The Metropolitan Pima Alliance, a group of commercial real-estate developers, engineers and architects, has voted to oppose Prop 200, the Public Safety First initiative that city voters will decide on Nov. 3.

Michael Guymon, executive director of MPA, says the initiative strips the Tucson City Council of too much authority to make decisions for the city.

"We think that the tenets of the proposition are commendable, but we cannot support tying the hands of our elected officials, who we elect to make budgetary decisions on our behalf," Guymon says. "With a charter change, if anything were to change in the future—if standards change or what have you—it would have to go back to the voters. To us, that's not responsible public policy."

The Metropolitan Pima Alliance joins several other business organizations, including the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the Arizona Multihousing Association and Cox Cable, in opposing the initiative, which has been largely funded by the Tucson Association of Realtors.

Reasons to think twice about supporting the initiative can be found here.

Despite the opposition from the business community, the Republican candidates for City Council are supporting the initiative.

Opponents of Prop 200 have scheduled a press conference to announce additional groups opposing the initiative Thursday afternoon.