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Editorial on Clean Sweep of New Council

By Sedona Times Editor Tommy Acosta —

The dust has cleared. A new council has been elected. The face of the council has been changed.

I’ll never forget when former vice-mayor John Bradshaw told ADOT to back off a bit on the lights for 89A. He said they had to or else the face of the council as it existed then would be changed in the next election. He was right. That is exactly what happened.

The reticence of the former council majority, their dismissal of the will of the people, galvanized the community. On the NSA they went against the Democrats of the Red Rocks and the Sierra Club. A big mistake because these two powerful groups organized a campaign to take them out of office. They had 40 people on the phone pushing for the new council elects.

On the lights it was obvious the majority of the people didn’t want them. Polls were taken. They came to council meetings to protest yet they were dismissed and insulted as not being representative of the community.

They took down the mayor’s committees because they did not want the mayor to have too much power. They angered the members who in turn made it a point to vote them out office one way or another.

Then, in their need to solidify for posterity their majority hold on the council and their desire to ensure the anomaly of Rob Adams’ election as mayor to never occur again, they went against the ingrained right of American citizens to elect their leaders by initiating Prop 400.

They simply made too many mistakes. I can imagine what they felt like when the election results came in Tuesday night. It had to be devastating. Could they have for a second believed they could win against an organized community ready to take them out of office?

If they did believe that, then one can only blame their failure to see what is real and what is not.

Further, the existence of other media in the community should have alerted them to what was in store. The domination of their newspaper was toppled.

Again, I have to point back to Bradshaw who saw it coming as clearly as I. I am sure his “I told you so” will reverberate through the minds of those who lost.

T’was the lights that killed the beast,” to borrow a quote from Beauty and the Beast. This was the main issue. How could they be so blind? How could ADOT be so blind? They had the figuresc on the community’s overwhelming opposition to those lights, which of course they did not share with the ADOT brass. We had people wearing signs, blaring horns, demonstrating.

The communityshould not have been so easily dismissed. Ignoring citizens and imagining they don’t count led to the Waterloo of the council majority.

 I would hope they wise up, realize what the true will of the people is and do the right thing, meaning telling ADOT to cool it on the lights for a while and supporting the NSA.

Paul Chevalier sent a scary message at the victory celebration Tuesday night when he said no more projects like the Chapel area sewer project will be rubber stamped by the council without a vote by the people.

We will not see any more bond issues to bring bucks to Sedona.

And on the NSA, Kirkpatrick is sighing a sigh of relief knowing she can put her bill into the hopper now that the voters have spoken. Her re-election is ensured if she so does.

But back to the lights. If the current majority wants to keep pushing it, it will be a race to the finish. The new council in July will reject the lights. So it is important for ADOT, if it still wants to support the lame-duck council, to rush the job.

The people that elected the new council need to step on the gas and keep up the pressure. Just keep pushing. Show up in masse at the council meeting.

If I were the other side eager to bring in the construction bucks for the lights, I would try to accelerate the bid. Just get it done before the new council takes over. Not an easy task, considering the new council is supported by the full will of the community. I can see people throwing themselves against ADOT-contracted bulldozers to stop the killing of the trees when they try to put up the light poles. I see front-page headlines in the Arizona Republic. I see nasty lawsuits.

If I were ADOT I would gracefully bow out and tell the council they are continuing to explore other safety measures (for liability purposes) and would want to put the lights in as part of their five-year plan and the eventual revitalization of the 89A corridor.

This is called a “win win.”

On Councilman DiNunzio, if I were him what would I do? I would stay on. No need to be a quitter. I think he is a level-headed clear thinking individual who proved his worth when he supported election over appointment.

Basically, that was the bottom line for me. I hope he doesn’t resign now that he has been relegated to the nth-degree of the council minority.

So, in asking “where did they go wrong” the answer is simple. They failed to listen to the will of the people. They did not see the rising tide of resentment. They remained thinking they were right and the people were wrong.

Will the lame duck members of the council continue in their old ways or will they play ball to the will of the people?

Remember, they still have six months left on their seats. Either they can repair the damage they created or they can continue on the path that led to their defeat. They can turn around and leave a legacy or a town full of burnt bridges.

It’s their choice. Sedona has already made its own. Change is inevitable. Ride the wave or run against the tide. Do the right thing.

1 Comment

  1. Rita Livingston says:

    Excellent article!

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