Guest Post by Greg Anderson
It was high drama last night when, after an hour of discussion, someone in the crowd stood up to dispute the claims that the students in Oakley have, on occasion, “escaped” and caused trouble in the community. It was quickly revealed that the “stranger” was, in fact, the wife of one of the founders of the proposed Green Valley Academy. This person then told us, without being specific, that a lot of what was said at the meeting wasn’t true.
I can already hear the words I expect to hear at the planning commission meeting on Tuesday. It will sound something like this: “My wife went to a meeting last week and the neighbors were telling all kinds of lies about who we are and what we do.” Since we in Ogden Valley don’t know
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the exact amount the families or sponsors of the “students” will pay for tuition, we’ll be accused of misrepresenting the facts (although we’re not disputing their right to charge whatever the market will allow for their services). We’ll be accused of being heartless when it comes to kids who need help. We’ll be accused of being anti-capitalist and they’ll say we don’t want the Green Valley founders to be able to make a living, etc. etc. etc. And the accusations about Ogden Valley residents will be leveled after the public comment portion of the meeting, when we won’t have a chance to defend ourselves “on the record.”
I realize it isn’t fair for me to criticize something I “expect” to hear. But the reason I expect to hear these things is that the founders of the Green Valley Academy DID say these things about the Ogden Valley residents last summer, when they wanted to build their residential treatment facility on another property.
Perhaps some of the things said at last night’s meeting weren’t 100% accurate. But were they 75% right? Even if they were 99% right I expect someone to take the 1% of error and run with it to put on a show for the commission. Of course, the big error will be calling this place a “school” when, last summer, they were willing to call it a residential treatment facility.
We MUST show up in strong numbers. We MUST defend our zoning laws.
