Tucson Speaks Out: July 25

Coming soon to your neighborhood?

Tuesday morning, a nondescript sedan with blacked-out windows sat idling in our northeast neighborhood. When a neighbor called the sheriff to express our collective concern, a responding deputy questioned the driver and found he was an ICE agent “conducting an investigation.” There was nothing local law enforcement could do to encourage the agent to move on.

My husband and I are white, U.S.-born citizens who now must confront the reality others are experiencing across this nation. We have neighborhood friends, landscapers, and roofers afraid to be outside because they happen to be brown U.S.-born or naturalized citizens — “suspicious” to someone trying to meet their daily quota of arrests.

It's time we all confront our fears about standing up for human decency. But how can we when there is no legal way to question or interfere with the arrest of a neighbor we know to be a legal citizen?

The car was back this morning. What will you do when ICE comes to your neighborhood?

Judi Moreillon

Northeast side

Foles the best

I have had the privilege to watch Nick Foles throughout his college and NFL career. I have always admired his calm under pressure and the ability to make the most out of the team that surrounded him. He is one of the most deserving men for this honor. He has always been in the Hall of Fame in my opinion; and I am very happy to see this come to reality in this year's Hall of Fame class.

Congratulations on this honor. You deserve so many more.

Thank you for choosing to be an Arizona Wildcat.

Bear Down!

Roxanne Peterson

Vail

Project Blue bad for Pima County

Why did Amazon (AWS) decide on Arizona, Nevada and Texas for data centers?

Pima County is the last place we should build a data center. We are in a drought. The Sonoran Desert biodiversity is fragile. Our water reserves are depleted, and the increase in electricity cost to consumers will be high.

Building an 18-mile-long pipeline from the Santa Cruz River to a potential data center is a horrible idea.

We need to protect what water reserves we have, protect the riparian habitat of the Santa Cruz River, protect our beautiful desert and find different industries to promote job growth in Arizona.

Go to a state that is not a desert.

Data centers are not the answer for Southern Arizona.

Robbin Miller

Foothills

The beauty of youth

I love young people — they are the future. Still, re: Hector Guzman's LTE of July 23 — bright young people can have great ideas, but their youthful views tend to lack context and perspective. "Changing the world with love" is a lovely notion, but one not based in reality. We currently have an inherently bad person in a position of unspeakable world power — a person with a twisted, disordered mind whose entire adult life has been a study in dishonesty and self-dealing, a person who "hates" everyone who dares to criticize his unconscionable behaviors. This unfortunate situation decimates talk of policy or "different views." Decent, reasonable people ideally should be able to "have fruitful conversations" about achieving positive goals. However, this requires leadership with character, integrity and a true desire to best serve the public at large. This is a complex process, not one that can be facilitated with a self-consumed charlatan like Donald Trump at the world's helm.

Hope Gastelum

East side

Dahl is best choice for Ward 3

As Pima County Supervisor for District 5, I work every day with leaders across Tucson who are committed to delivering results — not headlines. Kevin Dahl is one of those leaders. In his service representing Ward 3 on the Tucson City Council, Kevin has shown up with humility, purpose, and a deep love for our community. Whether he’s fighting to protect our desert, expand affordable housing, or improve the safety and livability of our neighborhoods, Kevin brings both experience and heart to the job. I urge voters in Ward 3 to send Council Member Kevin Dahl back to City Hall.

Andrés Cano

Downtown

Project Blue water usage

Is a closed cooling system for Project Blue being discussed? I asked AI about closed systems: “a closed cooling system can absolutely be used in large date centers-and in fact it often is.” Closed systems conserve water since there is no evaporation. Closed systems are ideal in areas with water scarcity. AI reported that Google, Microsoft, Meta and AWS (Amazon) all use variants of a closed-loop cooling system in some of their data centers. Upfront costs for a closed system may exceed the cost of a water-intensive cooling system, but what is that cost compared to the cost of installing an 18-mile pipe to access reclaimed water, plus the ongoing cost of using a significant amount of Tucson's water. AI’s bottom line: “Yes, closed cooling systems are not only usable but increasingly preferred in large data centers, especially as densities increase and sustainability becomes a priority.”

Scott Myers

Midtown

Despicable actions

In 1305, Edward I’s henchmen brutally executed William Wallace in public. His body was slashed open, and his intestines forcibly removed while still alive. That’s evisceration. Trump and his henchmen (Noem, Miller, Bondi, Vought) are eviscerating our government. Beyond gutting HHS under Kennedy and Education under McMahon, Trump killed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Merit Systems Protection Board, and Federal Election Commission by leaving board positions vacant or removing incumbents so the agencies can take little or no official action. The Big Ugly Bill removed health care coverage and took food from the table of millions of citizens. Then Republicans "clawed back" billions already appropriated for PBS, foreign aid, neighborhood programs, and education. This is not governance for the common good. These actions are immoral. They are un-American. They will kill people. While the greedy, power-hungry mob and its Don exercise their self-perceived superiority through ill-conceived executive orders and legislation, we must resist, resist, resist. And then we must vote.

David Coatsworth

Midtown

Open letter to local officials

I have lived in Tucson for 45 years, and I expected you and the rest of the City Council and Board of Supervisors to be transparent, but you deceived the people of Tucson. Amazon's Project Blue has no place in water-poor Tucson or Southern Arizona. I will actively work to unseat any candidate who supports this project, regardless of whether I live in the district or not. This is a highly volatile issue, and I suspect many others will join me. Do not underestimate the anger out there over this project and your deception.

But really, what were you thinking? That we would accept Amazon stealing our water and energy after it was a done deal? You thought wrong.

Mark Elson

West side

Putting political money to use

Reading news lately about all the money that various people are sitting on for elections — $80,000 here, $200,000 there — I can’t help but think about how all that money is doing absolutely nothing but waiting to be used for spam texts and calls and making our roads more dangerous by blocking sight lines with pointless signs.

Being as any attempts to limit how much money a candidate sucks up are perpetually blocked by said candidates, I have an alternative proposal.

Candidates can bring in all the cash they can. No limits. The important change is this: No more war chests. At the end of the election all unused money goes to paying down debt in the region the election happened. If there is no public debt, send the money to fix infrastructure.

Let’s put all that wasted money to something useful.

David Reynolds

East side

Local Palestinian leader's statement

Mohyeddin Abdulaziz is a leader of the Tucson pro-Palestine/anti-Israel movement. He posted the following statement on his personal public on July 16:

"The assault on our constitutional rights, on our educational institutions, on our students and teachers are all consequences to the Zionist control on our lives."

Since the vast majority of Jewish people identify as Zionist, it is obviously code for "Jewish Control."

The statement feeds into classic antisemitic scapegoat tropes that "The Jews are all powerful and responsible for all our problems."

It is the kind of rhetoric that led to programs in Russia, and 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. It also led to three American Jews being killed in the U.S. this summer just for being Jews.

Rather than engage in blood libel-type statements against Jews, Mr. Abdulaziz should use his position to promote peace and dialogue.

Tony Zinman

Midtown

Streamline siting for renewable energy

Today, the International Court of Justice — the highest court in the United Nations — issued a unanimous opinion that the United States and other wealthy states must act on climate change, calling it an “urgent and existential threat”. Here at home in Arizona, climate change is resulting in in extreme temperatures, record demand for electricity, and contributing to increased levels of heat-related illnesses year over year. To address this urgent threat, we must decarbonize our electricity system, streamline the renewable energy siting process, and resist bad laws at the state and local level that restrict new clean energy developments.

In 2025, the Legislature considered HB 2223, which would have severely restricted where wind farms could be built. It also would have created onerous new requirements for obtaining permits for any projects built on state or federal lands, nearly half the state. Please write to Representative David Mitchell, the primary sponsor of the bill, and your local legislator, urging them to support renewable energy development and streamline the siting process.

Evan Nye

Midtown

'Middle East Riviera' vision

Our POTUS and many other countries seem to be wearing "rose colored glasses" when it comes to the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, as more than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed. Of those 55,000 Palestinians, it's not clear whether any of those are Hamas or had Hamas ties. Over 412 aid workers have been killed trying to provide aid to the starving families of Gaza. Between the IDF killing hundreds of Palestinians every day and Netanyahu starving the population as a whole, 47 will have his golf courses, casinos, and vacation villas in no time.

Is Netanyahu aware that the Torah forbids murder, furthermore, the Torah's Sanctity of Life emphasizes that human life is sacred because humans are created in God's image, meaning that taking a human life is a grave offense?

Are these poor, displaced, and starving Palestinians attacking the IDF with their empty pots, pans, and containers? No, they're not.

The cleansing will only stop when Palestinians are considered an endangered species and close to extinction.

Max LaPlante

Southeast side

Gallego's about-face

It seems the lure of the job's benefits have begun to impact Ruben Gallego's position on transgender youth in sports. I fully understand the negative reaction from the LGBTQ community to him on this. When re-election time comes again, his continued fund-raising pleas in order to fight back against the openly anti-constitutional Republican Party will sound hollow to those who believe that all humans deserve the same dignity and respect. How else to explain this about-face from a previously passionate supporter? Gallego seems to fall on the side of the Democratic Party that is out of touch with its supporters and is losing his spine for the fight.

Arturo Coppola

Midtown

Trump called them stupid people

Mike Johnson, who is the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, declares a “cut and run” move and closes down House business to avoid Epstein transparency.

No wonder MAGA supporters are leaving MAGA. No one can find out the truth.

Conspiracy lies are not only MAGA problems. They are everyone’s problems.

Meanwhile, the price of beef is soaring. The sales tax, aka tariffs from Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Canada and a lot more countries, are hurting Americans. Check and follow food, tools, cars, coffee, wine, etc. This is everyone’s problem. Resist BS.

Dan Bannon

Midtown

How do you not get it?

Trump has cut the Forest Service, PBS, Department of Education, Medical research money, EPA, HHS,Veterans Affairs, SNAP, USAID, Student Loans, CDC, HUD, etc, etc. 80,000 federal employees have lost or will lose their jobs. With all those cuts to services for Americans, I'll bet we saved a lot of money! Cuts to services and employees will increase the national debt by $4 trillion. Where did all the savings go? Cutting revenue increases the debt more than cutting services. The middle class will get a few bucks to keep them quiet, but the big bucks go to the rich. Americans lose services and jobs, and the national debt goes up. Do the math. Cutting expenses does decrease debt, but drastic decreases in revenue increase debt much more. National debt goes up, tax breaks cut revenue, and Americans lose services and jobs. How can you not understand this?

Richard Bechtold

West side

Shortsighted union members

Union members advocating for the data center just exposed themselves as scabs.

Advocating for a union-busting company so they can get jobs while that company continues to make excessive profits off the exploitation of Amazon workers and the exploitation of the entire Tucson community is a scab move. Amazon is anti-union and anti-worker. This data center would be no different.

Wendy Sampson

Midtown

Kevin Dahl isn’t guessing — he’s leading

In a time of political disruption and budget shortfalls, stability and integrity matter more than ever. That’s why I support Kevin Dahl’s re-election to the Tucson City Council representing Ward 3.

Kevin leads with humility, honesty, and a steady hand. He doesn’t chase headlines — he focuses on what matters: building coalitions, listening deeply, and getting results.

His work speaks for itself: Kevin has championed Tucson’s water security, climate resilience, and sustainable growth. He’s negotiated tangible community benefits from developers and businesses, ensuring new investments uplift — rather than displace — existing residents.

Kevin prioritizes neighborhoods that need it most. He’s led on policies that conserve water, bring shade and stormwater harvesting to vulnerable areas, and demand accountability from developers.

His Ward 3 team is responsive, accessible, and deeply engaged. When residents raise concerns — about safety, housing, or infrastructure — they act.

Ward 3 deserves a representative who listens, delivers, and leads with care. Kevin Dahl is that leader, for today and for Tucson’s future.

M.E. Martinez

Midtown