The “Not a Drop” activists learned well from their compatriots who organize and protest everything since 2020. These are no doubt some outside influencers and big $$ involved and they aren’t going anywhere. As long as local governments continue to cave to their demands, small minds will prevail and Tucson will be as stymied in growth as El Paso is. The protests in El Paso shut down a voter-approved arena build that would have brought millions in revenue to the city in conventions, concerts and major sports events. But they had to knock down a few ancient “historic”buildings that nobody cared about before the vote was passed on the arena. Now the arena is dead and the dilapidated buildings sit as they always have with no plan for their renovation or removal. Yay! You idiots won!! El
Paso will continue to be the location that nobody goes to on purpose.
That's a shame. It's interesting that you mention El Paso: it's one of the locations we frequently discuss in Tucson when benchmarking ourselves with similar cities in the USA. I've heard of what you describe happening many times in multiple locations: by saying "not in my backyard," cities choose to leave their dirt lots undeveloped and their old and abandoned buildings unused. It's totally self-defeating: empty lots don't generate revenue, and they become a liability over time.
For example, when I lived in Colorado, my city had a problem with old and abandoned buildings that would burn down because homeless people would move into them and start a fire to keep warm in the winter. It's crazy that residents look at that and say, "Yes, this is better than an arena," or "We'd prefer that to a data center."
Ron, I have no dog in Tucson's fight, since I live in Florida, but I read every word with great interest. You have captured much of the heart of the issue. It's not about water. It was never about water. Drops of water had nothing to do with these protests. These activists are members of the same family as the masked hoodlums who try to intimidate ICE, and Seattle, and Portland City Councils. The only difference is they are not wearing masks, blowing whistles, or using violence, yet. When people act this strongly and vehemently, without any attempt to listen, evaluate, or even persuade, they are not part of a movement, but are part of a religion. This is the Social Justice Warrior Religion. They cannot win based on logic, reason, and evidence. They are incapable of persuasive argument, because they have no actual facts on their side. They are religious zealots chanting "I believe this way, and that settles the matter. All that is left is for me to bend you to my will by screaming my mantras and slogans so loudly that you lose your heart to do the right things." They cannot persuade. All they know is battle. They are the modern American Jihadis, except without the violence (for the moment). So, there are 16,000 members on their notification list? Hmmm... It would be so interesting to get ahold of that distribution list and do a quick AI analysis of their demographics; political party, other organizations in which they participate, their actual religions (or lack thereof), whether they are married with children, what percentage of them hold real jobs with real-world productivity, how many are business owners...? I also wonder if there are examples of similar communities, with this similarly motivated screaming mobs, who have figured out how to give them a chance at having their say, then closing debate, then holding the City Council vote, and deciding in favor of the project the Social-Jihadist Mob opposes?
The demographics were (from what I could tell) mostly in line with what you're suggesting here: business owners (even small ones like myself), people with children, and those still actively engaged in the workforce were generally very much in favor of the project.
It's the same as what I see when we have minimum wage ballot measures here in town: business owners, business associations, and chambers uniformly oppose them, and hourly workers and labor unions uniformly support them.
This one was different in one way, though: local labor unions were supportive of Project Blue. (When was the last time I was in favor of something that labor unions supported? Never?) They gave their public approval for this development that was projected to provide construction jobs for the next ten years.
The “Not a Drop” activists learned well from their compatriots who organize and protest everything since 2020. These are no doubt some outside influencers and big $$ involved and they aren’t going anywhere. As long as local governments continue to cave to their demands, small minds will prevail and Tucson will be as stymied in growth as El Paso is. The protests in El Paso shut down a voter-approved arena build that would have brought millions in revenue to the city in conventions, concerts and major sports events. But they had to knock down a few ancient “historic”buildings that nobody cared about before the vote was passed on the arena. Now the arena is dead and the dilapidated buildings sit as they always have with no plan for their renovation or removal. Yay! You idiots won!! El
Paso will continue to be the location that nobody goes to on purpose.
That's a shame. It's interesting that you mention El Paso: it's one of the locations we frequently discuss in Tucson when benchmarking ourselves with similar cities in the USA. I've heard of what you describe happening many times in multiple locations: by saying "not in my backyard," cities choose to leave their dirt lots undeveloped and their old and abandoned buildings unused. It's totally self-defeating: empty lots don't generate revenue, and they become a liability over time.
For example, when I lived in Colorado, my city had a problem with old and abandoned buildings that would burn down because homeless people would move into them and start a fire to keep warm in the winter. It's crazy that residents look at that and say, "Yes, this is better than an arena," or "We'd prefer that to a data center."
Ron, I have no dog in Tucson's fight, since I live in Florida, but I read every word with great interest. You have captured much of the heart of the issue. It's not about water. It was never about water. Drops of water had nothing to do with these protests. These activists are members of the same family as the masked hoodlums who try to intimidate ICE, and Seattle, and Portland City Councils. The only difference is they are not wearing masks, blowing whistles, or using violence, yet. When people act this strongly and vehemently, without any attempt to listen, evaluate, or even persuade, they are not part of a movement, but are part of a religion. This is the Social Justice Warrior Religion. They cannot win based on logic, reason, and evidence. They are incapable of persuasive argument, because they have no actual facts on their side. They are religious zealots chanting "I believe this way, and that settles the matter. All that is left is for me to bend you to my will by screaming my mantras and slogans so loudly that you lose your heart to do the right things." They cannot persuade. All they know is battle. They are the modern American Jihadis, except without the violence (for the moment). So, there are 16,000 members on their notification list? Hmmm... It would be so interesting to get ahold of that distribution list and do a quick AI analysis of their demographics; political party, other organizations in which they participate, their actual religions (or lack thereof), whether they are married with children, what percentage of them hold real jobs with real-world productivity, how many are business owners...? I also wonder if there are examples of similar communities, with this similarly motivated screaming mobs, who have figured out how to give them a chance at having their say, then closing debate, then holding the City Council vote, and deciding in favor of the project the Social-Jihadist Mob opposes?
The demographics were (from what I could tell) mostly in line with what you're suggesting here: business owners (even small ones like myself), people with children, and those still actively engaged in the workforce were generally very much in favor of the project.
It's the same as what I see when we have minimum wage ballot measures here in town: business owners, business associations, and chambers uniformly oppose them, and hourly workers and labor unions uniformly support them.
This one was different in one way, though: local labor unions were supportive of Project Blue. (When was the last time I was in favor of something that labor unions supported? Never?) They gave their public approval for this development that was projected to provide construction jobs for the next ten years.