Mines get what the mines want
Re: the Oct. 31 article “Mine mitigation pitch wins an OK.”
No surprise here, the Arizona State Mine Inspector’s Office has signed off on Hudbay Minerals Inc. (not locally owned) reclamation plan for the Santa Rita Mountains despite concerns that the plan is woefully inadequate and does little to address issues involving water quality and Sonoran Desert protection. To celebrate this enlightening decision I propose the state’s motto be changed from “God Enriches” to “Welcome to Arizona — where the mines get what the mines want, especially if you’re from another country.”
Richard Govern
Foothills
Barriers erected to deliberation
Just a thought: If the U.S. Senate is truly the greatest deliberative body in the world, why does it erect barriers to deliberation? The John Lewis Voting Rights Act couldn’t be deliberated because it didn’t get past the filibuster requirement of 60 votes. Wait! We aren’t talking about passing a bill, we are talking about talking about a potential bill. Please take a minute and think about that — if you can’t debate a bill, how can you claim to be the greatest deliberative body in the world. Beats me!
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Norman Patten
Midtown
Adorable picture on the front page
Re: the Nov. 4 article “Donation has Donaldson kids lacing up new kicks.”
I continue to find it harder and harder to open my delivered Arizona Daily Star every day and find something that makes me smile and feel gratitude. Today (Nov. 4) it happened — the picture on the front page of Luna Brown and Markus Lopez brought a huge smile to my face and immense gratitude to the National Shoe Retailers Association partnering with Soles4Soles, a nonprofit, to outfit all 231 students at the school with sneakers donated by New Balance. Even wearing masks both of their eyes expressed such joy! My heart swelled and I thought this is what we used to be and want to return to. Thank you for putting this large picture on the front page. “A picture is worth a 1,000 words.” Luna is adorable!
Lynn Engel
Northeast side
City vote system a partisan mess
Re: the Nov. 4 article “Democrats win all 3 council races.”
The headline was hardly shocking, to say the least. Tucson election law governing council races, with district primaries but at-large general voting, is bizarre but predictable. With the city’s current demographics Democratic victories are virtually assured. (Kind of like very partisan gerrymandering.)
In this era of controversial Republican partisan state election laws, some driven by race and bad faith, you would think local Democratic leaders might be somewhat embarrassed by their Frankenstein council election voting laws.
Jim Greene
Oro Valley
Congress needs to act, and soon!
The results are in: off-year elections are favoring Republicans. Progressives are, predictably, blaming the “corporate” Democrats for the losses, and vice versa. The issue, lack of passed legislation from the Biden agenda because of both sides’ intransigence. Wake up, congresspersons! Biden was elected (legitimately and decisively) because he was a middle-of-the road, steady, known commodity. The voters wanted action, tangible action to make their lives better after the chaos and vituperation of the Trump years. If the Democratic Congress can’t deliver, their opportunity to do so will disappear, and we’ll be even worse off than before. Stop making “perfect” be the enemy of the good, and show us you can accomplish something.
Suzanne Ferguson
Southeast side
How about limits on the filibuster?
If Sen. Kyrsten Sinema cannot stomach removing the filibuster, might she consider limits to align with reconciliation? Since reconciliation can only be used (now) four times, perhaps we can maintain the filibuster but only allow the same number of uses. That way both sides have to stop and consider if and when to apply their limited power. Seems fair.
Jennifer Jones
Downtown
