By Steve Segner, Sedona Resident
(July 30, 2018)
Everyone seems to want Sedona to be their Utopia.
They will fight over every detail to get what they want. Roads, parks, parking, lighting, roundabouts, you name it. Whatever it is, they want it their way.
They envision a Utopia, where they are handed a YOUtopia. What they’ve forgotten is that Utopia means no where.
More importantly, they’ve forgotten what communities are. Communities aren’t all about you. Communities are all about us—residents and visitors alike.
Trying to fit Sedona into a personal YOUtopia is killing it. At least it’s killing the sense of community.
Travelers are the soul and lifeblood of Sedona. How many people who live here now were born and raised in Sedona? Very few. The people who live here now were tourists themselves once, but they seem to have forgotten that.
Living, or working in Sedona doesn’t give anyone exclusive “rights.”
Sedona is a living breathing, growing entity. It is an organic, evolving community and it changes every day, with every new visitor for the better.
Hospitality is not just an industry. Hospitality is a virtue. It is a mark of good character to be hospitable to visitors.
We should welcome our visitors and invite them to enjoy, reflect, discover, and invite them to find a new joy that Sedona inspires.
We should be doing everything possible to respect and protect the environment as we accommodate our visitors and residents.
Sedona has the government, the leadership and the resources to grow. Let’s embrace new ideas, fix our roads, build new trails, parks and sidewalks. Let’s put our utilities underground. And let’s make this a community choice. Keep local control, and, as far as possible, keep the state out of it.
The idea of turning over our local government control to the state of Arizona to fulfill the Utopian dream of a few selfish people is just wrong.
Vote YES on Home Rule and start “Sedona in Motion.”
Forget your Utopia and your YOUtopia. This is our community. Let’s make it a great place for everyone!
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8 Comments
“Sedona has the government, the leadership and the resources to grow. Let’s embrace new ideas, fix our roads, build new trails, parks and sidewalks. Let’s put our utilities underground. And let’s make this a community choice. Keep local control, and, as far as possible, keep the state out of it.”
Excellent points Steve. Are we spending too much or too little? You hit the proverbial nail on the head. It’s time we opened our coffers and put the money where our bests interests reside.
Time to take the exclusive rights from the Chamber and tourist businesses. Time to get back to a balance of retired, artists and people who work from home, not just tourist business. Sedona should be more than just a tourist town. Sedona used to be a center of art and healing, now it is a center for traffic.
Sedona is motion is a boondoggle. City staff have commented” If it only takes one car from the roads it is worth it.” You can’t have unlimited growth in a geographically limited area. Do you want to pave paradise?
Tourists should be welcome, to fall in love with Sedona, to get Red rock Fever. Instead the chamber advertises for day trippers. As Jennifer Wesselhoff of the chamber has said ” We have businesses that depend on day trippers.”
The same people that have failed Sedona are saying an idea of Utopia is wrong. Don’t accept their vision of a crowded , paved 3RD rate Disneyland.
It’s time for a change.
Cut off the new lanes and chamber funds. Vote No on Home Rule. Vote in a new city council with no incumbents and no past government employees.
We can save our town.
Like I said read my article Tony it’s your Utopia and you have nothing
From Segner ” you have nothing.”
This is how the President of the Lodging Council feels about Sedona Residents.
Nuff said.
Initiative petition invalidated
Post Date:07/31/2018 1:28 p.m.
July 31, 2018
SEDONA, Ariz. – The Sedona City Clerk has informed proponents of a citizen initiative to establish a permanent base adjustment to the city’s expenditure authority that their proposal has failed to qualify for the Nov. 6 ballot.
The proposal failed following completion of a comprehensive review process as established by the Arizona Legislature with guidance from the secretary of state. The final phase of the process included receipt of random sampling results from the Yavapai and Coconino county recorders which resulted in a determination by the city clerk that 16 percent of the petition signatures are invalid. The projected number of valid signatures that remain is below the statutory requirement.
Read the official notices provided to the petition applicants on July 30. 22-page PDF
Proponents of the permanent base adjustment sought to place a proposal on the city’s general election ballot to establish a permanent expenditure limit of approximately $25.2 million subsequent to the Home Rule vote scheduled for the Aug. 28 primary ballot by the Sedona City Council.
The process for removing petition and ineligible signatures is governed by Arizona law, A.R.S 19-121.01-04.
The city clerk first removes petition sheets that do not meet requirements for form. After this process is completed the clerk reviews the sheets to determine the county of the majority of the signers and removes all signatures of those not in the county of the majority on each sheet. Then the signature sheets are grouped by county of registration of the majority of those signing.
If the signatures that remain meet the constitutional minimum, the city clerk requests that the Yavapai and Coconino county recorders check specific signatures among random-sample sheets for verification that the signer is a qualified elector. In the case of an initiative, including the Sedona permanent base adjustment initiative, this is a random sample of five percent. The signatures selected for verification by the county are randomly generated by the Arizona Secretary of State.
The city of Sedona will conduct its 2018 primary election Tuesday, Aug. 28, and the general election, if necessary, Tuesday, Nov. 6.
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NOT SO FAST STEVE
Contact: Dwight Kadar FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Telephone: (281) 610-0725 July 31, 2018
Email: dwightkadar@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.arizonaliberty.us
City of Sedona accused of illegally attempting to block citizens’ ballot initiative
Arizona Liberty, a local political action committee, is filing a lawsuit in Yavapai County Superior Court against the City of Sedona for illegally invalidating its citizens’ initiative to place a Permanent Base Adjustment on the November 6, 2018 ballot.
A Permanent Base Adjustment lets voters decide how much of their taxpayer dollars the City of Sedona would be allowed to spend. Currently, there are no limits.
“This outrageous attempt to disenfranchise voters will not stand,” said Arizona Liberty PAC Treasurer Dwight Kadar. “We will go to court to protect citizens’ right to vote on the financial future of Sedona.”
“On July 9th, Arizona Liberty submitted 639 signatures to Sedona City Clerk Susan Irvine to put the citizens’ initiative on the ballot, well above the required 429,” explained Kadar. “And on July 30th, we received written notification from the City Clerk that a total of 156 signatures were found to be ineligible.”
The City Clerk rejected them as ineligible because, in her words, “the signatures were not county of majority on petition.”
Arizona Liberty has contacted election officials in both Coconino and Yavapai Counties and they have no knowledge of such language or requirement.
Trying to fit Sedona into a personal YOUtopia is killing it. At least it’s killing the sense of community.
I don’t know one person who has killed the sense of community more than you,Steve Segner of Yavapai County or wherever you choose to be from at any given moment. You don’t live here.
DB
What bothers me is apparently this is Sedona City Staff protecting you from your right to vote on something. They are using a technicality, real or not, to keep you from voting on a choice. It makes you wonder who they are working for. It is quite clear it is not the voters.
Cut their excessive spending and staffing off. Vote No on Home Rule. No to incumbents who allow this outrage.