🏜️ The Marana Machine: How Mayoral Family Ties and Developer Dollars Drive Desert Destruction | MARANA COUNCIL MEETING 5.20.25
Inside the Linda Vista 52 annexation scandal where Mayor Post's brother stands to make millions. Planning Center admits Post family could make "5 to 10 times more, millions of dollars."
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
🌵🏗️ A mayor's brother wants to build apartments on desert land near people's homes. Despite 78 neighbors signing a letter saying "please don't," only 6 adults get to decide. 🤔💰 Those same adults just gave themselves more money while ignoring the families who don't want their quiet neighborhood destroyed.
🏡📉 The brother's family could make millions if they build, but the neighbors' houses might lose value. 💔 One mom shared the story online and 25,000 people saw it. 📲👀 Now some families are talking to lawyers because the town won't listen to what people actually want. ⚖️🤷♂️
🗝️ Takeaways
🚨 Mayor Post must abstain from voting on Linda Vista 52 votes because his brother, Dan Post, owns 13 acres in the controversial development
💸 The Planning Center admitted the Post family could make "5 to 10 times more, millions of dollars" through the annexation
📝 78 residents signed a petition opposing the annexation, but only six council members hold decision-making power
🗳️ Every agenda item passed unanimously, suggesting predetermined outcomes rather than democratic deliberation
💰 Council members voted themselves significant compensation increases while residents pleaded for community protection
📱 Community organizer Jenny Debray generated 25,000 social media views, demonstrating viral resistance potential
⚖️ Residents are preparing legal challenges under the Arizona Private Property Rights Protection Act
🏗️ The $416.2 million budget prioritizes infrastructure for development over community protection
The Marana Machine: How Post Family Ties and Developer Dollars Drive Desert Destruction
A Deep Dive into the May 20, 2025, Marana Town Council Meeting
¿Cuándo será suficiente? When will enough be enough? What we witnessed on May 20, 2025, wasn't just local politics—it was a masterclass in how capitalist interests, family connections, and institutional power converge to steamroll community voices in our desert communities.
Back story from the last Marana town council meeting:
The Players: Power, Privilege, and the People
Mayor Jon Post emerged as the evening's most fascinating figure—physically present but legally neutered by his required abstention from Linda Vista 52 votes due to his brother Dan Post's financial stake in the development. His body language throughout suggested someone operating under intense scrutiny as residents directly challenged his family's ethics.
Vice Mayor Roxanne Ziegler positioned herself as the potential kingmaker, notably being the only council member who attended the May 8th community meeting. "I did attend that May 8th public hearing at the library. I wish there were other council members there," Ziegler admitted, inadvertently revealing how disconnected her colleagues remain from community concerns.
The other council members' strategic silence spoke volumes. Patrick Cavanaugh, Patti Comerford, Herb Kai, Teri Murphy, and John Officer remained silent during public comment—a deafening absence of leadership when constituents desperately needed advocates.
Nothing says "responsive government" like elected officials sitting in stone-cold silence while constituents beg for basic democratic representation.
Public Comment: Where Democracy Goes to Die
Seven residents spoke during public comment, creating the evening's most powerful testimony against the Linda Vista 52 annexation—a project that would fundamentally alter their desert community to benefit Mayor Post's family.
Randy Karrer: Exposing the Lies
Randy Karrer (Former Fire Marshal, 21-year resident): delivered the opening salvo, methodically exposing the project's corrupt foundation:
"Representative Linda Morales willingly admitted she lied to you guys on the 16th of April of 2024... But truth be told, we were never spoken to, we were never reached out to, no one ever contacted us at all."
Because apparently, when you're trying to ram through a multimillion-dollar development, honesty is just another regulatory barrier to overcome.
Karrer's most devastating revelation involved the profit motive: "Well, by the Planning Center's own words, they said that it's a considerable amount of more money, five to ten times more, millions of dollars, that could go to the Post family."
Five to ten times more profit. This isn't about smart growth—it's about extracting maximum wealth from desert land through municipal annexation that circumvents county environmental protections.
Rhonda Karrer: Personal Stakes, Political Corruption
Rhonda Karrer brought devastating clarity to how personal displacement serves political corruption:
"It appears to me that the owners of the properties in question are manipulating the system in order for extremely greater profits for themselves at our expense... especially since the owner of the Linda Vista is related to the mayor."
Her 21-year investment in raising her family in this desert community now faces destruction for the Post family's financial benefit. After 31 years as director of Beautiful Savior Academy, she faces retirement shadowed by high-density development that serves developers, not residents.
John Harky: Mathematics of Resistance
John Harky (24-year resident) brought mathematical precision to community organizing:
"So far, 78 of my neighbors have signed a petition opposing the annexation. That's not a small group. That's a strong organized voice saying this is not what we want."
78 signatures opposing a single development represent a mandate that council members are choosing to ignore.
Harky connected community welfare to institutional ethics: "Mayor John Post is right to abstain... But that's because his brother owns 13 acres in this annexation and stands to profit heavily. Even if no laws are broken, the appearance of favoritism is damaging."
Jenny Debray: Viral Resistance
Jenny Debray delivered the evening's most strategically sophisticated testimony, demonstrating digital organizing power:
"The information I've shared with the community on Facebook and Nextdoor have over 25,000 views, hundreds of interactions with community members and continuing media coverage."
While council members sit in strategic silence, one community organizer generated 25,000 social media views. That's what happens when people fight for survival while politicians protect their comfort.
Debray's analysis revealed patterns extending beyond this development: "In 2018, John Post successfully endorsed his good friend to fill a vacancy on the town council. In 2024, Mayor Post endorsed his sister to run for the town council."
Council packing through family and friends? That's not public service—that's dynasty building.
Budget Politics: Rewarding Officials While Communities Suffer
While residents pleaded for their community's survival, the council unanimously voted themselves significant compensation increases through Resolution 2025-042:
Mayor: $500/month vehicle allowance
Vice Mayor: $400/month vehicle allowance
Council Members: $350/month vehicle allowance
Nothing says "public service" like voting yourself a raise while your constituents beg you to preserve their community.
Vice Mayor Ziegler's justification—"Well, it's been 17 years"—ignored the obvious optics problem of self-dealing while communities face displacement.
The $416.2 million budget increased by $4.6 million from the manager's recommendation, with the largest increase—$6 million—going to a water reclamation facility expansion to support exactly the kind of high-density development threatening Linda Vista.
Vote Analysis: Unanimity as Red Flag
Every single agenda item passed unanimously, raising serious questions about predetermined outcomes rather than democratic deliberation:
When every vote is unanimous, you're not governing—you're rubber-stamping predetermined decisions.
Environmental Justice: Desert as Commodity
The Linda Vista 52 annexation represents environmental racism in its purest form: converting a desert ecosystem into profit-generating density while destroying wildlife corridors and carbon sequestration.
Rhonda Karrer's observation that "trying to get rezoning through Pima County would be extremely difficult" revealed the strategic use of annexation to circumvent environmental protections—institutional venue shopping that prioritizes profit over ecosystem preservation.
The $6 million water infrastructure expansion represents infrastructure colonialism—public investment enabling private development that degrades desert hydrology while taxpayers fund pipes so developers can profit from paving over the desert.
Community Organizing: Power Building in Action
The Linda Vista 52 opposition demonstrates sophisticated organizing:
Multi-generational Solidarity: Speakers ranged from 24-year residents to newer community members
Data-Driven Arguments: Angela Cohen's property value analysis exposed flawed developer propaganda
Legal Strategy: Invocation of Arizona Private Property Rights Protection Act creates financial pressure
Media Strategy: 25,000 social media views represent viral organizing potential
Persistent Pressure: 78 petition signatures, multiple meetings, sustained documentation
Power Imbalance Reality
Despite overwhelming community opposition, six officials hold 100% of decision-making authority over 1,300 proposed housing units, generating millions for the mayor's family.
The Procedural Violence of Municipal Democracy
Community members fighting for their homes received exactly three minutes each while staff presentations proceeded without time limits. Randy Karrer's struggle to expose corruption within 180 seconds epitomizes how procedural rules silence community voices while amplifying institutional power.
Three minutes to challenge millions in family profits and years of backroom dealing. That's not public participation—that's democratic theater.
The consent agenda's unanimous approval, including a $27,514.75 change order "without discussion," demonstrated how routine procedures bypass democratic scrutiny while receiving less oversight than community members get speaking time.
Legal Resistance: Communities Fighting Back
Angela Cohen's invocation of the Arizona Private Property Rights Protection Act represents communities weaponizing legal tools against institutional power:
"We are aware of the Arizona Private Property Rights Protection Act, which states that a property owner is entitled to just compensation at the value of a person's property is reduced by the enactment of a land use law, such as rezoning."
Finally, someone's turning property rights rhetoric against the developers who usually benefit from it.
This legal strategy could create significant financial liability for Marana, potentially making the annexation economically unfeasible. Cohen's invitation for neighbors to "join us in any legal actions" demonstrates collective organizing around individual rights.
The Scandal in Plain Sight
Randy Karrer's characterization of this as "truly the scandal in Morana" understates the problem. This isn't a scandal—it's standard operating procedure for how settler colonial governance serves capital accumulation over community welfare.
The "scandal" isn't that Mayor Post's brother profits from municipal decisions—it's that such arrangements are legal and routine. El escándalo is the system itself, not individual manifestations.
When family profiteering from municipal decisions is legal, the problem isn't the family—it's the legal system enabling such corruption.
Looking Forward: Movement Building
The Mathematics of Hope
Despite institutional disadvantages, the resistance demonstrates exponential community power building:
78 petition signatures = organized opposition
25,000 social media views = viral organizing potential
7 unified speakers = coordinated resistance
Multiple legal strategies = financial pressure on institutional power
When communities organize with this sophistication, institutional power starts sweating.
Action Steps for Community Power
Immediate Actions:
Pack the June 17th final budget hearing
Continue public records pressure
Expand petition signatures beyond 78
Document environmental impacts
Build media pressure through social platforms
Medium-term Strategy:
Prepare legal challenges under property rights protections
Build coalitions with other desert communities
Target council members for electoral accountability in 2026
Develop community-controlled development alternatives
Long-term Vision:
Connect to environmental justice networks
Build permanent organizing infrastructure
Create community land trust models
Challenge municipal structures enabling family profiteering
This isn't just about one annexation—it's about building community power to resist all forms of extractive development.
Supporting the Movement
The Linda Vista 52 resistance needs sustained support to effectively challenge institutional power. Whether you live in Marana or face similar development pressures elsewhere, this fight represents broader patterns of environmental racism and democratic failure.
Direct Support:
Attend public meetings and budget hearings
Share social media content documenting the controversy
Support legal challenges and public records transparency
Research and organize economic pressure on development supporters
Regional Coalition Building: Connect local organizing to broader environmental justice movements challenging desert community displacement throughout the Southwest.
Support Independent Journalism: This analysis exists because Three Sonorans provides a platform for investigating local corruption while connecting community organizing to broader movements. Corporate media won't challenge development interests—they're too dependent on real estate advertising.
When communities control their own storytelling, they can challenge corporate narratives that normalize environmental destruction and political corruption.
What Do You Think? Join the Fight
The Linda Vista 52 resistance proves that community organizing can challenge entrenched political-economic interests when people refuse to accept that institutional power gets the final word.
But this fight isn't over. The June 17th budget hearing and eventual annexation votes will determine whether months of organizing can overcome years of institutional capture.
Share your thoughts about how communities can build power against extractive development and political corruption.
Questions for Reflection:
How can communities use conservative legal frameworks like property rights protections to fight environmental racism, and what are the limitations of legal strategies without broader political change?
Given that family financial interests drive municipal policy despite overwhelming community opposition, what does this reveal about the need for stronger conflict-of-interest rules and community control over land use decisions?
¡La lucha continúa! The struggle continues, and together, we can build power to protect our communities and ecosystems from the machinery of profit extraction.
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I'd like to update my previous comment to remove Roxanne Ziegler from my comment above. She is not at all the person we thought she was.
Thank you so much for continuing to cover this story! We need all of the publicity we can get! I will say that Patrick Cavanaugh, Patti Comerford, and Roxanne Ziegler have been supportive in our opposition. Thanks again!
Jennie DeBray