Carolyn Classen

Carolyn Sugiyama Classen, a life long Democrat, was born & raised in the State of Hawaii, was a Legislative Aide for U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye on Capitol Hill, and practiced law for a while. In Tucson she worked as a tribal staff attorney for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and later was the Interim Executive Director of the now defunct Domestic Violence Commission. In 2008 she became a “My Tucson” guest columnist for the Tucson Citizen newspaper, then continued blogging for Tucsoncitizen.com for over four and a half years. Her blogsite was entitled “Carolyn’s Community” about community events and some political news, until Gannett Publishing shut down the site on January 31, 2014. She started with Blog for Arizona on Feb. 11, 2014. Part time she sat as a Hearing Officer in Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts Small Claims Division since April, 2005 for 15 years. She is married to University of Arizona Distinguished Professor Albrecht Classen, a native of Germany. They have one son, who lives in Seattle, WA with his wife and daughter. She is also the Editor of the Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition website, www.southernazjapan.org (since Jan. 2013).

“To be (George) Takei”

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“Beam me up Scotty” to  the Loft Theatre on September 19, and beyond… The Loft  movie theatre is located on Earth, at 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. in the city of Tucson in the 48th state of Arizona, in the southwest region of the United States of America.   To Be Takei is a hilarious and moving … Read more

Desire a ride on the Sun Link streetcar

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Sun Link on Congress Street, courtesy of Donovan Dean Durban
Sun Link streetcar on Congress Street, courtesy of Donovan Dean Durband

The new modern Tucson streetcar named Sun Link is now linking the University of AZ Medical Center on the east end to the Mercado San Agustin & El Rio Clinic on the west side (west of the I-10 freeway).  Along the way are the University of Arizona, college-friendly Main Gate Square, the eclectic 4th Avenue shopping and restaurant district, and of course downtown Tucson’s main thoroughfares Congress St. and Broadway Blvd.

I’ve been riding a few times to experience this brand new, clean, air conditioned public transportation system, an alternative to the Sun Tran bus system, the Cat Tran vans (free for UA students and personnel), and the free Downtown Loop van service (mostly for workers).  Sun Link is only 4 miles long (3.9 miles to be exact) but it is a smooth ride on tracks, unlike Sun Tran which I just rode on Friday, where you can feel most of the bumps and lumps of our patched asphalt streets.

The one way ride from the east end to the west end  takes 30 minutes with about 20 station stops. To the credit of the drivers, the wait time at the station stops is momentary, just to unload and load passengers, most of whom have their Sun Go cards ready to “tap” on one of the 4 monitors inside.

Sun Link started operation on July 25, 2014 and offered free rides on the first weekend for 3 days, and also free for UA students/faculty/staff from August 15 to September 14.  Starting tomorrow only paid fares will be allowed.

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5 of 7 Democratic TUSD board candidates to speak at DGT

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Democrats of Greater Tucson – DGT (www.tucsondemocrats.org) is hosting a forum for Democrats running for the TUSD Governing Board in the General Election of Nov. 2014.  9 candidates are seeking two seats on the board, currently held by incumbents President Adelita Grijalva and Michael Hicks.

Speaking on Monday September 15, at 12 noon at Dragon’s View restaurant, 400 N. Bonita Ave. are registered Democrats:   Rene Bernal, Don Cotton, Jen Darland, Adelita Grijalva, and Betts Putnam-Hidalgo.  Also invited but not attending: Miguel Cuevas (former TUSD school board member) and Francis Saitta.

Although this is a non-partisan race, the 9 candidates’ political party registration is known in the community.  Candidates Michael Hicks and Debe Campos-Fleenor have been speaking at the Pima County Republican Club, and are listed on the candidate page of the Pima County Republican Party, www.pimagop.org.

Bd. member and President Adelita Grijalva has been endorsed by the Tucson Education Assn. and the Tucson Metro Chamber.  Political newcomer  Jen Darland was also endorsed by the latter group. AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) is also supporting Grijalva and Darland.

Current TUSD Board member Mark Stegeman (now registered as an Independent, formerly a Democrat) is supporting fellow board member Michael Hicks and candidate Debe Campos-Fleenor, an insurance agent.

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Free showings of “Dead Poets Society” at the Fox on 2nd Saturday Downtown

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Downtown Tucson is hopping.  Not only because of the arrival of the Sun Link modern streetcar (operating since July 25, 2014), but way before then. I’ve been seeing lots of people riding Sun Link to downtown from the UA, even during the weekdays.

Special free showing of the late Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society” at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St.  Tickets on first come first served basis.

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