🗳️ Cunningham's Cowardly Capitulation: Democrats Fold to Corporate Power, Acts Tough Towards the Homeless
"So fine, we're out" - Council member surrenders community climate priorities without a fight after TEP shows contempt
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
🌆🏛️ Tucson's city council made some 💔 decisions highlighting corporate power. Despite a scorching 🔥 111°F, they banned homeless people from seeking shelter in parks or riverbeds. Meanwhile, TEP 🚫 backed out of climate talks, prioritizing 💵 profits by planning a 14% electric bill hike.
Instead of resisting, the council surrendered, essentially letting TEP have its way. People in the county are now charged more 💧 for the same water as city residents. Business owner Veronica Hanley 🏢👩🏾💼 was ignored by city officials despite safety concerns. Council member Kevin Dahl was the only one who stood against these harsh measures, 🗳️ while others supported punishing the poor or yielded to corporate demands.
🗝️ Takeaways
🚨 Council voted 5-1 to criminalize survival tactics during record-breaking heat, making seeking shade in washes and parks illegal
💰 TEP corporate executives abandoned climate negotiations, citing "other priorities" while pursuing 14% rate increases that will devastate working families
🗳️ Democrats immediately surrendered community power with a 6-0 vote, canceling the November election after the first sign of corporate resistance
💧 Environmental racism codified through a 5-1 vote on discriminatory water rates charging county residents more for identical service from the same infrastructure
👩🏽💼 Black business owner Veronica Hanley exposed systemic racism after the Mayor's February promise led to five ignored calls about serious safety threats
⚖️ Kevin Dahl stood as the lone voice of conscience, consistently voting against discriminatory policies while colleagues capitulated to corporate and punitive agendas
🌡️ Life-threatening ordinances take effect as temperatures reach deadly levels, making water and shade access criminal offenses for the most vulnerable residents
🏢 Corporate capture is demonstrated as TEP receives immediate accommodation while community members face arrest for speaking against criminalization
Tucson Criminalizes Survival While TEP Walks Away Laughing
Corporate Power Wins, Community Loses in Devastating 5-1 Council Vote
On a sweltering June evening in Tucson, as temperatures soared toward 111 degrees, the city's elected officials chose to criminalize the act of seeking shade and water. Meanwhile, Tucson Electric Power—the same utility demanding a 14% rate increase—simply walked away from climate negotiations, citing "other priorities."
The June 17, 2025, Tucson City Council meeting wasn't just another bureaucratic gathering. It was a masterclass in how corporate power operates in the Trump era, how environmental racism gets codified into law, and how our most vulnerable neighbors become political pawns in a game they never asked to play.
Setting the Scene: Democracy Under Siege
Picture this: Families seeking refuge in cooling centers while their elected representatives debate whether sleeping outside should be a crime.
The Tucson Convention Center's sterile meeting rooms buzzed with the tension of a community at a crossroads. Because nothing says "representing the people" like holding a meeting about homelessness in an air-conditioned building while people literally die of heat exposure outside.
The meeting's agenda read like a greatest hits of late-stage capitalism: differential water rates that penalize county residents, utility franchise negotiations that prioritize shareholder interests over ratepayers, and ordinances that effectively criminalize poverty itself.
For those tracking the trajectory of American democracy, this meeting offered a chilling preview of what "local control" looks like when corporate interests drive policy.
The People Speak Truth to Power
Veronica Hanley: When Black Business Owners Get the Silent Treatment
The evening's most powerful testimony came from Veronica Hanley, a Black woman small business owner whose experience epitomizes how systemic racism operates in local government. Operating a doggie daycare across multiple wards, Hanley has faced five serious safety incidents involving unhoused individuals, including Christmas Day confrontations and explicit arson threats.
"Over the past five years, I've dealt with five serious safety incidences involving violent unhoused individuals, four of which forced me to arm herself in the moment to protect my employees and myself," Hanley testified, her voice steady despite visible frustration.
One incident occurred on Christmas Day at her Ward 5 location, where she "had to arm myself before calling the police. And when they arrived, they seemed more concerned about the fact that I was armed after I informed them voluntarily it was safe and holstered than the actual threat."
The most damning part?
After Mayor Romero promised a follow-up during February's Black History Month celebration and personally handed Hanley the business card of city official Ted Prezelski, aide for Councilmember Paul Cunningham, the business owner called and emailed five times.
The response? Complete silence.
"And after Mayor Romero said in February during the Black History Month celebration that Ted Prezelski should follow up with me and gave me his card, I called and emailed him five times. I never received a response, by the way," Hanley testified with barely contained frustration.
Her recent experiences have become even more dangerous: "Just recently, I called 911 on a woman trespassing at my business location, smoking something, because I have dogs to protect at my doggie daycare facility. She looked right in my face and said, ‘You're going to burn tonight.’"
"Isn't it ironic that a black woman who built a business from the ground up, who did everything by the book, still can't get a call back?" Hanley asked, noting the timing, just days before Juneteenth, which added layers of historical irony. Apparently, "doing everything by the book" doesn't guarantee basic respect when you're a Black woman asking for help from city leadership.
The cruel symbolism couldn't be clearer: during Black History Month, a Black business owner gets the ceremonial handshake and business card from the Mayor. But when she needs actual help with serious safety threats—including explicit arson warnings—she gets complete radio silence from city officials. Meanwhile, corporate utilities like TEP get immediate attention for their profit-driven agendas.
Her testimony exposed the intersection of racial discrimination and class-based city services—a business owner with legitimate safety concerns gets ignored. At the same time, corporate utilities get red-carpet treatment for rate increases.
The Voices Against Criminalization
Multiple community members courageously opposed the anti-camping ordinances, their three-minute testimonies carrying the weight of lived experience:
Jose Valladades delivered a simple truth: "Making it illegal to camp in washes is not a solution to homelessness. It almost seems like an attempt to sweep the problem under the rug." His assessment cut through political spin to the heart of the matter—this isn't about public safety, it's about making poverty invisible.
Sandra Gonzalez, a Tucson native battling clinical anxiety who still found courage to speak, offered devastating economic analysis: "Most of us in here are probably a lot closer to being homeless than we will ever be billionaires. That's not a clever line. That's the truth." Imagine that—actual economic literacy from someone who isn't running for office.
Reyes Suarez exposed the fiscal absurdity of criminalization: "It costs more to lock someone up for the night than to put them in a hotel. Why is our first inclination to punish them rather than support?" The mathematics of cruelty: jail costs approximately $150 per person per night, while emergency housing costs significantly less.
TEP's Corporate Coup: When "Other Priorities" Mean Profit
The Collapse of Climate Negotiations
The evening's most revealing moment came during the TEP franchise discussion. After months of community engagement, seven town halls, and extensive public input on climate action, Tucson Electric Power simply walked away. City Manager Tim Thomure's barely controlled anger was palpable as he described the morning's events:
"Even today, when we were exchanging language and the conversation was around, well, what's the next step? Some of the feedback we got is they're on other priorities right now."
"Other priorities." Let that sink in. A utility company that controls the power grid for hundreds of thousands of residents, during record-breaking heat waves, has "other priorities" than negotiating climate resilience agreements. Other priorities, such as the 14% rate increase they just filed?
Mayor Regina Romero's frustration boiled over: "TEP and their people working on this basically said we have other priorities. And we have no time. And so what that tells me, in my opinion, is that they really don't care about working with this Mayor and Council and working with the community to deliver the work and the franchise agreement that this community wants to see."
Cunningham's Cowardly Capitulation: When Democrats Abandon the People
The moment TEP showed their corporate contempt, Council Member Paul Cunningham did what establishment Democrats do best—he immediately rolled over and surrendered without a fight. Rather than wielding the considerable power the city holds over a monopoly utility, Cunningham's first instinct was accommodation and retreat.
"I'm going to make a motion right now that we not have the election in November," Cunningham declared, his voice carrying the defeated tone of someone who never intended to fight in the first place. His rationale exposed the rot at the heart of liberal governance: "They're literally setting us up for failure. So fine. We're out."
So fine. We're out.
Let those words sink in.
After seven community town halls where residents poured their hearts out about climate action and utility justice, after months of community organizing and engagement, after TEP literally walked away citing "other priorities" during a deadly heat wave—Cunningham's response was to wave the white flag and give the corporation exactly what it wanted.
This wasn't strategic thinking—this was political cowardice dressed up as pragmatism. Cunningham had multiple tools at his disposal to pressure TEP:
What a fighter would have done:
Threaten permit delays: Make TEP's infrastructure projects face bureaucratic scrutiny
Publicize their betrayal: Launch a media campaign exposing TEP's climate abandonment
Impose operational restrictions: Use existing city authority to make TEP's monopoly less comfortable
Rally community pressure: Mobilize the very residents who attended those town halls
Demand emergency negotiations: Set a 48-hour deadline with consequences for non-compliance
Instead, Cunningham chose the path of least resistance—the same path that's delivered decades of corporate victories and community defeats. "I don't really want to sit around the next 19 days panicking that we can't get this thing on the ballot," he whined, as if urgency in the face of corporate betrayal was somehow unreasonable.
This is what happens when elected officials mistake corporate board meetings for governance. Cunningham treated TEP like a partner to be accommodated rather than a monopoly to be regulated. He forgot that corporations only understand power—and he refused to use the considerable power the city possesses.
The most damning part?
Cunningham's motion wasn't even a strategic retreat—it was a complete surrender that gifted TEP months of additional delay while they pursue their 14% rate increase unencumbered by climate commitments. The vote passed 6-0, meaning even the most progressive voices on the council endorsed this capitulation to corporate power.
Seven town halls’ worth of community engagement. Months of climate organizing. A utility company is literally ghosting negotiations during a heat emergency.
And Cunningham's response?
"So fine. We're out."
This is why people lose faith in electoral politics. This is why corporate power continues unchecked. This is what happens when Democrats prioritize procedural comfort over community power—and why movements for justice must build independent organizing capacity that doesn't rely on elected officials who fold at the first sign of corporate resistance.
Water Wars: Environmental Discrimination in Rate Form?
The Discriminatory Structure Exposed
Despite passionate opposition, the council approved differential water rates that will charge Pima County residents more for identical water service. Supervisor Rex Scott's testimony laid bare the injustice: "It would be unprecedented for those higher rates to be levied on long-time ratepayers representing such a sizable chunk of the customer base."
County resident Paul Bucky personalized the impact: "My neighbor, whose water rate, my neighbor, who uses the same water from the same pipes maintained by the same partnerships, will see their bill go down. Mine will go up."
Think about this: the city is literally charging people different rates for identical service based solely on where they live. If this happened with any other utility or service, we'd call it discrimination. But because it's wrapped in municipal finance jargon, it becomes "revenue neutral" policy.
Council Member Dahl: The Lone Voice of Reason
Kevin Dahl stood as the sole dissenting vote, opposing the discriminatory rate structure despite technical arguments about infrastructure costs. His opposition wasn't based on the study's methodology—it was based on principle.
"I feel strongly that we're missing an opportunity to use dedicated funding to expand programs that support families who are struggling financially and residents who are in the hottest neighborhoods due to a lack of equitable green space," Dahl explained, offering a vision of what progressive water policy could actually accomplish.
The Numbers Game
The rate increases break down as follows:
Average county resident increase: $6.34/month
High-usage increase: Nearly $11/month
Conservation fee increase: From 10 to 15 cents per CCF
City revenue differential: Millions annually from county residents
Because nothing says "regional partnership" like charging your neighbors more for the same service.
Criminalizing Survival: The Prop 312 Enforcement
Perez's Troubling Mandate Claim
The most disturbing moment came when newly appointed Council Member Rocque Perez II justified his vote for criminalization:
"I feel a clear mandate from Ward 5 to support this measure, not as a rejection of unhoused individuals, but out of a belief that no one should live in a wash or park."
This paternalistic reasoning—"we're helping you by making your existence illegal"—represents the worst kind of liberal guilt management. Perez literally claimed a mandate to criminalize survival while temperatures reached deadly levels.
Mayor Romero's Authoritarian Moment
When audience members interrupted during her defense of the camping bans, Mayor Romero revealed her true priorities: "I have the microphone. You already had an opportunity... You cannot interrupt a public meeting." Her defensive reaction culminated in having community members forcibly removed from the chambers.
The irony was thick: a mayor elected on progressive promises had people arrested for opposing anti-homeless ordinances. The visual couldn't have been more stark—air-conditioned officials voting to criminalize seeking shade.
The Mathematics of Cruelty
The ordinances passed with devastating efficiency:
Kevin Dahl again stood alone: "For the same reasons that I voted no on the wash ordinance last time, I'm going to vote no on it this time as well."
The Broader Context: Trump Era Local Politics
Understanding Proposition 312
These ordinances respond to Arizona's Proposition 312, passed in November 2024, which allows property owners to claim tax refunds when cities fail to enforce camping bans. Because the real crisis facing Arizona isn't homelessness—it's property owners having to see poverty.
The proposition represents a new frontier in conservative governance: using tax policy to force local governments to criminalize survival. Cities face a choice between enforcing cruel ordinances or losing revenue to tax refunds.
Environmental Justice Under Attack
The water rate differential particularly impacts communities of color in unincorporated Pima County, where residents often lack political representation but face higher utility costs. Combined with TEP's 14% rate increase, working families face a perfect storm of higher costs during record-breaking heat.
This is environmental racism with a spreadsheet—using technical language and municipal finance to disguise discriminatory policies that disproportionately burden communities of color.
What This Means for You
If you're a Tucson-area resident, these votes directly impact your daily life:
For County Residents: Your water bills have increased, despite receiving the same service as city residents who pay less.
For Renters and Working Families: TEP's rate increases, approved through regulatory capture, will hit hardest when you need cooling most.
For Anyone Who Cares About Housing: The criminalization ordinances make it harder for unhoused neighbors to survive while doing nothing to create actual housing solutions.
For Democracy Advocates: The meeting demonstrated how corporate power operates—TEP walked away from negotiations without consequences while community members got arrested for speaking out.
The Path Forward: Resistance and Hope
Despite the evening's devastating votes, seeds of resistance were planted. Every community member who spoke against criminalization, every testimony about corporate power, every moment of organized opposition matters.
Kevin Dahl's consistent opposition provides a model for principled governance. Veronica Hanley's courage in speaking truth to power exposes systemic failures. The multiple voices against criminalization show community organizing potential.
How to Get Involved
The fight for housing justice and corporate accountability continues beyond council chambers:
Immediate Actions:
Contact council members before the next meeting (August 6, 2025)
Connect with local mutual aid organizations providing wash safety resources
Attend Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness meetings
Support businesses like Hanley's that speak truth to power
Long-term Organizing:
Build coalitions between housing advocates and environmental justice groups
Challenge TEP's rate increases through public comment
Register voters in affected communities
Support candidates who prioritize people over profits
Supporting Independent Journalism
This kind of detailed government accountability reporting takes time and resources. Support Three Sonorans Substack to keep this critical coverage coming. Because corporate media won't tell you when utility companies ghost climate negotiations—that's our job.
Your subscription helps us attend every meeting, analyze every vote, and center marginalized voices in our coverage. In an era when local news is disappearing, community-supported journalism becomes essential infrastructure for resistance.
The struggle for housing justice, environmental protection, and corporate accountability continues. Tonight's votes represent setbacks, not defeats. Every act of resistance, every voice raised in opposition, every vote for justice matters.
In solidarity and resistance, ¡La lucha continúa!
What Do You Think?
The decisions made in that air-conditioned convention center will reverberate through our community for years to come. But democracy doesn't end when officials vote—it begins when communities organize.
Two questions for our community:
How can we hold TEP accountable for abandoning climate commitments while pursuing rate increases that burden working families during deadly heat waves?
What would genuine housing-first policies look like in Tucson, and how do we build the political power necessary to implement them instead of criminalization approaches?
Leave your thoughts below. Your voice matters, especially when elected officials stop listening.
Have a scoop or a story you want us to follow up on? Send us a message!
