Archive for September, 2010

• Today Brewer lost a game of chess to a toddler, misspelled “Arizona,” kicked a dog and ran over a kitten. She gained 3 percentage points in the polls over Terry Goddard, who suffered a paper cut fumbling with position papers.

• The TUSD Governing Board named four finalists for the post of superintendent. The four are “Out,” “Of,” “Their,” and “Minds.”

In October a finalist will be selected and the three runners-up will receive “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps” stickers and the board game “Are you smarter than a 5th Grader?”

Who will be the lucky one? The three who don’t get picked. The new superintendent will receive a crown, luggage and a lifetime supply of chewable anti-depressants.

• Support for the proposed City Charter change is growing faster than dust bunnies. Proponents argue Tucson needs a strong-mayor/strong-city manager style of government, citing the sign collecting dust on the mayor’s desk: “The buck stops nowhere.”

• The city’s police and fire unions announced their support for the city’s half-cent sales-tax increase this November. In other news the sun rose in the east, birds flew and fish were spotted swimming.

• Across the country tea party candidates have been dragging the Republican Party so far to the extreme out-there ultra-right that they nearly resemble what we in Arizona call “moderates.”

• Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has acted to remove junk food from vending machines on county property. He sent a memo to the county Health Department asking that snacks that are unhealthy be removed and given to Rep. Raúl Grijalva.

Greg Shelko was the golden boy under Mike Hein and Jared Barr the prior City of Tucson management dream team. The heat started to get turned up on the trio near the end of City Manager Mike Hein’s final days.  After blowing $225 million with very little to show for their efforts beyond a $820k movie without a museum to play it in and a entire set of plans for a rainbow bridge the State Legislature moved in a new over sight board to supplant the rubber stamp board the City of Tucson was running. Since the new board has been in place we’ve seen contracts being challenged, financing plans being scrutinized and brakes being put on all over the Rio Nuevo districts.  All I can say is that it’s about time.

When the Rio Nuevo TIF district is fully analyzed my prediction is someone is going to be indicted.

Shelko says job is done at Rio Nuevo

Rob O’Dell Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Thursday, September 16, 2010 12:00 am | Comments

Mamta Popat quits $100-an-hour Rio Nuevo consulting job given last year.

Former Rio Nuevo Director Greg Shelko has quit the $100-an-hour Rio Nuevo consulting job he was given last year amid a sea of controversy. He gave the district notice he will end his consulting contract within the next few months.

Shelko, who actually submitted a 90-day contract-termination notice to the Rio Nuevo board two to three weeks ago, wrote that his tasks under the contract – to oversee construction of the $4.3 million new entrance to the Tucson Convention Center and the planning of a new convention center hotel – were nearly complete.

Shelko could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The new entrance to the TCC is complete. There are only two items that need to be resolved: a column in the entrance that is off-line by inches and part of the flooring of the entrance, which the Rio Nuevo board said is unacceptable.

The planning of the convention center hotel is nearly complete as well, as Shelko helped oversee the process to get a guaranteed maximum price for the district. The hotel is designed and ready to be constructed if the Rio Nuevo board and the city can agree on some kind of financing package.

Rio Nuevo board Chairwoman Jodi Bain said she’s pleased that Shelko recognized his contract was at an end. “I’m pleased that he recognized that in 90 days there’s nothing for him to do,” she said.

As a city employee, Shelko headed Rio Nuevo during the most critical years of its existence, from 2004 through 2009, a time when the city spent $250 million in tax-increment financing money downtown with little actual development to show for it.

The Legislature seized control of Rio Nuevo last year and appointed a new board to oversee the district.

Shelko’s position was written out of the city budget, and he left the city June 30.

The Rio Nuevo board subsequently gave him a $100-an-hour, no-bid consulting contract that wasn’t publicly approved until September 2009, but was backdated to pay him starting July 1, the day after he left the city. The former Rio Nuevo board later struck the backdated payments.

Shelko was hired at the request of hotel developer Garfield Traub, who said the project was “in chaos” without him. He was hired mainly because of construction of the new $4.3 million entrance to the Tucson Convention Center, with board members contending the new entrance was urgently needed because it had to be done in time for the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase in early 2010.

But missing pieces of the building’s foundation discovered during construction stalled completion of the new entrance until June. Mayor Bob Walkup later said the new entrance wasn’t crucial, despite an earlier full-court press for immediate approval, including the hiring of Shelko.

In other Rio Nuevo business, the board heard a proposal by Don Bourn to turn his vacant downtown lot into a 123-room Hampton Inn. The five-story hotel would feature first-floor retail and conference-room space, and would have no on-site parking.

Bourn said the total cost of the project is $15 million, but he still needs $3.5 million from another source to make the deal happen.

Rio Nuevo lawyer Bob Gugino said Rio Nuevo had spent nearly $900,000 tearing down a nearly 100-year-old building and remediating environmental issues to make way for Bourn’s development that never happened.

Contact reporter Rob O’Dell at 573-4346 or rodell@azstarnet.com

We all know campaigning is going on in the halls of City government but being this sloppy calls for a response from our elected officials. The rules are clear yet the City Managers office and the Council continue to ignore and flaunt their positions to actively campaign for a tax could hit the community this fall.

The tricks governments use are becoming so over played that the voters are starting to wise up. The first rule of thumb for a government to get a pet project passed at the ballot box is to scare the crap out of the electorate. With the 1 cent sales tax, Prop 100, which passed a few months ago the scare tactic was threaten schools with 50 kids per classroom and demolition of after school sports.

When Brewer wanted to legislature to refer the sales tax proposal she shut down the rest stops and parks (two highly visable State controlled assets) first to get the voters to pay attention.

When school districts want an over ride passed we start hearing about cuts to music, art and sports. Administrators pass the word to the teachers, teachers pass the words to the students and students pass the word to their voting parents.

The City of Tucson takes the Government As Campaigner Prize with their full court press to the voters of Tucson surrounding the Prop 400 sales tax. The City Manager is parading the cops, fire and parks to the neighborhood associations, citizen boards and commissions, retired city employees and current rank and file. The pitch is simple, pass it or else you are all either fired or your sacred cow will be slaughtered or we are cutting your benefits. Never mind that there is a Plan C and Plan D from Councilman Kozachik. Never mind that this council can’t be trusted to make even the most logical decisions. Never mind that taking more money out of the local economy to fund a wasteful Tucson government is the last thing we should be doing in the downturn. The full weight and influence of the City is behind passing this $40 million raise.

It’s about time someone is doing something to keep the field level. The Arizona Policy Institute which recently filed a law suit against the City of Tucson over the Historic Train Depot rent subsidies, has served notice that one council member  has gone too far.

Ward 5 Councilman Fimbres Campaigning as a Sitting Elected Official

Arizona Policy Institute

For Immediate Release
September 10, 2010
Contact: Tanner Bell

Arizona Policy Institute sends notice and requests additional information to the City of Tucson in response to Ward 5 Councilman Fimbres campaigning as a sitting elected official.

TUCSON – It is illegal in the State of Arizona to campaign for or against a candidate or ballot as an elected official or part of a government bureaucracy. The law is important to the democratic process and critical in instilling trust and transparency in our local governments. Arizona Policy Institute, a public policy watchdog group, has sent inquiry letters to the City Manager and City Attorney requesting additional information in an analysis of a potential legal case against the City of Tucson. Arizona Policy Institute has already brought suit against the City of Tucson over potential Arizona Constitutional violations of the Gift Clause, surrounding the Historic Train Depot and egregious rent concessions.
The City of Tucson council voted to place Prop 400 on the November ballot. Prop 400 is requesting a ½ cent sales tax increase to the current 2% rate. According to the City Charter the measure would need to be approved by the voters.

In an email correspondence sent out by Councilman Richard Fimbres there has an apparent clear violation of the provisions of Arizona law prohibiting a sitting elected official from campaigning for or against an issue by a sitting elected official. Councilman Fimbres was warned by the City Manger to remove an online blog which used “Ward 5” and “Tucson” to attempt to illegally influence a campaign. On Friday, September 10th Councilman Fimbres released an email titled; “Vote Yes on Prop 400” and in the body of the email stated; “I am asking you to roll up your sleeves with me and ask your family members and friends to Vote Yes on Prop 400 and make a contribution to the campaign”. The letter is signed by “Richard Fimbres Councilmember – Ward 5 City of Tucson.”
The City of Tucson has been conducting numerous town hall-type meetings with City Employees, neighborhood associations, and City retired employees threatening drastic cuts should the ballot measure fail. Arizona Policy Institute’s mission is to promote open and transparent government and a level and fair playing field for all the citizens of Southern Arizona. Arizona Policy Institute is modeled after the Goldwater Institute based in Phoenix. Goldwater filed suit against Tucson’s Mayor Bob Walkup in July of 2008 for open meeting violations.
In addition to government transparency, API champions economic prosperity and individual freedom.
To read about Arizona Statutes visit: http://law.justia.com/arizona/codes/title41/00772.html

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The actual email in question:

From: Richard Fimbres for City Council – Ward 5 <fimbresforcouncil@gmail.com>
Date: September 10, 2010 12:03:53 AM MST
Subject: Fwd: Vote Yes on Prop 400

Dear Tucsonans:

On the November 2 Arizona general election ballot are many initiatives that voters will be considering. Tucsonans have a ballot measure for their consideration, Proposition 400, asking voters to give the Mayor and Council a temporary option to raise the limit on the city sales tax up to one half cent, from 2.0 cents to 2.5 cents to continue to maintain the City’s core services of police, fire, courts, parks and recreation and street repair.

How did the City get into this financial situation?  Through the reduction of state shared revenue and local revenue ($69 million combined in the past four fiscal years), the City of Tucson cannot sustain existing service levels for core services – police, fire, court services, parks and street maintenance.

What has the City done to deal with this? Cut a total of 479 positions since Fiscal Year 2007 and 187 in the past two fiscal years alone (Fiscal Year 2010 and 2011).  Wage freezes, furlough days, increased public safety contribution and increased medical premium costs for employees.  Suspension of street paving and reduced roadway maintenance.  Funding cuts to youth programs. Elimination of neighborhood improvement programs. Reduced hours of neighborhood centers. Delayed infrastructure replacement and maintenance of streets, facilities, vehicles and equipment and technology.

The question for Tucson voters on November 2. Cuts made to the City of Tucson budget have been deep, additional service reductions will be necessary in order for the City to remain solvent if nothing changes. However, the recession has been long and deep, and now the City is at a critical point – a crisis situation – that without additional revenues, city residents will be receiving reduced levels of basic core services.

Citizens will be asked to decide on November 2 what kind of community and level of services they want in the future.  I have never been a proponent of simply raising taxes but I care about this City and its future and I am asking you to roll up your sleeves with me and ask your family members and friends to Vote Yes on Prop 400 and make a contribution to the campaign. You can donate online at http://keeptucsonfirst.com/donate.php or with the remittance form to Yes on Proposition 400 and Keep Tucson First.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Richard Fimbres Councilmember – Ward 5 City of Tucson

Keep Tucson First – Yes on 400

14 September 2010

Tucson was listed at No. 8 out of the 10 Most Livable Bargain Markets as chosen by MSN Real Estate on its website.

The group looked at the nation’s top 100 markets and narrowed down the top 10 livable areas: places where unemployment is relatively low, commute times are short and there are enough interesting cultural and recreational diversions to keep most people satisfied.

The write-up said Tucson was a great place to live if someone likes the desert think Phoenix or Las Vegas are too big and too hot.

“And although the city topped 1 million residents in 2008, it has the feeling of a smaller, slower-paced town, locals say,  and many of its residents walk or bike to work, ” the article said.

The cons listed for the city included: hot summers, higher property crime, smaller airport with fewer direct flights and less high-end shopping than Phoenix.

The other cities include: Ames, Iowa; Sioux Falls, S. D.; Lincoln, Neb.; Lawrence, Kan.; Burlington – South Burlington, Vt.; Billings, Mont.; Durham, N.C.; Rochester, Minn.; and Portland – South Portland – Biddeford, Maine.

HERE

Top 10 Things Tucson Learned From Campers Interview;
1. Camper takes a swipe at TREO, never mind TREO purposely won’t let him sit on their board.  (Economic Development used to be and should be a job of the Chamber but it was yanked away years ago, same with the tourism promotion)

 2. Camper supports both hotels for the construction jobs they will create (Scott challenges him on giving this Council another $200 million asset after they squandered the first $220 million)

3. Camper supports the City subsidizing the $200 million hotel because the City already subsidized Sun Tran, low income housing and all kinds of other stuff. (Why not join the party?)

4. Camper supports a 1 cent statewide tax but not a City wide 1/2 cent tax. (Explain that one).

5. Camper was a cop and fire fighter and believes they should be supported. (Wasn’t he at the Zoo with rallying AGAINST Public Safety Initiative a few months ago?)

6. Camper saved Rio Nuevo at the state legislature (thanks….I think)

7. Camper supports Rosemont (and is an environmentalist with a snake skin collection)

8. Camper offers solutions to make Tucson more business friendly, but I’m not quite sure what they are.

9. He’s a little touchy on when he’s retiring.  (A great 32 year legacy)

10. Camper hand picks and controls his board of directors. (Job security)

Membership in the Tucson Chamber has dropped from a peak of 3300 to a little over 1000. To compare, the Albuquerque Chamber has over 5600 members.

Here’s  a great comment from the AZ Star:

I just moved home (Tucson) after spending 6.5 years working and living in New Mexico. I am flabbergasted at what as happened here in Tucson in those short 6.5 years…
At the first opportunity I will be moving back out of Tucson and will not return until the corrupt aholes running this city are tarred and feathered.

Keep it up Jack you’re doing a great job. Tucson business leaders, good job on allowing Camper to steer us into the toilet.

We launched this site two years ago this month. Since that time there has beeen 662 blog posts and 2498 comments left. We have site traffic from all over the world. Try to Google a topic about a local issue and you’ll find one of our blog posts near the top. The influence has been profound and the ability to put a new voice into the community has been important. 

Thanks to all our readers, authors and contributors.

Five facts you need to know before believing the city’s fear-mongering
WAKE UP, TUCSON

By Joe Higgins and Chris DeSimone, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Friday, September 10th, 2010

Giving the Tucson City Council and City Manager another half-cent sales tax would be like giving your teenager another $20 for lunch after they’ve blown their allowance on video games and fad jeans. Yet, that’s what the city is asking voters to do on Nov. 2. And we’re already hearing about the dire consequences that will happen if Proposition 400 fails.

The drumbeat will get louder. There will be cuts to police and fire. Sun Tran routes will be eliminated and fares increased. Judges will be let go. Criminals will be let out of jails.

It’s politic rhetoric intended to scare voters.

Here are a few facts we hope will help you before you believe any of what they’re saying:

1. Governments all over the country experienced their second year of declining revenues in 2009. So how come we aren’t hearing about these same devastating cuts in Oro Valley, Marana or Sahuarita? Here’s how the region’s jurisdictions dealt with the situation in 2009:

• Marana cut its budget by 7 percent (and actually added money into its reserve fund this year)

• Sahuarita reduced its budget by 28 percent

• Oro Valley reduced its budget by 40 percent

• Tucson increased its budget to $1.3 billion from $1.29 billion. Among the departments that saw budget increases were the city clerk’s office, up 25 percent; city manager’s office,

up more than 65 percent; equal opportunity programs/indepen-

dent police review, up 24 percent; and transportation was up 41 percent (using a lot of federal stimlulus money). Meanwhile, the budgets for fire services was reduced by more than 22 percent and police was cut 8.9 percent.

2. A half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax would jump the combined rate to 9.6 percent, which would rank Tucson No. 4 on the list of highest sales taxes in the nation. That would put the nail in the coffin for a small business owner. At what price point do your customers drive another 20 minutes to another jurisdiction? Or worse, go to Amazon.com?

3. We’re told the additional $40 million in revenue from the sales tax will go to maintain core services. The city calls the urban fishing program a core service.

4. Passing Proposition 400 will not prevent cuts in police and fire services. Representatives of both have asked city officials to make that guarantee but the city won’t commit.

5. Want to know what city officials see as priorities? Consider their past performance:

• More than $5 million was added to Sun Tran’s subsidy this year, which helped pay for over 200,000 reduced bus fare passes.

• $13 million was moved from the road pothole fund to build a bridge to a dirt lot on the west side known as the Mercado. This was done to accommodate the city’s planned trolley, which has come up $26 million short in stimulus funding.

• $10 million additional has been paid by Tucson Water customers to move water lines for the four-mile trolley track.

• $1 million was spent to put a weight room into the new $20 million main fire station next to the Tucson Convention Center.

• $3.2 million is being spent to fund the staffs and offices of each of the seven members of the city council.

• $1.05 million is being spent on downtown projects such as the Depot Plaza and low-income housing.

• $10 million is going to outside consultants.

• $28 million goes to Fleet Services, which bills $100 to do an oil change on a police car. (Jiffy Lube runs coupons for $17.95.)

• $3.7 million subsidizes the city golf courses budget of $7 million.

• $4.3 million is being spent for a new entrance to the Tucson Convention Center.

• $500,000 was spent to tear down a 100 year-old building downtown and then sell it for $100 to a developer who has left it as an empty lot.

• $15 million to $18 million has been coughed up in additional fees because the city chose to sell Rio Nuevo bonds in December 2008 when interest rates in the bond market were at their worst for sellers.

• $7 million went to subsidize the Fox Tucson Theatre and the staff running the Tucson Convention Center.

• Subsidizing rents in city-owned buildings, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art’s $1 rent to use the old fire station downtown.

Supposedly, these are all city “core services.”

If you want to know more, go to www.CutWasteFirst.com and leave a comment, take the survey, donate or order a yard sign.

Contact Joe Higgins and Chris DeSimone at wakeuptucson@gmail.com. They host “Wake Up Tucson,” 6-8 a.m. weekdays on The Voice KVOI 1030-AM. Their blog is at www.TucsonChoices.com.

Copyright © 2010 Inside Tucson Business

Imagine If Humans Behaved Differently
From Inside Tucson Business – Alan Willenbrock, former treasurer of Rio Nuevo Board
 
Imagine if humans behaved differently.  Not just 10% or 15% differently, but 100% differently.  All of us would eat a full six servings of fruits and veggies each day.  We could run twice as fast and jump twice as high.  Read twice as fast and get twice as much work done each day,…
The financial projections for the proposed Rio Nuevo Hotel are also based upon the assumption that humans will behave dramatically different in Tucson than they do just about anywhere else.
 
HVS prepared a Market Study for the proposed Rio Nuevo Hotel.  This study offers projections for the occupancy for the hotel, the average rate they would pay, and outlines projected financial results. This study is the foundation for everything related to the hotel.  As a former Rio Nuevo board member and Treasurer, I felt it was my duty to determine if these consultant reports offered an accurate description of likely outcomes.  I poked and prodded and asked challenging questions.  Rio Nuevo is where it is partly because these types of reports were previously accepted at face value rather than being challenged.  Sometimes I received acceptable answers; many times the answers were unsatisfactory.
 
Convention Attendees = Hotel Room Nights
 
A financial analyst will focus on the ‘Convention and Trade Show’ part of the HVS analysis.  These are the ‘high margin’ activities that produce the overwhelming majority of room nights and related economic activity.  The ‘Consumer Shows’ and other activities are welcomed, but generate very few room nights and much less economic activity.  When people stay at the hotel they pay the going rate for the room and many site-specific room taxes.  These help pay for the debt service for the hotel – which could be approximately $190 million.  If fewer people stay at the hotel, there will be less money to pay the debt service.
 
The HVS Market Study projects a certain number of convention and trade show attendees.  For some reason, the HVS study for Tucson assumes a massive change in human behavior.  For Tucson, HVS assumes that the same human beings will generate twice as many room nights per attendee than just about any other study I have seen, or even other HVS studies.
 
HVS Tucson:  Projects 2.40 room nights per attendee of conventions or trade shows
 
C.H. Johnson Tucson Feasibility Analysis:  Projects 1.02 room nights per delegate
 
HVS Phoenix:  Projects 1.16 room nights per delegate
 
HVS Dallas:  Projects 1.40 room nights per delegate
 
 
The assumptions for HVS Tucson are as much as DOUBLE that of similar facilities – WHY?  If we simply apply the same assumptions HVS uses at other similar hotels, the occupancy for the Tucson hotel could be 50% lower than projected – that’s a big problem – who will pay the debt service that could be $1 million per month?  The answer is YOU the taxpayer would make up the difference.
 
I am not for or against the hotel.  I am against misleading tax payers and the community.  Rio Nuevo has a long history of over-promising and under-delivering.  The weight of the evidence clearly shows that the actual results will probably be significantly lower than that predicted from the HVS Market Study – by 50% or more.  This means that taxpayers are likely to pay much higher ongoing subsidies than they are currently being told.  These subsidies will be an ongoing drain on the City of Tucson’s general fund at a time when they are running large, ongoing structural budget deficits of $50 million or more. 
 
Taxpayers: Caveat Emptor!