6 comments · Sep 02, 2024

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."

Full Article is here: https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/tim-stellers-column-tucson-council-presses-its-luck-with-new-sales-tax-proposal/article_f3ece666-66ed-11ef-b6f4-471d404bd7f1.html

SEE HERE FOR RECENT CRIME LINKS IN THE NEWS

Story Sent by TCFC Member, Aug 3rd:

Adult male allegedly exposed himself to a child, under age of 13, while inside Sun Tran Bus number 3502 Route 23 a Laos Transit Center.

The bus was on layover schedule to depart at 1222 p.m. from Laos T.C. on August 02, 2024.

Tucson Police responded and apprehended a suspect from a route 18 that I think was scheduled to depart at 1222 as well from LTC. The route 18 bus had departed and was en route to Ronstadt Transit Center when police apprehended the suspect.

Incidents like this, exposing children to harmful situation, happen too often on Sun Tran Buses, bus stops and centers. Today the appropriate response resulted but too often it is not the case. Too often drivers communicate problems to Sun Tran dispatch and then are instructed to continue en route rather than do the more appropriate action of contacting law enforcement. Leadership at Sun Tran are prioritizing minimizing interruptions to bus service over safety and doing the right thing. School is back in session and Sun Tran and the City of Tucson leaders need to respond adequately to problems that put children's health and safety at risk.

I have witnessed other situations when law enforcement should have been called but wasn't including drug use, masterbation, nudity, fights, and suspected stalking.

Parents need to be aware that these things happen at Sun Tran and drivers are not well trained in responding appropriately. Many of the security personnel are not well trained or fail to respond adequately. Use of public transit should not be equated to the use of school buses. There are risks on public transit that are not permitted on school buses. Only children and authorized, vetted adults are allowed in school buses, anyone and every type of person is on public transit including predators."

(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/2024/08/16/pima-county-attorney-laura-conover-clears-misconceptions-about-recent-domestic-violence-case-low-cash-bail/

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.kvoa.com/news/police-give-the-all-clear-after-reports-of-an-armed-person-at-midtown-7-eleven/article_cc4eb196-5673-11ef-9bb5-d336e8426cb1.html

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.kgun9.com/news/local-news/man-assaulted-in-eastside-parking-lot-dies-from-his-injuries-in-hospital

https://tucson.com/news/local/crime-courts/tucson-police-robbery-circle-k-arrest-teens/article_2de965b0-51a4-11ef-a6f3-6b98ebe557a5.html

https://www.kold.com/2024/08/16/tucson-police-investigating-shooting-near-glenn-stone/