Well, a couple weeks have passed now, so it’s probably safe to assume that the few thousand votes that were cast in this year’s city and county elections have finally been counted. The humbugs out there love to hate all over the fact that the vote-counting process in these regions is almost criminally slow, but I just look at it as part of Southern Arizona’s glorious embrace of the past. People wearing long black coats are still getting shot (for reals) on the streets of Tombstone and, apparently, votes are still being counted the same way they were back in 1881.
There was a brief burst of post-election analysis in the daily paper and on local talk radio, but it quickly faded. That was probably because the results were predictable or, in the case of the radio talkers, because there was no way to tie the results to Barack Obama in a negative manner.
Here’s what I learned:
•Y’all are some seriously cheap suckers. Really, who votes against flood control?
I realize that there are people out there for whom the word “tax” is an abomination, like “gun control” or “Negro.” That guy wants to live up on the ridge with his cousin/wife with enough ammo to fight off the revenoo’ers if they come sniffin’ around. The black helicopters will get him sooner or later.
The rest of us—the vast majority of us—adhere, to one degree or another, to the Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. quote that I offered a few weeks ago: Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. They really are. How else are we going to build roads and schools and provide for our defense?
Even a lifelong liberal Democrat such as I will understand that there are those in positions of authority who abuse the power to tax. They view our money as this bottomless pool into which they can dip a bucket at any time to pay for their pet projects. But those people are the exception, not the rule, and they tend to get outed pretty early on.
Not one of us can say that we enjoy paying taxes—not me, not you, not Wesley Snipes. But I don’t hate taxes, I don’t fear taxes, and I don’t want to do away with taxes. I kinda like America.
Looking at the results, you can tell that a whole lot of people voted no on all of the bond issues (as I am sure that a much smaller number voted yes on all of them). Perhaps the county did overreach by putting too many bond proposals on the ballot at one time. But I get the feeling that even if they had just put the roads and flood control on the ballot, the results would have been the same.
There is this pervasive (and incredibly wrong) sentiment that we (as Americans, as Arizonans, as residents of Pima County, as Tucsonans) are wildly overtaxed. There’s this guy who lives down the street from me who had a No on the Bonds sign in his yard. I ran into him at the mailbox and we chatted. He said, “Maybe now they’ll realize that we’re tired of being taxed to death.”
I said, “Dude, we’re not even taxed to a mild case of the flu.”
Voters in the city have no imagination. The vote totals in the City Council races are so similar, it’s no surprise that a three-judge panel says that Tucson’s screwy election system is unfair. The headline says that it’s unfair to Republicans (which is true at the moment), but there have been all-Republican City Councils in the past, as well. The nominate-by-ward/elect-citywide system is just plain dumb.
In a vibrant American community (which I have always hoped Tucson would become), a 4-2 Democratic majority on the City Council is superior to a 6-0 Democratic monopoly. It would make people think better and work harder. It would make Tucson a better (and fairer) place.
•City driver/voters value personal recklessness over the safety of others. If any of you who voted to get rid of the traffic cameras tries to claim that you did so on constitutional grounds, I simply don’t believe you. That claim is self-serving and weak. You just want to bust through intersections without getting caught. If one of you told me that my eyes are green, I’d have to go to the mirror to check.
As for John Kromko, he can wait outside the gym where I work out and lick my sweaty underwear when I’m done. I understand that anybody can get a ticket or two. But when you start getting up in the double digits, that’s not a technology problem. That’s a YOU problem.
I used to think that Kromko was a quirky gadfly who railed against power and injustice. Now, he has revealed himself as just another scofflaw who puts his own pettiness ahead of the greater good and public safety. Shame.
I’ll bet anybody any amount of money that the number of crashes at Oracle and River goes up now that the cameras are down. Any takers?
I didn’t think so.
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2015.
I used to support the red light cameras until I had an epiphany. The people who cause accidents aren’t the ones sitting there thinking “hey, I could run that red light. But, wait there’s a camera I’ll have to stop”
No, the ones causing accidents are texting or just had a fight with their wife and not paying attention and don’t even realize the light is there. The cameras only affect those of us who can’t figure out exactly where the damn intersection starts and forget and go when the left-turn light turns yellow.
Now the road bonds getting voted down – that was just plain stupid. Look at our roads – we have to fix them and the Feds and the State won’t come to our rescue.
Tom, you still do not understand. The bond failures were not about the taxes. I am a homeowner, and the additional tax burden was actually negligible.
The issue was and is, a profound distrust of our elected officials. What really frosted me was the open checkbook portion of each and every one of the issues, that said, “and whatever else we want to spend it on.”.
I would love to see the Fairgrounds upgraded. I would love to see the TCC Music Hall upgraded. I would love to see a robust job training program for those students not on a college track. But NOT the way these bond issues were written.
Tom, you make a good point about 5 things being too much for the average Arizonan to handle. A lot of them have trouble being able to drive a car and to understand that a red light means STOP. To read five bond proposals and make a decision on how to vote on each is too taxing for the average rube to handle. It is so much simpler to vote no across the board and then complain next month about the pot holes that are knocking the Hell out of his car.
Where does the intersection start, how wide is it, what’s the speed limit, how long is the yellow, do I have to slam on the brakes and stop in the cross walk? There is a way to take days to figure this out, measure the variables figure out the point at which a yellow is too close to stop for, then paint a three foot wide yellow line across the street. No variables just a simple way of knowing where to stop. Some won’t pay any attention, but it fixes some of the constitutional problems with the previous red light cameras. For those that are a danger to everyone else a reckless driving citation carries enough points to suspend a driving license.
It’s not the money. That’s peanuts. It’s what they will end up doing with it that counts. Between my wife and I we’ve spent 29 years working for the County. We’ve both seen up front and personal how they piss away money. If some of you could see the way they spend your tax dollars, you’d go downtown with pitch forks and torches. I was going to say that once again No Testicles Tommy talks out his ass. However, that would be rude. Let’s just say that as usual he know not what he say.
Thank you bslap that is exactly what I have been saying. And it goes to the bigger problem of accountability. Residents are sick and tired of funding fraud, theft and malfeasance. We have already paid to maintain our roads. We always di and we always will. But where did the money go that used to pay for it? With the economy as poor as it still is, unemployment where it is, and a failed city and county government….they come up with a laundry list of bonds that say, “give us more money and trust us this time.”
Never again. We will need a change of leadership before that happens.
And Tommy. Why don’t you do an expose on the old TREO and their funding as opposed to the new Sun Corridor and their expansion into Mexico? Why are the profits from our local governments, banks, hospitals and health insurance being funneled into northern Mexico? What is coming?
This sets them back another 30 years with me.
“I realize that there are people out there for whom the word “tax” is an abomination, like “gun control” or “Negro.”
So, Tom, anyone who voted against the taxes (bonds) Is a gun toting hillbilly and a bigot. You truly are a moron.
Truth in Government?
After seeing their losses mounting United Healthcare may cease sales of ACA Health policies. They report that hundreds of millions have been lost supporting Obamcare, and the promise by Obama that they would take our tax dollars and subsidize the health insurance industry losses has turned out to be another lie.
United reports that they have received .13 for every 1.00 lost. Once Obama bankrupts the health insurance industry they will be able to assume all your premium payments into the general fund of the US Treasury.
Think that through. Who was it that declared “death squads?”
Looks like Sarah Palin was right also.
Tom,Someone who you disagree with can, “Lick your sweaty underwear?”
Again, someone please explain to me why anyone would publish this drivel?
No Testicles Tommy. Just your basic civil liberal. Dajools like him make me very happy I’m conservative.
* Dajool, Italian term for stooge, idiot, asshole, etc. Hey, if the shoe fits…
Okay, so maybe that was a bit much. But this is not simply someone with whom (proper grammar) I disagree. This is a guy who mounted a public campaign against a safety system simply because he’s a reckless and dangerous driver. That’s not disagreement; that’s disgust.
So buy a bicycle. Better yet tell it walking. Oh, and thank you for pointing out to those of us less educated than you, proper usage.
So Tom you are saying that we have a dangerous individual in our community and governmental agencies and law enforcement are not protecting the rest of us from him? I can’t believe that’s what your claiming.
Are you really Syriaous?
“You don’t have to live like a refugee.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFnOfpIJL0M
“Even a lifelong liberal Democrat such as I will understand that there are those in positions of authority who abuse the power to tax. They view our money as this bottomless pool into which they can dip a bucket at any time to pay for their pet projects. But those people are the exception, not the rule, and they tend to get outed pretty early on.”
Are you willfully ignorant or retarded? You are aware who was elected the past 30 years in DETROIT? And what happened to those two African American Democrat Mayors? Correct?
To CW13: So between you and your wife, you spent 29 years working for an institution you both deemed as corrupt? Now (assuming) that your complacency in county government has come to an end you are critical of that institution. At what point then do you become part of the solution, instead of remaining part of the problem?
In my position There was nothing I could do to curb the money wasting. I just went about my business doing what I was paid to do. In my case doing building maintenance in Facilities Mgt. My wife worked in H.R. It wasn’t our job to oversee money. Besides I had a good paying job with good bennies, was well liked by boss and rarely had to bust my ass. Hope that answers your question.
Blaming an employee for government waste is akin to blaming taxpayers for the collapse of Social Security. Why can they never blame and prosecute the actual perpetrator?
Bonds are a hard sell when voters see the city spend $197 on an unpopular street car, or remember the Rio Nuevo mess. By blowing millions on such rather badly thought out projects, plus a history of just lousy decisions (selling a block of 5th Ave. to a developer…even though that street was used for regular traffic? SEROUSLY?), no, we don’t trust them. And we know they’ll spend money poorly. That doesn’t make us cheap, that makes us wanting them to actually prove themselves able to do their jobs with some wisdom and forethought before they get more money out of us!
cw…so you were just a county lemming. No wonder you are so miserable and frustrated.
The bonds failed because the county doesn’t get the work done in a timely manner or at all.