This is the begining of the begining.

Currently Tucson reminds me of this song:

"In space the stars are no nearer
They just glitter like a morgue
And I dreamed I was a spaceman
Burned like a moth in a flame
And our world was so fucking gone

But Im not attached to your world
Nothing heals and nothing grows

Because its a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves,
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescriptions low, I wish you
Were queen
Just for today
In a world so white what else could I say?

And hell was so cold
All the vases are so broken
And the roses tear our hands all open
Mother mary miscarry
But we pray just like insects
The world is so ugly now

Because its a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves,
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescriptions low, I wish you
Were queen
Just for today
In a world so white what else could I say?"

- Marilyn Manson: Mechanical Animals


There are some things about Tucson that are beautiful and amazing. Other things.. Not so much. What is going on with downtown? Seriously. Forget about the money for a second. Isn't what is happening embarrassing? We over time just watched the City of Tucson (here forward known as COT) screw around and not really get a whole lot done when it comes to the rebirth of Tucson's downtown. To be honest I don't think downtown is the answer to all our prayers regarding retaining talent after people graduate from UA (and gaining graduates from other universities). It is part of the puzzle but the city as a whole needs to come together to create the environment that we want. I think Broadway (the street from downtown to Kolb Road) overall needs to be redeveloped to be more cohesive and inviting to families and young individuals alike. People always say Tucson is a "big little city". How can we be a big little city if we have no real central area to gather. I admit Reid park is a great place to hang out and have activities but we need a nightlife. We have culture that has been here forever. But we need to let the future generations of Tucsonans create their own. COT IS NOT friendly to business. It takes forever to get construction permits (one year plus for some items). It's ridiculous. We could have so many more amazing biotech and tech companies if we had better city planners. Scratch that. The "weak mayor" council-manager system of local government hinders us more than it helps. I believe that our mayor Bob Walkup has done a great job with what he has been given but now it's time to change the system. We need a leader with power. We need a mayor/council system. I believe that currently (no matter what anyone says) none of the council members have a singular vision of what to accomplish for the city. A huge problem obviously. People are people and nothing can change that. But we need to change how this city is run. Old money didn't/doesn't want Tucson to grow. Look at how they planned out the street/transportation systems (or lack of planning) and how it affects everyone. There is no true east-west freeway in Tucson that is accessible to most of the population. Aviation Highway is a joke. It all goes back to the people in power crippling our infrastructure so Tucson couldn't grow. Well guess what? Tucson has struggled but we have grown over time. But we will not be where we want to be until we change leadership so we can change our infrastructure.

Know what a great example of what Tucson could and did create industry wise? Innovation Park. Currently Ventana Medical Systems and Sanofi-Aventis are located there. But the problem is keeping the talent. We CURRENTLY do not have the same kind of culture downtown/central that draws that kind of talent in to stay. Look at Portland, Seattle, Dallas, etc. Yes, those cities are way bigger than Tucson. The size of our city won't hinder us. In actuality the current size of our city is a beautiful thing. We are on a giant jumping off point. Within the next 5 years we need to put a plan in place to secure our city's future in the world. If we don't we will struggle greatly. We need to invest in people. Educate, educate, educate, educate. We need to take back control of our city and make it a place for everyone. The more "clean" (bio, tech, energy, etc) industries that we have the more everyone will flourish. More taxes (not higher taxes) would be generated to fund new city and county projects. Which in turn will create more high quality and better paying jobs for as many people as possible.

"The City of Tucson, Pima County, the State of Arizona and the private sector have all made commitments to create a growing, healthy economy with advanced technology industry sectors as its foundation. Raytheon Missile Systems, Texas Instruments, IBM, Intuit Inc., Universal Avionics, Sunquest Information Systems, Sanofi-Aventis, Ventana Medical Systems, Inc., and Bombardier Aerospace all have a significant presence in Tucson. Roughly 150 Tucson companies are involved in the design and manufacture of optics and optoelectronics systems, earning Tucson the nickname "Optics Valley".<sup>[27]"
- Wikipedia

We have these companies in Tucson but we want them to grow and thrive.</sup>


Just imagine an Innovation Park where the old Broadway Volvo dealership is and the lots east of it. The area would transform into something amazing. Think about it. A bio-tech park and new condos that are LEED Platinum including a wide array of individually owned businesses to cater to anyone and everyone in a walkable area. Something sustainable. I'm tired of the word "green". Sustainable is what we need to strive for. Our current mayor has made it so all our new government buildings must be LEED certified. That's a great step and accomplishment in itself but we haven't even put our toes in the water yet. People think being sustainable costs a substantial amount of more money to build. Not true; to become a LEED Platinum building it would cost an additional 4.5 to 8.5 percent over normal construction. And over the life of the building the sustainability aspects of the project will pay for itself. (See pg. 14) Why wouldn't we want to do this? Energy costs would be lower, water costs would be lower, pollution would be down, etc. This doesn't just apply to new builds existing buildings when renovated can be brought to LEED levels to a certain extent.

Now how do we get contractors and developers to start doing LEED projects all the time? Education. We have to educate business owners, the public, our local government. The public is the big one. If people understood what the sustainability would do for their own environments they would jump on this as quickly as they could. There are too many people that have been left out of the loop on millions of issues. Now we have to start educating everyone. People care, they just don't know how to do it constructively most of the time. This goes back to our local government. There needs to be better communication between the people "in charge" and the people they supposedly serve. This is just an example of something that could push Tucson and the greater Tucson area in a very positive direction.

Trust me, I know there are huge issues that need to be dealt with. Our education system overall is a joke. We have an amazing university (UA) and a great community college network but our elementary, middle, and high schools are just okay. Education has a direct relation to quality of life. The better we educate our children the better their future would be (obviously). If we lack funding that all goes back to attracting companies that can help fund these needs.

Going back to the song (I'm sure a fair amount of people dislike the artist) I feel that we have somewhat lost ourselves as a city. There are many "dead" areas in that need to be redeveloped; but they can be reborn into something useful. No, I'm not talking about big box companies taking over the space and putting in some generic store. I'm talking about making something unique. Individual business owners and programs in place to create and support this.

"But I'm not attached to your world
Nothing heals and nothing grows"

Currently, the way we have everything set up, nothing gets done when it comes to civic projects. Recycling? The current mayor doubled the amount of recycling during his stay. To 21% TWENTY ONE freaking percent. That is insane. We need to start recycling more nothing will grow if we keep trashing up our city.

"Because its a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves,
We used to love one another"

I think to a certain extent we have lost our identity as a city. You say Tucson, people not from Tucson say "Oh UofA" and maybe something about our resorts. We need to let people see our cultures and embrace our past while letting go of the hindrances that past people in power (I won't call them leaders because they don't deserve that title) have created for us. Love ourselves. Love who we are. Love your neighbor. Embrace the differences between you and them to create a better environment for everyone. Everyone has their pros and cons. Learn them and use your pros and help people turn your cons into pros.

"And hell was so cold
All the vases are so broken"

The First line is ironic to us but we need to embrace what the heat and sun can do for us. We live in the sun belt. Solar panels are a viable option for companies and home owners. We just need to educate them. There are a lot of broken things about Tucson that we can fix. We don't want to and should not want to replace the vase we just want fix and foolproof it to the point where it will never break again.

"But we pray just like insects
The world is so ugly now"

I go on Azstarnet and other websites focused on Tucson and I see so much ignorance (the ugliness in the world) on so many subjects. People complain and complain but they don't do anything about it. They are like insects, just sitting there, waiting to feed on whatever comes their way. We need to stop this. This is INACTION. I am guilty of this but now we need to come together to mold the our future. Oh and don't say it isn't "our" future. Whether you like it or not we're all in this together.

There are so many other things that I want to talk about but this post is already way too long. I'll be updating as I have more ideas. These are my opinions but they are also based on facts. I know I'm random but I want to touch on an unreal amount of subjects.