Vitu : It’s same old, same old for Town Hall
by Teya Vitu on May. 04, 2007, under Local, SpecialTwo months ago, a novel concept was introduced for the Tucson Regional Town Hall: This gathering slated for Sunday through Wednesday at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort would feature not just the “usual suspects” but would include people who range across the socioeconomic spectrum.
Guess what? The 159-delegate field is woefully top-heavy with usual suspects, with barely a trace of the worker bee beneath the executive level.
There’s a freelance writer and a creative writing teacher in the prison system, but beyond that the region’s future will be discussed almost exclusively by top-boss types. Some 74 participants have the title “president” in some way, 23 are executive directors, 14 are chief executives, all the county’s mayors are on board as are six of seven members of the Tucson City Council and three of five Pima County supervisors.
Not a soul from the retail-sector trenches to be seen. Not a single teacher from the K-12 trenches.
The common man (or woman) will not be present.
That is a travesty because the non-titled folks – likely those among the 700 who applied for the Town Hall but weren’t picked – often bring up practical and even profound ideas that would never bounce around in boardrooms but could just be the solutions for Tucson’s woes.
The roster was picked by the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, which is coordinating the Town Hall, and the Arizona Town Hall, the organization that is moderating the event. SALC did the hand picking of mayor and CEO types, and SALC culled the field of general applicants – and sadly picked out the exact same executive-caliber candidates.
Diana Rhoades, 40, applied while she was an outreach specialist at the Sonoran Institute but was not picked – not high enough on any totem pole, apparently.
“I was disappointed,” said Rhoades, now campaign manager for City Council candidate Regina Romero (a chosen delegate). “Some people who were invited said this is the same old people. I was excited about taking part. They said they wanted young people, new people. I wanted to bring the conservation angle, smart growth angle. I live downtown. I walk everywhere.”
Arizona Town Hall President Tara Jackson in an earlier interview said she looked for applicants with demonstrated leadership skills. That’s fine for part of the field, but you can’t have a delegation entirely composed of leaders.
Tucson needs fresh voices, input from the younger generations, people new to the process who can break through the doldrums of thinking in baby steps.
The Tucson establishment of “usual suspects” has proved that by itself it doesn’t have the moxie to give Tucson the push needed to get the region ready to become a 2 million population metro area.
Ron Shoopman, SALC’s president, insists that this Town Hall process will inject new vigor in these “usual suspects.” He pointed out the embryonic successes at regional cooperation last year with voter approval of the regional transportation plan and Joint Technological Education District, which will allow the region’s school districts to have shared technology education resources.
“The RTA and JTED are both examples of groups from different walks of life coming together for a common cause,” said Shoopman, a retired Air Force brigadier general. “I think there’s energy in this community we haven’t seen before. We’ve always had the same outcome because we’ve had 100 groups working independently on the same issue. Now, if we can get those groups working together on those issues, we have a chance to make changes for the better.”
This Town Hall was an ideal opportunity to bring a new generation to the table.
Now we will once again have to desperately hope these 159 people can get through Tucson’s brick wall: We meet fantastically but don’t have much of a track record to take the next steps after a meeting.
Teya Vitu covers downtown for the Tucson Citizen and for six years has watched the endless false starts or tiny steps taken here in economic development.
———
RELATED
