Tucson has a new shtick: cultural tourism. A recent story from KOLD-13 News said that the city’s arts and culture scene brings in billions.
Billions!
This latest shtick follows two other shticks.
The first is the oft-repeated claim that big bucks stem from Tucson being the supposed gastro capital of America. What this really means is that the city has a lot of low-wage restaurant jobs.
The second is the notion that the revitalization of downtown Tucson into a center of hip bars and restaurants will be a game changer for the local economy. Time will tell, but for the time being, the tax breaks behind the revitalization have come at the expense of surrounding neighborhoods, many of which are impoverished and crime-ridden.
Meanwhile, it’s a cultural taboo to ask why poverty, crime and neglect remain so widespread—or specifically, why the City of Tucson’s poverty rate is stuck at seven percentage points above the national average.
If cultural tourism brings in billions, where has the money gone? It doesn’t seem to have gone into crime reduction, into roads and other infrastructure, into the maintenance and beautification of neighborhoods outside of downtown, or into sorely needed improvements in K-12 scores and personal income.
If tourism, a food scene, and a hospitality industry in general are all that’s needed to make a city prosperous, the tourist magnet of New Orleans would not be one of the poorest and most dangerous cities in the U.S., with a poverty rate ten percentage points higher than the national average.
Even the gleaming tourist boomtowns of Orlando and Las Vegas have poverty rates a couple of percentage points above the national average.
Or take my boyhood home of St. Louis. The world-renown St. Louis Zoo has 2.9 million visitors a year. And the zoo sits in the middle of one of the largest and prettiest city parks in the nation, a park with so many amenities and attractions that it would take visitors three days to experience all of them. The Gateway Arch and the world-class St. Louis Botanical Gardens attract millions more. Still another attraction is the food scene in the Italian section of the city, where my family tree and my culinary preferences have their roots.
But none of this has kept the city from losing so many residents and high-wage jobs to the suburbs that its population now accounts for only 10 percent of the three million people in the metro area.
It’s a similar story for the U.S. as a whole. The greatest employment growth has been in the hospitality industry, in government, and in medical care, which relies to a large extent on government money via Medicare and Medicaid. At the same time, the nation is in decline on key socioeconomic indicators.
Some cities have bucked the trend and are doing very well. For example, the Phoenix metropolis has attracted something like $100 billion in investments for its semiconductor industry alone, albeit with much of this coming from the federal government.
Another example is Scottsdale, a prosperous Phoenix suburb with a population of nearly a quarter-million people. Among other big events, Scottsdale hosts the Waste Management golf tournament, which draws more people than the population of the City of Tucson. This is in keeping with Scottsdale’s reputation as a tourist destination, backed by a vibrant culinary and arts scene, especially as reflected in its wonderful Musical Instrument Museum and in its Old Town of art galleries and restaurants. At the same time, however, the city has diversified its economy beyond tourism.
What’s the point of these anecdotes? The point is that Tucson should be realistic about its pluses, minuses, opportunities, and competition, so that it can plan accordingly and enact public policies for greater prosperity.
Considering that Tucson is the home to not only a major research university but also to RTX’s missile division, it should be able to move beyond cultural and gastro tourism to a higher-wage economy. Something is keeping it from doing so.
Maybe it’s falling for too many billion-dollar shticks.
Mr. Cantoni can be reached at craigcantoni@gmail.com.
I am shocked to find a Tucson newspaper that actually tells the truth about Tucson’s sad state of affairs. Like the author Mr. Cantoni I am also a former St Louis resident who has watched Tucson residents consistently vote for Democrats which directly coincided with the erosion of protections for its taxpayers. We need decent-paying jobs and thriving businesses and corporations to attract tourists. I have sadly watched baseball teams, corporations, and educated residents flee to the big city to the north of us and to any other city but Tucson. It is heartbreaking. We can’t vote for Mr Butierez because we’ve moved to Oro Valley, but I’ll say my prayers that the people of Tucson will finally see the error of their ways in the upcoming election. Before you vote, I ask you to drive down some of Tucson’s main streets like Speedway, Grant, and Broadway. If that looks like prosperity to you, keep voting the Democratic ticket. If it gives you pause for even a moment, maybe it’s time to consider a change in how you vote. Good luck to Mr Butierez.
It’s just a matter of time. Raul is her place-holder until after the election. According to GovRrack.us, “From Jan 2003 to Sep 2024, Grijalva missed 1,267 of 14,404 roll call votes, which is 8.8%. This is much worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.” We need proof of life for our representative. I do not wish for his demise, only an open, honest representation from this once card-carrying communist.
Channel 13 is a joke and propogandizing again. If a tourist farts in this town, they will report it as wads of income flowing into the city. As the author notes… where is the money?
This is not new for the area as many years ago the dems declared we dont need an economy as the fast food, hotel/motel, and corner market will keep everyone happy. They also pointed to the tourist/dude ranch so all we need are service jobs. well the tourist/dude ranches failed, hotel/motel are not doing much, and the corner markets are being phased out by the bigger chains. So we are left with an area WITHOUT a real economy and they keep building but I dont know who can afford anything since there is no ECONOMY here, they do want DMAFB to close as the nimby always are complaining, the ua does not reallyhave much going it seems so what is their to crow about? As to the mayor, she has done absolutely NOTHING OF NOTE just like her father. I guess since he was an appointment that she now qualifies for the same the people be damned. No even though they say great things about snotsdale, jst drive around up there and you will see a flatter version of the tucson foothills. The homes up there and neighborhoods look like the foothills ones here and they look like the rest of the local neighborhoods. So really there is no real comparison except snotsdale has a little better economy but in reality??
couple reasons
1st ICE likes to dump Illegals on street daily
2nd Grijalva’s district is downtown to airport – great rep of poor
need I say more
lack of vision, Hispanic south Tucson(bankrupt) doesn’t help
and mostly our blue city mayor
Regina – drinks in the Harris-Biden-Walz destruction(dei, lbgt-IT, etc.)
and now more parts of town – Alvernon/Grant area especially are loaded with illegals and druggies
Meanwhile, it’s a cultural taboo to ask why poverty, crime and neglect remain so widespread—or specifically, why the City of Tucson’s poverty rate is stuck at seven percentage points above the national average.
– Tucson is stuck in 1972
– Tucson is buried in drugs – has been since 1972 ‘Try Tucson First’ remember that slogan and poster?
– illegals
– homeless drug addicted at every corner
– real business is closing it’s doors across the city because of theft.. have you bought some ice cream at Circle K or Walgreens lately “It’s all lock up”??? WHy because of theft. Lock down ice cream – a sign of end times indeed.
– Streets – pull out of TIA and see what you find as first impression of TuCsun either way a road that is ‘dismal’ in condition – welcome to buttville
– an addict at every corner
– downtown – a very good description ; where there is business – who wants to park and walk downtown?
Who am I ; born and raised Tucson ; old man ; hate to see and say this is what is here in Tucson. The Mayor – a joke – a bad joke.
And this sCHItK could be your new US Representative…. if you don’t get out there and vote for Daniel Butierez for CD7. Raul ain’t going to be able to serve 2 more years and hasn’t represented us since Feb 2024. Mr Butierez is a local business owner, came from spending time in jail, from being homeless, now has 2 successful businesses and has a great plan for helping the homeless… a hand UP, not a hand out! danielbutierez4congress2024(dot)com
Don’t want to curb your optimism and I hope Mr Butierez is successful, but my gut tells me ole Raul will cruse to victory then retire early in his term only to appoint our POS Mayor or his equally worthless, opportunistic, daughter as his successor…sorry!
Rahooie hasn’t represented anybody but himself, his family and a wad of illegals, ever.