Bits and Pieces

Community Center and Golf Financials as of May 31st
With one month left to go in the fiscal year, Troon Golf has LOST $1,746,137. They have now updated their year end golf losses forecast from $1,822,941 to $1,988,548.

Troon food and beverage (Overlook Restaurant) LOST $6,532 in May for a total of $87,478 for the FY, so far.

The Community Center Fund is $66,506 in the RED. The Town Council still needs to pay back this year’s $120,000 reimbursement to the General Fund. Remember that the Town Council borrowed $1.2 million from the General Fund to start the CCF in May 2015 with a promise to refund it at $120,000 per year. They have yet to make good on that promise.

Mayor Hiremath appears to be worried about Joe Winfield’s Campaign
At the June 6th council meeting, when discussing the FY 2018/19 budget, Mayor Hiremath made the following comment:

“When I look at the Capital Improvement Program, I think there’s some confusion about the playground equipment. Playground equipment for Naranja Park site was included in FY 22/23 but we moved it up to next fiscal year, correct? And that’s to the tune of $350,000. So in plain English, there’s going to be a playground in the next fiscal year. It’s going to be in the budget.”

Finance Director, Stacey Lemos confirmed that he was correct.

Isn’t it fascinating that playground equipment was not scheduled until FY 2022/23 but when mayoral candidate, Joe Winfield, made it an issue in his campaign, suddenly playground equipment was moved up to the FY 2019/20 budget? However, keep in mind that this is tentative as that budget will not be voted on by the Town Council until June 2019.

The mayor appears to be worried in general
The challengers for Oro Valley Town Council held a voter registration drive and campaign event on July 4th. Although they were originally promised space in a prime location next to all the other vendors, when they showed up for the event, they were told by a Town staff member that all political candidates were being moved to another location in a far corner of the field. Of note is that they were the only political candidates who were setting up a table in the park that day. Why would they be moved to a less visible spot? It was very obvious that someone was trying to move them out of sight.

The Public Safety Stunt
Hiremath-Hornat-Snider-Waters pull the public safety stunt during every election. They try to instill FEAR into the voters by implying that public safety will suffer if they are not re-elected. FACT: We had a strong police department long before the current council was in office and we’ll continue to have one long after they are out of office. It’s utter nonsense to believe that Joe Winfield, Melanie Barrett, Josh Nicolson, or Joyce Jones-Ivey would want to weaken the police force in the very town where they and their children live.

From our Readers
LOVE receives lots of messages from our readers, the majority of which are positive. Below are some examples.

“Thank you for telling the truth about the politics of Oro Valley. Great reports written by a variety of Oro Valley citizens who seek to educate about what is really happening in this town.”

“I have followed Mr. Leonard’s research on the El Con golf course issue. I find his insights exceedingly thorough and sensible.”

“You are providing a great service to this town. Thank you. The people deserve to know the truth.”

Of course we also receive some negative feedback…all from the same person. Long-time LOVE readers will know who it is. This person is known in Oro Valley political circles as “the hit man…the evil trickster…the curmudgeon.” Last week, the curmudgeon expressed his annoyance with our recent article, “Tucson Association of Realtors spreading Town Council election falsehoods.”

Below is an excerpt of his comments followed by our editor’s response.

“The LOVE blog is totally out of control. What started the entire moratorium discussion is the platform statement of Joyce Jones-Ivey. ‘She will advocate for a moratorium on development.’

Ms. Barrett put out a statement… ‘We will take a temporary pause on large scale re-zonings while we assess the needs and desires of our community.’

What the hell is the difference between moratorium and temporary pause?…What happens to the Planning and Zoning Department during this ‘temporary’ moratorium? Will they be placed on leave of absence? There certainly will be little to do.”

LOVE Editor’s Response
Your comments are quite humorous. After all, for years, you did nothing but complain about the LOVE blog when Richard was the editor. Now you claim that the new editor is tarnishing Richard's reputation!

Also, the only way you could know that "What started the entire moratorium discussion is the platform statement of Joyce Jones-Ivey" is if YOU are the person who provided the false information to TAR.

Regarding your concern about Planning Staff being placed on a leave of absence due to a building moratorium, you are implying that we must continue building just for the sake of keeping the Planning Department staff employed. It is not the mayor’s job to create work for the sole purpose of keeping Town staff employed. The mayor and council are elected to work for the citizens, not for the Planning Staff, and not for developers. Unfortunately, this concept has always been lost on you.

The quotation you supplied from Melanie Barrett is proof that the challengers have no plans for a complete moratorium on all building, only a temporary pause on large scale rezonings.

Our editorial was factual. We're sorry if you have trouble accepting facts. We will not be responding to any more of your emails. We have much more important work to do.

Sincerely,
LOVE Editor