SedonaEye.com columnist Eddie S. Maddock looks at Sedona’s year ahead in the light of its problematic past.
Sedona AZ – Welcome to Sedona Arizona 2019.
Has our Golden Goose been cooked?
Is there anyone visiting Sedona or living here for that matter, let’s say since Thanksgiving 2018, who isn’t convinced there is a huge traffic problem? As the situation grows worse on a daily basis ongoing studies have been procured from professional consultants – most of whom are costly and ineffective – if for no other reason than they have yet to result in actually addressing the problem.
The root of the matter is never appropriately acknowledged by the culprits behind the continual onslaught to chop Sedona, the aforementioned Golden Goose, into teeny tiny pieces. Translated: Sedona was discovered a long time ago and is no longer in need of being promoted. Even efforts for alleged “destination tourists” haven’t been proven to be effective. Quite possibly the introduction of short term rentals via private property owners and Airbnb are contributing factors to this problematic situation which should have been addressed with serious intent to at least some degree a long time ago.
Instead Sedona planners forge ahead with one idea after another clearly without looking at or anticipating suggested plans might be seriously flawed. While the term sustainability has become a common catchword, the word feasibility all too often is overlooked prior to initiating “perceived” solutions.
View of Sedona – exclusive SedonaEye.com photo
For example; inflated foot traffic in the narrow ADOT corridor of SR179 in front of Tlaquepaque was ignored at the time approval was given to Tlaquepaque North across that very busy section of a State Highway. After the fact, the result has been a disaster. So what to do?
Number one suggestion on the drawing board seems to be a concept for some sort of a pedestrian overpass. Voila! Problem solved. Wait, not so fast. Has any consideration been given to the fact that said overpass must span SR 179, a state route? Just how high must a cute little footbridge be in order to clear traffic such as semi-trucks and 18-wheelers for which state routes are designed? Maybe an indication might be more clearly imagined if one were to think about overpasses on I-17.
Another potential solution to mitigate traffic congestion, created essentially due to lack of foresight, is the extension of Forest Road uptown to connect with West 89A someplace next to the Post Office location. This concept appears to be a wonderful idea on the surface, but has the depth of this proposal been extensively considered?
Now that becomes extremely interesting when viewing the terrain in actuality, as well as on maps.
View of Sedona – exclusive SedonaEye.com photo
The two photos offered here were taken December 30, 2018, on SR89A across from the vacant land just west of the Post Office, a portion of which has posted a For Sale sign. Clearly it is rugged and anticipating any portion being used as a connector from Forest Road uptown to SR89A becomes somewhat unclear. It appropriately should be noted the open space beyond the Hyatt and custom-built homes at the end of Forest Road is comparable terrain – hilly, rocky, and steep.
From the Post Office hill to Mariposa Restaurant is rocky, but relatively level with or below SR89A. Not to be overlooked is a portion of that land belongs to the U.S. Forest Service. It isn’t difficult to observe – with a quick glance to the left when driving east on 89A towards uptown – prior to the Brewer and Y roundabouts.
As previously mentioned, there are several upscale homes at the end of Forest Road, clearly sustaining their value because they are constructed on “view” lots. The city has gone on record admitting that to extend this proposed road would necessitate condemning some of those houses. However, what they haven’t addressed is the steep, rocky terrain. Even a non-engineer might question the complex construction required for a connector road in this location which should realistically be seriously addressed prior to pursuing this alleged “short cut” from Point A (Forest Road) to Point B (West 89A).
Where will all the remaining red rocks go? To parking lots and highways and tourists now going and many long time gone.
There are a multitude of unanswered questions pertaining to acquisition of land and related expenses, over and above feasibility for extending Forest Road to connect down and across extremely rocky, unlevel open terrain. Shouldn’t we insist on accurate and transparent accountability prior to, during, and at completion of this endeavor should it come to pass? And, more specifically, what will be the source of funding?
Likewise, shouldn’t more extensive consideration apply to accommodating additional traffic which surely will become further problematic at the Schnebly Hill roundabout if aggressive approval for multi-housing and additional shops comes to fruition as proposed in order to justify the designation of another Community Focus Area?
Another suggestion for constructing an additional bridge from Schnebly Hill Road to the northern portion of uptown to connect to 89A onward to Oak Creek Canyon will, in all probability, require trespassing on USFS property. Has any consideration been given to that by city planners if plans are pursued to extend Schnebly Hill Road as an alternate route to I-17… also USFS land.
A final question: Which should come first feasibility or sustainability?
The answer will emerge from the inner sanctum of City Hall.
Word for the day:
FEASIBLE
[fee-zuh-buh l]
Adjective
1. Capable of being done, effected, or accomplished: a feasible plan
2. probable; likely: a feasible theory
3. suitable: a road feasible for travel
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Blasting is the way to level the view for all. Tlaquepaque would benefit by removing several dozen hills and trees nearby that create flooding issues by being there. Airport Road needs a new mesa access road on the opposite side and its easier to level the rock area and it can be done with eminent domain of the homes below its ridges. Mariposa won’t object because even with seeing the new highway in its northwest windows it will mean more business for the restaurant and Hyatt and Uptown. The red rocks are rocks, not monuments, and rocks are made into pebbles. Every single tourist has a right to see them and they can buy pebbles. We can keep people coming and keep the views distant enough to keep people off them. It’s dangerous for hikers and climbers and we can eliminate that problem for SFD by blasting them for redevelopment to discourage climbers. We need to take advantage of the money tourists bring.
I say pave it all, we can make 8-10 lanes like segner says we need to accommodate everyone who deserves to be in Sedona. Sedona is not just for residents after all.
10 lanes might require us to bulldoze segner’s little hotel, but hey, it’s for the greater good as he frequently says.
We should condemn and bulldoze segners hotel. It’s in the way and causes additional traffic near Tlaquepaque. We should bulldoze his house in the canyon also, we need more lanes in the canyon. Everyone should be able to drive through Sedona, and segner’s properties are in the way. He had no right to believe his property should be exempt. Socialism, for the greater good.
If you build on the street expect traffic, if you build on on a dead end street , expect that it could be extended, if you buy property in a tourist town expect tourists and Traffic. All of this was foreseeable. Sedona was built out piecemeal with master plan, connector roads and wider turn lanes will help. The city did a survey majority of people want the road.
It’s good to see Steve segner agrees we should bulldoze his hotel to alleviate traffic. His hotels destruction should be made part of Sedona in Motion. Of course we will need to take a large portion of Tlaquepaque as 8-10 lanes are needed in that area.
Why don’t you practice what you preach?
Sedona was and remains a two road town with limited availability.ALLOWING Tlaquepaque and other developments without a REAL plan has destroyed SEDONA.
We all know WHO killed the golden goose…….
Greed took over Sedona BEFORE infrastructure.
The city of sedona is a speck in the sedona area.
@steve agrees You sound like a real idiot… FYI
It’s true. Greed rules Sedona. Retrofitting infrastructure is a byproduct of the results.
Most employees at City Hall seem to just go along with whatever the Lodging Council & Chamber of Commerce suggests, clearly without caring about those who live here. Same old story. Serve until they retire with a great pension and benefits and young enough to move on elsewhere. Hohum – borrrring!
Don’t expect anything to change. The only way that might happen is at the polls and clearly the majority of Sedona as proven by their recent votes are happy with Sedona’s direction. The laughing stock of the Verde Valley seems to please them.
So sad; too bad that’s life in the speck of nothingness named City of Sedona.
According to the City, approximately 1050 letters with surveys were mailed out, each with a password that expired after one use.
85% of Uptown residents who responded to the Forest Road Connection Survey said they would use the extension if constructed. Well, duh! How the hell are the vast majority of us who don’t live near the Forest Road/HWY 89A intersection going to get the hell out of Dodge? Instead of one parking lot, the City now has six on or one block from Jordan Road. And, under City ownership ADOT’s HWY 89A merge lane for Jordan Road southbound traffic got converted into space for a sidewalk with tables, chairs and umbrellas.
There’s more. HWY 89A’s width was reduced while the sidewalks on both sides were widened. As Councilman Harvey Stearn told Sedona.biz at the time: “Someone pulls up to wait for a car to back out of a space and the backer has to back right into traffic.” Of course, when ADOT owned the two+ blocks through Uptown, incoming drivers could pull out of traffic to wait and parked drivers had room to back out without backing into traffic. The City called their disaster “Uptown Enhancement.”
The status quo in leadership is disappointing but not unexpected.
What really drives this issue is disposable income .
Air bnb is a right property owners feel strongly about . Some may not like it but those rights are well established. People have more money to spend
be it a day trip or 3 day weekend . Word has gotten out about the wonders of Sedona , and it’s now accessible to all levels of economic
lifestyles. From adventurous younger generation hikers to aging baby boomers looking to maintain the popular notion of an active leisure life .
Growth in the valley at a near exponential rate is certainly a clear indication that the issue is not about to go away. The guilty is the spenders on government side who squandered and waste your tax dollar
on items that their constituents are told are good for them . Only to have the same issues return time and time again . What you want is managed growth that matters in execution of a plan . What we’ve had is study’s and plans with little left for execution. Keep pushing gang , we’ll get there .
Maybe the most pathetic result of the last election is that residents bought into the use of scare tactics. The little army of chamber/lodging recruits spread word if Home Rule didn’t pass all subsidies would go away – no library, humane society, recycles, etc. There was absolutely no proof of any of that BS but there was a large possibility the chamber of commerce would have lost substantial funding. But, after all, they are far different from charitable, tax deductible organizations.
The chamber is member driven, self-serving and does nothing except promote their own interests. To hell with the residents! That was proven by their sad but true influence on gullible people buying into their malarkey. Sorry Sedona voters were so damn gullible!
When we moved here in 1993 you had to wait in line to get a spot in uptowm. In fact there were store owners selling their spots for a key fee. One store sold it space for $150,000.00. Now you have many vacant spots talk about killing the golden goose. You would think those in control would have built on a good thing. Brainless, Greedy Idiots.The city over the years has routinely ignored city ordinances and state statutes barring parking extending across state hwys. Case being 89A Canyon Breeze and Tlaquepaque North . Both violated city and state laws. Respect your own laws and maybe others will.Thanks Eddie for keeping things honest.
Wow points surfaced in this article should open another Pandora’s Box (note – another). Driving back from West Sedona today there wasn’t much traffic which allowed a safe time to actually look left at the forest open space as was suggested.
Monumental experience and difficult to fathom a road from uptown intersecting W89A anyplace even near the Post Office as has been suggested.
Another thing here – the Brewer Road bypass has been there forever – at least long before incorporation. Although it does tend to get backed up from cars turning right on SR179 one thing to note is the Brewer route is a two-way road.
From what it looks like the extension from Forest Road uptown will only accommodate traffic intending to go west on 89. If in fact it turns out to be a two-lane connector road it appears the only way for cars driving east to avoid the main Y roundabout would be to do a Uey at the Brewer roundabout in order to back-track on W89 in order to make a right turn onto the extension to uptown. Bizarre!
As for the person who so prudently commented about the comedy of errors the city made on non-improvements to the less than one mile they own “uptown” maybe that will tell you why the residents actually stood up and initiated a ballot measure against those fools wanting to accept ownership of W89A from ADOT!
OMG – is there no end to this insanity? Jess when ya thunk ya’ve heerd ’em all! Wonder what is being smoked within that city hall inner sanctum these days??
Bonanza says, Monumental experience and difficult to fathom a road from uptown intersecting W89A anyplace even near the Post Office as has been suggested.
89 in the state highway ADOT and Sedona engineers will Over see the project.
Sedona seems to be full of self thought engeneers. Why don’t we just let them do their job ,then we can all see how they plan to do it. Or not.
Thanks for pointing out how high a pedestrian foot bridge must be for clearance to accommodate 18-wheelers. Wonder if anyone in control has given that any thought. Also as I recall the council meeting when Schnebly Focus Area was being discussed it was John Currivan who suggested incorporating proposed development in the current traffic study. Not one other person on the city council or staff for that matter apparently thought the suggestion had merit since it was dropped. So much for feasibility aka accountability? Bring on more development, more cars, greater density and mostly more tourists and what do you have? What we look at most weekends: GRIDLOCK!
Are you sure that it was only John Currivan that suggested incorporating proposed development??? Is that the same John Currivan that supported allowing a local business owner to have special privileges and to jump ahead of other applicants for a rezoning process??? (Deleted by Editor)? Of course, we all know that this is (Deleted by Editor) honor the dark skies lighting and (Deleted by Editor) court battle that (Deleted by Editor) against the city?
Tell us again what a smart and great guy John Currivan is because I see a completely different side of the man (Deleted by Editor).
“Why don’t we just let them do their job ,then we can all see how they plan to do it. Or not.”
The same way we just sat back and waited to see how they handled all the foot traffic since Tlaquepaque North was developed?
The same way we sat and watched how they destroyed the less than one mile the city owns of 89A uptown? They were clueless then and remain clueless now so why should blasting away a few red rocks be any different.
BUT at what cost and WHAT WILL BE THE SOURCE OF THE FUNDING?
You want that route extension, then are you willing to have the chamber of commerce forfeit the millions they get from the city to pay for it? Put your money where your mouth is!
Disasters in both instances! Dumb, Dumb, Dumb and getting Dumber by the day.
Not only does the footbridge have to be able to clear big trucks, it must be ADA compliant, that means elevators on both ends. It’s your money. Maybe segner or the chamber will pay for it HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
The city of Sedona has the funding for the traffic, Sedona in motion, traffic studies done by ADOT showed there is not a consistent pedestrian problem on 179 in fact the number is so low the state refused to put in a light. Let the state engineers do their job, you know pedestrians have as much right across the street as people do traveling in cars. By the way Tlaquepaque did not even need city approval for Tlaqueapque north, has been zoned retail. Are you people crack me up on the one hand you hate everything the government does, then you say the government should take away the rights of landowners and not let them build on their property. State law says that the city must follow zoning and if it takes a value from somebody the city can be sued you can’t have it both ways .
If it costs money to be complaint for the handicap..
So be it…you are very twisted making fun of such.. you should be ashamed of yourself.
ADA are you serious that? That comment had NOTHING to do with dissing the handicapped and EVERYTHING to do with PAYING MONEY for ELEVATORS. I’ve been accused of having little humor while EVERYONE at this study table reacted the same way. Here’s a big group hug. Thanks for the laughs. Bach, Rocky, Morgan, Jenny, Samara, Tim, Daniel, Umuria
Meant for @ADA comment. Apology to ADA.
OK this is getting interesting. When it comes to funding, Sedona residents, pay attention. This city continues to fund the Chamber of Commerce with a percentage of the bed tax increase. Well – pay attention. An insert in the local paper indicates the Chamber of Commerce has just donated $2500+ to the upcoming Veg Fest. And we already know they “gave” money (city money) to the USFS for trail maintenance. (any question about getting FS service for roads if necessary?) Where else are their sharing their new found wealth?
That, dear Sedona residents, is where Sedona taxes are being spent, without accountability to be sure. So when they come around rooting for special improvement districts, city property tax, or anything other means to snatch-grab money from those of us who NEVER asked for ANY of this BS – kindly keep this in mind to address the bleeding hearts claiming WE don’t pay OUR fair share. Maybe it’s because our fair share has already been dumped on a questionably bogus relationship with probably the slickest con artists in town instead of adequate planning for appropriate infrastructure to keep this place functioning.
Mismanagement? DUH!!! (in depth)
Those in power might know nothing about road extensions but what it appears they are experts at are slush funds, shell games, & major manipulations.
That’s just MY OPINION to those who wish to retort with asinine tripe.
“asinine tripe”, sound like a real idiot… (Deleted by Editor) Yawn
That’s just MY to those who wish to retort with asinine tripe
Opinion, yes fact NO “us who NEVER asked for ANY of this BS ”
So the city should ask” Wm. D.” each year what they should do, and for get our elected city council/
Wm. D. says: City property tax, or anything other means to snatch-grab money from those of us who NEVER asked for ANY of this BS
1. The “city” of Sedona has not property tax Think county.(fact not OPINION)
2. Bed tax money is by state law for “visitor projects”paid by visitors.
3. If you went to the City, Community Pulse meeting this week you would have see all the projects the city and Chamber are doing for 2018 with” Bed tax” and Sedona in Motion road projects/,.and appropriate infrastructure funding.
USFS trail maintenance is funded by the Goverment, chamber , hotels , locals, and the city local groups. we all use the trail system we all chip in. what have you done for Sedona ? gone to any meeting , joined any support groups. ?
People if you are going post at least do some home work.
Steve Segner is full of s*** when he says “Bed tax money is by state law for ‘visitor projects’ paid by visitors.”
The AZAG complaint against the City of Sedona alleges:
The City of Sedona’s bed tax ordinance violates the Arizona Constitution’s so-called “gift clause”–Article 9 Section 7–because 55 percent of the revenues are distributed to the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau.
The City’s Tourism Promotion and Visitor Services Agreement with the Sedona Chamber violates the gift clause due to a lack of adequate consideration given to the City.
The acquisition of the property located at 401 Jordan Road was gratuitous to the Sedona Chamber of Commerce, also in violation of the gift clause.
According to Article 9 Section 7 of the Arizona State Constitution, i.e., the “gift clause:” “Neither the state, nor any county, city, town, municipality or other subdivision of the state shall ever give or loan its credit in the aid of, or make any donation or grant, by subsidy or otherwise, to any individual, association or corporation . . .”
Thank you @Steve Segner for taking my bait. It was too easy to even be fun although sort of amusing. Next time (if there is a next time) maybe it would be worth while to take bets on how quickly you bit. Too predictable for a challenge though and oh so boor – ing (yawn).
The city’s own traffic report shows 80% of the traffic driving through and not staying in Sedona. occupancy is low for Sedona except for holiday time. chamber’s marketing is up cost. Shouldn’t we do like Venice and charge the chamber and tourist an entrance fee , tax or impact fee? Time to STOP funneling money to NON city third party enrichments & subsidies.
Don’t you get tired of your own nonsense and boring posts..
I’d put myself to sleep posting your full redundant complaints.
Yawn
Get Real says:
The AZAG complaint against the City of Sedona alleges:
I checked with the city today and nothing , it was just a stunt by Rep. Bob thorp. he got caught and it all went away. That argument no longer works.
Wm. D. says:
January 10, 2019 at 9:59 am
Thank you @Steve Segner for taking my bait.
So Wn d. tell us about the Sedona City tax? you keep talking about, you can trash me all you want but please use facts,
Wn.d . you think it is wrong to use a bed tax paid by visitors to work on trails? are pay for a city parking lot for visitors? why? remember you do not pay a city tax and did you go to the city meeting this week ? it was all explained….
you people post wrong info I post the correct info. now please tell us about this city tax you keep talking about.
It is easy peasy folks. The highest paid jobs in Sedona are those funded by the taxpayers.
They are in it to win those high paychecks.
Sedona city council and staff gave away your Sedona to the biggest beggars.
12 million dollars later who was helped with those millions dollars? The beggars and they use that money to smooze and advertise themselves. City hall should be fired.
Where is the return of that investment Chamber? Reality check it wasn’t
t the chamber’s money…….. city council gifted millions of city taxes to a friggin regional club……pennies on each million!
JeAlous much!?
Perhaps you should get out from behind your angry posting and go get a job.. Then maybe you wouldn’t be envious of productive members of Sedona..
Lol
Not only is an outside, certified audit unavailable on the millions of $$$$ given to this regional chamber of commerce, an alleged member driven special interest organization, but to date is anyone aware of one single worldly, knowledgeable person who has the courage to step up and address the unanswered question of “what will be the source of funding for all the road improvements” eventually identified by Sedona In Motion?
“JeAlous much!?”
Damn funny, calling a government worker or a tax parasite productive. Of course, you can’t spell or compose a sentence, not required for a government job.
A real Lol
Also Conspicuous by Absense says:
“what will be the source of funding for all the road improvements” eventually identified by Sedona In Motion
I will the .5% sales tax put in place last year by the city council DAAAA
oh ya, and that tax is for the most part is paid by visitors….30,000,000 over 5 years
@Jeanette
You’ve used the wording “ easy peasy” many many times on SE(of course it was under different handles)… Seems like only people in thier 100s use terms like that…. Your so cute the way you get angry on SE.. you remind me of my great great grandmother.
More BS from @Steve segner.
The Sedona in Motion plan states – “It is expected that 60 percent of tax revenues will be paid by visitors.”
According to the Fiscal Year 2018-19 ANNUAL BUDGET: “City Sales Taxes include the addition of approximately 3.0 million in sales taxes dedicated to the transportation projects and related costs, i.e., not $6,000,000 (“30,000,000 over 5 years”).
And now there’s a Transportation Sales Tax Fund to account for the .5% City sales tax increase. There are operational costs related to the additional engineering position (Assistant Engineer) to aide in the progress of the transportation projects. In addition, there may be future operational costs associated with contemplated transit projects.
Never say never. That’s what I said about never making an editorial comment. I can no longer sit in silence when my belief has been and remains that if the City Council had requested competitive bids for the city destination marketing this entire controversy could have been avoided. Even if the Chamber had ended up getting the contract, the really really bad blood that appears to get more contaminated on a daily basis could have been avoided. The simple thing to do when the new city manager was hired was for him to pursue RFPs (request for proposals) for the advertising contract. Instead he added to the nasty situation by awarding chamber an 8 YEAR contract. Surely he wasn’t naive enough to think the controversy would just go away, was he? Or is it he just doesn’t care?
Legal or not none of it passes the smell test.
Actually, the City has no business advertising for anything or anyone. It’s corporate welfare. Businesses have to take care of their own expenses.
Get This says
city web page
Transportation improvements are underway. The projects identified by citizens and the city council as priorities in the Transportation Master Plan are underway. These projects — which we call Sedona in Motion — are funded by a time-limited half-cent sales tax, leveraged with additional funds from the federal government and regional partners. Each project web page is updated as projects progress.
It is in the budget and funded.
“Businesses have to take care of their own expenses.”
Businesses “HAVE” to take care of their own expenses? Since when? More appropriately should it be “businesses SHOULD take care of their own expenses”?
However when you have a Chamber of Commerce allowed to function as part of the local government, that alone sounds like a mandatory obligation for the city to pay for whatever businesses want or need.
Pandora’s box was opened by the Rob Adams/Barbara Litrell city council and their ain’t no way to put that lid back on.
1/2 cent sales tax gets paid by me and you
every penny that Sedona gets back from the government was paid by Sedona residents who paid their taxes, about 15% of them according to AZ/US stats
I did not receive my resident sales tax exemption form. You know, the one where you get a refund on all the sales tax residents pay the city of Sedona so only tourists pay the tax.
segner you keep saying the tourists pay for everything. The tourists clog our roads, which requires destruction of our neighborhoods for more roads, a sure to fail Sedona in motion plan. Tell us stevie, how will the tourists pay for our loss of quality of life? How will they pay for our time stuck in traffic? segner, I want the tourists to pay. It seems to me the only ones being paid are the overpaid city staff and tourist business on the city dole.
Don’t tell me I have more choice of restaurants, restaurant food upsets my stomach. Don’t tell me about the trails, I’m tired of looking at things that were pristine that now are trashed.
Where is my refund form segner? I want what the tourists owe me.
“Thank you, Sponsors!” (See Sedona VegFest 2019 distribution)
GARDEN LEVEL ($2500+) / (highest)
L’Auberge de Sedona
Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau
(violates AZ Constitution “Gift Clause”)
Nutritarian Women’s Health Study
Stanford Inn by the Sea
Time to run Jennifer, our City Council (newbies excepted) and Snidely Whiplash out of Sedona.
And add to the list of taxes for which we residents of Sedona foot the bill:
Utilities: Every month you receive your water, electric, gas, phone, cable bill, etc, you’re charged a CITY tax (in addition of course for others namely the fed, state, county) Those taxes are NOT being collected monthly from tourists. Go get your bills now and see what you really pay that tourists don’t. Surprise Surprise Surprise.
We all pay franchise fees on those utilities to the city. Then we pay sales tax on them as Joe Lee posted. Cell phones also.
What the city doesn’t want you to know is that the ENTIRE Sedona region pays sales tax to the city of Sedona regardless of city limits or not for ALL big box store deliveries. Home Depot, appliances and building supplies along with internet sales from amazon and more. We all pay into sales tax.
Add it up you pay, they play. The greedy chamber claims you DON’T contribute.
@Get This, when given a chance to make changes during this most recent election the majority of Sedona voters ran scared – listened to the Chamber/Lodging Council preach fear tactics such as loss of Library & Humane Society (both have been functioning long before Sedona incorporated.) It’s a pity how the wolves in sheep’s clothing went door to door and pawned their bleeding heart BS on naive voters.
@Joan – Thanks for your input. More fuel to blast in my opinion the false news being spread by Lodging Council Chair Steve Segner & Jennifer Wesselhoff, Chamber CEO. Begging and whining is what they do best IMO.
My opinion is that The city of sedona is run by the regional chamber of commerce. They of cource ha ve a love affair with the chamber because the chamber and the red rock news do their bidding. This allows the city to maintain control over their citizens. They do this by using scare tactics. This city loves using their people by keeping them down, and that’s my opinion!
Comedian George Carlin once Said ” It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.”
The club is the city council and staff, Sedona Chamber and Sedona Red Rock Fake news. They all like to play off one another, the Chamber gets 2.5 million, the Soy Boys of the Red Rock Fake news get to feel important and get ad revenue to an otherwise obsolete paper, which then promotes what a great job the chamber and city staff and council do. A little circle (deleted by editor) that runs off your money.
Other than the problem of misuse of funds and violation of the state gift clause, they have just about ruined Sedona.
Can hardly wait for “the big club” to start bulldozing the beautiful terrain shown in the photos. What’s that saying? Build it and they will come! That definitely applies to roads in Sedona. More space for lines of belching car fumes. Oh the joy of it all.
Translated: $$$$$$$ to feed the piggies.