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).

Jam to Grow at 2nd Saturday Downtown

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I’ve been reporting monthly on Tucson’s wildly popular urban street fair since it started up on May 8, 2010 along Congress Street downtown.  I only missed posting about February 8, 2014 since I was between blogsites (Tucsoncitizen.com shut down on Jan. 31, and I started with Blog for Arizona on Feb. 11, 2014). But I faithfully blogged about the Feb. 8 urban fest on my own Facebook page (probably just from habit alone).

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Rails in the Garden Tour on March 8 & 9

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Take a self guided tour of nine of the Tucson Garden Railway Society members’ outdoor train layouts.
 
March 8 and 9, 10 to 4 p.m. daily
 
Tickets are $5/adult, children 16 and under are free w /paid adult. Each ticket also enters you in a door prize drawing.
 
 

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Send photos of potholes to Tucson Pothole project

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3/4/14 update:  Tucson Pothole project founders will take their project to the Tucson City Council on April 8.

Fictional account below, not for the weak of stomach or those with weak car suspensions:
“It was a dark and stormy night in Tucson. You’re driving alone in your vehicle, late at night. Visibility is low, as it has been raining somewhat heavily. There are no street lights on your way home. Suddenly your head lights reveal the danger ahead…a large, looming Tucson pothole, waiting for its next victim. You drive with trepidation, anxious and afraid to proceed– but your car keeps rolling along, unaware of the danger. You attempt to swerve to avoid the pothole, but it is too large and too late,  and your right wheels fall precariously into it. Your car shakes badly and you curse (expletive deleted). ”

Just imagine that scenario above if you were riding on your bike at night, with a dim front bike light.  Here’s what some UA students are doing to fix potholes in Tucson.

Two University of Arizona students Laura Unklesbay and Korey Cowan have set up a wordpress file for anyone to send in photos of their “favorite” pothole(s), in order to pressure the City of Tucson Street & Traffic Maintenance Dept. to fix them in a more timely manner.

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