My wife and I moved here almost a year ago; although we are newcomers to your community, The Times has done a good job of filling us with past and present concerns. I’m a commercial real estate broker, I’ve traveled in and out of communities all over the country so I’m pretty good at driving through and assessing the economic situation in different communities.

First off, I have to say that your community is dying, literally. There is a segment of the population that has moved here from the Midwest that have bought second homes, those folks are not going to be around forever, and I can tell from my trips to Michigan and Illinois that their children won’t be buying second homes here, just not going to happen, those days are gone. In fact, if their kids do move down here, it’s at a much younger age, and it’s going to be someplace where there are starter homes for families...i.e. Mesa.

What I have seen in Fountains Hills is a certain malaise and restrictiveness in what is developed and what is not, the Tractor Supply business is a classic example. A Tractor Supply location to most small communities out West and Midwest is a godsend of jobs and access to goods. Most communities would welcome a new business with open arms and with rolled up sleeves to help build our business community.

The town also seems to lack industrial zoned areas for business parks and manufacturing, so we have resigned ourselves to being a bedroom community. Something’s happened, as you read through the chronicles which FH Times presented during the summer to the enthusiasm of the community for growth. Sadly, lately I’ve read a lot of discourse instead of unity, in a lot of wide ranging issues.