Former councilmember supports Glendale bonds

Independent Newsmedia

I have lived and worked in Glendale my entire life. I retired as Glendale’s Cactus district councilmember this past December. I love Glendale and have worked to ensure that this city is a point of pride within the Valley.

This November, Glendale voters will be asked to approve two bond questions. Question 1 asks for $30 million to correct street flooding throughout the city. ​Question 2 asks for $35 million to renovate the city’s Operations Center.

Whenever we get monsoon storms there are areas of serious flooding affecting both residents and businesses. The area on Camelback Road west of Grand Avenue is one of those areas. By passing Question 1, the flooding in this area as well as other critical areas can finally be remediated.

Questions 2 addresses the city’s Operations Center in the over 50-year-old Spring City Knitting Mill. With the addition of several departments over the years, the space has become inadequate to meet employees’ needs.

It houses fleet maintenance, street signs and markings, warehousing, transportation and sanitation departments. Some of the buildings still use swamp coolers which are inadequate. Most of these departments maintain the city’s infrastructure. It’s time to maintain this vital employee infrastructure.

Renovation of this campus is critical to meet the needs of our employees by offering a better working environment.

Approval will not raise your property taxes. Council has adopted a policy that states that no new bonds will be issued if they increase in property taxes.

These bond questions are a win-win for all. They eliminate some of the worst flooding problems within the city and create a better, more productive work environment for city employees. These bond questions received serious scrutiny by senior management and the City Council before they received approval to bring before voters. This fiscally conservative city only asks for further bond capacity when it is truly needed.

I ask voters to vote yes on Glendale bond Questions 1 and 2.

Editor’s note: Ian Hugh is a member of the Glendale 2025 Bond Committee. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.