The Arizona Daily Star goes to pot(holes)

Our sad small town newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star (all the news that Jim Click decides is fit to print) is at it again. This takes tying together a series of reports this week.

The Star’s columnist Tim Steller today has a piece captioned How about the Tucson Pothole Bowl? Now I don’t know whether Steller captions his own columns. Typically a copy editor, in this case the Star’s notorious creative headline writer whom we have belittled for years probably came up with this caption, because nowhere in Steller’s column does he even mention the word “pothole.” The copy editor didn’t even bother to read his piece to come up with this caption.

The caption is actually in reference to a report in the Star earlier in the week.

Pat McNamara in an above-the-fold front page story on Monday — because it was a slow news day? — reported that We’re No. 1 — in potholes:

A.MillerScientific verification of what every Tucson driver already knows can be found in a report by the Making Action Possible Dashboard project of the University of Arizona Eller College of Management, the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona and the Southern Arizona Leadership Council.

Their pothole index report says Tucson regional streets rank worst among a collection of 11 Western urban regions.

[Photo of Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller lying in a pothole. (h/t The Tucson Weekly). Miller is opposed to the County Bond election, and supports Republicans in the Arizona legislature sweeping stealing HURF funds for roadways and state revenue sharing funds from Pima County.]

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Send photos of potholes to Tucson Pothole project

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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Ronstadt Center Re-Development: When Is a Public Process Not Public?

Ronstadt-dance22-sig-sm72by Pamela Powers Hannley

More than 90 days have passed since the Tucson City Council voted to begin a 60-90 day public comment period to gather information and ideas related to the proposed re-development of the Ronstadt Transit Center. During that time,  the Tucson Bus Riders Union held a public forum at the Rialto, compiled and organized hundreds written comments collected at the forum, met with City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich, and participated in collecting 2800 surveys from bus riders.

What has Corky Poster done? Poster is the architect and planner who was City Council hired to gather the public input. Rumor has it that Poster has held eight “stakeholder” meetings in recent weeks. With the information gathered at those meetings, he has compiled a report outlining consensus goals and objectives and said report was to be delivered to the City Manager’s office last week before Poster left town on vacation. More photos and details on the secret public process and who the real stakeholders are after the jump.