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Collection of news items and links to news resources |
Here you read posts about what is happening in this area. The intent of these articles is to present objective information. "Please, just give us the facts, ma'am." Subjective views and opinions about these and other stories, while no less important to public discourse, will be found in the "Views" section. Posts are catagorized by subject, and by clicking on an item on the category list in the left column you may narrow the display to just the category you want. By clicking on a particular post, you can submit your comments to that article. The left column also contains links to other news sources. You may also "subscribe" to this blog in several ways. You can be emailed whenever a new article is posted, and you can have an RSS feed delivered. If you have some information to share, please click on the "contact" link below.
01/05/09
Categories: Government
State laws requiring purchase may be made online, at MVD
A coalition of state agencies has agreed on a price for the new off-highway vehicle (OHV) decal that will be required in Arizona to operate most ATVs, dirt bikes, and other OHVs meeting certain criteria beginning in January. Read more »
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Categories: Infrastructure
The Arizona Department of Transportation has a Web site that allows those interested in the future transportation needs of the state to see information and provide input on the vision for transportation through the year 2050. Read more »
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Categories: Government
By Denise Holley of the Nogales International
Published Friday, January 2, 2009 12:03 PM MST
Ten Santa Cruz County public servants who won in the Nov. 4 election took the oath of office Dec. 30 at the county complex in the presence of family and friends.
Superior Court Judge James Soto administered the oath to 10 officials, including one newcomer to the board of supervisors, Rudy “Bugs” Molera. Suzanne Sainz, re-elected as county recorder, was missing. Read more »
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12/31/08
12/30/08
Categories: Announcements
Happy New Year to you.
It has been said that some of the members do not have Microsoft Word, which is the program I use to make the flyers of upcoming events. So I am trying something new:
Go to the site www.residentsofriorico.com, click on the Community Center tab then click on the links that give detailed information. While you are on that page, do a highlight of the calendar events to print for your bulletin board or to makes notes on your calendar.
Make a special circle for the Introduction to Gems on Friday, January 16th at 6:00 PM. Helen will do a power point which is different from the presentation she did last year.
Also notice a new class for the Artist "within" Circle. Anyone that harbors the desire to release artistic endeavors need to come to these sessions. Talent is not the criteria.
With sincere hope, everyone can access the Community Center calendar of events. Please contact me with any questions you may have.
Thanks
Sandei
Community Center Manager
residentsofriorico@earthlink.net
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12/29/08
Categories: Announcements, Water Supply
Arizona American Water is proposing a 72.7% rate increase above the current amount paid each month. This is based on the amount of investment and operating expense at calendar year 2007. The current water rates were effective July 2004 and were based on investment and operating expense at calendar year 2001. There are 532 water customers being served by Arizona American Water. This rate increase does not include the potential costs for arsenic treatment. When combined with the arsenic treatment, the proposed increase amounts to a 196% increase above the monthly bill (for an average of 15,000 gallons a month usage).
To read more: www.azcc.gov and use the e-docket function. Reference:
Docket No. W-01303A-08-0227or view at Tubac office (address below)
To contact Arizona American Water with any questions or concerns:
24-hour Call Center: 1 -800-383-0834
Office in Tubac: 15 Burruel Street (Kathy Papini)
Office in Phoenix: 19820 N. 7th Street, Suite 201, Phoenix, AZ 85024
To receive a calculation of the impact of the rate proposal on your account:
azrates@amwater.com
Rate Case Hearing:
Thursday, March 19, 2:00 p.m., Arizona Corporation Commission Hearing Room #1, 1200 West Washington Street, Phoenix, Arizona. Public comments will be taken the first day of the hearing. Ours is but one of six rate cases being heard.
WHAT YOU ELSE CAN DO:
Contact each of the Arizona Corporation Commissioners via letter or e-mail and cite Docket No. W-01303A-08-0227 in your correspondence. Letters and e-mails should be sent between now and January 6, 2009. There will be a change in the Commission composition in January, but your correspondence will remain as part of the record. You will be notified as to other strategic dates and events as they occur.
Chairman Mike Gleason gleason-web@azcc.gov
Commissioner Kristin K. Mayes mayes-web@azcc.gov
Commissioner William Mundell mundell-web@azcc.gov
Commissioner Jeff Hatch-Miller hatch-web@azcc.gov
Commissioner Gary Pierce pierce-web@azcc.gov
Arizona Corporation Commission
Commissioners Wing
1200 West Washington
Phoenix, Arizona 85007-2996
Residents of Barrio de Tubac: this rate increase DOES NOT apply to you. Your water company is Baca Float.
SCVCC Point of Contact: Second Vice-President Jim Patterson at jampat@att.net
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12/11/08
Categories: Announcements
Published: 12.08.2008
Road Runner by Andrea Kelly : New law on license plates is visionary
That nice frame around your license plate telling passers-by your favorite sports team, your alma mater, or free advertising for the dealership where you bought your car is probably going to have to go.
Unless this particular form of expression is worth more than $150 to you.
Starting Jan. 1, it will be illegal to have a license frame that covers the "Arizona" at the top of the plate. If the state name is even partly covered, or in any way not clearly legible, you could be pulled over and cited.
The good thing is, it's a quick fix. Just unscrew the bolts from the car, take the frame off, and put the plate back on the car with the bolts. Also, not all frames cover up the state name.
The new law joins others regarding state license plates, including how they need to be illuminated, how high off the ground they must be and how they should be attached to your car.
If you're cited in Tucson, the fine for this violation will be $160. If you're cited in county jurisdiction, it's $151.
It's also a primary offense, meaning you can be pulled over just for this, said Sgt. Harold Sanders, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.
The new law eliminates one more hurdle for officers identifying a vehicle, Sanders said.
But it's unlikely Tucson police will be so focused on the plate laws that it's the only thing they'll look for to pull drivers over, said Sgt. Steve Culbertson, a supervisor in the Tucson police traffic section. "Are we going to go out and specifically look for this violation? Probably not, but you can get pulled over for it."
This new law only applies to vehicles registered in Arizona.
Before I moved here, I didn't think about license-plate frames much. They never caught much of my attention.
But as soon as I got here, I noticed right away how many people use the license-plate frames. They're all over the place.
What really surprised me was how many people leave the car-dealership frames on. I always thought the first thing to do after driving off the dealership lot was to remove the advertisement.
But I'll be one of the people with a screwdriver out in my carport before Jan. 1, removing my University of Arizona alumni license-plate frame. It covers up half of the state name, which legally means it's not clearly legible.
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Categories: Environment
Take out your oars; SC River is ‘navigable’
By Dick Kamp
Published Tuesday, December 9, 2008 8:53 AM MST in the Nogales International
The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that two disputed sections of the Santa Cruz River are “navigable” under federal guidelines released last week and are protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The United States Supreme Court, the Bush administration and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality all released decisions this week impacting regulation of surface water pollution in arid lands and Southern Arizona.
On Wednesday, Dec. 3, ADEQ set stringent “outstanding water” surface water quality standards for Davidson Canyon in Pima County that drains into the Santa Cruz as well as new water quality standards statewide.
In Southern Arizona, the Santa Cruz determination could combine with the Davidson Canyon decision to make it harder for two controversial developments to demonstrate that they will be able to meet all state and Federal water quality standards and to receive U.S. Army Corps of Engineer permits under the Clean Water Act ensuring they will not obstruct waters draining into the Santa Cruz. The proposed Augusta Resource Corp. Rosemont Mine would drain into the Davidson area, as will California Portland Cement quarry located along Davidson Canyon.
In spite of these regional decisions, in parts of the western United States where water in stream beds flows intermittently, water pollution enforcement and actions to keep streambeds clear under the CWA by EPA, the Corps, and other agencies may remain lax and confused until President-elect Barack Obama takes office and/or Congress passes a new law to supersede the June 2006 United States v. Rapanos, a Supreme Court decision.
“Rapanos” dealt with whether a Michigan wetlands on private land, with an uncertain connection to a waterway, could be regulated under the Clean Water Act. The court had begun weakening the Act in 2001 after a 26 year succession of legal cases strengthening its authority with a decision that determined that migrating birds on isolated wetlands were not protected.
In the Rapanos decision, four justices voted in favor of upholding the Nixon-era legal interpretation that all streambeds are protected, four stated that water must be flowing for the Act to apply, and Justice Anthony Kennedy stated that there must be a “significant nexus” to navigable water.
Kennedy’s puzzling terms left a huge number of streambeds in the arid West potentially unprotected, 96 percent in Arizona according to EPA, and a similar percentage in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado. “A lot of unprotected real estate,” as David Smith, EPA Region 9’s wetland coordinator put it last May.
Quickly, there were dozens of court definitions in different cases over Corps or EPA enforcement that defined post-Rapanos “navigability,” after decades of presuming that the intent of Congress in 1972 was that anywhere that water could flow would be protected under the Act.
Threatened and actual lawsuits over potential or actual EPA enforcement led to a halt in enforcement by EPA and many regulatory agencies. Developers and sewage plants faced a large backlog of Corps “Section 404” permits under the Clean Water Act allowing construction in disputed streambed areas. Read more »
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12/10/08
Categories: Announcements
Ron Campana of the Baca Float Coalition submitted this report.
Just a short update on the current progress regarding the Palo Parado Road project. I talked to Scott Altherr, Santa Cruz County Public Works Director. He told me that a tentative site meeting with ADOT, ACC, Union Pacific, Santa Cruz River Access, LLC & GRG Excavating is set for early January 2009 to go over the interim upgarde work planned for Palo Parado at the Union Pacific crossing. It appears that GRG is still working through the permit process with Union Pacific.
Let's not forget that Avatar and the Santa Cruz River Access, LLC (First United) have a big part in this effort. Avatar and First United granted the County a portion of the right-of-way and the upgrade work on the road is being done at First United's expense. We are all hopeful that the ADOT130 funds for the Railroad approved advance safety signals at the crossing moves through the Federal Highway Administration process and the funding is granted in the 2008 array. After the work is completed to County standards the improved portion of the road will be accepted into the County maintained road system.
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12/08/08
Categories: Government
By Jim Lamb
Published Friday, December 5, 2008 9:55 AM MST in the Nogales International
People wanting to change Santa Cruz County’s boundaries to include Green Valley and Sahuarita could be collecting signatures on petitions “by this time next year,” said a proponent of the idea Tuesday.
Randy Graf, former state legislator from Green Valley, and David Verwys, former Tubac Chamber of Commerce executive director, talked about how area residents pay much more in taxes to Pima County than they ever get back in services.
“We send dollars there, but we don’t get them back,” Graf said.
Graf has been promoting the idea of realigning the county’s’ boundaries for more than six months.
He and Verwys spoke to about three dozen people on Dec. 2 at a San Ignacio meeting room.
Some seemed skeptical of the idea at first, but near the end of the meeting one man said he was opposed to the idea when he first came, “but now I’m for it.”
Graf estimated that local taxpayers pay $60 million to $70 million to Pima County in taxes a year, “and we get only $6 million back.”
It would not be an easy feat to change the county lines, Graf said. But both the Green Valley/Sahuarita area and Santa Cruz County would benefit, he said.
Neither Pima County nor Santa Cruz County has issued any formal statements about the idea. However, Graf said, he had talked over the idea with Santa Cruz County Manager Greg Lucero, who expressed interest.
Pima County Manager Chuck Huckelberry has talked about the idea in Green Valley, saying the area wouldn’t fare well if it got back in total the services it pays for.
At that meeting, Huckelberry said that locating a county jail - one of the services local taxpayers help pay for - might not be a popular idea in Green Valley/Sahuarita.
The jail and other county detention facilities are in Tucson.
Asked if the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department could provide protection here, Graf said, “I don’t think we’d get less protection.”
“What we send up and what we get back, just doesn’t add up,” he said.
The very popular county library in Green Valley could also be improved by getting more of its share returned, Graf said.
Verwys cautioned “We don’t want to see it (the realignment) as a revolt against Pima County.”
Sahuarita is an incorporated city and provides police and fire protection and other services. Unincorporated Green Valley depends on the county for police protection and local fire districts take care of fires and other disasters.
(Editor’s note: Contact Lamb at jlamb@gvnews.com, or (520) 547-9749.)
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