Activists are the lubricant of local democracy. They effect change. They challenge authority. They keep many on their toes.
Until they don’t, and infect the body politic.
There is no better example today than in Peoria, Arizona.
Nearly all activism is protected by the First Amendment. Until someone yells “fire” in a movie theater.
And that’s what Vanessa Angell did in the Northwest Valley.
At issue is a proposed recycling and transfer facility next to the 303 Freeway and in an industrial area along the banks of the Agua Fria River.
In mobilizing against infrastructure that will help allow the City of Peoria to preserve recycling (and save money) at a time when both are desperately needed Angell took to Facebook and other means to “stop a landfill.” And by screaming fire in the proverbial move theater people went berserk.
The only problem? “Landfills” are typically hundreds of acres and rise to hundreds of feet in height. They are massive. But this recycling depot is only 5 acres, 40 feet high and the square footage of a Walgreen’s.
Whoops doesn’t cut it. That’s why defamation laws exist. For up to two years.
But that’s not the end of the story when it comes to Angell.
In decrying this business investment in infrastructure in a rapidly growing area, at a time when the economy may be entering a Depression, Angell failed to mention a couple of other things.
She is no neighbor. She doesn’t live anyplace near the proposed transfer station—it takes a twisty 1.6 mile path to get there. Arizona courts have repeatedly emphasized that the legal requirement of ‘standing’ depends on proximity to the site in question, and courts have denied standing to neighborhood activists who lived much closer than that. But more important Angell owns a competing facility in Glendale! We’re not joking. She hasn’t disclosed this to anyone.
Her business, Consolidated Resources at 4849 West Missouri Ave in Glendale does metal recycling and handles trash pickup and removal. And look at it. It’s a dump.
Yet, she now defames a critical new infrastructure project (by one of Arizona’s great corporate citizens) important to perpetuating the city’s recycling program, for her own, self-interest? 
That’s the kind of trash talk that gives activists a bad name. And hurts a city that is struggling to keep its recycling program. And we haven’t even mentioned the increased amount of money for the Peoria Unified School District this will mean.
We’ll save that for another time.
Few celebrate the import of activists more than we. Just recently we posted a new a list of the best activists in Scottsdale history thanks to a special request.
Yet Angell reminds us that no matter the jurisdiction, being so irresponsible, and wrong, discredits not just yourself but undermines a key element of democracy itself.
Now that’s real garbage.