The City of Tucson General Election is tomorrow, November 8. It is probably too late to mail in your vote-by-mail ballot (sent to 211,265 registered voters in Tucson). Best bet is to drop it off today at Tucson City Clerk Elections Center,
800 E. 12th Street, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.– or tomorrow at one of the 7 polling places listed by the City Elections website (click here for locations/hours, 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.).

Absolute deadline: 7 p.m. on 11/8/11, or your vote will not be counted.

The list below is where the 3 political parties in Pima County are partying tomorrow night:

Green Party of Pima County, 7 to 10 p.m.
The Tasteful Kitchen (vegetarian restaurant)
722 N. Stone (south of University Blvd.)
(520) 250-9600

The Green Party has two candidates running: Mary DeCamp for Mayor, Beryl Baker for Ward 1 Council. 11/8/11 update: just heard from Baker’s campaign and she will be attending a gathering of volunteers on election night at the Doubletree Hotel, 445 S Alvernon, in the Javalina Cantina from 7 pm to 9:30 pm.

Democratic Party of Pima County, 7 to 10:o0 p.m.
Lodge on the Desert (hotel) – Palm Room & Palm Lawn
306 N. Alvernon Way (south of E. 6th St.)
Phone: 520.320.2000

The Democrats have four candidates running: Jonathan Rothschild for Mayor, Regina Romero for Ward 1 Council, Paul Cunningham for Ward 2 Council, Shirley Scott for Ward 4 Council. All the Democratic candidates for Council are incumbents.

Republican Party of Pima County, 7 p.m.
Manning House (mansion)
450 W. Paseo Redondo (east of Granada, north of Congress St.)
Phone: (520) 770-0714

The Republicans have three candidates running: Rick Grinnell for Mayor, Jennifer Rawson for Ward 2 Council, Tyler Vogt for Ward 4 Council.

Vote wisely! Then party with your respective political party. Independents and Libertarians can choose any of the above.

Note: 40% (84,072) of ballots have been returned as of 8:44 a.m. this morning per City Clerk’s office, which includes unprocessed/undeliverable ones. See website (click here).

If you haven’t mailed back your vote-by-mail General Election ballot yet, listen today at high noon to the Buckmaster Show, KVOI radio station 1030 AM. Host Bill Buckmaster will be interviewing Ward 2 candidates Democrat Paul Cunningham (appointed to that position in May, 2010) and his Republican challenger Jennifer Rawson.

Cunningham, a former juvenile probation officer, is the son of former State Senator George Cunningham, who also served in the cabinets of Governors Mofford and Napolitano. Rawson is a retired Xerox Corporation Materials Manager, and political newcomer.

Both were interviewed on KUAT Channel 6 on September 15(click here).

If you’re having lunch at noon today and miss the interview, you can always listen to it afterwards at www.buckmastershow.com via Standard Podcast.

Paul Cunningham was endorsed by the Arizona Daily Star newspaper last week (click here).

City of Tucson vote-by-mail ballots were mailed out on October 19, and are due by 7 p.m. November 8. Vote wisely.

“In 1999 voters approved the creation of the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District (District). The District is both a municipal stadium district and a special taxing district. The voters authorized the District to receive an incremental portion of State-shared funds derived from transaction privilege taxes (i.e. sales tax called TIF Funds) collected from within the District boundaries within the City of Tucson city limits. The District is a State municipal district with the powers, privileges and immunities granted to governmental, municipal corporations for District purposes: a planned multi-faceted development project, including cultural and recreational amenities and improvements, unique historic re-creations, mixed-use developments, etc. The District was reorganized by the Arizona State Legislature in the fall of 2009 and the board re-appointed in March 2010. Expenditure of the TIF Funds collected is now disbursed and managed by the reconstituted Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District Board of Directors who as of 2010 are appointed by the State’s Governor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives.”

From: http://rionuevo-tucson.org/

For more info on Rio Nuevo also see this City of Tucson webpage, with financial reports: http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/rionuevo

This 10 year (1999 to 2009) project has received a lot of attention recently due to conflicts between the City of Tucson Council and the new Rio Nuevo board, re-constituted by the State Legislature in March, 2010. Citizens have been asking about who were the Councilmembers (Democrats, Republicans, one Independent) during these 10 years, and beyond. Here’s the list of who was serving (as far as I remember):

Mayor: Robert Walkup (R), 1999 to present (not running for re-election 2011)
Ward 1: Jose Ibarra (D), 1999 to 2007; Regina Romero (D), 2007 to present (up for re-election 2011)
Ward 2: Carol West (D, I), 1999 to 2007; Rodney Glassman (D), 2007 to 2010; Paul Cunningham (D), appointed 2010 to present (up for election 2011)
Ward 3: Jerry Anderson (D), 1999 to 2001; Kathleen Dunbar (R), 2001 to 2005; Karin Uhlich (D), 2005 to present
Ward 4: Shirley Scott (D), 1999 to present (up for re-election 2011)
Ward 5: Steve Leal (D), 1999 to 2009; Richard Fimbres (D), 2009 to present
Ward 6: Fred Ronstadt (R), 1999 to 2005; Nina Trasoff (D), 2005 to 2009; Steve Kozachik (R), 2009 to present

(Some of these Councilmembers were serving before Rio Nuevo began, but I only list the starting point as 1999 when Rio Nuevo was created).

Those who were serving as elected officials during entire Rio Nuevo project: Mayor Bob Walkup, Councilmembers Steve Leal and Shirley Scott.

Those who came on the Council after late 2009: Councilmembers Richard Fimbres, Steve Kozachik, and Paul Cunningham.

And who were the Tucson City Managers during this time: Luis Gutierrez (1999), James Keene (2000 to 2005), and Mike Hein (2005 to 2009). Gutierrez is retired, Keene is now City Manager of Palo Alto, California, and Hein is Director of Pima County Emergency Management & Homeland Security.

Last November, 2010 I reported on the citizen outrage after an audit on Rio Nuevo was released about $230 million allegedly mismanaged:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2010/11/29/citizens-express-outrage-over-rio-nuevo-mismanagement/

Stay tuned as the City Council and the new Rio Nuevo board have recently agreed to mediate their differences.