Will Earth Day bring us hope?
This Earth Day coincided with Easter — Orthodox Easter, celebrated by Ukrainians and Russians alike. But will our earth have any progress to celebrate? On the contrary, we, the stewards of the planet have lurched precipitously backwards.
Most climate scientists give humans until 2030 to repair the earth (Tikkun olam in Jewish traditions.) We have been distracted by COVID-19, yet, despite the deaths, the virus did not damage the environment.
Now we confront evil. Again it’s in the Euro-Christian world. Russia’s cruel invasion of Ukraine has nations around the globe scrambling for fossil fuels to fight our fellow humans. We just lost our chance to save the earth with alternative energies.
Does Easter give the globe any hope? I think we are doomed unless science and all of us can find a way to cool our only home — in this there is a half-measure of hope.
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Ronald Pust, MD
Midtown
No on 411
I’m voting no on Proposition 411 because it’s got the ratio of repairs to roads, 80%, to bike and pedestrian improvements, 20%, backwards. We need better mass transit services and ways to move around without single user cars. It’s literally killing life as we know it to persist with these 20th-century habits. We need 15-minute service on all routes, seven days a week, from 5 a.m. to midnight. There’s no good reason to not increase the street car service. We need less roads. The worse they get, the better. Traffic calming, Tucson-style.
Cynthia Duncan
Midtown
Consulting is common
To those of you who believe Chuck Huckelberry’s term as a consultant was unfair to the taxpayer, I suggest you do some further research. Most state, city and county governments use consulting. This has been going on for decades and is a government privatization model. The company receives a fee, the consultant receives a higher salary than the employee he/she is replacing, is provided with a vehicle, health insurance and a retirement plan. Many retirees return to work as consultants even after receiving Social Security, known as triple-dippers. This model has been touted as a cost benefit because in temporary situations, like a road construction project, it can complement the workforce when workload is great, and there is no need to employ someone long-term and pay benefits. However, a good consultant usually remains employed with no layoffs, defeating the purpose of hiring a permanent employee. In my opinion, the taxpayer is not the winner.
Susan DeHart,
retired consultant
Midtown
Hazardous waste event wasted fuel
Re: the April 19 letter “Vehicle idling a waste of fuel.”
We appreciate the City of Tucson’s Hazardous waste event at Jacob Park on April 9. We saved batteries for several months waiting for an event close to us, as to not waste fuel for the disposal of our hazardous waste. Upon arriving, the line of cars was 40 deep, all idling, with only one line to drop off hazardous waste. What is wrong with this picture? People are so used to sitting in their idling cars at the drive-thru coffee shops, at the bank, picking up the kids from school; that it is second nature to not think about this scenario, of being wasteful while trying not to be wasteful. Time for the city to rethink its hazardous waste events, making it more often and at more places. Drivers need to get out of their cars and stop idling. Check out iturnitoff.com.
Christina Early
Midtown
Nix the Western I-11 route
Interstate 11 seeks to connect Nogales to Wickenburg and has various routes up in the air. Despite doubts from the public that a new interstate does not outperform the option of expanding pre-existing roadway construction, plans for I-11 through the Sonoran Desert west of Tucson prevail. My worry surrounds this proposed western route that would bisect the Avra and Altar valleys. Not only does this route run close to the Saguaro National Park, Ironwood Forest National Monument and Tucson Mountain Park, it crosses the Tucson Mitigation Corridor. This corridor itself is land set aside to mitigate the impacts of the 1990 construction on the Central Arizona Project (CAP) which delivers water from the Colorado River through 336 miles of Arizona. The canals have disturbed wildlife migration and the Tucson Mitigation Corridor was protected to compensate for losses. Destruction of the Bureau of Land Management’s mitigation corridor would put at risk the wildlife it was established to project.
Lynette Butron
Downtown
Blame game
I get so tired of the constant blame game from the Right. Nothing in the way of a platform, but if it’s not President Biden’s fault it’s a Dem’s failure. OMG! The CDC changed their masking recommendations so nothing they recommend is ever to be believed. The southern border is flooded with refugees from the crime-ridden and drought-stricken countries south of us — must be Biden’s fault. Our unemployment rate is in the 3% range and businesses are crying for workers. Is there a disconnect here? Inflation due to supply chain disruption, pent-up demand during the virus shutdown, or stimulus money to help unemployed families must be Biden’s fault. Gas prices thru the roof? Blame Biden. Trump lost the election? Must be those bad Dems counting votes correctly. Anything to keep “the base” agitated before the fall elections.
Morton Smith
Foothills
Third annual Haiku Hike
If you have not taken the Haiku Hike along Stone and Congress, it is something you should do before it goes away on June 1. The winning entries for this year’s contest, selected by Tucson’s poet laureate TC Tolbert, are thoughtful, imaginative and lyrical. They are displayed on placards in beautiful planters created and tended by Desert Survivors along a renovated and revived area of Downtown Tucson. A friend and I took the walk the other day and had lunch at one of the many restaurants along the route. It was a perfect way to spend a lovely spring day! Thanks to Downtown Tucson Partnership and University of Arizona Poetry Center for sponsoring this wonderful event.
Cynthia Herron
Northwest side
Smart people
Have you ever thought politicians are the smartest people in the world? Most folks work to learn their skills, but politicians have an abundance already. Would you service your car with a dentist, or ask a mechanic to drill your teeth? These folks are knowledgeable in their fields. But politicians know everything. Just ask one about global warming, what books to read, doctors to see, drugs to take, whom to love, how to raise your child, what you can do with your body. They know about flags you can fly, stickers you can put on a child’s lunchbox, neighbors you may have. They know all the “correct” answers for these and any other topic you raise — they know it all! Moreover, if you believe this, there is Florida land for sale, but it goes fast so better hurry. It goes faster when the tide comes in. So think about your vote, while we still can vote!
Spencer Elliott
Oro Valley
Tucson’s kind streetsRecently in a momentary lapse I left a notebook full of important papers and some cash on the hood of my car. I then drove into busy traffic to watch my papers fly everywhere. While doing a U-turn I saw a truck with flashing lights (who witnessed my smooth move) stopped in front of the largest pile of papers blocking traffic. He then proceeded to help gather my papers spread out in traffic. We recovered every single one. Many thanks to a kind stranger helping in a dangerous situation. Also thanks to the drivers who slowed to a crawl to avoid my papers!
William Garrity
Foothills
