Tucson Weekly: The Skinny (May 13

Skinny BILLBOARD BILL GORED: Billboard baron Karl Eller didn't quit until the wee hours of the last night of the legislative session, but he still walked away a loser in his fight to keep 100 or so illegal billboards blighting Tucson streets.
Back in 1985, Tucson voters passed a law banning new billboards. Since then, as old billboards have decayed, city staff prevented billboard companies from replacing them with longer-lasting steel structures, figuring that the old billboards would eventually fall to pieces and our community would one day be free of these eyesores.
That didn't sit well with Eller, who has sought relief in the courtroom. After the courts sided with the city, however, Eller ran to the Legislature this year to pass a law to stop the city from preventing the repairs.
Eller and his high-paid lobbyists ran against an astonishing statewide alliance of neighborhood associations led by the Neighborhood Coalition of Greater Tucson. Adding pressure was the City of Tucson's own lobbying team, which got help from the Arizona League of Cities and Towns and--believe it or not--cities like Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe.
Eller almost had victory in hand in the final crazed hours of the session when he finally found a senator who would flip and support him. But by the time that happened, another of his supporters, Sen. Keith Bee, had had enough and fled the Capitol. Normally, we'd knock Bee for such flaky behavior, but this time he really saved the day.
Incidentally, Eller's measure was sponsored by Tucson-area House members Bill McGibbon and Dan Schottel, which is just one more reason not to support either of these clowns when they run for the state Senate next year. Among the other local lawmakers who backed Eller: Rep Ramon Valadez (the only Democrat to vote in favor of the bill on the first House vote) and Sen. Victor Soltero, who must figure he has nothing to lose with term limits forcing him out of office soon.
Cynics that we are, we reported earlier that we'd be flabbergasted if Eller lost--and we are indeed shocked. But we're also sure Eller will be back next year....
INCORPORATION INEPTITUDE: The Legislature wrapped up its '99 session without any legislation saving either Casas Adobes or Tortolita. The prime sponsor, Rep. Bill McGibbon, has continued to water down his original legislation from last year until it became almost meaningless. McGibbon reminds us of the Russian peasant being chased home by wolves who sacrifices his children one by one in the hopes that something will be left at the end of the journey.
First McGibbon dumped Tortolita to satisfy the Growth Lobby sharks at the state Land Department with a clause that only allowed incorporations in towns with a population of at least 15,000--which, incidentally, would invalidate some of the present towns in Arizona, including Marana, South Tucson and Sahaurita, and would have prevented Oro Valley from incorporating in the early 1970s. Then he backed off the retroactive clause, which would mean Casas Adobes would have to have another election, which even most of that town's most ardent supporters admit would probably result in a loss.
What McGibbon finally had was a bill that was so emasculated it accomplished nothing, except to make the Legislature study the issue while placing a moratorium on new annexations for about a year or so. BFD.
The most curious part was listening to McGibbon try to explain why the population of any new town should be a minimum of 15,000 in the interim period. This would just coincidentally leave pro-growth Casas Adobes free to try again, but end any hope for preservation-minded Tortolita. McGibbon's convoluted argument goes like this: if Casas Adobes and Tortolita successfully strike down the 1961 annexation law, the courts could rule that all the other annexation laws prior to 1961 were also invalid. That would then disincorporate everybody back to who-knows-how-far and leave no standards for new towns, thereby allowing apartment buildings and even prisons to incorporate themselves.
Huh? That argument is so irrational even Tucson Mayor George Miller would think twice about presenting it. Nobody is asking the courts to throw out all incorporation law--just the part that requires permission from existing cities that are within six miles. And if all incorporation laws were struck down, then no city could incorporate because there would be no method for doing so. Either McGibbon is smoking something funny, or he isn't giving us all his motives. Which seems to bring us back to the state Land Department's hostility to Tortolita and the grazing leases McGibbon receives from the same state agency.
In the meantime, dumping Tortolita and the retroactive clause just left him with fewer votes than last year. Nice going, Bill.
PARTY ON: All Tucson Unified School District taxpayers must clear next Thursday, May 20, for the go-to party of the season. The district's two main law firms are hosting Superintendent George F. Garcia's eighth annual Administrators Appreciation Event at the Tucson Country Club, 2950 N. Camino Principal, from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Please RSVP by May 14 by calling Dina or Janice at Garcia's office, 617-7336.
We're sure King George and his legal clique will welcome all taxpayers, students, parents, teachers and staff. After all, it's that overburdened and shafted quintet that is truly footing the bill for this "End-of-the-Year Regalement."
Listed hosts are the big-shot firms of DeConcini, McDonald, Yetwin & Lacey and Gabroy, Rollman & Bosse. They can afford it. TUSD taxpayers gave them tens of thousands of dollars for legal work, some of which was really crummy (e.g., when the DeConcini firm foolishly tried, at Garcia's request, to block The Arizona Daily Star from printing a story about former TUSD administrator "Fast" Eddie Arriaga, or when the Gabroy firm wasted precious taxpayer money with its outlandishly off-the-mark report on Tucson High School Principal Cecilia Mendoza.)
If you're planning on attending and you're not an administrator, don't be intimidated by the Tucson Country Club gate or the goon in the guard shack. No one can stop you. Those streets belong to Pima County. And as far as we know, there is no moat. Enjoy!
OMLET BREAKS A FEW EGGS AT AMPHI: The Amphi School District got dinged again by the Attorney General's Office, this time for violations of the state's Open Meeting Law.
This latest black eye for the district comes partially as a result of the district's land-acquisition policy. Amphi decided to reform its land acquisition policy in 1997, after complaints that the old process--basically allowing real-estate artist Bill Arnold to roam the countryside looking for parcels while earning himself a six-figure fee--was a secretive insider deal. That disastrous process left the district paying $1 million for an asbestos-ridden warehouse that it has no use for, as well as $1.7 million for 70-plus acres where the district had hoped to build a new high school, until environmental groups sued to stop construction because it happens to be on the edge of habitat for the endangered pygmy owl. That case is still in the hands of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
When the details of Arnold's arrangement with the district became public, the Amphi Board directed Superintendent Robert "Bubba" Smith to develop a new policy. As part of that policy, the Board created a committee to evaluate potential sites. But Amphi officials maintained that, because the members of that committee were appointed by Smith rather than the Board, the committee wasn't bound by Arizona's Open Meeting Law and could meet in secret.
The Attorney General's Office set the district straight on that point last week in a four-page letter, which said in part: "After confirming the available facts, the Open Meeting Law Enforcement Team (OMLET) has determined that the Board's Advisory Committee on Site Acquisition violated the (Open Meeting Law) by meeting on a number of occasions without providing public notice and thereby the opportunity to attend meetings."
In an unrelated matter, the AG's Office also said the district broke the Open Meeting Law in a matter related to an emergency procurement.
The AG's letter concluded by informing the Board that it "needs training in the requirements of the (Open Meeting Law) to prevent future infractions," and asked the Board to offer "at least three alternative dates and times during which OMLET representatives could meet with the Board and provide this training."
Now that's what we call punishment.
SAFE HAVEN FOR DEVELOPERS: The Association of Real Estate Professionals had three speakers at its last meeting who have something in common: David Mehl, Robert Sharpe and Lou Sears all have developments in places that are unaffected by any land-use ordinances passed by Pima County.
Mehl has most of his operation centering around Dove Mountain and other developments in the Town of Marana, Sharpe's projects are in Sahuarita, while Sears works north in Pinal County. All three of those entities are currently governed by folks who can politely be described as "builder friendly" and who have granted enough rezonings to keep these three gentlemen busy for years to come.
The only problem developers may have in these communities--and in Oro Valley--will come as a result of the federal Endangered Species Act. And, as the federal government usually has to be sued to enforce much of anything, we expect few problems from that direction, all that whining from the Growth Lobby notwithstanding.
While treehuggers are gushing about what they can accomplish in Pima County, the blading and grading continues apace. Any landowners who want to opt out of any of the big Pima County Conservation Plan can simply ask for annexation to a friendly community.

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