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Eye on Sedona Roads – Build them and then what?

Sedona AZ (May 19, 2018) – The following is a letter to the SedonaEye.com editor:

On reading Christopher Fox Graham’s Red Rock News 5/18/18 editorial headlined by “Stay the course and build our promised roads” I asked myself; “and then what?

The next thought I had was that our populace is split into three large and broad based line ups: One is comprised of residents who moved here to mostly enjoy the climate and landscape. A second group came to support this first batch with the services they needed. The third contingent are those who saw opportunities in this attractive location to open and operate other businesses.

Back to the editorial and the “and then what?”

Graham described the traffic solutions well, but ignored the basic cause for adjusting traffic patterns. Maybe because we’re all talking about it so he assumed the given was well understood. That leaves the embarrassing question; “What if the current bunch of solutions do not work at all?

So, what would we gain by implementing them?

Nothing, I believe, because we are not taking a real hard look at what root cause is in play. Realism may well not be at stake.

The root cause for our traffic congestion starts with the Chamber of Commerce program attracting new or extra tourists plus events bringing people and their cars to overload our road system. The chamber sales effort adds an extra stimulant to those travel agents who extol Sedona as the PLACE to visit. This well executed promotion gets an extra boost from city hall with a yearly $2,500,000 funding of the chamber programs.

The bad news doesn’t end there because now we find some of the first group of settlers renting out their spare rooms to tourists. So in effect they join the hospitality-oriented residents in making it easier to visit Sedona as tourists. So it’s not just 3 groups, but 4, and add a 5th for those realtors helping to rent private home rooms to the tourist.

With 5 active groups, each with an agenda of their own liking, things would seem they cannot get worse.

Wrong !! City hall and their traffic consultant are wading in by asking for public input on what designs should be implemented into the traffic pattern. The record isn’t good for this policy when the fiascos of the 179 rebuild and accommodations to uptown traffic controls suggested by the public are evaluated – – as bombs.

So, if the above account is reality, we maybe better call a halt to what is pending for the traffic constructions being planned. Can we save tax dollars and time if we stop now ? You bet we can.

I can see one solution not now being on the docket. That’s to cage intelligent and open minded representative from each population group from above in a room until they all agree with one plan to solve our traffic knots. Of course this’ll not have a high percentage chance of success. But, one other remedy does exist and it’s the pending August election of our mayor and council members. This could thrash out the foundation for solving the traffic and other problems the city faces.

What ever we do let’s keep firmly in mind all of our residents have legitimate reasons for being here in Sedona. Not one of them have superior rights. So compromise and cooperating are excellent guidelines for reaching the solutions.

I, for one, am an optimist.

John Roberts
139 Shadow Mountain Drive
Sedona AZ 86336

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16 Comments

  1. Eddie Maddock says:

    Thank you John Roberts, especially for pointing out we residents have legitimate reasons for being here but none have superior rights. As a matter of fact, just prior to reading your entry I submitted an article with a similar theme, that being unification. Hopefully more of us will soon be convinced to share your position of being optimists.

  2. Dont Really Care!! says:

    My name says it all.

    YES ON HOME RULE!!!

  3. Sam Tardio says:

    Building more roads through our neighborhoods to alleviate the traffic is a destructive and temporary band aid to the problem. With the attitude of the present city council of supporting the chamber’s over selling of Sedona the newly enticed tourists will inevetably serve to choke the neighborhood roads as well. This will only broaden the problem and hurt the lifestyle and value of the neighborhoods. While business is good for the city it should never depress the heart of the city, the residents. As a resident I feel the council with it allegiance to the chamber has long considered the residents as a factor to be tolerated, especially when I hear “Traffic is our destiny.” That’s coming from an attitude of having only one course of action and that is to move forward with more massive selling of Sedona.

  4. RieRie Root says:

    @samtardio you said ….. This will only broaden the problem and hurt the lifestyle and value of the neighborhoods….good comment.

  5. JJ says:

    @Sam Tardio. Thank You for a very inciteful assessment of the workings of the sedona city govt. Tax and spend policies never work. Reckless spending to keep up with the revenue is just plain stupid. The only thing growing in sedona is government and the chamber of commerce. Now they are willing to deplete neighborhoods value and intrude on the very sancuaries of our homes. They have created us vs them mentality and the special interests ala Steve have to be cut off at the knees. NO on Home Rule, No on Big Govt., No on special interests!

  6. matt shobert says:

    … bridge at RR crossing, will save everyone – from everything! Build it asap, Nimby’s be darned!

  7. Van Baxter says:

    @mattshobert your age show’s w/nimby reference; it’s not apropos. It’s not politically correct to refer to those who disagree with you by an acronym, it’s quite offensive in today’s urban vernacular and rates as bullying.

    The bridge over RR crossing is no longer necessary and environmentally it requires years of study that will end with the same impact study negatives. What little water Sedona has must be protected at all costs. You would have the few mesas that supply it destroyed? You would dam or rip away riparian protections? The Sierra Club, the Keep Sedona Beautiful club, the EPA, the BLM, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, DPS, the Oak Creek Watershed, the Yavapai and Coconino counties affected, the tourist attractions destroyed, the businesses undermined, the SFD budgets that spent millions providing stations in VOC and Chapel areas would be lost and budget referendums denied on lack of poor management.

    No one wants the RR crossing bridge. No politician who supports its development will survive a local or state election. The research has been done. SR179 is proof. That idiot and those that hired her for Main Street program wanted to put a highway on Schnebly to shorten the drive to Flagstaff. It would take a 100 years to get beyond the 3D graphics!

    I looked up drone deliveries of fire retardants and water. I called a few fire fighter friends on the east coast and in Sacramento. It’s here, it’s the future, and it’s perfect for Sedona. No more costly trucks, no more problems with mountain accessibilities. Have a need for a defib – drone it in under 10 mins. Have a need for blood to transfuse at a major accident w/o road to get to hospital – drone it in under 30 mins anywhere in Verde Valley. Need water on upper floors use a drone lift. Spend time learning new and cutting edge tech. Our search and rescue teams will not have to haul backpacks, they’ll be drone dropped precisely at the point of need. Helicopters will be replaced in most emergency calls in favor of drones leaving helos to do more elsewhere.

    Matt your intent might be good, but your delivery model’s old fashioned. That’s not being a NIMBY. It’s being the opposite, a sustainable and environmentally relevant protector of the red rocks and its water resources.

  8. magickj says:

    @Matt Shobert – There’s already a bridge at RR crossing in “Sedona Ranch,” a multi-million dollar subdivision owned by the same people who own Enchantment and 7 Canyons. All you need is a few million for a home and you too can have access to VOC from Red Rock Loop Road. All other options are off the table because the area has been built up so much that there’s no place to put a bridge, unless you want the bridge right at Crescent Moon, which would destroy the quiet and magnificence of the area. The county did pull a permit to build the bridge back in the late 80’s, but it was too expensive. It would be more expensive today. Residents in the area love their rural, peaceful existence and say that they should not have to give that up so that some tourist has a better parking spot in uptown – solving a problem in a whole different county. A bridge across RR xing is never going to happen. Save your money and purchase your home in the Ranch.

  9. O'Feefe says:

    defining success is not about dollars but about quality of life

  10. Colona Levi says:

    @majickj

    Good points.

  11. Brian says:

    Midgely bridge is proof the city is losing its balance & tossing away its calling card. Chamber and city keep trying to stuff three lanes of sewage in a single pipeline and think it’s going to keep flowing when two lanes of sewage back up before arriving? There’s not a Sedona engineer worth the price of salt.

  12. E.E. Cummings says:

    I find it interesting John Roberts that you mention how many comments have been made under a City Talk article submitted to a competitive online news source. FYI it appears Justin Clifford preferred to not share his editorial with SedonaEye, as in the past those issues from city hall are generally shared with all Sedona news sources.

    In addition, you already have, prior to my submission here, eleven comments. How many did you receive on the same letter to the editor on the other on-line publication?

    What’s your point – to give a glowing wow to maybe a handful of comments made someplace? Why do you neglect to acknowledge those who took time to make comments on your own submission to SedonaEye?

  13. @E.E. Cummings says:

    Ain’t you heard? It’s rumored that in addition to the Lodging/Chamber group there’s also a unified effort with some alleged powerhouse group to take down SedonaEye. Seems that chief of the Lodging Council as well as the big girls & boys with the chamber of commerce have come together for a cause with these new found friends. Their time would be better spent in lobbying State Reps to open an official investigation about Sedona city policies than worry about competing with something that’s actually working, the SedonaEye. But, of course, that would be Lodging Council & C of C’s worse nightmare. Go figure.

  14. Troy says:

    our roads suck. forget about building them. stupid idea.

  15. G. McGehee says:

    past time

  16. Goodbye Sears says:

    Sears store in Phoenix AZ on 10001 N Metro Parkway West will be closed.

    Earlier Thursday, company officials shuttered 72 locations out of roughly 100 non-profitable stores…more closings may be announced soon.

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