Shirley orders $1 million study of Freeze needs
By Cindy Yurth,
Navajo
Times, October 25, 2007
CHINLE – President Joe Shirley Ur. Announced
last week the tribe will launch a $1 million study of
needs in the former Bennett Freeze area to prioritize
development and leverage more funding.
The announcement came as part of his
state of the nation address to the Navajo Nation Council
Oct. 15 in Window Rock.
“Few of our people have suffered as
much or for so long, or have been as powerless to do
anything to improve the quality of their lives, as residents
of the former Bennett Freeze area,” Shirley said. “Every
problem we can find across the Navajo Nation could be
multiplied ten-fold in the Bennett Freeze.”
The study funded by an appropriation
from the BIA, will assess the social, economic, educational
and community development needs and the number of people
affected.
Once the information is obtained, Shirley
said, it will be used to support tribal and federal
funding requests.
Shirley said he has already appointed
a rehabilitation task force to help launch the study,
working jointly with local communities, the Navajo-Hopi
Land Commission and the tribal president’s office.
He has also called on the Navajo Tribal
Utility Authority, the Navajo Housing Authority, the
Indian Health Service and other agencies to begin the
effort.
The nine chapters affected by the 1.5-million-acre
freeze should begin immediately to develop or modify
their community land use plans now that the freeze is
lifted and development is possible, Shirley recommended.
In a separate statement for the Navajo
Times, Shirley noted the needs in the area are so great
that they study is needed.
“We have had the zilch, zero, nada development
for 40 years,” he said. “We don’t have any roads to
talk about. We don’t have any housing to talk about.
We don’t have hospitals.”
While people might argue that a million
dollars could be used more productively than conducting
a study, Shirley disagrees.
“We can use that study as a base
for obtaining more funding,” he said.
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