Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Villa de Paz / City of Phoenix
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Again the residents of Villa de Paz are fighting against the illegal sale and development of land within its borders. This time the land is owned by the residents, which is being ignored for the dreams of development.
Villa de Paz is more than just one square mile:
A Place Like No Other
Villa de Paz is described as such. Not many places in the world can boast this exalted reputation. Villa de Paz is not like most other destinations on Earth for a few simple reasons: the residents, the wildlife, and the ambiance.
We are a Master Planned Golf Community that continues to battle against the overstepping of authority and boundaries of the City of Phoenix. In the last few years, Villa de Paz has battled against development on our Golf Course and now a new development with the Recreation Center.
A Home Owners Association (HOA) has claimed ownership and debt to a piece of history and land that this illegal organization does not own. The City of Phoenix continues to support and encourage the ramblings of an uncouth woman from Avondale over the prudent, researched, and educated information from its own residents.
A grander scheme plays but if development occurs, then there are no winners. The City of Phoenix will lose. When the golf course was threatened, 1700 letters flooded City Hall in revolt. As news spread about the sale of the Recreation Center, 700 letters opposed this action. 440 emails were sent, again in opposition. 11 out of the 15 HOA members refused to support the sale, development, and building on land that belongs to Villa de Paz residents, outright and legally.
This land has not and never will be owned by corporate interests, including a for profit organization, HOA, city, or individuals: in this case being [ ] White et al.
Yet the City of Phoenix continues to ignore crucial facts in order to energize a non-resident in her fiction of ownership.
These acts are folly.
Villa de Paz is not only a historical community within the borders of the City of Phoenix; Villa de Paz is a Sanctuary. Birds, fish, tortoises, reptiles, and humans cohabitate in this one square mile area. Our geography has created within itself a life sustaining symbiosis of creatures: plant and animal.
From Bald Eagles to unbanded Canadian Geese to endangered and greatest conservation needs species, a unique, balanced ecosystem has emerged. Even to tear one fraction of the whole away would create enough dysfunction to destabilize the entirety of the region.
Villa de Paz has become more than a Master Planned Golf Community; it has become a significant Natural Heritage site in Arizona where acts of Congress and treaties with other nations are brought to life.
If 12 homes are built on illegally obtain[ed] land, those responsible would violate the Migratory Bird Act of 1918, for starters. In accordance with the Act: “All guns, traps, nets, vessels, vehicles and other equipment used in pursuing, hunting, taking, trapping, ensnaring, capturing, killing, or any attempt on a migratory bird in violation of the Act with the intent to sell or barter, must be forfeited to the U.S. and may be seized and held pending prosecution of the violator. The property is to be disposed of and accounted for by the Secretary. § 707.” Large construction vehicles, loud noises, heavy commercial traffic, fumigation and pesticides, disruption of soil and the release of Valley Fever would qualify as destroying habitat, bird migration patterns, and bird reproduction as well as the killing of said species, young and old.
Instead of protecting the endangered and greatest conservation needs species that dwell within our borders, the City of Phoenix pursues violation of federal law. For what? Is it really sustainable to destroy a sanctuary to fulfill a quota? Or is that just immoral, irresponsible, and irrational?
The Mayor and City Council work for Phoenix residents, not Avondale residents. Why this illegitimate course is being pursued is beyond unreasonable. There will be no winners if the City of Phoenix abandons its responsibility to its residents in hopes to satisfy an outlandish fantasy.
I, like my fellow residents of Villa de Paz, am a Voter as well as Tax Payer.
Perhaps the Mayor and Council members should also calculate those facts in their equations when voting on this matter. Villa de Paz’s residents and our wildlife matter. We matter more than delusional people and destructive self interest.
A Place Like No Other exists as apart of our Arizona history, heritage, and culture, and a place like this one cannot be replaced by money.
If the City of Phoenix votes today and approves the killing and destruction of endangered and greatest conservation needs species, the Mayor and Council members will directly and indirectly violate federal law and an assortment of ongoing treaties with other nations.
If you are caught in the commission of a or many felonies, like selling land that is not legally yours to sell, taking off 40 year old stipulations for profit to residents in other cities, then you are also charged with felonies that are in direct and indirect correlation to the primary felony. such as setting habitat destruction and endangered species deaths, not to mention the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
So what crimes are the City of Phoenix's Mayor and City Council guilty of besides the obvious international, federal, state, and local ones?
Phoenix residents like the ones in Villa de Paz need to hold our elected officials to account. Illegal and unlawful acts are not why we elected people to serve us. It appears our elected officials do not believe they serve anyone else, but themselves.
It is time that unethical philosophy changes.
Call them today and voice your outrage against their actions:
Thank you.
Source:
FWS,
Endangered Species Act of 1973,
