Guest Editorial
By Steve LaMar | October 21, 2015
Cave Creek Open Space Initiative has new life
Persistence is many times mistaken for Genius. Persistent and steadfast commitment to the preservation of the great Sonoran Foothills not too long ago branded us as thoughtful, smart, responsible citizens. We all beam with pride when talk of the ‘ Do something Wild’ campaign takes us back to the days when we stood together For The Love of Cave Creek and created the Spur Cross Preserve. We worked together to steer the Town past the vocal negative fringe fear mongering and misrepresentations, and saved a treasure that complements our collective spirit. Today the Spur Cross Preserve show cases your genius as citizens.
We are now on the cusp of our next giant step toward protecting the natural treasures of our Town, and our property values, by making our 4000 acre open space a reality. This may well be our biggest challenge as a community. Mayor Francia and I have placed on the Town Council agenda the retention of Steve Betts. Steve is a gifted, highly respected, extremely well connected consultant who has worked with us to preserve Spur Cross, and will now work with us to develop and execute new negotiations with the State Land Department to complete of our open space initiative. Steve will also consult on a broad reaching strategic plan to bring new quality commercial business to Cave Creek along our Cave Creek and Carefree Highway corridor.
What is encouraging is that we now, once again, have a Town Council that understands the importance of our open space initiative to the long term preservation of Cave Creek’s beauty and rural character. We also understand that Cave Creek is in direct competition with large and sophisticated communities for quality income generating business. Keeping Cave Creek, wild, beautiful, and rural keeps us unique. It ultimately raises the value of all of our residential and commercial property, and helps attract new quality business to our Town. But we also must develop and implement a competent overall strategic plan for bringing new, quality, income generating business to Cave Creek. We need to match up our quality Town with quality business. That takes expertise, vision and investment in our collective future.
Our goal should not be to merely survive, but to thrive. Our open space initiative is, and always has been, nearly universally supported by the citizens of this community. We have supported it with our time, our money, and our votes. Now we will have the opportunity to work together, and shine again as thoughtful, good citizens, that protect the natural beauty of our Home Town.
Your Council through a strategic committee co-chaired by your Mayor and Vice Mayor are rolling up our sleeves to present a plan to the State Land Department that is mutually beneficial, does not require property tax funding, enlivens development of State trust land, and secures the beauty and rural character of Cave Creek for the ages through completion of our open space initiative.
In the coming months there will be many opportunities to get involved in something that will bring us joy, enrich our lives, and make us proud. Let’s ‘do something wild’ again together. Some will say we are Geniuses, others will claim it is merely persistence, but we have always known that we are just good folks who really love their Town and will not be told it can’t be done.
Steve LaMar is a horseman and Cave Creek’s Vice Mayor.
