Your View

May 14, 2008 | Vol. 14 No. 20

Let me get this straight – David Schulz wants Carefree to pay for his poor drainage planning around the house on Nonchalant Ave. that he built and now lives in. He supposedly is a building contractor. You would think he would have figured out by now that water, like other liquids and semisolids, flows down hill. Or maybe he never thought of a drainage plan.

For those thinking about moving to into Legend Trail, remember this: The HOA is controlled by a handful of senior citizens. They spend tens of thousands of dollars each year for "social events" which have never been approved of by the HOA. This is nothing more than 50 senior citizens getting the HOA to pay for drinking, entertainment, and food for themselves because they are too cheap to go to a restaurant like the other 1,500 residents that live here. Welcome to Sun City East!

Carefree's website includes, "This is the new website for our town, our official web site." Sounds just like typical pretentious puffery coming from the town that bills itself as "the best small town in Arizona." I guess that does sound better than "the small town where the Stepford-wife-like voters have bought into the idea that Carefree should be run by a good old boy clique in a corrupt state where the Attorney General refuses to investigate and prosecute.”

A guest editorial by Joe Arpaio in Sonoran News! What gives? Did I fall asleep and wake up in Bizarro World? It seems that the king of all spin doctors has found a way to get some support from even his most formidable adversaries.

I was disappointed to read that Peoria has selected a new Town Manager and Mr. Zerle did not make the cut again. The losses continue to mount, Mr. Z., but keep at it. I just refuse to believe there is an actual reason that keeps you on the sidelines.

Don: Your recent editorial on Councilwoman Grace Meeth was dead center bull’s-eye. Amen!

Just to let you know that the idiot tailgater in the white pickup lives somewhere on Morning Star Road. I have had the same problem with this guy on numerous occasions.

Cave Creek generates water billing information and then sends the data "to a company that prints, folds, stuffs and mails them for the town." When is Cave Creek going to enter the 21st century and offer automatic deduction directly from bank accounts? Of all my monthly bills, the water company is the only firm still using USPS!

According to an index published by S&P/Case-Shiller, metro Phoenix home prices fell 15.3% in 2007 and 20.8% in the year ended February 2008. Trulia real estate info (based on "assessor and title deed data") shows that from Feb.-April 2007 to Feb.-April 2008, in zip 85377, the average sales price fell 34.4%, the median sales price dropped 25.1%, the average price per square foot declined 15.1%, and the number of sales went from 35 to 6. In sharp contrast with the May 2008 Carefree Cares propaganda sheet which claims in an article by a local realtor that, "the median price for Carefree homes in 2007 increased 6.7% from the previous year," yet she didn't state her data source!

Carefree Council claims they are paying to get rid of utility poles for health and safety reasons. At Carefree's 25 MPH speed limit, even a head on collision with a pole wouldn't dent a bumper. Oh, that's right, it must be so those poles don't come down during one of our many hurricanes or snow storms. What a council, always looking out for our protection!

Carefree paying to get rid of utility poles on private property is either blatant special interest, or plain stupidity on the council's part. I'm going with stupidity.

Phoenix Mayor Gordon went on KTAR and referred to people signing his recall petition as "neo-Nazi's" and “white supremacists"! Can you believe this? His behavior and logic are beyond flawed, and he owes everybody an apology including the sheriff. To associate immigration enforcement with racism is pathetic. Especially since the woman heading the recall petition is a life-long Phoenix resident and Hispanic! www.recallmayorgordon.com

Scottsdale has released its city sales tax collections by key categories for the first nine months of the fiscal year. (For example, taxes from "miscellaneous retail stores" fell 6%.) However, Carefree officials refuse to divulge Carefree's results. What are the local functionaries trying to hide? Are they hoping the $200,000 or more in new Lowe's taxes likely in the second half of the fiscal year will be at least enough to offset drops caused by businesses leaving town and the weaker economy?

At its website the Carefree Water Co. poses the following question. "Why are our water rates more costly than other water rates in neighboring communities?" After a lot of irrelevant verbiage, the question is finally answered in the final sentence. "Our rates take into account the attendant interest and principal of the purchase that many of our neighboring utility companies do not have or have not funded thru (sic) its rate structure." Put more exactly, the town issued millions of dollars of 20-year 7% non-callable bonds for a virtually worthless company.

Hillary is a dead duck. Even if she beats Obama, she will never beat McCain. The Africans will simply stay at home in disappointment.