Redistricting in 2021
The 2020 U.S. Census has been completed but final results won’t been shared with the states until September primarily because of delays in data collection caused by the pandemic. One of the chief reasons to conduct a census every 10 years is to redistrict U.S. Congressional districts and state legislative districts. Based on current population and shifts in location of the population, seats can be gained or lost. Arizona did pick up a Congressional seat based on the 2010 Census.
Arizona is one of 18 states that has an independent commission to redistrict rather than depending on the State Legislatures with their inherent political biases. Arizona selects two Republicans, two Democrats and one Independent. The criteria for creating districts are: equal population, compactness and consciousness, communities of interest, geographic features such as county lines and competitiveness. Obviously, competitiveness in crucial to give all political parties a chance to win.
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Our commission has been selected and has begun the process. Hopefully they will be transparent and fair!
Leadawn Anderton
Southwest side
CDC lacks credibility
As I write, the FDA and CDC have issued a “recommendation” to the states pausing J&J vaccinations due to blood clots that occurred in six of 6.85 million who have received that injection. The media will report that the pause is an edict to shut down.
I urge our AZ governor, Pima County and the City of Tucson to ignore this federal guidance and continue J&J shots uninterrupted.
One would think that our elected politicians would relish the opportunity to demonstrate political leadership, but this is rarely the case. You folks have been doing a great job so far, so don’t waiver in the home stretch.
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
Why do people move to desert?
I grew up in Tucson in the 1950s. This was a time when I still saw desert tortoises in the spring. The monsoons awakened the desert with fragrant aromas of the creosote, the cactus bloomed, and we enjoyed the harvest of the fruit.
Since the 1970s, my family has lived off the Catalina Highway in the Indian Hill neighborhood. Families here pride themselves on being conservationists of the desert.
When we see deliberate destruction of clear cutting mesquite, palo verde, chain cholla, beaver tail prickly pear, it is utterly heartbreaking. This is exactly what happened when our new neighbors moved here from back East and clear cut their property. Tragic.
The five acres across the road will never be the same. The many species of desert birds and animals have lost their homes, the desert plants are gone.
Our desert is being destroyed by ignorance. Why do people move to the desert and then destroy what they found intriguing?
Colistia Sawyer
Northeast side
Arizona Wildcat family and more
Jason Terry and Damon Stoudamire would be my top two choices to replace Sean Miller. Both are proven winners. Without Jason, we lose to South Alabama, and Lute Olson never wins the national championship. Stoudamire has been able to succeed at a “non-basketball school” like Pacific University. Imagine what he could do here. Plus, these men are in the Wildcat family.
Tommy Lloyd is not, and he has zero national championships to his credit, even though Gonzaga has been blessed with many All-America players.
Although they have not thrown their hat in the ring, I would have preferred Sean Elliott, Matt Muehlebach, Judd Buechler, and even Matt Brase, among others, to an outsider with local booster connections. All of these ex-Wildcats are analytical students of the game. They are charismatic, confident, and positive people.
Louis Hollingsworth
East side
Read the constitution
Re: the April 14 letter “There are absolutes.”
The letter writer needs to read the Constitution before he chastises President Biden for saying “no amendment is absolute.” The 21st Amendment revoked the 18th Amendment. Pretty clear it wasn’t absolute.
Kirk Astroth
Northwest side
Hypocrisy on infrastructure
The hypocrisy of Republican leadership and especially Mitch McConnell seems to have no low to which it will not go. In March 2016, he said the Senate could not consider an Obama Supreme Court nominee so close to an election. But in 2020, a nomination that proceeded after early voting started was OK.
More recently he said corporations should mind their own business when it comes to voter suppression, but keep sending the money. Now, he’s whining that anything not roads is not infrastructure. But in 2018, he said: “enhance infrastructure investment in rural communities, on everything from local water projects to broadband internet to helping curb the drug epidemic in rural America.”
I’m sure Republican Americans want safe bridges, working wastewater treatment plants and school buildings that don’t fall down as much as Democrats. Let Mitch know he’s out of touch.
Gail Kamaras
East side
Reminders about the Constitution
Re: the April 14 letter “There are absolutes.”
Our founders were intelligent enough to provide for a way to update the Constitution. They recognized that times change and science increases our knowledge .
I’d like to remind the letter writer (“There are Absolutes”) of the following: The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime; the 14th granted citizenship to all those born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves. It also repealed the “3/5 clause” which counted slaves as 3/5 of a person in calculating Congressional representation and lowered the voting age to 21 (for males).
The 16th gave Congress the power to assess and collect taxes; the 18th Amendment, commonly known as Prohibition, banned the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liqueurs” but not consumption; the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote; the 21st Amendment overturned the 18th; more recently, the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18.
Barbara Mannlein
Foothills
Republicans and civil rights
Re: the April 13 letter “Maybe the Dems need new name.”
The letter writer correctly noted that the Democratic Party once was racist and pro-slavery, while the Republican Party was the party of emancipation and civil rights. However, the Democrats belatedly saw the light, and for the last 60 years have taken over the role that the Republicans chose to abandon.
Think about how much progress we could make if we had two political parties working for justice. Wouldn’t it be grand to see the Republican party return to its roots and tap into the liberating spirit of Frederick Douglass and Thaddeus Stevens? A good start would be for Republican lawmakers to quit their voter suppression efforts.
Donald Reese
Southeast side
Recycling, hazardous waste
Have you recently tried to properly dispose of household hazardous waste (HHW) in Pima County?
If you have, you have found that the City of Tucson and Pima County have made it extremely difficult do so. Currently there is only one place in Pima County to drop off HHW, and that is the Los Reales landfill on the far south side, and only on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., making it as inconvenient as possible for residents.
It appears the city and county no longer care about contamination of our ground water and illegal dumping, just like the city of Tucson has proven it doesn’t really care about glass recycling by making as inconvenient as possible for residents to recycle glass.
Greg Steed
Oro Valley
