Talking transit, car washes, and more

Federal grants at stake with new administration ... Gutfahr pleads guilty.

This month’s election brought a lot of new faces to the governing board of Pima Community College, and the Tucson City Council is hoping they can persuade them to help keep transit free in the city.

Fare-free transit has been a key issue for the council since they stopped charging people to ride buses and the streetcar in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. Over the course of many, many discussions, the council has locked in the fare-free policy until next summer, and they plan to keep it in place for at least another year after that.

But it costs money, roughly $10 million a year in lost fare revenue. The council tried to persuade the PCC board, along with the University of Arizona and Tucson Unified School District, to help cover the cost, since many of the people who use buses and the street car are students. They came up short.

With new members of the PCC governing board, plus a new president at the UA, the council is hoping they can have better luck now. On top of that, Mayor Regina Romero said TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo wants the district to provide universal transportation for students, and that could mean a cost-sharing partnership with the city.

Tucsonans “hold their breath every time we’re going to have this discussion,” even if imposing fares is not on the table, Council member Lane Santa Cruz said. The council should focus on funding transit “more holistically” and get to the point where they can “brag” about the city’s free public transportation and encourage more people to use it.

Besides partnering with schools, the council looked at several other funding options at their study session Tuesday, some of which they could act on without needing any changes to state law.

One of those options is increasing the hotel/motel tax. Adding $1 dollar per night would bring in about $2 million a year. Council member Karin Uhlich highlighted that option, but said the city should make sure they stay competitive with other cities in Arizona.

Another option would be to increase the public utility tax. When Council member Nikki Lee asked what that would look like, City Manager Tim Thomure said staff would need several months to prepare detailed proposals for the council.

As the council wrapped up their discussion, Council member Paul Cunningham pointed to one of the “really excellent” developments since the fare-free policy was put in place: Ridership on buses went up from 10 million in 2021 to nearly 15 million in 2023.

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As the council prepares for another Trump administration, Romero said she wanted the city to sign any federal grants that aren’t locked down yet “as quickly as we possibly can.”

The city gets millions of dollars every year from those grants. The council’s legislative liaison, former Democratic lawmaker Andrés Cano, said he’s compiling a list of outstanding federal grant submissions and he expects the Biden administration to sign off on some of them before the end of the presidential term.

Cano also gave the council the skinny on the upcoming legislative session. The council will have a better idea of where the state budget is headed (and how the state’s finances could impact the city) on January 17, when Gov. Katie Hobbs releases her budget proposal.

Cano said he expects one of the “top-line issues” in the first weeks of the legislative session will be the aggregate expenditure limit (how much K-12 schools can spend) as Prop 123 expires, which could lead to a special election in May. He also pointed to legislation to speed up ballot counting, as well as dealing with the end of the state’s drought contingency plan.

Car washes keep popping up all over the city. Cunningham took a moment to address that fact when the council was considering a zoning application for another one.

“How many more car wash applications do we have? I’m serious, I’m not trying to make a joke. We’ve had a lot,” he said. “We’re actually getting to the point where people are calling and going ‘how many car washes do we need?’”

Cunningham said he had no problem approving that particular zoning application, he just wanted to “put the car wash industry on notice that we’re a little oversaturated right now.”

Every council meeting, residents take the mic and lay out their concerns or highlight good things happening in the community, among many other topics. It’s often colorful and it’s not uncommon for people to present worthwhile ideas. Here’s what Tucson residents had to say at the call to the public on Tuesday:

• A man was worried about seeing so many drive-thru restaurants where dozens of cars idle while drivers wait. It looks like a “bunch of steel smokestacks.”

• A woman complained about “corruption” at utility companies that leads to unfair charges on her account.

• A little girl said everybody in her scout troop agreed that “it’s really sad that people aren’t as lucky as us” and wanted the city to help people who don’t have homes. She was followed by another girl who said her troop came up with ideas, like making homeless shelters more visible and the city buying empty buildings and turning them into shelters.

• Next up was a woman who said a homeless encampment near her house has grown for the past year. She contacted the city’s 311 system and called the police when a man needed help and was throwing rocks at their house. They brought him water because it looked like he couldn’t move. They’ve also heard gunshots and people at the encampment are burning wood (and possibly human feces) every night, creating “noxious” smoke that gets into her house.

• A woman said she didn’t agree with Prop 312 (a voter-approved measure that allows property owners to get refunds on property taxes when officials don’t enforce public nuisance laws) and urged the city to not criminalize homelessness. Instead, they should raise money by regulating short-term rentals, like Flagstaff and Paradise Valley have done. She also wanted the city to keep transit fare-free, which helps with tourism, and work on a city-owned utility. Council member Kevin Dahl asked for her contact information.

• A woman said her neighbor across the alley set a fire in his backyard and then fell asleep. The fire spread to another neighbor’s car port, the electric pole, her shed that housed her belongings, and her car port. Rather than help her, city officials came out, installed a fence, started billing her, and then put three liens on her property. Romero said she would ask the city manager to look into it.

Recount incoming: At a special meeting yesterday, the Pima County supervisors approved the canvass of the November 5 election and gave the green light to a recount for the razor-thin sheriff’s race between Democratic incumbent Sheriff Chris Nanos and Republican challenger Heather Lappin. Elections officials expect the recount to take about two weeks.

Guilty plea: Former Santa Cruz County Treasurer Liz Gutfahr pleaded guilty to three federal charges related to a $39 million embezzlement scheme, the Nogales International’s Daisy Zavala Magaña reported. Gutfahr was charged with embezzlement by a public official, money laundering, and tax evasion. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 6.

Taking stock: Two years later, Cochise County Supervisor Peggy Judd looks back on what’s happened since she refused to certify the 2022 election results, VoteBeat’s Jen Fifield reports. ​That includes an indictment for interfering in an election, being abandoned by her supposed allies, racking up $70,000 in legal bills, and preparing to sell her house.

Crossings down, cases up: Border apprehensions are still way down in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, while federal officials continue to prosecute more people, Arizona Public Media’s Danyelle Khmara reports. Border encounters are down 81%, while prosecutions are up 200%, officials said.

10: The degrees above normal the Tucson area should see today. That should make for a nice 85-degree high temperature.