THAT DIAMOND TOUCH
When new campaign finance reports get turned in at the end of this
week, we hear that there will be some interesting names from the
business community handing out contributions to Don’t Handcuff Tucson,
the political committee battling against the Public Safety First
Initiative.
Among the expected contributors: legendary land speculator Don
Diamond and Humberto “Bert” Lopez, the local
apartment-building magnate.
Neither one has much love for the Democrats on the City Council;
Lopez is even planting signs for the GOP candidates around his
apartment buildings, next to the “No on 200” signs.
But both apparently recognize the recklessness of passing Prop 200,
which will mandate staffing levels for the Tucson Police Department and
response times for the Tucson Fire Department.
It’s not all that often you see the business community teaming up
with the libs from the Pima County Interfaith Council and the Sierra
Club. But you’re seeing it with Prop 200 because everyone besides the
core of supporters recognizes this is a recipe for fiscal disaster.
We’re all for hiring more cops and firefighters, but this
ill-considered proposition—which is being pushed primarily by the
Tucson Association of Realtors—is going about it the wrong way.
Enacting Prop 200 will cost the city an estimated $160 million over the
next five years and somewhere around $63 million annually after that,
according to an independent audit committee that has studied the impact
of the proposed city charter amendment.
That big boost in spending will mean the city will have to slash
spending elsewhere or enact higher taxes—and the city doesn’t
have many tax options available beyond a tax on residential rent
payments, which explains Lopez’s opposition to the tax.
Lopez and Diamond—who dismissed the City Council as
“dysfunctional” after the dismissal of City Manager Mike Hein earlier this year—join the Tucson Chamber of Commerce, the
Arizona Multihousing Association and the Metropolitan Pima Alliance in
opposing Prop 200.
Speaking of Prop 200: KUAT-TV’s Arizona Illustrated is airing
a one-hour special on the initiative from 6 to 7 pm. on Monday, Oct.
26. The show will be taped live at the Leo Rich Theatre, so if you want
to join the audience—and maybe ask your question—come on
down. It will be streamed live at azpublicmedia.org, and broadcast live
on Cox channel 83 and Comcast channel 203.
The panel will include supporters and opponents of Prop 200, along
with Arizona Illustrated anchor Bill Buckmaster, Skinny
scribe Jim Nintzel and the Arizona Daily Star’s Ann
Brown.
SLASH AND BURN
State agencies are responding to Gov. Jan Brewer’s request
that they consider the impact of 15-percent cuts to their budgets.
The picture ain’t pretty. Not every agency has reported back, but
those that have are predicting considerable calamity if they are forced
to move forward with cuts. The Department of Corrections says it will
have to release prisoners. AHCCCS says it’s going to have to eliminate
health-care coverage for kids. Universities are going to have to hike
tuition again or lay off thousands of workers. The Department of Public
Safety is going to have to lay off a lot of state troopers.
Some GOP lawmakers say that the agencies are exaggerating the impact
of budget cuts; others are saying that it may get even worse next year,
when stimulus money is gone and the state is facing an even deeper
shortfall between revenues and expenses.
Meanwhile, Brewer still hopes to get lawmakers back in for a special
session to fix a few of the kinks that were created when she vetoed
portions of the budget in September.
The main obstacle: Some Republican legislators insist that any
special session also include the repeal of the state property tax,
which would blow a $250 million hole in a budget that already has a
projected deficit of $1.5 billion.
JUST ANOTHER WAY OF MAKING PRESCRIPTION DRUGS AFFORDABLE
A few weeks back, TW reported that trace amounts of
pharmaceutical contaminants were spotted in a Tucson Water well serving
Marana back in 2008. But Tucson Water has now found them in several
others.
Tucson Water Director Jeff Biggs reveals in a memo that
traces of drugs have been found in five of six wells tested near
Marana.
Perfluorooctane sulfonate-PSOS, an ingredient once found in 3M
Scotchguard products, was found in low levels in all the wells. The
anticonvulsant, mood-stabilizing drug carbamazepine was found in four
of them.
The other two—fluoxetine, an antidepressant, and
sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic used to treat urinary-tract
infections—were each found in one well.
Only one of the contaminants—perfluorooctane
sulfonate-PFOS—has a water-quality standard set by the
Environmental Protection Agency. The highest amount found locally was
at about one-third of that danger level.
Find early and late-breaking Skinny at The Range, our daily
dispatch.
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.
