A green slime-filled pool at the former site of the Arizona Children’s Home sits as a symbol of South Tucson’s growing decay. During Mayor Ildefonso Green’s tenure, hope of rebuilding an economic base has been dashed by division and discord.
The green-slime filled pool is surrounded by a wrought iron link fence intended to keep people out. It is the perfect metaphor for South Tucson and all that ails it. Years of neglect, and resistance to entrance, has left South Tucson as useless and aggravating as an unusable green slime-filled pool in July.
The greening of South Tucson
In June, residents of the mile-square community, watched in horror Green launched into a diatribe that eventually resulted in the resignation of South Tucson Police Chief Michael Ford. Ford became one more victim of the erratic and paranoid Green.
At the time, Green claimed that Ford had leaked information about the mismanagement of the City’s finances. The paranoid-based tirade was inexplicable given the fact that the City’s crisis is well-known and well-documented.
Under Green, the Police Department budget has been slashed. This was done, according to Green, to address the massive $650,000 deficit, according to an article in the ADI.
Green was behind the recall of then Mayor Paul Diaz. Diaz, with his old friend former State Senator Luis Gonzales, had hoped to reform the City’s government in order to save it from insolvency. Insolvency would benefit developers and outside government operatives, who desire an “island” in the middle of Tucson. Insolvency, and the resulting liquidation, would devastate residents, who have traditionally been ignored by government operatives, except during election cycles.
Remarkably, Mayor Green and his brother Raul take credit for the green slime-filled pool. They fought the expansion of Pasadera Behavioral Health Network in South Tucson. The proposed expansion included purchasing the Arizona Children’s Home. Presumably, Pasadera would have bulldozed or repaired the pool so that the City could have rented it to be used by residents. An auditorium on the property could also have been rented by the City.
The Greens crafted a narrative that the expansion was part of Diaz and Gonzales’ plan to increase the drug dealer and user population in South Tucson. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Pasadera had no intention of increasing the number of patients at its South Tucson site. It intended to increase the number of white-collar employees in what would have been administrative offices.
Given that South Tucson relies mostly on sales tax revenues, an increase in white collar workers would have been a boon to the City.
Contrary to their claims, nothing the Greens did prevented the expansion. Their fear-mongering was unnecessary due to the fact that Pasadera could not expand in the first place. Diaz and Gonzales had argued that the site could not been properly zoned to meet Pasadera’s needs. Later, a Pima County Superior Court judge agreed with Diaz and Gonzales.
Unfortunately, the Green’s fear mongering forced Pasadera to drop their plans rather than try to work with the City. The fear-mongering left the City in worse shape than ever before.
Trust is essential for growth
Unfortunately, there is currently little trust in the City’s leadership upon which companies can build. Because the atmosphere in City Council chambers is volatile, the business community is looking elsewhere. In this market, few would want the hassle they would likely experience at the hands of the Greens.
This year, Diaz worked with officials in the then-incoming Trump administration on legislation that would have allowed the City to throw off the shackles of mega-corporations and monopolistic utility companies. The plan would have turned South Tucson into a “prosperity district.” While conservatives love the “prosperity district” concept because it allows deregulation, Diaz and others recognized that an autonomous district could adopt regulations to protect workers and the environment while eliminating those regulations that simply act as a barrier to the market and protect corporations from competition.
Because neither Pima County nor Tucson have an interest in the survival of South Tucson, the state and federal governments remain some of the only sources for survival. The neglect by the people on Tucson’s south and west sides by Tucson and Pima County leadership clearly demonstrates that it is in the best interest of the people of South Tucson to resist a new government takeover.