HomeMy WebLinkAboutPackets - Council Packets (131) Standish, Michael
To: Bower,Julie
Subject: RE:A personal perspective on 680 W Calle Concordia
From: Edward Clary<
Sent:Thursday, May 19, 2016 1:24 PM
To: Hiremath,Satish; Waters, Lou; Burns, Brendan;Garner,William; Hornat,Joe;Snider, Mary;Zinkin, Mike
Cc: Martina Clary
Subject:A personal perspective on 680 W Calle Concordia
Dear Mayor Hiremath and Members of the Council,
Unfortunately I am unable to attend the Council meeting this evening (Thursday, the 19tH)
where I would much rather discuss the subject below— 680 W Calle Concordia ("680") via
the Call to the Audience — but I am out of town for work. Some of my neighbors I'm sure
will address you on the subject, but they will not be bringing up the unique items I do
below, as it is my family that is most effected by these. Apologies for a long
message. However, given the details of what I write below, the Council would probably
prefer that I actually address it in this manner vs. a public forum. Due to some odd
formatting issues, on my screen at least, this email is difficult to read. I have attached this
text in a Word document attached if easier to digest.
All of you are unaware of at least some of what I write below, and some of you know none
of it. But you should know the entire story before final budgetary decisions are made on
this issue. Please realize that I know and understand that there is money in the budget for
680 — my intent (and those of many of my neighbors) is to hopefully show you why the
current budget request is inadequate.
I write you today as an individual constituent effected more than almost anyone else by
680. I've spoken in person and via email with some of you in regards to this subject, but
most of that interaction has been as a representative of my neighborhood. I have left my
own "issues" on the side for too long. It's time for them to come to light as well. I know
that you are probably weary of this subject, but in the Fall those of you who responded to
our concerns asked that we work with Mr Paul Keesler & his staff to address the issue of
680. I at least have tried very hard to do so, only involving you when we have reached an
impasse or now, as you are the budgetary authority in the final throes of approving that
budget.
Three years ago this week, we closed on our residence at 9340 N Calle el Milagro — the
property directly to the north of the facility at 680. As part of due diligence, we went and
met the staff, both in the Parks & Recreation as well as the Road Operations side of the
house. To an individual, they were quite courteous, and essentially noted that they would
try to be as good a neighbor as possible should we move in and we trusted what seemed
to be a group of earnest civil servants.
Shortly after moving in it became obvious 680 was not going to be a good neighbor. Yes,
for the reasons you know of— but especially also the ones you don't know. Dumpsters
whose lids were usually open, placed on our property line, spewed garbage that had to be
removed en masse weekly if not daily (I've read a bunch of OV Town business, minutes,
memos, policies, etc., after they have blown onto my property). After our complaints, the
staff at 680 moved the dumpsters to the other side of the facility, so at least the garbage
cleanup was cut to about every other week — at a reduced rate though, the garbage still
blew and migrated to my property. Wouldn't you be just plain annoyed if you lived here?
Recently I learned that the ADC workers that we had been initially told only cleaned up the
yard at 680 one day a week actually work there every day (which explained our confusion,
as we seemed to see them many days!). Our sons, who were 6 & 7 yrs old when we
moved in, play outside like little boys will. For you who are parents or grandparents,
imagine your feelings when confronted with the following image: walking around my
house from my backyard, seeing my young sons with trowels and shovels being typical
little boys - excited about some rock that they had just found, about 25' from the 680
property line, completely absorbed in their discovery. Their backs were to 680 based on
where they had found their treasure, and my initial smile of remembering my own youth
instantly and jarringly melted away 25 feet from my boys, staring at them unseen from
behind are three men in orange suits stamped with "ADC" in large, clear letters in one of
many gaps in the dying hedgerow, leaning against the strand of wire that is the only buffer
between my property and 680. My immediate barked "Can I help you?" scattered those 3
orange suiters immediately .and then I could not find anyone else within earshot to even
inquire or complain to (I.e. - no supervision). How would you feel? Angry perhaps? Even
if you intellectually "know" that the ADC workers are "min risk, highly supervised"
prisoners? By the way, min risk prisoners are still higher risk than the general population,
and there was no supervision to be found that day in the least.
Our youngest son has a learning disability. Shortly after moving in, he started having
behavioral issues. We attributed this to a combination of his disability and the move to a
new home & environment - they were noticeable, but not debilitating. Then at the end of
last summer, for a period of about two weeks, a strong odor of volatile organic chemicals
(VOC's), such as toluene or xylene were coming from some taps in our house. Our water
smelled like rubber cement. I contacted the OV Water Utility; we could determine no
source, no logical reason for the odors, no recent maintenance in our area. Then one
day, when outside, and the wind was out of the south, that same odor slammed into me
like a ton of bricks – it was strong, and coming from 680. After leaving a voice mail,
inquiring what was going on, the smells stopped both in the air and the water the next day
not to return since. Coincidence? Perhaps. I am assured that the water supply of 680
and my home are separate, but what would you think? How would your thoughts wander
to your son's behavioral issues? To your own health? I have to pass two physicals given
by the FAA every year, simply to have the ability to work in my chosen profession. VOC's
have serious effects on the central nervous system, even at low concentrations over long
periods of time, especially for children. Then how would you feel when you found out that
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Oro Valley was dumping paint byproducts into the ground at the very spot the orange
suiters had been watching your kids? And when pressed, Oro Valley had no idea what
the aforementioned byproducts ACTUALLY consist of, as I learned as we worked through
the 680 issue with Town employees? How would that make you feel? Warm fuzzies all
around?
The day after noting the strong odors, we received the post card announcing the Town's
proposed move of Municipal Transit to 680, what our neighborhood has nicknamed "Bus
World", starting the process that has led to our activism.
I know on one level you are probably thinking, "Well, you knew the place was there, you
can't complain." Yes, I knew it was there, but I can complain. No one should have to live
next to a municipal facility in any Town, especially Oro Valley given its self image, where
you have to literally pick up their garbage, deal with prisoners in such close proximity to
your children daily or possible exposure to dangerous chemicals, and this doesn't even
address day to day issues and blight without so much as a vegetative screen, nonetheless
a wall! It doesn't even scratch the surface of the eyesore it had become due to neglect,
noticeably accelerating in the past few years.
I am personally extremely happy and yes, grateful that the Town through Paul Keesler and
his staff has finally started to do some of the right things. Simple things. Things like finally
just bagging garbage prior to dumpster disposal so it doesn't blow off the
property. Clearing out dead brush. Replanting proper screening and
landscaping. Installing/fixing irrigation. Halting the dumping of paint byproducts at large
until you actually KNOW what you are dumping in the ground. Planning on the
construction of a wall. But what in blue blazes has taken so long to do these simple
things?
As I noted above, we have NOT involved you in the day to day, as per your request, and
because of that, you have NO idea that what has transpired to date has most definitely not
been a cakewalk. You have no doubt had forwarded to you what appear to be angry
emails from the neighborhood, ones that without context make us appear to be
unappeasable. Within my 680 related files there are now over *1000* emails between
neighbors communicating and then coordinating with Town staff, just trying to get these
simple things noted above done properly. I can assure you that if I were to selectively
forward on to you some of those messages without full context, Town staff would look as
much like the Keystone Kops as we may appear to be unappeasable. But that is not my
desire — I simply want the problem fixed, not to spin or character
assassinate. Implementation has been rocky at best, and that is as nicely as it can be
said. Believe me when I assert that we all, neighbors and Town Staff alike have better
things to do than all the email traffic (and phone calls, meetings, etc.), but if the ball is
repeatedly fumbled time and time again, what choice do we have but to try to pick it
up? As I said in a 26 April email to Mayor Hiremath: "This is not to say nothing has
happened. [improvements at 680] That is not the case. But we are not welcome partners
in this endeavor, and that is very clear." When you get the 997th message of the train
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forwarded to you, perhaps knowing the backstory might make you realize why there is
such angst. Add that it's literally years overdue, and the budget request Mr Keesler has
made, while an encouraging start, is simply inadequate to address the problem, leaving
great uncertainty if the project will ever be fully completed. And the ADC workers still do
their work within feet of where my children should be able to play, with no wall.
BTW - I am not a rube or conspiracy theorist against industrial processes — my father was
the Director of Toxicology for large chemical companies such as DuPont and DowCorning
in his career— the chemical industry put food on our table, a roof over our head. By
training I am an engineer, and worked extensively in machine shops in graduate school.
was in the Air Force a long time and am now a commercial airline pilot, who deals and has
dealt with high explosives, rocket fuel, aviation fuels, oil, hydraulic fluids, deicing fluids and
any myriad number of industrial materials, solvents and properties in my day to day job my
entire adult life. I'm not in the least bit afraid of what goes on at 680 if done properly, in
the proper environment, in the proper way.
If I am honest, I believe it is unlikely that my son's issues have been made worse by
680. The water supply systems of 680 and my home are most probably separate, and
there is a reasonable chance that the VOC smells I encountered in our home, and from
680 are coincidence. I suspect that the paint residue historically dumped is probably not
a public health hazard. I believe the ADC program is probably fundamentally a great one,
allowing some prisoners to regain self respect and skills, while saving Oro Valley valuable
dollars, but they should not be working within a first down scamper of small children
without proper screening or notification of the neighborhood. However, in the end I don't
KNOW that the items I note above, an extensive and unpleasant list of unknowns, are
harmless. Far worse, YOU DON'T EITHER. So, please, it's time to do the right
thing. Provide the resources to properly clean up 680 — yes, you have started, but it's just
a start and our experience to date has been a lot of intransigence coupled with innuendo
that the residents here are somehow part of the problem if not THE problem. Yet I'd bet
dollars to doughnuts not one of you would want to deal with what we do in that
neighborhood without a wall and other items I've noted. But that requires resources,
which only you, the Council, can provide, and which previous Councils have not. In recent
elections, you have made it clear that this Council is new, not like the ones of old. Here is
a chance to show it clearly.
One lesson of leadership I learned in 22 years as a military officer was you don't ask your
people to do things you yourself aren't willing to do. You are the leaders of Oro
Valley. Are you asking me, or my neighbors to continue to live with conditions for years
more beyond the ones already passed, that you yourselves would not tolerate? Because
if you are OK with that concept, with respect, your leadership is suspect. However, I have
optimism that you will do the right thing, and realize that while you have known of some of
680's deficiencies, you have not had the total picture until now; I hope that you simply
didn't know how bad it really is, and with that understanding will come a realization that it
needs to be fixed, properly, not ad hoc or piece meal. Now. Not in another 2, or 4 or 5
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years. As I've learned from my neighbors, that can's been kicked down the road since the
Reagan administration.
I am not asking that 680 go away. I did indeed know it was there. I am asking that the
proper resources be allocated to fix this issue in a timely manner. It is long overdue; my
knowledge of 680's existence prior to buying my property doesn't alleviate the Town of its
responsibility to screen the facility properly, with some sort of understanding and
mitigation of its effects. Thank you for listening, and I hope that all of us can work together
to make this area one we are all proud of. We've said it before — good fences make good
neighbors — let's start there and go forward.
Respectfully,
Ed (& Martina) Clary
9340 N Calle el Milagro
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