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.
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.
