Jeremiah Perez and Sanford Bach debate the lights for 89A

From the Editor: This is the first in a series of debates Mr. Bach and Mr. Perez have agreed to.

Jeremiah: Make no bones about it. The construction work associated with putting up continuous lighting on 89A will be the coup-de-tat that will finish small businesses in West Sedona. Imagine what it will be like for them with paving, digging, sidewalk demolition and the lights all happening at the same time. What a shame.

Bach: What is a shame is your lack of understanding just how important these lights are to improve safety on 89A. Haven’t enough people died on that road to make you realize we can’t wait another minute for the next unnecessary death to occur? This time it could be a little kid or a young pregnant mother crossing the street in the middle of the night, blinded by headlights, disoriented and ready to become road kill because you and others like you couldn’t care less. One life is worth a billion stars and if ruining dark sky views is the price we have to pay for safety, then so be it.  Try to imagine yourself behind  the wheel and unable to see you plow into a group of people illegally crossing 89A. The smashing glass…the sickening thuds…the blood…it’s a nightmare a driver or the accident victims will live with for the rest of their lives.

Jeremiah: Lives? You care about lives? You invest in companies that make guns, bombs, missiles, attack helicopters and God knows what else and you feign such care for the unfortunate drunks who got smashed because they were smashed before stepping off the sidewalk. Oh come off it Bach. All you care about is profit and outsmarting people dumber than you. You know darn well the lights are not about safety. They are about money. Someone somewhere with deep connections in the power structure of this town has got their eye on the $2 million plus, plus because you know it will cost a lot more than that to put those lights up, and they are pulling strings and calling in chips to get it. The connections are there and all anyone has to do is connect the dots to see who they are.

Bach: Ho hum. I think you are trying in a roundabout way to say that people with connections in this town with family and friends in construction and government etc. are doing what has been done in government since the beginning of conscious time, manipulating power to make money? Nothing could be farther from the truth. We have public servants acting in good faith to maintain safety in the community and the Arizona Department of Transportation doing all they can to do the same. If people make some money doing their job — then good for them. People deserve to be compensated for the good that they do. Those lights are going up and there is nothing you or any of your ilk can do about it except whine and moan and demonstrate how powerless you are to change anything.

Jeremiah: Really? The 2010 election is here and the people are pissed and they are out there every day getting the word out there has to be a change. They will work tirelessly to sweep the election and when they do they will reverse the prior council’s vote on the lights and ADOT’s bluff will be called. They are broke. They have no money to pay for the electricity or road improvements anywhere. And the Feds? The SAFETEA-LU Act is floundering in the water. ADOT will have to spend the $2 million themselves and wait to be reimbursed, which they won’t be.

Bach: It makes no difference if ADOT gets reimbursed or not. The lights will be up. The contractors will get paid. And safety is improved.

Jeremiah: What about the business in West Sedona?

Bach: What about them?

Jeremiah: Don’t you care what will happen to them when the construction begins?

Bach: That’s not my problem. Sounds like it’s something the Chamber of Commerce should be handling. And anyway, the economy is so bad construction will simply put those businesses out of misery sooner than later. It’s a merciful thing to do.

Jeremiah: You are a heartless man Mr. Bach. You have no concern for people.

Bach: Of course I do. That’s why I am for safety improvement on 89A. People being killed because they are in the dark is one thing but imagine a little puppy escaping from home one night and it gets squashed by a 16-wheeler while trying to find its way back in the dark. One cannot comprehend the bad publicity Sedona would get because of that.

Jeremiah: What about our dark skies? Doesn’t that mean anything to you? One of our natural wonders will be destroyed just so a bunch of people in this town could make a few bucks.

Bach: First. I don’t care about dark skies in Sedona. If I want dark skies I’ll drive up to Snowflake.  Second, splitting $2 million bucks between a bunch of people makes no sense or cents. It will be a few people and these people will be providing jobs for others.

Jeremiah: Sure. And think of all the lost jobs and closed businesses the construction will cause and the destruction of our dark skies, a beauty that brings people to Sedona.

Bach: True, but think of all those lights making everything nice and shiny in West Sedona and all that infrastructure waiting for future redevelopment. In the end, at the end of the day, people will love those lights and forget about dark skies.

Jeremiah; At the end of the day, meaning next election, people like you will be out on the street thanks to those lights and your kind will no longer hurt this community.

Bach: We shall see.

Jeremiah: Yes, we shall see