Politics

Friday, November 6, 2009

Latest Election Results: Uhlich Leads By 195 Votes

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 9:33 PM

The final City of Tucson election results:

Democratic Councilwoman Karin Uhlich now leads Republican challenger Ben Bueher-Garcia by 195 votes.

Republican Steve Kozachik now leads Democrat Nina Trasoff by 1,728 votes.

Prop 400 is now losing by 927 votes.

Uhlich has released a statement:

I want to congratulate my two opponents, Ben Buehler-Garcia and Mary DeCamp, for running strong campaigns. I also congratulate my two new colleagues on the City Council, Steve Kozachik and Richard Fimbres. I am ready to work with them to deliver for the City of Tucson.

Friday Roundtable: Elex Wrap, Special Session and Ann Brown Says Goodbye To All That

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 7:12 PM

We bid goodbye to Star editorial page editor Ann Brown as she departs the morning daily and the Arizona Illustrated Friday Roundtable.

Friday Roundtable: Police Chief Villaseñor and Fire Chief Kelly

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 7:06 PM

Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor and Fire Chief Patrick Kelly stopped by the Friday Roundtable. We got them to confess to their photo-radar speeding violations!

Watch it after the jump.

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Warehouse Auction Update

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 5:17 PM

We mentioned in The Skinny this week that the state-owned warehouse that's home to Solar Culture is set to go to auction on Tuesday:


More than two decades ago, artist Steven Eye first opened the doors to an abandoned downtown produce warehouse on Toole Avenue that he had rented for the princely sum of $300 a month from the Arizona Department of Transportation.

That warehouse, which had been acquired by the state and was slated for destruction to make way for a Barraza-Aviation Parkway extension that was never built, has blossomed into Solar Culture, which is part art gallery, part performance space and part artistic hub of the downtown Warehouse District.

But there are dark clouds gathering over Solar Culture's building, which is set to go up for auction next week as the cash-strapped state seeks to unload surplus properties in an effort to find revenue.

Dave Devine was on the scene as another downtown warehouse—the one right on Toole and Stone avenues that used to be home to Zee's mineral gallery—went up on the auction block today. He reports:


After a spirited bidding process, real estate company Peach Properties bought the vacant warehouse at 1. E. Toole Ave. Appraised at $165,000, the warehouse was sold for $252,000.

Artist David Aguirre, who heads up Dinnerware Gallery, says he's a partner in the project and will manage it. Aguirre says Dinnerware and some other galleries will move into the space.

Walkup Gets Towel-Snapped By GOP

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 9:52 AM

The Weekly's token libertarian, Jonathan Hoffman, delivers this dispatch from the GOP celebration on election night:

Mayor Bob Walkup showed up long enough to give a few interviews and leave. Though a Republican, Mayor Walkup is not very popular with members of the party. He did nothing for the Republican city council candidates, and when asked for an endorsement by Steve Kozachick, he refused saying that if Kozachick lost it wold make it harder for him to work with the Democrats. At one point, while Walkup was speaking with Sate Representative Frank Antenori, a Republican activist shook Walkup's hand and thanked him for all the work he did on behalf of the Republican candidates. When some people began to laugh, Walkup asked Antenori at what were people laughing. Antenori replied, "He was making fun of you, and you deserve it."

Colbert Celebrates AZ Prison-Privatization Plan

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 9:12 AM

I was catching up with Colbert and noticed that he had high praise for the Arizona Legislature's plan to privatize the prison system.

"Let's replace the long arm of the law with the invisible hand of the market!"

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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Election Autopsy With Jim Nintzel and John C. Scott

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 6:47 PM

Arizona Illustrated host Bill Buckmaster invited me and radio ringmaster John C. Scott down to the studio to read the tea leaves from the city election. Watch it after the jump.

Continue reading »

Latest Election Results: Buehler-Garcia Down By 246 Votes

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 6:23 PM

The latest City of Tucson election results:

Democratic Councilwoman Karin Uhlich now leads Republican challenger Ben Bueher-Garcia by 246 votes. That race remains tight, but Uhlich picked up a handful in the latest round.

Republican Steve Kozachik now leads Democrat Nina Trasoff by 1,675 votes.

Prop 400 is now losing by 783 votes.

Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez has delivered 45,067 early ballots and Pima County Elections has counted 44,584 early ballots.

Rodriguez' most recent report shows she sent over 699 provisional ballots. As of yesterday, she had more than 2,000 provisional ballots to process.

ETA to add updated provisional ballots numbers.

Early Ballots: The Numbers

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 2:08 PM

City_Voter_Stats.jpg

Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez has done her usual efficient job of plowing through the piles of early ballots dropped off at the last minute by irresponsible voters who take forever to make up their minds. (We're sympathetic to the perspective that you ought to hang onto the ballots just in case something breaks at the end of the campaign, but it does slow returns.)

To recap: Pima County handled elections for the city of Tucson this year, which meant that about 68,000 city voters on the county's Permanent Early Voting List automatically got ballots as soon as early voting started. In previous city elections. voters had to request an early ballot.

That left us with a big question mark: How many early ballots would be sent back, given that interest in a municipal election tends to run a lot lower than interest in a presidential race?

Based on these numbers, 68,571 early ballots were requested and 45,067 came back in, for a return rate of 66 percent. Both Trent Humphries and I bet that the return rate would be greater than 68 percent, so we both lose on that proposition.

Correction: An earlier version of this post mentioned that the over-under was 66 percent.

MiniDorm Update: Goodman Beats Tucson In Pima County Superior Court

Posted by Jim Nintzel on Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 1:30 PM

UA-area developer Michael Goodman has prevailed in Pima County Superior Court in a legal fight with the city of Tucson over whether he could demolish existing houses and build mini-dorms. Details to follow.

Here's more on Goodman's fight with the city and the neighborhoods.

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