Thanks for printing a small article about the
scandalous Yavapai Ranch Land Exchange (HCN, 3/1/04: Arizona land
swap dogged by questions). You’ve written previous articles
about owners of inholdings in federal lands leveraging excessive
profits. Mr. Ruskin similarly wants to play profiteer against the
wishes of several Arizona communities. And he wants to prevent an
open, honest process by having Congress do the deed.
Early in Mr. Ruskin’s maneuverings, he made promises to local
cities, who duly wrote glowing letters of support to their
congressional delegations. Real estate agents in Williams are
laughing about how dumb our city is to play along, even though Mr.
Ruskin refuses to put any prices in writing. Our town is planning
to buy golf course property (already developed) from him that we
lease for free from the Forest Service. Of course, Williams has a
history of such expensive boondoggles.
While many of us
appreciate forest consolidation, there is a legal, accountable
method in place to process land exchanges. Mr. Ruskin seems afraid
of such transparency.
Kali
Kaliche
Williams,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Land exchange is a boondoggle.
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