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.
