When Regina Romero first ran for the Tucson City Council in 2007 in the west side Ward 1, she spoke about her commitment to community service, the need to include neighborhoods in decisions and empower residents. She’s held to those early promises, and in the past eight years grown into an effective council member who helped do difficult work to cut the general-fund budget and expanded development incentives.
The Arizona Daily Star endorses Regina Romero, a Democrat, for a third term. Her Republican opponent, Bill Hunt, is an amiable Raytheon engineer but lacks substantive ideas. For instance, he told us there’s duplication among city departments, but then was unable to name any. Hunt could be valuable on a civic commission or committee. We encourage him to become involved.
Romero has demonstrated mastery of the challenges that face local government. She knows the budget, and is realistic about what that means for services the public expects. The city has 1,000 fewer employees than it did in 2008, and each department has been cut by 20 percent, she said. “Everyone knows the city has a structural deficit,” she said in an interview with the Star editorial board. “In 2008 we had to take care of an urgent, bleeding patient in the emergency room.”
Romero advocated for the city’s Primary Jobs initiative, which offers incentives to businesses that invest at least $5 million and create a minimum of 25 high-paying jobs with health insurance. Tucson used the incentive package to help land the HomeGoods warehouse and distribution center.
With Romero on the council, Tucson has gotten the modern streetcar from idea to reality, and created incentives to encourage businesses to open in the city’s center.
Romero was on the wrong side of a key issue, however. She opposed helping Grand Canyon University when it was interested in building a campus west of downtown. The deal had far to go before becoming reality, but she fought against it, citing neighborhood opposition, and eventually the university turned its attention to Mesa.
The recent Sun Tran bus strike had just ended when we spoke with Romero and Hunt. They both talked about the need to prevent future work stoppages, but only Romero was willing to contemplate finding a dedicated funding source for public transit or public safety.
“I think it should be a community conversation,” Romero said, of the possibility of pursuing a property or sales tax to create a steady and reliable revenue stream for these specific ongoing needs. While we’re not endorsing any particular approach at this point, it is clear that city employees and residents would benefit from the stability a dedicated revenue source would provide. Doing so would help to give the City Council the room necessary to fix the structural deficits in the budget.
Regina Romero effectively represents Ward 1 and is the best choice in this election. We recommend her for another term.
