Pamela Powers

Long-time blogger and political activist, Pamela Powers holds a masters’ degree in public health from the University of Arizona and a bachelors’ degree in journalism from the Ohio State University. She has worked for many years in communications and public relations. Powers stepped down from her position as the managing editor of the American Journal of Medicine to serve Legislative District 9 in the Arizona House. Powers won her seat in November 2016 and won her re-election bid in 2018. She continues to work part-time social media editor for the journal. In addition to Blog for Arizona, she writes her own blog, The The Tucson Progressive and has contributed political stories to the Huffington Post. Powers Hannley is co-director of Arizonans for a New Economy, Arizona’s public banking initiative. Political website: PowersForThePeople.net Facebook Page: Pamela Powers Hannley for House Tucson Progressive on Facebook: Tucson Progressive Twitter handle: @p2hannley Instagram: p2hannley

‘The Nation’ Celebrates Its 150 Year Anniversary in Tucson this Weekend (video)

March 14, 2015 by Pamela Powers

The Nation magazine is 150 years old this year, and Tucson is playing a major role in the celebration.

The Blog for Arizona Calendar has a complete list of The Nation events that are connected to the Tucson Festival of Books.

Two events worth highlighting that are not connected with the Book Festival are the John Nichols presentation at the IBEW Hall tonight and the regional premiere of the award-winning documentary Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation at The Loft on Sunday night.

PDA/PALF Event March 14

PDA Tucson and the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF) will be hosting their traditional evening with John Nichols tonight, March 14, at the IBEW Hall. Often it’s difficut to get into Book Festival venues with popular speakers like Nichols. The PDA/PALF event offers a unique opportunity to hear Nichols in a relaxed atmosphere. (And there’f plenty of free parking!) Doors open at 6:30 with finger foods and mingling. Nichols presentation begins at 7 p.m. The event is free, but donations to PDA are greatly appreciated. (Facebook event here.)

Hot Type Regional Premiere March 15

Sunday, March 15 is the regional premiere of Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation with Oscar-winner Barbara Kopple and The Nation’s John Nichols in person! The screening will be preceded by a reception on The Loft patio, starting at 6 p.m. This reception is FREE with the purchase of a ticket to the film, and will feature free light hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. (Buy tickets here.)

Email Amateur Hour: Teapublican Yarbrough Gets an Earful after Budget Vote

March 12, 2015March 12, 2015 by Pamela Powers

From Progress Now Arizona…

PHOENIX – Arizona State Senator Steve Yarbrough now knows why U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham never uses email.

On Tuesday Yarbrough, R-Chandler, sent a mass email to at least 300 constituents defending his late-night state budget vote to slash university and community college budgets, reduce per-pupil funding for public schools and pull the safety net out from under thousands of Arizonans. The text of Yarbrough’s email can be found here.

We know exactly how many people Yarbrough contacted because – you guessed it – he forgot to blind copy the list of recipients before hitting send. Political Communications 101 fail. And we also know how his constituents responded. At least a dozen ticked off, well-informed and clever recipients hit “reply all” with their comments.

It wasn’t pretty for Yarbrough. Below are just a few of the highlights (WARNING, this is long but totally worth it), with last names redacted. Enjoy!

From “Dan”:

You admit in your email that, “Universities were cut by nearly $100 million” and that doesn’t even include the devastating cuts to Maricopa and Pima Community Colleges which brings your cuts to higher education to more than $110M.

With these cuts that you voted for you have guaranteed that Arizona will remain in the lowest tier of the states for future quality job growth for decades. You are essentially locking many of our children into dead-end low-wage jobs or forcing them to move out of state to pursue higher education and 21st century jobs. I know many parents with children will remember your vote in the next election. I know I will.

From “Bea,” a lifelong Republican

I agree with all of the others that have said that you, or your office intern should learn how to BCC that many email addresses, or how to set up a group in your mail program – maybe call it something like – “Mad as heck parents who don’t like short changed education”.

The AZLeg has been cutting money in our K-12 programs at an alarming rate since 2008. Cuts have been over 40% in that time frame (adjusted for inflation). This is unacceptable!

How can we ever expect to bring high paying jobs and economic development to this amazing state if we are not willing to support an education system that helps to produce educated graduates that are ready to move either into the workforce, technical schools, community college or universities. Economic growth is spurred on by an educated citizenry coupled with a business friendly environment that has reasonably taxes and regulations.

A Walk through Safe Park (video)

March 12, 2015 by Pamela Powers

Safe Park– the homeless camp located on the sidewalks of downtown Tucson– has been a political hot potato since a Tucson District Court ruled the sidewalk protest was protected speech in December 2014. With that ruling, Safe Park grew and coffin-like boxes called “dream pods” started rolling in–much to the dismay of city and county leaders and local businesses.

Debates raged– in the Arizona Daily Star, on Facebook, on the streets, and in multiple Tucson Mayor and Council meetings– about the validity Safe Park as a “protest”, the moral character of the primary leader, the overarching problem of homelessness, and what the city could or should do about the situation. Park residents and the City Council have been in negotiations to move Safe Park from the sidewalks of the Rio Nuevo business district to another a vacant lot within a mile of downtown, where this homeless community could camp and have access to bathrooms and showers. Safe Park Director and long-time homeless spokesperson, Jon McClane had asked for a homeless camp in each ward, but said that they were willing to move if the city could find a spot not far from downtown.

As the search for a suitable city-owned lot continued, recent developments have changed the political landscape. Police conducted a sting drug operation near Veinte de Agosto Park and arrested McClane and others on charges of possession of marijuana and possession for sale. The Arizona Daily Star. continued its character assassination against McClain, dredging up stories about his children and painting him as a charismatic opportunist, rather than a crusader. The US District Court Judge, who initially called Safe Park protected speech, issued a clarification that allows the city to remove the dream pods and tents. The latest news is that Safe Park dream pods and tents must be removed by Friday, March 13.

This blog post isn’t about the ongoing homeless controversy or the integrity of any of the leaders. It’s about the people I met at Safe Park last Thursday night.

Broadway Coalition Calls for Sustainable Expansion that Protects Businesses & History

March 9, 2015 by Pamela Powers

The Broadway Coalition, a tireless group of Tucsonans who has been calling for reasoned expansion of Broadway Blvd., has issued an urgent call to action. If you don’t want to waste money on yet another unnecessary, unaffordable, and destructive road widening project, you need to speak up NOW– before Wednesday, March 11, 2015. (Details below.)

You can also learn more at tonight’s Sustainable Tucson which features the Broadway Coalition’s vision. (Details here and below.)

The proposed Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Plan calls for widening Broadway from downtown to Country Club Road. The original suggestions were based on growth projections from the 1980s. Unfortunately– or fortunately, depending upon your point of view– Tucson didn’t grow East. It grew North. (Background here.)

Tucson’s needs don’t match the old growth projections. Developers and people who will make money knocking down and rebuilding businesses along Broadway or make money on the road construction, want to go blindly forth on yet another unnecessary road widening project. The Grant Road widening will happen in the future; 22nd Street was just expanded and improved; and the Aviation Parkway is also available as a speedy East-West route from downtown.

With these three improved thoroughfares, why do we need a fourth? Why destroy our historic buildings to make way for more chain stores and strip malls? Why destroy thriving local businesses along Broadway to make way for a road project we don’t need? Enough crony capitalism already.

As mentioned above, shit is getting real now. The latest round of public comment ENDS MARCH 11 (Wednesday). Please read the call to action, and act!

From Broadway Coalition…

CALL TO ACTION

After 3 long years we are at thecritical point of the Broadway Project. This project affects all of us in our community and sets the direction for transportation decisions for years to come. The proposed alignment would wipe out at least 37 businesses and homes, including most of the structures on the north side of Broadway between Campbell and Park! This threatens the Rincon Heights Historic District. We can significantly and creatively improve Broadway without this kind of destructive widening, wasting tens of millions of dollars, decreasing support for transit and other forms of travel. An entire small business sector will be affected.We, that is, YOU, can make a valuable difference now. It will take you about 1 minute. There is a public comment period open now, but it will close March 11th. Doing just one (or maybe all) of the following is critical…

Bishop Kicanas Calls for Community Meeting on Homelessness

March 9, 2015March 9, 2015 by Pamela Powers

Bishop Kicanas of the Diocese of Tucson has called for a second public meeting to discuss homeless in Tucson. Here is the information about tomorrow’s meeting.

Background information…

Tuesday, March 10 at 11:00 a.m.

TEP building, 88 E. Broadway between 6th and Scott Avenues

second-floor conference room (entrance faces Broadway near west end of building)

This meeting has been scheduled at the request of Bishop Kicanas of the Diocese of Tucson. This is a second meeting– according to Tucson News Now,

The Catholic diocese organized a meeting to discuss the growing homeless population downtown, on Monday afternoon [March 2].

The meeting included city and county leaders, business owners, and leaders from many non-profit groups in Tucson who work with the homeless.

In an interview with Tucson News Now after the meeting, Bishop Gerald Kicanas called on Tucson residents to be compassionate, as the city worked to find a long term solution to address the needs of the homeless, and find a solution that would help business owners who were frustrated with the problem.

The Downtown Tucson Partnership is helping to spread the word. According to DTP executive director Michael Keith, who is involved in developing a program for the meeting, the bishop wishes to “maintain the momentum” of the March 2 meeting as well as other community discussions looking to “move past the Occupy Safe Park issue and begin to look for meaningful strategies to address homelessness across Tucson.”

Keith said Peggy Hutchison, CEO of Primavera Foundation, will present information on the current local situation, and Michele Ream of Community Supported Shelters will share her presentation on scattered-site microhousing efforts in other areas and other “best practices.” The Mayor and Council’s action on March 3 (see below) and the Denver urban camping ordinance will likely be subjects of discussion.

The following is from the action summary of the March 3 Mayor & Council study session (http://www.tucsonaz.gov/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=1358&doctype=SUMMARY):

She said nothing about public safety. It was a Kamala Harris word salad.

According to Google, Trico Electric Cooperative is planning (pending ACC approval) on raising the rate by 7.11% and the Customer…

Thanks for all the great information in this article. People need to be informed and persuaded to vote for better…