Well, another election year is over, and it already seems the next one is close at hand. It always seems that we in Pima County, and the City of Tucson in particular, and inundated with politicians and bureaucrats constantly shuffling about one-another, trying desperately to gain a foothold in the limelight. This may be pretty common throughout our nation, especially in these trying social and economic times. But in Tucson, we, the People, seem to be the ones who pay the price.
I've been considering writing this blog for some time now, but have always found other things to do with my time. I have no interest politics, though I do find political wrangling very annoying. Debate is healthy, and we can learn from it, but the vitriol that accompanies such debated I find meaningless. It is not my attempt to add to this flotsam and jetsam, but to separate myself from it, and in the process, present some ideas on how our great city, and the surrounding areas, can be improved. Ideas that we, as citizens, can work toward enacting.
Today, in the Arizona Daily Star, an article mentioned the city's move toward improving the condition of the landscaping along our surface streets and in the medians. For the last several years, this has been a pet peeve of mine as I've seen countless dead and dying trees, overgrown thickets of shrubs, emaciated agave and saguaro cacti, and tons of trash and litter.
The city leaders claim this is the result of a dilapidated irrigation system sorely in need of repair. They claim that budget constraints forced them to defer maintenance, but that now, there is little choice but to make the repairs in order to improve our city's image. I say, hogwash! As any homeowner will tell you, to delay important maintenance and repairs now, will result in much more expensive corrections down the road. Its easy to assume that there will be more money in the future to fix these problems, but as a wise man once said, "To assume only makes an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me.'
This is exactly what our City Council has done. They've kicked the can down the road about as far as they can, and now its time to finally do something constructive. My fear is, once the assessment of the system's condition is released to the council, we will all be made 'asses.' I predict that the cost of repairs will be astronomical, the city council, in a rush to make themselves look good (under the guise that they are, in fact, trying to make the city look good) will re-appropriate funds to begin the work, and will then attempt to place a proposition on next ballot to fund the remaining repairs. I hope and pray I'm wrong, but city history seems to support my prediction.
Is there something we can do about it? Well, I have a few ideas...
Cruise anywhere throughout this great country of ours, and you'll notice small green signs dotting our freeways... "Adopt-a-highway / Loyal Order of Such and Such / Next 2 Miles" In many places, this seems to have worked quite well. Perhaps not so much in Arizona, where our seasonal inferno keeps all but the most dedicated volunteers indoors, but elsewhere you can spot small groupings of orange, red, or yellow refuse bags bordering the highways where some group of well-meaning, civic minded people tried their best to make a difference.
How about applying this same idea to our city streets! Sure, it won't do much to fix our undermined irrigation system, but by relieving labor pressure on our threadbare city departments, we can free them up to focus on those things far above the abilities of most volunteers. It will also free up some of our thin budgets, and will go a long way toward beautifying our city. By cleaning up the garbage, trimming and thinning trees and shrubs, and making minor repairs where possible, this army of volunteers could really make a difference!
The program could then be expanded to include citizens' councils to assist is certain aspects of planning and logistics, plant propagation (using excess plants harvested from volunteer clean-up activities) and better plant selection to avoid noxious plants that were once commonly used in municipal landscape designs.
By teaming up with already established organizations like Trees Please Tucson, the Arizona Cactus and Succulent Research Center, the Tucson Botanical Gardens, and The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, among many, such a program could be quickly and effectively established to the greater benefit of our community. Had such a program already been in place, perhaps we wouldn't have to be discussing the need for a city-wide assessment and overhaul, but instead, we could be discussing the great savings that were realized thanks to our hard working citizens. Savings which could have been applied to... oh, perhaps our roads!? Nah, who needs to save money for that, after all, we just increased our citizens' property tax!
So where do we go from here?
For starters, tell your friends and family about this blog... comment on it, add your ideas with respect to this topic, and then spread the word to all of your civic organizations, as well as the city council. If there is a groundswell of support for such a program, then the powers that be will HAVE to listen. I'm sure at first, there will be bureaucratic naysayers who will come up with excuses as to why these programs can't or won't work. They feel that they have a monopoly on ideas, no matter how flawed they turn out to be. They don't like the competition, but we have sheer numbers on our side! So... Let's Get Started!
