Homeowner Jesse Micander on his roof as workers from Technicians for Sustainability install new solar panels near South Prudence and East Escalante roads in Tucson in this 2023 file photo.
Myths about TEP
I was very glad to read Todd Hixon's column of Feb. 18 regarding Tucson Electric Power. He has put my mind at ease and convinced me that remaining with TEP is the best choice for Tucson. As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I was happy that the myth that TEP doesn't like people to get rooftop solar is nonsense. I had rooftop solar installed on my 1,800 square-foot house in 2018 and couldn't be more pleased. Because I paid for the system right then, my monthly bill is only $26.99, except for the one month when the bill is nothing. Solar makes sense in our climate, and staying with TEP also makes sense.
Aston Bloom
East side
Power to the people
I recently read an article about the current economic state being described as a “boomcession”. It’s the blending of phrases; booming economy and economic recession and describes how the rich are riding high on the stock market while the poor and middle class are suffering more than ever. The Canadian-owned corporation TEP is one prime example of the boomcession. They are experiencing record profits and huge bonuses for C-suites while half of their customers are forced to decide between paying for medication, groceries or their electric bill because the TEP corporation jacked up their rates by 14%. In contrast, public power, as stated in the name, is for the public, not for corporations. It offers an alternative to price gouging and is for the people. For the people of Tucson. We don’t have to accept the status quo of a foreign-owned corporation focused on profits and stock value. Let’s consider an alternative and give the power back to the people with public power.
Dan Hunt
Midtown
Chris Nanos, please stop talking
What has happened to Nancy Guthrie is tragic and heartbreaking. I hope she is found soon and her family can find peace. But the past three weeks of nonstop coverage and breaking news is perplexing to me. How many dozens of Indigenous women and girls who go missing are never even investigated? Arizona ranks third for the most missing and murdered Indigenous women in the country. Why aren’t we hearing about them? Where are their pictures and yellow ribbons?
And Chris Nanos: Please stop talking to the media. You are as incompetent as you are corrupt and an embarrassment to Tucson.
Allison Bradford
Marana
Blue money and roads
Of the reported discussion items at the upcoming Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting is the question of what to do with the approximately $27 million from the recent sale of 290 acres to Beale Infrastructure (or is it Bobcat B1 LLC?). Transportation improvements are high on the radar these days, and improving and expanding the main entrance to the Pima County Fairgrounds, or the S. Rita Road/I-10 interchange, are likely candidates if Project Blue gets off the ground. Alternatively, given the recent jitters in the private debt markets, caused, in part, by Blue Owl Capital’s liquidation of assets (to pay investors heading for the exits), maybe the Supervisors want to sit on the money. They might get a skeet range back that needs attention.
Sheldon Clark
Vail
The real voting crisis
The prevailing narrative insists our elections are riddled with fraud. The numbers tell a different story. Over 25 years in Arizona, documented fraud amounted to 0.0000845% of votes. Across six battleground states in 2020, investigators found fewer than 475 instances of fraud out of 25 million votes.
If we were serious about strengthening our democracy, we'd focus on encouraging more voting, not less. Roughly two-thirds of eligible voters participate in presidential elections, plummeting to under 50 percent in midterms. The genuine threat isn't phantom illegal votes; it's tens of millions of legitimate citizens who never cast a ballot.
Meaningful reform would lower barriers: automatic registration, expanded early voting, universal mail-in ballots, Election Day as a national holiday. Instead, we're raising barriers: voter ID requirements, purged registration rolls, reduced polling locations, shortened voting windows.
We're solving a problem that doesn't exist while ignoring the crisis that does. Vote!
Lawrence Mazin
SaddleBrooke
The Bobbsey Twins
Governor Walz and Mayor Frey of Minnesota are cheering the drawdown of ICE activities there. They claim those actions did irreparable damage to the state, caused massive economic disruption, and struck fear into the hearts of all Minnesotans. However, they failed to note that the majority of the serious disruptions were caused by unruly and oftentimes dangerous, unlawful protesters. They also failed to note that over 4,000 illegals were apprehended, and more than 2,800 were either convicted or accused of serious crimes and had orders of deportation. 2,800 unaccompanied children were located. No parents, where were they, and how were they being treated? Were they all in the Learning Center? Who, in their right mind would allow this injustice to befall their community? Obviously, this was a planned ploy to deflect attention from the $9 billion of fraud that those two allowed. They realize that the heavy hammer of the federal government is descending upon those two culpable miscreants, and they have no reasonable defense.
Loyal M. Johnson Jr.
Oro Valley
A war on children by a pro-life regime
Babies, young children, and pregnant women have become a casualty of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. It’s clear his goal is to inflict cruelty.
He and DHS claim they are detaining the “worst of the worst” as they abduct innocent babies and children.
As this newspaper reported, ICE is holding 71,000 people in detention centers, and 74% have never been convicted of a crime.
A two-month-old baby detained at the Dilly, Texas detention center, where a measles outbreak occurred, was described as “choking on his own vomit.” Children, some with chronic medical issues, are not getting the care they need and are spending months in horrible conditions.
Trump’s regime is abusing children at detention centers; they have killed over 500,000 children by dismantling USAID, and are covering up child predation at Epstein’s island and Zorro Ranch.
They think that because they are the federal government, they can deport sick babies, and sexually and physically abuse minors without any accountability. This is unconscionable.
Teresa Jenkins
SaddleBrooke
What is courage?
Courage is knowing you're likely to face danger, knowing that you may not succeed, and yet knowing you have the mental willingness to do it. The people of Minneapolis exhibited this courage recently and stood up for their city, their neighbors, their values and their right to march and speak. They protected young children, they delivered food, they drove people in their own cars to keep them safe. They spoke for all Americans who are totally opposed to Trump's reign of terror across our country.
Thank you to the people of Minneapolis, to the mayor who stood up and spoke truth to power, and all others, including the local police, for doing the right thing and doing it all lawfully and peacefully.
You all showed your spirit, backbone, boldness and spunk and for that we thank you all.
Sally Mayersohn
Northwest side
In a close call, I voted yes on RTA Next
I voted yes, mostly because I believe uninterrupted maintenance of the half-cent transportation sales tax is important and that Tucson really needs its portion of the projected $177M for pavement maintenance. Despite all the recent bond work and new roadway projects you see, decades of inadequate pavement upkeep and escalating roadway rehabilitation costs will still have us dodging potholes. If the RTA Next vote fails, having a replacement vote on Tucson-only transportation support will be iffy and too far into the future.
The time for disconnecting from RTA was this time last year or earlier, before the RTA Next package was finalized. Now, the wise course for Tucson residents is to vote yes on the current ballot, harvest what we can from the package and begin to look closely at Tucson's own Move Tucson program as a means for working on continuing unmet needs.
Donald Ijams
Midtown
In our place
As a nation, we have put ourselves in a position of having to slog through our country's divisive quagmire. It's time that we do a self-analysis. Why is it becoming increasingly obvious that we need to be put in — or return to — our place? We have lost our way. Our place is a place of strength and humanity based on civility, respect for others, cooperation, shared leadership, humility, understanding, forgiving, respect and judicious preparedness. Others no longer see our country in that light. The ability to correct our course is within us.
Don Gerlach
East side
