Standing the test of time
Local officials had lots of new ideas this year. Which ones will last?
Running a local government is mostly just making sure the trains run on time and dealing with problems as they arise.
But officials also can bring their own ideas and pet projects to the table, or take a stand on a particular issue they think is important.
Two decades ago, the Pima County medical examiner felt a moral obligation to track the sudden rise in migrant deaths in Southern Arizona. Their data and methods are now the gold standard along the U.S.-Mexico border.
A little over a decade ago, Tucson officials said the city needed a streetcar to draw people back to the downtown area. Last year, Tucsonans and tourists used the streetcar 1.7 million times, thanks in part to the city council deciding to offer free fares. Officials now rave about how much the streetcar helps bring customers to local restaurants and businesses.
At first, they were just ideas. Now they’re woven into local civic life. Other ideas, however, withered on the vine.
When we look back 10 years from now, which ideas that local officials championed this year will have stood the test of time?
As we went through local news coverage over the past year, we highlighted the ordinances and initiatives that seemed to strike a chord or came in response to high-profile incidents.
Prevailing wages: One idea the Tucson City Council set in motion in January was a prevailing wage ordinance for large-scale public works projects. Mayor Regina Romero said at the time that prevailing wages have “long served as a tool to uplift our communities” and protect workers. But the ordinance was stopped cold in June by a judge who said state law prohibited cities from establishing a prevailing wage.
Straw purchasers: A Pima County ordinance from April targeted straw purchasers of firearms, a key tactic for traffickers who want to buy firearms but aren’t allowed to do it themselves. The new rules require gun owners to report any lost or stolen gun within two days. Supervisor Rex Scott championed the ordinance, saying legal challenges on Second Amendment grounds were “predictable, but absolutely ridiculous.” Like the prevailing wage ordinance, this one was met by a lawsuit from the Goldwater Institute. But that lawsuit hasn’t been resolved yet.
Fast buses: The Tucson City Council decided to establish a Bus Rapid Transit system on Stone Avenue. The idea is to set up dedicated lanes, easy-to-use ticketing, and high-capacity buses to whisk people between downtown and the north side (and eventually south to the airport). Plus, it’s much cheaper than extending the streetcar line. This one is still in the public outreach phase, as officials try to navigate local concerns about how the system would affect neighborhoods.
Street racing: Councilwoman Nikki Lee took a stand on street racing, where young people in cars block intersections so they can drag race or do donuts while shooting off firecrackers, brandishing guns, and damaging property. It’s a nationwide phenomenon that hit Lee’s ward on the east side particularly hard. She brought it to the council last fall, and again in October, spurring the city to invest $1 million in equipment like cameras and license-plate readers.
Heat safety: The Pima County supervisors set up new heat-safety rules in August for contractors hired by the county, such as making sure workers have water and shade. The new rules also allow employees to report violations, with protections against retaliation by their employers. Pima was the first county in Arizona to pass this type of heat-safety ordinance.
Hookah lounges: Councilwoman Karin Uhlich and Councilman Richard Fimbres led the way for the city council to address brazen shootings around hookah lounges. Those shootings often happened late at night, after bars closed and people gathered at the hookah lounges. Last month, the city council decided to restrict their hours of operation to lessen the chance of late-night shootings. Like the street racing effort, time will tell whether the new ordinance has an impact.
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Coming up
Some ideas were broached this year, but no decision has been made yet.
Feeding people in parks: The Tucson City Council considered changing the rules for issuing permits to provide food in parks last month, at the request of Uhlich and Council member Lane Santa Cruz. The council is trying to balance complaints about trash being left in parks and requests from local aid groups who want more freedom to help unsheltered people in parks. They decided to hold off on making any changes until they get more feedback from the public.
Camping in washes: The Tucson council was all set to vote on banning unsheltered people from camping in washes in September, which was made possible by a U.S. Supreme Court decision this summer. But they pulled the item from the meeting agenda at the last minute. Councilman Paul Cunningham later said he “just wasn’t sure” why the ordinance was needed or whether unsheltered people would even be able to pay a fine if they were cited.
City-run electricity: The Tucson council commissioned a study to see whether they could establish a city-owned electric utility, similar to what they do with Tucson Water. They hired a firm to study the issue and they expect to get the results of that study in May. If they decide to move ahead, they would face all sorts of expensive choices, like buying the infrastructure needed to deliver electricity.
Those are some of the big ones, but there are plenty of others. And you never know how the public will react. What are people going to say about the city extending the hours that drivers need to use parking meters, or new rules for left-hand turns at certain intersections?
You never know how these things will pan out. But we’re looking forward to covering all of it!
