- A map shows the various subdivisions and out-of-the-way roads where Supervisor Ally Miller chose to spend transportation dollars rather that patching potholes on River, Sabino Canyon and Sunrise roads.
The Range reported yesterday that District 1 Supervisor Ally Miller created her own list of preferred road projects rather than going with the recommendations of the Pima County Transportation Department.
Miller’s list included Oasis Road, which happens to be in her own neighborhood—and the road that a political ally and three campaign contributors live along.
So far, that Oasis Road project—at a cost of $330,000, according to county documents—is the only one that has been completed in District 1. And after Miller’s four fellow supervisors voted earlier this week to move the remainder of the District 1 funding for this fiscal year to a needed improvement of Colossal Cave Road, it appears that none of Miller’s other pet project will be completed this year.
As we explained yesterday:
Miller said the other supervisors were targeting her because she has relentlessly been dogging them as corrupt big spenders who are mismanaging the county.
But Supervisor Ramon Valadez says political differences on the relative value of budget items—such as support for the county’s southside University of Arizona Medical Center South Campus (formerly Kino Hospital), programs to help Mission Manor Elementary School students attend a special science and math program at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, and spending on the Hughes Access Road to support Raytheon, Tucson International Airport and other potential high-tech companies—do not equal mismanagement.
“When you disagree on public policy, that doesn’t mean it’s mismanagement,” Valadez told The Range yesterday. “That means there’s a disagreement.”
Valadez says the Miller opened the door to losing the District 1 road dollars by ignoring staff recommendations regarding how the money could be spent. When the Democrats on the board voted to include $5 million in road-repair dollars, they did it with a caveat that “it has to go to regionally significant and major arteries,” Valadez said. “Why? Because then I can go to my voters and say, ‘This road might be located outside your district, but you take Oracle Road, don’t you? You take River Road, don’t you?’ And you can make the argument that we all benefit.”
To better understand Valadez’s point, it’s instructive to look at exactly what Miller did.
Transportation staffers originally suggested that District 1 get $1.16 million in funding for its projects—considerably more than Valadez’s District 2, which was set to get a mere $94,000, or Richard Elias’ District 5, which was getting about $828,000.
Staff recommended that the pavement be patched on River Road in two areas: between Shannon and La Canada roads and between Campbell and Dodge Avenues. They also suggested patching Thornydale Road between Rudolph and Daphne roads, Sabino Canyon Road between Ventana Road and River Road; and Sunrise Road between Swan and Craycroft.
But Miller didn’t like that plan, other than the work on Thornydale Road. As you can see from the above map, Miller instead came up with her own list that included Oasis Road in her own neighborhood, and projects in subdivisions where only a handful of District 1 residents would see any improvements. (One was off in a far corner of Sabino Canyon Road in the Sabino Town and Country Estates, while another was in the Golden Heritage Village near Ina and Mona Lisa roads and a third was Bowman Road from Golder Ranch Drive to Rollins Road way out in the Catalina area.
Miller has not returned a phone call seeking comment about why she decided to pave little-used streets in subdivisions rather than major arterial corridors.
This article appears in Feb 20-26, 2014.
the cost of that project according to docs from miller is `186K…unless someone skimmed some money from Granite construction? You and Ramon are spending way too much time on this…it is laughable…thou doth protest way to much.
Hey what about the 7 mil fund Ramon has from the HURF bonds…where is that money going? This article is a joke…sounds like a huckelberry tirade …and guess what..no one buys his bs anymore.
Valdez only gets 94k…because he has a 7 million dollar slush fund…that is why.
Finger pointing and accusations towards those with whom you disagree, seems to be the usual way politicians operate when they have something to hide. They try to get voters to focus on the misdeeds of others while flying under the radar with their own shady deals. I guess Miller’s idea of proper management is to make sure she and her buddies have nice new driveways instead of making much needed improvements to our infrastructure.
Tucson must have nearly as many potholed roads as corrupt politicians. Who is watching out for the public interest with all of these road projects that never seem to finish? Revenue is being wasted on correctional facility height (14′) walls that are being erected alongside nearly un-driveable roads. The elaborate masonry is somehow completed long before even a basic application of asphalt is applied to the roadway alongside it. Road repair in this town suffers from some serious tail dragging. – It appears that it would be faster to hire the masonry contractors to pave the roads.
Let’s see, what is the final finished product the public actually uses on a road project? The roadway surface. All prep work, grading, utility work under the new pavement etc. must be done before paving, usually one of the last phases of a road project.
Crapshooter, must the 14 foot tall block walls be built before or after the paving? It is hard to know when the last phases of a road project occur in Tucson, as the process never seems to reach the last phase. They just tore up Magee, again, – what was that about the prep work? The main thing getting prepped is the taxpayer’s posterior, about the only place Tucson doesn’t have an orange and white barriers. What a ripoff!
That’s Trapshooter. I’m sure that was an innocent mistake.