Insight Arizona Podcast Reacts to a Town Hall re Pima County’s RTA Next (Props 418/419)

Andrew Sheesley (financial analyst and active Democrat) and Michael Bryan (BlogForArizona.net’s founder and executive editor) are now doing a podcast together as Insight Arizona. We have a mission of bringing some additional insights and conversations to Arizona’s public policy landscape with our podcast, and one of the things we are trying out is the two of us (and possibly others from the Blog!) reacting to and commenting on certain public meetings and discussions. Think Mystery Science Theater 3000, but a lot less funny, and about the serious politcy topics and choices that affect your daily lives, instead of cheesy science fiction movies.

We just dropped a two part look at the RTA Next discussion. Our conclusion is mainly that if you liked what RTA brought to the table, then RTA Next is pretty close to what you supported in RTA, with some added money for public transport and more of a focus on traffic safety. If you have issues with the funding sources, decision-making structure, and RTA’s strong focus on improving choke points in our transport infrastructure, then RTA Next might not be your ideal cup of tea. Much more detail and insights in the full podcast set!

Ballots are already hitting mailboxes all over the region.  All ballots must be returned to Pima County Elections by 7 p.m., March 10, 2026.

Here’s Part 1:

And Part 2:

Please like and subscribe to our YouTube channel and get notifications of new eps as we ramp up production and experiment with content formats! Your support and attention is so appreciated, and your feedback in comments is very welcome. We will soon also make podcast syndication with your favorite podcast listening apps, and possibly a concurrent newsletter part of the project. So keep an eye out for new announcements here on BlogForArizona.net!

Thanks and All the Best,

Mike & Andrew