Tucson bans sleeping in washes

Manpower will be an issue … Project Blue is a city issue? … TEP wasn’t in the room where it happened.

Everyone saw the writing on the wall months ago when the Tucson City Council first voted on whether to ban sleeping in washes.

At the time, Mayor Regina Romero and two councilmembers supported the proposal, hoping to head off a wave of Proposition 312 claims by amending several city ordinances — including the one addressing camping in washes.

Prop 312, approved by voters, requires the city to compensate property owners for financial losses they say stem from unenforced public nuisance laws — such as bans on panhandling, illegal camping, or public urination.

But three other councilmembers opposed the ban. They argued it was flawed and would end up punishing Tucson’s most vulnerable residents for simply trying to find a place to rest.

They also flagged a practical issue: The city doesn’t have enough police officers to consistently enforce the ban.

A technological glitch prevented then-Councilman Richard Fimbres from casting what could have been a tie-breaking vote two months ago, leaving the Council deadlocked.

That changed on Tuesday night, when a revised version of the camping ban with updated language passed.

The new ordinance bans “establishing or maintaining a campsite” in a city wash and defines a campsite as “any place where tents, shade structures, boxes, furniture, mattresses, or other materials are used for the purpose of establishing or maintaining a temporary place to live.” A secondary clause also defines a campsite as any place where stoves or fires are used for the same purpose.

Councilman Kevin Dahl — who voted against the original measure — was the lone “no” vote this time around. Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz, who also opposed the earlier version, was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.

Protesters held signs urging the Council to reject the wash camping ban during Tuesday's meeting.

Romero said she wasn’t enthusiastic about the ordinance but felt her hands were tied, calling the situation a public health crisis.

“Elections have consequences. Voters in the city of Tucson were very clear by passing Proposition 312 that they want jurisdictions — both the city and the county — to do something about the unsheltered crisis,” Romero said.

At one point during the meeting, Romero had a protester removed after repeated heckling from the audience members grew loud enough to disrupt the proceedings.

Violating the new ordinance is now a misdemeanor, punishable by a $250 fine, up to 10 days in jail, or a year of probation.

But don’t expect an immediate crackdown.

A staff memo to the Council acknowledged that the city “simply does not have the resources (including the personnel resources)” to respond to every potential Prop 312 violation. With Tucson police already stretched thin, not every complaint will lead to enforcement action.

Two months ago, the Council passed a ban on loitering on medians — a move city officials say has led to a decrease in the number of people asking for help at stoplights.

Also on Tuesday, the Council made changes to its parks ordinance by expanding the city’s camping ban inside parks. Previously, the ban was enforceable only between 10:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. The ban now applies 24/7.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Pima County Board of Supervisors narrowly voted to sell 290 acres near the Pima County Fairgrounds to a third party that plans to build several data centers.

It was the big story of the day, but the Supervisors’ decision wouldn’t hold for long.

By the end of the day, Supervisor Matt Heinz — who was part of the majority of the Supervisors who backed Project Blue — said he wanted to bring the issue back for another vote ASAP.

His issue wasn’t with the data centers — but their partner — Tucson Electric Power.

On Tuesday afternoon, it became public that the Canadian-owned utility was asking the Arizona Corporation Commission to approve a rate increase of 14% for residential customers.

It was clear from Heinz’s official request he didn’t appreciate that the rate hike never came up in his meetings with TEP.

“In light of the new information we learned literally minutes after the conclusion of the June 17th Board meeting through a TEP press release, namely that TEP is now preparing to go to the Arizona Corporation Commission requesting a rate increase of 14% on residential customers, I believe the Board must reconsider the assurances we were given and the overall project proposal at hand,” Heinz wrote to the clerk of the board in his request.

In a press release, TEP said they needed to increase rates to better maintain equipment in the face of “more extreme weather” and invest in upgrades to the local electric grid.

The roughly four-hour discussion earlier in the day left both the supervisors and the public with plenty of unanswered questions about Project Blue.

Here’s a quick list of things we still don’t know about Project Blue:

• How much potable water will be used while Tucson Water builds the 18-mile reclaimed water pipeline

• How much reclaimed water will be used annually

• How much energy the data centers will need and how TEP plans to meet that demand

Oh, and also: who exactly is this for?

Right now, we only know the name of the out-of-state developer and the out-of-state company buying the land — which will presumably flip it to the mystery business actually operating the data centers if Heinz can’t be persuaded to change his vote.

But here’s the kicker: The final fate of the data centers ultimately rests with the Tucson City Council.¹

Why? Because the city would need to annex the privately held property in order to supply the massive amount of reclaimed water the data centers will require.

The Tucson City Council isn’t scheduled to meet again until August, so don’t expect an update on Project Blue for at least six weeks.

Not angry, just disappointed: Although it’s not legally required, it’s not a great look to run in a district that you don’t live in. But that’s what half the candidates in the Congressional District 7 race are doing, the Arizona Luminaria’s Becky Pallack and John Washington report. They dug through public records and found the three highest-profile Democratic candidates — Adelita Grijalva, Daniel Hernandez and Deja Foxx — all live in CD7, as does Democrat Jose Malvido. But Democrat Patrick Harris Sr. lives in Scottsdale. On the Republican side, only Daniel Butierez Sr. lives in the district.

Eye on the calendar: As early voting kicks off this week for the CD7 special election, the Tucson Sentinel’s Jim Nintzel rounds up the key dates for voters. And he has the list of upcoming forums for candidates in the Tucson City Council elections, including a forum for Ward 3 on June 21, another for Ward 5 on June 26, and one for Ward 6 on July 1.

All aboard?: Now that Tucson officials have one of their go-to guys in charge of the Regional Transportation Authority board, will that be enough to get the Tucson City Council to support the RTA Next plan? That’s the question on Tucson Sentinel columnist Blake Morlock’s mind as former Tucson City Manager Mike Ortega takes the reins, following a long stretch of stalemated negotiations among local officials.

“A kind way to describe the process is that the RTA has been ‘stuck in traffic for the last year or two.’ The slow-going has been made worse by Tucson acting like dad in the passenger seat – face buried in an old road atlas – saying ‘Wait. Wait. We should have turned right back there,’” Morlock writes.

Can’t rob Peter to pay Paul: The University of Arizona raised $1.3 billion from private donors since 2017, but they can’t use any of that money to offset federal funding cuts, the Arizona Daily Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar reports. That private fundraising hit a rough patch after the school announced a budget deficit in 2023, but officials say it’s picking back up.

Far from home: Next week, stargazers will get to see the first images from a UA-backed observatory in Chile, Arizona Public Media’s Tony Perkins reports. The Vera Rubin Observatory uses the largest camera ever made, including mirrors manufactured at the UA, to make a 3-D map of the universe.

Smash that button and help us make a 3-D map of local politics.

A hurricane might help: President Donald Trump has set his sights on the Colorado River water that Mexico owes to the U.S., KJZZ’s Nina Kravinsky reports. He’s threatening tariffs and “SANCTIONS” if Mexico doesn’t give the owed water to Texas. Mexican officials sent an additional shipment of water to Texas, but they’re struggling to deal with a years-long drought and experts say they would need an act of God to come up with the rest of the water they owe. (One of our sister newsletters, the Water Agenda, broke down the dynamics of the cross-border water relationship back in March.)

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Education Forward Arizona! They gather an amazing amount of data on Arizona’s schools and co-own the Arizona Education Progress Meter, which you can peruse here.

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Proposed federal cuts to GEAR UP and TRIO — and the closure of a key Head Start regional office — threaten to roll back hard-won progress in expanding educational opportunity, especially in rural and underserved communities.

These longstanding programs have helped thousands of students from low-income and first-generation backgrounds access college, receive academic support, and build foundations for lifelong success.

• In Arizona, GEAR UP alone has supported more than 61,000 students, improving graduation and college enrollment rates in alignment with the state’s Achieve60AZ goal.

• TRIO programs at Arizona State University report a 98% high school graduation rate and a 97% college enrollment rate for participants.

• Meanwhile, while Head Start funding is currently maintained, the closure of the regional office serving Arizona has created significant challenges for programs delivering essential early learning and health services to more than 17,000 children across the state.

These proposed cuts and operational changes could jeopardize recent gains, undermining Arizona’s future workforce and economic growth.

These programs work — and they have enjoyed decades of bipartisan support for a reason. They create real opportunity for students and strengthen Arizona’s economy.

At Education Forward Arizona, we’re calling on policymakers at every level to stand up for these proven programs and ensure every student can succeed.

For a deeper look at how these programs support Arizona’s students — and what we risk losing — check out Education Forward Arizona’s latest education explainer.

If you’d like to sponsor an edition of the Education Agenda, get in touch!

Tucson Electric Power probably should’ve sent someone — anyone — to the Tucson City Council meeting. A plant. Hell, a sock puppet.

Instead, they no-showed the very meeting where the Council was supposed to put their franchise renewal on the November ballot.

Now, the entire Council is rethinking whether they want to get into bed with TEP at all.

So what’s the beef? The city had a 48-hour window to finalize a deal with TEP to make the ballot deadline. TEP did send over a red-lined agreement. But Mayor Regina Romero said it came sprinkled with a number of things the public would never agree to in a million years.

And TEP is too busy to negotiate, she said.

“They called us today to say they had other important things to do,” Romero told the Council.

When Councilman Paul Cunningham floated punting the decision to the ballot, probably next spring, Councilwoman Nikki Lee generously suggested giving TEP two more days to get back to them.

Cunningham wasn’t hearing it.

“What am I? Eddie Murphy? I am not giving them 48 hours. They had their chance. They are not here. They are not serious,” Cunningham said.2

Always the straight man in this comedy, a TEP official offered a brief statement after the meeting.

“We're closely engaged with the City of Tucson and we look forward to continuing our collaboration. We share many common objectives and we're working to memorialize those in a new energy collaboration agreement, a franchise agreement and other initiatives,” said Joseph Barrios, TEP’s Manager of Corporate Communications.

1. If the Council approves a pre-annexation agreement with the folks behind Project Blue, both the city and county will be locked into joint custody of Project Blue indefinitely. The city handles the water; the county has to approve air-quality permits when TEP builds a new substation; and the county’s economic development team will be tasked with enforcing the sale agreement — making sure the company actually delivers on those promised jobs.

2. In case you didn’t get that reference, “48 Hours” is the buddy cop flick that launched Murphy's big-screen career.