Tucson Speaks Out: August 2

Do your homework

It's getting close to voting time. Trying to educate oneself on the issues and how the candidates feel about those issues can be time-consuming. This may be obvious, but AI, for me anyway, is the way to go. Enter a question (e.g., "How do the candidates plan to vote on the legislator's stock trading"). AI (I employed "ChatGPT" on this occasion) presented a good discussion of the Arizona candidates’ thoughts. It also will offer other related topics that may interest the readers. This seems to be a relatively objective avenue compared to going to Democrat/Republican websites, which will only present their limited views.

Brian Smith

Marana

What did you say?

A letter writer in Wednesday's paper said that the attack on Iran was unprovoked. Are you kidding me? Iran has been financing terrorists to kill Americans for over 47 years. Have you heard of the 9/11 attacks? How about the bombing of the U.S.military barracks in Libya? Do you remember that? Iran has financed other killings of U.S. citizens. You need to come out from under your rock and pay more attention to the news. Iran also has uranium refined to 60%. Not quite weapons-grade, but it can be used to make enough dirty bombs to place one in almost every major city in the U.S.. All Iran's government wants to do is kill U.S. citizens. Is that enough provocation for you?

Steven Barker

East side

Detaining DACA recipients

It is disgusting to see people who have lived here for decades, good people brought here as children, being detained by the vicious actions of the current administration. We were told they would go after criminals and those who recently came illegally. All lies once again.

These actions in no way reflect the American values of fairness that I grew up believing in and respecting. People wonder why no one was celebrating the 250th. It is because this administration is no longer supporting American Values.

Meanwhile, ineffective Juan Ciscomani, who basically came to this country just as this DACA recipient, remains silent. No words of support; toe the Trump line at all costs. At least Adelita Grijalva is speaking out and trying to help. I applaud her.

Rebecca Williams

North side

Water water everywhere

Currently, the water Tucson and Phoenix depend on to survive and ‘GROW’ for business and residents alike is proposed to get a 31% cut.

If you understand economics, this 31% is going to make your water bill go up. You could even be at risk from choosing water, electricity or health care given the current conditions of our federal government choices.

BUT guess who won’t pay more for water? Project Blue/Beale (wells), TEP(Fortis)/SRP/APS (they also get cheap groundwater for their power generation), data centers in Marana - also Beale (wells grabbing your groundwater).

We have horrible regulations of our water for the people in Arizona, a desalination plant ‘idea’ that will cost $8-10 billion dollars or more (yeah, that’ll hit your water bill too heavily), and a state legislature that caters to lobbyists, not you.

We need to flip the script and get this old GOP-controlled government out. Otherwise we will have to continue to make horrible trade-offs just to survive.

Carissa Sipp

Midtown

Tucson mom arrested

The report of a "mother of three" arrested by ICE contained details designed to tug at reader'’ heartstrings. To wit, "Ana" lived here 40 years, having three kids. No mention of a father? Clearly, her kids approached the Star knowing its immigration sympathies, but Mayor Romero's anti-ICE statement fuels "selective outrage" since we're also told that "no one is above the law". The story reports Ana is a churchgoer. But my church insists we "always do the right thing" and has immigration lawyers in the congregation who volunteer to help people comply. We're also told Ana speaks "fluent English," presumably acquiring life skills at public school and years before ever "paying taxes," which implies having a Social Security number. If Ana failed to obtain legal citizenship since the era when Ronald Reagan was President, she wasn't setting the right example. Beware the Suicidal Empathy!

Steve Morrissey

Oro Valley

Water

Tucson and Tucson Water need to be congratulated. Since the passage of the Groundwater Act of 1980, Tucson has aggressively worked to ensure the Tucson Area has a long-term water resource. Tucson is one of five Active Management Areas (AMA) designated in the Act to ensure a 100-year supply of water for this area. The TW “Beat The Peak” marketing campaign first encouraged water conservation in the 80s. Since then, there have been numerous marketing campaigns to encourage residents to conserve water. As a result, even with the population growth, water use continues to drop per capita, thanks to the mindfulness of Tucson residents.

TW has installed CAP water delivery and storage systems to wean Tucson off well water. More than 80% of residents get their water from the CAP. Thanks to resident water conservation efforts, almost 30% of Tucson’s CAP water is recharged in the Southern Avra Valley Storage aquifer. I have no doubts the Tucson AMA has 100 years of water supply.

Cal Rooker

Oro Valley