I would like to take a second to acknowledge how Marana has managed to attract high quality retail development, while Oro Valley has been unable to keep pace. Marana will open an In-N-Out Burger later this year. In-N-Out is a unique fastfood restaurant that caused quite excitement when it's first location opened in Tucson earlier this year. This will be a great attraction to Marana alone.

Marana is also adding a mall at Tangerine Road and I-10, built by Westcor (the same company that built the posh La Encantada in the Catalina Foothills). Westcor has stated that Marana's mall will look very similar to La Encantada, and include 6 anchor stores (like Dillard's, Sear's, etc.), and even possibly a Bass Pro Shop. Oro Valley approved a mediocre development, Oro Valley Marketplace, in what will be the town's ONLY mall, ever. OV Marketplace will be anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter, and include such fine retail as a car wash. Not to mention, OV residents approved relinquishing $23M in future tax revenue.

The icing on the cake is that Marana is finalizing a deal at Dove Mountain to include a Ritz Carlton Resort. The Ritz was to be built in Oro Valley, where the town spent considerable money providing infrastructure to the site in Stone Canyon, including putting a large water reservoir completely underground. OV failed to secure the Ritz, and now Marana will rightfully benefit from this unique and high end destination resort.

For years people have compared Oro Valley and Marana, usually seeing OV as more affluent, better planned, and above all, more naturally appealing with dramatic mountain views. I venture to argue that Marana has certainly made these key steps in beginning to turn the tide on such generalizations. The future undeniably is bright for the Town of Marana. I'm not so sure the same is true for Oro Valley.