🏛️ City Hall Showdown: Will Thomure Ride with the Barrios? 💪 Community urged to engage in activism to preserve barrio boundaries 🔄 Echoes of past battles, like saving El Rio from privatization
OK so I think I might (as an afuera gabacha, repeat Might) know one factor in the return of this issue. Ward 3 boundaries are already patched-out like a puzzle. But Ward 3 is racially diverse and desperately poor. The beauty and strength of La Cultura may (IMHO) get watered down. Why keep trying to patch out El Rio area? Because Ward 3's council member is in lockstep with the Mayor like Ward 1's... the same person who had other plans for that parcel in 2013. Barrio Hollywood spearheaded the push-back. I have witnessed bits so know the history between gente Baldenegro and gente Grijalva ... it makes me sad, but it is what it is for a reason. M&C's vision for development has long differed from BH, and while revitalizing South 4th and 12th has gone better, its brown culture remains strong. People in power want full compliance. It's just the Human Condition. Like PHX Legislature, one-party rule is never a good thing.
My personal problem has always been that as an old organizer in the Alinsky Tradition, real victory comes when people across divides come together in mutual self-interest towards the higher goal. It means tough but respectful face-to-face debate. One size never fits all, and memories are long and bridges may have been burned long ago. Hatfields & McCoys forever just makes me sad.
Again, I'm just an old gabacha who loves mi gente no matter where from.
When Ward 6 suddenly lost our beloved Koz of 14 years, Miguel predicted M&C would choose Uhlich as his replacement. He was right - and she was NOT who the people of Ward 6 wanted. We wrote M&C in overwhelming support of long-time PVNA resident and former State Rep Pamela Powers.
The movidas begin now, like this redistricting act years before the next one, but what they thought would be under the radar. Sadly, it's one of the new city managers first acts... Not good
I definitley need more background info on the city redistricting issue. Who is the “ minority/ democrat” bloc that they are trying to advance? ( i thought these neighborhoods were majority democrat already so who is the minority here?) Arizona got screwed by its last redistricting process at a state level— the dem party was more or less asleep at the wheel despite having an activist latina at the helm—and gerrymandering won the day resulting in carved up non contiguous ( almost) legislative districts that actually primary whackos like vince leach against whackos like justine wadsack— i mean, its important stuff! And finally, as much as i love your “ voice” here—How does being in a different ward mean that your abuela isnt going to shop at her usual panaderia or carniceria? Thats the kind of argument we heard from very white very republican folks who were quite well organized to try to turn the idea of “ community of interest” ( a standard that needed to be met —keeping such communities together-) into where people went to the beauty parlor or played bridge—
So i return to the original thought. Redistricting and gerrymandering is one of those very irritating seemingly tiny bureaucratic details that electoral politics is full of that is incredibly important and requires far more background to effectively fight than just well worded calls to action, however worthy that goal is. Apologies if i have missed such info presented earlier ( i was around for the 2022 struggle so i mean current info)
The issue in 2022 was to send some Westside precincts to Ward 3 to make it even more Democrat/minority to make Democratic victories more assured there. There was a huge outcry at public forums and the city backed down, but this new attempt to change policy is a direct attempt to get around breaking the policy of keeping the hoods together. It even mentions 2022 directly.
I tried to lighten the mood a bit talking about panaderias and carnicerias, but there is pride in knowing there's a La Estrella bakery in your hood, or a Rollies down the street with a neighborhood association that you work together with in the same ward... Hence the Westside Barrio Coalition. Right now all these issues go through Ward 1, but with El Rio in Ward 3 that unity is broken up. Ward 3 can say mind your own business, go speak to your own Ward 1 councilor. Right now there's unity and we know that the current mayor was trying to sell of El Rio and got caught, but that's still prime property.
So the two issues here are gentrification/privatization and also making Ward 3 more Minority but the Westside less united, and thus easier for a private corporation such as Grand Canyon University to take it over.
OK so I think I might (as an afuera gabacha, repeat Might) know one factor in the return of this issue. Ward 3 boundaries are already patched-out like a puzzle. But Ward 3 is racially diverse and desperately poor. The beauty and strength of La Cultura may (IMHO) get watered down. Why keep trying to patch out El Rio area? Because Ward 3's council member is in lockstep with the Mayor like Ward 1's... the same person who had other plans for that parcel in 2013. Barrio Hollywood spearheaded the push-back. I have witnessed bits so know the history between gente Baldenegro and gente Grijalva ... it makes me sad, but it is what it is for a reason. M&C's vision for development has long differed from BH, and while revitalizing South 4th and 12th has gone better, its brown culture remains strong. People in power want full compliance. It's just the Human Condition. Like PHX Legislature, one-party rule is never a good thing.
My personal problem has always been that as an old organizer in the Alinsky Tradition, real victory comes when people across divides come together in mutual self-interest towards the higher goal. It means tough but respectful face-to-face debate. One size never fits all, and memories are long and bridges may have been burned long ago. Hatfields & McCoys forever just makes me sad.
Again, I'm just an old gabacha who loves mi gente no matter where from.
When Ward 6 suddenly lost our beloved Koz of 14 years, Miguel predicted M&C would choose Uhlich as his replacement. He was right - and she was NOT who the people of Ward 6 wanted. We wrote M&C in overwhelming support of long-time PVNA resident and former State Rep Pamela Powers.
The movidas begin now, like this redistricting act years before the next one, but what they thought would be under the radar. Sadly, it's one of the new city managers first acts... Not good
I definitley need more background info on the city redistricting issue. Who is the “ minority/ democrat” bloc that they are trying to advance? ( i thought these neighborhoods were majority democrat already so who is the minority here?) Arizona got screwed by its last redistricting process at a state level— the dem party was more or less asleep at the wheel despite having an activist latina at the helm—and gerrymandering won the day resulting in carved up non contiguous ( almost) legislative districts that actually primary whackos like vince leach against whackos like justine wadsack— i mean, its important stuff! And finally, as much as i love your “ voice” here—How does being in a different ward mean that your abuela isnt going to shop at her usual panaderia or carniceria? Thats the kind of argument we heard from very white very republican folks who were quite well organized to try to turn the idea of “ community of interest” ( a standard that needed to be met —keeping such communities together-) into where people went to the beauty parlor or played bridge—
So i return to the original thought. Redistricting and gerrymandering is one of those very irritating seemingly tiny bureaucratic details that electoral politics is full of that is incredibly important and requires far more background to effectively fight than just well worded calls to action, however worthy that goal is. Apologies if i have missed such info presented earlier ( i was around for the 2022 struggle so i mean current info)
The issue in 2022 was to send some Westside precincts to Ward 3 to make it even more Democrat/minority to make Democratic victories more assured there. There was a huge outcry at public forums and the city backed down, but this new attempt to change policy is a direct attempt to get around breaking the policy of keeping the hoods together. It even mentions 2022 directly.
I tried to lighten the mood a bit talking about panaderias and carnicerias, but there is pride in knowing there's a La Estrella bakery in your hood, or a Rollies down the street with a neighborhood association that you work together with in the same ward... Hence the Westside Barrio Coalition. Right now all these issues go through Ward 1, but with El Rio in Ward 3 that unity is broken up. Ward 3 can say mind your own business, go speak to your own Ward 1 councilor. Right now there's unity and we know that the current mayor was trying to sell of El Rio and got caught, but that's still prime property.
So the two issues here are gentrification/privatization and also making Ward 3 more Minority but the Westside less united, and thus easier for a private corporation such as Grand Canyon University to take it over.