💰 Christy's Corporate Cheerleading and the Project Blue Bamboozle | BUCKMASTER
How Pima County's lone Republican supervisor pushes Silicon Valley's desert data dreams while dismissing environmental concerns as "melodrama"
Based on the Buckmaster Show for 7/3/25, a daily radio show in Tucson, AZ, interviewing local newsmakers. Analysis and opinions are my own.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
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🎙️📅 On July 3rd, a radio show featured three main guests discussing different topics. Steve Christy, a county supervisor, 🎛️ strongly supported a big tech company building data centers that would use lots of 💧 and ⚡, while 🚫 opposing affordable housing 🏘️ projects. He dismissed 🌿 concerns but 🎉 celebrated when unions supported the tech project, even though he usually disagrees with unions.
Dr. David Levy, a famous astronomer, 🔭 talked about upcoming 🌠 and shared wisdom about how everything has its time and 🌱🌾. A ⚖️ discussed huge court awards, including 💵 $140 million against a company that illegally checked people's credit scores 📉.
The show highlighted tensions between corporate profits 📈 and community needs in Arizona's desert 🌵.
🗝️ Takeaways
💧 Water Wars Brewing: Project Blue data centers promise massive water usage while environmental concerns get dismissed as "speculation"
🏭 Corporate Welfare vs. Human Welfare: Christy supports $20M land deals for tech companies but opposes affordable housing as taxpayer "extraction"
📈 Legal Lottery: Arizona civil courts awarded $294 million in verdicts in 2024, up from $76 million in 2023
🌟 Cosmic Perspective: Dr. Levy's astronomical insights provide a sanity check on earthly political drama
🗳️ Democratic Disconnect: Republican supervisor suddenly loves unions when they support his corporate pet projects
Independence Eve at the Buckmaster Bungalow: Corporate Conquest and Cosmic Contemplation
When Supervisor Steve Christy's corporate cheerleading collides with Dr. David Levy's celestial wisdom
As monsoon clouds gathered over Mount Lemmon like harbingers of hope in our increasingly scorched Sonoran homeland, Bill Buckmaster's Independence Eve broadcast served up a feast of contradictions that would make even the most seasoned political observer reach for the antacids.
Broadcasting from the Green Things Zocalo Village Studio in central Tucson, the July 3rd show delivered everything from water-grabbing data centers to cosmic contemplation, seasoned with the kind of corporate boot-licking that makes this Indigenous Chicano blogger wonder if some folks have forgotten which side of the colonization equation they're supposed to be on.
The Cast of Characters in This Desert Drama
Three voices dominated this pre-Fourth festivities: Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy (the lone Republican voice crying in the wilderness of a five-member board), Dr. David Levy (renowned comet discoverer and our monthly messenger from the cosmos), and attorney Don Loose of the Loose Law Group, serving up legal lunacy with a side of jaw-dropping verdict amounts.
Because nothing says "Independence Day" like a former car salesman turned politician peddling corporate interests while an astronomer reminds us there are bigger things in the universe than quarterly profits.
Christy's Corporate Crusade: Project Blue's Billion-Dollar Bamboozle
Supervisor Christy arrived at the microphone armed with talking points straighter than Interstate 10 across the desert, defending the controversial "Project Blue" data center deal with the fervor of a tent revival preacher selling salvation through Silicon Valley.
The project involves 209 acres in what's mysteriously called the "DM paddle" – a designation that restricts development to industrial and heavy industrial use only.
"If you look at the guts of the deal and you look at it in black and white terms and leave out all the hyperbole and the melodrama and the speculation," Christy proclaimed, apparently believing that dismissing legitimate environmental concerns as "melodrama" somehow makes them disappear like morning dew in the desert sun.
The supervisor's arithmetic sounds seductive on paper: sell county-owned land for $20 million in cold cash, anticipate a $3.6 billion buildout that would theoretically transform southeastern Pima County into some kind of desert Silicon Valley, and unlock 18 miles of water infrastructure that would make residential developers salivate like prospectors finding gold.
Because nothing screams "sustainable development" like massive data centers gulping electricity and water in a region where climate change has turned "drought" from a weather pattern into a way of life.
But here's where Christy's corporate cheerleading becomes particularly troubling for those of us who understand that water is life, especially in Indigenous communities where access to clean water has been systematically denied for generations.
The supervisor gleefully noted that "it's going to provide 18 miles of reclaimed waterline infrastructure, and this is sewage hookups, sewer hookups, and waterline hookups, and it unlocks that whole southeast area for residential development."
Translation: Let's build water infrastructure for corporate profits while Indigenous communities on both sides of this colonial border still lack basic water access. The priorities are crystal clear.
Christy's comparison to Motorola's missed opportunity from decades past reeks of the classic corporate carrot-dangling that has communities chasing phantom prosperity while real needs go unmet.
"I'm old enough to remember, and I think you might be too, Bill. Motorola came into town with some great plans that they were going to build a huge plant. And that whole thing was driven away by interest groups. And we lost an opportunity there," he lamented, as if environmental protection groups were the villains in this corporate fairy tale.
The supervisor celebrated union support with the glee of someone who discovered a political winning lottery ticket: "The unions have been so supportive of this, the jobs that they're going to provide the union membership. And historically, the unions have seemed to have sided with the party that my colleagues are involved with."
Because nothing says authentic worker solidarity like a Republican suddenly discovering he loves unions when they support his pet project.
Environmental Concerns vs. Corporate Conquest
What makes Christy's position particularly galling is his dismissive attitude toward environmental concerns in a region where water scarcity isn't some abstract policy debate – it's a daily reality affecting working families, Indigenous communities, and anyone who can't afford to buy their way out of climate change consequences.
"All of the opponents of this project are really speculating. They have no solid information. They have no solid data. And what they're objecting to and what they're concerned with is, again, pure speculation, not based by any record of fact," Christy declared with the confidence of someone who apparently believes that questioning corporate water usage in the desert is somehow unreasonable.
Speculation? Tell that to the families in Nogales or on the Tohono O'odham Nation who've watched their wells run dry while corporations extract groundwater for profit.
The supervisor's celebration that "the environmental community has been really somewhat muted on this" reveals either willful ignorance or strategic amnesia about how environmental justice movements operate. Sometimes silence isn't consent – sometimes it's communities gathering information and building coalitions before launching sustained resistance.
Christy's Housing Hostility: When "Affordable" Becomes Fighting Words
If Christy's data center defense was concerning, his affordable housing antagonism revealed the cruel calculus of capitalism wrapped in the rhetoric of "fiscal responsibility."
With the passionate intensity of someone who clearly never worried about rent consuming half their paycheck, the supervisor launched into a tirade against public housing investment that would make Gordon Gekko blush.
"I'm absolutely opposed to it, particularly in the manner that it's being funded and constructed. I think it is probably one of the more egregious methods of trying to extract money from the taxpayers," Christy declared, apparently viewing public investment in human shelter as some kind of elaborate theft scheme.
Because helping people afford basic housing is "extracting money from taxpayers," but subsidizing corporate data centers with water infrastructure is just good business.
Christy's characterization of affordable housing reveals the loaded language of someone who sees poverty as a moral failing rather than a systemic problem: "Affordable housing is nothing more than public funded housing and housing construction for those folks who are going to be subsidized to live there."
The supervisor's concern for property owners who "played by the rules" exposes the zero-sum thinking that pits working people against each other instead of questioning why basic necessities like housing have become luxury commodities:
"They're playing by the rules, paying their taxes, making all the payments for anywhere from 25 to 30 years, and maybe even more if they refinance and they paid off this nest egg. And now they're going to have to still pay property taxes at a higher rate because it's going to go to fund for somebody else to live in publicly funded and supported housing."
The "rules" Christy celebrates are the same rules that have created a housing crisis where teachers, firefighters, and healthcare workers can't afford to live in the communities they serve. Maybe it's time to question the rules rather than punish people for needing help navigating an rigged system.
Levy's Luminous Levity: Stargazing and Sanity
Dr. David Levy provided the show's most refreshing moments, offering cosmic perspective that made earthly political posturing seem appropriately insignificant.
The renowned comet discoverer's tale of accidentally damaging his telescope, "Eureka," and spending four days rebuilding it humanized the often intimidating world of astronomy.
"I was walking around in the dark, and I bumped into the telescope, the larger one, and knocked it over. It didn’t hurt me or anything, and the telescope is a little angry at me. And I spent the last four days putting it back together. And last night, I succeeded. And I got it together. We hugged, and we are observing again," Levy shared with characteristic warmth.
His upcoming astronomical events – the Delta Aquarius meteor shower in late July and the Perseids, which begin their August ascent – remind us that some spectacles transcend political posturing and corporate profits.
Levy's quote of the month channeled Ecclesiastes through The Byrds' "Turn! Turn! Turn!," delivering profound wisdom about timing and seasons:
"For everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pick up what that was just planted."
In a world obsessed with quarterly profits and election cycles, perhaps we need more voices reminding us that resistance movements also have their seasons – times to organize quietly and times to rise up visibly.
Loose's Legal Lottery: When Justice Comes with Corporate Price Tags
Attorney Don Loose's annual verdict roundup revealed Arizona's civil courts dispensing monetary justice with unprecedented generosity. The $294 million in total verdicts for 2024 – nearly quadruple 2023's $76 million – suggests either remarkable attorney performance or increasingly egregious corporate behavior.
"In 2024, juries and judges awarded $294 million in verdicts in Arizona. In 2023 by comparison, which was the year prior to this last survey, the number was 76 million," Loose reported, delivering numbers that would make any corporate risk assessment team reach for stronger coffee.
The $140 million CenturyLink class-action verdict serves as a cautionary tale about digital privacy in our surveillance-capitalist world. "Lydia went to their e-commerce website and started to fill out the information required in order for her to get internet service. Apparently, there were five steps, so she provided personal information in the first four of those steps and then decided to terminate the order, never consummating it. Despite that, apparently, CenturyLink used the information that she had provided and apparently pulled a credit report on her."
Because in corporate America, abandoning an online shopping cart apparently gives companies permission to rifle through your financial life like digital stalkers.
The Broader Context: Desert Development in the Trump Era
These Independence Eve discussions reflect broader tensions about development, environment, and economic justice that have intensified during the Trump era's corporate-friendly policies.
Project Blue represents the kind of extractive development that treats desert communities as sacrifice zones for Silicon Valley's endless appetite for data storage and processing power.
For Indigenous communities throughout the Southwest, these development patterns echo centuries of resource extraction that prioritized external profits over local sustainability. The supervisor's dismissal of environmental concerns as "speculation" while treating corporate promises as gospel reveals the colonial mindset that still shapes development decisions in our borderlands.
How This Affects You, Querido Reader
If you live in Pima County, Christy's votes directly impact your property taxes, water access, and housing costs. His support for Project Blue while opposing affordable housing reveals priorities that favor corporate interests over community needs.
If you're struggling with housing costs – and in Arizona's inflated market, that includes teachers, healthcare workers, and service industry employees – Christy's housing hostility signals that county-level relief won't come from Republican leadership.
If you care about water conservation in an increasingly dry region, the supervisor's enthusiastic support for water-heavy data centers should worry you, especially as climate change makes every drop more valuable.
Questions for Consideration
As we ponder this Independence Eve potpourri, consider these questions:
How do we balance legitimate economic development needs with environmental sustainability in a region where water scarcity isn't some future threat but a current reality? Christy's dismissal of environmental concerns while embracing corporate promises suggests a dangerous imbalance in our democratic discourse.
When housing costs consume ever-larger portions of working-class incomes, how do we address legitimate concerns about tax burdens while meeting the moral imperative to ensure everyone has access to safe, affordable shelter? The supervisor's "rules-playing" rhetoric obscures fundamental questions about economic justice.
A Desert Dawn of Resistance and Hope
Despite Supervisor Christy's corporate cheerleading and housing hostility, hope persists like desert wildflowers after a monsoon. Grassroots organizations throughout southern Arizona continue building coalitions that center on environmental justice, affordable housing, and Indigenous sovereignty.
Organizations like the Tucson Clean Energy coalition work to ensure that development serves community needs rather than corporate profits. Groups like Voices of Opportunity advocate for affordable housing policies that treat shelter as a human right rather than a commodity.
The Coalition for Justice continues organizing workers across industries to demand living wages and affordable housing. Indigenous-led organizations like Tohono O'odham Nation continue asserting sovereignty over land and water resources.
Because resistance isn't just about opposing bad projects – it's about building the alternative future our communities deserve.
Take Action, Stay Informed
To stay engaged with these critical issues:
Attend Pima County Board of Supervisors meetings (next meeting July 15th, where Christy promises to recognize sheriff volunteers)
Contact supervisors directly about Project Blue and affordable housing policies
Join local environmental justice organizations working on water and development issues
Support candidates who prioritize community needs over corporate profits
Support Three Sonorans Substack to help keep this essential news and analysis coming. Independent media voices like ours provide the context and perspective corporate media won't deliver.
¿Qué Piensas? What Do You Think?
Share your thoughts below! How do you think we should balance economic development with environmental sustainability in our desert home? What housing policies would best serve working families in southern Arizona?
Democracy thrives on dialogue, and these Independence Eve conversations remind us that freedom means engaging with ideas that challenge our assumptions while building the communities we need.
As monsoon clouds gather over our desert homeland, remember that change – like summer rain in the Sonoran landscape – often arrives unexpectedly but always brings possibilities for new growth. In this season of celebrating independence, let's remain independent thinkers who question easy answers and demand better solutions for all our desert neighbors.
¡La lucha sigue! The struggle continues, and our communities deserve better than corporate colonization disguised as economic development.
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While I agree with you about Project Blue and Christy's insulting assessment of its critics, I have to take issue with your characterization of the notion of the "DM Paddle."
This term has been used in the public discussion for over two decades. It refers to an area in the flight path of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base where development is restricted due to safety and other quality-of-life issues associated with frequent fly-overs. The City of Tucson annexed the Houghton Corridor, much of which is in "The Paddle," in 2007 or 2008 specifically to keep the area in the flight path largely industrial and to otherwise control how the area was developed with the impact of and on DM in mind. The County has been similarly conscious of this.
The term may seem silly and reductive, but it is hardly "mysterious."
When I was in college and then seminary (an entire life ago and an existence I don’t live anymore) I often sat back and listened to passionate believers ranting and defending their positions, using arguments that were stale and used up. Instead of solid logic and factual information they tended to get heated, speaking louder and more aggressively as they stumbled on. Apologists, I realized. Ones who defend their positions. Seemed noble until I realized something rather eye opening: they were interested in being right more than uncovering truth.
Seems Christy, and most ardent “believers”, might be operating this way. Politicians, developers, anyone with an agenda. We want what we want, dammit!! And how can I get it?! What do I have to say or do to accomplish my goal. To hell with sense and obvious facts—and possible harm to others. Justify at all costs. Sad.