Sustainable business model
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Green Energy Subsidies and tax credits are fueling the green energy initiative. Taxpayer funded grants for installing EV charging stations, cost incentives for purchasing EV’s, and subsidies for solar panel installation are currently prevalent for many business. Many businesses are changing their focus to take advantage of the IRA subsidies.
Is it a sustainable business model to base your sales, marketing, and production on government subsidies? How many of these businesses fail if the government subsidies are reduced or removed? What if the government decides social security, Medicare, or the military are more important than green energy subsidies? How many people lose their jobs because of a failed business? Historically our economy has flourished because it was driven by peoples demand for products and services, not government policies.
Green energy businesses should be driven by user demand not government policies.
Cal Rooker
Northwest side
Queen of the Night
Re: the July 25 article “Queen of the Night.”
The Queen of the Night article stated that “no one knows exactly how the plants decide when to bloom.” I agree. The beautiful Queen of the Night takes her time and blooms when she wants to. I live a 10-minute drive from Tohono Chul, where the blooming just happened, but my Queen of the Night flowers opened on May 26 when there hadn’t been rain in my garden for many weeks. This is one of those intriguing garden mysteries and I’m glad there is no rational explanation.
Eileen Dudley
Midtown
Arizona men’s basketball 2023 Mideast tour
It has been so much fun reading about the experiences our U of A men’s basketball team. What a wonderful opportunity to explore different cultures and history PLUS play basketball. I am looking forward to their arrival in Saudi Arabia.
Mary Beth Schneider
East side
Takeover of new jail meeting
Re: the Aug. 12 article “Meeting on potential new jail in Tucson canceled due to protest.”
A popular talking point today is the use of a “threat to democracy.” The “threat” seems to exist whenever one side or the other is unable to generate a result through the proper use of our representative government. If you need an example of real actual threat, look at the take over and subsequent cancelation of a discussion session about a new county jail. So much for a proper debate. When I was an elected official in Wisconsin, we had several occasions where our meeting was interrupted by activists that had no interest in debate of any kind. They were promptly and rightly arrested. That didn’t happen here. Maybe some time in a jail would be an educational experience for these people. It would also show how a democracy should work.
Gary Stoeger
Northwest side
Wrong plea
“Trump pleads not guilty.” Given the strengths of the cases that Jack Smith has built regarding Trump’s criminal behaviors, Trump should be pleading for mercy.
Rick Cohn
West side
Avoiding an electrical grid failure
Re: the Aug. 12 article “AZ’s entirely avoidable energy crisis.”
This article proposes a regional “energy grid.” It is my understanding that such a grid already exists and has been in place for many years. It is the “Western Electricity Coordinating Council.” The authors do note that Texas is NOT part of such a grid and may have suffered as a result. There is no guarantee that Arizona will not be hit by some issue, but we already have capability in place to work with others to minimize the impact.
Alan Roehl, retired electrical engineer
Sahuarita
Leaving Arizona
Abundant sunshine! October/November/March/April, awesome. June-August, flee. Catalinas, Tucson Mountains, the Loop! Overpriced, undersized housing on tiny lots lacking storage and basic utilitarian areas and items (adequate size garage, work bench, extra storage, utility sink). My 30% rent increase! Homeless everywhere. Rivers and washes as trash dumps. Speeding drivers, traffic, pedestrian and cyclist deaths. Terrible road surfaces. Overextended county government and services. Unincorporated areas ruled by HOA’s which should be municipalities with their own police/fire, services and tax base. State voting referendums but they get challenged/nullified if conservatives don’t like the result (i.e. Prop 208, 211?). Crazy politicians (i.e. Wadsack, Rogers, Hoffman) proposing ridiculous legislation. Cochise County … enough said. Hysterical border fear and blaming of immigrants. Myopic, greedy growth policies despite water woes. After four years here, not finding an adequate home at an affordable price and insane politics, returning to the mid-Atlantic with this response if asked about AZ.
Thomas George
Northwest side
Stop loaning academic money to athletics
Re: the Aug. 13 online article “Michael Cunningham: Conference realignment means more work for unpaid athletes.”
In January 2023, Jason Wolf of the Arizona Republic reported, “UA reported it provided its athletics department with $31.1 million — $27.9 million in institutional support, which includes a $14.8 million internal loan, contrary to NCAA reporting guidelines, and a record $3.2 million in student fees.” Now I’m reading in the Star that Pac-12 presidents turned down a $30 million offer from ESPN because it wasn’t equivalent to the Big 10’s money. Cunningham writes, “Athletes have no one in power advocating for their welfare.” Really? NIL Money doesn’t go to the school it goes directly to the players and without NIL probably much of that money would have gone to the school’s athletic department. With the transfer portal players can now “university shop,” and soon players will be considered employees. The truth is no one is looking out for the academic students. Stop loaning academic money to athletics! And we wonder why students have such high debt. I hope college sports collapses.
Richard Harper
Northeast side
Quid pro quo
For years the United States has been the destination of millions of desperate immigrants who are fleeing dictatorship run countries with the hope of finding a safe place to exist and raise their families. At the same time here in the United States we have millions in the republican party so unhappy with our democratic form of government they are doing everything in their power to elect a raving lunatic who openly promises to be the supreme dictator they are hoping for. I propose a simple solution to both of these efforts. For every immigrant allowed into the country we send one republican to the corresponding dictatorship from where the immigrant fled. This way everyone gets what they want — problem solved.
Roger boesch
Foothills
Climate Change and Wildfires
Re: the Aug. 14 letter “Climate change.”
The writer takes issue with climate change as the cause of wildfires, stating that “there is no clue as to a solution but baseless claims to try and tie the two topics together to raise the fear factor.” The writer offers no science in support. Instead the letter writer attacks Anthony Fauci for his COVID efforts: he lied and the Science Moms lied.
We can’t let this kind of unsupported personal attack take the place of what scientists have actually stated about the connection between wildfires and global warming (became “climate change” because “global warming” was too hot to handle politically). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) states: “Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires … which require the alignment of a number of factors, including temperature, humidity and the lack of moisture in fuels, such as trees, shrubs, grasses and forest debris … all have strong direct or indirect ties to … climate change.”
Rick Rappaport
Oro Valley
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