Tucsonans turned out in force last week to support postal worker jobs and protect the Cherrybell mail processing plant from closure.

Inside the Leo Rich Theater, a capacity crowd of more than 500 citizens listened to United States Postal Service (USPS) representative Brian McCoy’s dog and pony show touting plant closures and layoffs as the path to financial solvency for the USPS.

Outside, representatives from Jobs with Justice, Occupy Tucson, and unions chanted, waved protest signs and signed a petition to save local mail processing.

The main reason the post office is going broke isn’t the Internet or the number of postal workers, it’s the Congressional mandate requiring them to pre-pay employee retirement. Last fiscal year, the USPS lost $5.1 billion. During the same time period, they had a $6.9 billion surplus in the Federal Employee Retirement Fund.

Closing 250 mail processing plants nationwide and laying off 35,000 workers won’t solve this structural problem.

Moving from one-day delivery of local mail to two- to three-day delivery of local mail (as proposed by the USPS) won’t make the postal service more competitive; it will further decrease the use of first class mail and could lead to more calls for privatization.

Trucking mail from the city of origin to a regional processing plant and back again isn’t environmentally friendly and could be cost-prohibitive in the future.

For more details on the meeting and background on the postal service’s financial woes, check out my article in the Huffington Post: Occupy the Post Office? Tucson Postal Workers, Supporters, Fight Back Against Threatened Job Cuts.

Image credit: Pamela Powers Hannley

When old timers talk about Arizona’s economy, they often refer to the “5 C’s”– cotton, copper, cattle, citrus, and climate. The “5 C’s” built Arizona, but how relevant are they in today’s world of limited resources?

At least 4 of the 5 C’s come with a high environmental cost, since cotton, copper, cattle, and citrus all use more water than Arizona can afford to use. This practice has led to the destruction of desert rivers and streams. Three of the 5C’s– cotton, copper, and cattle– also have destroyed our state’s vegetation and desert ecosystem.

According to a recent article in the Arizona Daily Star, a 6th C has emerged as an important player (no pun intended) in the state’s economic development– casinos. In fiscal year 2011 (July 2010 – June 2011), casinos took in $1.7 billion. .

Although copper ($5.3 billion) and climate (AKA, tourism, $17.7 billion) have continued to be blockbuster sources of revenue, 2010 revenues from cattle ($637 million), cotton ($206), and citrus ($34) paled in comparison to gambling.

What is missing from this article about revenue is cost. What is the environmental cost of  copper, cattle, cotton, and citrus? What is the cost to the state in tax breaks and incentives to the copper industry or businesses related to tourism? If revenues of these businesses are so high, what are they paying to the state for the privilege of doing business here?

And what is the true cost of gambling? The Star article quotes expert sources who estimate that 75% of casino gamblers are Arizonans. Yes, the tribes made $1.7 billion on gambling, but that means that everyday citizens lost $1.7 billion on gambling.

The old saying is: gambling is a tax on people who are bad at math. Gambling can be highly addictive. Compulsive gamblers can lose everything… houses, jobs, families, lives.

Is this rise in gambling revenues a good sign for our state’s well being? I think not. It only shows the desperation of Arizonans trying to eek out a living however they can in a depressed state with few opportunities for the unemployed and undereducated.

Instead of relying on the 6 C’s, Arizona should move to an economy built on the 6 E’s — environmental sustainability, education, electronics (AKA technology), equity, excellence, and economic opportunity for all.

Sacred Datura grows in the wild. (Image Credit: Pamela Powers Hannley)

Is Pinal County becoming the new dust bowl? This past summer dry conditions, high winds, and a destroyed ecosystem created a series of perfect storms.

Dust storms of Biblical proportions formed in Pinal County’s scraped-clean, barren acreage, blew into Phoenix, and made national headlines when multiple haboobs engulfed millions of Phoenicians.

Subsequent dust storms created fatal driving conditions along Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix. A series of dust storms caused multiple pileups on one October day– leaving one person dead, 15 injured, and more than 16 vehicles destroyed.

What is the state’s answer to this dangerous situation? Two days after that horrific October day on I-10, state officials shrugged their shoulders and blamed motorists for the accidents. From the Arizona Daily Star…

State officials say that motorists – not a lack of safeguards – are to blame for dust-related crashes such as the multi-vehicle wrecks on Interstate 10 on Tuesday.

And there are no plans for state agencies to collaborate on strategies to reduce collisions related to dust storms.
“Dust storms don’t kill people; highways don’t kill people. Drivers kill people,” said Bart Graves, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. “They panic and they do the wrong thing and something bad happens…” [Note that state officials are using the same argument that they use to justify taking no action on gun control.]

In cases of unpredictable dust storms, Graves said, “there is virtually no way we can do that.”

Aloe vera grows wild and like datura is a plant that pollinators love. (Image credit: Pamela Powers Hannley)

The state is being lazy on the issue of dust storms, and I was glad to see Tucsonans calling them out in today’s Arizona Daily Star story about dust storms and hazardous driving on I-10.

Unfortunately, the article primarily focused on high-tech methods to predict dust storms and not on ways to prevent them.

I have lived in Arizona long enough to remember when there used to be vegetation along I-10. Leaving Tucson on the way to Phoenix, mature palo verde and mesquite trees lined either side of the freeway and filled the median for miles. This green belt was so beautiful– especially after a desert rain when the palo verdes were in bloom. Beyond the trees on either side was other desert vegetation like creosote and jojoba bushes, cacti, and yucca. On the way to Wilcox, mature ocotillo and wild flowers like Mexican sunflowers and sacred datura filled the median. In the spring, the view toward the Dragoons was a riot of color with miles of blooming fire-red ocotillos mixed with the yellow and white wild flowers. Along the sides of the freeway were more wild flowers, desert shrubs, cacti, and other native plants.

These hardy desert trees, shrubs, and wild flowers not only decorated the freeway and made the drive more pleasant; their roots held the soil.

Cacti and agaves will grow and multiply just about anywhere. (Image Credit: Pamela Powers Hannley)

I never knew why the plants and trees in the median were removed. One day the trees going west and the ocotillos going east were just gone. All that was left was dirt, rocks, scrub grass, and maybe an occasional wild flower.

Overgrazing, over cultivation, and over zealous (but uncompleted) development destroyed the ecosystem along the freeway. Vast stretches of dirt line I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix. It’s no wonder haboobs are whipped up and no wonder that Pinal County has air quality problems.

In addition to– or instead of– high-tech gadgetry to predict dust storms, Arizona should mount a freeway planting program. (After all, as the Star article points out, what are you going to do after you predict a major dust storm? Shut down the freeway? Halt commerce on the interstate because a computer model tells you to?) The median and the easement along the freeway should be replanted with desert trees, shrubs, and wild flowers. Other states have vegetation along their stretches of the interstate highways. We have dirt and, therefore, we have dust storms. Along I-10, on the way to Palm Springs, mature salt cedars line the freeway for miles and provide a buffer between the dry desert and drivers.

In addition to a state-sponsored replanting program, landowners who allow their acreage to sit uncultivated or undeveloped should be fined. They are creating a public health and public safety problems for the residents of Arizona; they should pay for remediation.

Another step the state can take is to make commuting between Tucson and Phoenix safer is to move forward on the I-10 corridor commuter train. Not safe to drive? Take the train.

Arizona’s state government should stop shirking its duty to protect the health and welfare of the citizenry… and start planting.

Soil contouring and other rain water harvesting techniques can solve residential flooding problems. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Have you considered water harvesting, but didn’t know where to start? Check out Watershed Management Group’s (WMG) first ever home tour on Saturday, September 17.

Eleven homes featuring water harvesting techniques will be on the tour. The cost is $10/car or $5/bike.

BICAS is organizing a bike tour of the WMG’s home tour (Cycling information here.)

Here is more information from WMG’s website:

Looking for inspiration and ideas to green and beautify your home landscape without increasing your water bill?

On September 17, 2011 WMG will be offering a self guided tour of a dozen Tucson yards that have been transformed into water harvesting oases through WMG’s Co-op Program.

Sites along the tour will demonstrate rainwater harvesting earthworks (contouring the land to capture, slow down, and increase rainwater infiltration), greywater systems, food production, native plantings, compost systems, and various types of cisterns and rainbarrels that capture rooftop runoff for landscape and drinking water use. Tour attendees will be provided with a brochure which will contain maps, suggested bike and bus routes, as well as an overview of each site. Homeowners will be on hand between 10am and 4pm on the day to answer questions.

To sign up please pay by credit or debit card at http://www.watershedmg.org/contribute and write hometour in the comments section or mail a check made payable to Watershed Management Group, P.O. Box 44205, Tucson, Arizona 85733. Checks should be received by Sept 10.

Tour Cost: $5 for bike or public transportation, or $10 per car (sign in is required at each site).

Contact Rhiwena Slack at co-op@watershedmg.org for more information.

The US-Mexico border fence between has been ballyhoo’d by the right as necessary to border security, denegrated human rights advocates as a contributing factor in border deaths, and repeated breached by Mexicans with ladders, hack saws, torches, catapults, tunnels, and memorials.

The most recent news is that right-wing Republican Legislators have started a fundraising to build more sections of the fence, since the federal government and the state government are strapped for cash. (Yeah, that’s the ticket ask us workers to pay for it, since we have so much extra cash on our hands.)

The latest assault against the border fence has been at the hands of Mother Nature, who knocked down a 40-foot section of the border fence using flood waters. Apparently, the multi-million-dollar border fence has a design flaw. [doh] Environmentalists and officials with the Organ Pipe National Monument officials warned the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security of the potential for flood damage before the fence was built, but these warning were ignored.

From the Arizona Daily Star…

The design does not allow for the free flow of water in natural washes intersecting the border, he said. In washes, the fence has grate openings at the bottom that are 6 inches high and 24 inches wide with 1-by-3-inch bars.

“The fence acts as a dam and forms a gradual waterfall,” [Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Superintendent Lee] Baiza said. “It starts to pile up on the bottom as the grass, the leaves, the limbs start plugging up. The water starts backing up and going higher. The higher it gets, the more force it has behind it.”

Sunday’s storm dumped 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain in the area upslope from the area where the fence failed, according to the National Weather Service.

Bursts of strong rain are common at the park, meaning that other parts of the fence that are in the natural washes could be at risk of being knocked over, too, Baiza said.

The problems were anticipated by Organ Pipe officials.

In October 2007, before the fence was built by Kiewit Western Co. for $21.3 million, Organ Pipe officials told the U.S. Department of Homeland Security they were worried that the design would impede the movement of floodwater across the border; that debris would get trapped in the fence; that water would pool; and that the lateral flow of water would cause damage to the environment and patrol roads, according to a report issued by Organ Pipe in August 2008 about flooding that summer.

In response, the Border Patrol issued a final environmental assessment with a finding of no significant impact. It also said the fence would not impede the natural flow of water or cause flooding.
The agency said it would remove debris from the fence within the washes immediately after rains to ensure that no flooding occurred.

At a December 2007 meeting, Kiewit officials stated in a handout that the fence design “would permit water and debris to flow freely and not allow ponding of water on either side of the border” because the drainage crossing grates “met hydraulic modeling requirements.”

“Now we know who’s right,” said Matt Clark, Southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife. “Period. End of story.”
The situation is an example of how Homeland Security ignored expert advice from people within the federal government to ram through border-fencing projects, Clark said.

The first sign of problems occurred on July 12, 2008, when the 15-foot-high wire-mesh fence halted the natural flow of floodwater during a storm that dumped 1 to 2 inches of rain in 90 minutes around the border towns of Lukeville, and Sonoyta, Sonora.

Water pooled behind the fence and flooded into the Lukeville Port of Entry and private businesses, causing damage.
At the Gringo Pass convenience store, merchandise was damaged and the store was closed for cleanup, according to a lawsuit filed by the company against the U.S. government in 2009. The lawsuit says the flooding diminished property value by $6 million.

On Sunday, the storm also caused flooding in several buildings in Lukeville owned by Gringo Pass, Inc. after water pooled against the border fence and seeped into the structures. Those buildings now include a restaurant, post office, shuttle company and a duty-free store that had just received a new shipment of goods, said a store spokesperson. The convenience store is now out of business.

After the July 2008 flooding, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument officials issued a 17-page report detailing how it happened. Baiza said then he wanted government officials to revisit the design to prevent future problems.
To remedy the problem, the Army Corps of Engineers installed 50 to 60 liftable gates in 11 drainage systems as part of a 2010 drainage-improvement project. The system calls for the gates to be raised by a hoisting apparatus during storms so water can freely flow.

On Sunday, though, the gates were down, Baiza said.

Questions about the fence, the design and gates were not answered Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security or the Army Corps of Engineers.

The recent events show that there should be no border barriers in water crossings, Clark said. Officials should use alternative security measures such as ground sensors in those areas, which would not only allow floodwater to move freely but also create breaks for wildlife.

“Flooding is a very visual and physical reminder that walls block ecosystem processes,” Clark said. “There are major costs both fiscally and environmentally to building walls across watersheds.”

Adobe casita in downtown Tucson. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

When we first went house-hunting in Tucson in the early 1980s, our realtor thought we were crazy because we wanted a house with architectural style and wooden floors. Having lived in Columbus’ city core in an old Victorian-era brick double, we didn’t realize what a tall order this was in Tucson, our new home.

We spent several weeks driving around older neighborhoods in July in our AC-free Toyota Corolla with Judy (our chain-smoking realtor) and our baby daughter searching for style, affordability, and a house worth the sweat equity we were going to have to invest. We finally settled on a California Bungalow handyman special in the Pie Allen Neighborhood, priced at $34,000– the cost of some new vehicles today.

If Judy thought we were crazy while we were house-hunting, she probably really thought we were nuts when we bought that place, but we saw style and potential in that little house with the inviting front porch, the volcanic rock columns, the cozy fireplace flanked by wooden built-ins, and the large back yard– ready for a swing set and sandbox. Little did we know we were downtown pioneers before downtown was hip.

Thirty years later, many other urban pioneers have joined the struggle to breathe life into Tucson’s older neighborhoods and help downtown become livable and even fashionable.

At yesterday’s City Council Meeting, historic preservationists in Tucson won a major battle against the mini-dorm industry. The Council approved the Neighborhood Preservation Zone (NPZ) overlay for the Jefferson Park Neighborhood. The NPZ will restrict mini-dorm development by limiting the scale of new construction, making it more difficult to build a second story and limiting the size of a building to no more than 35 percent of the lot size. This is the second NPZ the Council has approved– the first being the Feldman Neighborhood NPZ in 2009, which developers are fighting.

This week, Tucson is hosting historic preservation conference, which will include a heritage discussion on Wednesday, June 22 at Hotel Congress.

Also, this week, a new guide to historic homes in Tucson was published.

Next week, at the June 28 City Council Meeting, the Council will consider a proposal to amend the sign code protect and preserve historic landmark signage older than 1975. Although I am a bit concerned about inclusion of “transitional” signage between 1961-1974 in this amendment, I think it is a worthwhile effort to protect the funky neon signs that mark Tucson’s past as a motor hotel haven.

With this volume of preservation activity, will Tucson save its unique architecture and sense of place? I hope so.  I don’t want developers to make Tucson into a place where there is no there there. I still remember the July thunderstorm clouds gathering over the old courthouse’s mosaic dome and the reflection of the Tucson Inn sign in the swimming pool that night in 1981 when we first visited Tucson.

Wooden doors in downtown Tucson. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Crumbling adobe home in downtown Tucson. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

El Rapido sign in downtown Tucson. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Fireplace with nichos in an old adobe home. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

The old Corner Market in downtown awaits TLC. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Inviting entrance to restored downtown adobe home. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Phil Lopes, former State House Minority Leader, will update lefties of all stripes on local Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) organizing efforts at the Drinking Liberally gathering on Sunday, April 10.

Congressman Raul Grijalva and populist commentator Jim Hightower addressed a standing room only crowd at PDA’s initial organizing meeting back in February.

Since then, PDA has been organizing a local steering committee to run the local group and organizing teams to tackle PDA’s core issues. Several Issue Organizing Teams (IOTs) have held strategy meetings and participated in nationwide conference calls around PDA’s core issues: Accountability/Justice, Climate Change, Clean/Fair Elections, Economic and Social Justice, End the Wars/Redirect the Funds, Health Care for All, and a new IOT– Immigration. More volunteers– including IOT leaders– are needed.

PDA is planning another big event for April 25 at the YWCA on Bonita. The featured speaker will be Congressman Grijalva who will address the federal budget. (Watch for further details in the future.)

Personally, I think PDA is a breath of fresh air in a bleak political landscape. If you’re as disgusted as I am with the corporate-controlled political parties, stop by The Shanty tonight or come to the April 25 meeting to learn more about PDA.

Tonight, kibitzing and drinking– both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages– begins at 6 p.m. Lopes will speak at 7 p.m. Drinking Liberally is a nationwide organization of liberal thinkers who gather regularly to discuss politics. The Tucson group meets every Sunday evening at The Shanty.

The Tucson City Council unanimously voted business friendly twice at last night’s meeting– approving a new Land Use Code requiring fewer parking spaces and approving a billboard along Tucson’s scenic corridor for the Jewish Community Center (JCC).

Parking and the Land Use Code

The Land Use Code changes to vehicle and bicycle parking were contentious at the March 8 City Council meeting. Last night’s discussion was a continuation, but in the interim, a compromise was negotiated. Cyclists and businessmen alike spoke glowingly in favor of the Land Use Code changes and the civil discourse that resulted in the compromise. In a nutshell, the new business construction will be able to provide few parking spaces for cars; in addition, there are formulas which allow for customization in vehicle and bicycle parking.

Tucson’s cycling community is trying achieve a platinum rating from the League of American Bicyclists, a distinction held by only two other American cities. Cycling enthusiasts at last night’s meeting said the new bicycle parking laws will help move Tucson forward toward a platinum rating.

Councilwoman Regina Romero praised the Land Use Code negotiations and said that requiring fewer parking spaces and good bicycle parking will allow for more infill construction, while encouraging the use of alternative transportation.

JCC Billboard and the Sign Code

Last fall, the Tucson’s Sign Code Appeals and Advisory Board (SCAAB), a citizen’s advisory board made up of local business people, denied JCC’s application for a sign code variance. Among other nuances, the current code says a business can have a 50 square-foot sign. The JCC already has one over-sized lighted monument sign with a changing text and wanted to erect a 750 square-foot, changing-text billboard on the south face of their building on River Road at Dodge, at the base of the Catalina Mountains.

The JCC lost the variance case last fall, and their last ditch effort to erect a billboard along Tucson’s scenic corridor was at last night’s Tucson City Council meeting.

Since this was an appeal, discussion was limited to the JCC and any neighbors or concerned parties directly affected by the proposed billboard. Council Members were given the SCAAB’s meeting minutes and all records in advance. The JCC’s president and another representative talked in warm and fuzzy platitudes about how a giant sign will promote the mission of the JCC. (In other words, a changing-text billboard on River Road will help sell their services to commuters whizzing by.)

At first it appeared as if no one was there to speak against the billboard, so… I raised my hand and said, “Well, I’m not exactly a neighbor, but I live directly south of the JCC and will be affected by this.”

I think the City Council hearing on a scaled-back 500-square-foot sign was supposed to be an orchestrated no-opposition, slam-dunk for the JCC, so to have some trouble-makin’ blogger raise her hand gave them all a bit of a pause. (Oh, God, what’s she going to say if we let her have the mike?)

They did let me speak– on behalf of those River Road commuters and the hundreds of Tucsonans who use the Rillito River Path and Brandi Fenton Memorial Park– across the street from the proposed billboard. I said people like me use the bike path for exercise and commuting and frequent Brandi Fenton because of the great facilities and the breath-taking view of the Catalinas– a view that would be spoiled by a billboard. I questioned the size and location of the billboard. The JCC president had said that the sign would be visible only from the Alvernon Way direction (east of the JCC), but I remain skeptical that a billboard that large will not be visible from the park and the river path.

Of course, my pitch for preserving natural beauty over commercial signage didn’t stop the process the steam-roller process. The Council approved the 500-square-foot billboard variance– 10x the sign code recommendation. I know that the JCC believes that erecting a billboard at the base of the Catalinas will help their marketing effort. I believe this marketing move could cause public relations problems and hurt the JCC’s public image– particularly with those who are concerned with environmental sensitivity. With its changing text and giant size, if the sign is too visually intrusive, those River Road commuters and park-goers aren’t going to like it, and that could backfire on them. Only time will tell.

This City Council has now voted twice to allow increased signage along Tucson’s scenic corridor; this is a dangerously slippery slope. Environmentalists– this should be a wake up call.

A protest sign from a recent MoveOn.org rally. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

The world is in crisis. Hunger, poverty, homelessness, environmental devastation…

Last week at the Salt of the Earth Labor College in Tucson, Sam Webb, chair of the US Communist Party, addressed these worldwide crises, the role of capitalism, and the growing push-back from the people.

Using the pro-union, anti-right-wing government demonstrations in Wisconsin as a jumping off point, Webb said there is a growing “spirit of struggle” in the US. According to Webb, the current movement is “qualitatively different” because recent demonstrations against the extremist Republican agenda have drawn tens of thousands of people to rallies nationwide.

Most of Webb’s talk focused on capitalism in crisis.

“The capitalist class declared a strike action,” Webb quipped. “They have about $2 trillion in hand… and they’re investing nearly nothing of their $2 trillion or if they invest, they are investing it abroad or in speculative ventures, so it’s hard to think the employment rate is going to go down too much.”

Although the current demonstrations in the US have focused on jobs, pensions, and unions, the US and the world are facing several multi-level crises. Beyond widespread unemployment, there are crises in hunger, poverty, equality, education, public health, housing, and the environment.

Webb addressed a packed house of about 50 activists. According to a Labor College representative, about half of the audience was newcomers. The video below includes highlights from his talk. For an schedule of other upcoming classes, check this link.

In the wake of the horrific devastation in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami earlier this week, it’s ironic that the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives has America’s natural disaster early warning systems on the small government chopping block. Check out this video link from the Ed Schultz Show on MSNBC.

The OpEd: What happens if tragedy hits here?

Why cut effective programs that save lives and don’t cost much?