A copy of a letter sent to the Municipal Capital Markets Group, copied to Senator McCain's office, is below for you to read.
Addresses for you to communicate your concerns will be posted shortly
May 5, 2009
Municipal Capital Markets Group
President, CFO, Chairman and Board Members
Dear President, CFO, Chairman and Board Members:
As of May 1, 2009, we are in receipt of a Environmental Assessment (EA) report and letter commissioned by the Tohono O’Odahm Nation (TON) San Xavier District located in the South West region of Arizona. Certified Environmental Inspectors (CEI) authored the EA. The report outlines issues, if any, for the planned building of a 1500 bed Detention Center. The report summarizes that no significant impact would occur to the communities if this project were to move forward.
We live in Rancho Sahuarita, which sits adjacent to or just across the street from the planned Detention Center’s location. According to an April 21, 2009 article in the Sahuarita Times, Robert Charles Lesser, a renowned real estate consulting firm, writes Rancho Sahuarita is a nationally ranked top 5 master plan community. We have over 4500 single-family homes and 13,000 residents. Most families have children under the age of ten. The EA ignores us and makes no mention about our town, our parks, and schools. It neglects to address the negative impact this planned Detention Center would have on us.
We have a signed petition that contains over 1400 signatures opposing the location of the Detention Center. We believe that the TON, which owns over 2.8 million acres of land, has many alternative building sites. Rancho Sahuarita will be negatively impacted; noise and light pollution, and increased traffic not to mention our home values depreciating are just a few of the issues we feel are not addressed.
In total, this EA report is riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods. This report purposefully avoids any mention of our Town and the impact the project will have on us. CEI, the Company that is responsible for the EA must have a suspect agenda. We challenge the findings of the EA, and further question the integrity and reliability of the information it contains. We also question the credibility of CEI.
The government-to-government, review, permitting, licensing and approval processes, are being decided on distorted if not incomplete information gathered in part from the EA. It is obvious there are large omissions of fact.
We ask that you withhold any funding for this Detention Center until it is relocated at least 10 miles outside of our town.
Copies of petitions, EA, and other documents are available upon request.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Dewey and Linda Cooper
CC: Senator John McCain
It looks like we need an attorney. Why doesn't Bob Sharp or the builders help in the legal area? There needs to be a legal stay ordered by a judge put on this and a complete investigation done all the way around the whole deal looks very shady. Done behind our backs.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do not understand is why our elected officials waited so long to tell us last minute.
It wasn't until the Cooper's started the ball rolling that this nightmare was brought to public attention.
Do the TON and the investors already have approval to use Pima Mine Rd or Nogales Hwy as their access road? Do they have approval to tie into the power plant yet? If not this is not a done deal?
What really angers me the most is humans welfare are not even considered in the EA report.
It looks like the TON ignored us on purpose? Payback maybe?
We will have to take the TON to court! They are being VERY unreasonable and inconsiderate.
ReplyDeleteDarn right bullheaded! Over greed! not economic development.