Stilo Spin Machine Goes Into High Gear
June 18, 2015
The driving force behind an environmentally damaging development at the doorstep of the Grand Canyon is desperately trying to spin the overwhelming opposition to the project. More than 200,000 letters have been sent to the Forest Service opposing a critical Forest Service road access issue surrounding the project. Just a handful of letters support the project.
Stilo spokesman Andy Jacobs tries to dismiss this tidal wave of opposition by telling the Phoenix Business Journal these are just environmental groups sending form letters.
Here is a link to the article.
What Jacobs fails to realize is that these groups have a right to send form letters. He also opines that many of the letters are from those living outside Arizona. Again Jacobs fails to mention that the developer, Stilo is based in Italy. In addition, Stilo’s business partner, Elling Halvorson operates out of the state of Washington.
The road access is also opposed by the Grand Canyon School District and the Tusayan Sanitary District.
Stilo front man Tom DePaolo also tried to dismiss the opposition on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show. Grand Canyon Park Superintendent David Uberuaga was also on the show and set him straight. He said, “And all of those comments, the majority of those comments coming in, actually speak to the cumulative impacts of this federal action by the Forest Service. And that's really important to take into consideration, and that's really what they did. They said, they're compelling the Forest Service to look at this globally, look at this in a broader perspective than just a right away access to property outside of the town of Tusayan.”
Here is a link to the interview:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-06-17/proposed-development-on-the-edge-of-the-grand-canyon
