experience.   As Art noted, the residents of our Valley continue to subsidize it by giving away half of the sales tax revenues to the developer for up to $23+ million over 20 years.   That deal is still in effect.  13 years to go.
• The very next day we reported that then citizen, now Council Member Garner, was fighting the utility tax.  Seems that there was never a public hearing on the 2% tax; only on a rejected 4% tax. The 4% tax that was approved by some on Council last spring was merely the completion of the earlier attempt.  It took five years, but it got to 4%.  Now we are stuck with it forever.  Its Oro Valley's version of a property tax, except the voters would have had to approve a property tax. Whereas, only the council had to approve the utility tax.
• Shortly thereafter, we wrote about Rancho Vistoso's lovely crematorium.  It was opposed by the residents.  We didn't like it either.   Yet, it was approved by the then sitting council.

The point?  LOVE was born from conflict.  We didn't like what was going on in Oro Valley. We stood with the people.  We stood against the then sitting council.  

Today, we still stand with the people.  We haven't "sold out." We haven't commercialized.  We have stayed true to our motto:  "Oro Valley News: For And By The Citizens Of Oro Valley Arizona." It means a lot to us.  

Yes. You will find that we are a bit gentler in our postings now than we were then.  Our commenters are even more polite and respectful.  Things have changed.  Today, not one member of that old council is even active in Oro Valley politics.   Now, as opposed to then, there are some people on Town Council who are trustworthy.  Those that aren't are always in our sight.  

What will our 7th year bring?  We pledge to bring you fact-based, contemporary reporting of important Oro Valley related news items.  We pledge to call it as we see it:   To praise the good;  to deny the bad;  to "Let Oro Valley Excel."

Happy Birthday LOVE!

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