Incumbents instrumental in making the Preserve a reality
Today at 8:30 am, Mayor Joe Winfield will cut the ribbon that launches the new Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve in Oro Valley. Though too many residents, members of Preserve Vistoso, and The Conservation Fund endured the 21-month saga that ensued to purchase the old Vistoso golf course, few people know the key to why it was possible.
Mayor Winfield, Vice Mayor Barrett, and Councilmembers Jones-Ivey and Nicolson won their seats and a majority on the Oro Valley Town Council in 2018, without taking developer and special interest money.
Consequently, when the over 200 acres of the closed Vistoso golf course drew developers like flies, the Winfield administration was able to swat them away and serve the residents who deserved to have the land remain recreational.
They were free to represent us because they are independent of special interest influence
The recent debate forum hosted by the Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce brought out this distinct difference between the two groups of candidates running in this election. It was actually quite amusing to listen to the excuses made by Joe Erceg, Charlie Hurt, Bill Rodman, and Danny Sharp as they rationalized why they could take developer and special interest campaign contributions and still represent the residents of Oro Valley.
They are “grass roots” candidates… Free to represent the residents of Oro Valley
Winfield, Barrett, Jones-Ivey and Nicolson are running as incumbents the same way they ran in 2018. They are significantly self-funding their grass roots campaigns to ensure that crucial decisions about land, like the one that will soon give us a new nature preserve, reflect residents’ desires and not those of powerful special interest groups.
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Rosa Dailey is a resident of Rancho Vistoso. She played a leading role in bringing the Preserve to reality. She was there from the beginning through to the end.
