There is going to be a community forum this evening to discuss Sen. John McCain's border security bill, SB 750, and what it means to the Southern Arizona borderlands.

The so-called Arizona Borderland Protection and Preservation Act—which was first introduced in March, then backed off after being approved by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and is now making a comeback with critics—would "cut unnecessary red tape and enable Border Patrol agents to have access to all federally managed land in Southwest Arizona, so they can perform their jobs effectively, keep our communities safe, and secure the border once and for all," waiving laws on all federal public land and all tribal land within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.(Read more, here.)

In short, if the Border Patrol feels it's necessary to build surveillance towers in the middle of Saguaro National Park, if the bill sees the light of day, they can do so without any permission or input.

Here's a statement by McCain and U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon (who sponsors a sister bill in the U.S. House) from earlier in year:

“For decades, drug cartels and human smugglers have exploited U.S. land management laws by crossing our borders illegally and harming Arizona’s national parks and protected areas. Amazingly, the laws put in place to protect these lands also prevent Border Patrol agents from doing their jobs. Currently, it is impossible for our Border Patrol agents to effectively secure the border when current land management laws prevent them from routinely patrolling large swaths of federal land. Our common-sense legislation would cut unnecessary red tape and enable Border Patrol agents to have access to all federally managed land in Southwest Arizona so they can perform their jobs effectively, keep our communities safe, and secure the border once and for all.”

The forum tonight is happening at the Alliance for Global Justice, 225 E. 26th St., at 7:30 p.m., where panelists that include U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Dan Millis of the Sierra Club, and Cyndi Tuell of Oak Flat, will talk to us about what advocacy groups are referring to as the "latest assault on undocumented workers, climate refugees and the Sonoran Desert."

The Sun Tran strike's been on for 15 days now, without many changes regarding the negotiations. I wrote a recap this week involving the different voices there are in the issue.

A few days ago, someone in the negotiating table reached out to the Tucson Weekly with his insight. 

Dan Linhart is with the Teamsters and has worked with Sun Tran for 34 years. He's been with the negotiating committee for 18 of those years, so he knows a thing or two about what's going on. 

He sent the Weekly an opinion piece, and here it is:

Although the city doesn’t have a seat at the negotiating table; Transdev, previously Veolia; the 60% French Government owned, for profit management company, is contracted by the City of Tucson to manage Sun Tran. Transdev took over Tom Hock’s company; Professional Transit Management.

Mr. Hock has been repeatedly accused of stonewalling to perpetuate strikes in Phoenix, California, Texas, Massachusetts and New York. How much does Hock’s company get to keep for profit if he does not give the money allocated by the City of Tucson to the Teamsters? Hock showed up two days, with nothing to contribute at the table (already counting his chickens?) City of Tucson’s previous Transit Administrator: George Caria, the former General Manager of Sun Tran, an employee and stockholder of Veolia; (conflict of interest?); was signatory to millions of dollars in public funds with little or no oversight! Following the bouncing ball?

Approximately $4.6 million annually in public funds are spent on lucrative private Transit management contracts in the Tucson valley. The City of Tucson and the RTA both have Transit divisions, why the duplication of services? The City of Tucson was made aware in 1998; how they could effectively circumvent the City Charter and directly manage the bus system. Any change from this current arrangement seems to be outside of the City Manager’s ‘comfort zone’. The ensuing shell game with public funds is mind boggling!

It is a sad state of affairs when the City Council members express frustration over not knowing what is going on with the budget, one Councilman’s statement: “The city of Tucson Budget is designed so no one can understand what is actually going on with the budget” How convenient for the City Manager; when the General Fund Revenues are at their highest in 8 years. ‘The Mayor and Council have full discretion to program the General Fund to meet the City’s priority needs’. Where are they?

The current Sun Tran Strike is merely a manifestation, once again of the City of Tucson’s inability (unwillingness?) to manage their resources and to provide the oversight necessary to ensure public funds are in fact spent within the guidelines in which the funds are budgeted. Budget constraints are effectively created by the continual parade of Mass Transit funds diverted back to… the General Fund? Where then does the money end up? City staff refuses to provide the answers, even through numerous public information requests.

Sun Tran; ever under the threat of fare increases and reduction in service has, and continues to be a mere storyline for the citizens of Tucson. The City imposed a $2.4 million cut from the current fiscal year Sun Tran budget that is stated to be accomplished through route changes and consolidations; that directly impacts those dependant on Sun Tran, which, is wrong on so many levels, as Sun Tran is a core service, not one to be borne on the backs of the poor or the working men and woman of this community.

If, in fact Sun Tran has been the efficient operation that their very own marketing have made it out to be; how then has safety, security and health of the employees and the public they serve become a matter of such low importance?
The Union has greatly reduced their offer, taking into consideration the costs that would be associated with driver and passenger safety, security and health. Teamsters would like to get this settled, Unfortunately the Company rejected the offer, as ‘economically unfeasible’; standing firm behind their ‘line in the sand’.

Contact the City Manager: Ask where the money is going? If the City Manager is robbing from Peter (Sun Tran) to pay Paul; what, or who the hell is Paul? Or should I say… Tom? Are our public funds on the express bus… to France?

Another short piece with additional information:

Peaceful farming Jesuit priest and local legend Father Kino founded the Mission San Xavier del Bac in 1700. Before that, different Native American cultures were known to farm the lush Santa Cruz River floodplain as far back as 12,000 years ago. However, on August 20, 1775, Hugo O'Connor decided to begin building the military fort Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón and that became known as the birth of Tucson.

According to Wikipedia (pre-eminent Tucson historian and, in general, bastion of revisionism), "During the Spanish period of the presidio, attacks such as the Second Battle of Tucson were repeatedly mounted by Apaches." Can't imagine why...

Regardless, what Tucson has become as a community is pretty special. So, raise a glass to 240 years of Tucson or 12,000 years of this land giving humans the means to survive. Or, you can skip all of that today, and celebrate the first birthday of Nandi. Yep, that's right. Reid Park Zoo's little baby elephant turns one the same day Tucson turns 240.



What can I say? Leos are the best.

As we pointed out in a past issue of TW, the lathe cut records coming from local label People in a Position to Know are pretty special. The lathe cutting process allows small bands to make limited run plexiglass records for a fraction of what vinyl production costs. This means both PIAPTK and local artists have the space to get a little creative with the process. 

One of PIAPTK's more recent innovative releases comes in the form of a tape/record hybrid release called Magic Mirror with music from psych rockers Wight Lhite (on Side 1) and Dimitri Manos' new ambient experimental project called American Monoxide (on Side 2). 

The unique packaging was made to conceptually emulate Sathers Candy packaging. Each deluxe set of this release comes with a "cassette/lathe sandwich" with the two musical media meant to be played simultaneously. Confused? Well, you're in luck because they've made a video explaining how it works:

Chairman of the anti-legal marijuana group Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, Seth Leibsohn, and a former state superintendent, Jaime Molera, aren't glorifying the possible revenue legalizing weed would bring to Arizona's education system. 

Earlier in the day, the Marijuana Policy Project, which leads one of a handful of initiatives seeking to legalize weed in the state for adults 21 and over, held a press conference in Phoenix, where they discussed that their measure could generate more than $40 million annually to go toward education. 

The group's measure proposes taxing marijuana at 15 percent from licensed retail stores selling to adults 21 and older. A lot of that money will be used for implementation, and enforcement of regulations. All additional tax revenue collected, 40 percent would go to the state's Department of Education for school construction, maintenance, and operating costs, and another 40 percent to the department's full-day kindergarten programs.

Leibsohn says there is no tax high enough to offset the dangers of making a "dangerous substance more widely available."

"It has no place in the conversation on positive education reform," he says in a statement. 

"We know that one in six adolescents who experiment with marijuana will become addicted, that today’s marijuana is far more potent and damaging than the marijuana of the past, and that marijuana use can lead to lower IQs, higher propensities to drop out, impaired cognitive function, negative changes in the brain, and a rise in suspensions and expulsions," he says. "There's no tax high enough to offset the risks of making a dangerous substance more widely available in our society, and it has no place in the conversation on positive education reform." 

To what Molera adds: “To regulate marijuana like alcohol, knowing all the damage alcohol causes in our school-aged population, is an education, social, and financial policy disaster. One cannot legalize a dangerous substance for adults and expect it to be kept out of the hands and brains of our youth — that is why far more Arizona students currently use alcohol than marijuana. Legalizing marijuana will mean more students will use a dangerous substance that negatively affects every single outcome that serious education professionals have dedicated their lives to improving."

MPP has to collect more than 150,000 valid signatures to get on the November 2016 ballot. The campaign has already collected about 60,000 total signatures since May.

This story, well reported by KVOA News, is disturbing on a number of levels. Let's start with the facts.

During a class lesson, Spanish teacher Kristen Maurer at Vail's Empire High School used a picture of Obama, distorted to mimic the crassest of racist stereotypes. The picture shows Obama with gigantic lips, exaggeratedly big ears and crossed eyes, the kind of portrayal found on the worst emails, websites and posters from Obama haters who want to add a racist flavor to their rants. (I won't put the image in this post. You can see it in the news report.) It was part of a lesson where Maurer showed a series of pictures and asked students to describe in Spanish the emotions portrayed in the pictures. Among the other photos was one of Oprah Winfrey with a startled expression on her face and her head pulled into her neck in a way that created double chins. According to the student who complained about the use of the images, Maurer said Winfrey looked terrible and counted her neck rolls in Spanish. The other two photos shown in the article are of Jennifer Aniston with a big nose and Ronald McDonald.

One more detail. The class laughed loudly when the picture of Obama came on the screen.

The teacher was obviously going for shock value and laughs to spice up to her lesson and get her students involved. Racist stereotypes, as well as mockery of someone's looks, can elicit laughs, in a picture or a well told racist, sexist or homophobic joke. Her use of the racist exaggeration of Obama's face and her mockery of Winfrey's looks, inappropriate anywhere, are wildly inappropriate coming from a teacher in a classroom setting. I have no idea if Maurer is especially racist or if she dislikes Obama, frequents websites and receives emails from the hate groups that spread these distorted pictures. If the images express her personal attitudes, then the racist stereotype she depicted is dipped in venom. If not, she's clueless, unaware of her own latent racism and oblivious to the terrible message she's sending when she legitimizes portrayals like this in her classroom. It's OK to trot out racist portrayals in public, she's telling her students, especially when they're used in fun. As a teacher, she's giving students license to accept these kinds of portrayals, even embrace them. When the students get to college, Maurer's lesson will help them feel comfortable attending a come-in-blackface-and-wig frat party where fried chicken and watermelon are served because, "Hey, it's all in fun, and besides, I really like hip hop music. When I was in high school, my Spanish teacher showed us this picture of Obama with big lips, it was hysterical!" She's also telling them that ugly woman jokes and fat woman jokes are just fine.

If you don't think mole deserves an entire meal dedicated to it, then you probably don't know how varied mole can be, offering regional diversity by incorporating local ingredients and traditions. That, or you hate flavor. For everyone else, Reforma Cocina y Cantina is offering a unique dinner honoring both mole and mezcal—two of Mexico's finest imports.

The four course dinner kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24, offering sweet and savory flavor combinations paired with mezcal from a handful of artisan distillers including Mezcal Vago, Xicaru and Del Maguey. The full meal is $65 with everything included. Reservations are required and you can make yours by either e-mailing your party request information to [email protected] or calling 867-4134.

And, if you aren't sold yet, check out the night's planned menu:

If the Marijuana Policy Project's initiative to legalize weed in Arizona lands on the ballot and passes next year, the state's education system could see a revenue of more than $40 million annually once the regulations are implemented, a press release from MPP says.

As a sign of good faith, MPP presented the state with a fake check for that amount during a news conference in Phoenix earlier today. 

“Generating revenue for our schools isn’t the only reason to pass this initiative, but it’s an important one,” says a statement by Lisa Olson, a Mesa teacher who participated in the news conference. “I support it because it will not only improve public education, but also public safety. Regulating marijuana would replace dealers on the streets with store clerks who ask for ID and only sell to adults.”

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol proposes taxing marijuana at 15 percent from licensed retail stores selling to adults 21 and older. A lot of that money will be used for implementation, and enforcement of regulations. All additional tax revenue collected, 40 percent would go to the state's Department  of Education for school construction, maintenance, and operating costs, and another 40 percent to the department's full-day kindergarten programs, the release says.

The estimate is based on marijuana sales in Colorado, but adjusted for differences in state population and marijuana consumption rates according to federal survey data, MPP says. Total retail marijuana sales in Colorado exceeded $253 million in the first six months of the year, generating roughly $16.6 million for public school construction, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue, MPP says. 

The group has to collect more than 150,000 valid signatures to get on the November 2016 ballot. The campaign has already collected about 60,000 total signatures since May.

“We’re finding a lot of support among parents,” says J.P. Holyoak, chairman of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. “They don’t only see it as more money for schools, but also more control over marijuana. Marijuana should be sold by businesses that pay taxes and follow laws, not by cartels and criminals that evade them.”

Long, long ago, the Arizona Department of Transportation bought a bunch of downtown warehouses along the railroad tracks with the intention of demolishing them—along with the El Presidio Neighborhood—for a highway that thankfully never happened.

While the warehouses sat vacant, a bunch of artists started renting them out, creating an organic arts district. In more recent years, ADOT has been selling off the warehouses at auction. But it still owns the Citizens Warehouse along where the railroad tracks cross Sixth Street just west of Stone Avenue.

Citizens Warehouse is home to a wonderful bunch of artists—Nick Georgiou, Rand Carlson, Dirk Arnold and many others—who are producing great work that's now on display at Etherton Gallery. And this Friday, August 21, the gallery will host a panel discussion on the past, present and future of the Citizens Warehouse with state Sen. Steve Farley, Demion Clinco of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation,longtime downtown arts advocate David Aguirre and others. It's sure to be a great discussion if you're into history, arts or Tucson's future—and if you haven't seen the terrific Artists of Citizens Warehouse show, here's a chance to check that out. Here are the details from Etherton:

In conjunction with its exhibition, The Artists of Citizens Warehouse, Etherton Gallery is pleased to present a community panel discussion addressing the past, present and future of the Citizens Warehouse.

Designed by Roy Place (1887-1950), who designed several buildings on the University of Arizona campus, and the iconic Pima County Courthouse, the Citizens Warehouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was slated for demolition in 1985, but through the efforts of numerous government officials, leaseholders, artists and others, it was saved from destruction.

Now owned by Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), it is home to over 20 artists whose work is currently on display at Etherton Gallery. Although artists have brought thousands of Tucsonans and tourists downtown over the years, garnering tremendous publicity for the area and contributing to its revitalization and economic growth, the Citizens Warehouse, may still face threats from on going development opportunities downtown.

Gene Glass, Emeritus Professor at ASU, Professor at University of Colorado Boulder and Fellow at the National Education Policy Center, wrote in a blog post Monday,

Recently I asked my dean to switch my affiliation from the measurement program to the policy program. I am no longer comfortable being associated with the discipline of educational measurement.

Glass has been involved in psychometric work and research since 1960, during a time when "psychometrics promised it could win . . . the wars on poverty and ignorance." It never quite realized that promise. Worse, it has become a tool used against public education.

Measurement has changed along with the nation. In the last three decades, the public has largely withdrawn its commitment to public education. The reasons are multiple: those who pay for public schools have less money, and those served by the public schools look less and less like those paying taxes.

The degrading of public education has involved impugning its effectiveness, cutting its budget, and busting its unions. Educational measurement has been the perfect tool for accomplishing all three: cheap and scientific looking.

International tests have purported to prove that America’s schools are inefficient or run by lazy incompetents. Paper-and-pencil tests seemingly show that kids in private schools – funded by parents – are smarter than kids in public schools. We’ll get to the top, so the story goes, if we test a teacher’s students in September and June and fire that teacher if the gains aren’t great enough.

There has been resistance, of course. Teachers and many parents understand that children’s development is far too complex to capture with an hour or two taking a standardized test. So resistance has been met with legislated mandates. The test company lobbyists convince politicians that grading teachers and schools is as easy as grading cuts of meat. A huge publishing company from the UK has spent $8 million in the past decade lobbying Congress. Politicians believe that testing must be the cornerstone of any education policy.

The results of this cronyism between corporations and politicians have been chaotic. Parents see the stress placed on their children and report them sick on test day. Educators, under pressure they see as illegitimate, break the rules imposed on them by governments. Many teachers put their best judgment and best lessons aside and drill children on how to score high on multiple-choice tests. And too many of the best teachers exit the profession.