Letters to the Editor

I'm tired of hearing STV doesn't exist! That we're "imaginary." Facebook posters, many of them from Queen Creek, visit our pages to insult San Tan Valley with statements that we don’t exist.

I am an Arizona Native, born in Lake Havasu City, Arizona and living my life largely in Phoenix. I graduated from Gilbert Public Schools in 2007, am the son of a teacher since 1996 and while I vowed at the age of 15 to never work in education, a lot of my adult life has been dedicated to just that. I state all this because yes, I do have a bias, but hear me out.

Hello there, We just want to go on record..

The Town of Queen Creek has filed a lawsuit naming the entire Pinal County Board of Supervisors and the Elections Director for Pinal County (and a volunteer for good measure) to challenge the filing of the petitions for incorporation of San Tan Valley.

I am very much in favor of incorporating San Tan Valley! I personally do not know why the people of San Tan Valley are being sued, by Queen Creek. It seems ridiculous to me.

I would like to thank the Township of Queen Creek for suing to stop the San Tan Valley Incorporation effort given all the deficiencies in how the petition process was handled.

When I was doing some door-to-door canvasing for a candidate running for the Arizona State Senate, I talked to several neighbors that told me, essentially, “I don’t get involved in politics!”

We do not have the authority to choose. You have already chosen for us. Johnson Utilities is the only utility you allow us to subscribe to for water service; that was your decision.

Will it be business as usual? Since former Commissioner Sandra Kennedy and I left the Corporation Commission, it has done little to protect Arizona’s consumers. Instead, the Commission more often works on behalf of the utilities it regulates than on the customers they serve.

After working so hard to change the law that allows STV to finally vote on incorporation, we need to get the issue to the ballot! State law requires obtaining signatures from a minimum of 10% of the number of registered voters here in STV. That’s a lot of signatures - more than 4,800! We want to exceed that number significantly to cover any signatures that may be challenged.

Arizona is in for a big problem. We are experiencing a physician shortage that will only get worse. By 2030 our state will need almost 2,000 more primary providers. Increasing and aging populations, lack of rural providers, lack of medical residency slots, retiring providers and the expensive cost of medical training are all part of the problem. Arizona will need new ideas and practices to fill this gap.

There are over 100,000 residents here that live in the diverse area called San Tan Valley. San Tan Valley is the most populous unincorporated area in the United States, and yet for years we were denied the right to vote on our future. After fighting for years, we have now won that right.

Over the past twenty years I’ve witnessed Pinal County’s transition, from a rural outpost sandwiched between Maricopa and Pima counties, to a rapidly growing county competing with its neighbors for limited public resources with which to serve Pinal County’s residents.

I live in San Tan Valley. The inner ballot envelope for voting on propositions 416 and 417 shows the name and address of the voter.

For some time now, myself and other supporters of Propositions 416 and 417 have said that new roads and freeways will improve public safety by providing alternate routes for our citizens, and first responders in emergencies. That point became very personal for me this week.