136 replies to this topic

[traal]

I just don't want to see Tucson growing uncontrolled until it's another suburb of Phoenix.

[ErinJ]

colin, on Aug 15 2007, 01:51 PM, said:

Sure, it would be a great city to benchmark for its public parks, urban redevelopment, mass transit system, network of bike paths, historical preservation, investment in the tourist economy, as well as other cultural aspects.

But isn't that exactly the point of these comparisons?  I think city leaders know Tucson is nothing like Portland and never will be.  Tucson IS at a crossroads where it needs to examine it's approach to growth, and Portland represents 1 alternative to business as usual.  I too hope Tucson stays Tucson, but the way things are going I am afraid Tucson will be overshadowed by Marana et al.

[colin]

Welcome back, Erin!
Thought you had left us like the moderator.

I think I resent those comparisons because, when you look at Portland and what they've done as a community, it makes Tucson look so bad. I mean, the fact that our metropolitan area has places like Marana in the first place makes it look bad.
Portland has its own issues though.

[colin]

In my obsession with ExpressJet, I checked out their site again today to find that, apparently, Tucson also now has a direct to/from New Orleans MSY, even though it's not on their route map yet. About $99 one-way.
Pretty cool!

[convulso]

colin, on Aug 21 2007, 04:50 PM, said:

In my obsession with ExpressJet, I checked out their site again today to find that, apparently, Tucson also now has a direct to/from New Orleans MSY, even though it's not on their route map yet. About $99 one-way.
Pretty cool!

VERY cool - you can't beat $99 to N.O. who'd want a round trip ticket for that route anyway?

[colin]

Ben! Good to see that you're still around as well.
I went back to NOLA for the first time since Katrina last month with my dad on a business trip and it was pretty depressing. Nothing's quite the same and there are still lots of abandoned homes and businesses, especially in New Orleans East. Not sure what's going to happen there.
But you're right, great deal! Even the non-stop to IAH has gone down in price. TUS is just a good place to fly out of now.

[convulso]

not dead; just letting life kick my ass lately - UP gets the lurk treatment at times like these.

i've been back to N.O. a couple of times since Katrina, having also spent a week there just before it hit. it's surreal - the parts that don't seem the same really, really don't seem the same - as in permanent change / destruction / reorientation of the city's traffic, land use, infrastructure, etc.

but the parts that do seem the same - the quarter, frenchman street & environs (just east of the esplanade), riverward parts of canal and the CBD, the southern portion of the garden district, etc. - seem untouched. the contrast between these areas and the devastated ones is just jarring, no matter how familiar with the city you think you are. residents must feel the bipolarity in a way i can't pretend to imagine - as though a deformed, mutated evil twin of the city came along and tried to usurp the same space, and succeeded in most places. (okay, i tried anyway to imagine it with that weirdo analogy.)

but yeah, tucson in general!

Edited by convulso, 21 August 2007 - 10:18 PM.

[colin]

New call center to add 350 jobs

I was interested in this because of the "mixed-use" concept. Not sure how mixed-use it will be.
But this corner is essentially dead right now but has a ginormous potential.

[colin]

Tucson traffic 25th worst in U.S.

I still don't think that the traffic is really that bad here. But I'm riding the bus into work every day now (go Sun Tran!).

[convulso]

not prying, colin, but what's the general route you take and how efficient is the bus along that stretch? my only knowledge of suntran was that it stopped twice - maybe - every day up at sunrise and swan. i guess pima needs to fork over the funding if urban fringe-dwellers wanna ride.

[colin]

Route 3. It runs east down 6th and 5th and eventually to PCC East. It also heads west out of Downtown up Granada and west of Saint Mary's/Anklam to PCC West.
In the morning it's very convenient. Buses run almost like clockwork and about every 15 minutes.
The closer you get to Downtown, the easier it is to get around by bus. Once you start having to transfer, that's when SunTran's system falls on its face.

The RTA is supposed to invest money in the bus system. Several new express routes and added buses to existing lines.
http://newwebsite.pa...ptember2006.pdf (page 39)
http://newwebsite.pa...istsAmended.pdf (page 40)

[colin]

The Daily Star has been picking on Tucson's poorly planned suburbs very recently, in particular (and deservingly so), Sahuarita.

Towns learned hard way: Lack of early planning hurt

Sahuarita residents miss city amenities

The latter preaches the same old sprawl saga: let's move out to the suburbs to get away from the city... uh-oh, what happened to the supermarket and restaurants down the street?
The problem here is the haphazard manner in which this sort of development is executed: building only to meet needs usually involves little, if any, planning.

[convulso]

interesting to watch UAz smack oregon on TV last thursday. with basketball enthusiasm being a given there, it was fascinating to watch the kids surge the field as the game clock dwindled. i have youthful memories of being an AZ football fan (too bad they haven't retained the old-school uniforms), and it's always puzzled me that football plays behind basketball out there. my impression is that this was not always the case (and with the changing demographics in tucson over the last 20 or so years, that makes sense).

anyway, it was cool to see the fans' enthusiasm over bumping off a no. 2 team. WTG wildcats.

Edited by convulso, 19 November 2007 - 02:07 AM.

[colin]

The football team is really weird and totally unpredictable. I wasn't even paying attention to it until I asked my friend if they had won and, to my surprise, she said yes. Of course, I was also surprised when they won the last game against UCLA. Maybe it's only when I don't pay attention to them that they win.

This Thursday game caused unbelievable issues though. Most of the parking lots remotely close to the stadium were shut off to valid permit holders for the entire day, enforced by citations and towing. UA President Robert Shelton sent out a campus-wide email asking staff to leave at 3, but also said that they would have to use vacation or sick time to make it up. He also did not cancel classes around the time of the game.
It bothers me that there was all of this disruption, not really for the game parking itself, but for the f'in tailgating parties, which makes Parking & Transportation Services (my former employer, btw) tons of money since those passes go for $100 or so even in the outlying lots away from the Mall.

[traal]

Opinion: 'Smart growth' should come to Pima County
Arizona Daily Star
December 9, 2007

Quote

Smart growth, if applied wisely, controls urban sprawl and reduces air pollution by requiring fewer cars and less driving.

With plan amendments adopted by the county's Planning and Zoning Commission on Nov. 28, Pima County is headed in this direction. If the supervisors vote favorably on Tuesday — as they should — it will be proof that progressive thinking has triumphed. It will mean that future generations in this area will not face the severe air pollution problems that Phoenix and Los Angeles are struggling to correct.

<understatement>That sounds like a good idea!</understatement>

[colin]

I'd like to see one public meeting regarding growth, planning or development here that does not mention Phoenix. Seriously. I understand that you need to benchmark something, but Phoenix always gets hammered in these things.

This is good news, as the county has always been slightly more open to developers than the city, and the sort of stupid, tract housing sprawl that embodies it was able to exist by just building outside the city limits.
Now we just need to get our surrounding counties on board (look at you, Pinal County).

[colin]

The I-10 bypass around Tucson was dealt a blow recently: the San Pedro Valley alignment was nixed by ADOT.
Of the Tucson-area corridors, this only leaves the Sandario Road alignment on the west side of the Tucson Mountains, which has a much less likely chance of actually happening than the San Pedro corridor as it abuts Saguaro National Park and the Tohono O'Odham Nation. Residents have also been fervently opposed to it in public meetings, although that should be no surprise. There's another routing which runs adjacent to the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness, which is regarded among many local naturalists as the holy grail of natural areas and attracts visitors from around the world. I don't think that that one has even been discussed.
The question now is: where is this thing going to be built? My only guess is that they will eventually somehow route it through Safford and far away from Tucson. Otherwise, it's just not going to happen.

Oh, and you can read about the whole thing on this ADOT site:
http://tpd.azdot.gov...g/i10bypass.php

Edited by colin, 28 March 2008 - 10:02 AM.