| 2011-07-07 "The philosophical inconsistency is striking." Lets see - in order to avoid control by the federal government, we'll take local control away from cities. At least that seems to be Frank Antenori's and other legislators' logic in the spate of bills this last spring attempting to preempt local control away from the City of Tucson. The "Stop Hurting Our Local Government" petition started in April, but you can still add your name the 921 signers so far: https://www.change.org/petitions/stop-hurting-our-local-government Steve Kozachik, the petition author, is a Republican city council member who has just had enough of Tucson being pushed around by the state legislature. This Legislative session has seen preemptive bills related to fiscal issues, firearms, hiring practices, procurement policies, and more. We have also s ...read more... | add comment |
| 2011-08-18 911 Tucson by Golda Velez Michael LaFond knew there would be problems with the new 911 software system even before it was installed. He knew, because back in 2006 when the Tucson Police Department started using the system called Meridian Vesta, calls from 911 operators would be dropped when being transferred to TPD. The Tucson Police Dept might not have noticed - they just never got the call. But the 911 operator, if they stayed on the line, would just hear the ringing stop without anyone pick up the other end, and would have to try the transfer again. If they didn't stay on the line, the caller would just be dropped, and have to call back to 911 - which some people did. "For Tucson Police, they could make the argument that it was a reasonable risk. Because for their operation, the types of ...read more... | add comment |
| 2011-07-14 911 issues predicted in 2010 http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_2d4fd649-6896-5e40-baa3-abe93c4ef8ee.html When the Arizona legislature passed its budget in 2010, it raided the Emergency Telecommunications Fund to the tune of $2.2M. Alarm bells were sounded at the time: 911 officials fear budget cuts will endanger public safety Now a 10 year old girl has died during a delayed response to a 911 call using the system that was upgraded without proper funding. Who voted for that budget line item? It was not a separate bill with a tracked vote, just a line item in a budget proposal: http://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/enactedbudgetproposal040910.pdf Its a line item on page 30, under 'Fund Transfers'. Emergency Telecommunications Services - (2,198,400). There's a limi ...read more... | add comment |
| 2011-09-07 Comedy of Errors; Tragedy by Choice. The following letter was sent to bTucson on Aug 23, however it seems particularly relevent today given Mike Letcher's ouster. In particular, if you agree with LaFond's points, there may be more housecleaning in order than only the city manager. This letter was written before the transfer of 911 call center reponsibility to the Fire Dept. Ron Lewis, the Director of General Services, and Isaiah Twombly, the Administrator of Communications, decided that they had a master plan to re-invent the Emergency Communications Center. Their plan was beyond arrogant. It consisted of re-organizing in every conceivable way one of the best public safety communications centers with an extraordinary proven record of consistent reliability and outstanding performance. This was the same Emergency C ...read more... | add comment |
| 2011-09-07 Letcher's resignation letter The Tucson Weekly published the full text of Mike Letcher's resignation letter. Most interesting may be these paragraphs, with Letcher telling Kozachik to back off and let him run his departments - which may be a point, but that's also why we have elected officials. " July 12 2011 - City Manager notified by Ward 6 City Councilmember that 911/ Fire EMS Communication Center Dispatchers talking directly to him have indicated significant problems with the new dispatch system. The City Manager indicated to his knowledge none of these employees had previously notified him of any issues with the Communications Center. City Manager request Ward 6 Councilmember to let him do hi ...read more... | add comment |
| 2010-09-06 No one prosecuted for inmate death in sun http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/09/marcia_powells_death_unavenged.php This story is just sickening. A woman locked in a cage in the Phoenix sun, dies of heat exposure, and no one is prosecuted. Charles Ryan, the same corrections administrator responsible for the recent escape of two inmates who murdered a tourist couple, was also in charge of the prison system at the time of Powell's death, and apparently made the decision to discontinue her life support. What country do we live in, again? | add comment |
| 2011-02-22 Opening Tucson Government http://opentucson.org/ "Citizenship isn't just the possession of rights and responsibilities; it's a state of mind." --Jess Zimbabwe, speaking at the 2010 Open Cities conference. It's your city. Have at it. The Open Cities movement wants citizens to be more engaged with their city government, planning and development. Open information and modern technology promises to make city services more efficient and responsive, while giving city dwellers new avenues to provide feedback and guidance to decision makers. As a grassroots movement no single organization is 'in charge', but Code for America has put together some bright folks to tackle urban issues. Andrew Greenhill ...read more... | add comment |
| 2011-05-03 Recall Pearce campaign - no, campaigns! http://recallpearce.com/ I didn't even know there is a strong effort out to recall Russell Pearce, the Arizona State Senator who has perhaps done the most harm to Arizona and to Tucson. ** Update - There were actually TWO efforts to recall pearce, and the first one posted, Arizonans for Better Government, is now focused on finding a decent Mormon Republican to replace him. The second effort, Citizens for a Better Arizona, is about to reach its signature quota, see http://recallpearce.com - Arizonans for Better Govt is asking people to donate to the Citizens group since they need the money to complete their recall effort. The deadline is May 31, help energize this campaign! Citizens for a Better Government also has a facebook page ...read more... | add comment |
| 2011-02-14 Tell the Arizona Legislature to stop attacking babies The Az Leg is once more attacking children. Last time it was denying Arizona children health care, now they are taking citizenship away from babies in our communities. Reform Immigration For America has an easy lobbying link here: Arizona Vs the Constitution that argues "It has already cost Arizona too much defending SB 1070 - we can't afford to try and defend bills that are inherently unconstitutional too. We need our legislators working on solutions to our budget problems, not adding to them." And not only that, its just plain wrong to go after newborn babies. What country are they supposed to belong to? All those Arizona legislators should have to go explain to those ...read more... | add comment |
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