"Thomas Jefferson said a democracy is dependent on an informed citizenry. I don't care whether it sounds corny or not. It's the truth." -Jim Lehrer
Carefree Truth
Issue #943, August 20, 2021
Issue #943, August 20, 2021
Why do North Boulders Residents Suffer From “Boulders Privilege”?
Given their current actions, it is evident that a handful of North Boulders residents have a severe case of Boulders Privilege. While the northern half of the Boulders is located within Carefree, the minds and hearts of these residents do not recognize that the other 85% of Carefree residents living outside of the Boulders are as deserving of the same treatment as the Boulders residents want for themselves. Those other Carefree residents, they seem to reason, exist only to pay for benefits to Boulders residents. In contrast, these Boulders residents do not evidence any sense of community mindedness or any responsibility for reciprocity within the community.
Let’s look at the record:
Wastewater Treatment Plant: The most notable recent example of Boulders Privilege was the handling of the decommissioning and closure of the wastewater treatment plant which was located in the center of the Boulders. The primary beneficiaries were Boulders residents, but the over $8 million in costs to make these improvements were funded by Liberty/Black Mountain, who passed on these charges to each and every system user throughout Carefree, 85% of whom lived outside of the Boulders. No Boulders residents stepped forward to underwrite these costs. And they did little, if anything, to challenge the magnitude of the proposed rate increase before the Arizona Corporation Commission. The stench from the wastewater treatment plant was replaced by the stench of Boulders Privilege.
Water Storage Reservoir: Another example of how these Boulders residents, who consider themselves privileged, think is their attitude and actions to thwart the installation of a necessary UNDERGROUND water storage reservoir. After an extensive review of 32 potential sites, professional engineers identified one site - in land in which the Carefree Water Company has an existing water utility easement and located in the Boulders open space along Tom Darlington. Over 1,000 Carefree residents in South and West Carefree desperately need improvements to the water system currently serving them, and that water reservoir and the site for it are key to the successful and efficient operation of the expanded system.
How did these self-perceived privileged Boulders residents respond? Lawsuits, widespread deceiving misinformation, personal attacks, and threats of additional lawsuits to force delays. Site the reservoir anywhere in Carefree, they said, but not anywhere within our privileged Boulders subdivision. As the current North Boulders HOA President said, it is “unjust and inappropriate” to place the water storage reservoir anywhere in the Boulders.
Sensing that they were losing these battles, these same Boulders residents are in the process of placing two Initiatives on the Ballot for the Election in the Fall of 2022. Both are directly related to the removal of the water storage reservoir even though these Boulders people are trying to paint them differently through communication programs developed by paid political consultants and attorneys.
Initiative #1: Eminent Domain. The real motive for this Initiative is cloaked behind the ruse that these Boulders residents opposed the installation of the water storage reservoir because they are conservation and land preservation minded, and that the reservoir would destroy their private natural desert. Their real motive, however, is that this Initiative would dramatically limit or permit the inherent powers of the Town to condemn property for the public good. Should the Town acquire the land through eminent domain and build the water reservoir in the utility easement in the Boulders open space, this Initiative would require the Town to demolish and remove the new reservoir, build it elsewhere and re-landscape the land where it was initially built in the Boulders. The total costs to do so is estimated at a minimum of $6.5 million +, which would be paid for by all the users of the Carefree Water Company system through higher monthly water rates, 85% of whom live outside of the Boulders.
Initiative #2: Term Limits. This is one of their final grasps at having the water reservoir not be built in the Boulders - or forcing it to be removed from the Boulders if it is built. While the seeming objective of this Initiative that they would like for you to believe is that it would provide new thinking on Council, the real objective would be to replace the entire existing Town Council by prohibiting them from serving through the imposition of rigid and retroactive term limits. Then replacing existing Council members with new people sympathetic to the Boulders residents desire for privilege and who would vote to remove the new water reservoir from its location in the Boulders open space would fulfill their real goal. Eliminating all the experienced Council members who have knowledge of government workings and have built effective working relationships with other municipalities and County/State agencies over the years with a slate of inexperienced and potentially biased or single-issue members is not good governance.
What’s next? This handful of Boulders people afflicted with Boulders Privilege have hired a condemnation attorney, likely on a contingency basis, who specializes in appealing condemnation cases which are initially lost on their merits. The typical approach of this attorney is to use a delaying tactic to try to negotiate a higher price for the condemned property. The Carefree Water Company has submitted a realistic appraisal from a seasoned Appraiser of the value of the property. This price is factored into the projected future rates. The Boulders attorney will undoubtedly want a higher figure. If he is successful, take a guess at who would pay the incremental amount? If you guessed the Carefree Water Company - who would then pass it on to you and all the other users in Carefree of the water system through higher monthly rates - you are correct. Recognize that if the Boulders is successful in this endeavor, 85% of the incremental costs would be passed on to Carefree residents who did not live in the North Boulders, while the Boulders residents and their contingency attorney would receive 100% of the incremental amount received to share between themselves.
There is no reason to believe, through their actions or statements, that these North Boulders residents care anything about other Carefree residents. To the contrary, they seem prepared to take any action, without regards to the consequences or costs to other Carefree residents or to the Town of Carefree, to not have the required water storage reservoir located in the Boulders open space. That is certainly not an endorsement of their community mindedness, but the consistent application of this same selfish approach to every situation, suggesting a severe case of Boulders Privilege.
Carefree Citizens for Protecting our Water Source
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Copyrighted
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list.
Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.
Let’s look at the record:
Wastewater Treatment Plant: The most notable recent example of Boulders Privilege was the handling of the decommissioning and closure of the wastewater treatment plant which was located in the center of the Boulders. The primary beneficiaries were Boulders residents, but the over $8 million in costs to make these improvements were funded by Liberty/Black Mountain, who passed on these charges to each and every system user throughout Carefree, 85% of whom lived outside of the Boulders. No Boulders residents stepped forward to underwrite these costs. And they did little, if anything, to challenge the magnitude of the proposed rate increase before the Arizona Corporation Commission. The stench from the wastewater treatment plant was replaced by the stench of Boulders Privilege.
Water Storage Reservoir: Another example of how these Boulders residents, who consider themselves privileged, think is their attitude and actions to thwart the installation of a necessary UNDERGROUND water storage reservoir. After an extensive review of 32 potential sites, professional engineers identified one site - in land in which the Carefree Water Company has an existing water utility easement and located in the Boulders open space along Tom Darlington. Over 1,000 Carefree residents in South and West Carefree desperately need improvements to the water system currently serving them, and that water reservoir and the site for it are key to the successful and efficient operation of the expanded system.
How did these self-perceived privileged Boulders residents respond? Lawsuits, widespread deceiving misinformation, personal attacks, and threats of additional lawsuits to force delays. Site the reservoir anywhere in Carefree, they said, but not anywhere within our privileged Boulders subdivision. As the current North Boulders HOA President said, it is “unjust and inappropriate” to place the water storage reservoir anywhere in the Boulders.
Sensing that they were losing these battles, these same Boulders residents are in the process of placing two Initiatives on the Ballot for the Election in the Fall of 2022. Both are directly related to the removal of the water storage reservoir even though these Boulders people are trying to paint them differently through communication programs developed by paid political consultants and attorneys.
Initiative #1: Eminent Domain. The real motive for this Initiative is cloaked behind the ruse that these Boulders residents opposed the installation of the water storage reservoir because they are conservation and land preservation minded, and that the reservoir would destroy their private natural desert. Their real motive, however, is that this Initiative would dramatically limit or permit the inherent powers of the Town to condemn property for the public good. Should the Town acquire the land through eminent domain and build the water reservoir in the utility easement in the Boulders open space, this Initiative would require the Town to demolish and remove the new reservoir, build it elsewhere and re-landscape the land where it was initially built in the Boulders. The total costs to do so is estimated at a minimum of $6.5 million +, which would be paid for by all the users of the Carefree Water Company system through higher monthly water rates, 85% of whom live outside of the Boulders.
Initiative #2: Term Limits. This is one of their final grasps at having the water reservoir not be built in the Boulders - or forcing it to be removed from the Boulders if it is built. While the seeming objective of this Initiative that they would like for you to believe is that it would provide new thinking on Council, the real objective would be to replace the entire existing Town Council by prohibiting them from serving through the imposition of rigid and retroactive term limits. Then replacing existing Council members with new people sympathetic to the Boulders residents desire for privilege and who would vote to remove the new water reservoir from its location in the Boulders open space would fulfill their real goal. Eliminating all the experienced Council members who have knowledge of government workings and have built effective working relationships with other municipalities and County/State agencies over the years with a slate of inexperienced and potentially biased or single-issue members is not good governance.
What’s next? This handful of Boulders people afflicted with Boulders Privilege have hired a condemnation attorney, likely on a contingency basis, who specializes in appealing condemnation cases which are initially lost on their merits. The typical approach of this attorney is to use a delaying tactic to try to negotiate a higher price for the condemned property. The Carefree Water Company has submitted a realistic appraisal from a seasoned Appraiser of the value of the property. This price is factored into the projected future rates. The Boulders attorney will undoubtedly want a higher figure. If he is successful, take a guess at who would pay the incremental amount? If you guessed the Carefree Water Company - who would then pass it on to you and all the other users in Carefree of the water system through higher monthly rates - you are correct. Recognize that if the Boulders is successful in this endeavor, 85% of the incremental costs would be passed on to Carefree residents who did not live in the North Boulders, while the Boulders residents and their contingency attorney would receive 100% of the incremental amount received to share between themselves.
There is no reason to believe, through their actions or statements, that these North Boulders residents care anything about other Carefree residents. To the contrary, they seem prepared to take any action, without regards to the consequences or costs to other Carefree residents or to the Town of Carefree, to not have the required water storage reservoir located in the Boulders open space. That is certainly not an endorsement of their community mindedness, but the consistent application of this same selfish approach to every situation, suggesting a severe case of Boulders Privilege.
Carefree Citizens for Protecting our Water Source
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Copyrighted
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list.
Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.