It’s time to celebrate! We’re living in a new era for Tucson.
After many years of hard work on the part of so many people on so many sides of the issue, our community came together on Tuesday and said YES to a balanced, regional transportation plan that will revolutionize our transit system with dramatic increases [...]

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 [...]

Perhaps you noticed the opinion cover story in today’s Star on “an expert’s close analysis” showing that, contrary to decades of study to the contrary, suburban sprawl is good for us and should be encouraged.
Too bad Jim Kiser, who wrote this column, didn’t check out the background of his source: Robert Bruegmann, a professor [...]

UPDATE: Tucson Water Director Dave Modeer has publicly stated that Tucson Water has abandoned any efforts to directly deliver treated sewage to our taps, which in any case circumvents state law. Our concerns about treated sewage have changed our leaders’ minds. This issue should certainly in no way lead anyone to vote for the misguided [...]

I went to the Urban Heat Island workshop yesterday, which was very well attended (by city staff and members of the public alike) and had quite a few useful suggestions for how we all can do our own part to reduce global warming in our own backyard, and little tidbits like a list of trees [...]

This week, there is a conference going on in Denver hosted by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil, where industry experts are sharing information about how quickly we are all running out of oil, and what happens as this foundation of the world’s economy dramatically declines.
We at the People’s Policy Project have [...]

A lot of folks, particularly in the business community, breathed a major sigh of relief this year when Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was spared by the Defense Department’s latest round of Base Realignment & Closure (BRAC). The base is a huge contributor to our local economy with money and jobs.
But at what cost? The [...]

We all know we have a transportation problem here in the Old Pueblo. Lots of problems; not enough money to fix them.
I support much of the RTA draft plan, which will dramatically expand our transit capacity, frequency, and efficiency. But the half-cent-sales tax that funds it will only go so far. We need to maintain [...]

Yesterday, despite prodigious get-out-the-vote efforts on the part of our cadre of indescribably dedicated volunteers, only 14% of eligible Ward 6 voters cast a ballot. 35% of those who did, voted for me, and I am humbled by their support. Their votes were truly votes coming from a place of hope, and we will build [...]