Tim Steller's column: New generation struggles to emerge in Tucson elections

They’re not poised to take power just yet, but their ideas are starting to take hold in Tucson anyway.

It’s probably not long before they occupy the power centers, too.

A new generation of leaders, many in their 30s, is pushing to change how Tucson grows. Broadly speaking, they favor denser housing development within the city, vibrant and walkable neighborhoods, and multiple modes of transportation.

Older generations of neighborhood leaders have embraced some of these goals, but they are better known for protecting the interests of the single-family-home owners in their neighborhoods. That has often meant resisting change.

You’re unlikely to see any new ones elected in Tucson this year, though. The only member of this group with a strong chance of winning is incumbent Ward 1 council member Lane Santa Cruz. But over time, I expect more will win offices and gradually change the way Tucson works, a process that is already in motion.

A possible foreshadowing occurred in a neighborhood election in October. That’s when a group of residents of the Palo Verde neighborhood, many of them newer and younger, mounted a challenge to the longstanding association president, Ronni Kotwica.

Ward 6 Council Member Steve Kozachik supported Kotwica’s re-election, but the newcomers won handily, taking leadership of a square mile in midtown bounded by East Speedway, East Grant, North Country Club and North Alvernon.

“There was a handful of neighbors that were wanting to make sure that more neighbor voices were represented in decision-making,” said Val Timin, 32, the new association president. “We were able to mobilize to make that happen to get new people on the board.”

These new leaders may not be so pro-development that they belong to the Yes In My Back Yard, or YIMBY, movement. But neither are they traditional Tucson neighborhood NIMBYs — homeowners with a kneejerk negative response to proposed changes.

Timin described her approach as closer to MIMBY — Maybe in My Back Yard — open to proposed changes but still guarded.

When I reached her Friday, Kotwica preferred not to talk about the fractious election process that left her ousted after years in charge, though obviously some hard feelings remain about the 30-somethings who took her on and won.

She feels she protected the Palo Verde neighborhood from unwanted changes for years.

Now, she said, “I’m helping other neighborhoods that want my help.”

The YIMBY movement

While Timin doesn’t quite embrace the YIMBY label, Miranda Schubert, 38, another of this generation, has formed a local chapter of the national group YIMBY Action, called Tucson for Everyone.

Schubert ran against Kozachik and lost in the 2021 Democratic primary, but she’s planning to run again in 2025. She puts herself on the left side of the YIMBY movement, which means greater focus on government involvement in making affordable housing available. There are also conservative and neoliberal YIMBYs, she noted.

“Loosely, it’s about recognizing that we need to make it easier to build housing of all types, with a priority on affordable housing,” she said. “It isn’t helpful to paint every developer as evil and extractive. It depends.”

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She points to the accessory-dwelling unit ordinance as an example of an issue where the Old Guard opposed the New Guard’s efforts at making a change to accommodate more housing. Some neighborhood organizations opposed the change, which set up a city-wide permission for building guest houses or casitas with full kitchens in people’s back yards.

“It’s the neighborhood leaders — they represent the neighborhood, but are they representative of the neighborhood?” Schubert asked.

Kozachik himself has notice this change and gradually come around to some of it. He opposed the ADU ordinance as initially written last year before getting some size limits put on the casitas and voting yes. This year, he supported a loosening of some zoning codes, intended to encourage infill development. Kotwica, among others, opposed it.

When I talked to him Friday, Kozachik noted that two priorities of the new generation often come in conflict.

“We simultaneously have a need for housing and more open space,” he said. “They run counter to one another.”

A new city emerging?

While the Council came around on the ADU ordinance, after several delays, one member impatiently pushing it forward was Santa Cruz, the 38-year-old Ward 1 council member. This was in late 2021: Experience has shown she was right to push.

At a March 6 2023 council meeting, city officials noted that just two dozen guest houses had been approved for construction under the new ordinance, and none had been built. There was no rush to build guest houses that would undercut neighborhood integrity, as feared.

I met Santa Cruz Friday morning at Decibel Coffee Works, part of the Mercado District, just west of Interstate 10 and south of West Congress. She pointed to this development as an example of the new city emerging.

“Sometimes the way we think about preserving culture and traditions is for nothing to change, for it to stay the same,” she said. “I’ve never understood tradition to be static. I’ve always understood is as something that evolves and adapts with its times.”

Santa Cruz pointed to two priorities of hers that perhaps break from local tradition: One is to use city land for affordable housing developments, helping to establish mixed-income neighborhoods around the city. Another is to disincentivize driving by reducing free parking, which she considers an inducement to get in the car.

Santa Cruz faces both a primary opponent and, if she wins, a general election opponent in her upcoming election. Miguel Ortega, the Democratic opponent, has established himself as a neighborhood defender, critical of what he calls gentrification of West Side neighborhoods and of tax incentives given to developers.

Ortega declined an interview request, citing time constraints over Easter weekend, while Victoria Lem, the Republican candidate, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Another west-sider, Zach Yentzer, is one of three candidates running for mayor against Democrat Regina Romero — in his case, as an independent. I lump him, too, in with this new generation. The main commonality: Yentzer, 32, a former president of the Menlo Park Neighborhood Association, also pushes for more housing in the neighborhoods and diversifying our transportation infrastructure beyond cars.

He tends to be more conservative than these others on issues such as public safety and drug addiction. These are areas where, I think, the new generation has some potential political vulnerabilities. They need to have solutions when crime or disorder afflicts neighborhood residents.

But on housing and transportation, I think they’re on the right track and will likely bring Tucson along with them. Eventually.