Guest View-Diane Peters: "Golf Tourist" Revenue was Based on Speculation with No Supporting Data

Back in 2019, in order to not appear self-serving in their efforts to keep the town-owned golf courses open, residents living along the golf courses figured out that they needed to come up with an argument for why the golf courses were good for the entire town and not just good for their views and their property values.

The bed tax and sales tax argument
They argued that the golf courses benefited the entire town by attracting tourists who came here to play golf and that these “golf tourists” were contributing to the bed tax and sales tax. However, no one ever supplied any statistics on how much revenue these supposed golf tourists are bringing in or any proof that they bring in more in revenue than what it's costing us taxpayers to maintain these courses. As such, I asked the town manager if the town had any statistics to prove those claims. And it turns out, they did not.

My email to the Town Manager

“The argument of the golf crowd is that the golf courses bring in revenue in the form of bed tax from the hotels and sales taxes in our shops and restaurants. But where is the proof of how many people who stay at our hotels are playing golf on the El Con golf courses? Can the town show exactly how much bed tax and sales tax revenue we are receiving from people staying in our hotels who are here for the purpose of playing golf on the town-owned golf courses?”

The Town’s Response

“The Town cannot show exactly how much bed tax and sales tax revenue it is receiving from people staying in hotels within Town boundaries for the purpose of playing golf on Town-owned golf courses.”

As I suspected, the “tourist revenue” argument was purely conjecture and has no merit at all.

Opinions without factual evidence
One person who lives along the golf courses commented on social media that the golf courses were a “net add” to the town. But when I asked him to provide the “actual monetary statistics,” he could not. He responded only that: “They bring people [tourists] in. They are beautiful. The golf courses keep property values up.”

Well, one could argue that the desert landscape brings people [tourists] in, it’s beautiful, and it keeps property values up. But we’ve all seen how Oro Valley allows mass grading of the desert with no concern at all for its beauty or how it affects our property values.

Three reasons why I never believed the “golf tourist revenue” argument

1. When any of our friends or family have visited us in the past 18 years, not one of them inquired about golf courses in the area. They wanted to experience the desert and desert wildlife, red rock country, Wild West history, and Native American history. As such, they took day trips to Saguaro National Park, Tombstone, the White Stallion Ranch, San Xavier Mission, Tubac, and Nogales, Mexico. Others headed up to Sedona for a few days after leaving Oro Valley. Again, not one of them had any interest in playing golf.
2. When my husband and I moved here in 2003, we came for the desert and mountain views and the dry climate. Golf courses were not on our radar.
3. When planning a vacation that includes golf, why choose Oro Valley over Scottsdale when Scottsdale has a far greater selection of adjacent quality dining, boutique shopping, museums, and art galleries?

The “net add” just doesn’t add up. Their whole argument was based on hyperbole. Six years into this boondoggle, I still fail to see what’s in it for the rest of us.
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Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003, moving here to escape the humidity of the East Coast. She’s been involved in OV politics and development issues since 2006, including organizing a citizens group in 2014 that spent 9 months negotiating a controversial 200-acre development project. In her past life, she worked in medical research at various University Hospitals in New England. Her interests include reading, writing, nature photography, travel, art galleries, museums, and politics.

Proposal To Be Heard On Broadening The Use Of The Half Percent Sales Tax Levy

Enacted in 2015, revenues support municipal golf losses

The Oro Valley Town Council will hold a public hearing on the half percent Community Center/Municipal Golf sales tax. That tax was enacted by the Hiremath Council in 2015 to pay for the substantial losses that were projected from operating the community center on the golf courses. The estimated amount of the half percent sales tax was $2million.

Sales tax revenues more than anticipated

As LOVE has reported over time, golf and community center losses have been huge; but, recently the losses have narrowed because the pandemic has increased golf course use. In addition, sales tax revenues have increased over the six years to an estimated $2.5million. 

Municipal golf’s exclusive use of revenues at stake

The public hearing will be held at next week’s council meeting. The proposal is to broaden the use of these funds to pay for other parks and recreation facilities, amenities and operations.

What is at stake here is what appears to be in the minds of some members of council and residents a belief that the half percent revenue stream belongs to the golf courses. For example, during one council meeting Council Member Solomon said something like: “We have the money from the sales tax, so let’s just open the Pusch Ridge course.” Some residents in favor of the measure wondered why the course wasn't getting its "share" of the revenues. 

Expect a large turnout at the hearing

There are some who will be upset about any change in the use of this money. These are people who live along the golf course. They lobbied successfully last year to keep 36-holes of golf operating. They wore “green T-shirts” to the Council meetings, spoke in great numbers. It appeared to some that this high level of participation intimidated the some members of council.

Council set target subsidy levels

The council decided, in 2020, to retain 36-holes of golf and to lease the Pusch Ridge facility. In doing so, they set a subsidy target level of $750,000 within four years. That would be beyond the sunset of Winfield council majority. If that subsidy level is achieved, $1.8 million in sales tax revenue from the half-cent levy would be available for other uses. So, it makes sense to either rescind these sales tax dollars or direct them to other use.

Change in use requires council resolution

The original resolution for the sales tax levy earmarked the funds specifically for the golf course community center. Thus any change in the use of those funds has to be approved through another revenue resolution of counsel. That’s the reason for the meeting.

Guest View: Diane Peters ~ Oro Valley Thrives members make false assertions and accusations. Part 2.

Part 1 was published last Wednesday. It described a scathing and fact-challenged email that was sent to the mayor and council by a member of Oro Valley Thrives. If you missed it, you can read it HERE

The Apology
A couple of weeks after sending her email, she spoke at a council meeting during the Call to Audience. She apologized for the earlier email by saying, “Recently I did send an email and it was passionate and I was frustrated and I apologize…thank you for bearing with me and my little tantrum. There was no disrespect, but just frustration and passion.”

Below are the adjectives and other colorful language she used to describe the mayor and vice-mayor in her “little tantrum” email:

“Boldly calculated, disrespectful, outrageous, obvious disregard for human decency, devious collusion, sore losers, self-serving, underhanded, shady, unprofessional, unethical, undignified.”

But “there was no disrespect.”

The Hypocrisy
A few days later, she showed up on LOVE’s Facebook page to complain that, “some of the comments recently posted (on the Facebook page) are generating and supporting slanderous remarks and verbally attacking people by name.” She claimed that they were posting “unfounded information.”

Yes, this from the same woman who sent 18 paragraphs filled with verbal attacks and unfounded information in her email to the council.

She went on to assert that the Green Shirts were not “ill-informed or mean."  (Did she not see the dozens of Green Shirts being rude and disrespectful to the mayor during multiple council meetings between July and October?) She described them as a “concerned group of people who are using the right to freely speak and support issues that are important to them.”

Apparently it’s acceptable for the Green Shirts to freely speak with frustration and passion about issues that are important to them, but she’s not comfortable with people with opposing views doing the same.

Another ill-informed Oro Valley Thrives member chimes in
Another person posted this false information on the Next Door site in an effort to get people to sign the recall:

“Only 10% of the Oro Valley residents voted in the last election. Do the math to see why we are in this situation.”

Let’s do the math
Ten percent of the approximately 44,000 population would be 4,400 votes.

Winfield got 9,242 votes. Hiremath got 6,563. That's a total of 15,805 votes which is 36% of the population, not 10%. She’s not even close on the math.

If she's talking about 10% of registered voters, the last I knew, Oro Valley had approximately 27,000 registered voters. Ten percent of that would be 2,700 voters. Again, she’s not even close as 15,805 voters would be about 58% of the registered voters.

But wait, there’s more
Regarding the search for a new police chief, this same person said, “After assembling the advice of an expert panel he put together to determine the validity and costs over an internal or external search to replace Chief Sharp…he (Winfield) alone decided not to follow the recommendation of his panel to select the least expensive and more community oriented internal search within our police department, and instead, to pursue an external search for someone outside of the current police force and community.”

Fact: Mayor Winfield did not make that decision unilaterally. It was decided by a majority vote of the town council in a 4-3 decision during the July 31, 2019 council meeting. She also neglected to mention the advice that was given to the mayor and council that night by HR Director, Chris Brady, an excerpt of which is posted below:

“I absolutely believe that we have good qualified candidates, but my job is to be objective and give you both sides of this for you to make the best decision. I talked to my colleagues across the state. I asked them who’s had a police chief recruitment in the past five years. Help me out, what did you do? There was nobody that was internal only.

I don’t think you would go wrong either way, but in the past, executive level recruitments, specifically chief recruitments, it was the goal of my previous councils/managers that they wanted to have a process that was transparent, seemed open to the community, and that’s why we did internal/external. The advantage you have there is that you’ll be able to compare internal candidates to other people to make sure that we do have the best of the best.”

So, again I ask…is Oro Valley Thrives disseminating false information to their members or are the members making it up as they go along in order to drum up enough signatures to get their unpopular recall on the ballot?

Switching Gears
Have you noticed how they’ve changed their reasons for the recall? First it was about keeping all 36 holes of golf. When they got that one, then it was about financing to pay for the upgrades (vs. pay-as-you-go). Then it was about hiring a new police chief from within the OVPD. Apparently, they’ve figured out that their support comes only from those living in the golf communities and even some of them don't support a recall. So they needed to add the last-ditch public safety scare tactic in order to drum up more signatures.

Pleading for Signatures
Some recall petitioners have posted on Next Door that they will be happy to drive to your house to get your signature or you can go to their house or meet in a public place. Soliciting for signatures in this manner indicates that they’re not getting enough people to show up at their recall tables to sign the petitions. Of note is that in 2015, when the group TOOTH (Teed off over tax hike) was collecting signatures to put the golf course purchase to a vote of the citizens, they had no trouble collecting the necessary signatures at the recall table they had set up near the entrance to the library.

Wink-Wink!
I’d like to remind Oro Valley Thrives members who are upset with my Guest Views, that I’m just a concerned citizen who is using my right to freely speak on issues that are important to me. Just think of it as my little tantrum out of frustration and passion. Wink-wink.
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Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003, moving here to escape the humidity of the East Coast. She’s been involved in OV politics and development issues since 2006. In 2014, she organized a citizens group, who over a 9-month period, successfully negotiated a controversial 200-acre development project. In her past life, she worked in medical research at various University Hospitals in New England. Her interests include reading, writing, nature photography, travel, art galleries, museums, and politics.

Guest View: Diane Peters ~ Oro Valley Thrives members make false assertions and accusations. Part 1.

My purpose in writing this article is to point out how ill-informed some members of the Green Shirts are about town issues. This is concerning because these people are disseminating false information to others in an effort to get them to sign the recall petitions.

Some members of Oro Valley Thrives (aka The Green Shirts) have posted false information on social media. Another “Green Shirt” wrote a scathing email to the mayor and council where she made numerous false accusations against Mayor Winfield and Vice-Mayor Barrett. While speaking at the podium at a recent council meeting, she admitted to (and apologized for) sending the email containing her “little tantrum.” I then submitted a public records request to view the email for myself.

I won’t publish the names of the offenders so as not to embarrass them. What’s important is what they have falsely asserted and the fact that they are representatives of Oro Valley Thrives.

Are the leaders of OV Thrives disseminating this false information to their members or are these members just making it up as they go along? Either way, it doesn’t reflect well on them.

The “little tantrum” email
Below are some of the false accusations in the email that was sent to the mayor and council regarding council discussions that took place at the October 16th meeting.

1. She accused Mayor Winfield of removing Councilmember Rodman from his role as a Planning and Zoning Commissioner. She was furious about this. She referred to Rodman as "one of the most brilliant leaders on the commission."

Fact: Rodman is not a P&Z Commissioner. He is the council liaison to the P&Z. She didn't understand the difference. Second, the mayor cannot make the liaison appointments. He can only make his suggestions for these appointments. It is then decided by a majority vote of the council.

2. After falsely accusing Mayor Winfield of removing Councilmember Rodman from P&Z, she claimed that he did this so that Winfield could stack the commission with people who would vote to close the golf courses.

Fact: P&Z Commissioners have no power to close the golf courses. P&Z is an advisory board only and the most they can do with any planning or zoning issue is to make a recommendation to the town council, but it is the town council who has the final say and they are not required to follow the recommendation of P&Z.

3. She accused Vice-Mayor Barrett of lying about Town Council Attorney Cohen’s advice to not discuss the proposed council liaison appointments in advance in order to avoid the possibility of an open meeting law violation. She tore into Barrett asserting that Barrett’s claim of Cohen giving her that advice “was outrageous” and she accused Barrett of throwing Attorney Cohen “under the bus.”

Fact: It was Mayor Winfield, not Barrett, who stated that Cohen advised him to not discuss the liaison appointments in advance of the council meeting. Additionally, Attorney Cohen confirmed that he did give that legal advice to Mayor Winfield “out of an abundance of caution.”

4. She also claimed that Mayor Winfield was “boldly calculated and disrespectful” in deciding the liaison appointments on his own. She claimed that she attended the Town Academy and that Town Manager, Mary Jacobs “precisely outlined the protocol for council and issues” and she came away from this class believing that the council liaison appointments should have been “put before the Town Manager for ultimate decision.”

Fact: Again, the mayor proposes the liaison appointments and the town council ratifies them. I doubt that Jacobs ever said that this was the Town Manager’s role. It’s more likely, given this woman’s difficulty in understanding town protocols, that she once again misunderstood the information that was presented to her.

I am seeing a pattern here of a very ill-informed person who thinks that she’s well-informed. Why is this a problem? If she is out collecting signatures for the recall or posting comments about town issues on social media, she will be disseminating false information to Oro Valley residents who might sign the recall petition based on that false information.

Councilmember Bill Rodman showed some integrity
Despite all the false claims and accusations that she made in her "tantrum" email to the council, Councilmember Rodman was the only one of the Hiremath Holdovers who wrote back to correct her errors, stating that he wanted “to be sure that the facts are portrayed accurately.”

Councilmembers Solomon and Pina remain silent
Although Solomon responded to her, he did not correct any of her false claims.  He simply said, "I share your concerns."   Pina did not respond at all.  By not correcting her, Solomon and Pina were allowing her to believe that all of her wild assertions were true. I guess when you don’t have any valid reasons for a recall, you have to allow people to believe in falsehoods and delusions in order to drum up enough signatures to get the recall on the ballot. Shame on Solomon and Pina for being accomplices in the propagation of this nonsense.

Part 2 will be published next Wednesday.
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Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003, moving here to escape the humidity of the East Coast. She’s been involved in OV politics and development issues since 2006. In 2014, she organized a citizens group, who over a 9-month period, successfully negotiated a controversial 200-acre development project. In her past life, she worked in medical research at various University Hospitals in New England. Her interests include reading, writing, nature photography, travel, art galleries, museums, and politics.

Observations on the Town Staff and the Green Shirt members

Town Staff makes major decisions without Town Council or citizen input
At last Wednesday’s Town Council meeting (September 18th) former Oro Valley council person Mike Zinkin gave a speech during the "Call to Audience" portion of the meeting. Although he was not there to speak about golf, he had to wait an hour for his chance to speak because “The Green Shirts” had packed the room again and they dominated the "Call to Audience."

You can watch Mike’s speech below. It was about the Town Staff’s encroachment over the past ten years into the governance of Oro Valley. According to Mike, this has resulted in the town staff, rather than the elected Town Council, asserting too much control in Town decisions.

Below are just a few of Mike’s observations:

• The El Con purchase had no oversight by the prior council and we’re now experiencing the complications of that lack of oversight.

• The last General Plan, approved by the citizens, had a sentence removed from it by a staff member. As a result of that sentence being removed, the potential for a 5-story building was planned along First Avenue. The General Plan previously stated that not even a 2-story building was allowed to be seen from First Avenue. Staff removed that sentence. The council had no say in it. The people had no say in it.

• Despite the intersection of Moore and La Canada meeting only 2 of 9 criteria for a Signal Warrant Analysis, a roundabout is being installed that costs twice the amount of a traffic light.

• A “house” is being built on Tangerine (west of La Cholla) that contains a 10,000 sq. ft. basketball court with a bedroom stuck in the corner. Staff says that’s residential.

• Staff extended the Troon contract for 6 months without Town Council approval. They extended that contract into a new fiscal year. It was never budgeted, in violation of Town Policy #6.

• Staff has no experience in municipal golf. Their “experts” are Troon -- and Troon has a dog in this fight.

Indeed, Zinkin is correct
The staff is not elected by the citizens. The Town Council is supposed to make the decisions and the Town Staff is supposed to execute the decisions. But for years we have had a situation whereby the Town Staff makes recommendations to the council. This serves only to allow the “lazy” members of council to not have to take the time to “get into the weeds” but rather make their decisions based on whatever the staff recommends.

Adults behaving badly
On a separate note, as you watch the video, look at the behavior of the two women in the “Green Shirts” who are seated directly to the left of the podium. Watch what they do in the first 10 seconds or so after Mike’s name is called. For the record, the woman with the blonde hair is Jennifer LeFevre, founder of the green shirt crowd.

When Mike's name is called, LeFevre makes a face and rolls her eyes. She then said something that was clearly rude because she immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment, obviously worried that the microphone might have picked it up. (Reading her lips, it appears that she said, "Oh sh--").  The woman sitting next to her then whispered something to her, at which point the two of them gave Mike the "once-over" and made another face, seemingly ridiculing something that he was wearing.  (We had a technical difficulty with the video.  It does not show the part with the women whispering and making a face.  You can watch it on the Town website under Meetings and Agendas - Archived Videos - Town Council Regular Session - Sept. 18th Video - 1:04 time stamp on the video).

These are the people of the “Green Shirt” crowd. They have exhibited junior high school behavior at every town meeting we've attended or watched online.

For the record, prior to the council meeting, Mike was officiating a football game between Wilson School and La Cima Middle School. The game finished at 5:50 and he headed straight for the 6:00 PM council meeting to speak at the all to Audience. He did not have time to stop home and change clothes.

Guest View: Diane Peters ~ The Royalty vs. the Peasants. Part 1.

I never thought the day would come when I would be speaking about a group of Oro Valley residents the way that I am about to speak about them. But if they are going to engage in behavior that is rude, entitled, disrespectful, and uncivil, they shouldn’t be surprised when they are called out for doing so. I’m talking about the pro-golf crowd.

Multiple town meetings including private meetings and still they demand more
Despite the fact that this crowd (golf members and residents living along the golf courses) have had multiple opportunities to voice their opinions regarding the golf courses, with some of those opportunities being PRIVATE town meetings held just for them, they still feel that they should be given even more time to state their case and repeat the same talking points over and over and over again. In doing so, they are barely allowing anyone else a chance to speak, thereby giving the false impression that the majority of people in town want to keep the golf courses open despite millions of dollars in losses. If this were true, then Hiremath and his majority council would not have been thrown out of office last year.

Matching Outfits, Rude Behavior, and Threats
They are now packing council chambers at every meeting, banding together in their “Green Shirts,” repeatedly being rude to the mayor and certain council members when speaking at the Call to Audience or during the Public Hearings AND being rude and disrespectful to anyone who dares speak at the podium in favor of closing one or all of the golf courses. They have threatened a recall if they don’t get their way. They have threatened a lawsuit against the Town if they don’t get their way. They act like they are the only people in town, or the only ones that matter.

Forked Tongue
It’s very telling that the people who are claiming to be worried about the Town losing revenue if the courses are closed are the same people who are threatening a lawsuit against the Town. Think about that. In essence, this is what they’re saying:

“We’re so worried that the Town will lose millions of dollars in bed tax, sales tax, and property tax revenue if you close the courses that we’re going to sue the Town for millions of dollars if we don’t get our way.”

And that’s how you know that their real issue and their only issue is their views and their property values. Tossing in the “town revenues” argument is just their way of trying to appear unselfish.

No more sympathy
I initially felt for these people because I certainly know what it’s like to have your views and property values lowered due to Town Council decisions that alter the land use adjacent to your property. There are thousands of other Oro Valley residents (myself included) who have lost their once beautiful views, peaceful surroundings, and property values due to the rampant and incompatible rezonings approved during the Hiremath years. Yet, we did not show up in “matching outfits” taking over the council chambers week after week attempting to intimidate anyone who disagreed with us or threatening a recall or a lawsuit if our current views were altered. We did not snicker at or boo speakers who disagreed with us. The “Green Shirts” tactics are ill-mannered and this is why the pro-golf crowd has lost my sympathy.

(I do have sympathy for those who live along the golf courses who have been civil and who are in the unfortunate position of being "represented" by the Green Shirts.)

Below are the three special and private meetings that were held just for golf members and residents living along the golf courses:

May 4, 2017. PRIVATE Q&A Session/Workshop for residents living along the golf courses.
Held at the Gaslight Theatre and facilitated by The National Golf Foundation, Forrest Richardson & Associates (golf course architects), and the WLB Group (local engineering and development firm), all hired by the Town to address the Community Center/Golf Course issues.

December 12, 2017. Another PRIVATE Special meeting for residents living along the golf courses.
Hosted by Town Manager, Mary Jacobs and held in Town Council Chambers. The purpose was to discuss the options presented in the golf consultant’s report and allow golf course area residents to ask questions and share their thoughts on the options.

December 13, 2017. PRIVATE Special meeting for golf members.
Hosted by Town Manager, Mary Jacobs and held in the Sunset Room of the Community Center. The purpose was to discuss the options presented in the golf consultant’s report and allow golf members to ask questions and share their thoughts on the options.

Below are the meetings that Mayor Winfield has held for all residents to speak on the golf issue:

February 20, 2019. Town Council Listening Session (Public Hearing)
This allowed all members of the community to speak about the golf courses. Twenty-nine people spoke.

July 24, 2019. Town Council - Public Hearing
Held at The Church of the Nazarene, this meeting allowed all members of the community to speak about the golf courses. Approximately 700 people showed up. The meeting lasted 4 hours and 50 people spoke.

I submitted a Blue Card to speak but left the meeting after 1.5 hours when my name still had not been called and I was developing back pain from the uncomfortable chairs. No problem, or so I thought, I’ll give my speech during the Call to Audience at the council meeting the following week -- but I was thwarted again. See below.

July 31, 2019. Town Council – Public Hearing
A Public Hearing was added to this meeting to accommodate those who didn’t get to speak at the meeting on July 24th. So once again, the room was packed and 33 people spoke, taking up one hour and 40 minutes of the Public Hearing.

I didn’t have the option of speaking at the Call to Audience because you cannot speak at the CTA about an item that’s listed for a Public Hearing. Me and my aching back were unable to sit there for an hour or more waiting my turn to speak for 3 minutes.

Sept. 4, 2019. Town Council – Another Public Hearing on Golf
With another Public Hearing, I knew that “The Green Shirts” would pack the room again, which they did, so I didn’t bother attending. I watched the video from home, listened to just two of the 11 speakers, both of whom were very rude, at which point I turned off the video.

Sept. 18, 2019. Town Council Meeting
At long last, golf was not on the agenda, meaning that people could speak on golf during the Call to Audience. I arrived at 5:45, planning to speak at the CTA, but walked in again to find a room packed with “The Green Shirts.” It was standing room only.

I asked the Town Clerk how many Blue Cards had been submitted so that I could determine how long it would be before my name was called. The list appeared to have about 20 names on it. Quick math…20 speakers at 3 minutes each means I’ll be waiting an hour for my name to be called. Back pain…uncomfortable chairs…nope…I wasn’t going to put myself through that again. So once again I was thwarted from speaking. I walked out and went home. Another person who had also been waiting weeks for the chance to speak about golf during the CTA also walked out without speaking.

When is it our turn to speak?
This is the THIRD time that I have tried to speak on golf in recent weeks and have been thwarted by “the mob” every single time. They are monopolizing the meetings leading some who are there to speak in favor of closing one or both of the courses to walk out before ever getting their chance to speak.

Totaling up the number of speakers from the above meetings in 2019:

• 29 speakers on February 20th
• 50 speakers on July 24th
• 33 speakers on July 31st
• 11 speakers on September 4th
• 17 speakers on September 18th

That’s a total of 140 speeches, but not 140 residents because many of them spoke multiple times.

We heard you the first time
Now realize that some of those 140 speakers were against continuing golf. And then there were those who spoke multiple times in favor of continuing golf. Those speakers are listed below:

• Jeff Weir spoke six times --  (Feb. 20, July 24, July 31, Sept. 18, and twice on Sept. 4).
• Greg Kishi spoke five times --  (Feb. 20, July 17, July 24, July 31, Sept. 4).
• Fred Swiderski spoke four times -- (Feb. 20, July 24, July 31, Sept. 18).
• Steve Jones spoke four times -- (Feb. 20, June 5, July 24, July 31).
• Rob Wanczyk spoke four times --  (Feb. 20, July 24, July 31, Sept. 4).

There were also 5 residents who spoke three times and 9 residents who spoke twice.

With that many repeat speakers, you can see that the actual number of people who spoke in favor of keeping all 36 holes of golf was actually much less than 140 – out of a population of 43,000. Their numbers are not as strong as they would like us to believe.
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Editor’s Note: The meetings on this subject have been disproportionate in reflecting how the community feels as a whole. The Town Council needs to hear from the other 43,000 people who live in this community! Please email them at council@orovalleyaz.gov. If you prefer to email individual council members, their email addresses are as follows:

jwinfield@orovalleyaz.gov
mbarrett@orovalleyaz.gov
jjones-ivey@orovalleyaz.gov
jnicolson@orovalleyaz.gov
rpina@orovalleyaz.gov
brodman@orovalleyaz.gov
ssolomon@orovalleyaz.gov

Part 2, the speech that Ms. Peters has been attempting to give for weeks will be published tomorrow.