Resignation of my position on the Cave Creek Planning Commission
Good Morning Ian and Luke,
It is with great thought I have decided that I will be resigning my position as a Planning Commission member effective today Thursday, July 17, 2014. I have enjoyed my two terms in the position and was honored to represent the Town of Cave Creek on a very important appointed representative citizen committee which was able to review and recommend to our town manager, staff, mayor and council new zoning, along with residential and commercial development projects in our town.
I want to personally thank you both along with the most professional staff I have had the pleasure of working with during my time in this appointed position.
I have had both professional and personal changes over the last few months in my life and with the new council and mayor in place I have decided this is the time for me to allow other citizens a chance to step up and contribute to the town I have lived in for over 40 years. I believe the town is heading in a new direction and that it would be appropriate to allow others a chance to step up and offer their excellent contributions to our future town direction.
I thank you and the team for an excellent working relationship and am very impressed with the professionalism your team offers to our citizens in bettering the town I so much care for and love.
It was my honor to work with you and I thank you for assuring our town direction is forward thinking and appropriate. Once it is moved on to our elected officials it then becomes their decision on what they believe is the best direction with respect to the recommendations of your team and our Planning Commission members. I urge those who lead to remember we are a Western Community that needs to balance staying competitive while supporting our citizens. We had a very well designed area for development and an excellent chance to develop that area while protecting major land areas from development. I ask that those in elected positions remember that in order to survive as an excellent town we need to stay the course and not delay the forward movement of protection of major land while developing a commercial corridor along Carefree Highway.
Thank you very much and I wish you and your team nothing but the best and know with your leadership and cooperation of our elected officials we will continue to be an amazing place to live and offer visitors a warm welcoming environment in which to visit or shop.
Thank you,
John G. Ford
Former Cave Creek
Planning Commissioner
Dear Commissioner [Eileen] Wright
Recently, my husband and I were informed that at a commission meeting you supported allowing horses on Residential (R-Zoning) less than an acre, and the following day(s) you and another Creeker met with Mr. Cordwell to gain support for your proposal even though our zoning only allows horses in DR areas. We were appalled that you used your seat to lobby staff when Chairman Bryda said he would talk with staff and get back to members of the commission.
We are totally opposed to your actions as we do not want horses in R-Zoning and all the activity that goes with them. We moved where horses were not allowed as we are too old to still have horses. There is plenty of land in Cave Creek where people can have horses.
In two instances you have not followed what you told us was your platform and positions if you were elected to council. The first dealt with rezoning residential land to allow for commercial uses and the second is your disregard for planning commission procedures.
To be more specific, you supported changing residential zoning along Carefree Highway so there could be commercial activity. You even offered an amendment to intensify the commercial activity in some areas, which was in opposition to what the planning staff recommended and what citizens in that area wanted. Now you are circumventing town zoning and come across as though you know what's better for citizens than they do. Perhaps you thought supporting anything to do with horses would gain you citizen support for another run at council. Your actions lead us to believe that your goal is to use your seat on the commission as a personal stepping stone to get on the council even if it means disregarding the wishes of citizens.
You should follow procedures for zoning changes or you will be no better than the politicians in Washington who ignore the laws just to get votes to stay in power. Is it your objective to gain voter support or do what is right for Cave Creek citizens? Your actions are different than what you publicly have stated.
Many of us supported your campaign for council but now we are so disappointed we feel you should resign from the planning commission. We have never seen a commissioner use their position for personal gains to the degree you have.
Sincerely,
Cave Creek residents who care about their town, and the behavior of elected and appointed officials.
CC: Mayor and Council Members and Planning Commission Members
e B.O. la
What could our feckless chief executive possibly have to do with the Ebola outbreak in west Africa. Nothing directly of course, but the threat is real and Obama's failure to act puts us at risk once again.
The president has proven himself to be as clueless, disinterested and disconnected as a child with ADD, more interested in his golf score than world affairs. He claims to have known nothing about the ISIS threat growing in Iraq, although informed months earlier, nothing about Putin's intentions to reform the old Soviet Union with the signs and signals everywhere. Now the always fatal Ebola virus is killing thousands of innocents in Africa and is only a plane flight away from anywhere in the world.
The World Health Organization and American officials are mindful of those entering the U.S.; except across our southern boarder. The Border Patrol encounters hundreds of O.T.M.'s or other than Mexicans from all over the world. Traffic between Central America, South America, Mexico and the African continent has only minor restrictions. With an incubation period of several days anyone exposed to this viral death sentence could easily reach our open southern border before symptoms even appear.
But closing the Mexican border holds a political price Mr. Obama is not willing to pay. Facing a potential pandemic one seven iron shot away, better to whine about congressional gridlock and impeachment talk. Deflect and divert.
Randy Edwards
Cave Creek
Feel free with U.S. air superiority!
We are certainly living in trying times. It seems as if there is trouble everywhere and we either won't or can't do anything about human suffering all over the globe. We need to stop and consider that there is no war in the U.S. Indeed, we do have a border crisis without a solution, but there are no bombs being dropped on us as in Israel, Ukraine and Iraq.
One of the reasons is that we have pursued an air superiority agenda through both Democrat and Republican administrations. We are ready if the worse scenario were to happen.
On this one thing, Arizona Democrats and Republicans have kept ahead of the world by building the F-35 fighter jet. We can be proud and feel very good that if we ever had to, we could use the most advanced fighter jet ever created. We hope never to have to use them, but the years of planning will pay off if we ever do.
Ben Carroll
Cave Creek
Solutions for change
When two buffalo recently and tragically died in Cave Creek, we all felt the shock of those deaths. Some of us remain in shock. Most of us are left with more questions than answers about how and why these deaths occurred.
These senseless deaths remind us of the senseless killings rendered upon buffalo to near extinction in the nineteenth century. These recent deaths underline the fact that buffalo and livestock have no more protective rights today than they had nearly two hundred years ago. These pointless deaths bring urgent attention to the need for standardized quidelines for the humane care and treatment of livestock, particularly when these animals are subjected to extreme weather conditions.
Now is the time to be proactive and prove we have come a long way since we slaughtered buffalo on the range. Now is the time to define and articulate appropriate measures to end livestock suffering and death and to ensure buffalo and livestock are humanely protected and cared for.
On August 21, we invite our community and interested persons from all communities to brainstorm solutions for change on behalf of buffalo and livestock. Let's be the New West and bring new guide lines that give buffalo and livestock humane care and protective rights and eliminate the unconscionable.
All are welcome. I hope to see you there!
WHEN: Thursday, August 21, 2014
TIME: 7 – 9 p.m.
WHERE: Foothills Community Foundation, 34250 N. 60th St. Bldg. B., (next to YMCA and PVCC). 60th and Carefree Hwy., Scottsdale.
For directions only call FCC at 480-488-1090.
Pam Cooper
Email
Deception
Common Core is now a potent election issue. If you haven’t heard the term lately, you should know that Arizona politicians deceptively renamed it “Arizona College and Career Ready Standards.” An Arizona education policy expert last week reconfirmed the sad fact for me: Common Core and Arizona College and Career Ready Standards are word for word, the same.
What is Common Core? It is the Federalization and nationalization of American education, from kindergarten through high school. Its supporters will tell you it is simply a set of standards, and schools will remain free to choose their own curriculum. FALSE. The Federal government funded the Common Core tests your child will take. Your children’s teachers will be evaluated on their students’ test results. Teachers therefore must teach to the test, literally for their own survival. Common Core becomes the curriculum, and every school in the country falls under Federal education control. As easy and as fast as that – you have lost your schools. Common Core is Obamacare for American education.
Supporters will tell you Common Core will improve Arizona’s schools. FALSE. Common Core has never been tested anywhere. Bill Gates, an originator of the Common Core concept and the money behind it, stated in September, 2013: “It would be great if our education stuff worked, but that we won’t know for probably a decade.“ How’s that for an experiment with your child’s future? Would Bill Gates load an untested operating system into his own computer? We all know that answer.
Common Core is copyrighted and cannot be changed in any meaningful way. Think about that! If as a parent, you dislike what your child is being taught, you can petition your school board, but their hands are tied. They cannot change a thing, and neither can you.
Common Core has been cleverly wrapped in many layers of disguise, an onion hard to peel. It takes days of research for the average person to understand in its totality. That complexity makes it easy for Arizona legislators who support it to state all the falsehoods. In my own discussions with several legislators, it became evident that they understood only their own rhetoric, but not Common Core.
Common Core in Arizona must be repealed. To keep your elected local school accountable to you. To leave you in control of your child’s education. To prevent collection of data on your children which will continue from preschool to the workforce and remain in Federal computer databases, available for distribution to third parties without your permission.
Few people these days are willing to be totally candid, but I am not timid: Any legislator who supports it must be defeated. Watch, in particular, for those who supported it early but are now tiptoeing, or running away.
Here are some names to remember:
• Heather Carter, incumbent, LD 15: March 26, 2013 interview, Ted Simons hosting “Arizona Horizon”, PBS, appearing in favor of Common Core
• Mary Hamway, candidate, LD 28: “I fully support the Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards.” (Scottsdale Parent Council Legislative Candidate Responses)
• Kate Brophy McGee, incumbent, LD 28 (and my sister): “I support Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards.” (Scottsdale Parent Council Legislative Candidate Responses)
For more complete information, see: www.arizonansagainstcommoncore.com
Dan Brophy
Email
Gaza – Hamas and Israel
War is hell. People get killed in warfare. Nations fall in warfare. It has been that way since the beginning of time and it is not going to change now. That fact must always be known before a war begins. Once started is no time to decide if it is worth the price. Like it or not the only objective in warfare is to win. Any war started and fought is illogical for any other reason. In order to determine fault or blame you must understand the goal of each side. In every war there is an aggressor and a defender.
Limited warfare is not a winning strategy, not now, not ever. Every conflict the USA has been involved in since WWII has been limited in nature and none have been won. To win a war, the supporters of those who take an active part must be targets as well as the fighters. We (meaning the allies) did not bring the axis powers to their knees by wreaking havoc on just the military fighters, but by destroying their means of support and supplies, in other words, civilian industry. For every soldier fighting there may be dozens of civilian supporters. Without the supporters the military cannot function. Supplying food as well as weapons support is absolutely necessary for the desired outcome. Therefore, the targeting of civilians may very well be justified just as much as those in uniform. World opinion is not important in winning, only in compromising. Compromising usually means no decision as to the cause of the military action will be reached. A stalemate.
In the case of Gaza and Israel the question remains, is compromise what they are fighting for or are they fighting to be able to live in peace? If it is the latter, public opinion must not matter – just results. If it is the former, why fight at all? Live with the rockets as best as is possible because there will never be peace.
Having a 12 hour lull (cease fire) in fighting does nothing except prolong the conflict. Each side re-arms and re-supplies its troops to fight harder and longer. There is no other purpose regardless of what the so called diplomats say; a cease fire is not an accomplishment. If anything it is a non-accomplishment. You cannot win a war by coddling your enemy. You kill them and get it over with by destroying their ability to wage war. General George Patton once said “patriotism is not dying for your country, it is making the enemy die for his.” He was right!
Israel will never win nor be safe as long as Hamas is an ally of Palestine and Palestine stays in Gaza, unless it fights to win and not to appease world opinion. There is little doubt they know it! Only the U.S. pressure (considering world opinion) prolongs this and other conflicts. The U.S. giving humanitarian aid to Palestine, which then is handed to Hamas, also prolongs the conflict regardless of how it looks, which in essence does the opposite of the desired result.
Don Bitler
Scottsdale
Unsettled
Several months ago some in our community considered creation of a civic signature – a town slogan – for Cave Creek. Then after realizing that this was not the West's most western town nor was it too tough to die, the idea seemed to wither and die.
Rightfully so. Cave Creek has been and remains a pleasant blend of Tombstone and Mayberry. A good place for Wyatt and Aunt Bea to live, work, retire or entertain all their rowdy friends.
Now with attractive western artwork gracing the entrances on Cave Creek Road, perhaps now's the time to signal our heritage, display our warmth, show some spunk and reveal our sense of humor!
Welcome to Cave Creek.
Unsettled since 1870.
Tom Saxer
Cave Creek
I have a question
Why do illegal aliens (criminals and felons by law) have benefits handed to them ... no questions asked?
Why are these illegal intruders receiving more benefits, more easily than unemployed or retired Americans? These are American citizens who have paid their required taxes and Social Security and Medicare who are now struggling to make ends meet!
There is no doubt this administration makes it as difficult as possible for patriotic working American citizens to receive additional aide when they are in need.
Raises to Social Security benefits are kept to a minimum by creating ever changing rules on how these "raises" are calculated. When it comes to Medicare, the monthly charges are being raised while they are cutting both the fees paid to the providers and the services Medicare will provide.
At the very same time they are willing to step up and waste billions upon billions of dollars on those who violated and disrespected our laws when they entered our country illegally.
There is something very rotten and out of balance in Washington. This administration, the sad sack in the White House along with his cronies in the Senate, are strangling hard working, patriotic Americans who have served their country in favor of illegal aliens.
What the hell is going on?
Why are we, Americans citizens, allowing ourselves to be disrespected by this disgraceful president and his party of anti-American terrorists?
Tom Carbone
Cave Creek
Bob Coady, one of Carefree's finest
My very good friend, and one of best friends Carefree ever had, is now moving to the west valley. Bob and Sue are busy packing and will be gone by next week. You could always tell when Bob was doing the right thing for our residents. The GOB network and the Town Hall's favorite 'attack dog blogger' would mount another smear campaign against Bob. But who else could ever have been re-elected time after time, like he did ... in spite of their vicious attacks. His focus was always on what he felt was best for ALL of the residents ... not just the chosen few.
I often write that "the last one to leave please turn out the lights" and Bob joins two former mayors and a highly regarded former councilman by the name of Peter Koteas in leaving before the 'spend it 'till its gone crowd' finishes off our reserves … using the badly flawed "ten year plan" as a guide.
Bob will be missed by the mostly silent but deeply concerned in our town. We wish he and Sue a happy life in their new home.
Jim Van Allen
A Coady supporter
