Last night I attended the Ask the Candidate forum, and a couple of things did jump out at me.
The mayor and his minions are still ranting about the line, “The mayor is in bed with Global Water.” That made me laugh all the way home last night.
I guess the truth hurts. That aside, while I was listening to each of the candidates express their views to questions asked, something came to me, but I could not get another chance to ask them all.
Sure the D.I.F.’s are having a major impact on development in the city. But another way to help us out would be something I have seen work back east. It worked very well for the cities and the state itself, and that is to have the state designate the city of Maricopa a special enterprise zone. This will allow the city to lower the tax rate to let’s say 35 across the board on anything bought/sold inside the city limits. I have seen that work very well back east. It spurs business to stay here or even open new stores for business, and isn’t that what we all want?
At the forum there was quite a bit of political sand dancing going on when really hard questions were asked. I must say though Mrs.Gusse was the only one I found that was straight and to the point. Although some think that all of the candidates want the monument to Global Water to be built, I did not find it that way at all. It looks like the current council (those already seated) and the mayor have forced that on us. Yeah, sure more parks and recs and a senior/elder center would be a great start. A pool—I don’t think so (my opinion).
What should be built is a project similar to he one in Mesa, the field of dreams. I would make a few small changes to that. Instead of having let’s say five replica baseball fields, we could do the following. Sure a Yankee Stadium, Boston’s green monster, would be a nice touch, but here are the changes I was thinking of: Build a Soldier Field in Chicago and a Madison Square Garden; that way all of the sports are covered. MSG could be a multi-purpose building, housing concerts from local bands and also set up for hockey use and built with synthetic ice. I have received pricing on such a thing just for giggles. And seeing that the town has never released money from the budget for roller hockey, it just might be time to get our hands on it for a project like this.
One last thing. What I said about the mayor at the Global Water meeting is not a scare tactic. Again the perception of corruption between the mayor and Global Water is there. I was just shining a light on what I see as a possible problem. You turn a light on and see the roaches scatter. Sure a six-tier rate plan would be nice. Hell, make it a 20-tier plan. But do it at the current rates! Let’s not give the water company a huge increase and then tell everyone to conserver water. It is time the people had a voice in this thing. The mayor and staff don’t seem to get it; they work for us! BTW, vote ‘no’ on the prop to give the mayor a 4-year term. If you were doing what should be done for us, two years is plenty of time. Lead or get out of the way!
These are my thoughts and opinions; take from it what you will.
James Valenzano
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