My family moved to the Northwest area of Tucson about 22 years ago. We have enjoyed the uniqueness of this area of town and we believe that it is truly “the best part of Tucson” in which to live. So I have decided to begin this blog and write about Northwest Tucson/ Pima County in order to share my perceptions and help others to understand why this part of Tucson is so special.
For ten years I was the president of the La Canada Magee Neighborhood Association. This service to my community afforded me the opportunity of knowing and working with many fine individuals. This work involved a good number on projects and challenges that faced the residents within this four square- mile association boundary. Some of these projects included keeping an oil changing business out of the Albertson’s Plaza, assisting neighbors with getting speed humps to enhance the safety of their streets, helping affected residents to fight fast- food odors that dominated their home atmosphere and even keeping a Lowe’s big box store from cramming up an already crowded residential intersection. This all volunteer organization continues to work on a shoe-string budget assisting the neighbors who live within its boundary.
One particular project that I was proud to assist in helping bring about was the establishment of the Mountain Vista Fire District (MVFD). Several years ago Mike Treece presented a concept to our board that outlined how we could have even better fire protection services than we were receiving while holding down the tax rate and cost. Many of our neighbors bought into this concept and assisted with petition drives that helped to sell the concept to other voters. We are now protected by this very efficient and well run fire district.
A vote is coming up next week to determine who will administer and guide this fire district into the future. Your vote is very important! The other fire districts, including Northwest Fire District and Golder Ranch Fire District, have higher tax rates: Golder is at $1.75 (fifty cents higher than MVFD) and Northwest at $2.83 is more than double MVFD’s $1.25. The incumbents including Donna Heidinger, Mike Treece, and Peter Archuleta seek to maintain the lower rate enjoyed by residents of the MVFD. In fact the board lowered the rate to this level during their past term in office. The other candidates have made no public statements regarding keeping the tax rate low. One of the challengers appears to have expressed an interest in possibly merging with a proximate fire district which carries considerably more debt on its books.
With the economic crisis that our country is currently facing, no matter which presidential candidate gets into office, I expect that we will be paying more out of our pockets to help save our economy and country. When it comes down to brass taxes, it’s us, the taxpayers who foot the bills that must be paid. So in this board election for the Mountain Vista Fire District it seems to make sense to vote for individuals who will help us to save on our fire taxes. The three incumbents in this election promote keeping our tax rate as low as possible, while the three candidates who seek to run our fire district in the future have not spoken about keeping the tax rate low. Could this be telling?

For a future blog posting, this writer would love to hear from residents of Northwest Tucson regarding their thoughts and feeling about Pima County Transportation and the roadways that are being developed and constructed in our area. So until the next posting…
Yours Truly
Northwest Neighbor
northwestneighbor@gmail.com