Pima County Bond Committee at work
By Brian Flagg,
Join us Tuesday, April 21, 2015, 8:30 a.m. at the County Supervisor Meeting.
The Supervisors will be voting on whether to put an $815 million bond package on the November ballot. We at Casa Maria feel that a YES vote by the Supervisors is important for two reasons.
1. – The world seems to be going to hell in a hand basket, especially here in Arizona. Southern Arizona is under attack by the Governor and his rightwing legislature. Money from the State has been drastically cut in favor of tax breaks for the rich and more funding for private prisons. This has left us in Pima County with few decent choices for funding for things that will benefit poor and working people and the planet. No one will be creative for us. We’ve got nowhere to look for help, we in Pima County have to step up and defend ourselves in regards to funding things that make for a better quality of life.
2.-Under the leadership of Supervisor Richard Elias (who appointed me to the Bond Committee), a coalition has been developed to make sure that poor and working people and the environment have a significant place in this bond package. The coalition includes anti-poverty advocates, neighborhood and church activists and environmentalists. We have fought very hard so that the following are included:
– Affordable Housing $20 million
-Neighborhood Reinvestment 25 million
– Open Space $95 million
– Job Path (Job Training) $1 million
Other important things we fought to have included are fixing up South 12th Avenue, many park projects including Quincy Douglas and Kennedy Park on the South Side and walk ability projects put forth by the Living Streets Alliance. We feel that trying to work in coalition with other groups and other interests is the only way to be able to fight the Big Monied Interests. It is the way we must work in the future to achieve meaningful steps towards a more socially just Pima County. This bond will fund many things I don’t like, some which I find insulting and make me want to throw up. But it includes many things important to the People and the Planet.
We really are at the table! Please accept our invitation to witness this experiment in democracy play out at the Supervisors Meeting on Tuesday April 21 at 8:30 a.m.