City Council Votes 8-1 to Allow Rec Center to be Developed

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
ReDeevelopment / Endangered Species
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Yesterday the Phoenix City Council voted to destroy the historic community of Villa de Paz for greed. 

Here is how the council members voted:

Daniel Valenzuela - Yes
Sal DiCiccio - Yes
Greg Stanton - Yes
Jim Waring - Yes
Laura Pastor - Yes
Kate Gallego - Yes
Thelda Williams - Yes
Bill Gates - Yes
Michael Nowakowski - No

Any council member who voted against the best interests of our neighborhood and endangered species needs to be recalled.  Neighbors are now collaborating and seeking the paperwork to make this a reality.

Villa de Paz would like to make this a city-wide campaign to recall the City of Phoenix's Mayor and City Council for ethics and law violations. 

If you are interested in a campaign of your own, please start with obtaining the Recall Petition and paperwork at City Hall.

Thank you for all the support. 

Election Day!

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Election Day / City of Phoenix
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Remember to Vote!

And, If you don't know, Vote: NO!

Phoenix Voting: If You Don't Know, Vote: NO

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Voting / City of Phoenix / Opinion
___________________________________

With the summer voting season upon us, Phoenix City residents are being asked to vote on measures they know little to noting about. Our advice: if you don't know, Vote: NO!

The VDP Gazette over the years has made it our mission to inform residents about Agenda 21 and other underhanded schemes imposed on us by our Mayor and City Council members. Take for instance, Proposition 100. That seems innocuous enough. Vote on the City of Phoenix's general plan. 

Have you seen the General Plan? Were you ever notified about changing the General Plan? I have not. I have not heard one word about how the City of Phoenix planners would like to waste money on Urban high rise lifestyles, lightrail, or "sustainability." 

Do not get us started on Proposition 104, the $31 Billion tax revenue scheme to pay for light rail! 

City of Phoenix workers are still on furloughs. Employees are not even making their own base salary, but we can waste money on trains that go nowhere.

As some residents have pointed out, we have a deficit in the number of police officers for the safety of our streets. 

Didn't Phoenix just shut down a school because of financial problems?

So no school, no police, no employee full time work hours, but we can pass U.N. climate policies to degrade our streets, living standards, and housing developments. 

Sounds like our Mayor and City Council members need to focus on Phoenix first or be voted out of office. What do you think?

So if you come to a Proposition and are not sure what to do: Vote: NO. Phoenix cannot afford to follow other cities into debt and poverty over politically motivated money schemes for U.N. officials.

Thank you.

The Fluoridation Equation and Movie Night. The Great Culling: Our Water

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Fluoride / City Water Poisoning
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After the cities have placed toxic poisons into the water supply masked as dental remedy, we discover just how toxic and unsustainable fluoridation is. 

In the documentary, The Great Culling: Our Water, dentists, organic chemists, scientists amongst others show without a shadow of a doubt that fluoride mandated into the public water supply is not only wrong but criminal. 

The City of Phoenix upheld fluoridation of the public water back in 2012. What is wrong with these people? 

 The Great Culling: Our Water

The Georgia Guidestones is a large granite monument in Elbert County, Georgia. It has been referred to as an American Stonehenge. The person or group that paid for its construction is a mystery. Inscribed on its stones are ten commandments, written in twelve languages, for what it describes as an Age of Reason. Many believe it is an agenda for the New World Order.

The first commandment is: "Maintain humanity under 500 million in perpetual balance with nature." Since the world population now stands at over seven billion, that means the commandment calls for the elimination of 93% of the world's population.

THE CULLING ALREADY HAS BEGUN
The Great Culling of the human race already has begun. It is being done through chemicals added to our drinking water, food, medicines, and the air we breathe -- chemicals that have the known effect of reducing fertility and shortening lifespan. This message can no longer be dismissed as conspiracy theory. The facts are in plain view.

This documentary is the first of a three-part series. It shows how additives to our drinking water, such as fluoride, supposedly to combat tooth decay, in reality are covert doses of death. It also shows how you can protect yourself and your family.

If you don't believe that fluoride is a concern, then go check your toothpaste... one pea sized amount accidentally swallowed is enough to send you to the hospital, especially if you are a child:

Three ingredients found in most toothpastes pose health risks if too much is ingested, according to Miskewitz. Sorbitol, a liquid that keeps toothpaste from drying out, is a laxative that could cause diarrhea in children. Sodium lauryl sulfate, an ingredient that makes toothpaste foam, can also be a diarrheic. But the fluoride poses the most danger if too much toothpaste is swallowed — particularly to younger children.

The question becomes: how much are your drinking in your water, sodas? Eating in your foods? How about this for an answer:

The amount of fluoride they're talking about is a quarter milligram of fluoride, contained in a pea size amount of toothpaste.

But here is the kicker, This is the same amount of fluoride you find in 8 oz of water. Yet toothpaste carries a "Do not swallow" warning, whereas you're typically told to drink eight 8oz glasses of water each day, without any concern for the amount of fluoride you will ingest. Commercial Toothpaste also contains toxic formaldehyde as a filler which is used as embalming fluid! I recommend using Natural Toothpaste for all your family.

No matter how you take your forced medication having fluoride in the water does not make teeth healthier; it makes the overall health of a community weaker. Fluoride is a poison plain and simple. Didn't you know you were drinking chemical waste from China? Fluoride used to be used as rat poison, and still is...

Fluoride is an extremely toxic ion; near sources of fluoride air pollution, vegetation is destroyed, animals get sick and die, and people suffer eye irritation, respiratory problems, or more serious symptoms of fluoride poisoning. But fluoride can be dangerous even in very tiny amounts, because many plants and animals accumulate the ion in their tissues. Over several months or years, even the faintest measurable traces of fluoride can add up and cause harmful effects.

As a pollutant, fluoride has sufficiently severe effects, and is widespread enough, that the American Association for the Advancement of Science named fluoride the third most serious air pollutant in the country, (after SO2 and ozone) in December 1966. More than fifty kinds of industries – including those producing aluminum, steel, phosphate, oil, brick, and glass – use raw materials containing fluorides or add fluorides to their products during processing. Coal, which is burned in massive amounts to provide electric power and heat, contains many fluoride impurities that are released to the atmosphere by burning.

And yes, fluoride is also in air pollution. Fractured bones, thyroid disease, cancer, how are these illnesses outweighed by the nonexistent good that water fluoridation does for the community?

Upset yet? If you still believe fluoride in the water supply is healthy for teeth and children, then you really need to watch tonight's VDP Gazette Presentation.

When will the City of Phoenix's leaders take this category 4 hazardous waste material out of our water supply? The city is poisoning everyone especially children and minorities. Read the VDP Gazette's Fluoride Poisoning in a Fluoride Worshiping World for more information.

At the cost of around $582,000 a year to poison the tax payers, couldn't we use the money for something more appropriate like the cure for cavities, which is nutritious food for children instead of poisoning everyone and creating more serious public health crises?

Harvard Study: Developmental Fluoride Neurotoxicity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Isn't fluoride supposed to be good for children? Guess not.

Why are we fluoridating our city water again? Oh, for more symptoms of fluoride poisoning like the effects of fluoride on your brain:

•   Reduction in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
•   Damage to your hippocampus
•   Formation of beta-amyloid plaques (the classic brain abnormality in Alzheimer's disease)
•   Reduction in lipid content
•   Damage to purkinje cells
•   Exacerbation of lesions induced by iodine deficiency
•   Impaired antioxidant defense systems
•   Increased uptake of aluminum
•   Accumulation of fluoride in your pineal gland

Plus more! Fluoridation of city water supplies causes more harm than good. Unless of course wasting tax payer money, poisoning children, and creating a public health crisis are the goals of this unlicensed experiment. That, or our city leaders give more credence to unreasonable mass medication of the public and outright fabrications of fluoride's benefits, than actual facts. Maybe our leaders have been drinking too much of the city water. 

Isn't it time Phoenix grew up and became unfluoridated? 

category 4 of the hazardous materials

Source: Youtube, Fluoride Alert, Green Med Info, Fluoride Alert,  Collective Evolution, 

Cronkite News, Huffington Post, Fluoride Poisoning in a Fluoride Worshiping World

Let's Hear it One More Time, Joe

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

ICLEI / United Nations / Weather 

______________________________

Joe Bastardi is chief forecaster at WeatherBELL Analytics, a meteorological consulting firm and he does a wonderful job rewriting T'was the Night before Christmas. It is called: A Visit From 'Saint Joe'.

Here is part of the revised poem by Bastardi.

'Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the news,
There were reports of record cold, so many were confused.
Told global warming is why we should care,
And that the point of no return would soon be here.

The children were bombarded with tales of dread,

While visions of climate disasters were stuck in each little head.

 And mamma in her Prius, and I on my bike,

 To save the planet, got rid of the cars that we like.

Read the rest here. It is worth the time and has become my favorite to recite every December. 

If you believe Global Warming or Climate Change is real (the man-made kinds), please read:  

Tol statistically deconstructs the 97% Consensus

Paper finds solar activity explains climate change over past 200,000 years 

No Proof of Climatic Change (NOAA 1989)

Of course if you want to cling to your climate change theories so that you can bully your way into cities in order to manipulate City Councils and take control of the City's Planning Commission, you'll need all the falsified data you can get. So you'll have to contact Al Gore or Maurie Strong for that.

While you are at it, why don't you do like Reddit or Robert Brulle does: call people names or ban them from scientific discussion if they do not agree with your point of view.

In the article, Study Reveals Source of ‘Dark Money’ in Climate Change Denial Studies– star “deniers” are scripted performers and this absurdity was claimed by Robert Brulle, who is an environmental sociologist professor at Drexel University, Phil.

“The climate change countermovement has had a real political and ecological impact on the failure of the world to act on the issue of global warming,” said Brulle. “Like a play on Broadway, the countermovement has stars in the spotlight — often prominent contrarian scientists or conservative politicians — but behind the stars is an organizational structure of directors, script writers and producers, in the form of conservative foundations.

As a tax payer, if this professor and his team were allowed IRS documents, I would be calling for an investigation into this matter. I would like to see all the data on where the gods of climate change get their money too...

Also, Professor Brulle? Where is my Dark Money? I've been pointing out the lies, made up facts, and the "sky is falling immature charade" for years now without a penny of support. 

But if you are like Reddit, you don't need no stinking facts. To keep the illusion going with free government grants flowing into cities, which isn't free by the way: it is MY tax money, Reddit falls in line and kicked out anyone who could bring up facts, science, and a cogent argument: Reddit forum bans climate change 'deniers'. 

With our local government taken over by this false paradigmn, what are good citizens fed up with the hypocrisy to do?

Well, it's time to go war. The war of words is over. It's time to get "real."

In your area, you could confront your City Councils, call on them to change, present them with a legal Misprison of Treason, and do what the Bay Area is doing: file a lawsuit.

 

LAWSUIT TO DEFEAT AGENDA 21

According to the website:

The Post Sustainability Institute / Democrats Against UN Agenda 21 and Freedom Advocates are launching a legal challenge to PLAN BAY AREA/ONE BAY AREA (click for a pdf of the Plan). This plan is different from other regional plans across the country and we believe that it will be a prototype for your future.

PLAN BAY AREA is an all-encompassing land use and transportation plan that regionalizes all 9 counties and 101 cities of the San Francisco Bay Area by limiting new construction to specific locations (only 4% of the land area) and requiring high density development: more apartments and condos on top of shops. If cities want federal and state transportation dollars they will have to agree to this Sustainable Communities Strategies plan. PLAN BAY AREA is an aggressive implementation of UN Agenda 21's "islands of human habitation."
See California's official Wildlands Map

PLAN BAY AREA is UN AGENDA 21. ICLEI WORKED ON THIS PLAN.

PLAN BAY AREA violates voter-approved urban growth boundary ordinances. Even though voters all over the Bay Area have voted to determine where their urban growth boundaries should be, PLAN BAY AREA actually nullifies these boundaries by restricting development to very small locations in just some cities. It requires 80% of residential development and 66% of commercial development to squeeze into these small, fully urbanized areas. If you own property, any property whether it’s a house or an office building, outside of the PLAN BAY AREA 4% Priority Development Area you may not be able to add a granny unit, add on to your building, or develop your lot. PLAN BAY AREA is valid for 25 years! Radical building restrictions lasting for over a generation will cripple land value and your ability to start and maintain your business or residential plans. For a pdf of the MAP please click here--orange areas are Priority Development Areas.

PLAN BAY AREA violates both the 5th and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The 5th amendment guarantees property owners the right to just compensation, and the 14th amendment guarantees equal protection.

The only lawsuit which can block the implementation of Plan Bay Area is one that challenges the PLAN itself. Together, Michael Shaw of Freedom Advocates, and Rosa Koire of the Post Sustainability Institute have spearheaded this fight.

It is time to take back our cities, states, and nation from the dubious antics of the United Nations and corrupt politicians. 

Sources: all of the above

VDP Resident Letter to City Council Representatives

Writer, Ken Becht

Community Interest / News
___________________________________________

This letter was sent via email November 26, 2013* to the City of Phoenix's District 5 Councilmen: Daniel Valenzuela, but this statement is not just for one member of the City Council. Information contained herein needs to be read by all members representing the people of Phoenix, AZ.


Mr. Valenzuela,

I am a resident of Villa de Paz.

First of all, I was NEVER notified by mail of Mr. Walter G. Chomichuk's attempt to buy the VIlla de Paz golf course. Once I did learn of it, I began knocking on doors in our neighborhood and found that every 3rd person had not been notified by mail, either. The statements by Mr. Welker and Lazarus are just not true. Mr. Welker told me in an email that he sent out over 1,000 flyers. When questioned further, he said he did not do it himself and couldn't guarantee that. Mr. Lazarus has vacillated about the number sent out from 1,000 to 1,300 etc. He stated in an email that "ALL the residents of the one square area of Villa de Paz had been notified" which is just not true. He didn't know how many homes were impacted by this attempted purchase, as of the Maryvale Village Planning Committee 12-1 decision in OUR FAVOR, at the Hope Center. We had to advise him of the correct number.

I am a graduate of San Diego State University where I graduated with Honors & Distinction in Political Science in 1975. I spent 4 years in the USAF, held a Top Secret Clearance, volunteered and did one tour in Vietnam (69/70). Every member of my family has served their country. My father was in the 10th Mountain Division in WWII. My oldest brother was in the 82nd Airborne Division. My 2nd oldest was a Marine. My younger brother was in Army Intelligence. I was a Phoenix Police Officer for 8 years. I have written and published two books. I am a licensed Realtor in the state of Arizona and have been, going on 12 years.

Could you please answer the following questions for me.

1. When and where were you FIRST informed that the Villa de Paz golf course was under contract? When did it go under contract and for how much?

2. When did you have your first meeting and/or communication with the applicant and/or his representatives concerning the purchase of this golf course?

3. When did you first learn that Mr. Chomichuk was intending to put 350 homes and develop 200 condominiums on the Villa de Paz golf course? (This golf course HAS BEEN A GOLF COURSE FOR 48 YEARS. A golf course that will be an official HISTORICAL SITE in two years when it turns 50 years old.)

4. When and where were the first small meetings that you had with the community where this issue came up? Who was present at those meetings? Mr. Lazarus? Mr. Welker? Mr. Mattox? Who from your office was present?

5. Why have you not come to any of the officially scheduled meetings where the applicant and the residents of Villa de Paz were both scheduled to make their case? The Mall meeting at 75th Ave & Thomas, October 9th, 2013 and the following scheduled Block Watch meeting.

6. Why did you originally decide to attend a meeting that Mr. Lazarus had scheduled after Mr. Lazarus REFUSED to show up for his scheduled presentation at the Block Watch Meeting 10/10/13? He did not "officially" (by first class mail), notify the Villa de Paz neighborhood. Yet you refused to attend any other earlier meetings sponsored by sanctioned groups? You decided to show up for the applicant's controlled meeting but not the others? Why?

7. Knowing that have now known the desires of the Canadian Investor, Mr. Chomichuk and his team, for quite a long time now, why have you not come out against this? You have known both sides arguments on this issue. You are the City Councilman for District 5, not for Manitoba, Canada. You are the City Councilman for District 5, not Mr. Welker who does not even live in Phoenix. You are not the City Councilman for former Vice Mayor and former District 5 City Councilman Claude Mattox. Mr. Mattox has moved out of Villa de Paz. Mr Mattox bought his home on the Villa de Paz golf course with his wife Sherri Fagan Mattox in 1986. He lived on that golf course for 27 years! Mattox sold his house on August 5, 2013!!!!

The first inklings of the golf course being under contract came out in September but only because a resident learned of it and began to make it known throughout our neighborhood. He began knocking on doors and gathered HUNDREDS of signatures on a petition. I too have gathered more signatures. I too now have HUNDREDS of names, addresses, emails and phone numbers of our friends and neighbors who are OUTRAGED about what is happening. I and we, are gaining more phone numbers, addresses, and emails everyday.( We are also getting people from outside Villa de Paz to help us and join our fight.) They are asking WHY you are not out there protecting them. They are asking how come you have not LED this fight to save the golf course. They are asking how come you aren't trying to stop the introduction of 1,100 more cars in a one mile square neighborhood? They are asking how come you ostensibly don't care about the HUGE losses they will take on their homes. Many of these folks have all their money in their homes.

8. They are asking why you are not supporting the folks that helped get you elected. Everyone knows what the developer wants to do to our community. They have said unless they can build out 350 homes with many 2 story up to 30 feet tall on this golf course, they will pull out. There is no compromise. This is a golf course. It has been a golf course for 48years. The buyer knew when he bought it he had to keep it a golf course. It must be sold as a golf course. No one is against private property rights but his agreement when he bought it was it was a golf course. When they built it they built it as a golf course, not a subdivision. Build around it as you may but you can't destroy the golf course because you are allegedly losing money. I say allegedly because no proof has been presented to validate their claims. Most businesses lose money over the first few years. We have a responsible source that says they in fact made money for 5 years. Regardless, they bought it as a golf course and need to sell it as a golf course. I in fact have a VERY INTERESTED party interested in buying the golf course and keeping it a golf course.

9. They are asking why you are ostensibly supporting a Canadian Investor, who per the Manitoba Securities Commission of Canada has plead GUILTY to two charges of their Securities Act. (You can pull this information on the Manitoba Security Commission website. It is public information)

He was selling securities without a license: "acting as a salesman of or on behalf of Worldwide Golf Resources in connection with trading securities".....

He was: "trading in securities of Worldwide Golf Resources Inc in the course of a primary distribution to the public before receipt for both a preliminary prospectus and prospectus had been obtained from the Director of the Manitoba Securities Commission contrary to section 37(1) of the Act."

I have emails and have had personal conversations with the Senior Chief Investigator of the Manitoba Securities Commission. He has told me that unlike our clearly defined differences between civil and criminal law, Mr. Chomichuk "could have gone to jail" on these charges. Mr. Chomichuk plead guilty and paid two separate $5,000.00 fines, one for each charge.

10. Were you ever told about Mr. Chomichuk's pleadings of guilty to Manitoba Security Act charges?

I am asking you, as a resident of Villa de Paz, to JUST DO THE RIGHT THING and make a public statement that you officially support the residents of Villa de Paz. I have personally talked to elderly folks at their door that were weeping over this. Some have lived here for over 40 years. They moved here like all of us because of the special OASIS that is Villa de Paz. The golf course winds throughout this community and positively effects ALL that live here, not just those on the golf course. They all bought here because of that fact. People have recently put in thousands of dollars into their homes right before they learned of this foreign investor seeking to destroy a community. A community that you represent. How can you not be outraged? Where is your passion for these fine people whose lives will be forever ruined. Their quality of life will be wiped out. Their home values will plummet. I know that as a Realtor. This is a THEFT of your constituents life savings. None of these people will be compensated by this foreign investor for their losses....not one red cent.

The Wildlife will be destroyed. The Canadian Geese that fly in V formation are protected under the Migratory Bird Act of 1918. You should have already learned about that but if not I will happily give you that information. We also have HAWKS, TURTLES & many other species that nest and live on this golf course that impact everyone in this community. They too will be gone. And all this for what? So a multi-millionaire foreign developer can make millions off the backs of hard working American citizens and tax payers of Villa de Paz.

This is not about generating some tax revenue from 350 houses and 200 condominiums. This is EXPLOITATION of our neighbors and your constituents by Walter G. Chomichuk. Mr. Chomichuk just happens to be director and or partner of numerous LLPs & LLCs. One of which is an HOA company. They have said that the 350 homes will in fact have an HOA. The 200 Condominiums will also have an HOA. And who do you think will control that. At $100.00 a month for 550 homes is $55,000.00 a month or $650,000.00 a year. He also is involved with a Street Maintenance Company interestingly enough.

The fact there will be 1,100 more vehicles in a one mile square neighborhood called Villa de Paz alone should make you come out against this destruction of a neighborhood and a community. As a former police officer who has arrested men for rape, this is exactly is what is going on here....the rape of Villa de Paz! Good people don't stand by idly and let that happen.

This has been a golf course for 48 years. It was not built as a subdivision but a golf course. That was the original intent as is verified by all the marketing material available along with the Master Plan for Villa de Paz. The owner bought the course knowing this was to be a golf course and to remain a golf course. Their statements they are losing money is not backed up by any evidence. Most all businesses lose money the first few years. They have lied before so why are we to accept this as fact. We have responsible inside people that have stated this course didn't lose money for years while they were there. THIS WAS BUILT AS A GOLF COURSE & not a SUBDIVISION.

There are 1,445 people here that will remember if you step up and support them or if you don't support them. You talked about families, community and neighborhood in your campaign. Your chief of staff and others speaking for you in your office have told many of us that if you learned that the residents of Villa de Paz don't want this to happen to them you would be out front and support them, as you well should. Well, it is clear the residents don't want this. There were over 250 people at the Hope Center where the Maryvale Planning Commission Committee voted 12-1 in our favor. We filled the PHO hearing at the City Council and that was on a Wednesday at 10am when most people have to work. This is not about sticking a finger in the wind to see which way the wind blows. You represent the CITIZENS of DISTRICT 5 and VILLA de PAZ and should be leading this fight. To lay back and posture that you don't want to "influence the process?" Your job representing the people of District 5 & Villa de Paz is to "influence" the process for your constituents.

YOUR CONSTITUENTS don't want this! Let us know you have our back! You told us you are going to run for Council again in two years. 1445 people will not forget how you are dealing with this Mr. Valenzuela. You need to do the RIGHT THING and LEAD! If you do that, you will have this neighborhood and a VITAL, POLITICALLY ACTIVE community behind you...If not? The people out here are strong unit, please understand that. They will not forget that a foreign investor with guilty pleadings in the Manitoba Securities Commission, ripped out the HEART & SOULS of thousands of people who not only live here but enjoy playing the Villa de Paz golf course.

We are asking you to NOW make a public statement that you support us. We are waiting, watching and are expecting you to DO THE RIGHT THING.

*As of this publication, Mr. Daniel Valenzuela has neither responded to this letter nor made any public statement supporting the residents of Villa de Paz against a foreign developer.

New Menu Link: Help Save VDP Golf Course

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

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If you have not kept up on the VDP Gazette's latest news, or our popular articles, then you would not know that Villa de Paz is under attack.

Some developer out of Canada wants to fill our green, wildlife refuge, and 40 year old community golf course with houses.

You read that right: Cookie-Cutter Houses in lieu of Environmental Green Space.

Part of the stipulations put into place by the City of Phoenix during our Annexation in the 1990's were removed. These stipulations were to safeguard our community from just this type of hostile take over. Instead the City removed these zoning regulations without the residents of Villa de Paz's knowledge.

We have two community associates that were viable and available at the time of the initial move to take away these stipulations but these entities were never contacted either. Which leaves many questions as to why the stipulations were removed in the first place and if there has been gross misconduct by the developers, lawyers, and the city itself.

In all reality if a community approved stripping their own stipulations for a new development, wouldn't there have been a group of representatives from Villa de Paz at the City Council meetings? You see our point. 

Villa de Paz wants your help to fight the influx of developments in the West Valley because politicians and developers do not consider the real needs of the community only the lining of their pocketbooks. 

To garner more support, Villa de Paz Gazette has added a menu link that goes straight to the SAVE Villa de Paz Facebook page. 

Join our fight today! 

NO MORE INFILLING!

Get together. Get mobilized. Get answers!

The Lies to Pave Paradise With, Real Estate and Politics

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

ICLEI / Sustainability

_______________________________________

"They paved Paradise and put in a Parking Lot," Joni Mitchell, Amy Grant, and the Counting Crows have sang.

Why would anyone want to pave Paradise?

That is where sustainability comes in with its "infilling." Pretty soon the town or city you know will look like an urban wasteland. Or perhaps suburban wasteland is a more accurate phrase.

Where trees, grass, and wildlife used to flourish, asphalt, brick, and petrochemicals now reside. If sustainability is really about environmentalism and not a political tool for communistic regionalism, then wouldn't towns and cities do everything possible to cultivate green spaces?

Photo Credit: John LeMay

Villa de Paz is the perfect balance between green and suburban.  Animals and humans live in harmony together. The community could not be more environmentally friendly.

Here we see a common sight during the spring on the golf course: a mother duck with her ducklings. Golfers still golf. Neighbors take pictures. Ducks are raised and sent into the world.

Natural coexistence is a beautiful thing to behold.

Villa de Paz does not need fancy brochures or website to sell their homes.

Realtors do not have a hard time marketing the already mature development with golf course access, beautiful trees, and wildlife galore.

One current listing on Hazelwood states: "Bring your serious buyers. Seller not negotiating much on this well laid out property. There are before and after photos to appreciate the pride of ownership. The upgrades were well thought out. Truly a gem in this established golf course community."

Another two listings, this time for Fairway Villas, boasts: "BRAND NEW COMMUNITY!! Overlooking Via De Paz Golf Course."

If this active community is all about the Golf Course, then why is the City of Phoenix in such a hurry to do away with it? Villa de Paz is in a battle with a ravenous developer to destroy the very thing that makes the community a viable, beautiful, and living wildlife refuge: the Golf Course.

This attack on community stipulations and families only comes when politicians buy into false claims of sustainability. Thanks to the sustainability push, cities are indoctrinated to believe: "We will build mass transit and they will come. If they don't come, well, we'll force the issue." This line of thinking is corrupt and illogical.

ICLEI and the City of Phoenix are terrible bed fellows. If the city has to destroy beauty in order to fit into the sustainability nonsense model, then the city needs to re-think its membership as well as its mission, vision, and goals.

Who wants to live in a city without character or charm and that looks like every other city in the United States? Who wants to defund social programs when the average age of a homeless person in Arizona is seven years and divert that money to "light rail?" It is baseless and stupid.

According to Phoenix Rescue Mission, Phoenix has more to worry about than a supposed volunteer sustainable scam, there are 10 Facts about Homelessness in Arizona politicians need to read before sending away anymore funding to this ruse.  

Of course there is a revenue side to this story, but as Resilient Communities points out: "It’s not just forests that are torn down. Arable land for crops is often destroyed as the suburbs stretch further and further from the main city. The new roads burden local government with maintenance costs that create problems within years of building."

The plans and promises may look good to a city in these hard economic times but in the long run, the cities pay the price of up keep long after developers leave with their thirty pieces of silver.

People are tired of the 'smash everyone into small living spaces' philosophy to satisfy false and misleading environmental rhetoric. People are tired of being used as renters and not proprietors of their own property: "Homeowners spend enormous amounts of money on maintenance, HOA fees, and yard work for a home that doesn’t produce anything." Why shouldn't people leave the cities for a better life elsewhere?

The math is very simple. As we drive faster and faster down the road of sustainability, the more and more environment we lose to be sustainable. Sustainability should not be measured in fearmongering CO2 levels that have no basis in fact. Sustainability should be based on water tables, clean air, less traffic, and communion with nature and wildlife.

"Much of what we discuss here is aimed at shifting the balance away from a broken system that often seems hell-bent to destroy every natural resource we cherish. Parks become retail shopping meccas, forests become industrial centers and all the while, we are losing sight of the most sustainable resource we have – the ability to grow food. "

That is what this fight has come down to: shifting the balance away from a broken system that often seems hell-bent on destroying every natural resource we cherish for the false promises of revenue and sustainability.

As a resident of Villa de Paz, I hope that the soul of Phoenix, Arizona can still be saved from the idols and false prophets filling the political checking accounts of the City Council members who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and be a leader amongst people, not sheep leading their communities into an unsustainable nightmare of a wasteland.

Source: Realtor, Realtor

Villa de Paz Residents Fight Developer

Staff Writer, Jeff O'Toole

Community Interest

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Please take the time to view the short presentation full of facts and information as well as contact ALL the Phoenix City Council Members. Names and contact information on the Youtube page.

Villa de Paz Residents Fight Developer Video Presentation

Save Villa de Paz Facebook Page

Source: Youtube

Residents of Villa de Paz at Phoenix Officer Hearing Decision

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Community Interest
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The City of Phoenix Council Chambers were not ready for the citizenry of Villa de Paz to storm the castle. Here are pictures of residents going into the chambers as well as filling the chambers to capacity. One thing about this neighborhood is their sense of community.

Visit their efforts to save their golf course on Facebook. 

Source: Villa de Paz Residents

Reclaiming Open Space for Higher Standards of Living

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest / Environment

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Thanks to the economic downturn and shortsightedness, golf courses are being neglected so that owners may rake in development money. 

Luckily, municipalities are not falling for the bait and switch: run down a property into disrepair to sell it off for track housing. There's a new sheriff in town and it is called: cooperation and foresight.

"At the same time many golf courses are falling into disrepair, city officials, developers, and residents nationwide are working to tackle the challenge of how to protect open space in an economical and environmentally conscious way." 

That's right, people are saying no to paving over a tree so they can put in a parking lot with cookie cutter houses. Imagine that.

"When undertaken with a thoughtful eye toward the needs of the larger community and with a genuine respect for the natural environment, golf course repurposing can serve as an opportunity to create amenities that will serve the community long into the future. Rather than shortsightedly replicating conventional residential subdivisions, we encourage stakeholders to see the former courses as opportunities for innovative, sustainable development."

Since golf courses are built the way they are, residential golf courses are great for repurposing the land into a multi-use recreational facility for communities. Hiking, biking, amphitheaters, farmer's markets, the sky is the limit for creative and justifiable ways to use this sacred open, green space.

"Local governments need not fear onerous management costs as precedents abound for contracting all or part of the operational responsibilities. Suitably-sized and located developments can both subsidize new facilities and benefit from their subsequently increased property values."

There are huge economic benefits, even boosts, to managing an open space correctly. Housing development seems to be not one of those options. It is amazing what a repurposed golf course could provide in a community: 

"The establishment of a public farm could serve not only as a source of local food but could also provide educational opportunities for students and other community members. A municipal-scale composting facility could prevent huge amounts of waste from being landfilled while also adding to the municipality’s coffers through the sale of nutrient-rich compost, top soil and mulch. With stormwater management requirements becoming ever more stringent, repurposed golf courses could provide areas for rain gardens offering localized treatment options for adjacent developments and stormwater credits, while also potentially qualifying for conservation easements and wetland credits."

So housing as a default mechanism for defunct golf courses is definitely ending as a streak. Cities and their residents want more for the limited open/green space at their disposal.  It just takes leadership on behalf of the City Councils to realize that community, family, thought and caring come before corporate profits and those economic, environmental, and social benefits are rewarded.

Source: LandThink

Residents Set to Rally at Planning Hearing

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

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Villa de Paz Residents are rallying at the Planning Hearing Officer Decision on Wednesday, November 20th at 10am. The meeting was moved to the City Council Chambers, 200 West Jefferson Street, Phoenix, 85003 because of the massive turn out of nearly 300 residents at the prior Maryvale Village Planning Meeting, which they won 12 to 1.

Every effort is being made. Fliers, emails, phone calls, and home visits, Villa de Paz residents are organized and on the move. Nothing is being left to chance.

Since the Villa de Paz neighborhood agreed to be annexed by the City of Phoenix 20 years ago, resident's expectations to live in a golf course community is well established. Now mandated stipulations require this area to remain an 18-hole golf course.

Maple Leaf International Properties wants the City of Phoenix to remove these mandated stipulations, so they can build houses on the golf course. 

Over the last month, Villa de Paz residents have seen themselves as David trying to slay a corporate Goliath by trying to stop an unneeded, unnecessary, and downright unfathomable housing development from being built in the middle of the 40 year old community. 

The question remains: will the City of Phoenix hold up its end of the bargain and dismiss the developer's request for approval of his money making-scheme?

Or will residents have to remind the City of Phoenix of its obligations by fighting all the way to the City Council?

From the sheer will and perseverance with fact and expectation, how could anyone in good conscious vote against the residents of Villa de Paz?

Source: Community Flier