Recently at a Sustainable Tucson meeting someone asked how many of us ride the bus in Tucson, and out of about 30 people, only 2 raised their hands (including me). So here’s my thoughts on riding Sun Tran:
No worries about driving in town: it’s actually fairly relaxing to just sit on a bus and let the bus driver worry about the changing lights, pedestrians, motorcycles, traffic signs, construction, etc.
No worries about parking the car/truck: looking and finding parking downtown, plus worrying about having enough $ for the meter or time expiring on the meter are eliminated with bus riding
Environmentally friendly: to ride public transport with lots of other people; supposed to save gas emissions for each car/truck not in use.
Sightseeing: enjoy the sights along the bus route without being distracted by driving
Exercise: walking. It’s easy to leave your house & just get in the car parked in the garage/carport, but it’s definitely better exercise to walk to the bus stop, and walk again to your destination when you get to the end of your bus trip. I definitely walk a lot more when I ride the bus to downtown.
Inexpensive: only $1.50 each way, with a 2 hour transfer. And you can use the Sun Link modern streetcar as well, if you can transfer to that 4 mile route (or vice versa).
For more info on Sun Tran, call 520-792-9222, or go online at www. Suntran.com.
The Chase Bank at Broadway and Country Club (yeah, it’s weird) is actually famously weird as an example of mid-century modern architecture. It is located in the Broadway redevelopment area.
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…
With John Farrell. Policy Director at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Opening comments by Ron Proctor, Co-Chair of the City of Tucson Climate Change Committee
Local Climate Change update from Dr. Gregg Garfin. UA Institute of the Environment
Our window to mitigate the worst effects of Global warming is rapidly closing. 2040 is the year by which we must “decarbonize” in order to have a chance to stabilize a “safe” climate.
Join the Sustainable Tucson community and extended network to hear Nicole Foss, world-renown lecturer and co-creator of TheAutomaticEarth.Com speak from their DVD on Preparedness. Time will be taken to discuss this important subject which all of us are interested in. Topics include Navigating an Epic Predicament, Psychology of Contraction, De-Globalization, Community and Society, Energy and Resources, Goods … Read more
Tonight— February 11– Sustainable Tucson will host a panel discussion and public forum focusing on creative ideas for building a sustainable economy in Tucson.
Tucson is one of the poorest cities in the southwest, has a fragile desert ecosystem, and relies far too heavily on defense, the University of Arizona, and tourism for its vitality. We need diversification and creativity in our economic development efforts.
Tonight’s speakers represent wide-ranging ideas from public banking and time trading to TREO’s efforts in building Tucson’s economy. The meeting will be held in the downtown library’s lower level meeting room. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; program begins at 6 p.m. Details after the jump.
