National and local retailers are closing their Tucson stores.

Bankruptcies continue strong, and more home foreclosures are predicted.

The City of Tucson already has set a record for most murders in one year. Property crimes are holding their own, and courts and jails are crowded.

Print this story Email this story Post a Comment ADVERTISEMENT

Rio Nuevo, the vehicle for renovating Tucson’s downtown, is stuck in park ... or reverse.

Some reports indicate that some of the shows that make February gem and mineral month for us will be off to Las Vegas or elsewhere by 2010.

Tucson has no firm agreements to start a new downtown arena, convention hotel or exhibition hall. Some state legislators want to reduce or eliminate the tax-increment financing they approved in 1999 for Rio Nuevo.

Financial observers say Tucson’s bond rating may be so low that most of the money it could raise by selling state-backed bonds for Rio Nuevo would go directly to pay off interest.

Major League Baseball’s spring training presence here since 1947 is in danger. The Chicago White Sox will start training in Glendale in March, and with no replacement team in sight, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies will probably follow them out of Tucson.

For the second year in a row, city sales tax receipts are far less than expected. So are state-shared sales and gas taxes that help keep Tucson’s government going.

If the situation sounds gloomy or serious, it is.

Yet Republican Mayor Bob Walkup and Democratic ouncil members Regina Romero, Rodney Glassman, Karin Uhlich, Steve Leal and Nina Trasoff seem more interested in other things.

Democratic Councilwoman Shirley Scott has talked openly about some of the problems and possible solutions while some of her colleagues have been traveling to Israel, China and elsewhere in recent months.

When in town, the council members discuss plastic sacks, join their aides in making clay figures of imaginary Martians, propose transfer fees for property sales and cut contributions to nonprofits that are already stretched thin from helping Tucsonans find food and try to keep their jobs, homes or savings.

Most recent council proposals have had little to do with the economy, employment, crime or encouraging development.

When City Manager Mike Hein told council members last month that Tucson’s anticipated shortfall for this fiscal year was more than anticipated, they told him to return later to suggest what cuts to make.

Then they tossed out ideas to raise building costs in the city by adding requirements for handling gray water and irrigating trees and bushes with rain harvested from rooftops and parking lots.

Walkup and Glassman tapped their office funds to buy canvas tote bags with their names on them, hoping people will use them instead of plastic sacks to carry their purchases.

Want to bet dog owners won’t switch from plastic to canvas for Fido’s droppings?

City officials should focus on accelerating public and private projects that will put Tucsonans back to work so they can keep their houses, pay their taxes and have enough left to buy food and other items that will boost sales tax collections.

The only out-of-state trips elected officials should take are to visit firms Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities feels are hot prospects to move here.

They should forget about new rules for certificates of occupancy and let small businesses open, move to larger quarters or add local branches more easily.

The council also shouldn’t waste money appealing Superior Court Judge John Kelly’s ruling that their new demolition ordinance is unconstitutional. Giving neighbors and other busybodies veto power over an owner’s right to tear down his own property was a bad idea.

Instead of no longer helping the Community Food Bank load and transport food for the poor, the council should cut or reassign employees who censor, print and mail neighborhood newsletters or who delay every proposal Tucsonans submit to them.

Then the city could hire more people to arrest criminals, fight fires and patch potholes.

What a novel idea!

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 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and from noon to 1 p.m. weekdays on The Voice KVOI 690-AM. This column appears weekly in Inside Tucson Business.