This is the second part of our series on the Sun City Candidate Forum held on June 12. Last week, we wrote about Mo Greene's council goals. Tomorrow we feature Tim Bohen. Thursday we feature Mary Murphy, Today we feature Elizabeth Robb, in her own words.
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Elizabeth Robb: Prevent bad decisions
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Elizabeth Robb: Prevent bad decisions
“At this stage in Oro Valley’s growth, I believe one of the most important jobs of our town council is to prevent bad decisions. Oro Valley has a wonderful small-town feel, lots of outdoor recreational opportunities, and spectacular scenic views. We need to maintain that."
Responsible growth is imperative
"We don’t need, and you have said you don’t want, five- and six-story buildings. Every Saturday, when I’m selling at the farmer’s market—that’s my business—I see La Posada, the continuous care community, growing in front of me because I’m facing right towards it. And I think to myself, how did we get this giant five-story building in Oro Valley?Preventing decisions like that is one of the reasons I’m running for town council."
Additionally, "We don’t need to rezone all of our remaining commercial land into super-dense, poorly-planned apartments that will negatively impact our water. Many of you signed the petition against the Avilla tiny rental home development proposed on both sides of the Safeway. I attended one of those meetings, and I disagreed with that rezoning also. That’s another reason I am running for town council."
Stop pouring unchecked amounts of money into golf
"We don’t need to continue pouring unchecked amounts of money into golf. Some people pay for their own golf courses. If you look at our municipal golf operations in Oro Valley, we have spent an average of about $2.5 million a year since we acquired the golf course and the community center in 2015. We just spent $9.1 million redoing the irrigation systems, cart paths, and bunkers on two golf courses, and now the 10-year budget projection has almost an additional $13 million planned for the community center. The spending on golf and the Community Center has got to be brought under control and in line with other parks and recreation spending."
We don’t need outside money running our town
“We don’t need outside money funding candidates in our elections to try to force on us what we don’t want or need. This is an important issue. For example, the part-owner of the Oro Valley Marketplace has put an enormous amount of money into candidates running for our town elections in the last several elections, including this one.
After they were not successful in their last election, their apartments at the Oro Valley Marketplace were held to two and three stories. If you’re like me and not in favor of 75-foot tall buildings, it’s important to know who is funding our candidates. I have self-funded my campaign with my own money and small donations because I want to serve your interests, not special interests.”
Let's reserve our open spaces
"We need to preserve our scenic corridors and outdoor open spaces. Oro Valley's biggest challenge is how we manage the remaining 6% of our undeveloped land because it affects everything. It affects our water, it affects our views, it affects our traffic, and it affects our small town feel."
We need to manage town finances to ensure fiscal sustainability
"Our second biggest challenge is how we're going to manage our finances. I've attended both recent council meetings on the upcoming fiscal year 2024-25 budget and I have a pretty good understanding of how I would approach ensuring we never reach a fiscal crisis. We do not need and should never have a property tax. Oro Valley was built on that principle and I will uphold that."
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