Happy Labor Day!; BIG TCFC EVENT!; Crime/Death Up and in the News; Mayor Romero asking to raise taxes to hide pet project costs
Happy Labor Day to all from TCFC (tucsoncrimefree.com)
Celebrating Labor Movement Accomplishments and The UN-official end of Summer!
JOIN US!!! FOR the first of many TCFC Events:
TCFC PRIVATE MOVIE SCREENING / PANEL
EVENT: MOVIE and PANEL Discussion (The Gotaways)
PLACE: The MAVERICK, 6622 E Tanque Verde Road
DATE/TIME: Saturday, Sept 28th, 12PM to 4PM
Cost: $10 (purchase online): CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS or our website.
or $15 at the door
CRIME AND DEATH are UP and IN THE NEWS!
It's been a long, hot Summer. We can't trust our Mayor and other elected officials who continue to say "CRIME IS DOWN" while what we see on KGUN 9, KVOA 4 and KOLD 13 (and TPD's own stats) tell us otherwise. Pedestrian deaths continue to climb primarily due to drug addicted victims walking into traffic. This creates two victims that includes the driver. Our busses and bus stops have been taken over by victims of fentanyl addition making it impossible for school children to safely ride what has become. "THE FREE CRIME BUS."
See a message below, sent to us from a TCFC member who witness a man exposing himself on a Sun Tran Bus.
Some headlines so far:
- Mass Shooting (More than 180 rounds fired)
- Officer shot
- K-9 Dog Stabbed
- Possible Kidnapping
- Pedestrians killed
- Street Takeovers
- 7 - 11 armed man close to U of A
- Several OD’s
- Sexual assault of 13 yr old girl at city bus
- Man assaulted in parking lot - dies from injuries
- Armed Robbery at Circle K by 4 teenagers - assaulting clerk
- The Loft Cinema van stolen from midtown parking lot
(Links to these crimes are at the end of the newsletter)
There is so much more going on that is not reported. There are two groups of citizens that are also dedicated to reporting crime. These local groups were created out of the frustration we see of our elected officials trying to hide their continued policy failures and as a way to share the raw truth on our streets: Here are links to those groups, one with 94 THOUSAND Members!:
Link: Facebook Tucson Nodders Group has almost 12 THOUSAND Members. (12,000 members)
Link: Facebook Tucson Police Scanners Group UNCENSORED - 94 THOUSAND Members (94,000 members)
Here are current stats from TPD:
Mayor Romero asking to raise taxes to hide pet project costs
This week Mayor Romero was in the news asking for a 1/2 PERCENT sales tax increase. Previous City Manager, Mike Ortega, warned Mayor Romero since last November of the upcoming cuts, but she continued anyway to take at least $10 million off-the-table and continue the FREE CRIME BUS with support from the other council members. This is only one example "pet projects" they want us all to forget they pushed and make it look like a budget crisis. This is a tax increase that could disproportionately affect lower-income people.
TCFC opposes the new half-percent sales tax.
Even Tim Steller, AZ Daily Star, is not fooled as he printed in his column on Sunday: "Tucson council presses its luck with new sales-tax proposal"
Here are some excerpts:
"Scraggly palo verde saplings, tall weeds, wrappers, shreds of tarps.
They line many of Tucson’s streets, clog its washes, fill its vacant lots. They help give Tucson its reputation as the “Dirty T.”
To clean that up, to make the Dirty T a cleaner T, we’re going to have to tax ourselves more. That’s the message the Tucson City Council and administration is preparing to send in the latest in a series of sales-tax elections. The council will decide Sept. 11 whether to move ahead with a sales-tax election in March that would raise the total sales tax in Tucson to 9.2% from 8.7%."
"As the proposal stands — and it could change — most of the money would go to various public-safety needs, such as adding dozens more police officers and staffers, adding firefighters and firefighting equipment, and building a new police-fire station on the southeast side.
But millions would also go to a grab-bag of other purposes intended to bring Tucson up a notch. For example:
- $2 million a year for shade at bus stops and improved security and Wi-Fi on transit lines
- $2.5 million a year for the Housing First program for bringing people out of homelessness
- $1 million a year for early childhood programs"
"City officials blame the state in part, and the state isn’t blameless. We’re in the middle of a two-year, $40 million total decline in state-shared revenue due largely to the new flat-tax, which is bringing in less income tax.
But that decline is supposed to end, and state-shared revenue is projected to start increasing again in fiscal year 2026-2027. So this possible sales-tax election is way more than an effort to offset state cuts."
"I don’t know how I’d vote on either plan as yet. While I have supported fare-free transit, it is costing us at least $10 million or so per year that we could collect in fares. Savings like that should probably be considered before we go for a new sales tax that disproportionately affects lower-income people."
SEE HERE FOR RECENT CRIME LINKS IN THE NEWS
(NOT TRUE) https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/crime-stats-drop-in-tucson-police-annual-report
https://www.kold.com/2024/08/11/four-victims-early-morning-tucson-shooting/?outputType=amp
https://www.kold.com/2024/08/14/armed-dangerous-suspect-run-after-deputy-ambushed-shot-pima-county/?outputType=amp
https://www.azfamily.com/2023/10/09/suspect-k-9-wounded-during-officer-involved-shooting-tucson/
https://www.kold.com/2024/08/19/early-morning-arrest-made-after-possible-kidnapping-tucson/
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/41-year-old-woman-struck-killed-in-hit-and-run-on-southside
https://www.kold.com/2024/08/19/man-arrested-following-street-takeover-tucson/
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/tpd-arrests-suspect-in-connection-with-sexual-assault-of-13-year-old-girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGDsl7UV1Yg
https://www.kold.com/2024/08/16/tucson-police-investigating-shooting-near-glenn-stone/
https://www.kold.com/2024/08/18/one-critical-following-tucson-shooting/
https://www.kold.com/2024/08/20/tucson-police-investigating-shooting-near-craycroft-littletown/
In this time of financial crises, everyone should be tightening their belts. Remember, you and or your fellow citizens voted to give them a raise. What message did you send them? The noble thing to do would have been to wait until things stabilized before taking raises.
Now allegations of “pet projects”- I’m curious as to what pet projects everyone is referring to. What are the “pet projects”? More sanctuary city money?
C’mon, did you really think that voting a bond issue for city street improvements was going to result in better streets, or city services for that matter? Haha. One can drive for hours in the White Mountains and not face the road dangers of Tucson City Streets. How many people have had their vehicle front ends and tires ruined? Go ask the guys at Discount Tire about the blown tires.
What is really interesting is the “threats” allegation. If anyone has any proof somewhere, a recorded or written statement, threatening the safety of citizens if they did not comply with her spending, it would important to forward this to the city attorney, county attorney or attorney general- misfeasance, malfeasance in office, etc. . Not only that but this almost sounds criminal ???? Document your actions and let us know. If Mike Ortega or any other city employee, whomever, is privy to these comments, he, she took an oath of office and needs to report them.
I just heard Mike Ortega on the radio today on KVOI. He was being interviewed. He said that when he joined the city had a 50 million deficit and reminded everyone that this is only about 5% of the total budget. They solved it as this is doable within existing budget if everyone works together. The problem is REGINA ROMERO wants to spend more and add more pet projects. She said she will cut TPD if it does not pass. She is threatening us to pass it. I don’t like threats.
I consider myself a Progressive. What is happening out there is too much. I think there is a balance but I do think we need to keep our city safe and I don’t think our elected leaders, on the whole are keeping us safe.
I used to take the Bus. I don’t anymore as I am afraid of my personal safety. I am also tired of all the drama I saw and no one was supporting the drivers. I can afford it, I just Uber it now.
What happened to the bond money to fix our streets? In midvale area our streets are so rutted it’s like off loading. Too much mis management and hiring too many useless city staffers who do nothing but create more paperwork. But generate no value.
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