More of “it’s-not-rocket-science” for readers.
On Friday, February 21st, Governor Doug Ducey threw in the towel on getting a constitutional ban on sanctuary cities for Arizona. According to reports, “the Governor effectively conceded he was having trouble getting support for his proposal, which he had touted a month earlier at his ‘State of the State’ address.”
What really happened is the uber-elite business group, Greater Phoenix Leadership, got behind its defeat, fearing it would queer-the-many-deals they had with Mexico. All of this emerged in subsequent news reports.
Sanctuary-amendment opponents were outrightly jubilant. Only an idiot would deny it will re-embolden “sanctuary city” organizers across the Grand Canyon State.
The upshot of all this, especially if you live in one of the many unincorporated CDPs, or *Census Designated Places around the state, is you’d better get organized and pronto.
This goes double for Tucson, where some 12-13 unincorporated CDPs comprise nearly 40% of the metro’s projected 2020 population of 1.1 million. Pima County’s been stealing their monies for decades, giving abysmal services in return, and resorting to thuggish intimidation should any CDP get the least bit uppity. (PimaCo knows more than three-quarters of its CDP “milkcows” could be standalone cities without any tax increases whatsoever)
Well now you have a new threat to contend with. Two things come immediately to mind:
- Tucson backers of the recently failed “sanctuary city” initiative will be back at it
- AZ Demsheviks have a new reason to abolish our tough municipal annexation law
Both possibilities are deeply troubling to me personally, having lived in New Mexico more than 20 yrs; a state terribly degraded, given all its marvelous natural resources and outside federal investment. “Never-say-never” that it could happen to Arizona.
For those contemplating incorporation The best place to start with any preliminary investigation is the League of Arizona Cities and Towns (NOT counties); they have helped numerous groups get incorporated over the years, especially in prosperous & booming Maricopa County. Less than 3% of the Phoenix Metro is un-incorporated, sporting some 25 towns & cities. The League’s website is azleague.org.
Understandably, you may not like what I’m saying here, but rest assured, the bad aspects of all these developments will come to pass, whether you like it or not. Look at the changes to date; you can decide to simply be passive or take action.
Most people will be passive, and wake-up later wondering how it all happened.
Sellers is a South Park Republican who lives in incorporated Oro Valley. His background is federal tech-transfer commercialization.