Most of you know that the RTA regional transportation plan election is coming up on May 16. I and many other citizens from all different parts of the political spectrum have been working for the last three years to develop regional consensus. We finally have a plan that we can all support, and the endorsements rolling in for Questions 1 and 2 are revealing the astonishing alliances this plan has created.

When was the last time you saw the Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC) and the Southern Arizona Leadership Council (SALC) on the same side of anything? How about environmentalist extraordinaire Carolyn Campbell on the same side as SAHBA director Ed Tacznowsky? Or Katie Dusenberry and Steve Farley for that matter?

The Democratic Party of Pima County and the Arizona Builders Alliance; LULAC and the Chamber of Commerce; Blenman Elm Neighborhood Association Board and the Alliance of Construction Trades; Perimeter Bicycling Association of America and Tucson Association of Realtors; Sky Island Alliance and Tucson Downtown Alliance; UA President Peter Likins and the Pima Council on Aging–the list of RTA plan endorsements goes on and on.

The plan is a very good plan balanced by mode, balanced regionally, balanced in every way. But even more importantly for our future, the open public process can serve as a template for how we can solve many different problems as a community.

Too often Tucson’s political process has devolved into armed camps where people shout at their own image of what they think the other side represents. Dialogue does not happen, and we shoot down each other and our future in the process. The RTA plan has had a dramatically different result–and that’s why it must and will win.

We’ve got issues with water. We’ve got issues with sprawl. We’ve got issues with poverty. We’ve got issues with healthcare. We’ve got issues with the border. We won’t solve any of these issues until we start working together, not against each other.

So we need to work hard to pass this RTA plan, and tell our friends that just because SAHBA is in favor doesn’t mean it’s bad. Find out more at www.Yes1and2.org. Tell your friends and neighbors to vote YES on May 16.

Then go out and start talking with someone you disagree with about any of our regional problems. You will be starting the dialogue that can assure a secure and hopeful future for all of us in the Sonoran Desert.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 17th, 2006 at 8:25 am and is filed under Downtown, Economic Development, Neighborhoods, Protecting the Environment, Public Health, Respecting Citizens, Sensible Development, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.