Editorials

Lessons learned from a horrible Tuesday morning

It was the last tranquil morning for quite some time. Americans slept soundly the evening before. No reason not to.

Kids were back in school, football stars were commanding headlines and life went on, like it always does.

Then two commercial airliners tore through the New York skyline.

Nineteen hijackers stole four planes — two bound for New York, one aimed at the Pentagon and a fourth taken off course by the heroic efforts of those on board — in the largest coordinated foreign attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. Tranquility was replaced by unmitigated horror.

The towers fell, thousands lost their lives and the nation’s consciousness had forever been altered.

Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001 — the most infamous date in American history since FDR delivered his iconic speech about Dec. 7, 1941.

That morning, citizens on both coasts went on high alert. When the first devastating images hit the television airwaves, nobody knew anything. Was this the first wave in a series of attacks? What was going on?

Nobody had any clue what to do. Confusion was the prevailing emotion.

How did Americans make it through that dreadful Tuesday morning? We did what we always do — we came together.

This community weathered the storm of grief and strengthened its bonds in the darkest of circumstances.

Yesterday commemorated the seventh year since those attacks. Time has clearly done nothing to weaken the bonds that developed on that fateful day.

All over Green Valley, there was a stronger-than-usual sense of togetherness.

Those who lost their lives in the attacks were honored here and throughout the country yesterday. As the country grows more divided by the second with election season gaining steam, we must remember the lessons we were forced to learn on Sept. 11.

Yesterday was another tranquil morning. Thankfully, it stayed that way. It hasn’t been easy, but life rolls along, like it always does.

SCC voters to have say on two big developments

A Green Valley News editorial Wednesday, Sept. 10, about a citizens group trying to overcome a decision by the Santa Cruz County supervisors dealing with two proposed developments at Tubac and near Arivaca Junction misstated the intent of the two propositions. The propositions are numbered 400 and 401 and would need to be rejected to overcome the supervisors’ decision. As one spokesman said, “One must vote NO on Propositions 400 and 401” to reverse the decision. The editorial also incorrectly identified Jim Patterson as president of the Coalition for Responsible Growth. He is a member of that group. The president is Lynn Carey. The News regrets the errors. Here is the corrected editorial.

In November, Santa Cruz County voters will have the chance to override two actions by the Board of Supervisors.

By voting no on Propositions No. 400 and 401, they would block changes to the county’s comprehensive plan, thwarting two proposed housing developments in the northern part of the county.

The county supervisors approved changes to the county’s comprehensive land use plan last December, opening the potential for the developments.

Just changing the comp plan, as it’s called, is no guarantee the developments would be finally approved by the county.

Planning and zoning changes would also be required, and the supervisors would also be required to approve the development.

Still, opponents to the plans for development at the Sopori Ranch near Arivaca Junction and Las Mesas de Santa Cruz north of the village of Tubac on the north side of Chaves Siding Road, were cheered by the success of their signature-gathering efforts in all parts of the county.

In about two weeks time, volunteers drafted the proposed propositions and secured enough signatures.

To qualify the propositions, supporters were required to get 828 valid signatures for each proposition.

They secured more than 2,000 signatures for each of the two referenda.

If the voters deny Propositions 400 and 401 in November, they’ll override the supervisors’ approval.

Santa Cruz County Supervisor Chairman Manny Ruiz on Tuesday said there is “a lot of misinformation” about the proposed developments.

He said the developments are five to six years from breaking ground, and 30 to 40 years before they’re completed.

He pointed to other subdivisions in the county, such as Rio Rico, where the county and its citizens benefit from development.

Ruiz said the money that would accrue to the county from two new subdivisions would benefit all its citizens.

He also said the developers plan to install water and sewer systems, set aside land for schools and a proposed Sheriff’s substation in the county’s north end.

The Coalition for Responsible Growth, which sponsored the petition drives, said the 6,000 acres at the Sopori Ranch could be used for as many as 12,000 houses, but developer Sopori 12,500 Investors LLC, has said its target is 6,830 houses, plus golf courses and more than a million square feet of commercial space.

The other project, by Garnet Canyon Las Mesas de Tubac LLC, covers 1,244 acres north of Tubac with portions on both sides of the Santa Cruz River.

Under current zoning, about 1,500 houses would be permitted on the Sopori land and 300 houses on the Las Mesas de Tubac land.

Lynn Carey, president of the Coalition for Responsible Growth, said counties spend more to support new developments than they get back in taxes and development fees.

Jim Patterson, member of the Coalition for Responsible Growth, criticized developers who seek higher densities.

“They shouldn’t be encouraged to ask for and receive huge density increases that simply exploit our communities and fatten the wallets of their investors.”

Patterson said about two-thirds of the petition signers were from Sonoita, Patagonia, Elgin, Rio Rico, Amado and Nogales. The rest came from the Tubac area.