$250,000: Annual Cost Oro Valley Police Department Take Home Cars
One our readers, working with information provided by the Oro Valley Police Department, estimates that it costs Town Of Oro Valley $250,000 annually to provide the approximately 60 take home cars to it officers. He estimates that the total annual additional travel for this programs 270,000 miles.
The reader believes this to be a worthwhile program.
"While I have not developed a cost-benefit ratio for the program, my experience with commercial applications of company provided cars fully ascertains the benefits in readiness, response time, and recruitment/retention..."This reader has business experience with take home car programs. He supports the program. Based on his business experience he wrote:
The “ownership” of take home vehicles has a significant improvement in care of the vehicles and thereby produces reduced costs. The intangible we cannot see in these figures is the improved response times. The 10 call out events per week, is well below my benchmarks at other municipal operations, and an easy “sell” to residents."This is the first time we have seen a cost put on the car take home program. This kind of information should be readily available for every program offered by every Oro Valley department, not just the police department. But it is not.
---
Huppenthal Back In The News
Back in March, Heather's Corner focused on Arizona School Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal speaking at the Oro Valley Library, amongst other things, about his support for the Common Core Standards. As stated then, it was a very controversial discussion and lead to heated debates between Huppenthal and members of the audience consisting of parents, teachers, and students mostly opposing and in disagreement with his views.
It seems Huppenthal finds himself again in a controversy (story), this time breaking down in tears at the end of a news conference in tears Wednesday, apologizing for posting anonymously on a blog what some have deemed racist for disparaging those who are welfare recipients.
Though Huppenthal was sorry, he made no intentions of resigning his position nor dropping out of the Republican primary where he is up against Republican Diane Douglas, who has publicly denounced her support of the Common Core Standards in schools, and Democrats, David Garcia and Sharon Thomas.
---
It's time to Save-A-Plant in OV!
Oro Valley, Arizona (June 24, 2014) - Oro Valley's next Save-A-Plant event will be held July 12 and 13, from 7 to 11 a.m. at the Maracay at Vistoso subdivision site, located at the northern terminus of La Cañada Drive in Rancho Vistoso, Oro Valley. Save-A-Plant is an award-winning program with the goal of salvaging and preserving as many of our native plants from work and construction sites.
A list of available plants can be obtained by contacting the Town of Oro Valley Development and Infrastructure Services Department at 520-229-4800 or visiting their office located at 11000 N. La Cañada Drive. Participants should bring their own equipment such as shovels, gloves and pitchforks, and dress appropriately for high temperatures and rugged desert terrain.
For more information contact Rosevelt Arellano at 520-229-4817 or rarellano@orovalleyaz.gov.
(Source: Oro Valley Press Release)
---
July 4: Stay Cool In Oro Valley
"If you're looking for a place to beat the heat and enjoy family activities and fireworks on the 4th of July, then don't miss Oro Valley's 4th of July Celebration at James D. Kriegh Park and the Oro Valley Aquatic Center, 23 W. Calle Concordia.
The FREE fun begins at 5 p.m. with live entertainment, activities for kids, food trucks and much more. Enjoy reduced rates at the Oro Valley Aquatic Center: just $1 for children and $3 for adults. Participate in relay races, contests and games or just lounge by the pool and enjoy the gorgeous view of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Then at 9 p.m., festivities culminate with a fireworks display, sponsored by the Hilton El Conquistador Golf and Tennis Resort. Click here to view our promo video!
- ENTERTAINMENT: Bryan Dean Trio (5-6:30 p.m.), Little House of Funk (6:45-8:30 p.m.), National Anthem, Tucson Desert Harmony Chorus (8:45 p.m.), Fireworks (9 p.m.).
- FOR THE KIDS: Bounce house, rock climbing wall, tie-dye t-shirts, face painting, arts & crafts projects.
- AT THE AQUAIC CENTER: ($1 for children and $3 for adults) Interactive splash pad, giant waterslide, relay races, watermelon relay, soda toss, penny toss, diving board contest.
- FOOD OPTIONS: Burgers Amore, Fruit Shack Smoothies, Jozarelli's Italian Street Food, Tucson Kona Ice, OV Aquatic Center Snack Bar and the CDO Little League Snack Bar.
- EVENT SPONSORS: Comcast, Explorer Newspaper, Fry's Food Stores, Hilton El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resort and Southern Arizona Urgent Care."
---
8 comments:
That ignorant, racist, bigot, Huppenthal, has no business "overseeing the education of over one million Arizona children." He needs to educate HIMSELF first!
The poor are "lazy pigs" huh? Tell that to my mother who worked in a minimum wage job for 40 hours a week for over 40 years. Why minimum wage? Because she had to drop out of school in 1948 to go to work to help her parents pay to raise their 5 children, ages 5-16. Why did they have 5 children when they were poor? No birth control and no sex education, that's why.
Tell that to my grandparents who had only 7th and 8th grade educations because they, too, had to quit school and go to work (child labor) to help THEIR parents pay the rent and buy food in the early 1920's. My grandparents (who got married and had children during the depression) also worked in minimal wage factory jobs, 40 hours per week, for over 40 years.
No one in my family ever took a dime from the government, except for those of us who took "advantage" of Pell Grants or the GI Bill to get an education so we could have better lives than they did. And we paid it back by contributing to the economy when we bought new cars and houses and took vacations, etc. Things we couldn't have done if we hadn't gotten the education that led to the good paying jobs.
I'm so sick of ignorant people and their ignorant comments.
Personally, I have no problem with the take home vehicles IF they live a certain distance from the station. With OV annexing further away from the station, it could make a huge difference if an officer had to go to the station first to swap cars.
I've never had an issue with the take home vehicles IF the officer lives in Oro Valley. My question is, how does this work when the officer lives 30 minutes away (or more). Does he drive at a high speed for all that distance, putting pedestrians and motorists lives in danger all along the way? Or does he drive the speed limit for 30 minutes, thereby taking 30 minutes to arrive on the scene?
First we have quasi criminal Horne, now we have Gauleiter Huppenthal.
AZ is cursed with the worst government in the US.
Save us.
In re take home vehicles:
I wish to thank the "reader" and the blog for providing information on the take home vehicle program.
It is a shame that the tax payers could not get this information in the past.
Thanks for you response, VC. Huppenthal's remarks are truly ignorant.
His comments were so bad that I'm actually writing him a letter to tell him what I think of him and to TRY to educate him. TRY being the operative word, of course!
You're right, VC. Concerned about issues? (1) We need to send our comments straight to the (unfortunalely influential) officials responsible. (2) We have to be extremely careful who we vote for. (3) We have to do what we can to educate others.
Post a Comment