Archive for February 13th, 2009

 Mayor tells it like it is, pushes job creation
I have finally come to the conclusion that the Mayor, City Council and local papers just don’t care what happens to greater Tucson. After listening to the drivel that Walkup spewed at the State of the City Address, I came to the realization that most of those in elected positions are just phoning it in. Either that or they are too inexperienced to make smart choices (Romero), too driven by political ambition (Glassman), or they simply have not been affected the way the rest of Tucson has (the papers). All of them see things from a liberal standpoint. Even Walkup during his address sounded more like a second-rate John Edwards than a quasi-conservative like John McCain. The latest attempt to show progress downtown and Rio Nuevo apparently all hinges on a new streetcar. Yes, a streetcar that will take people through four miles of downtown to visit all that downtown doesn’t have to offer. We found the below video last year.

 Thanks to friend of the show Glenn who added the Never Ending Parade of Stupid soundtrack. At the time we thought this was just someone’s lame vision of what Tucson could be. Sadly without any leadership to tackle the major problems with the downtown area of Tucson like crime, homeless, lack of business, tourism etc.. this streetcar would end up being nothing but transportation for the few people who are brave enough to venture downtown and the homeless. It turns out this video was created as part of a showcase to show what will happen to downtown Tucson. I was shocked to see it shown in the middle of the Mayors speech. Then I was saddened at the realization that its all a big smoke and mirrors fantasy. The Tucson government is so scared they will lose their funding that they are putting the cart before the horse for so many projects. So now along with the Trolley we have the “Streetcar named Disaster” as part of our Never Ending Parade of Stupid. It would seem the Parade is quickly turning into a train!

Antenori took a lot of heat from the local papers during his campaign and realized early on he wouldn’t get a fair shake. He actually refused to go to the editorial interview for his general election race, the Citizen endorsed him anyway. 

This week he’s taking a bunch of heat for cutting the $25 million annual funding of the the 21st Century Science Fund. The fund was set up with the help of SALC, Greater Phoenix Leadership Council and the Flagstaff 40 to set up state funding for economic development purposes.  Read our previous post HERE.

Needless to say Antenori took a lot of heat for cutting 21st Century. The house leadership, Governor, business community and newspapers piled on. I spoke with Frank and can sympathise with his position. How do you tell a mother that AHCCCS isnt’ going to cover her child’s needed procude due to budget constraints and then let anything non essential exist on the states dole?

Raise taxes you say and and cut less? Here’s an interesting fact I heard from another State legislator; it took Arizona 100 years to grow it’s budget to $6 billion. It took Napolitano only 4 years to grow it to $10.3 billion. Do you think we over spent a bit?

In the middle of all the anger and arm twisting Antenori chose to write and OP ED to the Az Star. Thanks again to Gila Courier. Here is his response from the editorial board;

Dear Mr. Antenori,

Thank you for submitting a guest opinion to the Arizona Daily Star. We regret to inform you that we have decided against using your article because it fundamentally misrepresents how Science Foundation Arizona works and how it uses state money.

As a guest opinion writer, you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but your facts must be correct. In this case, they are not. Please see our notes embedded within your article below and you’ll see where we believe the guest opinion is in error. In general, we believe your article mischaracterizes the funding as a cash bonus to big corporations and neglects to mention that corporations contribute money to match the state’s money.

Sincerely,

Martin Rosales
Editorial writer
Arizona Daily Star

I just got word that Steve Emerine has passed after a medical procedure. Steve was a voice in Tucson that will be difficult if not impossible to duplicate. Steve brought so many perspectives to an issue. He was a newspaper man, elected county assessor, political consultant and radio/TV personality. 

I met Steve a few years ago. He was one of the first few calls I made when I was contemplating a run for office. He was candid and open and gave me some great advice.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading his weekly column in Inside Tucson Business and often referenced his posts HERE, HERE and HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE.

The last correspondence I had with Steve was an email, which I was telling him about Facebook as a way for him to promote his column. Here is Steve’s reply;

Sorry, Joe, but my antiquated computer can't access Facebook, U-Tube, etc. -- steve