Soapbox » Occupy Tucson

Educational & Electoral Systems

Jun 192013

Good morning Mayor & Council,

Those 3 minutes granted for Call to the Audience participants go by so quickly! And now, with the amended MCC meeting schedule, I will not be able to speak to you face-to-face until July 9. So I turn to email to ask for your consideration and representation.

Thank you, again and as always, for your time, attention, and efforts on behalf of our shared place and time on the planet.

My point about crunching the numbers on elections and college graduates was not well articulated last night. The point I wanted to make is that a minority of the population is winnowed from a much larger pool in each case, but the impact that they exert on the entire population is gargantuan. Harold Lasswell said that politics is the study of who gets what, when, and how.

Politically, we’re betting a lot on both systems: electoral and educational. The victors in each of these systems seem to benefit handsomely in the game of who gets what, when and how.

And I have tremendous hope for individuals who are products of both these systems to perform well. But I have some serious concerns, too, as an insider of both these systems. (I got my BA & MA at the UA, with Sen. Jon Kyl’s district adviser Dr. Hank Kenski and past mayor Tom Volgy on my master’s committee while working under George Cunningham and Joel Valdez; I ran as a candidate in the 2009 Ward 3 Council race and the 2011 Mayoral race).

It breaks my heart to see so many of our citizens downtrodden, anxious, overly medicated (with legal & illegal substances), and so under-fulfilled. And not just the economically poor suffer – all across the income spectrum you find individuals grappling with addiction, disease, and disquieted souls.

I disagree with the role for-profit prisons play and I see mounting problems as the income gap widens. Privatization of public resources will guarantee this trend continues. When I visit commercial establishments now, I see security guards (and, interestingly, more and more grandmotherly types or the very young and inexperienced are employed in this seemingly dangerous profession!). Our hyper-militarized mindset should be shifted and transformed to hyper-local sustainability projects (and no more efforts to increase consumerism, please!).

A half a million dollar increase was just awarded to Visit Tucson, the newly restyled and rebranded Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau. Surely there is money in the City’s budget to sponsor some Community Conservation Centers or Granny YANA (you are not alone) centers? Some places where those folks who have not benefited from a college education and secure social connections might find support, safety, and help in establishing micro-businesses that don’t fit the Eller Business School entrepreneurial mold?

If you are looking for a solid return on investment, consider the bang for the buck CCC’s/YANA Spots could generate. These centers could serve as neighborhood educational centers, featuring community gardens, instructional workshops, hands-on energy retrofit projects – all the activities that we must put in place to address changing planetary weather patterns and shifting resource availability. The shared public spaces would allow knowledgeable neighbors to share concerns if there are dangers to be addressed (proactive is cheaper and more effective than reactive). Do-gooder groups who do not have office space could use the CCC’s/YANA’s for outreach/distribution sites or for meetings. With outside-the-box thinking, all sorts of creative and constructive outcomes could emerge.

Thank you for reading, if you’ve gotten this far. I want to work cooperatively, as I think and hope you know by now. Our time window to respond to global warming, peak oil, and crashing economies is closing. Clamping our eyes shut and denying that much is amiss will not work for much longer, I’m afraid.

Sincerely,

Mary

PS – Today’s reason for not pledging eternal and unquestioning support to the military via CoT Resolution #22006 is the news that the journalist who reported on General Stanley McChristopher died at 33 (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/18/hastings-car-accident-journalist/2436549/) and Bradley Manning is in his 3rd week of court martial trial for releasing information on what is happening behind the veil of secrecy- whistle blowers meet a horrible fate!

Letter to Mayor and City Council

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Apr 242013

Hi Mayor & Council,

As if you didn’t have enough to read already?!?!

Well, here is an article on streetcars – and how developers love streetcars because they create locked-in routes that get those greedy capitalists just squirming in anticipation of the fixed flow of consumers to their doorstops with dollars to drop.

http://www.tripplannermag.com/index.php/2012/04/a-weak-platform-the-streetcar-as-development-tool-not-transportation/

The City of Tucson has considered and catered to the desires of developers in myriad ways. Along with the rest of our country. The “Perpetual Growth” paradigm has been taught in our universities since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

But times are changing because of this legacy. Our planet is heating up. Our oil reserves have dropped to the bottom half of the glass and are now harder, more expensive and more dangerous to extract, transport, and refine. Our food supply is being consolidated into a few corporate hands, and genetically engineered to provide proprietary protection (and Goddess knows what else). Economies around the globe are crashing and people are rising up.

Tucson must get ahead of this curve. We have to adopt ways of powering down, reducing our carbon emissions, securing our food supply, shepherding the natural resources we have been blessed with, and building social capital.

This is your job. You campaigned for this service. I tried to, too, with dismal results. The Green Party may be too small to attract much support, but the 10 Key Values and the refusal to accept corporate donations set us apart in positive ways. I would like to invite each of you to begin to consider switching your party registration to Green and starting a movement here in Tucson. You could all jump at once. With the national attention that would garner, we could be role models in the Transition Town Movement.

Thank you for your service. Thank you for taking the heat and listening to all sides. Among your constituents are those steeped in astrology who point to the changing of ages: from the Piscean Age (based on belief) to the Age of Aquarius (remember the song? this age is based on science and reason).

Among your constituents, even though they don’t vote, are the poor, the dispossessed, and the mentally ill. We have responsibilities to the members of our society who are the most challenged. Every religion is based on our connection to the universal energies and our relationship to fellow humans. Our current religion seems to have slipped into money worship instead.

As you look for ways to cut the budget, I would suggest you quit paying those ridiculously large consulting fees. There are plenty of informed and interested people willing to consult with you for free or at vastly reduced prices. Dave Ewoldt, Tres English, our UA Professors, retirees, the list is long. Look for ways to activate existing dormant resources. Find methods to engage and uplift the impoverished. Start by protecting our open space and retaining the current location and look of the Ronstadt Transit Center.

Thank you so much for your time and attention. If you would like voter registration forms, or if you are interested in discussing this novel suggestion further, I would be delighted to meet with you. For free.

All my best,

Mary

Open Letter to Karin Uhlich

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Apr 102013

Hi Karin,

Last night after I addressed the Mayor & Council during the call to the audience, I went to the annual Campus Farms Neighborhood Association meeting. We have just one annual meeting in my new neighborhood.

Bonnie Poulos does a great job. She said that 4,500 invitations to attend the annual meeting were mailed out. But only 1%, or about 45 people, attended though. That’s dismal. How we expect our communities to thrive when there are so few resources devoted to the health and well-being of democratic involvement is a mystery to me. Cara Curtis was there to tell us how the police were protecting us, though, and what to do when we are burglarized and how to call in the choppers.

This morning, I got up early to report to my 6-9am volunteer shift as a survey administrator for the Ronstadt Transit Center. There were 15 people at the training session I went to for this event on Monday night. Most of those were paid employees of the Downtown Partnership, Sun Tran, and Imagine Greater Tucson. The few Bus Riders Union representatives were all volunteers, giving up our time for free and swallowing associated costs (transportation, parking, lost opportunities to spend time elsewhere) because we felt it was worthwhile.

The folks I encountered at the RTC this morning were mostly poor. Many refused to participate in the survey, saying they did not trust the system, or expressing a belief that it was all window dressing and their opinions did not matter anyway. And some were clearly mentally ill and unable to engage in a civic endeavor designed to help them help themselves.

Pam Powers shared this with me, and I want to make sure you have access to it, too…

http://www.blogforarizona.com/blog/2013/04/ronstadt-transit-center-city-developers-ponder-proverbial-political-football-video.html

We need to strengthen our social fabric. Our planet is heating up, our economies are crashing, and our petroleum supplies are shrinking. More of our global neighbors hate and fear us all the time. Rampant consumerism has shown itself to be hollow joy that requires increasingly more of it to deliver ever decreasing rewards (like all addictions).

Please consider the needs of the least among us when you sit at the table with the well-dressed, impeccably coifed courtesans of commerce who urge you to privatize our public spaces. The people using the RTC want clean restrooms. One woman asked for hand sanitizer dispensers on the buses (since the buses are now being hosed out with water and no longer disinfected and she fears for the safety of her baby). Several asked why there is no shelter from the rain. Some pointed to the lack of water fountains in a desert environment. NOT ONE expressed a longing for Planet Hollywood, Starbucks, Nordstroms, or other corporatized commercial businesses. They don’t have the money to spend at retail establishments. Truth is, fewer people do have anything to spend after they pay their rent, cover their utility bills, buy their food, and take care of transportation costs.

At last night’s Campus Farms NA meeting, there were informational presentations by Lend A Hand and by Watershed Management Group. These are great organizations. But they do not serve the truly needed. We cannot just lock up the poor in for-profit prisons or force them out of the public spaces. Their/our numbers are growing. Panic rooms will not protect the rich when climate disasters force massive disruptions. We need more resilience in our social fabric.

I know the Mayor believes that turning college students loose with their parents’ credit cards is the answer. I respectfully disagree. Only about a quarter of our population attends college and Dr. Chris Segrin of the UA Communication Dept. has done studies on today’s students, raised by “helicopter parents” who are intimately involved in their students’ lives and finances (http://uanews.org/story/the-dangers-of-overparenting). We are raising our future leaders to be inept, narcissistic, and disconnected. We are in deep doo-doo.

Please consider how we can pursue better alternatives. Occupy Tucson was in the public spaces to try to do that. We were branded as criminals and persecuted. My belief is that Occupiers provided remarkable public services that did not cost the City a dime (well, other than the costs incurred in squashing the movement - costs that should not have been authorized). We managed to generate beneficial outcomes by creating a conduit to channel resources from those who could afford to share with those who needed help, but who didn’t have the social connections to meet their needs.

Thank you for your consideration.

Best wishes,

Mary

Open Letter to Karin Uhlich, City Council, Ward 3

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Mar 202013

Hi Karin,

Yikes, I am alarmed again.

Yesterday, I was just deeply depressed – it was the 10th anniversary of the “Shock & Awe” campaign that marked the beginning of the torrential flow of our national treasure into Iraq. I wanted to come to participate in the Call to the Audience at last night’s Mayor & Council meeting, but I could not muster the energy needed to go and I chose to conserve the gas and stay home. This morning I heard stories on NPR of the widespread sexual abuse suffered by women military troops (1 in 4 are assaulted; only about 14% of crimes are reported; lower-ranking victims leave the service while higher-ranking perps are promoted in their careers).

That’s not what alarmed me, though. That’s ongoing, something I have been aware of, and one of the reasons I stand out by the Speedway military recruiting center on Wednesday mornings. The City’s endorsement of Davis Monthan’s sound leadership in all future decisions still rankles (Resolution #22006), and I look forward to your promised report back on why 99% of such resolutions are “emergency” status.

I wish I could find more convincing ways to plight my case, but that’s old news too.

The new news that alarms me is finding out that Monday, March 18, the Mayor and City Council participated in a special regular meeting, held at the UA’s Eller Center, to work on the 10-year-plan our City Charter mandates. Now, that is not alarming in and of itself, but what DID bother me greatly was learning that the meeting facilitator was Dr. Stephen Gilliland, the same guy who in an 11/08/11 UA Wildcat article spoke against the Occupy Wallstreet movement saying, “the perceived greed turns out to be a way to blame others for our own misfortune.” (http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/index.php/article/2011/11/ua_professor_says_false_perception_of_greed_fuels_occupy_movement)

After spending the day securely closeted away with the whiz-bang technological toys of the GROWTH economy, will my elected City representatives succumb to the “blame the victim” mentality that fuels and justifies the growing economic disparity? Will they think to themselves, “Well, yeah, these corporately-funded captains of industry who are influencing what is taught in universities really do know what is best for society and I oughta support them.” My guess is, yes. That is how ALEC works. That’s the business model.

So I am writing this morning to beg you to represent me and people like me. I know I cannot claim more than 3 minutes in a Call to the Audience segment, and that is not a sufficient offset for a day of corporately culled and market-tested arguments you got on Monday. That’s why I am alarmed.

I don’t have the deep pockets or foundation funding – I live on pocket change. And my society tells me repeatedly that if I don’t own and control financial resources, then I am not worthy of consideration. But I am here to remind you and your colleagues that more and more of us are sinking lower and lower economically – use just 6 minutes to explore the perceived, the ideal, and the actual distributions of wealth in the USA today… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTj9AcwkaKM

Think about how many disenfranchised people are shuffling the streets of Tucson now. Do you really believe that, since the bottom 80% of our country’s population owns just 7% of the wealth, that 4 out of 5 of us are the ones responsible for our own misfortunes? The top 1% owns 40% of the wealth, so that leaves Dr. Gilliland and the other 19% of the people with 53% of the pie.

As long as the top 1% have the protection and support of those upper-middle managers and elected officials, the poor will continue to suffer. Luckily for those in power, the poor don’t have the luxury of time to engage in challenging the system, nor do most of the poor have the educational foundation of how civics operate.

Oh, and who should we blame when the citizenry is excluded from supposedly public meetings of our elected officials? When the recording of the meeting is not available, because it is a “special retreat” and outside the purview of public access television? Or should we just not worry our silly little heads as we see more and more of the public commons privatized and controlled by those smart fellers who goose every last dime of profits from the system? Surely the neoliberalists out there will chart a sustainable path forward without input from the poor, dirty, sick & stupid masses.

No wonder the death rates in Pima County are going up, without any specific or identifiable cause! Grist for the mill and undeserving of protection from exploitation, the poor lose the battle for survival. Their immune systems are torn down by the unrelenting stress and anxiety that shadow poverty.

Thank you for reading about my concerns. I’ve done my job as a citizen providing input to my elected officials. I wish everyone else out here in the public would do likewise, but we all know that they won’t, either because they don’t know how to access the political system or because they feel it would do no good.

One of my mottos, though, is “Comfort the afflicted … and afflict the comfortable.” And I can do my small part to work both sides of that saying.

Love & Peace,

Mary

Open Letter to “Wake Up! Tucson”

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Mar 082013

Mary deCamp wrote the following in response to a program on KVOI, am 1030, the “Wake Up! Tucson” show with Joe Higgins & Chris DiSimone, airing 6-8 am, M-F.

KVOI is “the VOIce of Tucson” according to their self-promotional spots. http://wakeuptucson.net/

Hi Fellows,

Gosh, right after I heard you decry the quality of today’s workers – too willing & eager to accept handouts instead of working for just rewards – I got this graphic from a friend.

I think it explains a lot. Workers today feel used, abused, and trapped in a no-win cage. Their response is to withdraw their hearts and engage in small acts of rebellion to register their dissatisfaction. At this point, workers are just doing what comes naturally. Have you seen the video of the monkeys who revolt when they realize they are paid unequally for the same labor (grapes & cucumbers instead of Benjamins and Lincolns, but those stupid monkeys don’t value money currency like we do). If you haven’t seen it, let me know and I’ll dig it out and share the video with you.

Today’s workers aren’t lazy – give them meaningful work that challenges them and you’ll see amazing work. Stick them onto a treadmill that shreds their self dignity, and you’re gonna get damaged goods. Let’s assign responsibility where it is due and quit blaming the victim. Please.

Love & Peace,

Mary

PS – Half of us don’t have the luxury of owning corporate stock and allowing our money to work for us, unfortunately. Thomas Jefferson actually advocated for a clean sweep each generation, because really, how could one be responsible for debts incurred by others? The David McCullough biography of John Adams has all sorts of useful information!

Open Letter to Mayor and City Council

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Feb 242013

Below is a copy of what I sent to the Mayor and each Council member
re the “resolution” attached below:

I am beginning to wonder if I still live in the United States of
America! I just read a resolution which states it was adopted by the
Mayor and the City Council, who supposedly represent me…. and all
the other citizens of Tucson.

If this document (which appears to have the signature of the City
Manager on it) is actually correct in stating that it has been
adopted by the Mayor and Council on Feb. 20, 2013….. then clearly,
the Mayor and Council have no concept of what “representation of
Tucson citizens” means, nor what constitutes an “emergency”!

Without any approval, discussion, or even knowledge of its existence
by Tucson’s voters, this document gives the Air Force unconditional
approval to use its own discretion (which historically has proven to
be entirely lacking) to go ahead with their dangerous plans for Tucson.

This resolution will allow DM to increase by at least two-fold or
more, the number of overflights of the very densely populated midtown
Tucson, and allow round-the-clock overflights, and the introduction
of whatever aircraft they wish, in whatever numbers they wish….
including the hearing-damaging accident-waiting-to-happen-
experimental F-35!

The use of the term “emergency” is particularly despicable! In this
case, it is not even stated what constitutes the so-called
“emergency”, but is obviously being used to get around the fact that
it was passed in great haste and secrecy, so as not to alert citizens
of how they are being shafted!

I am appalled and very angry! How dare you sell us out so completely,
so dishonestly, and without the knowledge of the majority of the
citizens!

I expect a reply to this, an explanation, and a retraction of this
damaging “resolution”!

Lee Stanfield

Resolution:

Sequestration

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Feb 242013

By Lee Stanfield

We don’t need sequestration or any form of austerity…. we just need to trim the Pentagon fat cats’ salaries and war toy budget! But what these Pentagon fat cats will do with the mandated spending cuts, is pass it down to our troops (who deserve raises instead of cuts) while continuing to reap their own unwarranted, bloated salaries and spend our money on unnecessary, and outdated war toys (like the F-35) which are inappropriate and ineffective throwbacks in today’s world of disseminated terrorism.

The “Compromise”

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Feb 152013

By Lee Stanfield

The only true “compromise” involved in the suggestion that the
working class, the elderly, disabled, and poor, should give anything
more toward paying down the US deficit, is the obvious compromised
integrity and conscience of anyone making such a suggestion!

To call it “compromise” to force individuals & families to choose
which basic necessities to give up in order to keep those at the top
from not reaping quite as much profit on the interest of their
invested millions & even billions, betrays the total absence of any
compassion or even logic.

Who, with any conscience, can compare food, medication, health care,
& house payments on one’s only home, with the purchase of yet another
diamond ring, 2nd or 3rd automobile, or private jet?!

So why is no major politician or celebrity…. even those supposedly
on the political left…. making this point? No one is out in the
street raising a ruckus or leading marches against it?

Why is our President even contemplating such a disgustingly elitist,
ruthless idea, as the “chained CPI”, which would seriously decrease
future Social Security payments for senior citizens already having
great difficulty just making ends meet now? He should be out in
front, fanning the flames of outrage in the majority of Americans who
still have a conscience!

Yes, most Americans DO still have a conscience. They just need
someone to stand up and make it impossible for them to keep their
heads in the sand…. someone who will get in their face and make it
impossible for them to keep their denial in place!

Why is no one doing this?

Please take action on this. Send this to everyone you know, and to
every politician! Let our elected officials know that enough is
enough, and if they want to stay in office, they will not allow any
further exploitation of those at the bottom!

- Disgustedlee

Open Letter to Frank Antenori and Wake Up! Tucson

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Jan 282013

By Mary de Camp

Good morning,

Below is the outreach I sent to Frank Antenori & the Wake Up! Tucson radio hosts this morning. Delete it if it is of no interest.Love,

Mary

Subject: Another voice

Hello fellows,

I’ve been listening to your radio show this morning, and I want to weigh in with another voice. Now, I know I am a slightly-built old lady, so my weight may not move the scale much, but for what it is worth…..

- with the wage gap between top CEO’s & the bottom workers of the org chart so great, it is often impossible for Americans to climb out of poverty these days (see McDonald’s story http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/12/13/mcdonalds-income-inequality-fast-food-retail-ceos/).

- unemployment rates, off-shoring of jobs, weakened unions, lightened regulatatory standards, unsympathetic courts, calcified bureaucracies, and a host of other factors prop up the privilege of those born to wealth/influence while squashing those born to poor/disconnected parents.

- when common people attempt to stand together to question our society’s current health, education, and quality of life issues, the government’s response is a crack-down and suppression of collective action (just ask about my Occupy Tucson experiences, not to mention what the government is doing to whistle-blower Bradley Manning or, even more tragic, the recent suicide of Aaron Swartz).

These legions of “takers” that you feel threaten the American Dream are not your enemies. I’ve met them and dealt with them, I am“them”. We are just as dissatisfied with the betrayal of our core values as you are.

I was raised to be hard-working, educated, well-intentioned, loving, respectful, and responsible. Lots of those who are shambling the streets were also raised to be “good” too, but poverty carries a high price. The most heart-wrenching examples of homelessness I’ve encountered are the veterans saddled with drug/alcochol dependencies.

Demonizing the “other” does not work. We are all in this together. Let’s have honest discussions about how we can work together to move our society to a better place. My suggestion would be to repurpose Raytheon to build light-rail systems instead of military munitions. The workers would have jobs, we’d have an end product that is life-affirming rather than life-destroying, and Tucson could be on the map as forward-thinking, sustainable, and sensible.

The US spends more than the rest of the world combined on military expenses (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/defense-spending-fact-of-the-day_n_1746685.html). Our use of drones in the Middle East creates more enemy combatants than are eliminated (http://droneswatch.org/). Raytheon, our largest local employer, manufactures drones. Raytheon could take the lead in improving quality of life here, if they’d just give up the addiction to war and transition. There is an opportunity for a great turning, if we want it (http://livingeconomiesforum.org/great-turning).

Can’t we talk about that possibility? Or is it more valuable to you, for whatever personal reasons you might have, to continue the diatribe that the poor are at fault?

Just sayin’,

Mary

How the Rich Get So Rich

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Jan 022013

By Chuck

The average income of a top-400 earner grew by 650% between 1992 and 2007 to a whopping $344 million. Over that time, the average salary didn’t even double. But the average capital gains haul increased by 1,200%. So how do the richest get richer? Not from their wages. From their investments. Looks like the same ol’shit from last year butt even better for the wealthy. So suck-it-up all complicitors aka Amurikans and please keep voting for those Dems & Repubs cause one day they‘ll see the error of their ways of ever considering your interests at all. Got Fascism on Steroids? Yet we still willingly sing their anthem, pray to their god, work under their feudal slave-wage system and submit ourselves to AND protect their illeagal system. Hell what’s not for them not to like, yet they still bitch cause YOU ain’t working hard enough and THAT’S what wrong with Amurika.

We need fundamental change in the “way we approach solutions” in solving old way thinking problems we’ve created hence we need to hand over the microphones & helm to the “mindful nerdy young” and step back out of their way. What’s to fear? That they cripple and/or destroy the current paradigm allowing “natural systems” to take shape. Now there’s a hellish future for ya. <sigh>

“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” -Paulo Freire

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