From the archive: This story is more than 5 years old.
Comments on What the Devil won't tell you
Reading up on why Tucson's zoning examiner quit
'Political interference' looks more like creating an unequal process for some
Posted Oct 29, 2015
Blake Morlock TucsonSentinel.com
The city of Tucson's zoning enforcement officer resigned this week, citing "political interference" from the City Council. Here are a few cases in which City Hall switched-up the determinations made by Linus Kafka.
Blake hits another one out of the ballpark. Interesting that with all of the resources, staff, and experience at the Arizona Dark Star and the Tucson WeAkly, they have no real information, insight, or analysis as to why this assault on the democratic process is happening. Worse, they obviously don’t care.
For those of us who do care, I suggest a contribution to the Tucson Sentinel (and yes Dylan, my contribution is coming).
Those of us who live in Barrio Hollywood can directly relate to having the Mayor and Council ignore the concerns of residents. We were first ignored and then threatened by the City in their defence of the attempted giveaway of El Rio park. These examples published here only add to the accurate perception that this Mayor and Council are stooges for big developers.
Unfortunately, unlike Seattle and other cities, there is no political opposition to the two party duopoly that fosters corruption. As for me, I am writing in Trini Alvarez for Mayor and Council.
I want to help TucsonSentinel.com offer a real news alternative!
We're committed to making quality news accessible; we'll never set up a paywall or charge for our site. But we rely on your support to bring you independent news without the spin. Use our convenient PayPal/credit card donation form below or contact us at donate@tucsonsentinel.com today.
Subscribe and stretch your donation over time:
Or give a secure one-time gift with PayPal or your credit card:
TucsonSentinel.com is an Arizona nonprofit organization. Your contribution is tax-deductible.
User Guidelines
Please be respectful and relevant. Thought-provoking. Or at least funny.
We want comments to advance the discussion and we need your help. Debate, disagree, yell (digitally) or laugh, but do it with respect.
We won't censor your comments if we don't agree with you; we want viewpoints from across the political spectrum. We're dedicated to sparking an open, active discussion. We believe people with differing opinions can spark debate and effect change.
Comments are open to registered users of TucsonSentinel.com.
Keep in mind:
A conversation involves sharing and respect. Support your viewpoint with facts, not attacks.
Ask questions. Search out answers.
Remember that being part of a community requires tolerance for differing views.
We can't ensure that all comments are based in truth. The only comments we endorse are those we write ourselves.
TucsonSentinel.com does not allow:
Hate speech. Blatantly racist, sexist or homophobic slurs or calls for violence against a particular type of person, etc. will be removed.
Obscenity & excessive cursing. Sometimes a well-placed curse word - if you're creative enough to get it past our auto-censor - can express your point in just the right way. But we say '%*$& no' to cursing for cursing's sake. And lose the explicit sexually-descriptive language. It doesn't contribute to the debate and there are plenty of other places on the Internet to find it.
Flaming. During a heated discussion, unkind words may be spoken. We can live with a certain amount of rudeness in the name of provocative conversation, but a pattern of personal attacks (name-calling, mocking, or baiting) is not acceptable nor are threatening or harassing comments. Show some respect, please.
Explicit political endorsements. As a nonprofit we can't allow electioneering. Analysis and explanation of political issues and candidates are encouraged, but specific calls to vote for or against a measure or politician should be done elsewhere.
Spam. Solicitation of products or services isn't allowed; contact us about advertising, we'd love to talk to you. Links to off-topic sites may be deleted.
Copyright or IP infringement. Lengthy quotes and violations of 'Fair Use' aren't allowed. Anything you post should be your own work.
Overposting. Don't bore people and waste electrons with identical comments on multiple stories or repetitive comments that don't advance a conversation.
Trolling, sockpuppetry, and other abusive behavior. Please don't feed the trolls and don't pretend to be someone you're not.
Gossip. Don't bring up others who can't defend themselves. We don't give out personal information; you shouldn't either.
Comments that violate these guidelines may be removed. We reserve the right to make up the rules as we go along.
Flagging
Commentors are solely responsible for the opinions they express and the accuracy of the information they provide. Users who violate these standards may lose their privileges on TucsonSentinel.com.
Sentinel editors can't read every comment. Trolls, spammers and other troublemakers can slide under the bridge. We rely on you to help maintain a healthy conversation - more than likely, you're reading these comments before the editors.
What if you see something inappropriate? Use the 'Flag' button to send it to a moderation queue. Help us out and tell us why you're reporting it; please don't report someone just because you disagree with them. Boy who cried wolf and all that. We'll take appropriate action on violations.
We will not edit comments to alter their meaning or censor comments because of political content.
We will not remove comments solely because they are heartless, cruel, coarse, foolish or just plain wrong. Your disapproval can maintain a decent signal to noise ratio. Ultimately, however, self-policing is the best method.
2 comments on this story
Blake hits another one out of the ballpark. Interesting that with all of the resources, staff, and experience at the Arizona Dark Star and the Tucson WeAkly, they have no real information, insight, or analysis as to why this assault on the democratic process is happening. Worse, they obviously don’t care.
For those of us who do care, I suggest a contribution to the Tucson Sentinel (and yes Dylan, my contribution is coming).
Those of us who live in Barrio Hollywood can directly relate to having the Mayor and Council ignore the concerns of residents. We were first ignored and then threatened by the City in their defence of the attempted giveaway of El Rio park. These examples published here only add to the accurate perception that this Mayor and Council are stooges for big developers.
Unfortunately, unlike Seattle and other cities, there is no political opposition to the two party duopoly that fosters corruption. As for me, I am writing in Trini Alvarez for Mayor and Council.
Vote the least—vote deceased.
THANK YOU!
Fantastic article! Why am I paying almost $100 for three months of the Arizona Daily Star?