Politics

PHOENIX – Saying the Pima County administrator needs to be restrained, a House panel voted Thursday to create a special committee to oversee county bond elections.
The party-line vote in the Republican-controlled Committee on Technology and Infrastructure came after a plea from Marana Town Attorney Frank Cassidy, who said the county has created a “culture of intimidation.”
He said part of that is because County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry proposes bond elections with more than 100 individual projects – and sub-projects within them – to a point where advisory committee members are so overwhelmed that they defer to Huckelberry’s recommendations of what gets funded and what does not.
HB 2656, sponsored by Rep. Terri Proud, R-Tucson, would require Pima County – and only Pima County – to establish a bond oversight committee with veto power over what projects get put on the ballot and any changes in how already-approved bond money is spent.
Proud said the special legislation is justified.
“Southern Arizona is really no stranger to corruption,” she said, citing the failed Rio Nuevo revitalization project. And Proud said Pima County has more bond debt than even the far larger Maricopa County.
Proud also made it clear she believes the blame lies with Huckelberry.
“For too long we’ve had one man control everything,” she said. “And I think that needs to stop.”
Proud’s bill would do more than simply create an oversight panel. It would give the county and each of its five cities one vote.
County lobbyist Mike Racy said that would allow representatives of just three communities, with as little as 6.5 percent of total county population, to block anything until they could get what they want.
“Our concern is just how grossly inequitable one vote per jurisdiction would be,” he said.
Proud said she sees nothing wrong with that, contending that’s the way it works at the Legislature.
“I represent a larger district than someone else may represent,” she said.
However, under federal law, all legislative districts are required to have roughly the same population. That is why new district lines are redrawn after every census, to adjust for population changes and keep them the same size.
Cassidy, however, said the weighted voting system is justified – and far better than what exists now.
“This is simply an opportunity to provide more transparency to the process and to give real feedback in the nature of an actual, meaningful vote to those communities affected by it,” he said.
He said each supervisor gets to name three members to the current advisory committee, with three named by the county administrator, each of the two tribes getting one member and each incorporated city naming one member.
That, he said, dilutes the ability of affected communities to make their needs known. By contrast, Cassidy said, each community getting one-sixth of the power on the committee ensures “a meaningful and binding, realistic piece of feedback” on the process.
Cassidy conceded Racy’s point that Proud’s legislation would let any three communities, no matter how small, effectively hold up the process and block public votes on multimillion-dollar bond projects for the entire county, or any change in funding priorities. But he said that’s not necessarily a bad thing because it would produce “the happy result of our taxes finally going down.”
While this new oversight panel would have veto power over new bond projects, the main argument of proponents is that it is designed to prevent shifting of priorities after voters approve the borrowing.
Cassidy told lawmakers a prime example involves $22 million approved as part of a 2004 bond to build a joint city-county courthouse. He said Huckelberry instead shifted some of the money to remodel one floor of the Superior Court Building.
Huckelberry called that “a good story until you tell the other side of it.”
He said the court project ran into unexpected delays and an extra $18 million in costs when it unearthed an old cemetery with 1,500 bodies that had to be relocated.
While the project was on hold, Huckelberry said, the county bond advisory committee agreed to spend $9.8 million to remodel the existing court, on the condition the county repay the money for the new courthouse from regular tax dollars, which has been done.
He said the fund shift went through multiple public hearings “and it was always intended as a stopgap measure for court overcrowding.”
While all the Republicans on the House panel supported Proud’s legislation, Rep. Carl Seel, R-Phoenix, said he is less than comfortable with giving the county’s smallest communities an equal vote with not only Tucson but with the Board of Supervisors, which represents the 36 percent of the population living in unincorporated areas. Seel said he may propose a change when the measure goes to the full House.

Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/pima-bond-oversight-advances-in-house/article_a345fd97-585a-5fdd-a411-75c33d107151.html#ixzz1lJrZ1xlY

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/16662854/2012/02/02/nbc2-investigates-voter-fraud

County supervisors of elections tell me they have no way to verify citizenship. Under the 1992 Motor Voter Law, they’re not required to ask for proof.

“We have no policing authority. We don’t have any way of bouncing that information off any other database that would give us that information,”

Anyone know a place like this?

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Have we killed the entrepreneurial spirit?

Posted: Friday, December 2, 2011 7:00 am
by   Joe Higgins

It’s hard to pick up a newspaper or watch TV news and not see what America is going through right now. People are frustrated and political solutions seem hollow. The uncertainty coming from government has the entire U.S. economy on hold.

Despite what economic experts say, the Great Recession continues. We are in for a long-haul; a new normal.

We see this malaise in shuttered business, home foreclosures and employee layoffs. Like downturns in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we thought “here we go again.” Before long business will come back to normal.

But as we turn the corner into our fourth year of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, it’s settling in that this one is different.

We can break down the causes of the Great Recession from multiple angles but they are topics that will be debated for years and ultimately determined by historians decades after the chips have fallen.

This opinion is about the fallout and the future of Tucson, Arizona and America.

Being an entrepreneur is the most gratifying, hardest thing I’ve ever done. As a serial business start-up person, I’ve rolled the dice more than a dozen times. Each time I start a new business, I research, study, plan and ultimately go all-in on an idea I think is better than anyone else in my market.

As others like me know, sometimes you get it right, others times you miss the mark.

Having mortgaged my home, maxed out credit cards and risked my family’s future on ideas more than once, I’m here to tell you that it has been worth it.

Up until now.

Early on, this Great Recession cleaned out those who who were over-leveraged and bought investments such as houses on interest-only deals that made no sense. Restaurants that went out of business already were teetering on the brink. Businesses that closed in 2008 and 2009 were too leveraged, too concentrated in crowded industries or were run by poor managers. That’s what the capitalist system does.

But now we are seeing a different kind of business failures. Entrepreneurs who played it safe are now watching their lifetime idea slowly slip away.

I’ve lived this journey myself and I’ve talked with my small business friends who are in the same rudderless boat. Many of us have had to close stores. We’ve laid off long-time employees who helped us from the very beginning. These people are more than employees, they’re family.

Most small business owners are wondering two things: How am I going to make payroll next Friday? And will this ever end? Start-ups have notoriously high failure rates but now we are starting to see established businesses buckling under financial pressures. Second-generation businesses handed down from father to son or daughter may not be left to hand down to a third generation.

Last week, I had two high school kids from different schools search me out as part of their career research. They wanted to be entrepreneurs. When I asked why, they responded that they each had a great idea, believed in their abilities, dreamed of potential riches and fame and they loved the variety of skills and duties that come with launching and running a business.

It was difficult for me to be upbeat and positive. It was hard not to tell them what it’s really like. I wanted to explain the dozens of agencies that will be regulating their every move. I wanted to explain how fierce competition can be when you’re up against a Fortune 500 company that has a fleet of lobbyists that can get waivers from federal healthcare mandates or build in a new regulation that is going to wipe out any margin you’ve been able to build.

I didn’t want to tell them the process of going through a local zoning review or the joy of having conflicting opinions come from two different city inspectors and that your only recourse it to say “thank you sir, may I have another.”

I held back on telling these future entrepreneurs about the headaches that come to your life when you hire an employee – from workers compensation claims, to equal employment complaints, to unemployment insurance, to layers of laws to protect employee rights but nothing about who pays the bills.

What I decided to share with the future capitalists was about the days when I didn’t know better and just got up every morning and worked through it.

My formative years came while Ronald Reagan was president, coming in to lead the nation out of the Jimmy Carter mailaise. Reagan won his election in 1980 and reinstated hope in the future with his “It’s Morning Again In America” and tapped into the American ideal of hard work, personal responsibility, patriotism and limited government.

Reagan knew the importance of the small business owner and he understood the power of the free market in getting this country back on track.

I can only imagine most people were wondering in 1979 – as they are today – are America’s best days behind us?

As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve come to the point where my local and federal governments don’t appreciate me and couldn’t care less if I practice my skill at all. As an entrepreneur, I don’t want to be stimulated or bailed out. Until my governments’ attitudes change, I’m going to sit on the sidelines and watch.

Joe Higgins, who is a regular contributor, wrote this column to express his personal feelings. His Tucson business start-ups include Talking Trash Waste Removal, Sports Buzz Haircuts and Gotta Go Wireless. Contact Higgins at wakeuptucson@gmail.com. He and Chris DeSimone host “Wake Up Tucson,” 6 to 8 a.m. weekdays on The Voice KVOI 1030-AM.

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

“Over the last decade, we became a country that relied too much on what we bought and consumed.”

- President Obama, Nov. 19, 2011

“Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns.”

- President Carter, July 15, 1979

There are only two ways to look at the Obama re-election campaign right now: Either the upstart candidate who stunned the world when he defeated the Clinton machine to capture the Democratic nomination three years ago has lost every bit of that massive mojo, or the bruised and battered president, after three years in office, just doesn’t want another spin in the Oval Office.

How else to explain the nonstop missteps, the stammering and stuttering campaign, not to mention the brazen attacks on American voters, who, he has said, have “fallen behind,” lost their “ambition and imagination,” gotten “lazy” and “a bit soft” – this is a guy seeking the support of America?!

For the past 36 months, Americans have hoped for the best. But it hasn’t turned out that way. In fact, some argue that Mr. Obama actually made the economy worse – the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last week that his 2009 stimulus package may have sustained as few as 700,000 jobs at its peak and that over the long run it will be a net drag on the economy.

But then, this. The president, traveling the country purportedly to look for votes in 2012, decided to lecture the American people on their shortcomings: fat, lazy, stupid. And now, he’s channeling – of all people – Jimmy Carter.

Don’t doubt the premise here. Democrats must spend – spend and spend and spend. It’s in their DNA. Mr. Obama offered a $3.8 trillion budget this year, to be paid for by – $2.1 trillion in revenue (read: your money). He knows that over the next four years, with automatic budget cuts set to take effect and the American people’s rising ire over the profligate spending in Washington, he’s going to have no money to redistribute to the masses.

So, why bother? It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Who needs it? Why preside over a government that, instead of giving everything to everybody free, takes it all away, cuts so deeply that nearly every American will be affected? Especially if you think Americans are lazy, lack ambition – they’ll never rise to the challenge, so why not just bail?

Crazy? Not according to two Democratic strategists. Patrick H. Caddell, who coincidentally worked as a pollster for Mr. Carter, and Douglas Schoen think Mr. Obama should follow LBJ and just pack it in.

“He should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president’s accomplishments. He should step aside,” they wrote, “for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”

Of course, Mr. Obama’s hubris will not allow such a move. But consider this, 344 days before Election Day 2012: The president’s greatest advocate, Chris Matthews, who got a chill up his leg every time he heard the candidate speak, has thrown in the towel.

“Once having won the office,” the MSNBC cheerleader said, “he seemed to think that that was the end of it in terms of his connection to the American people. … I think everybody feels an absence of communication from the time he’s been elected. And it’s not about not being left-wing enough or too left. That’s not his problem. It’s connection. And Mrs. Obama, she’s an amazing asset. And what has she done? Obesity? How about connecting with the American people about being Americans? I don’t think she’s happy. I don’t think they like being in the White House. The American people can tell that. They don’t seem thrilled at the fact the American people have selected them as our first family. I don’t sense the gratitude, the happiness level, the thrill of being president.”

Atlanta ranked third in housing affordability, fourth for the most university graduates and fifth for venture capital. But it’s near the bottom in per capita personal income, per capita gross metropolitan product and job growth.

Austin ranked at or near the top in several categories. It has the highest percentage of university graduates, the lowest unemployment rate and the least loss of housing values in the downturn, plus it tied for the second-highest job growth. Its economy grew the fastest, 7 percent, from 2009 to 2010.

Denver has the second-highest percentage of university graduates, second-highest amount of venture capital and second-highest per-capita personal income. The Rocky Mountain city landed in the middle for housing affordability and job growth.

Las Vegas suffered the greatest loss in housing values in the crash, about 65 percent, as well as about 13 percent of its jobs. It ranks at the bottom for university graduates and venture capital and ninth for per-capita personal income. Its housing is the second-most affordable.

Phoenix ranks No. 1 in housing affordability and in August had the second-highest job growth behind Seattle, compared with a year earlier. But it ranks at or near the bottom for venture capital, university graduates and per capita income.

Philadelphia, the nation’s fifth-largest metro area, has the third-highest per capita personal income. Otherwise, this 329-year-old city falls in the middle of the pack in all the numbers. Its $311 billion economy is the largest among the metro areas in the group.

Portland, Ore., has the third-highest per capita gross metropolitan product, about $54,500 a person. It ranks in the middle for job growth and per capita personal income but seventh for venture capital and percentage of university graduates.

Salt Lake City ranks ninth for venture capital, eighth for percentage of university graduates and seventh for per capita personal income. But its unemployment rate in August was second-lowest to Austin, and its job growth is faster than seven other cities.

San Diego drew the most venture capital of all the cities, $594 million through the first quarters of 2011. On the flip side, it’s the least-affordable city for housing. It placed fourth for job growth and per capita personal income.

Seattle is gaining jobs faster than any other region, with job growth 0.4 of a percent faster than Phoenix and Austin. It has the highest per capita gross metropolitan product and personal income. It is third-highest for venture capital and second-least affordable for housing.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2011/11/26/20111126arizona-indicators-cities-stories-data-whats-healthy.html#ixzz1eugGc241

By: Taylor Davidson

As many know, effective October 1st AHCCCS (Arizona’s Medicaid program) made dramatic changes to benefits eligibility (we can argue the necessity of these measures but that’s not my purpose with this column).  As a result of these changes a friend and client of mine recently received a notification that her two minor children would be losing their coverage and came to me several weeks ago as her agent to discuss options for replacing this insurance.

As recently as a few months ago I would have been able to help her with a policy for her kids that would have cost no more than tens of dollars every month ($40-$50); very reasonable and within reach of a working student and mother as she is.

But no longer.

As a result of provisions in the recent federal healthcare reform none of the insurance companies will offer those Child-Only policies anymore, you now must pay for family coverage including at least one adult. This dramatically changes the pricing, taking it out of reach of exactly those individuals who would benefit most from these coverage options.

I was discouraged when the healthcare act was passed because I knew it was putting politician’s choices between patients and their doctors as well as the companies that work to finance our healthcare needs.  But that discouragement has now come home for me at my agency.  By the stroke of a pen in Washington DC a client of mine, a hardworking, intelligent, young woman has been denied coverage for her children that she previously could have EASILY obtained and thus has been left on less secure financial footing.

As opposed to what Washington would have you believe, insurance companies are not evil, carriers do not seek out ways to deny claims, agents are not out to steal money from clients.  Mistakes are made and health claims are mishandled.  Yes.  The system is imperfect and needs improvement  Yes.  But fundamentally people making their own choices about the care they need and companies working to meet those needs is the best system ever devised in history for properly providing medical care.

We must begin to recognize the unintended consequences of our politicians’ mandates and we must see them now while they are clear and not hidden by the fog of time that makes us forget how things worked before they were run by government dictate, arbitrary rules and labyrinthine bureaucracies.  If government at all levels had just stayed out of her decisions, not tried to “help”, my friend would have coverage for her two children today.

Federal and state politicians were false with my friend when they imposed AHCCS, a program that they knew was financial unsustainable, and then promised it would be there to care for her kids.  At least though, there could have been something for her to fall back on from any one of Arizona’s private health insurers and their policies for children… except that the Rulemakers in Washington said they knew better and killed that option too.

When will our citizenry finally realize that we must keep the things that are most important to us OUT of the hands of politicians instead of willingly laying at their feet our most vital and fundamental needs?  Laying them down to the whims, fancies and false promises of those who have no further outlook than, “When’s the next election?”

And you wonder where all that money the City of Tucson has to spend goes every year???? In the Oct 24, 2011 issue of the Star you get a small clue.
Businesses to get help on efficiency practices plus garner recognition
City begins green-certification effort
Read more: http://azstarnet.com/business/local/city-begins-green-certification-effort/article_dd6cb98d-3ec7-5b3f-8ca9-34fa2a3617dd.html#ixzz1bkpR8Shf
Going green just got a little bit easier for Tucson businesses.
Tucson’s Office of Conservation and Sustainable Development is encouraging businesses to apply for its Green Business Certification Program.
More than a dozen businesses have applied so far, said director Leslie Ethen.
Among them is BWS Architects, a downtown business that made changes to become more environmentally friendly, said associate Arthur Stables.
BWS Architects, at 261 N. Court Ave., has installed a cistern to capture water, has given up using bottled water, uses low-water-use toilets and recycles paper supplies, plastic and glass.
Prasad Kakarala, owner and founder of Curry Leaf Indian restaurant, 2510 E. Grant Road, has also applied to the program and made some changes to become more sustainable.
He’s had a more efficient A/C unit installed, now recycles paper products and uses energy-saving light bulbs in the restaurant, Kakarala said.
Sustainability is the way of the future, he said. “We all need to protect the environment.”
Businesses must be within Tucson city limits to apply. Then, Office of Conservation and Sustainable Development staff will meet with business representatives, and businesses must complete evaluation forms and an action checklist.
The office can assist with evaluations and provides free audits of water use, energy use and waste. The energy audit, in particular, gives specific actions businesses can take to reduce their energy use, as well as estimated costs of more efficient systems, the anticipated energy savings and how long it will take to pay off the initial costs, Ethen said.
The certification program had pilot projects with Goodmans Interior Structures and United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona in late 2009.
There is a lot of flexibility in what businesses can do to become more environmentally friendly. The program is mainly intended to provide businesses with resources and get them thinking about how to operate in more sustainable ways, Ethen said.
“It’s really up to the businesses to decide what they want to do,” Ethen said. “We’re more about shifting people’s mentality to do anything rather than setting a high bar.”
The effort includes recognition for taking such steps.
As the program evolves, Ethen would like to include a second tier that is more competitive and that evaluates businesses based on the strength of the steps they take to increase their sustainability.
“We would love to see 100-plus businesses in the program in the next couple years,” Ethen said.
TO APPLY
For application materials and additional information: www.tucsonaz.gov/ocsd/GreenBusinessCert_Home.php
DOWNTOWN FOCUS
With construction for the modern streetcar starting up, there will be road closures and disruptions to traffic downtown, said Leslie Ethen, director of Tucson’s Office of Conservation and Sustainable Development.
She wants to use the Green Business Certification Program to provide incentives for Tucsonans to venture downtown despite the construction.
Hope Miller is a University of Arizona student who is an apprentice at the Star. Contact her at starapprentice@azstarnet.com or 573-4663.
Read more: http://azstarnet.com/business/local/city-begins-green-certification-effort/article_dd6cb98d-3ec7-5b3f-8ca9-34fa2a3617dd.html#ixzz1bkpBlE00
Just one simple question. Each time you drive over those potholes, call 911, park downtown, visit those Rio Nuevo attractions and hotels, lose valuable minutes waiting for police/fire are you happy knowing that your city is GREEN???

America’s Emptiest Cities, 2011
By Paul Toscano, CNBC.com
October 12, 2011

HERE

The problem is multi faceted.  Here’s a few culprits:

1. Pima County has been too reliant on growth related industries and hasn’t done a very good job at divesting into different job creating industries.

2.  There seems to be no ryme or reason as to what gets built where in Southern Arizona.  We fight sprawl at the same time block infill projects.

3.  Financing – Here’s a great peice from O’Dell and the AZ Star:

Financing hard to get

Housing prices have crashed to levels not seen in 10 years, and interest rates are at historic lows. But many vacant properties aren’t drawing buyers and aren’t being filled.

Even if they can afford the payments, fewer people can get financing for a home, Strobeck said.

“You need gold-plated financing in order to get yourself a mortgage,” no matter how large, Strobeck said. “There’s so much supply because people can’t qualify.”

Despite a report last week calling Tucson the emptiest city in America because it had the highest home-vacancy rate of large cities for the first two quarters of 2011, Strobeck and University of Arizona economist Marshall Vest said Tucson’s plight isn’t worse than other places.

And some Tucson real estate professionals said vacancies are not a big issue. Greg Hollman, regional vice president of Coldwell Banker, said the market is working through the inventory of vacant homes quickly and some investors are putting multiple cash offers on properties, an idea contradicted by the Star’s analysis.

“It hasn’t been a big problem in my opinion,” Hollman said.

But Elías said the only people benefiting from the current market are cash buyers who can sweep up properties at rock-bottom prices.

He said the only way to clear the number of vacant houses is for financial institutions to loosen up lending standards, which were too loose during the housing boom and became very strict after the bust.

Housing is the key to getting the economy moving, Vest said, and vacant homes need to be filled before the housing market can stop falling.

“We’re going to need to get people in the vacancies to get people building again,” Vest said. “Homebuilding has to come back before we see the kinds of growth rates we’ve grown accustomed to.”

ring of vacant houses

The areas with the most vacant homes run from Sahuarita north and west, skirting the O’odham Reservation and extending to Marana. These boom areas went bust with the housing market.

Star valley

The housing development west of Casino del Sol was an emblem of the housing boom and now is filled with vacant homes after the bust.

Center city rentals

Many of the areas in central Tucson with the most vacant units feature entire apartment complexes that have been boarded up and vacated.

Green Valley

Green Valley had many more vacant houses in 2000 than in 2010, but that’s because of how the census counted vacancies. More seasonal housing was counted as vacant in 2000 than in 2010.

By the numbers

34,387

vacancies in 2000

52,249

vacancies in 2010

52 percent

more vacancies in 2010 versus 2000

Nearly one in eight

units vacant in 2010

How we got the story

The Star analyzed U.S. census tract data from 2000 and 2010.

To determine the increase in vacant rentals, the Star added all census-tract data together for vacant, occupied and total units in Pima County.

To map the data, the Star took the total number of vacant properties for each census tract and stripped out the vacant units that were seasonal rentals, second homes, housing for migrant workers and vacant homes that had just been rented or sold. This left mostly vacant rentals, vacant homes for sale, foreclosures and investor-owned homes.

The Star then projected that data using mapping software and coded the census tracts based on the number of vacant properties.

Report problem vacant properties

If a vacant house is causing problems in your neighborhood, report it. Visit cms3.tucsonaz.gov/hcd/code-enforcement and click on “code enforcement.” Fill out the online form, or print a form to fax, mail or hand-deliver to the city.

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

Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/our-home-vacancy-problem/article_606bfe27-3646-5d4b-a3d6-53f090583625.html#ixzz1cHfQdHOi

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