The right-wing “Common Sense Institute of Arizona” has blared its anti-consumer MAGA views by baselessly arguing that Tucson needs more freeways like Phoenix, fewer bike lanes, and no “luxury” free public transit.
In the middle of today’s affordability crisis, this MAGA think tank called no-cost public transit a “luxury,” as if city buses are Porsches. Tucson has had free public transit since March 2020, allowing people to get to work or school without the cost of a car, gas and repairs.
Free transit is essential at a time when gas costs $4.50 per gallon, not to mention the high cost of groceries and housing. The “Common Sense” Institute (CSI) doesn’t care about Tucson workers and retired folks living on limited incomes.
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Astonishingly, CSI even opposes bike lanes in Tucson, which enhance safety, boost public health, and improve environmental quality by offering a low-stress, interconnected network of over 1,000 miles.
Bicycle boulevards use traffic circles and dedicated, protected, or buffered lanes to separate cyclists from high-volume traffic, reducing accidents and slowing traffic. CSI would turn Tucson into New York or Los Angeles when it comes to bicycling safety. Apparently, CSI would like to see more bicyclists killed in the streets.
MAGA Lobby
CSI, based in Phoenix, has strong Republican ties, including:
- Advisor Daniel Scarpinato, who was ex-Governor Ducey’s Chief of Staff, pushed policies like Arizona’s disastrous flat tax.
- Executive Director Katie Ratlief was Ducey’s Deputy Chief of Staff for six years. She advocated the ruinous ESA School Vouchers.
- CSA is tied to ALEC, the perfidious American Legislative Exchange Council, which drafts legislation against immigration, environmental regulations, labor unions, gun control — but supports harsher voter identification rules.
CSI is part of a national cesspool of state-based policy organizations that push anti-labor policy arguments and provide ready-made data for lawmakers and the media. CSI makes false claims of nonpartisanship, but its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status should be revoked because it is an overtly political lobby.
More overcrowded freeways
The Institute complains that Tucson has only two interstates: I-10 and I-19 to get drivers to Phoenix, Nogales and New Mexico. Yet CSI praises Phoenix, which is disfigured by 8 choked interstates with miles-long traffic jams. Anyone who has driven from Tucson to Phoenix knows that the highways are a nightmare.
Phoenix is ranked among the top 10 cities with the worst congestion throughout the city, and on other Valley freeways. Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, has among the highest traffic fatalities in the country.
City officials should ignore CSI’s wild ravings and counter their arguments that would destroy Tucson’s unique, beloved ambiance and harm hard-working Tucsonans struggling in the affordability crisis.
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We have data on adding lanes/freeways. It’s counterintuitive for sure, but adding capacity just creates even more traffic.
Happens everytime we build more freeways.
Younger homebuyers want walkable, bike-able places to live. Adding bike lanes to my neighborhood would increase the value of my home.
Checking my math, yep, more home value is good for me.
And sadly, because parts of it are so beautiful, the Sonoran desert was a very dumb place to build cities.
In 10 or 20 years all that new freeway capacity will be empty because it’s too f’n hot to live here, and to close the loop, it’s because we have too many cars and not enough mass-transit/bike lanes speeding up the warming process.