It must have been the pepperoni-jalapeño pizza I had for dinner. What else would have caused my dream last week?

It was 2010, and I was at the Tucson Convention Center for the first joint meeting of the Tucson City Council and the Pima County Board of Supervisors in many years.

By a coin flip, Mayor Bob Walkup won the right to preside, and Supervisors Chairman Richard Elías got to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

"This is a wonderful occasion," the mayor proclaimed as Access Tucson’s only camerawoman turned on her spotlight. "It’s part of our long-range plan to make Tucson more special as we assume our new role as the eighth largest city in Arizona."

"Pardon me, Mr. Walkup," County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry interjected. "We originally mentioned this meeting in the fourth volume of our Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan back in 1998. We haven’t officially approved the plan or printed copies of it, but trust me, this is our idea."

"Mr. Mayor ...," Supervisor Ray Carroll began.

"He’s out of order under our rules," Supervisor Sharon Bronson complained. "He can’t speak without a second."

Walkup looked the other way. Carroll turned to fellow Republican Ann Day for help, but she ignored him.

Jumping in to fill the lull, Councilman Rodney Glassman announced: "I’m excited to be here, representing the voters of Ward 2. Whatever we discuss today, I’ll be excited to ask my constituents how they feel about it before I take a firm stand."

"We won’t make any decisions today," Elías told him. "There’s no precedent for it."

"Mr. Mayor," said Councilman Steve Leal. "Although I’m always pleased for the opportunity to speak before a TV camera, I wonder why I had to come to this meeting. You’ll talk about Rio Nuevo, downtown and Hi Corbett Field, and they aren’t really in my ward."

"You’ll get a free lunch when we adjourn," Walkup said. "You insisted on it."

"Both downtown and Hi Corbett Field belong to me," said Councilwoman Nina Trasoff. "They’re in Ward 6, and my committee has been talking about them for years."

"That’s why we’re here," muttered Supervisor Ramón Valadez. "You’ve lost the Colorado Rockies from Hi Corbett, and we’ve lost the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox from Tucson Electric Park."

"We were waiting for you to find a team to replace the White Sox," Walkup said.

"And we were waiting for you to renovate Hi Corbett for the Rockies," Valadez shot back.

"Well, who would have thought the teams were serious when they said they might leave?" Walkup asked.

"What about those two old warehouses near the railroad tracks?" Councilwoman Karin Uhlich asked. "They collapsed months ago when a jet broke the sound barrier over the city."

"Those are mine, too," Trasoff said. "And Davis-Monthan is mine because those jets fly over Ward 6 when they land. I’ve asked several out-of-state firms to estimate the cost of rebuilding those warehouses.

"And what about my gem show?" she asked, reaching for a tissue. "I’ve suffered some terrible losses in Ward 6."

"Well we’ve never even had a gem show in Ward 4," Councilwoman Shirley Scott noted. "We also didn’t get a baseball team, an arena or our own streetcar."

"Those are all in our long-range plans," Walkup replied. "We’re right on schedule. By 2012 you’ll see all of those things in your ward, Shirley, and downtown will be booming, just as I predicted 10 years ago."

"Mr. Mayor," said City Manager Mike Hein, "I wasn’t working for the city then, so I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ll research it and report back in 60 days."

"I wasn’t here, either," Councilwoman Regina Romero said. "These things are boring, so let’s talk about my idea to extend our Kidco after-school recreation program to Saturdays and Sundays. We should hire 100 more teachers to plan a new curriculum."

That’s when I woke up.

No spring training? No downtown improvements? No gem show?

Those things couldn’t happen here, could they?

Contact Steve Emerine or e-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Emerine, a Tucson resident since 1960, has run Steve Emerine Strategic Public Relations since 1994. He is a former local newspaper reporter, editor and columnist and served as Pima County Assessor from 1973 to 1980. He is a regular Monday guest on the John C. Scott radio talk show, which airs from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. and from 11 a.m. to noon weekdays on The Voice KVOI 690-AM. This column appears weekly in Inside Tucson Business.