Ray for Buckeye

If you live in Festival Ranch area, then you know when it comes to the words Turner Parkway, emotions follow.  Here is the most recent news released from the Town of Buckeye and Sun City Festival on this matter:

“In the following press release from the Town of Buckeye, it is being reported that Town Staff and Engineers are recommending to the Town Council to approve a new alignment for the proposed Turner Parkway.  This new location would place the Parkway along 287th Avenue, which is the western border of our community and the exact location that our residents and Pulte executives have been asking the Town to adopt for the past several months.

The Town Council vote on this recommendation will take place at the Town Council Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 19, 2010.  As you all know, the Community Association is providing two buses to take more than 100 residents to the meeting.  Resident spokespersons have been identified and will address the Town Council at the meeting.  Both buses are full with residents who have previously signed up to participate in this event.  It is important that, despite the attached, we all show up at the meeting so that our presence demonstrates to the Town Council our genuine concern for this issue and our desire that they vote for approval of the staff’s recommendation.  Those residents who have signed up are asked to meet in the Sage Center’s Celebration Hall at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, January 19 to receive their tee shirts and other information.  The buses will depart the Sage Center shortly thereafter.

If you desire to attend the meeting but did not sign up to ride in one of the buses, you are still encouraged to drive yourself to the meeting.  Be aware, however, that the meeting room will only accommodate a limited number of attendees.”  -Sun City Festival

And this is an article on the Town of Buckeye’s website, www.buckeyeaz.gov.

Buckeye Town Council to Consider New Draft Alignment for Maricopa County Turner Parkway Corridor Feasibility Study

“Buckeye, Ariz. (Jan. 14, 2010) Town of Buckeye staff is recommending that a new alignment for the proposed Turner Parkway be included in the Corridor Feasibility Study being conducted by the Maricopa County Department of Transportation.
The new alignment is one mile west of one of the original proposed alignments along Desert Oasis Boulevard in Sun City Festival, a route residents strongly opposed because of its proximity to their existing residences.
The recommendation for Council to authorize staff to submit the new alignment to the county’s feasibility study is on Tuesday night’s Council agenda.  The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in council chambers, 530 E. Monroe Ave.
Town Manager Stephen Cleveland said in the staff report that no funding has currently been identified for construction of the parkway.  However, approval of the feasibility study will help preserve the future roadway corridor and identify sufficient right-of-way for future roadway needs, achieve roadway network continuity and connectivity and provide for enhanced traffic flow, safety and mobility.
Town officials have been meeting for months with the county, affected developers, property owners and homeowners in Sun City Festival.  Moving the proposed alignment west would also:

*Give each of the developers in the area a more proportionate share of the burden of responsibility for developing Turner Parkway
*Be closer to the planned commercial development in Sun Valley Villages where the existing Sun Valley Parkway turns eastward
*Connect to commercial development that goes through Festival Ranch and Spurlock Ranch,
*And bring future commercial development further west into Buckeye, assuring future sales tax revenue for the town.”

Hope to see you at the Town Council meeting on January 19th.

Ray

Happy New Year!  What is it about new that we like so much?  Everyone likes a new car.  So much so that you can buy car fresheners with the scent called, “New Car”.  We love new toys, new movies, new jobs, the birth of a child, and even a “new outlook on life.”

Could the joy that surrounds “new” at least in part be the hope that comes with the “new”?  The hope that a new car works better, a new job pays more, a new child faces a brighter future, a new year holds new opportunities?  Whatever is “new” for you, I hope it brings you joy, hope, and courage to face tomorrow with all the optimism you need to face it.

From my family to you, Happy New Year!