Kingman needs an official who will watch its water supply
3/9/2006
Marvin Robertson
Marvin’s Window
I sat bolt upright in bed when the loud engine started near the bedroom window.
I looked out my window at a huge water drilling rig punching a hole in my Kingman backyard for a well.
I woke up when my wife threw cold water in my face to end my nightmare. That ended the stream of nasty language erupting from my mouth.
“You never swear,” she said excitedly. “What in the world were you dreaming about?”
“Someone was drilling a well in our backyard,” I said. “Some Las Vegas developer’s sign was on the rig.”
It was only a nightmare but could become reality if the local citizens, city officials and county supervisors do not wake up soon.
So what was a nightmare could become reality?? Really?? Did it?? No, and it never will. This op/ed writer wanted us to believe that an out of town developer would pull up one night, to this man's house, break into the backyard and begin drilling a well for water. Nice propaganda imagery though.
While this op/ed writer is no longer affiliated with the KDM, he is still very active in the community. He has gone on to the other local paper, The Standard, and his op/ed's and views from his windows can be found in the weekly publication. Oh... and he also went on to help form and become a proud 'founding member' of Residents Against Irresponsible Development (RAID).
But the color of the language here in this column and others, in my opinion, started the war against development in the Kingman area. Call it a battle cry. Neither Mr. Robertson or the other members of RAID have been able to articulate what the 'irresponsible' means... even when pressed.
Are you aware of anything Mayor Gates and the current City Council have done to limit growth or to save our future water supply?
Someone did have the foresight to look out for the citizens of Kingman and assure a water supply that will be adequate unless the city and surrounding area continues to grow at this insane rate.
Growth was a good thing when it was happening. Many in the community were better off for the growth. Lot's of people were making more money on more opportunities. The attitude of the op/ed writer and the resulting formation of so called 'watch-dog' groups like RAID helped squelch even more opportunities. It was even more unbelievable when local developers joined the likes of RAID to jump on the bandwagon to say that the interests looking to bring more opportunities to Kingman were 'scoundrels' and 'crooks'. Now, today, we are seeing business suffer and job losses, and good people moving out of the area. Good people that could have worked and lived in Kingman, raise families, and be true stakeholders in the community.
Is this what they wanted?? Cause this is what they got.
Now someone else is taking up the water issue for us. The Arizona Corporation Commission is stepping in to stop the formation of water companies to serve these huge developments. The ACC has held previous meetings in Dolan Springs and Chloride on water issues and does have a sense of the problem. The proposed White Hills housing is just across US 93 from these cities.
I thought the ACC's job was to find whether or not a corporation and its officers were 'fit and proper' enough to be a corporation in Arizona. The ACC is not there to 'stop' water companies from serving huge developments. Say anything to scare the begeezus out of people even to the point that some extremists think that we won't be able to get water out of our tap in a few years.
(BTW, the fishing report in today's paper says that Lake Mead has risen 6 feet so boat launching is not a problem at places like South Cove)
I bet our pro growth mayor and Council have made no plans for financing the city when the building boom goes from the 1,000 houses in 2005 back to the normal growth of 200 houses.
The bust always comes. I saw it three times in the decade of the 1980s in Phoenix.
Is that the future Gates calls a “Better Perspective.”
Yep, here the man was right. The tough market is here and has been in effect since he typed those words. But funny that he mentions seeing a 'bust' no less than three times in the 1980's. That must have meant that the opposite of 'bust' took place at least a couple of times in that timeframe. And also, today there are more people living in the Phoenix area now then there was in the 80's. Don't let these facts get in the way of a good rant against the benefits of growth for an emerging community though, right??
City attorney Bob Taylor on Friday joined the stream of top level employees being forced out of city employment. I suspect Taylor got tired of being put on the spot for decisions that would give legal cover for some elected officials to skirt the edge.
The first move of Mayor Gates and Vice Mayor Tom Spear was to sack city manager Roger Swenson. It seems the second move was to buy matching sports cars.
I imagine a good city staff works under daily fear of being the next one out the door.
In my opinion, Swenson was fired because he would not “fire at will” and stood on principle. The loss of so many good people cannot be positive for city morale.
One of the good features of a democracy is the next election comes quickly and voters get a chance to have their say.
Vote Tuesday.
Pretty funny how attitudes change in two short years. Mr. Robertson is part of RAID and that group and others prominent voices are calling for the dismissal of department heads and other city staff and have done so over the last year. How is that going to be for 'morale'??
Vote March 11th. Vote for a different mentality though, one that wants to bring jobs and opportunities back to Kingman.
The next bit is almost too precious to share from the almost two year old op/ed.
Window Pain
Newer citizens of Kingman often ask why Western Avenue was not extended under I-40 at the time the freeway was built. The only structure near the Stockton Hill interchange at the time was the hospital. A dirt road ran from Andy Devine at City Cafe to what we now see as a traffic snarl. The hospital owned the land where Wal-Mart was located.
I suspect the I-40 bypass of Kingman with an interchange at Route 66 and at US 93, one on each end of town seemed excessive at the time.
Isn’t hindsight always better than a crystal ball?
Yes.
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