Constructive actions

I've always been skeptical of "media" attempts to offer solutions. Most of our pressing issues, especially where what Soleri aptly termed the Arizona Problem, can't be solved. But they can be made better. Steve Jobs aptly said that today's axis isn't between left or right, but rather between destructive and constructive.

With that in mind, here are some constructive measures I'd love to see happen in my home state and city.

Maintain and plant more shade trees, hedges, grass, and other cooling elements in central Phoenix and some suburbs. The beautiful view above is of the Encanto-Palmcroft Historic District. People come from out of town and throw down the output of the Arizona Rock Products Association, ripping out "turf" and shade trees, crowing, "We live in a desert!"

Actually, we live in a natural oasis in the actual Salt River Valley — much of what is termed "the Valley" is on basins. That oasis, thanks to the dams and water system created starting in the early 20th century, supported an agricultural empire. Investments in water for the cooling efforts I mention is far better than using it for more sprawl far out on the metropolitan Phoenix fringes.

Flip the Legislature to the Democrats. Republicans have controlled this most powerful branch of state government for more than 40 years. The result is under-funded education, anti-city legislation, a war against transit, returning Amtrak to Phoenix, providing much-needed commuter trains to the metro area, and similar ills.

It doesn't matter how many Democrats are elected governor. The Legislature is where real constructive change will happen.

Reform the state's tax structure. For example, Arizonans with the highest incomes pay far less in taxes than other state residents. With the so-called flat tax enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature, Arizona has one of the most regressive tax systems in the nation.

In 2020, voters approved a proposition to increase education funding; it would have added a 3.5% surcharge on taxable incomes above $250,000. Naturally, this was overturned by the Ducey appointed state Supreme Court.

The surcharge would have provided an estimated $827 million in dedicated funding for pay increases for teachers. But...no. All those freeways that give metropolitan Phoenix some of the worst air quality in the nation are paid for by sales taxes, falling heavily on those least able to pay. Meanwhile, the Legislature does everything it can to kneecap light rail, commuter trains, and Amtrak. A congressional delegation that brought home money for the Central Arizona Project — which newcomers shorthand as baseball headgear rather than cee-A-pee — is largely useless, with some honorable exceptions.

As a result of GOP control of the Legislature and the lobbying of the real-estate industrial complex and "Goldwater" Institute, Arizona can't have nice things. That could change if Democrats took control and raised taxes on the wealthy. If that means they leave the state — fine. Go! Arizona is already way past population overshoot.

Encourage honest discussions about water. Central Arizona gets far too much of its water from the CAP. When I was growing up, we were fine in Phoenix with the renewable water supplies from the dams on the Salt and Verde rivers. Now metropolitan Phoenix receives a shocking 38% of its water from a Colorado that is already oversubscribed.

We need an independent audit of the Department of Water Resources. Based on my sources, the DWR isn't to be trusted. The 100-year guaranteed supply supposedly required from new developments is highly suspect. Groundwater pumping continues at a higher pace than ever, even though the CAP was intended to stop this.

The federal government isn't going to pay for another CAP canal, even if the water was available. Nor is it going to fund a desalination plant somewhere. This is the kind of magical thinking encouraged by the local-yokel power structure. Also every effort must be expended to protect the San Pedro River, the last free-flowing stream in the Southwest. No massive housing development in Benson. 

Stop sprawl. After the growth boundary initiative was defeated in 2000, the real-estate industrial complex set out to control every developable piece of land in the state. This includes making much of Yavapai County into a distant exurb of Phoenix; the same is true of Payson and much of Pinal County. And all of it is car-dependent.

The constructive response: New growth boundaries of the kind seen in Oregon and Washington, where real towns with real main streets are interspersed with fields and empty land. No new developments should be permitted. Any existing ones should face heavy taxes on the developers.

Stop building freeways. The South Mountain Freeway was an abominable example of how politicians combine with the development interests to make otherwise unprofitable desert or agricultural land into highly coveted properties where tract houses can be stamped out by the growth machine. The freeway system is already too large. It contributes both to the region's poor air quality as well as the carbon emissions that are the big driver behind human-caused climate change.

Newcomers don't remember when the Salt River Valley enjoyed several hard frosts every winter. That's why we didn't suffer West Nile Virus.

Instead, money should go to commuter rail and Amtrak. States on the West Coast have created a passenger-train renaissance over the past four decades. People have options about how they can travel. For example, you can take trains from San Diego to Seattle. Los Angeles' Metrolink and subways has rebuilt the old Red Cars of the Pacific Electric, so needlessly lost in the late 1940s. 

But all this requires state support and that demands a different Legislature.

Change development patterns. The only long-term hope for metro Phoenix is to fall back into the footprint of the Salt River Project. High-quality density can allow a sustainable city. Paris' population is 2 million in 40 square miles. Quelle horreur! Who would want to live in such a terrible city.

None of this will happen. Nothing I write will ease the Arizona Problem. But at least I can leave a record for future archeologists who excavate our Super Walmarts and wonder what caused this, er, civilization to disappear.

 

Comments

[Cal Lash]

BRAVO!

[Rich Weinroth]

I've only lived full time in Phoenix since 1983, after working here during the summer of 1981 and a few earlier trips. But when I first arrived as a full time resident and new attorney, I couldn't understand why a desert city did not have mandatory white or similar light colors on every roof and building and why there was so much blacktop. Having traveled to desert cities in the Middle East, the colors made no sense to me. I also did not understand the use of tall palm trees similar to Miami Beach, which provided no shade, as opposed to desert shade trees, such as Mesquite. I talked with the then Phoenix mayor (Margaret Hance, as I recall) and I suggested modifying zoning with relatively simple low cost changes to make development more consistent with the environment. She nodded in approval to this then young attorney, but of course nothing changed then. I had similar discussions with a number of Phoenix mayors at various fundraisers over the year. Nods of approval, but never any action. So here we are. My conclusion is that nothing is going to change unless there is a crisis. There is too much money to be made with the status quo, even though some of the changes would be very simple to implement and with limited cost. Grander plans, such as growth boundaries seem even less likely. People keep moving here and buying real estate and spending money. Why change success in the short term for some nebulous improvement in the future if it will cost you some up front money? Besides, if you are a developer, you can always move to developing in another state and leave the mess behind. Fortunately, I'm mobile and I can leave if I want. My career is over. I can afford to leave for the summer. Good luck to everyone else.

[Ruben]

Fortunately, I’m mobile and I can leave if I want.

Hohokam
1200 AD

[DoggieCombover]

Like the planet in general, Phoenix is well past the tipping point when it comes to climate change. Enough can't be done in a short enough time to change the trajectory, much less reverse it.

Yesterday, the all time record for number of consecutive days of 100+ degree days was set. July was the second hottest on record, with the record being set a couple of years ago. June was the hottest on record.

Even if the political will existed to undertake some of Rogue's suggestions, it smacks of shoveling shit against the tide at this point.

I am likely going to become a "climate refugee" and am shopping for a landing spot.

[Ruben]

Doggie, don’t know how many years you have left, but you may need to go above latitude 45 degrees north to escape the heat that is coming.

[Cal Lash]

HOHOKAM
"Those who are gone. "

[Rogue Columnist]

Thanks to all who posted. But it's discouraging this column attracted so few readers or commenters.

[Ruben]

Rogue,

The MAG, Maricopa Association of Governments stated that Maricopa County is expected to DOUBLE in population in the next 35 years.

What comment could you or any of us make that would alter that trajectory? It's madness.

The future of Maricopa county will be the stuff of science fiction, dystopian nightmares.

Since I am soon to be out of this here life, I am grateful that my granddaughters are safely located in the small towns of Wyoming.

[B. Franklin]

A very wise old man once told me "Never--ever--buy land off Project."

[John]

There is a small strip center near my house that has houses backing up to it on the north and east sides. For some reason the houses along the east side have door sized gates in their fences so you can walk out your backyard and right into the parking lot of the strip center. You can walk a few steps and go to an Ace Hardware, three different fast food places and two different restaurants (one Sushi and one Vietnamese). Truly magical! The folks on the north side have no gates in their back fence and would have to walk about a half mile round trip to do the same.

It just struck me as how sad that something as small as a gate in a fence could make such a difference in your lifestyle. Just imagine how much some intelligent planning could do to improve every else’s quality of life. Our leadership has failed us. The people trained in urban development and hired by cities should have never let things get as bad as they have.

[Cal Lash]

Jon,it was a good column. Dont be discouraged by numbers. Write to satisfy your self.
Many of your past commenters, have moved on, some gave up on Phoenix and some have died.
It's not just Crazy ARIZONA, where criminal developers continue their fraudulent schemes of Yearly sunshine and lie about water.
Currently I'M reading "The Crazies" by Amy Gamerman. A war of the wealthy against the poor in Montana. A war over land and and uses.
A actual war over WIND.
AND if you don't know the ending to The "Valley of the Sun" story, read:
"THE GOOD NEWS" by Edward Abbey.
"Good Night and
Good Luck"

[Ruben]

Payson rain

August 2021. 3.5 inches

August 2022 3.65 inches

August 2023 3.75 inches

August 2024 month to date .1 inch

Those cliff dwellings in northern AZ, southern UT are starting to look appealing.

[ed dravo]

Phoenix's sprawling housing tracts make the perfect ‘fungible’ assets where hedge funds like to park their money with the intent of raising prices and cutting services. They buy up enough of the available market inventory and have, in effect, a monopoly. This allows them to dictate prices. Phoenix has become a prime location for housing scams like this because there is so much sameness to the housing stock.

[Cal Lash]

Ed,Hedge funds:
Same with many other entities including RV parks.
Including many of my old private practice physicians.
The reason there's no spoon in your napkin.
CPA's are Gods.

[Rich Weinroth]

Jon, I known I've said this before, but you really need to get all of this in a Substack column to reach a wider audience. You can charge a fee to subscribers or make it free for subscriptions or even charge a nominal amount if you want. I see more and more writers moving to Substack and they seem satisfied with the product and their ability to have a directly relationship with subscribers.

[Rogue Columnist]

I appreciate that, Rich. The problem is lack of time. I have my Seattle Times day job, and I'm trying to write a new book, if only I could find a publisher. And that's no easy task for an older, straight, cis, white man.

[Ruben]

cis

Had to look it up.

So i was ETD when I was born. EXPECTED TO DIE.

But I didn’t. So just waiting around for my next ETD.

[Cal Lash]

Phoenix continues to set high overnite temps.

[iaed]

Are swamp coolers effective in the extreme heat? That was the air conditioning we had when I lived in Albuquerque 40 years ago.

[Ruben]

An evap will put out air twenty degrees cooler than the outside temp. A top of the line Mastercool may approach 25 degrees cooler air. As the outside humidity goes up the cooler effectiveness goes down.

So, if its 115 outside, the air output will be 95 degrees.

Coolers work better in Albuquerque due to thinner dryer air.

I lived in Albuquerque from 1958 to 1966

[DoggieCombover]

It's a function of how dry it is. Here in central/southern AZ, it is often too humid during the monsoon for them to function effectively. The rule of thumb is they are not effective when the dew point is above 55 degrees, which is the case most of the monsoon season. They work great when it's drier than that, I had one when I lived in western CO that put out colder air than my current heat pump here in AZ.

[Cal Lash]

The second house I lived in 1950 in Phoenix, 9822 N 3rd Street had a swamp cooler. In August it was better to sleep out side on Army cots wrapped in wet sheets as my mother asked her God for a breeze.

[iaed]

Cal, don't know how scientifically-minded your mother was, but she knew how to put the science of evaporation to good use. I think we often underestimate the knowledge of our ancestors.

[Cal Lash]

God was her scientist.
When I worked the fields many of us swam in The canals or relaxed in irrigation ditches at the end of the work day.
Obvious knowledge.
I recall watching young White Russian farmers water skiing in the Arizona canal pulled by a vehicle.
Physical science.
I don't recall my first 34 years in Phoenix as being Hot. I still refer to hot as anything
above 117 as HOT.
It rained last night

[Rogue Columnist]

Hillary Clinton gave the speech of her life. Imagine how much better America would be had she been elected. Biden had good lines and accurate information on the economy and world affairs.

[Ruben]

I had a dream.

I dreamt of a world without polls.

"old men talked about the weather.
old women talked about old men."

[Cal Lash]

The freeze killed
Black Widow eggs.

[Ruben]

Cal, that could be the opening line for Jon’s new book.

It’s up there with, “It was a dark and stormy night”.

Do you think Jon would consider us for his proof readers/ editors?? We’re cheap.

[Ruben]

Convention speakers to help Democrats go after the youth vote:

Hillary 80
Pelosi 90
Sanders 110
B. Clinton 80

These four are so "last century".

They remind me of the ruling class in "the Capital" from the Hunger Games.

[Cal Lash]

I liked the 68 convention. Lots of real young human beings.
Leroy Cleaver

[Cal Lash]

Harris to make history 60 years after Fannie Lou Hamer was denied a Democratic convention seat.

[DoggieCombover]

I am not a fan of Harris, but I may have underestimated her. The selection of Walz told me something about her, I expected some woke running mate to pander to the puritanical wing of the party. The fact she is comfortable with someone like him says a lot. So far they are creating a vivid contrast with trump's dark, negative, hateful, divisive schtick. Even my right wing Republican friends are just tired of it.

This guy sums it up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bgW0Hs_mGs&pp=ygUMdHJhZSBjcm93ZGVy

[Ruben]

Cut my recorded TV news consumption from fifty hours per week to four hours per week with most of the four hours consisting of local headlines and local weather. Nice to eliminate so much BS propaganda as the BS propaganda meter goes off the chart.

Spending more time on the back deck, relaxing and noticing that the sky isn't falling.

[Calvin E Lash Jr]

U watch tv?
How sad.
Pepe Mujica

[terry dudas]

Glad you guys are posting again - end of life blessings. Although we agree on nothing, over the years this blog has been a comfort/

[Calvin E Lash Jr]

Thanks Terry.
Statically I might be able to post 5 more years but only a 20 percent chance. An 80 percent chance I'll be gone in 24 months.
Cal
At 84
From Somewhere in the Great Sonoran Desert. What's left of it!

[Ruben]

I send my warmest regards, terry. Over the years you accomplished much more with one or two sentences than most of the others with tidal waves of words.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. They have been enjoyed and appreciated very much.

Ruben

[Calvin E Lash Jr]

"What have we Americans to think that our own society will necessarily escape the world-wide drift toward the totalitarian organization of men and institutions. "
Edward Abbey 1968

[AzRebel]

2046, Arizona

The long delayed trial of the Arizona fake electors gets underway this year. One third of the defendants are deceased. One third are deemed unfit to stand trial. The remaining defendants expect to be pardoned by Governor Tom Horne, the first American governor serving in office while his head is kept in a jar on his desk. Tubes of Gatorade keep his brain alive while he communicates via a Musk AI interface. Just this morning he was heard to exclaim, “These Arizona sons ah bitches just keep electing me ! “

[Calvin E Lash Jr]

The many faces of Ruben. AZ Rebel, Helen Hightower.
Ruben your native ancestors ecently joined me at a Sonoran Desert campfire.
In the smoke a vision occurred. Melina said on FOX News she had committed Donald to a private psychiatric facility.

[Calvin E Lash Jr]

Az Rebel.
I ran into Horne a few months ago in a grocery store. We had a short conversation about Sourhwest Biodiversity.
Horne strikes me as a big spoiled child of inheritance. Bored and looking to be controversial.

[Ruben, Helen, Rebel aka The Shape Shifter]

MAGA

Make America Gullible Again

Kari Lake's and Wendy Roger's MAGA

Milking America's Gullible Assholes

[Ruben]

To the commentors on this blog, who over the past eight years put forth the theory that MAGA republicans should not be denigrated and should be treated with respect as fellow citizens and conversed with in a respectful manner.

YOU WERE WRONG. DEAD WRONG.

[B. Franklin]

Amen.

[AzRebel]

Arizona territory 1880

Judge:You robbed a bank yesterday in which several people were killed. How do you plead?

Guilty criminal: What does plead mean?

Judge: I find you guilty. Sheriff, please take the guilty criminal out and hang him. Court dismissed.

Arizona 2000's +

Judge: We have video and dozens of witnesses that you committed a murder last year as a minor in Gilbert. You are being put on notice that you may be indicted within the next two years. After that you may stand trial two to five years after that. So that your lawyers have an opportunity to milk all your families of every cent they have, you will be allowed to delay the case for an additional five years. If you are found guilty, you will begin your sentence in a juvenile detention center at the age of thirty.

(same time frame if you are an AZ fake elector)

JUSTICE DELAYED, JUSTICE DENIED

(except for the blood sucking attorneys.)

[Ruben]

The following National news bulletin gives you an idea of the state of our national news. Yellow journalism of old wouldn't stand a chance against the crap that makes up journalism today.

"THE RAILING ON THE TITANIC IS DETERIORATING TO THE POINT THAT IT WOULD BE DANGEROUS TO LEAN AGAINST IT."

Really? Really??

Thank goodness for the update. I had planned on going down to the Titanic this coming April in my homemade submersible (very, very strong plywood from Home Depot) and I was going to take a selfie duplicating the scene from the movie Titanic where I would lean out on the front railing.

Now the trip is cancelled. Thank you news media for saving my life from a nasty fall.

P.S. To all you real journalists left in the world, all 12 of you, I feel your pain, having to operate in this environment.

P.P.S. So that you folks out there don't think of me as a crackpot, my plywood vessel is sealed with Gorilla Tape and coated with Flex Seal. You don't get no stronger than that.

[John]

I have a question: How can the national news go ballistic over the death of six Israeli hostages but manage to almost completely ignore the death of over 40,000 Palestinians? Is it racism?

[Ruben]

If only it was JUST racism.

It is state sanctioned extermination.

If you are a Palestinian family who just had a five hundred pound bomb land in your living room, you won’t feel better knowing that the action that led to your death had its origins in the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of Zionism after WWII and tectonic movements of the current superpowers of the planet.

Ask the ghosts of the Native peoples of the Americas how it feels.

[Ruben]

And to answer you question. Since the US is one of the “states” sponsoring this extermination, do you think they would allow the state controlled media to report it? No, they won’t.

[Cal Lash]

The Ottoman Empire and Zionists history are good sources regarding today.
Currently there are Jewish news sites that discuss zionism.
Like the
Jerusalem Post.
And Consortium News has a number of articles on such.
To find the Jewish answer to God and The Holy Grail i recommend watching the film Pi.

[Cal Lash]

Pi a 1998 film

[Helen Highwater]

Cal, Reb, Ruben,

Thank you for keeping the blog breathing. You are like the paddles on a defibrillator machine keeping a patient who has coded alive.

[Cal Lash]

Thanks Helen.
Talton keeps me going.
Your pal
Chuck Bukowoski

[DoggieCombover]

Rebel, I might burst a vessel if I pay too much attention to our so-called "legal system." It is slow, expensive, demeaning and essentially dysfunctional. I have no idea what can be done to fix any of that.

[Ruben]

Dog, I’ve always liked the idea that the guilty party be hanged along with their legal team .

In the meantime, I have an announcement. I am moving from AZ to NM. I’ll be damned if I’ll live in a district represented by Wendy “ I’m a NAZI AND DAMN PROUD OF IT “Rogers.

Arizona, you’re on a highway to hell. Via con el diablo.

[Ruben]

James Earl Jones. The voice of three generations.

[Cal Lash]

Ruben your native American Spanish needs work.
It's
Vaya con El Diablo.

[Ruben]

Senor Lash.

Shortly after entering this life I found myself being beaten with a ruler by catholic nuns because I wasn’t memorizing their prayers fast enough.

Then, as Trump says, my family moved constantly once we had eaten all the cats and dogs in the neighborhood.

Now as I near the exit of this life, a person, again dressed in black, gives me a tongue (lash)ing about my Spanish.

What a life.

What a life.

(:-(

[DoggieCombover]

Trump got a wedgie, a swirly and pantsed on an international stage last night, to put it in schoolyard lingo that his supporters understand. Harris eviscerated him with the precision of a brain surgeon, I will be having a serving of crow for greatly underestimating her.

[Cal Lash]

Ruben, sorry you suffered at the hands of religious lunatics.
Hopefully your move from MAGA Arizona to SOCIALIST New Mexico will give you time to brush up on la lengua.

[Ruben]

AZ/NM Joke of the day:

Menudo is made with parts of the pig that even the pig wouldn’t want back!

[Ruben]

Home insurance just went from $1,000 to $1,600.
Previous year was $700. So, $700 to $1,600. Wow.

There are trends going on in the auto and homeowner insurance that are going to have a very bad impact on future homeownership.

Biggest nightmare story I’ve heard up here is an increase on a home policy of $12,000. From $13,000 to $25,000.

[John]

Car insurance is no different, IMHO.

[terry dudas]

here's one for you Rueben - en boca cerada, no entran moscas.
That traditional saying may come in handy in New Mexico.
Vaya con Dios.

[Charles J McKenzie]

Nice to see a fine collection of rouges, misfits, dreamers, and realists back at it.

[Cal Lash]

"Absurd"

[Ruben]

We've discussed this before, but now we are seeing in real time the results of the mismanagement of our forests and our lands by the USFS and BLM and whatever other alphabet agencies are out there/

WE CURRENTLY HAVE TWENTY TWO REGISTERED FIRES BURNING IN OUR STATE.

You could call a hand full of them "forest fires" but the rest are grass fires.

Thank you idiot government agencies for turning Arizona into a crisp, dry, burnt Africa grassy savannah.

All it takes is an angry look and these grasses catch fire. Much less a lightning strike, cigarette, trailer chain spark.

Apache Junction is on fire for Pete's sake. And that place is just a pile of rocks.

[Cal Lash]

I fail to understand why we fight forest fires?
What on earth did the planet do about forest fires before humans crept out of the swamps?
Why do we allow flammable structures in the Wilderness.
We need more
Roadless Wilderness.
We need less Wildfire Firefighters and governments trying to out nature, Nature.

[Cal Lash]

Animal revenge?
Otters in Seattle are protesting the eating of animals in Ohio.
Otters are chowing down on children?

[Ruben]

Being a creature of the southwest my greatest primal nightmare has always been bobcats. Not bears, not mountain lions, bobcats. I’ve had three encounters with bobcats in the wild. All peaceful. A few years back a woman in southern AZ had an encounter with a rabid bobcat. The paramedics said it looked like she went through a food processor. My nightmares were confirmed. I will add otters to my nightmare list. Thank you cal.

[Cal Lash]

Only Seattle Otters!

[DoggieCombover]

Ruben, I know bitching about the gubmint is pretty much a ubiquitous, full time occupation in Payson, but I think it's rubbed off on you. While the agencies that manage public lands in AZ aren't guiltless, the havoc that humans have wreaked on the ecosystems here is well beyond the capability of any government entity to have created.

First we have the issue of invasive species, which are the "grasses" you refer to that carry fire. The Sonoran desert never burned across landscapes and vast acreages like we see now. The two biggest offenders are red brome and bufflegrass, with the more recently arrived stinknet/globe camomile catching up fast.

I watched bufflegrass and fountain grass march up pretty much every waterway in the Superstition Wilderness in less than 10 years. I first noticed stinknet about 10 years ago, with a couple of wetter winters recently it is ubiquitous.

These are fire adapted species, saguaros are not. In less than 20 years almost the entire saguaro forest that used to line the Beeline highway is no more.

Coupled with a climate past the tipping point, e.g. have not had daily temp below 100 degrees in PHX since late May. Hottest summer on record this year, record number of days over 110 blah blah blah. And it doesn't rain anymore, this was 8th driest monsoon season on record, the driest ever was last year.

You are giving gubmint far too much credit for having the capacity to be responsible for what is happening.

[Ruben]

I totally agree with your assessment. However, you have now given me something more to worry about.

While we, the generation who witnessed the adventures of Arnold in the Terminator movies, have worried about the future threat of SKYNET, we are slowly being defeated by STINKNET.

Who would've thunk?

We're doomed.

(8-)

[AzRebel]

Thousands of exploding pagers?

Someone out there has a very devious, evil mind.

[Cal Lash]

Haman

[Not Sure]

eclecticdog has a notable post in the Harris thread. Please read.