🌵🏠 Desert Dreams vs. Developer Schemes: Tucson's Tumamoc Hill Controversy
9/23/24: 🏛️ Tumamoc Hill: Ancient History vs. Modern Development 🤝 Community Action: Strategies for Preserving Neighborhood Identity
And let's not forget who benefits from this gentrification. It's not the families who've called this area home for generations. It's not the students at Pima College looking for affordable housing. It's the developers and the wealthy newcomers who can afford these overpriced homes.
🏜️ Mondays with Morales: The Fight Against Gentrification on the West Side
¡Buenas tardes, mi gente! Maextro Morales here, bringing you another edition of "Mondays with Morales" for the Three Sonorans blog. This week, we're diving into a topic that hits close to home for all of us Tucsonans: the ongoing battle against gentrification on our beloved west side.
From El Río to Barrio Hollywood, and now with this new mega-development at the foot of sacred Tumamoc Hill, it seems the developers just can't leave our historic neighborhoods and natural treasures alone. Don't they understand that this land has history, has soul?
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Tumamoc Hill isn't just a pretty hill for exercise.
At its peak, there's an ancient indigenous village, a reminder that this land has been home to our ancestors for thousands of years. And now they want to build luxury homes at its base? Homes that most families who've lived here for generations won't be able to afford?
Let's talk about that beautiful desert on the east side of Pima Community College. That piece of land marks the transition between urban Tucson and pristine desert wilderness, home to javelinas and deer. It's the gateway to the Tucson Mountains and Saguaro National Park. Do we really want to sacrifice that for another generic development?
Look, I get it. Tucson is growing. But at what cost? Are we willing to erase our cultural heritage, displace our long-time residents, and pave over our natural wonders for the sake of "progress"?
This new development they're proposing - 129 two-story homes crammed into 19 acres? That's not the Tucson way. Our barrios are about community, about knowing your neighbors, about having space to breathe and connect with the desert around us. These cookie-cutter developments threaten to turn our unique, vibrant west side into just another soulless suburb.
And let's not forget who benefits from this gentrification. It's not the families who've called this area home for generations. It's not the students at Pima College looking for affordable housing. It's the developers and the wealthy newcomers who can afford these overpriced homes.
Mi gente, we can't let this happen. We need to stand up for our communities, for our history, for our connection to this beautiful desert land. We need to tell the city council, the developers, and anyone else who'll listen that the west side isn't for sale.
Remember, gentrification isn't just about changing buildings - it's about changing the soul of a neighborhood. It's about erasing the stories, traditions, and connections that make a place unique. And once that's gone, you can't get it back.
So I'm calling on all of you to attend the city council meetings, write letters, and organize your neighbors. Let's show them that the spirit of resistance that has always defined Tucson's west side is still alive and kicking.
This is our home, our culture, our legacy. And we're not giving it up without a fight.
Hasta la próxima, this is Maextro Morales, reminding you to stay strong, stay united, and stay true to your roots. ¡La lucha continúa!