Civil & Human Rights

Ronstadt Transit Center: City, Developers Ponder Proverbial Political Football (video)

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RTCneon326-sig-sm72by Pamela Powers Hannley

Anyone who has lived in Tucson long enough knows that the vitality of downtown has ebbed and flowed with the winds of politics and the fortunes of capitalism.

Thanks to infrastructure investments, tax breaks, land deals, and the promise of Rio Nuevo college students with Daddy's credit cards, downtown is again on the upswing– with swanky bars, over-priced restaurants, micro-breweries, maxi-dorms, and a modern street car to deliver college students to the main gate of the university.

With the smell of money in the air, capitalists are ready to play "let's make a deal" with Tucson's Mayor and Council. One city property that developers have been trying to score for years is the Ronstadt Transit Center, on Congress. Once surrounded by seedy bars, funky diners, and shoe-string art galleries, the Ronstadt Center is now in the thick of downtown's rebirth as Mill Ave South.

Anyone who was around in 2009-2010 when developers lobbied for a land swap deal that would include ~40% of the Ronstadt Center for commercial development  should pay attention to what's happening now. Details and video after the jump.

(Update) Oregon Secretary of State to propose automatic universal voter registration

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Update to an earlier post, Oregon Secretary of State to propose automatic universal voter registration.

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post reports today, Voter registration could be automatic:

The Oregonian editorialized over the weekend about voting in that state (via Hasen):

Secretary of State Kate Brown has a proposal, based on
what Oregon has learned over two decades’ experience with the mail
ballot: Getting to vote should be easy, not hard.

Brown has introduced House Bill 2198, which would allow the state to
automatically register any Oregonian when a state agency already has
their name, age, address and digital signature. Right now that means
Driver and Motor Vehicle Services, but it could extend to other
agencies. Following this system in other places achieves registration of
more than 90 percent of eligible voters.

Just using DMV records, Brown estimates that another 500,000
Oregonians would get the power to decide, at the end of October or the
beginning of November, that a candidate has finally inspired or annoyed
them enough to make them decide to vote.

It’s a right they should have.

There’s absolutely no good reason for such proposals not to be
adopted — and not just state-by-state, either. There’s no good reason
for the burden of voter registration to be on the voter, instead of on
the government.

Civil unions city ordinances in Arizona about to expand?

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

EqualLast week Bisbee legalized civil unions, pushing aside AG's legal warnings. The City of Tempe announced that it too would explore a ciivl unions ordinance. Tempe to begin discussion on civil-union laws. Members of the Tucson City Council have advised me that city Attorney Mike Rankin has been asked to explore the legality of a ciivl unions ordinance for Tucson. Can the City of Flagstaff be far behind? Maybe even Phoenix?

Today in the Arizona Republic, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton put these efforts into context. Stanton dons cape, defends little Bisbee against Horne:

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton this week said that if Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has a problem with cities giving legal status to gay and lesbian couples, he should stop bullying tiny Bisbee and take the issue up with the state’s largest city.

Phoenix has had a domestic- partner registry since 2009. Couples who file a declaration of partnership with the city clerk then have a right to visit their partners in any hospital in the city.

“We can’t go beyond our area of jurisdiction,” Stanton said. “But this gives legal status in any area where the city can provide support.”

He said that’s what Bisbee is trying to do with its civil-union ordinance.

“As mayor of Phoenix, I stand with Bisbee,” he said. “I support local control. And if the attorney general wants to pick on somebody, they ought to look at Phoenix.”

Tempe to debate joining Bisbee with civil unions ordinance

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

OK, I thought the City of Tucson and/or Flagstaff would be the first to take up my challenge to lock arms with the city of Bisbee in enacting a civil unions ordinace to stick a finger in the eye of Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy and the self righteous Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne, but it appears that the city of Tempe will take up the challenge first. I tip my hat to you for stepping up to the plate to defend civil rights. Tempe to begin discussion on civil-union laws:

EqualTempe, a historically progressive city, is poised to become embroiled in the debate over equal rights for same-sex couples.

Today, the Tempe City Council will discuss civil-union laws in its private executive session. The discussion comes two days after residents of Bisbee watched their council approve a historic vote to legalize civil-union certificates, which provide same-sex partners with some of the same rights as married couples.

Tempe Councilman Kolby Granville called the Bisbee vote momentous. On Wednesday, Granville, a Democrat, told The Arizona Republic that he asked for the council executive session on civil unions. He wants Tempe to be the first Valley city to approve civil-union certificates for its residents.

If approved, the legal rights would apply to an estimated 165,000 Tempe residents compared with 5,600 or so in Bisbee.

“Tempe tends to be a leader in issues of civil rights,” Granville said. “And, to me, equality based on sexual orientation is one of those very same civil rights.”

Laugh riot: Mr. Sex on The Side is going to defend the ‘sanctity of marriage’

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This is a laugh riot. Arizona Attorney General Tom "banned for life by the SEC," who got caught having an extramarital affair during an FBI investigation into his political corruption, FBI report: Tom Horne was having affair when he hit parked car, climbed up on his high horse named "self-righteous" and announced that Mr. Sex on The Side will file a lawsuit to defend the "sanctity of marriage" by suing the city of Bisbee over its civil unions ordinance. Now that's chutzpah. AG Horne to challenge Bisbee's civil union vote:

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne will file a lawsuit challenging Bisbee's new civil union ordinance, his office confirmed Wednesday. There was no timeline yet available for when the lawsuit may come.

Horne's decision comes hours after the small southeastern Arizona city of Bisbee ignored vociferous opposition and threats of lawsuits and legalized civil unions for same-sex couples Tuesday night. It was an historic council vote that turned into a political circus, as nearly 100 people packed the chambers in both opposition and support.

The City Council pushed aside legal warnings from the state’s attorney general and a conservative advocacy group and voted 5-2 to become first city in the state to offer civil-union certificates for all couples that would extend to same-sex partners some of the same rights as married couples within the Bisbee boundaries.

The ordinance, which goes into effect in 30 days, would cover joint property ownership, property inheritance, guardianship and adoption rights.