Tucson City Council members won’t have to deal with voters’ wrath at the ballot box for another 13 months.
But rest assured, fare-free transit will still be a big issue for Democratic voters when they cast their ballots in next year’s primary election (broadly speaking, Tucson Republicans already tend to not want the city to keep free fares).
We pulled the best quotes about fare-free transit from Tuesday’s council meeting so when you’re at the ballot box next July, you’ll know where your council member stood at a critical moment.
Plus, we’d just like to give you a taste of how these discussions play out. It really shows the deep political schism among the seven elected Democrats.
To be clear, the council members didn’t vote on Tuesday on whether to keep or discard the city’s fare-free transit policy.
But they did decide how they want to spend $2.15 million in RTA Next money that’s dedicated to transit safety, with a possible strike by bus drivers looming in the background.
And yes, it has everything to do with free fares on buses.
Mayor Regina Romero pushed heavily to redirect funding away from third-party security services and put more money into protecting bus drivers.
“I really don’t see the value or the return on investment in additional dollars for that private security company right now. I would much rather spend those funds for additional operator security investments,” Romero said.
Councilman Paul Cunningham, just a day after publishing an op-ed in the Tucson Sentinel saying he no longer supports fare-free transit, reiterated his push to start charging fares.
“I’m not sure this is the best transit safety plan we can come up with, though. I’ve also made it very clear that I believe that the best avenue to have a transit safety plan is to have some semblance of a pass for you to get onto the bus and use it,” Cunningham said.
Which led to this response from Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz.
“I just want to again share that charging fares does not prevent transit crime. Cities with fare systems like LA, Phoenix Valley Metro, New York, Philly, all charged fares and their systems are still dealing with assaults, drug use, trespassing, disorder,” Santa Cruz said.
Councilwoman Miranda Schubert asked about the cameras on the buses. The city has a contract with Axon, the same company the Tucson Police Department uses for body cameras.
“(I am) asking because Axon does have an ongoing contract with the Department of Homeland Security. So just are you able to talk a little bit more about our closed system and what safeguards that we might have in place?” Schubert asked.
For what it’s worth, the city uses a closed-loop system for the videos recorded with Axon cameras and does not normally share its videos with other law enforcement. But under the Trump administration, you never know.
This is what Axon says its cameras on buses look like.
Councilwoman Selina Barajas said the city needs to act quickly with the new pot of money from the Regional Transportation Authority.
“I would like to see a plan just implemented with urgency. We can keep refining it as we go along, but tension in the community around transit safety is growing,” Barajas said.
In the end, the council members decided to send a recommendation to the RTA to use the $2.15 million on plexiglass protectors for bus drivers, more cops on specific routes, and training for drivers to use the panic buttons.
Voters will decide next year whether those steps are enough. In the meantime, city officials are keeping the fare-free transit policy in place and likely crossing their fingers that these new measures make buses safer.
Came out of nowhere: The new owner of the Spanish Trail Motel was blindsided by the lawsuit from the City of South Tucson this week, Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller writes. The city sent out a press release saying they were suing because the motel was “rubble,” a complaint the city has made numerous times over the years. The thing is, Steller notes, ownership of the motel changed hands in October. Kristian Gose had no idea the city was cooking up a lawsuit and says he’s trying to work with a nonprofit to clean it up, not be the next slumlord.
“It’s just super disappointing,” Gose said of the lawsuit. “I didn’t buy it just to sit on it and say ‘F.U.’ to anybody.”
Let’s make a deal: The GOP leadership at the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs have hammered out a budget deal, our sister newsletter the Arizona Agenda reports. The $18.3 billion spending package, which is right about in the middle of the dueling proposals from GOP lawmakers and Hobbs, includes $1.4 billion in cuts to state taxes over the next four years (to partially conform with the Trump tax cuts), an additional 50 state troopers for immigration enforcement, and a moratorium on tax incentives for data centers, among many, many other provisions. But Hobbs and GOP lawmakers couldn’t strike a deal on Prop 123 (which would bring in $300 million for schools every year) and Hobbs didn’t make any headway on setting limits on school vouchers.
A new neighborhood watch: After residents complained about illegal gunfire and off-road vehicles near a westside Tucson neighborhood, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department increased its presence in the nearby desert, Vanessa Gongora reports for KGUN. So far, sheriff’s deputies made 177 contacts and six arrests, mainly for unlawful flight and trespassing. The department also noted that 47 of these interactions happened on Memorial Day. Residents praised police for the now-quiet backdrop to their daily lives, and PCSD is looking to sustain its presence through further cooperation with the Arizona State Land Trust, which was a sticking point last month.
Gotta maximize that backflow synergy: The University of Arizona is “integrating” its Health Sciences program in the final phase of a “realignment” that will redistribute operations to other divisions, Mia Kortright reports for the Tucson Sentinel. The list of buzzwords UA officials threw out also includes: “reduce administrative redundancy,” “build a leaner structure,” and “commitment to fiscal responsibility.” It all boils down to at least 28 people being laid off, sources tell the Sentinel.
Click this button if you’re glad we don’t talk to you like Jack Donaghy from “30 Rock.”
Not just any bar: Zerai’s International Bar, a soccer-focused sports bar, is stepping out onto the pitch, so to speak, right now to prepare for the World Cup’s U.S. tour, Eddie Celaya reports for KGUN. The founder, Lucas Gebremariam, is the son of Ethiopian immigrant Amanuel Gebremariam, who owns the adjacent Zemam’s Ethiopian Restaurant. Both spots are preparing for a busy two months as Zerai’s expects to open for every match planned in the lineup.
“The World Cup we’ve always known has been something in the distance,” said Noah Gebremariam, manager of Zemam’s. “And now that it’s coming up — and we can see it about to happen — we’re excited, quite frankly. It gives us a chance to show people that this isn’t just a place to watch soccer, it’s a place to hang out and meet people.”
Pima County Supervisor Jennifer Allen joined reproductive rights advocates on Wednesday to urge Arizonans to pay close attention to politics this year.
She delivered that message while standing in front of a 20-foot inflatable IUD named Freeda Womb.
That is not a sentence we expected to write this week.
For many women, the concern about reproductive rights doesn’t stop with abortion.
There is a very real fear that access to contraception could be next after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas signaled interest in revisiting the Griswold v. Connecticut decision that paved the way for legal birth control more than six decades ago.
“Let me be clear: Arizona voters have already spoken. With the passage of Proposition 139, nearly 70% of voters here in Pima County — and 62% statewide — stood up and said: ‘We believe in privacy. We believe in self-determination. We believe that decisions about our bodies belong to individuals—not politicians,’” Allen said.