Tucson Speaks Out: February 27

Our US Senators failed all Arizonans

Our U.S. Senators' hatred of our President does not serve us well. Senator Gallegos would not even attend the State of the Union and show respect for the Office of the President. Rather than finding common ground to work with Republicans and the President, he abdicated his responsibilities and decided to stay home.

Senator Kelly could not even stand when called upon by our President to support American citizens over illegal immigrants who have invaded our country. Putting illegal, hopefully non-voting immigrants first violates the fundamental duties of a U.S. Senator.

We must do better!

Paul D'Andrea

Northwest side

The beautiful Santa Ritas are doomed

I'm very disappointed in Katie Hobbs for approving the sale of 160 acres of the Santa Rita Mountains to Hudbay. I had expected her to be a better steward. Hudbay will get more concessions in the future until the Santa Ritas will become a flattop rock pile, like what's just west of Green Valley.

William Winkelman

Southeast side

Kindness still exists

I read Richard Brusca's article on his sadness over loss of kindness and good in Americans today.

I am a 95-year-old woman, former university professor, fencing coach, and competitor, with total loss of balance. I have to walk pushing a 4-wheel walker.

To my continued amazement, I have found myself assisted every step of the way by young, old, male, female -- holding doors, shutting doors, assisting at intersections and curbs. Unending kindness.

Mr. Brusca, come walk with me.

Diane Stephenson

Foothills

Unrealistic promises for Marana, Project Blue

Beale has promised that their data centers for Marana and Project Blue in Pima County will have electricity from 100% renewable energy. Sounds good until you actually see where the rubber meets the road.

Project Blue: 1200 megawatts of power, Marana 1500, total 2800. Say it's solar. How many solar panels at current tech, and how much space would be required to accommodate the panels?

1,500,000 solar panels taking up over 20 square miles, almost 300% larger than the now largest solar array in America at California's Edwards Air Force base. You've already got AZ counties passing ordinances preventing solar arrays; you've got big-time rural opposition that has to be addressed, and the farther away from the data centers, the more they'll cost for transmitting that power.

And if you think TEP is going to just pass through its costs of obtaining solar energy (by law, they're not allowed to mark up energy purchases) instead of building more gas plants, I've got a bridge to sell you.

Rick Rappaport

Oro Valley

Olympic gold medalists

The men's hockey team was invited, as Trump's guests, to hear him speak at the State of the Union. He back-handedly invited the women's team, who declined. But what about all of the others, who represented the United States and were Gold Medalists? Why were their successful endeavors not acknowledged by an invitation to the SOTU?

Jerry Lujan

Oro Valley

RTA critics are missing the point

Okay, some in our beloved community are opposed to extending the RTA, with distasteful political signs like "Broken Trust, Broken Roads" and "Lies Won't Fix Our Streets."

Well, for starters, what's with the deep animosity toward our elected officials and the public works department? Liars. Nah.

What's really at issue here is that if these measures are voted down, it will be many, many years before we have a new plan, and even more years before we can get the work started. The first RTA took more than a decade to create.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Wouldn't you rather have critical work underway ASAP — like this year — rather than pushing us down the road, so to speak, with pipe dreams of a better plan. That won't happen any time soon.

So let's get to work and make our community safer and our commutes easier, from one end of the county to another. Vote yes!

Jeff Herr

North side

Finally, more cancer screenings

I would like to recognize Congressman Juan Ciscomani for his recent vote to help to pass the multi-cancer early screening coverage legislation that we and thousands of other patients have advocated for over the past several years. This legislation now means that FDA-approved multi-cancer screenings will be covered by Medicare. This is tremendous news, given that the senior population is most vulnerable to getting a Stage IV cancer diagnosis. Some of these screenings, once approved, will only require a single, non-invasive blood draw that will be able to detect dozens of cancers. As someone who was screened and caught cancer very early, I'm thrilled that Congress has taken a meaningful and impactful step towards combatting cancer. Adding another tool to this fight will save lives and have a positive impact on the senior population of Tucson and the entire country.

Chris Coronado

Northwest side

Big money for RTA

I read in today's Tucson Sentinel the dollar amounts from donors for RTA yes, more than $1.3 million, and donors for RTA no that raised less than $7,400. This huge difference is outstanding until I realized where it all comes from: contractors conducting road and bridge building, asphalt, iron workers, carpenters, union trades, realtors, car dealerships, many AI companies, banking institutions, to name a few. Of course, their donations are much more, considering they will receive big returns.

The average Tucsonan works jobs in town, offices, hotels, restaurants, medical, schools, hospitals, landscaping, and more. And it is we who travel our roads every day, often times many times a day.

Nancy Reid

North side

Speech for an audience of one

This year’s State of the Union speech felt less like an address to the American people and more like a performance for one person: Donald Trump. Facing declining poll numbers and weakening confidence in the economy and immigration, he offered applause lines and self‑congratulation instead of accountability.

Claims that inflation has been “ended” and prices broadly lowered do not reflect what Americans see at the grocery store, pharmacy, or gas pump. His repeated promises to eliminate fraud rang hollow while he ignored the ethical concerns surrounding the wealth accumulated by those closest to him and his family.

Most troubling was the enthusiastic applause from members of Congress. Their approval rewarded exaggeration and lies rather than honesty and avoided the hard truths Americans deserve to hear.

The country needed a serious plan to lower costs, strengthen families, and unite citizens. Instead, we heard grievance, projection, and self‑praise, evidence that the speech was delivered not for the nation, but for the man at the podium.

Lawrence Mazin

SaddleBrooke

Red-light running

Dear Mayor: Enough is enough! This morning, within 3 miles from my house, I experienced three vehicles running red lights - not late yellow but completely red. Coming home later in the day, I experienced another total red-light runner. How is this acceptable to you? If we can't afford or hire enough police to stop such behavior, what is stopping us from using private firms to capture such illegal behavior? I don't care about the cost or percentage such a firm would get. It would be so much better than the death(s) driving so regardless of the outcome will cause. Please, do something now.

Norman Patten

Midtown

Yes on Propositions 418, 419

If we vote “yes” on Propositions 418 and 419, we take a risk the projects won’t turn out exactly as RTA Next envisions. As we experienced with the original RTA plan, it turns out major recessions (2008) and COVID pandemics (2019-23) and other local factors can really slam our best plans. Many of the projects in RTA Next were accomplished and helped drivers and businesses throughout our communities, as well as area residents who rely on affordable public transportation. Although a few were delayed or changed as needs changed, the RTA was an overall success.

If we vote “no” on 418 and 419, we will have to start planning all over again.

Tim Steller, in his weekend column, was right that any plan has risk. We haven’t invented the crystal ball yet, so we don’t know everything that will happen for the next 20 years. We do know “yes” on 418 and 419 will keep our transportation system moving forward for our businesses and our taxpayers. Or we can vote “no” and only hope somebody does something, somewhere, sometime.

I am voting “yes” on both Propositions 418 and 419 to keep our major roads from totally disintegrating, build new projects to take employees to their jobs and us oldies to the doctor, and provide affordable transportation options. Please join me.

Marian Hill

Marana