TUCSON RISES AGAIN

Ideas for Tucson

The recent international baseball event at Kino stadium where about 12,000 people attended over three days was such a success to be repeated.

How about hosting international baseball here? League games could be played here while weather in the Southern Hemisphere is cold.

Why not build a soccer field out there on some of that land downtown? Let go of grandiose plans and go for bleachers and field and associated health needs and forget the 10 storey stadium idea. Bring in soccer teams from across the states in the winter for practice and games. Lure international soccer in and get things going again. Build fancier facilities incrementally and avoid debt. Get rid of the moneylenders and go for what we can do here and now. Partner with Rio Nuevo and get soccer facilities over there.

THE BIG PROBLEM

Everybody in this town is charging too much rent, probably because of the debt load. The reasoning goes like this: if we owe a payment of X then we have to charge X+1. So nobody rents it because nobody has enough money and it stands empty. Teams can't afford X+1 so they don't have anywhere to go. If the rent is lowered then the teams would rent the facility and something would be gained. It appears that these facilities are owned by the people but the controllers are charging so much to use it, the people's teams can't use it. Lower the rents for Kino and Corbett and see them fill up.

How about free admission for little league kids plus an exhibition game for them the next time the Mexican league is here? This would boost attendance and stir up interest. Lower the bleachers seats to $1 per person! Kids free! Give families a place to go!

THE VENDORS

Another problem are the prices the vendors charge for food and drink. Monopolies do not lower the prices and result in price gouging. It's like the TCC that charges exorbitant rates for vendors to set up during events, which in turn raises the prices for the average guy who stumbles in there and the four kids scream for a $5 hotdog after he already paid $8 to park and more money to get in. And they wonder why their events are not so successful or the TCC stands empty.

Get rid of the vendor monopolies and charge a minimal fee to set up. Provide jobs and opportunity for vendors, which is jobs for the community. Let them set up and compete and they make a living, and the people have more food choices and lower food prices. Everyone benefits.

PARKING

Free parking or $1 for all events. Parkwise reports dollar in dollar out in the revenue/expenditure line, so maybe they are padding their bank accounts at the expense of everyone else.

MANAGEMENT

Get rid of confrontational management. If the facility they are managing is not profitable, fire them. Get rid of management that does not want to work internationally to attract teams and conventions.

PRICE STRUCTURES

In summary:

• Lower rents for Corbett, Kino and TCC

• Lower admission charges

• Free parking

• lower vendor charges

• cancel vendor monopolies

• scale back Parkwise

COMMUNITY ADVANTAGES

The winter weather in Tucson is a huge advantage in attracting teams. There are many open rental units in town, which is an advantage unless the landlords demand exorbitant rent. Perhaps reduced rates for visiting teams in apartments, motels and condos could be arranged.



These are just a few ideas for improving the use of our public facilities that will increase revenue and give our families wholesome games and events to attend at a cost that all can afford.

Dorothy Prater Niemi October 2011

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Hate Speech and Death Threats in Tucson

Hate Speech or Freedom of Speech?


I am writing this to protest an editorial in the Arizona Daily Star that incites violence by name calling and making insinuations against a specific group. I think this comes under hate speech.

An inflammatory unsigned editorial veted by the Arizona Daily Star viciously connects two unrelated circumstances and then proceeds to flay the Pima County Republican Party for it. Such specious logic would be laughable if such journalistic bias had not resulted in a death threat against Republican candidates and members.

The Star used the following descriptors against the entire Republican Party of Pima County:

"Crass, insensitive, vulgar, displaying a lack of empathy or compassion, dumb-founding, offensive, callous, boorish, thoughtless-all words that would fit." or how about "But Shaw proves again that the county party isn't concerned with the people who lived through the Jan. 8 rampage, the families and friends of those who were killed or the community that has been dealing with the loss and grief."

I think that is an unfounded attack on all Republicans in Pima County and I think this fallacious connecting of our local Republican Party to the Loughner shootings is inciting violence, as evidenced by the recent death threat generated by all the publicity around this vicious linking to the Republican Party. The first paragraph of the editorial mentioned the GOP raffle and the next brought up the Loughner shootings, as if the two were related.

Civility? These individuals are using a tragedy perpetuated by a madman for their own political ends as a smokescreen to cover up all the criminal investigations concerning Rio Nuevo and the city. Whipping up raw emotion and using it to strip the skin from somebody who had nothing to do with it is contemptible. And, according to the Arizona Daily Star, we must have 'done' all this before because 'again' indicates a prior occurrence. I feel they are inciting violence against a particular group.

Such outrage over Glocks: The NRA raffled off Glocks right here in Tucson just last month, Police carry Glocks, Glocks are used in shooting competitions and Gabrielle Giffords owned a Glock. I wonder why the Democrats and the Star didn't take on the NRA about the Glock raffles right here in Tucson a few weeks ago? Was the Pima GOP a better target?

Jeff Rogers, head of Pima Democrats, has been hate mongering and he must think this latest emotional blast over the shootings during elections will get more votes for Democrats. At what cost? Will someone else be shot due to all this hate mongering and insinuations and death threats against Republican members and candidates? I think that Jeff Rogers and the Arizona Daily Star are indulging in hate politics and that the community is being hurt as a result.

It is probably too much to expect an apology or even a cease and desist order, so I find it necessary to call this situation to the attention of law enforcement, due to the death threats against Republicans and their candidates. 

Tucson AZ September 6, 2011

USA DOWNGRADED

Solving problems through use of modern technology




The people need more input into the government, which would be available through the internet on a timely basis. The people could ask questions and vote on proposals via the internet, while their chosen representatives implement policy. This idea would take power from the representatives and senators and give it back to the people.

The current indebtedness is the result of short term thinking, rather than attention to long term planning. The eagerness of the moneylenders to finance our wars and bailouts makes me wonder about what is actually going on. I would not want our military to become mercenary under such conditions. They will not be used to protect foreign mining and commercial interests at taxpayer expense on borrowed money from the one being protected. If such be needed, then they provide it for themselves at their own expense. Long term planning indicates the need for a strong military, perhaps with the prospects of peaceful commerce established rather than active hostilities. The people need to vote on the possibilities for peace.

The idea of voting via the internet on important issues like the debt ceiling hike would allow the people to participate actively. Our elected representatives possibly are thinking of campaign donations rather than what is good for the majority of their constituents. Perhaps if their constituents participated in internet voting on specific issues, the politicians might pay attention to the details.

I wonder if they thought about the COLA on Social Security as a curb on excessive inflation as a tool to reduce debt while printing more money. If they remove that curb, the power of the Federal Reserve will be used to increase inflation. You still get the dime, but its only worth a nickel.

New news today states that Standard and Poore's downgraded the USA to AA+, a result of the continuing spiral into debt. Are these the same people who rated the subprime derivatives as excellent investments worthy of pension funds? Yet I assume that certain standards are to be met concerning these ratings, and assuming they are now actually checking for these standards, then the USA can be rated 'dispassionately'. This hassle occurred on Treasury Secretary Geithner's watch and calls for his resignation are surfacing like sharks.

The Tea Party is right about debt and I applaud those leaders who helped bring this problem to national attention. Maybe the downgrade would have alerted the common person but now continued downgrades in the headwind of slowing economic activity could occur. It is obvious that the continued low interest rate touted by the Federal Reserve is having a negative effect on the economy.

This trend of more and more debt will continue until national bankruptcy unless action is taken to prevent further debt. Term limits in the House and Senate are needed, so those elected will be home to face their neighbors instead of appearing as an icon in Washington for us to admire from afar. Elected members should not have the power to borrow without curbs or without a popular vote. They cannot handle the responsibility. We need to change the law in order to save the government.

Perhaps the 1878 mining law needs revision so that some control over our metals assets is retained for the good of the local economies, putting our metals resources out of reach of foreign interests. Metals are the new currency and the USA needs to conserve and control these resources. It is a matter of national security that we preserve our metals supply, because our civilization depends upon them.

My parting cannon shot is over the bow of the warship Derivatives. Tax reform is coming and these 'investments' that do not create jobs but yet reap huge rewards for the lucky gambler should be taxed at a higher rate like 'unearned income' taxed interest payments. Establish lower taxes for interest payments that come from job creating business paybacks. Higher taxes for the parasites gambling among themselves with the money they absorbed during those heady subprime days. Let's get rid of this corruption by voting those responsible for enabling these schemes out of office.

We need a balanced budget amendment that does not allow borrowed money to be counted as income to use to balance the budget. No accounting tricks, just true income and outgo, no more no less. No more Certificates of Participation to avoid bond elections and no more of selling public buildings for ready cash. The public needs to put some controls on these people. They are squandering our future for ephemeral goals.

If the size of government spending has doubled in the last decade, then it is obvious that this increase is not sustainable at this level. Call it the 'Government Bubble'. The last bubble was the 'Housing Bubble' and now government workers are going to be laid off because there isn't enough tax money to keep them all on the payroll. Adding workers and paying them with borrowed money is a bit risky in the real world.

Now is the time to open up private property for small business use. If government has less money to pay inspectors, perhaps restrictions on the use of private property should be lifted in order to assist people in the need to make a living using the property where they live. Current policy requires people to rent storefronts, provide parking and travel distances to work, so encouraging home based businesses and neighborhood walking paths would benefit the development of small business. If your house is along a walking and bicycle path, then you could sell cold drinks and snacks or you could have a snow cone sale or t shirts and hats or carnitas. I think that a license to have a business catering to foot traffic should be nominal. How about a tiny panaderia just down the street? How convenient is that?

Our society is changing and we need to cease the non adaptive behavior of forcing Tucson residents to drive to get food. Locating food sources near the people would cut down on fuel use and would also create a sense of neighborhood and employ people without having to move them across town. Maybe people would walk more.

Our society can change for the better and there is now an opportunity to make some changes using this debt reduction commission to be quickly formed even though they left town. I want to know who is on the commission and I want to know a date for the first meeting. Deadlines need to be met, the USA is now 'downgraded' and the debt continues to rule.

They need to get back to Washington and get back to work.

RIDING

RIO NUEVO RIPOFFS INVESTIGATED

TUCSON CITY NEWS: Rio Nuevo Rundown

The Rio Nuevo Board takes action to uncover the daisy chain of events leading up to the evaporation of the Rio Nuevo dream. It appears that high rollers took most of the money and very little hit the ground for the little guy. Rio Nuevo is a tax rebate program created by the state aimed at encouraging development that would result in increased tax revenue. The construction was to create jobs and the result was to attract consumers.
Since a few well connected individuals made off with most of the money, there were very few jobs and now there are no consumers because the money was blown on multiple designs, trips to Italy for U of A faculty, a useless $700,000 video, and endless cost overruns that were always granted. The rich became richer and the poor had no jobs, yet our tax money paid for all of it.

The problem with Rio Nuevo is that the projections lacked practical vision, leaving the field wide open for charlatans, which I will label any designer who designs something that is so expensive, it can never be built by the employer. Yes, employer. Rio Nuevo hired these people to produce a workable design and they did not do that. Clawback time for sure. Oh, but somebody's feelings might be hurt if they had to refund money for a job not done well. How about limiting design costs for that actually constructed?

This Garfield Traub mess was to be predicted, since they have serial lawsuits recorded all over the country where they sued other cities. I don't know who brought these people in, but they should be thrown out. And as for Sundt not paying his contractors, I say that they be excluded from bidding on government work until they pay up.

So I heard on the John Justice program that this new forensic audit will not only look at the existing paper trail of who was paid what, it will also examine bank records and possible conspiracies centered around the disbursements. Let's remember that all of this took place with the Democrats firmly in control, their lawyer issuing opinions that allowed for payments over the amount of contract to flow unimpeded into the hands of the unscrupulous. The Democrats and their buddies milked Rio Nuevo dry. Just hours from the institution of a new Rio Nuevo Board, the old board borrowed $80,000,000 and disbursed most of it. This money trail has to be followed.

The upcoming city council elections are extremely important. We have a little Napoleon around here by the name of Jeff Rogers, head of the Pima County Democrats. Rogers runs the town and the politicians like a fiefdom, dictating positions and lack of compromise and apparently he supported the Rio Nuevo Ripoff. His people are still in office, still burdening the city with debt and still allowing rampant cost overruns on the streetcar and the bridge. The Democrats are running a lawyer for Mayor, who has deep financial ties to the current city council, which means more of the same for the taxpayers. The Democrats are supporting the unions yet allowing workers to be furloughed in order for workers on overtime to have the empty slots. Are the union honchos grabbing that work for themselves, while the rank and file take furloughs? The Democrats deserve to be voted out of office for corruption and waste.

The primary election for the Mayor and city council is coming up in August. Republicans have two candidates for city council, Jennifer Rawson in Ward 2 and Tyler Vogt in Ward 4. The Republican write in candidate for Mayor is Rick Grinnell. I hope you all write in Rick Grinnell on your mail in ballots for the primary. If enough people write him in, then Republicans will have a candidate on the ballot.

If you are wondering why we don't have a Republican on the ballot when you signed a petition for Shaun McClusky, I'll tell you now. Enough petitions were turned in, but some petitions were signed by two people, which is taboo, according to the elections people. The Democrats challenged Shaun's petitions and they were thrown out because two people signed a few of them. The signatures were valid, but the glitch allowed the Democrats to challenge successfully. It seems to me that the intent of the people who signed the petitions was to have Shaun on the ballot and that the government thwarted the will of the people. The people signed the petitions! I think that a huge write in campaign for Rick Grinnell would reward the Democrats for ignoring the will of the people.