There are few miracles on The Mile, and the folks living here know it.
Life is hard along this gritty stretch of roadside motels whose names often advertise false hope in neon. There is the Dream House Motel, and the Sunland, hinting at bright futures and better days. There is the Amazon Motel and the Tiki, farther down along Oracle Road, hinting at exotic getaways. Far away from here. Far away from The Mile.
For generations now, the stretch up Miracle Mile and down Oracle - the old Miracle Mile, for those who remember - has been a haven of pushers, pimps and prostitutes.
In Tucson's dirty little corner, it was often easier to find a hooker than groceries. But that's changing. Miracle Mile is cleaning up - a miracle, if you will.
By any measure, it's a better place than it was four years ago. At a time when the murder rate is surging across the city, there haven't been any murders here. Drug busts are way down. So are assaults, burglaries, car thefts and prostitution busts.
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Gary Miller, who has lived in a small room in the Sunland Motel for nearly six years now, said it best.
"The cops have been clamping down," he said, a slight twinge of Oklahoma in his voice. Then a long pause. "Or I would say they're attempting to clamp down."
Another pause. A wave of the hand.
"Well, they are doing the best they can, but it's a slow process."
The cops are a big part of the turnaround. The new substation at Flowing Wells and West Miracle Mile - where a Kmart used to be - has made a difference.
"I think what's led to the improvement is TPD," said Oscar Bojorquez, of the Miracle Manor Neighborhood Association. "TPD is making themselves more present."
Bojorquez has seen it all since moving into the neighborhood back in the early '90s, and he rattled off some metaphors to describe the change. Night and day. 360 degrees.
He said his 'hood "was infected with drugs. We had prostitutes, and they were getting pushed off of Oracle there, and they were carrying their business inside the neighborhood."
Now, not nearly as much. The recent closure of the Monterey Motel, a den of iniquity at 505 W. Miracle Mile, has helped. So has the transformation of the Ghost Ranch Lodge into affordable senior housing. Bity Patel, owner of the Tiki Motel on Oracle, said most of his guests these days aren't prostitutes, but instead are shoppers from Sonora.
Sonoran shoppers. Really.
The cops say the big changes are part of a big group effort.
They credit residents like Bojorquez, who recently drove up to Phoenix to fight a neighborhood Walgreens from scoring a liquor license, for spurring change. They say the Gateway Business Alliance, a collection of area businesses, is bringing a vision for the Miracle Mile region that's been missing for years.
"They had reached a point where they finally said, 'Enough. We are not going to tolerate this any longer,' " said Tucson Police Department Capt. Rick Wilson. "This is really a model of how reducing crime in an area can work."
Food for thought as we consider a sales tax to avoid more cuts to the city's police and fire departments. How much would a 10 percent cut hurt Miracle Mile's progress?
True change takes time, and Miracle Mile is still defined more by what's not there than what is.
Bus shelters to shield waiting riders from the sun? Not yet, even though plenty of residents there need the bus.
Grocery store? Try walking to the Super Target way down on Oracle.
The good news, though, is the city is on it. Really.
There's no money for new bus shelters, so the plan is to recycle old ones with some bright paint and a little art.
Plans are in the works to start a community garden at the Tucson House. A garden, some bus shelters. Small stuff, but so big.
"These are really tough times, but we don't want to stop doing things," said city planner Rebecca Ruopp, who is working on these projects. "What we want to do is find new and different ways to perhaps do them. You have to keep looking for little things."
Amen to that. In these times, those are words to live by.
Track down Josh Brodesky at 573-4242, jbrodesky@azstarnet or all the popular social media sites.
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