Bipartisanship lives in the Arizona legislature?

Rep. Rich Crandall, a Mesa Republican, had a very nice guest column in the Arizona Daily Star today thanking his liberal Democratic colleague from Tucson, Rep. Tom Prezelski, for his help on a bill to aid small bed and breakfasts. Prezelski realized that, being a Democrat in a Republican-controlled chamber, he wasn't likely to get any legislation passed that he introduced. So he met with Rep. Crandall and had him introduce the bill. Crandall could have taken all the credit. Many Republicans do this when they criticize Democratic legislators as ineffective because none of their bills ever pass, when the reality is that the Republican majority won't let Democrat-sponsored bills pass, no matter how good the idea. Kudos to Prezelski for sharing his good idea, and to Crandall for giving credit in Prezelski's hometown paper.

Massachusetts to compete with California for wedding-tourism dollars

California is the only state in the nation that allows same sex couples who are not residents of the state to marry, and in the couple months since same sex marriage has become legal in California, there has been a tremendous boost in couples from out of state flying in and spending money on wedding ceremonies. When Massachusetts legalized gay marriage a few years ago, then Governor Mitt Romney pulled out a 1913 statute that said a marriage was not valid in Massachusetts if it would not be valid in the state in which the marrying couple resides in. This was meant to keep inter-racial couples from the South from fleeing to Massachusetts to get married, and now keeps gay couples from out of state from flocking to Massachusetts to get married. Howver, a bill on its way to Governor Deval Patrick would now allow out of state same sex couples to marry in Massachusetts. I guess they wanted a piece of the tourism dollars that California has been getting?

Quote of the day

Ok, she didn't say it today, but Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, ,my Democratic Representative in Phoenix did sometime recently say, as quoted in the HRC monthly magazine:

"It's kind of like being a deer and joining the NRA. Because come hunting season, they're going to shoot you."

This was in reference to GLBT voters backing McCain.

NAU: Northern Arizona University or North American Union?

According to the Kingman Daily Miner, a local man is walking from Kingman to Bullhead City to protest NAU. Really? Are they so anti-education that they oppose Northern Arizona University, which provides statewide distance learning in Arizona, including in Kingman and Bullhead City? No, but it is sad that the state's main source of college degrees in those communities is not the most recognized NAU. No, NAU is the evil North American Union that the conspiracy theorists believe is ultimately a klandestine attempt to simultaneously bring Canadian socialism and Mexican corruption to America. So if you are xenophobic, move to Mohave County? Sadly, this isn't the stuff just of crazy talk radio or bloggers, but of the main newspaper in Kingman.

New home energy standards pushed to combat climate change

From the Sierra Club:

Homes and other buildings are America’s largest consumers of energy and a major contributor of global warming. That's why the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities Campaign is joining with local governments, businesses, and energy efficiency advocates to support the most important opportunity in decades to adopt "green" building codes for new homes.

This September 17-23, building code officials from around the country will meet in Minneapolis to vote on a bold proposal to strengthen building code energy-efficiency standards in new homes by 30%. These federally-recognized residential building codes, developed by the International Code Council (ICC), establish the recommended health, safety and efficiency standards for new home construction in most cities and states in the U.S.

If the 30% Solution is approved by the ICC, then local and state governments will be able to enact these new building codes. Once adopted by communities nationwide, the 30% Solution would have a significant impact. By 2030, the 30% Solution would save an estimated 8 quadrillion BTUs of energy and $88 billion in energy costs; reduce CO2 by 464 million metric tons; and create new clean-energy construction and service jobs in the building trades and energy-efficiency product industries.

More information about joining the ICC is available at www.thirtypercentsolution.org . For activist resources, including a sample letter to your mayor, visit our 30% Solution forum at http://coolcities.us/forum/viewtopic.php?t=389 .

IRS: incomes of wealthiest 1% up, their taxes down

According to the IRS, as published recently in the Wall Street Journal, the top 1% of income earners in America make up a greater share of the nation's earnings than at any point in the past 20 years, while their average tax rate has declined to its lowest level in 20 years.

Arizona Republic still alive, but downsizing

Of course the Arizona Republic won't go away anytime soon, but its local coverage will continue to thin. Richard De Uriarte and Joel Nilsson were among those told to take a buy out or be fired. They were given cake and bottled water as a going away present after 35 years with the Republic and the old Phoenix Gazette.

Arizona ties Minnesota for last in bridge spending

Are bridges full of rush hour motorists going to collapse in Arizona as happened in Minnesota last year, killing 13 people and injuring more than 100? A new report prepared for the U.S. House Transportation Committee, chaired by Minnesota Democrat Jim Oberstar, ties Arizona for dead last with Minnesota in the amount of federal bridge money we spend. Of course, Arizona probably has far fewer rivers, and as for upkeep, so many of our freeway overpasses are much newer than in most states. Still, it's been a good 15 years since many of our Valley freeways and their interchanges were built. That seems like a good time to check in on how structurally sound they are and what maintenance they may need.

My neighborhood is the third most walkable in Phoenix

Who had the time to figure this out? Walkscore.com. Phoenix is the 28th most walkable city of the 40 largest in the country, while Tucson ranks 25th and Mesa 30th. My neighborhood is the third most walkable in Phoenix. What is yours? By far the most walkable area in Phoenix, as shown on this map, is the Central Corridor. Other areas? 44th Street and Thomas in East Central Phoenix (my general area), Sunnyslope, Metrocenter, parts of Alhambra and Maryvale, and the immediate vicinities of Paradise Valley Mall and 32nd Street and Bell Road.

You can also find maps for walkability in Mesa and Tucson.

Rich extremists trying to silence the voters...and let the dead vote

Several wealthy right wingers have put forth a ballot initiative that would require a majority of all registered voters, and not just a majority of those who vote, to pass any initiative that taxes or requires the spending of any money. Had this been in place in the previous decade, the will of the voters would have been thwarted and thousands of children that the voters said deserved health care would not have gotten it, and our perpetually-bottom-of-the-barrel-in-funding schools would not have received the critical boost in funding that voters gave them in 2000. Moreover, since the initiative would mean that any registered voter who does not vote automatically votes "no" on a proposition that costs money, anyone who is dead and hasn't yet been taken off the un-audited rolls would be casting a "no" vote on any future proposals that require spending money. Anne Denogean of the Tucson Citizen hit the nail on the head with her column on this nasty initiative that you should vote against in November. You know, the Tucson Citizen does a better job of covering local news than most papers out there, and I will miss them after they fold, the way most afternoon newspapers have (and increasingly, non-afternoon papers too).

But Walmart doesn't have deer heads on the wall!

The Daily Yonder has a blog on how the competition from super grocery stores and higher fuel prices mean that many food distribution trucks won't stop at grocery stores that purchase less than $10,000 a week in inventory. This is threatening the survival of grocery stores in small towns. But Walmart just doesn't have deer heads on the wall, nor the passe wood paneling that my parents have finally removed from their 1963 home.

I'm back

I am finally back from a few weeks in Michigan attending my cousin's wedding, and a couple conferences I attended in Flagstaff on issues facing rural Arizona. I should be blogging a little more frequently now, although I am busy getting signatures to get on the ballot for Creighton Elementary School District Governing Board in this November's election. In the mean time, here is a letter from my friend Tom Alston about the Goldwater Institute's attack on solar power and Arizona's renewable energy standard.