In recent memos by Pima County administrator Chuck Huckelberry one word is repeated to justify his various schemes; equity. However, it is inequity that is causing community leaders like South Tucson Mayor Paul Diaz to oppose the Proposition 415 scheme.
Proposition 415 asks residents of the 8th poorest metropolitan area in the country to approve a $26 million “no-kill” animal shelter facility. A recent visit to the current County shelter reveals that nearly 90 percent of the animals housed there are unadoptable pit bull breeds, making long term costs far more than cities like South Tucson can afford.
The residents who live in South Tucson are some of Pima County poorest of the poor. Before Diaz’s arrival, the small town within Tucson struggled for years as a few in power enriched themselves as the rest of the population fought to scrape by.
Diaz, who was recently elected Mayor, says the County just sent the City of South Tucson a bill for a whopping $73,000 for their share of the current shelter costs. “This proposition just creates another burden the residents of South Tucson cannot bear. We cannot afford this. This is a priority that low-income residents cannot afford.”
Huckelberry and supervisors Sharon Bronson, Richard Elias, Ramon Valadez, and Ray Carroll have argued that the increase in property taxes amounts to the “cost of a latte.” But for the residents in areas like South Tucson and for the elderly on fixed incomes, a cost of a latte is not in their budget. Landlords have already stated that they will be forced to raise rents and renters are already barely surviving.
Eddie Fass Badillas, who is leading the recall effort against South Tucson City Council Eckstrom-old-guard-mentality Ildefonso Green, echoes Diaz’s concerns. “Right now this financial burden is too much for the people of South Tucson. We are struggling day-by-day to pay our bills and this is a luxury we can’t afford.”
Diaz is not the only one stuck with sticker shock. Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, whose Ward is made up of a wide socio-economic range from the wealthy El Encanto neighborhood to Barrio Viejo, called the almost $830,000 bill Tucson received “laughably stupid,” according to Tucsonnews now.com.
What isn’t funny is the cost of promoting the scheme. Developers and the same County cronies have doled out more than $100,000 to promote Prop 415. Those monies in turn and been paid to the same people who exploited South Tucson for years.
According to the latest campaign reports, former Pima County supervisor Dan Eckstrom has been paid over $11,000 in consulting fees for the promotion of Prop 415. Eckstrom, known as the “Don of South Tucson,” and his family including his daughter Jennifer, who was just replaced by Diaz in the last election, is also expected to benefit from the $3 million set aside in the $22 million bond package for consulting.
To date, associates of current supervisor Richard Elias’s have been paid over $3,000 for services rendered to the pro-Prop 415 forces.
Those associates have benefitted from the largesse of the regular County cast of characters. Developer Bob Guigino, whose latest development project was crammed through over the objections of neighbors in the Sabino Canyon area, donated $2,000 to the pro-Prop 415 campaign. Diamond, who just managed to sell off over $800,000 in land to the County for “Open Space,” donated $20,000 to sell the massive Prop 415 debt to voters.
Two donations that have many Pima County residents scratching their collective heads is the one from the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona for former campaign manager for $10,000 and another from Tucson Medical Center for $15,000.
The Community Partnership of Southern Arizona is funded through taxpayer dollars as the Regional Behavioral Health Authority in Pima County. According to the organization’s website, CPSA manages the public behavioral health system, which provides treatment and prevention services for mental health issues and substance use disorders.
Many of those very desperate recipients of those services “reside” in the parks surrounding South Tucson. Questions have been raised as to how spending money on the promotion Prop 415 to build a bigger shelter for the abandoned pit bulls of incarcerated drug dealers benefits the substance abuse victims roaming the streets of Tucson.
Many see the contributions as a sort of quid pro quo shell game that occurs frequently with Pima County funds. For example, Tucson Medical Center gave money to Pima, Pima in turn gives it back and the feds count those monies as funds to match for granting purposes.
That sort of Ponzi scheme is evident on contributions over the years to and from various supervisors to non-profits and individuals, while the rest of the populace scrambles to go about their business as the small businesses die daily and the shelter fills up with pets families can no longer afford to feed.
To view the campaign finance reports click here, here and here.Pre Primary report here, Post Primary report here,
First finance report here.