The Rio Nuevo District Board has approved $1 million in Tucson Community Center repairs in an effort to quickly tackle some urgent issues related to health and safety issues. The costs are to be shared with the City. The District Board voted unanimously on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to forward progress.
The MOU approves fixing the TCC bathrooms and bleachers between the District and the City of Tucson government. It specifically lays out that the District and the City would each contribute up to $1 million to this joint project for a total injection of $2 million into the TCC.
The City of Tucson is expected to vote to accept the agreement at the next City Council meeting. The City and the District have been working together on this MOU for weeks. When jointly approved, the MOU allows much-needed stabilizing improvements to the aging facility. Both bleachers and bathrooms would get immediate attention.
“We have a shared win here and we look forward to a joint press conference with the City folks,” said Board member Alberto Moore.
“I don’t want to rain on their parade. We’re going ahead with the bleachers with or without them,” said Kozachik. He says he is worried that an agreement now would nullify past agreements. However, just last month, Kozachik complained about the District’s release the Depot Plaza audit on the grounds that the audit focused on the past and would impede future progress.
That audit found over $4 million in questioned costs.
At the time Kozachik said, “if as leaders we continue to focus only on what has happened in the past we will lose sight of what can be accomplished if we would only work together cooperatively with the taxpayer’s money and invest it wisely in the revitalization of the downtown core.”
Nearly every past agreement has resulted in little progress; costing taxpayers over $200 million.
According to Jodi Bain, District Board Chair, “We are looking to move forward in a positive way with the City as our partner with this injection of $1 million and are poised to realize as quick a start as possible on this joint project. District representatives have already begun reaching out to the University Of Arizona College Of Architecture and various other local stakeholders in the anticipation of a green light,” said Ms. Bain.
In its ongoing effort to increase transparency, the District Board voted to make the agreement public, despite resistance from some in City management. The issues addressed by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) were specifically pulled out of the mediation proceedings, which had been shrouded in secrecy at the insistence of some in the City.
“We’d like the work to be done by local companies if possible. It’s important to keep these jobs local,” said Board member Rick Grinnell.
The District says it shares the community’s concerns about the state of disrepair at the TCC. The disrepair has come at a heavy cost for downtown merchants and the City. Two large annual events for the Tucson Community Center, the Tucson International Mariachi Conference and Las Floritas moved in the Casino Del Sol resort and convention center.
The monies generated from the Rio Nuevo District were intended for the renovation of the Tucson Community Center. Instead the City squandered the money on consultants and little more. Over time, while consultants were making big plans and spending huge amounts of money the TCC was neglected and fell into disrepair.
The City then instituted a ticket tax, which added $2 to every ticket for every event at the TCC. Those monies were swept away from the TCC and into the City’s coffers.
The City Council then wanted the Rio Nuevo District to pay for the much needed renovations despite the fact that the improvements are the responsibility of the City.
The MOU facilitates the necessary repairs. The Board says that it is pleased that despite the continued untangling of the finance, progress in the refurbishment of the TCC will begin. The MOU also lays out the framework for further mediation discussions surrounding the Arena/I-10 Parcel property and other properties adjacent to the TCC.
Kozachik implied that the agreement might allow the District to change the agreements currently in place for the Arena/I-19 property.
One party to mediation has said that Tucson car dealer Jim Click has been pressuring him to get the District and the City to “work something out.”