Does Carefree need a new hotel?
Our unique, quaint downtown Carefree is rumored to be needing a 4 or 5 story new hotel. Quietly the Town Staff has prepared a document that would change our General Plan and Town building height standards to allow a building up to 70 Feet right across form the famous Sundial.
Folks, we already have three Hotels in our immediate area. The upscale Boulders, The fine Resort/Conference Center and a small economical unit in Cave Creek. The Boulders just changed ownership and some say it has not been adequately profitable. The Carefree Resort was closed for many years, and has had at least two owners since. Hotel rooms demand in Carefree is extremely seasonal. The “high” season lasts for 4 to 5 months, just like business traffic in the Town Core. Investors in hotels want and need occupancy above 60 percent annually to see any ROI. Folks, that would never happen in downtown Carefree unless the rooms were sold for huge discounts for 5 to 6 months. We would not have a nice Spa, Great Restaurants or Banquet Rooms.
Recent investments like Splash Pads, Fireplaces and way too bright gas lamps have been made claiming them as part of ‘Economic Development”. And the future Sales Tax Revenue and rush of new business tenants will either prove their value or prove they were a pipe dream by a couple of council members.
It is no mystery, to me, why no investors have stepped up to the plate to build any hotels that would be North of the 101 freeway or East of I-17. The three or four major Hospitality firms have an army of qualified “Site Finders.” Some of them have looked at the Cave Creek/Carefree area...and said “No Thanks”. With 58, YES 58, hotels and resorts in the Scottsdale/Paradise Valley area...with way over 12,000 rentable rooms (and growing) who in the right mind would want to risk competing with them. Just the millions of dollars they have available from their ‘room taxes’ to advertise has to be a deal breaker for Carefree. And don’t even consider the town being financially involved. Look at the town of Phoenix with their $300 million dollar hotel DOWNTOWN that has lost MORE than $30 million so far.
ASU, had they signed up for Carefree (and one of our major Building Owners was ready to give them FREE RENT in his + 10,000 foot building) would have been a magnet for our sleepy downtown. But, that opportunity is gone. A small hotel will never be a ‘magnet’.
The Town Staff and a couple of Council members are going to try to push down our trough a new height ordinance that would accommodate a small hotel on a vacant lot next to the Post Office. We simply cannot let them do that.
NO HOTEL, NO 70 FOOT SKYSCRAPERS. Stop trying to kill our town.
Jim Van Allen
Carefree Resident and retired 35 year Hotel Executive
P.S. At the P&Z meeting in Carefree last Monday evening the Town Staff presented an amended document that eliminated the request to approve 70 foot heights for buildings in the Town Core. To a packed audience (where the crowd is usually 2 or 3 people) the news was well received. However a height of 50 ft. vs/ the present 30 ft. is still in their proposal, and not well received by the 40 or more citizens in attendance. Another meeting will be scheduled soon.
The meaning of “IS”
Bill Clinton, testifying during his 1998 impeachment, muddied the waters by speculating on the meaning of the word “is”. His political double-talk aside, we know today the meaning: Islamic State, a terrorist organization. And, it is a threat to every Christian and Jew in the entire world: viewed as Infidels by Islamic terrorists, we all wear the same bulls-eye on our chest.
This fact and the meaning of IS has alluded the President, most of the media and the mayor of Philadelphia. Attacks in Fort Hood, San Bernardino, New York and Philadelphia by declared Muslims and in some cases admitted radical Islamists are distorted, dismissed and misinterpreted. But, make no mistake these were all acts of radical, Islamic terrorism.
While B.O. fiddles, Iraq and Syria burn: war torn Syrian refugees pour unabated into western Europe bringing chaos, IS grows and Iran’s nuke program advances. We can expect no change, no relief from the current administration nor from a Hillary administration, another apologist. A much more rational understanding was on display last night during the Republican debate. For the true meaning of IS, a return to strong foreign policy and enhanced national security, our choice is clear.
Randy Edwards
Cave Creek
Strong candidates worth of your consideration
I am so grateful for strong candidates running for the 5 At Large seats at our Saturday Maricopa County Republican Meeting. I am sure all are worthy of your consideration. However, I know these 6 to be Constitutional Conservatives (wish I could vote for 6) and I would ask for your vote for just 5 of them. I worked with each of them over the years and trust them to work hard for you and stand firm on the Founding Father’s Constitution and our Platform. Please support me in supporting Officers of Our Party that will stand firm and love our God given Freedoms as outlined in our inspired Constitution and to be protected and preserved at all cost.
Linda Brickman (LD15)
Gene Dufoe (LD25)
Wesley W. Harris (LD2
Tom Morrissey (LD18)
Mark Spencer (LD28)
Lynne Weaver (LD28)
Russell Pearce
Arizona
Bike lanes
So I am hearing you are opposed to bike lanes...not sure why, really make sense to those of us who enjoying riding our bikes through towns like Cave Creek and care free, etc...so many of us have careers, families, kids and even though that white line that separates us from the cars, trucks, anything on the roadway, it is all we have to keep us reasonably safe. So just ask yourself, how would you want your friends and family to feel when they are out riding their bikes. Would you want them to be safe? Would you want traffic to be aware of their presence? Would you want them to have fun doing something they enjoy? Talk to some folks who have been hit by a car, someone who lost a friend or family member while riding a bicycle. When you lose or suffer severe injury it has a huge ripple effect. Yes bike lanes will cost money but if it helps prevent loss of life or injury, more folks would ride bikes in your area and feel safer thus bringing more money to Cave Creek/Carefree.
Dan Whitehill
Avid Phoenix cyclist
Beware of county tax lien auction
In February, the county will conduct the annual tax lien auction. It attracts investors because of high interest rates and a chance to acquire property cheap. However, there is unnecessary risk because the county never removes absolutely worthless properties from the tax rolls. Tax liens are repeatedly auctioned off on properties that do not, and never will, have any value.
One of the more egregious examples is in the Golden Palm subdivision in northwest Phoenix. Around 1960, a developer subdivided a large parcel of land. So that garbage trucks could provide service to the first unit, his survey included a narrow strip of land for their use. A temporary easement given to the city of Phoenix stated that the land would revert to a yet un-subdivided parcel when it was subdivided. However, the rest of the land was never subdivided. Instead, someone built a large estate on it. The original sub divider continued to pay taxes of about $50 per year on the strip until the late 1990s. At some point, the parcel was given a street address:1219 West Golden Lane. Then, the assessors’ office increased the tax from $50 to $550. The person who had been paying the $50 tax quit paying, and the property appeared on the tax lien auction list. Because it has a street address, it appears to be a buildable lot in a good neighborhood. It is actually a completely worthless piece of alley still used by garbage trucks. As of 2014, the county has collected over $20,000 at tax lien auctions. Every investor has lost 100% of their money.
Dick Zimmermann
Tempe
Law of the land, for those of you who think it can’t be done
Here is number eight US Code 1182, inadmissible aliens. This law was written in 1952. It was passed by a Democrat-controlled Congress, House and Senate, and signed by a Democrat president.
“Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by president. Whenever the president finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, the president may, by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”
All of the pundits claiming that what Trump said is dumb, stupid, reckless, dangerous, and/or unconstitutional, need to educate themselves. It is already the law of the land. And it was utilized by Jimmy Carter, no less, in 1979 to keep Iranians out of the United States, but he actually did more. He made all Iranian students already here check in, and then he deported a bunch. Seven thousand were found in violation of their visas, 15,000 Iranians were forced to leave the United States, 1979.
You probably won’t hear of this from our mainstream media, nor from our “Narcissist-in-Chief” … but those are the facts.
Steve Warsaw
Carefree
Obama’s assault on the 2nd Amendment – what do you think?
President Obama has issued a wide-ranging series of executive orders aimed at eviscerating our gun rights.
Like millions of other patriotic Americans, I am outraged.
This imperial President has once again illegally overstepped his authority, and his orders pose a fundamental threat to the Second Amendment and American liberty. While Obama and his allies in the liberal media claim that these orders will make the American people safer, we know that not to be the case. I believe it’s important that Republicans in Congress do everything they can to prevent these dangerous orders from coming to fruition.
I’d like to know what steps you think Republicans in Congress should take next to stop Obama’s unconstitutional gun grab scheme – please click on one of the links below to cast your vote:
File a lawsuit and try to stop his executive orders in court
Use the “power of the purse” to defund the agency tasked with carrying out the executive order
File articles of impeachment against President Obama for thwarting the Constitution
Do nothing. Roll over and let Obama get his way
Thank you for taking the time to share your opinion on this critical issue.
Rob Maness
Make our newspaper freer to report the truth
The ability for the media to be reigned in by the government and to be influenced by the rich and powerful is a reality. We may not be able to stop a George Soros from toppling governments or a Bloomberg from pushing more dangerous “GUN FREE ZONES” or Bill Gates from pushing a bogus global warming threat.
But we can ban the ownership of all newspapers by corporations having radio and TV stations requiring the renewal of FCC licenses. It is obvious that any corporation that has TV or Radio stations must have to worry about courageous newspaper or magazine writers in their employ that try warn us about a run away government. The IRS has already been employed to harass conservative and Christian groups with impunity. Fact!
In the 1770s the printed media helped to rally patriots to create this wonderful nation. The printed media is sacred and its integrity should never be compromised by the specter of a government threatening to pull a radio or TV license because of a rogue newspaper reporter. Force the sale of newspapers to non-radio and non-television vested corporations and you would see a return true journalism and a reduction of Soviet Union style propaganda we see more and more every day.
Joseph DuPont
Towanda, Pennsylvania
Meat industry - 9,
consumers – 0
The “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” released yesterday by U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services mark the ninth time in a row that the meat industry has successfully suppressed scientific findings recommending reduced meat consumption. The reduction was recommended by the government-appointed Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee in a 571-page report based on review of thousands of studies.
Reduced meat consumption was first recommended in 1977 by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs in “Dietary Goals for the United States”, a precursor to the Dietary Guidelines. The meat industry forced the Committee to destroy all copies of the report and to remove the offending recommendation from a new edition.
That wanton government sell-out to the meat industry has replayed itself with every new edition of the Dietary Guidelines since then. “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” shape school lunches and other government food support programs and underlie public health campaigns to lower rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Fortunately, American consumers are not easily duped. Sales of plant-based meats, cheeses, milks, and ice creams have skyrocketed, and every grocery store provides seemingly countless choices of fruits and vegetables.
Carl Devlin
Cave Creek
Four oblivious apocalyptic horsemen
President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, former Secretary of State Clinton, and Senator Bernie sanders are oblivious to the danger posed by ISIS.
Bernie Sanders keeps harping on our economy and hardly talks about ISIS. He is way out in left field.
President Obama referred to ISIS as the JV team and dithered when moderate Syrians asked for air strikes. Over the past year Obama’s air campaign against ISIS averaged 20 sorties per day compared to 1100 sorties per day in Operation Desert Storm and 800 per day during the second Gulf War.
Obama continues to refuse to call them radical Islamic terrorists.
When referring to the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, Secretary Kerry said there was “a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, okay, they’re really angry because of this and that.” And then he described the killing of 130 people in Paris as indiscriminate. There is no rationale for any terrorist attacks, and showing sympathy for the Charlie Hebdo attack is ridiculous.
In a Democratic debate former Secretary Clinton said she couldn’t refer to the Paris killers as radical Islamic terrorists, which is parroting Obama’s view of the terrorists. Clinton and Obama think we should lead from behind and let others be out front, and ISIS and others are taking advantage of this policy of non-leadership, and they threaten the security of this country and the Western world.
Donald Moskowitz
Londonderry, New Hampshire
It is starting! Essential Read
President Barack Hussein Obama, on behalf of true Americans, I want to inform you that we will not follow your unconstitutional executive order. We the American people have no other recourse than to resort to civil disobedience. We have no representatives in Washington DC who will stand and the Supreme Court has failed us as well. You have embraced violent protest movements in America such as Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter. We are not lowering ourselves to that despicable progressive socialist “rules for radicals” model.
We, the people, are just telling you “No.” We will now be sending you emails and social media posts as well as calling OUR White House to say one word, “No.” And if you persist and take the same course of action as Xerxes, we will give you a two-word response, Molon Labe. This is your final year as president of the United States so let us come to an agreement: you leave us alone and we, the American people, will let you stay and finish your term.
Heed these words of counsel. Our American blood is descended from men and women who rejected tyranny so shall we honor their memory. If you do not wish to honor your oath to the Constitution and protect us, we shall protect ourselves. And NEVER forget the oath we American Warriors take is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign, and domestic. I beseech you, do not come down on the wrong side of American history. Do not come out into the East Room and issue these executive orders, which you know very well are not constitutional. America is a Constitutional Republic, not a constitutional monarchy, and we are not ruled by edict.
We have a system of checks and balances, separation of powers, and coequal branches of government. If you cannot govern this Nation according to its principles and established laws, then tell us so, and kindly vacate the office. Nothing you are proposing by this executive action has any relevance to recent incidents. You have released countless criminals and now you wish to restrict law-abiding citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms.
Go to your hometown in Chicago, take a walk this evening in Washington DC, or drive up to Baltimore if you want to rectify “gun violence.” But as a proud gun owner, husband, dad of two daughters, the third of four generations of American combat veterans, a former Member of the US Congress, and an American, I am telling you simply, “Stand down.”
Retired Lt. Colonel Allen West
Florida
