The 2020 Census will reveal more people live in un-incorporated Pima County than any of the 4 substantial Metro cities there. Of course, this is exactly what the Grijalva Gang and the Tucson Hard-Left wants.
Their cynical operating model is based upon this paradigm; keeping most of the 1.1 million people in the Metro unaware of the County’s colossal bureaucracy and looting of monies. Or having the highest sales & property taxes in Arizona. And in return, you get what comedian Rob Schneider famously termed a “big steaming bowl of s**t”, for voting Dem.
Meanwhile, as City of Tucson planners & bureaucrats have told me off the record, they’re just waiting for victorious Dems to force the Arizona Legislature to repeal the state’s stringent annexation law. Their playbook’s all set—so Tucson can swallow its adjacent un-incorporated CDPs (Census Designated Places).
Seriously, who in their right minds would want to be governed by the Hard-Left, looney-tune bunch that runs the City of Tucson? (you must be as nutty as they are)
However, by just combining 3 pairs of adjacent PimaCo CDPs into newly minted Arizona cities, it would totally wreck this jaded & cynical arrangement—that has produced so much unnecessary poverty, suffering, and local government dystopia.
Those 3 pairs would manifest instant cities over 50,000 in population, that could easily stand-up a municipal infrastructure, including well-paid managers, employees, and assets to match. And with no new taxes.
Moreover, their adjacent cultures, lifestyles, and terrain would be entirely compatible with each other. Not to mention a simpatico of similar urban challenges (i.e. roads, public safety, P&Z, etc.) that could be worked locally, not the top-down dictates of PimaCo.
For instance, combining Catalina Foothills with Tanque Verde would yield a 75 sq. mile city of approximately 65,000 people. Both adjacent CDPs like their upscale, “rural-urban cachet”, and would possess the power as a unified, incorporated city to keep it this way, with more improvements & control.
Ditto combining Casas Adobes with smaller Flowing Wells. This would be a municipal powerhouse of ~90,000 people in 31 sq. miles, with the 2nd largest gross sales tax base in the entire County. These two CDPs have distinct parts that now resemble a Mexican border town. The people & businesses have long been looted and taken for granted. As 1 unified City, they would have tens of millions $$$ in surplus funds.
Lastly is the most tragic County-exploited combination, the ~30 sq. miles of Valencia West & Drexel Heights, and their ~55,000 people. Unlike the others, this combination is not completely landlocked. And therein lies its salvation & triumph.
Post COVID-19 will see a massive American sourcing shift to Mexico; a VW-DH combo would be ideally positioned to take advantage, by being the go-to municipality for new infrastructure & investment. Possibly doing development deals with the adjacent San Xavier Reservation, as the tribes in Phoenix have done.
And should Tucson’s goofy elitists screw up their courage long enough—to actually get the southern Sonoran Corridor bypass built, the VW-DH combo would wildly prosper.
None of this needs to be political rocket-science. But when you hear candidates & the media yap-on about “we need better leadership, etc.” think back to this simple concept.
Sellers is a South Park Republican who lives in incorporated Oro Valley. His background is federal tech-transfer commercialization. He is on Facebook.