Each year since director Patrick Schweiss took the helm of the Sedona International Film Festival, ticket sales have climbed and the list of famous Hollywood attendees gets longer and longer. Obviously, Schweiss is doing something right.

That’s why world-famous documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who also is not-so-famously the director of the Travis City (Mich.) Film Festival, is walking around the festival taking notes!

A Conversation with Michael Moore

Moore has been the ultimate Festival guest, holding spectacular Q&A sessions after each of his movies, as well as a number of other pieces he is championing, including the mesmerizing “In Troubled Waters.”

His Saturday morning “A Conversation with Michael Moore” was equally impressive. Sitting at the dais with Festival sponsor Mary Fisher, one of the world’s great humanitarians and philanthropists, Moore held a stark, frank, honest discussion about everything from the banking crisis to the Sponge Bob Square Pants movie.

More to come …

for the Animals:

Let’s Hear It For the Pets!

by Kristin Hunt

Get ready to tune in for some fun – whether you’re at work, at the creek, running errands, or just hanging out at home.

Beginning Thursday, Sept. 10, the Humane Society will be hosting a three-day Radiothon fund-raiser, and it’s aimed to help out those without voices: namely, all of the abandoned puppies, kittens, dogs, and cats who are waiting for someone to take them home.

Interviewing Ruby

The Radiothon is a fund-raiser geared to help pay for the new building project completed last year. The revamped Humane Society provides more space, more comfort, and better living conditions for the animals waiting to be adopted, as well as a nicer place to work for the people there, too. The goal to reach is $150,000, which will help put the Humane Society on track to serve our area and keep pace with rising costs.

To kick off the whole event, the Humane Society will be hosting the Arizona premiere of Mine, a movie about the tragedies and bonds formed between people and animals during and after Hurricane Katrina, at Harkins‘ Theatres, on Tuesday, September 8.

Then, starting  on September 10, and continuing over three days, the Humane Society will be airing the Radiothon live, from 6 a.m. until 5 p.m., across several radio stations, including: Sunny 100.1 FM, 95.9 FM, 105.7 FM, 102.9 FM, and 1600 AM. Callers can phone in their donations, so we’ll hear the voices of people in our own community who are helping the animals.

Fun will be had by all who are listening, with lots of prizes to be given out, featured guests, and a show with DJ Rick Malone and pet therapist Warren Eckstein, the “Pet Doctor,” an internationally known animal expert, who will be answering callers’ pet-related questions, from noon-5 p.m.

On Friday, September 11, the party continues, with a live, remote radio hook-up at the Sedona Farmer’s Market, which takes place every Friday at the end of Airport Road, and is a must-see for all who have the time to check it out.

On the final day, Saturday, September 12, the Radiothon will be spending time with Kids and Cans, which is a group of about 50 kids, mostly from Sedona, but also including a few from other places in the Verde Valley. These kids will be stationed at 15 different locations around Sedona, each with a can that they themselves decorated to the best of their abilities, hoping to help out the animals. They will be accepting monetary donations, as well as bags or cans of food.

Kids And Cans Locations: Sedona Dog Park, Weber’s IGA, Euro Deli, Java Love Café, Bashas‘, Safeway, Probuild, Biddles, Cheers, Sedona Pet Supply, Tlaquepaque, New Frontiers, Full Moon Saloon (cans only), Paw Prints, Chico’s Clothing.

“I wanted to get the kids involved because they’re an important part of our community, too, and they have a real desire to help out. They’re awesome,” said Linda Brecher, Humane Society Board of Trustees vice president and co-chair of the Radiothon committee.

Also on Saturday, September 12, is the 2009 Ride for the Animals, which will be huge this year, with a motorcade of about 400 motorcyclists, complete with police escort, in a parade beginning at the Safeway Shopping Center, traveling up the breathtaking switchbacks of the Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff, then continuing down Interstate 17 to the historic Highway 179, which will bring everyone back to the Village of Oak Creek for more fun, food, and entertainment at the Full Moon Saloon.

Also, Officer Lopez will be out and about with his canine deputy, Joker, and a Sedona fire truck will be visiting some of the Kids and Cans locations.

After all is said and done on Saturday, September 12, at 5 p.m., there will be a celebration in honor of the Humane Society’s first all-community Radiothon, hosted at Reds at the Sedona Rouge. There, thanks and recognition will be given out, and everyone can unwind with some food, wine, and music.

If you’re interested in being involved, there is an open invitation to anyone who wishes to be a part of the Radiothon, or attend any of the events during and afterwards.

All help is greatly appreciated, and a little goes a long way when everyone chips in!

]]> http://ilovesedona.com/2009/09/09/sedona-humane-society-radiothon/feed/ 0 http://ilovesedona.com/2009/09/09/sedona-humane-society-radiothon/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ilovesedonacom/~3/eK3i0jqM-yM/ http://ilovesedona.com/2009/09/08/414/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:15:57 +0000 admin http://ilovesedona.com/?p=414 Sedona’s Future Government

by Paul Chevalier

Sedona’s City Council is on a relentless tilt away from democracy. We are at the point where the majority of our present City Council no longer pays any attention to citizens who disagree with them.

The council’s disregard for the public has been increasing over the past few years. Now, the four of the seven members who control the council, no longer pay attention to what the citizens think when making council decisions.

Paul Chevalier

This majority of four: Vice Mayor John Bradshaw and councilors Pud Colquitt, Nancy Scagnelli and Dan Surber, have control of the council – and it has made them bold. In recent months, they openly showed their joint power over the mayor, by firing the citizens on his personal advisory committees.

To increase their power even more, and to try to guarantee a super majority council, these four have “chosen” the successor for recently resigned Marc Sterling’s council seat – who had three years remaining in his term – thereby prohibiting the people of Sedona from electing their own representative.

Representative Government, as former State Senator Tom O’Halleran recently has been quoted as saying, is the core foundation of any successful political unit. Clearly, by this action, these four councilors, Bradshaw, Colquitt, Scagnelli, and Surber, have shown their contempt for representative government.

At the end of this year, it seems likely that Bradshaw will resign from the council to run for mayor, in 2010. If and when Bradshaw vacates his council seat, the majority of the council will likely, once again, show its contempt for representative government and deny the electorate the chance to choose the person who will complete Bradshaw’s remaining two-and-a-half-year council term.

The majority will likely appoint someone who thinks like them. What this means is that two-of-our-seven council members will have been selected without voter consent. Consequently, in 2010, the current majority, needs only get two like-minded people elected to the council to remain in control. If that happens, our government will be controlled by a majority that includes only two (of the seven) council members that were elected by the people. This shows ultimate contempt for representative government.

Some people may think this is clever. Some may think that the end justifies the means, and the council majority does what it does for our greater good. Has the council majority, in fact, acted for our greater good? Perhaps it is useful to look at a few of the major decisions members of the council majority have made.

A). Three members of our current council, Bradshaw, Colquitt and Scagnelli, indebted our city in the tens of millions of dollars to build an unneeded, unwanted sewer in the Chapel area. They did not allow the citizens the opportunity to vote on the debt bond for the project. Yet, the citizens will have to pay for it.

There is not enough money left in a combination of city reserves and anticipated city income to pay the interest and principal on this debt, beginning mid-2012. The council knew this, or should have known it, at the time they borrowed the money. If our citizens had been given a chance to examine this issue and vote on it, common sense would have prevailed and the bond money for the Chapel sewer would have been defeated.

In the coming years, the people of Sedona will have to pay for Bradshaw, Colquitt, and Scagnelli’s mistake. We will see new and higher taxes and fees. For some of our fellow citizens, particularly the elderly retirees, this issue will break them, financially. Some will lose their homes.

Why was this necessary? So that the Chapel area will have a sewer system – even though some of the Chapel residents may no longer be able to afford their home due to the sewer connection fees and ongoing costs.

B). These majority councilors ignored local environment-minded citizens’ efforts to protect our dark skies. Some of these citizens were treated with discourtesy and distain.

Didn’t we move to Sedona for its clear clean air, its beautiful skies, and the natural beauty of its red rocks? Is it unusual that we want to maintain it that way? Why does the majority of the council have a different agenda? Why do they prefer to light up the business area of West Sedona at night?

Their proclaimed rationale for pursuing street lighting, along West Sedona’s 89A business district, is bizarre. This strange logic of the majority of the council goes like this: we need street lights to protect from injury people who jaywalk there at night. They point out that three people were killed there at night by automobiles on the highway, in front of a bar, some years ago. In one of these unfortunate deaths, the victim was passed out, lying on the highway, before he was hit.

The council majority neglects to consider that once that bar went out of business, and this was many years ago, there have been no more roadway deaths or jaywalking problems at night in that area. Common sense tells us that the heightened danger disappeared with the closing of that bar, and was never due to a lack of lighting on the highway. Let‘s face it, if you pass out on the highway during broad daylight, some car will probably run over you, too.

Perhaps, the council majority has another reason for supporting the streetlights. Government studies have shown that the answer to improved highway safety, day and night, in areas such as this, is to add center medians.

One councilor has told me he would not support center medians because some of the business people in this area oppose it. So, that means, rather than support a really good solution that a few businesses might object to, the council chose a mediocre one that wouldn’t upset a few businesses. It’s fine to be pro business, but not at the expense of ruining our dark skies – for all of us.

The people of Sedona are concerned about the council majority’s impingements on the beauty of our environment, and do not agree that ruining our dark skies for this purpose is justified.

By the hundreds, local citizens signed petitions opposing these streetlights. When these petitions were delivered to the council, the majority downplayed them ‚ “anyone can get a bunch of people to sign petitions.”

Really? If that’s so, then shouldn’t there be petitions signed by locals favoring the streetlights? There were no petitions presented to council, signed by locals, that supported the streetlights – not even one petition.

Citizens also tried to persuade the council majority against these streetlights by coming, en masse, to a council meeting and speaking against them. When these locals spoke against the streetlights, they were told by council members that the citizen speakers did not represent the majority of the people of Sedona. They were told they only represented themselves.

One of the majority councilors stated at a council meeting that “the people who come to council meetings who disagree with the council’s decisions represent only one-tenth of one percent of the people of Sedona.” Using this math, about 12 people, all told, disagree with the council’s decisions. This is absurd, as hundreds of people have shown up at council meetings and signed petitions to show that they disagreed.

Majority council members have suggested that there is a silent majority of people in Sedona who agree with them that we should put in the streetlights. A silent majority? How can they possibly know that?

Citizens concerned about maintaining our dark skies then tried yet another tact. They encouraged the city government to select Sedona residents to form a committee to study the safety issues on Hwy. 89A, and report findings and recommendations to the council. The council agreed and directed the city manager to pick such a committee. Eric Leavitt, who was Sedona city manager at the time, complied. After studying the issue, the Citizens Committee made recommendations to the council that the need for streetlights was unfounded and unnecessary.

The council majority was not pleased, and they rejected the committee’s recommendations, then told ADOT that Sedona’s government wanted the streetlights.

C). Every city council should treat its citizens with dignity and respect. That should be the first commandment of government. Our council majority is not respecting the residents of Sedona.

Here is an example: A few months ago, the council majority disbanded Mayor Rob Adam’s committees. These committees consisted of respected citizens who, after being asked by the mayor, volunteered their time and skills to work as advisors to him.

Their mission was to make our city a better place to live, and to contribute a more professional perspective on our financial issues. These citizens put in hundreds of hours of time, without pay. Then, they asked a few hard questions of the government, particularly about the city’s finance practices, especially about budgeting.

After they asked about city finances, the council majority disbanded the committees. With the dissolution of these committees, their probing questions about our finances virtually disappeared.

Transparency in government is a critical protection for any community. Democracies are built on transparency. Kingdoms are not. The council majority’s resistance against citizen’s requests for financial information, which is a public right, leads people to wonder what our local government is trying to hide.

What mistakes have been made and covered up? We have a right to know, because it is us who will have to pay for these mistakes.

In 2010, let’s change the philosophy, the actions, and the attitude of Sedona’s government.

There are many people who live in Sedona who would like a change in government philosophy, actions, and attitude. There are many more people, who do not know what is going on, but would want to protect our environment and their own wallets and pocketbooks.

We must let people know what is happening. Then, we must support candidates for the next Sedona City Council who will protect all of us. We need a council majority that has the attitude of serving the public, and the confidence to accept the inclusion of professionals who can help design our city’s destiny.

Sedona’s future can change for the better in our next election (mid-2010), if we elect council members who will respect citizens, protect our environment, be fiscally responsible, and seek out and follow the will of the people on all important community issues.

We must elect THREE new people in the next election, in order to succeed. If we fail to elect three new councilors, we will continue to be at the tyrannical whim of the current council, once again.

The harm the next council can do is even greater than the harm that has been done so far, and that is why we need to change the majority of this council through the voting process. Our next council is poised to redo our Community Plan. Growth is at the center of much of council’s decision making, and that will continue. We need to elect the right people to make sure that growth decisions are not made to the detriment of the environment, including sustainability and citizens‚Äò zoning rights.

It is likely that certain developers will strongly support candidates who think like the current majority of the council. If we elect people into office who want to further develop Sedona in ways that erode our present zoning protections, it is most likely that our protections in the Community Plan will be emasculated.

Developers are pushing hard, even now, for zoning changes that disregard those protections. We need to protect our current zoning laws. If we elect the wrong people, we will see Community Plan changes that will result in 20 housing units per acre, building heights that will increase to four-story structures, and more residential neighborhoods opened up to commercial construction, under the neutral sounding heading of “mixed” zoning areas.

This cannot become Sedona’s future, and it must be stopped in 2010.

We need to find, encourage, and financially support solid city council candidates to step forward – and the sooner the better.

This campaign will be hard, since there are some powerful business people who have too much to lose if the council begins to listen to the citizen majority. We must win it.

Imagine the difference to our city if we elect a council that respects the people.

When our government treats us respectfully, we will return that respect. When the majority of our council believes that their job is to be public servants, they will be treated with dignity and respect by the vast majority of our citizens. When that happens, sitting on the Sedona City Council will be a positive experience.

Sedona needs candidates who are willing to be public servants. Perhaps it is you who should consider being on our next City Council. If you are willing, there are a growing number of people ready and able to help you prepare and help finance your campaign. However, you must subscribe and believe in the philosophy, actions and attitude of a responsible candidate.

The “Responsive Sedona Leadership 2010‚” PAC has been formed to help such candidates get elected in 2010. For more information, you should send an email: (rsedona2010@gmail.com).

by George Winter

The call to community members for their involvement with the fourth annual GumptionFest has been answered. GumptionFest 4, September 4-6, promises to be an experience unlike any other here in Sedona. The festival will truly be a showcase of the incredibly wide range of creative individuals that make up our community, and will offer the rare opportunity to experience these artists gathered together for one single event.

Cute GumptionFest attendee gets her face painted

GumptionFest is held annually in celebration and support of every art form. It celebrates the highest community art form there is: the community itself.

The GumptionFest Kickoff Party at Ken’s Creekside (251 Hwy. 179), on Friday, September 4, at 6 p.m., sets the spirit of the weekend’s festivities, which officially begin at noon the following day. Performers include Jay Fout, with Keith Martini, Jake Payne, Julia Jordan, Busker Eaton, Decker and the Dopplegangers, and Deepa, as well as performance poetry throughout the night. 

Be sure to contact Imagine Art, located at 90 Brewer Rd., to enroll the kids (ages 8 and up) in a supervised art project evening, while you spend some time enjoying GumptionFest events.

On Saturday, September 5, visit the GumptionFest Information Tent, at the corner of Coffee Pot Dr. and Yavapai Dr., in West Sedona, to pick up your map of the festival and the program listings for all of the events taking place Saturday and Sunday. 

Perhaps, from there, you’ll stroll north to the Devi Yoga/ Creative Flooring area Рsince it will be about lunchtime Рto see what tasty delights the food vendors have cooked up. There will be crepes, both sweet and savory, lovingly prepared by the Sedona Crepe Connection, who will be also offering coffee beverages. 

Raw food artists from the Chocolatree will be offering cooling foods to help your body prepare itself for the long, warm day of festival-going. While enjoying your delicious edibles from these and other vendors, visit the stage in the beautifully manicured park area behind Creative Flooring, where there will be music and poetry to entertain and inspire, perhaps encouraging you to participate in one of the many creative workshops being held next door at Studio Live.

Make your way to the Family Zone, just south on Coffee Pot Dr., where the whole family can engage in various art projects and interactive workshops – create together, play games, enjoy family-oriented entertainment, and gain knowledge from the information and workshops available.

While there, be sure to check out the GumptionFest Art Gallery, located directly behind the outdoor Family Zone, and take some time to step out of the sun and bask in the visual art of some of the area’s most talented creators. 

As you experience the festival, keep your eyes and ears ready to take in the poetry of some of Northern Arizona’s most exciting poets. Wandering poets and guerrilla poetry performances are likely to be experienced at any point in the festival. Look forward to the many poetry events scheduled throughout the festival, including a Haiku Death Match, a poetic contest where competitors face off head-to-head using short, 17-syllable slam poems to impress three randomly chosen audience members (who act as judges) with their most sincere, funny, touching, or outrageous verse. Anyone is welcome to sign up and compete.

Music flows all day and everywhere, at GumptonFest

Be sure to take a peek inside the GumptionFest Cabaret Tent, which will be spotlighting a wide range of eclectic entertainment suited for the enjoyment of all, and will be located near the center of the festival, near Sun Signs.

And, of course, all day long the Oak Creek Brewery will be serving hand-crafted microbrewed spirits, along with food from their outdoor grill, while music and poetry will be performed throughout both days.

All events continue Sunday, September 6, culminating in a parade, at 6 p.m., celebrating and inviting all participants and attendees. The parade will begin at Devi Yoga/Creative Flooring. Following the parade will be the GumptionFest After-Party at the Oak Creek Brewery, at 8 p.m.

GumptionFest is an annual festival created by local individuals, in order to celebrate the many creative aspects of our community. GumptionFest is free to the public, and will offer the experience of more than 100 musicians, poets, performers, visual artists, dancers, and artisans, over the course of two days There is something for everyone at this year’s festival, and Sedona’s community is invited to come out and celebrate itself!

For the most up to date information regarding GumptionFest, please go on-line (gumptionfest.com).

Red Rock Village rezoning:
Another out-of-town developer asks for way too much, offers way too little in return

By Marlene Rayner

Here we go again – summer in Sedona brings absurd Community Plan and City Code amendment proposals, along with “community meetings” – timed for exactly when many residents are away!

Last summer, a city-initiated Community Development Code change to increase residential density and height rules, under the guise of “affordable housing,” was soundly rejected by the community. Residents are beginning to see the pattern here.

Architect Stephen Thompson fields some pretty angry questions; area residents made it clear that they are not happy about the enormous increase in density proposed by the rezoning request.

The latest strategy to do the same, in what the city calls a special planning area, is the “mixed-use” development proposal and rezoning request for the 14.3-acre proposed “Red Rock Village,” in the West Sedona SR89A corridor. This private commercial/residential project proposes outrageous density and height changes for Sedona, using subterfuge.

This property, fronted by Windsong Trailer Park, is bordered by SR 89A, Madole Rd. and Tranquil Ave. (residential single family homes), as well as commercial and residential properties located on Andante Dr.

Doug Huberman (developer of the adjacent Safeway Shopping Center), is proposing to develop California-style (Phoenix, too!) urban expansion in Sedona. Before I go any further, let me say that residents surrounding this area (including myself) expected and would support and applaud good development in this area, supportive of local residentís needs (as also stated in the Community Plan). Further, we all would like to see the Windsong area upgraded.

The developer held two dismissive and poorly organized community meetings (July 14, July 28), and insulted the intelligence of the majority of the very small, community-affected audiences. Less than 10 percent of the 360 Sedona residents within 1,000 feet of the project attended the meeting, which was held at a time when many residents are predictably out of town, or just leaving work.

From the beginning, it was obvious at the meetings that City Development staff has spent much time working with the architect and developer. The architect and developer presented the ìneedî to increase height and housing density in order to make the Red Rock Village project profitable for themselves – and the housing “affordable.”

Explaining the unexplainable - Doug Huberman, developer

The developer’s density pitch is “over the top” for Sedona. It consists of 20-30 units per acre (depending on the acreage used for calculation) versus the city’s highest present limit of 12 units per acre for “mixed-use zoning.”

The height proposal is unconscionable, as they have asked for approval of three- and four-story buildings with penthouses topping out at 18-feet higher than the substantial knoll on Madole Rd.!

Imagine this massive development thrust upon West Sedona – 70,000 sq. feet of first floor commercial development, 180 residential units, three- and four- story buildings with underground garages, crammed into less than six-acres. Plus, the proposed multiple huge church buildings (a sanctuary, school, multi-use building, administrative housing, a 30-foot tall cross, an expansive parking lot), all placed in adjacent residential neighborhoods. In total, more than 750 parking spaces are slated for this project.

What about the displaced Windsong Trailer Park residents and the workers who gather there for day work?

And get this – the nearly 15-acre development completely surrounds one homeowner, who will not sell out (hurrah for him!).

This “mixed-use proposal” supposedly was conceptualized cooperatively with the Wesleyan Church. It should be noted here that churches do not need special zoning and can be located in any zone.

The church should be ashamed for colluding in this project. Where are their ethics in this matter if they do not need the zoning? What are they getting out of this “deal?”

The entire property is essentially a land-locked parcel, with only one entrance/exit on SR 89A for at least 180 new residents, plus the commercial traffic, and also the proposed 350-member church and its daily school traffic.

Of course, the developer avoided the entrance/exit issue, by suggesting that by connecting through miniscule Tranquil Ave., and shunting traffic through the Safeway Shopping Center (between McDonaldís and Cafe Jose), it would create alternate routes for the residential/commercial traffic and the church/school attendees ñ thus, obliterating Tranquil Ave. and Andante Dr. residences, and further complicating lower Rodeo Rd.

In addition, the project swallows up much of Madole Rd. and will force Madole residents to drive through the “Red Rock Village” to enter and exit their homes.

In order for the developer to proceed with this plan, a rezoning of the entire parcel to ìmixed-useî is required, due to significant density and open-space issues with the City Development Code. This rezoning to mixed-use must not be allowed to succeed! Besides its detriment to the Community Plan, if the project falls apart, we are still stuck with the rezoning (and massively increased density).

Although designated a ìspecial planning areaî on city maps, significant community benefit is needed to justify such substantial up-zoning – and none is visible here (other than the removal of Windsong).

Currently, only 4.15-acres are zoned commercial (those fronting SR 89A). Huberman owns 2.65 of these acres (Windsong Trailer Park), plus two residential properties purchased in 2007 (one acre total, just west of Madole Rd.). Washington-Federal Bank owns the other 1.5 acres (the former AmeriGas location).

The rest of the 14.3-acre parcel is zoned RMH-10, one residential or manufactured home on approximately 0.23 acres (about four single-family residential units per acre). Similarly, the immediate surrounding properties are zoned for residential, single-family homes (up to four units per acre).

Such a huge, mixed-use development, along with the proposed church development is more than this area can endure.

There are multiple problems with such a rezoning proposal, including but not limited to:

• Density issues (20-30 units/acre vs. current zoning of four units/acre),

• Height issues (three- and four-story buildings),

• The enormous church complex,

• A massive parking lot on a neighborhood street,

• Lighting,

• Interference with the existing view corridors for nearby residents and from SR 89A,

• The massive traffic issues,

• Safety issues with the use of Tranquil Ave. and the Safeway Shopping Center as alternate routes (where traffic safety concerns already exist since the opening of Probuild),

• Blasting/drilling for underground garages,

• Complete obliteration of native vegetation on nearly all the site,

• And finally, the development control for that entire parcel that local residents give up with the mixed-use zoning designation.

Many of us came from places already destroyed by this kind of development. We have seen it happen elsewhere. Those of us who chose to live in this beautiful small town (not urban!) did so for environmental reasons, including convenience and walkability, as well-stated in the Sedona Community Plan.

We trusted Sedona’s “buffer zones” protecting residences from commercial development, and that the adjacent residential zonings would remain preserved according to, again, the environmentally sensitive-sounding Sedona Community Plan.

This “Red Rock Village” proposal doesnít come close to anything any sensible Sedona resident would approve of. The rejection of the ìaffordable housingî Code Amendment last year should have put the city on notice that residents want a different view from City Hall. It appears here that now the plan is to push through sneaky increases in density and height proposals, property by property.

Huberman should be strictly limited to any building on his 2.65 commercial property, alone or in a deal with the bank property. This limits his development to commercial, plus a considerable number of residential units (with proper open space and two-story development), and without the church parking lot or alternate traffic patterns. The development should not surround the single homeowner (noted earlier) on that side of Madole. Road access should be centrally planned to the back (church) property, and maintained on Madole Rd. and to that single homeowner.

The entire nine-acre church property should remain zoned as RMH-10, since a church does not need any zone change to build. We have no guarantee a church will actually be built there. The pastor has suggested a five-to-20-year time frame. Remember, once the zoning is changed from RMH-10 to “mixed-use,” it is “up-zoned,” and could allow further future commercial encroachment into “residential spaces.”

The precedent here for long-term city development is huge. Make no mistake, approval of this kind of ìproperty dealî to underhandedly increase density and height may be common elsewhere, but it is only the second such deal here (including Fitchís Cultural Park development, which still remains in escrow). This proposed project is a “Trojan Horse,” bearing and obfuscating huge future implications for increasing density and height in Sedona.

Because of the potential damage to Sedona residents now and in the future, and the resentment we feel at another round of community opposition, we have a petition stating our community opposition to any zoning change for these properties, and to demand a ìsuper majorityî vote should the project get to a vote at Planning & Zoning and at the City Council.

A super majority vote requires a five-out-of-seven vote from a deliberating body, versus a simple majority (which requires four out of seven). This petition also delegates a few people (people who collected the signatures or their authorized representatives) to present the petitionersí opposition at, including but not limited to, any and all Sedona work sessions, meetings, public hearings, discussions, and gatherings coming from the Sedona Planning and Zoning Commission, Sedona Community Development, and the Sedona City Council.

A copy of the petition is available by email. Please feel free to call (203-0340) or email me (marlenerayner@yahoo.com). Someone can come by for your signature, if we havenít already called or knocked on your door.

Act now; Sedona’s future is on the line.

Articles of interest:

The role of the Sedona City Council: Rulers or Representatives?
What is the role for our City Council? To rule us, or to represent us?
By Paul Chevalier

Thinking About Sedona
Losing our right to vote
By Paul Chevalier

The role of the Sedona City Council:
Rulers or Representatives?

What is the role for our City Council? To rule us, or to represent us?

By Paul Chevalier

This issue should have been settled by the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence established a new form of government for us, where citizens’ rights were placed before the governmentís rights.

Almost 150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln, at Gettysburg, Penn., rewrote in his own words the promise made to the people in the Declaration of Independence. All of us memorized those words when we were children. Our government is to be a government “of the people, for the people, and by the people.”

What has happened to that social contract between local government and citizens in Sedona? What has happened to the promise government made to represent us?

In so far as possible, it has been extinguished in Sedona. Our council has taken on the role of ruler, ignoring, whenever possible, citizen rights that our founding fathers insisted were inalienable.

This harsh judgment of our council is not made lightly. It is supported by numerous undemocratic decisions made by the majority of our existing City Council members. Here are three examples of those appalling decisions:

1). The majority of the members of this council borrowed $18 million – without voter approval – through a bond, mainly to build an unwanted and unnecessary sewer connection.

The city government does not know how to pay this $18 million back without raising our taxes. This council has (unnecessarily) financially damaged the people of Sedona, especially citizens on fixed income. If these council members had more respect for us, and were less narcissistic, they would have wanted the electorate to vote on this bond issue. The benefit of any public vote is that more vital information would surface, and, therefore, it is likely that sounder decisions would be made.

2). The majority of this council is pursuing having ADOT place 76 (or more) 30-foot-high light poles along 89A, in West Sedonaís business district. Why? Because years ago, three people in the proximity of a neighborhood bar were run over at night; one was lying in the road when it happened.

The bar across from Circle K is long gone, and there have been no more accidents at night anywhere near that area. It does not take a brain surgeon to figure out the real cause of those night accidents.

The majority of the people of Sedona vehemently oppose these lights. Seven hundred people signed petitions in protest. A study, prepared by a citizen committee hand-picked by the city government, also said ìNOì to the street lights. Residents have filled the council chambers at numerous council meetings and dozens of residents have spoken or tried to speak in opposition to these street lights.

Public support for the these lights has been low, and so the majority of the council talks about its supporters as being a silent majority. That is a ridiculous statement.

Center medians are the best safety improvement we could make in the West Sedona area if we really want to address safety. Center medians inhibit accidents, both during the day (when almost all occur), as well as at night.

Understandably, our council recognizes that it does not have the money to build center medians now.

We accept that. That does not mean – just to do something – that street lights should be put up.

There is pitiful, little evidence to support the safety value of street lights. The additional fact that the majority of the residents of Sedona vehemently oppose these street lights is also irrelevant to most of this council.

Any council member who believes that his job is to represent the people, would have listened to the majority of the people and voted against the street lights. Only two council members did show us that respect: Mayor Rob Adams and Councilman Cliff Hamilton.

But John Bradshaw, Nancy Scagnelli, Pud Colquitt, and Dan Surber did not accept the overwhelming evidence of the peopleís opinion. Instead, they invented a silent majority as a justification for their votes.

These were two bad decisions that took away our rights, but the worst decision was still to come.

3). The most egregious of all the council decisions was made just two months ago, when council members Bradshaw, Colquitt, Scagnelli, and Surber refused to allow the people of Sedona to choose the replacement for the remaining two years of retiring council member Marc Sterlingís term, in 2010.

Instead, these four council members will pick a kindred spirit to fill this seat (without a vote by local citizens). You can be sure they will pick a person who will agree with these four council members, who will support their views on the issues, and who will support their governing philosophy for the next three years.

It is rumored that Bradshaw will give up his council seat in December 2009, to run for mayor in 2010. If this happens, then, no doubt, the council, once again, will deny us the right to vote for the replacement of his council seat in 2010.

They will pick the person who will agree with them.

At that point, the present majority in the council will only have to win two seats in 2010, in order to continue controlling the council until mid-2012. As a result, only two of the four people in control of our government will have been elected by the people. 

The most sacred democratic principle of our government is the right of the people to choose their own representatives. This council is taking that right away. This to me is the last straw. They have to be stopped. We have a chance to stop them in 2010.

In 2010, we need to elect at least three people to the council who believe in democracy. We need candidates who will support a code of conduct that acknowledges the rights of the residents of Sedona.

The code of conduct must include a commitment from council candidates to seek out and follow the will of the majority of our residents on all important community issues.

Our important community issues include support for the National Scenic Area, an alternative route, and the issue of street lights on Hwy. 89A. Such important community issues should rightfully be decided by the majority of the people of Sedona and then, once decided by the citizens, the councilís job should, rightfully be, to implement the majorityís decision.

The council members who oppose letting the majority of their constituents make the important community decisions, argue that the council has better information on which to make decisions than the rest of us. 

This is a weak argument. In reality, when an important issue is presented to this community, citizens with expertise or keen interest in the issue do research and present facts and studies to the council and local citizens that go far beyond any research the city government has done.

In addition, we must remember that council gets its information almost exclusively from our city staff. While staff may try to present the facts objectively, we need to also remember that the council, not the people, is the boss of the city staff. Our last city manager reversed his opposition to borrowing money for the Chapel sewer project after it became apparent that the council wanted to go forward with the project.

Some issues are so important to our community that no handful of council members should make the final decisions for us. This is our city – we have equal rights. Any candidate that does not agree to this principle is too self-involved and narcissistic to represent us. We should not trust any council member who distrusts us.

In our next election, letís carefully question the candidates and accept only straight and clear answers. Letís only vote for those who believe in the rights of the people to make the decisions on important community issues. 

We have been disappointed too often in the past by pleasant-sounding candidates who make vague promises. This time, letís only vote for people who clearly commit that on important issues, they will follow what our majority decides.

Articles of interest:

Red Rock Village rezoning:
Another out-of-town developer asks for way too much, offers way too little in return
By Marlene Rayner

Thinking About Sedona
Losing our right to vote
By Paul Chevalier