AZ DAILY STAR - SEE TCFC OP-ED Published Today! Free Speech and More from TCFC
AZ DAILY STAR - SEE TCFC OP-ED Published Sunday, June 11, 2023
Thank you to the Arizona Daily Star for publishing the op-ed written by your Tucson Crime Free Coalition steering leaders. TCFC believes “visible solutions are needed for a safer community.” It is our hope that our elected leaders will begin to see substance abuse (specifically fentanyl and methamphetamine) and crime with the same urgency that TCFC and our membership does. We highlighted several solutions that we have been working on that can be implemented right away to begin creating positive outcomes.
County Prosecutor Laura Conover, Mayor Regina Romero, and Chair Adelita Grijalva for the first time, a month ago, "acknowledge and accept ownership of the single most pressing issue facing our community, the toll the fentanyl crisis is taking on our community.” Unfortunately, we are not seeing any evidence of this to date.
CLICK HERE for the TCFC Op-Ed in Arizona Daily Star
Board of Supervisors, led by Supervisor Scott, Grijalva and Heinz in partisan vote, restrict free speech at Supervisors Meeting June 6th, 2023
All Supervisors except Christy and Bronson voted to restrict speech. Supervisor Scott put forward a motion to cut Call to the Public to 1 hour and as expected they voted to restrict in a partisan vote. Thank you members for your 150 emails asking supervisors not to restrict free speech. 2 emails were in favor.
TCFC PRESENTATIONS THIS WEEK
Tucson Association of Realtors and Southern Arizona Home Builders Alliance. Special Thanks to Shawn Cote for giving TCFC the opportunity to present
GOP Legislative District 18 - Special thanks to Alan Nichols for giving TCFC the opportunity to present.
MEDIA: Listen to Josh Jacobsen, WakeUP! Tucson, Chris DeSimone Show June 9th
Josh Jacobsen talks with Chris DeSimone about TCFC and our current activities as well as a more in-depth description of what is happening on our streets!
Josh starts in HOUR 2 at timestamp 18:20
CLICK HERE: https://www.kvoi.com/onair/wakeup-tucson
The questions generated from our members for the candidates of the upcoming City of Tucson Primary Election (8/1/2023) have been sent to all candidates below that will be on the ballot.
The questions and instructions were sent to the candidates at the emails below which are their official email contacts provided by the City Elections department. TCFC sent the questions and instructions from two sources to ensure verified delivery.
The answers from the candidates will be posted in our newsletter on June 26th for you to view.
EARLY BALLOTS GO OUT JULY 5th!
Below is a list of the candidates and offices:
PRIMARY ELECTION, August 1, 2023, CANDIDATES
MAYOR
KERSCHEN, ARTHUR
LIBERTARIAN
arthur.kerschen@cox.net
ROMERO, REGINA (incumbent)
DEMOCRAT
Re-elect Regina Romero for Mayor
tucsonromero@gmail.com
WITTENBRAKER, JANET
REPUBLICAN Wittenbraker Mayor
jlwitten@asu.edu
ACKERLEY, ED
INDEPENDENT
Ackerley for Mayor
Ed@AckerleyForMayor.com
LEM, VICTORIA
REPUBLICAN
Victoria for Tucson City Council
VICTORIA@VICTORIALEM.COM
ORTEGA, MIGUEL
DEMOCRAT
Miguel Ortega for Council
ortegaforcouncil@gmail.com
SANTA CRUZ, LANE (incumbent)
DEMOCRAT
La Lane for Tucson City Council
LALANEFORTUCSON@gmail.com
WARD 2
CUNNINGHAM, PAUL (incumbent)
DEMOCRAT
Cunningham for Council
tucsoncunningham@yahoo.com
NUTT, LISA
DEMOCRAT
Lisa Nutt for Tucson Ward 2
Lisa@MakeEveryMinuteCount.com
SHACK, ERNIE
REPUBLICAN
Shack Ward 2
eshack143@hotmail.com
SPICER, M. PENDLETON
LIBERTARIAN Spicer 4 Tucson
Spicer4Tucson@gmail.com
WARD 4
KAPLOWITCH, ROSS
REPUBLICAN Kaplowitch Ward 4
Ross.Kaplowitch@yahoo.com
LEE, NIKKI (incumbent)
DEMOCRAT
Nikki for Ward 4
nikkifortucson@gmail.com
Here is the list of questions:
1. Why are you the best candidate for this office?
[Candidate Answer]
2. What are your top 3 priorities for the office you are running for?
[Candidate Answer]
3. Tucson Police staffing remains low. What strategies would you support, not limited to maintaining market wage parity, to sufficiently and more quickly grow the ranks of TPD?
[Candidate Answer]
4. Substance abuse (specifically fentanyl and methamphetamine) and crime are among the most discussed issues in our community. What strategies would you support to mitigate these issues?
[Candidate Answer]
5. Tucson’s economy still lags the state and region and is ranked among the lowest for the 11 western state metropolitan statistical areas. What strategies would you support to improve workforce development and grow higher wage job opportunities in the city?
[Candidate Answer]
Erica: Let’s just play the race card again. Let’s try to divide us. Let’s try to upset the effectiveness of the TCFC. Over my 40 years here, I can’t recall a similar organization, whether white, black, hispanic, whatever.
Race has nothing to do with the issues addressed by TCFC and it’s really disheartening that in this day and age, with the knowledge everyone has about how race is being used to divide us ( remember united we stand and divided we fall), why would you raise this issue?
If someone wants to volunteer their time and efforts and attempt to better the lives of this city, why would you criticize them? UNBELIEVABLE. That little leaguer at Ft. Lowell Pk can just as easily be poisoned by fentanyl as the little leaguer at Manzanita or Jacobs park. Fentanyl is color blind.
The fact that this coalition is majority white speaks volumes – those that are most affected by the issues TCFC purports to advocate for are completely left out of the conversation.
Re. ‘Replicate the “Say No To Panhandling — Support Agencies That Help Those In Need” signs created by TCFC/Pima County in the city limits.’, the City of Tucson refuses to install the signs against panhandling on medians for the same reason they have refused for years to complete installation of “No Smoking TCC 11-89” signs on 100 percent of all Sun Tran bus shelters. In the absence of signage, violators can claim they don’t know better, even though ignorance of the laws is no excuse, while the relevant authorities can claim that as the reason the laws cannot be enforced. As a result, last year, for example, a woman not in a crosswalk stepped off a median into the street then was struck and killed by a Tucson Police Officer. Likewise, addicts brazenly smoke everything from joints to fentanyl to cigarettes to methamphetamine at Sun Tran bus shelters, creating public open air opium dens and crack houses. I have photographs to prove it. Signs are cheap, therefore, the lack of the two types of signs within Tucson city limits is willful neglect by the Mayor and Council at the expense of public health and safety.
Moderation is why the city is where it is today. Everyone in Tucson seems to be moderate. Drugged up, fattened up, and dumbed down. We certainly appreciate the work TCFC is doing, but, remaining moderated, sedating yourself and blinding yourself to the reality around us, is not going to change anything. Those days are gone. We are in a battle.
Restricting time to address BOS? Are you only going to respond “moderately” to this? Will you go home and just let this happen. In two months, they’ll do away completely with the Call.
Asking the mayor, the ca and bos and the rest of them to only do their jobs is a waste of time. These people are children with no life experience who are being told what to do. They are afraid to enforce the law.
I’m afraid we are past the point of moderation. What, in our current world, is being done in moderation? Do you read the news? I mean the real news. Moderation is going to lose me and many other people. Study up about what happened in western europe, and what is going on now in the Holland? Is moderation going to solve those problems?
When that little leaguer uses the bathroom at the park, comes out, goes down, and it’s later determined he picked up some fentanyl “shed”, poisoning, by some druggie in the bathroom, you tell his parents to stay “moderate”. This is all very simple. Very simple. It does not require any additional thought, money, planning, etc. The answer is, an the legislature has already set it up for everyone: ENFORCE THE LAWS. If not, get another job.
Great article. Although some think you are political, they are confused with you simply taking to task elected officials who choose to stick their heads in the sand and do nothing. Keep up the good work and VOTE
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