Trouble is brewing for City Manager Mike Letcher's proposed tax on residential rent payments.

The Arizona Multihousing Association is promising to bring a crowd to the City Council meeting next Tuesday, Jan. 5. The meeting, BTW, has been moved from the council chambers at City Hall to the Tucson Convention Center to accommodate the hundreds of people who are expected to turn out. The study session begins at 2:30 p.m. and the evening meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Here's the AMA press release:

Renters in the City of Tucson are outraged over a new tax being proposed by City staff as part of a mid-year budget fix. Tucson City Manager Mike Letcher is pushing for the tax and yesterday held a press conference to force the City Council to choose between a tax on renters and police & fire layoffs—a move that Tucson’s renters are calling a “false choice.”

“This is an example of political posturing to force the City Council into adopting new taxes on Tucson’s renters—people who can least afford it right now,” said Barb Dolan, Government Affairs Liaison for the Arizona Multihousing Association. “It does not need to be pitted as public safety vs. renters.”

“I support our police officers and firefighters,” said Isabel Pena, a Tucson renter. “I am mad that the City manager would make the Council choose between a new tax on me and other renters and police & fire layoffs. Why are Tucson’s renters being singled out to fix the entire budget problem?”

Renters are also criticizing City staff for lack of transparency in the budget process, as the rental tax proposal was unveiled on December 15 and scheduled for a vote on January 5, which is the same day as the public hearing on the subject. Details about the hearing’s location and time, as well as the renter’s tax, were not available until Monday, December 28. Despite the lack of public notice, renters are vowing to show up at the hearing, scheduled for January 5, 2010.

Earlier this year, the City turned down a proposed 2 percent rental tax after more than 700 residents rallied against it. Among the reasons given by the Council for rejecting the tax were the regressive nature of the tax and the impact it would have on those with lower income levels and on housing affordability in Tucson. Additionally, opponents argue that the tax is double taxation, as property taxes are charged to all rental property, which is then passed on to renters.

The new Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain (15000 N. Secret Springs Drive, Marana)—which opened Friday, Dec. 18, with a ceremony that included an address by Gov. Jan Brewer and the release of 72 white doves—has three new restaurants that are open to the public.

Check out CORE Kitchen and Wine Bar here.

Information about Ignite, a fire-themed lounge that serves a flaming ginger margarita and a Cholula martini, can be found here.

Or you can cool off at the poolside Turquesa Latin Grill. Think quesadillas, seafood salads, sonoran hot dogs and other casual, Latin-themed fare. They serve margaritas and other signature cocktails, too. All the details are here.

Cayton's is also located there, but they've been open for a while. Check out the Weekly's review here.

Technically, there's another little restaurant there too, but it sounds like it's mainly geared toward resort guests. It's called TO/GO, and all the info about it is here.

Let's celebrate 2010 with a new series about planet Earth—without all those pesky people.

Life After People starts on the History Channel on January 5. I'm hoping for an extended version of The Road, without cannibals (and, unfortunately sans Viggo Mortensen.)

Check out the series Web site here for more end-time inspiration. Interesting that on the Web site there's no reference to Alan Weisman's The World Without Us, although it seems like that's where the series got its inspiration.

In every episode, viewers will witness the epic destruction of iconic structures and buildings, from the Sears Tower, Astrodome, and Chrysler Building to the Sistine Chapel - - allowing viewers to learn how they were built and why they were so significant. Big Ben will stop ticking within days; the International Space Station will plummet to earth within a few short years, while historic objects, like the Declaration of Independence and the mummified remains of King Tutankhamen will remain for decades.

The series will also explore the creatures that might take our place. With humans gone, animals will inherit the places where we once lived. Elephants that escape from the LA zoo will thrive in a region once dominated by their ancestors, the wooly mammoth. Alligators will move into sub-tropical cities like Houston - feeding off household pets. Tens of thousands of hogs, domesticated for food, will flourish. In a world without people, new stories of predators, survival and evolution will emerge.

Over the years, membership in the SNI has become an important distinction for researchers, since this selective recognition is given based on an independent peer evaluation, and symbolizes the quality and prestige of the scientific contributions of the researcher. However, this distinction had only been awarded only to researchers residing in Mexico.

This year, for the first time in SNI history, the organization has opened its membership to outstanding Mexican scholars living abroad.

Ruiz was accepted as a "National Researcher" under the organization's highest-ranking category for contributing researchers. He was recognized for his outstanding scientific contributions and efforts to enhance Mexico's scientific and technological capacity through collaborations with the UA and research institutions in Mexico.

"There are many important scientific questions that can be addressed in Mexico and that are pertinent to my field of study. These questions include environmental problems and fundamental issues about the tectonic evolution of Mexico," Ruiz said.

Ruiz is well known for his research involving the formation of metallic ore deposits. In particular, he studies the factors responsible for the origin of ore-forming elements in copper and gold ore deposits at or near the earth's surface.
His work has revealed that gold deposits also offer a method for studying the evolution of the atmosphere, specifically how the oxygen concentration has changed through time. He also is an expert in the tectonic evolution of southern Mexico. His research team addresses problems ranging from the origin of life to present-day climate change.

• A Steak in the Neighborhood at 135 E. Congress St.

Cusack is also opening a place called Sapphire Lounge in the former Heart Five location at 61 E. Congress St. It is set to open New Year's Eve.

Cusack says A Steak in the Neighborhood works like this: The place uses nothing but prime and choice cuts for its beef dishes, and those cuts are prepared in a number of ways. You can have it as a straight-up steak, as beef stroganoff or as oriental beef and broccoli.

For those who like their beef between buns, they serve cheesesteaks and burgers, too. Also on the menu: A popular chicken marsala dish, salads, appetizers, breakfast burritos and other items. Hours: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday; and 5 p.m. to 3 a.m., Saturday.

Just down the block at Sapphire Lounge, Cusack is up to something completely different. He says dueling pianos will be featured downstairs while Las Vegas-style music and dancing go down upstairs. A “skydeck” area overlooking Congress Street offers outdoor seating on the top floor.

Cusack—who opened Zen Rock in the old Asylum location at 121 E. Congress St. earlier this year—was busy putting the finishing touches on Sapphire earlier this week.

Tucson City Manager Mike Letcher revealed his strategy handling the city’s $32 million shortfall this week—and the options are grim.

Letcher, who wants the City Council to vote on a plan next Tuesday, Jan. 5, laid out a framework most council members will not be eager to support.

For starters, he wants the city to institute a landlord tax of 2 percent on residential rental payments, which will raise an estimated $10 million annually.

Even if he gets the rental tax, Letcher has more nasty medicine for the council to swallow, including:

• Laying off 89 employees as part of the elimination of a total of 377 positions, some of which are now vacant;

• Cutting city employee pay by 3 percent;

• Closing 17 city pools this summer;

• Reducing city assistance for neighborhood associations;

• Suspending the graffiti abatement program;

• Closing the Ormsby Recreation Center on the south side of town; and

• Cutting outside agency funding by 20 percent.

Without the rental tax, Letcher warns, the city would need to reduce outside agency funding by 60 percent and lay off more employees, including cops and firefighters.

Trying to balance the budget by cutting employee pay across the board instead of laying off employees would lead to pay cuts that were substantially more than the proposed 3 percent, Letcher said earlier this week.

Letcher wants the landlord/rental tax to be a temporary measure that would go away once city voters agree to

• Austin's storefront at 6129 E. Broadway Blvd.

Calls to Austin's during the past week went unanswered, and a weekend visit to the eatery at 6129 E. Broadway Blvd. showed a sign taped to the window by the landlord saying that the locks had been changed because the rent had not been paid.

The eatery was originally located at 2920 E. Broadway Blvd., but moved several years back to its new location.

Attempts to reach the owners to see what led to the closing were unsuccessful.

James Cameron, a director who previously could do no wrong in my book, takes a giant step into a big blue turd with Avatar, a movie packed with super visuals but sorely lacking in good writing.

Look, I have no problem with big, vacuous entertainment. If it looks good, and the principals make it fun, then I don’t really care how stupid it is. The worst thing about Cameron’s latest epic is that he wants—practically demands—for you to take it seriously, with its environmental message and “war on terror” parallels. It’s a nearly three-hour message movie that could’ve been written by an eighth grader. No, make that a fifth grader.

Set somewhere in the future, evil earthlings have set their eyes on Pandora, a big jungle planet rich with expensive minerals. Scientists have conjured a way to supposedly make nice with the planet’s inhabitants, the Na’vi.

The Na’vi are sort of crosses between Rastafarians and Wes Studi’s character from The Last of the Mohicans. They are a shiny blue color, and their fashion consists of thongs and big ear piercings. They are a quiet, kind species, although they will hiss at you like a cat if you piss them off, and will shoot you with toxic darts if you go near them without an invite. OK, maybe they’re not that nice.

Here’s the scientists’ idea: combine human DNA with alien DNA to create Human/Na’vi hybrid bodies that can be controlled by humans from sleep chambers fashioned with neural net devices. This essentially makes the sleeper a real life participant on Pandora. Oh yeah, that’s just the sort of thing to make an indigenous species feel comfortable. Make freaky, half human clones that can mix right in with you and your neighbors.

When one of the hybrid drivers, a paraplegic Marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), crosses paths with warrior princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana, Star Trek’s new Uhura), she takes him under her wing and shows him the ways of Pandora.

Meanwhile, Jake has a behind-the-scenes shady deal with a nasty Marine commander (Stephen Lang) to get his legs back on Earth. Will Jake help to remove the Na’vi from their land and get evil Earth its precious mineral? Or will Jake turn against evil Earth because he prefers being blue and wearing a thong? Gee … I wonder which way this thing is going to go?

Cameron infuses the film with lame dialogue like “terror on terror” and bulldozers knocking down “spirit trees” to conjure up parallels to current real-life troubles with war and rainforests. He does it in a way that is so insultingly obvious, it kills any chance to be emotionally invested in the film.

I was impressed by fleeting moments in the movie, such as winged beasts flying into canyons strewn with waterfalls, and the wonders of Neytiri’s 3-D blue ass. Actually, do not go to anything but a 3-D screening if you decide to take this one in. God help those who opt for the 2-D version. That must be a slog through hell!

Earlier this year, Bruce Willis starred in a clunker called Surrogates, in which he played a detective in a world where people stayed in their apartments while robot versions of themselves ran around living their lives. It’s essentially the same gimmick as Avatar, although the robots aren’t light blue and they wear pants. Avatar is, essentially, a very rich man’s Surrogates.

Sigourney Weaver plays a head scientist occupying one of the hybrids, and it looks enough like her to give you the creeps. Her avatar is dressed as if it’s in the Peace Corps, wearing cargo pants instead of a thong. And boo to James Horner, whose score for the film often rips off the one he did for Cameron’s Titanic.

Without a doubt, this is Cameron’s worst film since Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, and that film may’ve actually had better character development than can be found in the bloated Avatar. Not a nice way to cap the decade in film.