Tucson, once so rich in lore and landmarks, seems cursed with an odd obsession with tearing up its roots. Town fathers bulldozed its Mexican heart in the 1960s, and much else followed. Now soccer moms imperil priceless Rillito Park.
Rillito opened as a racetrack in 1943 with a jewel of a ranch house and classic barns among cottonwoods and salt cedars off River Road. The National Register of Historic Places listed it in 1986.
It pioneered quarter-horse competition and was first in the use of photo-finish cameras. It is crucial to the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program, which produced Bob Baffert, who trained Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
Today, Rillito is still about horses, but it is also about families at the races savoring tamales to mariachi music, a bustling farmerโs market, a world-famous Celtic festival, Indian powwows and soccer.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors is to decide its fate on Tuesday, Jan. 19. At a public hearing this month, impassioned speakers were unanimous: Yes, we need soccer fields. But we also need to save Rillito.
When her turn came, Josefina Cardenas approached the microphone in a colorful rebozo shawl. Her husband, Luis, beside her, humbly clutched a battered hat with two hands behind his back. At first glance, they evoked that classic scene in the film โViva Zapata!โ where peasants petition Mexicoโs dictator.
In fact, they themselves are Tucson monuments. The Starโs Ernesto Portillo Jr. profiled them in 2008 for sensitizing children to the place horses hold in our local culture. Rillito Park, Josefina made clear, is a community treasure.
Recent history is baffling.
In 2006, supervisors voted to tear down the grandstands and turn Rillito over exclusively to soccer despite what appeared to be much less in projected revenue. The track got year-to-year reprieves until a new venue could be found.
In 2012, the National Register of Historic Places expanded the protected area, but the county is not legally bound to respect that.
Ally Miller, a board newcomer who represents District 1, says she is flummoxed that the county spent $10 million in 2014 to acquire more land around the Kino Sports Complex at the other edge of town.
โIf they wanted soccer fields at Rillito, why spend $10 million on dirt somewhere else?โ she asked, rhetorically but emphatically, in a conversation last week.
Why, indeed? There are plenty of options for soccer. The Rillito Park Foundation has already torn down horse barns to make space for three more fields for a total of 11. It has spent heavily โ including $50,000 for temporary barns last season โ without knowing if it can recoup its investment.
Most likely, supervisors will leave Rillito in limbo with temporary leases that could well lead to an ignominious demise.
Doug Reed, who directs the UA program, makes an essential point. At nearly every American track, income is from betting. Rillito makes it from admission tickets and concessions. It is about family fun, a rodeo every weekend.
Why is this even an issue? In dollar terms, the case is open and shut. The alternative is a few extra fields and a shorter drive for foothills parents to drop off kids at a private academy. And this is about far more than money.
As a reporter traveling the world, Iโve watched heedless societies trash priceless heritage for inexplicable reasons, and I cringe to see that my hometown is among the worst.
When I was a kid, I rode from stables near El Conquistador Hotel, a splendid Italianate palace with orange trees and oleanders around a lovely tiled pool. It was razed in 1968 to make room for what is now a Wal-Mart on a sea of asphalt.
I also rode from Rillito stables into desert foothills โ not yet โdevelopedโ โ above River Road. Those stables are gone, but the original grandstand, paddocks and track remain. If we lose those, weโre out of our collective minds.
