Tucson’s first Town Hall… Earlier this month, a group of 165 community leaders and interested citizens, including Tucson Chamber President Jack Camper and staff members Paula Stuht and Cheryll Frazier, came together and discussed the hard issues about our region’s future. From health care availability to water resources to workforce shortages to rising housing costs, the attendees covered the watershed. In-depth information came to the surface, helping all to view perhaps a different picture than they had previously seen. While some expressed concerns that the “solutions” proposed to many of the intricate problems came in the form of additional or new taxes (or bonding), the discussion was healthy and timely–and we as a community need to continue pursuing these issues with an end result of honest and viable plans that will realistically address our future. The SALC and the Town Hall Advisory Board of which the Chamber is a partner have committed to further activities and public discussions that will help coalesce the community around the solutions to form a unified vision for the Tucson Region. A more recent meeting with the Town Hall Advisory Board reconfirmed the commitment to take this effort from a three-day “event” to a continuous “process.” This committee will meet two more times prior to the June 6 rollout to be held at the Fox Theatre. On that day, all those who wanted to participate and therefore applied for the Town Hall event will be invited to see an overview of the outcome-document and be invited to offer input for further actions as the Tucson region tries to solidify a clear vision for our preferred future. The Advisory Board plans to continue fine-tuning the process and the feedback so that a year from now, we will be able to report to the community on our successes, near misses, and misses. Unlike state-wide Town Hall efforts, this local, more tightly-defined process will be measured and reviewed on a regular basis to ensure the needed changes have been made.

First large-scale permanent ramp closures begin on June 15… The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has already made its first permanent ramp closure, the Speedway westbound off-ramp, and is continuing to prepare for the two-and-a-half year widening of I-10. Click here to view the most recent traffic alert detailing all of the current and upcoming closures to the frontage roads, cross-streets and the Interstate itself.