Bits and Pieces

Oro Vista Apartments Council Hearing Next Wednesday

Next Wednesday, the Oro Valley Town Council will discuss and decide upon rezoning for the Oro Vista Apartments.  However, the item now appears on the Wednesday meeting agenda as a “consent item.”.  That means that the whoever put the agenda together, which most certainly includes both the Mayor and town manager, don’t think a hearing is required.  In fact, unless the item is “pulled” from the consent agenda by a council member, there will be no discussion.

These  apartments are located on the south east corner of Lambert Lane and La Canada, directly east of Noble Hops restaurants. The lot in question is currently a parking lot. The lot is adjacent to apartments that are already there. You can read about these apartments in our prior posting. The town has posted information on this project. “The proposal would allow for a maximum 3-story apartment design on the vacant parcel adjacent to the Noble Hops restaurant.”

You will need to let one of the council members know if you are interested in having this item discussed by council.

Oro Valley Optimist club to hold “Scramble For Youth” 

The Oro Valley Optimist club is holding its annual “Scramble for Youth” on May 1 at Dove Mountain. It is an event to raise money for Oro Valley programs such as Dispose-A-Med, Camp Fury, Project Graduation, and Police Explorers. Next year perhaps the Optimist Club will hold the event at the Oro Valley Community Center, using the town’s municipal golf course. This will bring added visibility to our municipal golf courses. It will support the homeowner’s association and the town council’s efforts to make our municipal golf courses financially successful.

Northwest Explorer sold

Tucson Local Media, owners of The Explorer, has been sold. The Colorado based owner sold it to Times Media Group. This is the “largest family of free newspapers” in Arizona. It is headquartered in Tempe. According to one Phoenix-based news source, the publications that Times Media buys “ ... have not stood our for their journalistic prowess. Former journalists and editors have complained about low pay and how they have to work on too many of the company’s publications at one time.” 

Portion of multi-use path to close in May

A portion of the CDO shared-use path will be closed for repaving in May. It is the section that travels through the Oro Valley Marketplace.  It will close starting May 5 and will reopen in Mid June.

CDO and Ironwood High Schools in top 20% nationally

US News and world report has issued its 2020 rankings of Best High Schools.  Basis Oro Valley ranks #3 in Arizona and #23 nationally.  CDO ranks #1 in the Amphi School District; #10 in Tucson; #53 in Arizona; and #3172 nationally. It has a 92% graduation rate.  Ironwood Ridge ranks #2 in the Amphi School District, #14 in Tucson; #79 in Arizona; and # 4798 nationally. Its graduation rate is 90%.  Oro Valley’s two public high schools are ranked below five other local public high schools: University High, Catalina Foothills, Tanque Verde High, Empire High School, and Vail Academy. All of these schools are in the top 20% of all high schools in the nation.

Bits and Pieces

Significant increase in traffic on La Canada
This is one of the unintended consequences of rebuilding La Cholla Blvd. The traffic during busy times is heavy southbound in the morning and northbound in the afternoon. This is because of the closing of LaCholla from Lambert Lane to Hardy.  Leave yourself extra time.

The rebuilding of LaCholla will be completed this summer. It is Oro Valley's last major corridor to be built.

LOVE celebrates 13 years of continuous publishing
We forgot to mention it last week. LOVE went live on February 5, 2007.  We have published continuously ever since. That's about 3,200 posts and about 1 million views. A pretty nice accomplishment for 2 people who just want to make Oro Valley a great place to live.

Our first posting was about how the residents of our community got "hoodwinked" into voting to give $23.5 million in sales tax revenues to developer Vestar to build the Oro Valley Marketplace. We were promised an upscale shopping experience and we got a Walmart and a movie theatre. We thought that it was wrong for the town to give away sales tax revenues. The State Supreme Court agreed. Such tax giveaways are not allowed anymore.

Over the years, there have been many people involved in publishing LOVE. Some you know. Some you don't. We want to thank them for all they have done and for all they do for LOVE and for Oro Valley.

Source: Explorer, 2/12/20, p 4

"Bits and Pieces" copied by Explorer
One of our readers informed us that the Explorer, a local advertiser "newspaper", used the title of this column to post a column of its own called "Bits and Pieces." This appeared in their February 12 edition.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

And we are flattered!

The Explorer is certainly free to post a column like our "Bits and Pieces". We would hope that they come up with their own title for it. In fact, we even have some ideas for them.

Happy Valentines Day
Today is Valentine's Day.

 "The holiday has origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February. The festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine’s Day. It came to be celebrated as a day of romance from about the 14th century." (Source)

We always thought it was a day created by the candy and gift card makers to sell stuff in the offseason. ( :-) )

We're not right on that. But we do think that our explanation makes sense.

Enjoy the day!
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