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Downtown living is great

I write this as a downtown resident for the past 13 years — a great experience!

A series of recent Star articles report on a troubled young man who shot into a downtown crowd last Saturday after the bars closed. He seriously injured nine people and was, in turn, shot by law enforcement within minutes of the event.

While emotions run hot, let’s not lose sight of the big picture. The police response was stellar. The quick response restored peace immediately. Downtown is a great place to work, live, and play.

Over 1000 Tucsonans now live downtown. The number is growing. We experience a neighborhood filled with dedicated public servants and neighbors who genuinely care about Tucson. New businesses open here, invest here, and restore historic buildings. We eat locally at great restaurants and go to the Fox, Symphony, Rogue and dozens more cultural and entertainment venues. I am happy to call downtown home.

Bill Krauss

Downtown

Escape from captivity

Through a Franchise Agreement with the City, TEP avoids having to obtain individual permits to access taxpayer-funded rights-of-way to service and install its infrastructure. The company is granted a territorial monopoly by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), providing captive ratepayers, who also pay the 2.25% franchise fee, itemized on their utility bill.

For-profit companies in competitive markets typically spend anywhere from 10%–20% of their revenues on research/technology development to improve the value and reduce the costs of their services/products to acquire/retain customers. It’s a continuous-improvement culture.

TEP performs no such development actions. Instead, it selects the most expensive, polluting resources to generate maximum profit and spends enormous amounts on consultants and lawyers to convince the ACC to accept its proposed Integrated Resource Plans, which are rubber-stamped.

Paraphrasing Smokey Bear: Only YOU VOTERS can prevent TEP from setting our world on fire and taking advantage of captive ratepayers/taxpayers to benefit only itself and its Canadian parent.

Barbara Liguori

Northeast side

Amazing

I am amazed that someone would be so concerned about who is using the next stall in the restroom and still support an administration that has demoted women to second-class citizens, ruined our economy, alienated our allies, started an unnecessary war, raped our public lands, used the DOJ to threaten universities and the media, killed renewable energy programs, defunded so many programs that help people, and used the office of president to enrich themselves and their families at the expense of the taxpayers. And I have to ask — who would you trust your daughters with, a trans woman or DJT?

Dottie Fagg

Northeast side

MAGA, not conservative

Star article: (Hobbs) "I share the fear and anger of many Arizonans who, over the past year, have seen far too many instances of federal agents denying us our right to peaceful protests, in some instances unlawfully detaining and arresting American citizens,'' she said. She also cited "horrific cases" in Minnesota where ICE agents shot and killed two people.

But Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said she should be required to comply with public records laws and answer questions about how the site came to be.

Fitton is either illiterate or incapable of comprehension and, most likely, both ... He also wants to impede Governor Hobbs' efforts to help people assert their rights when interacting with rights-violating ICE agents.

MAGAs have usurped the conservative law-and-order Republican party and now hypocritically claim that mantle of respect. They are only fooling themselves. Resist!

Rick Cohn

West side

AI

To all who are relying on AI for emotional, spiritual, social, psychological, professional, and any other various reasons, please trust your source. Ask your favorite AI friend, whomever she or he or it is named and ask what any kindergartener can do: count to 100. A simple task of intelligence. Good luck and Vaya con Dios.

John (Jay) Van Echo, PE

West side

Impact of ICE's conduct

The killing of two lawfully admitted, family men who were not the target of their investigation by ICE, and the conduct and lack of body cameras running, has long-term impacts for all law enforcement.

TPD and other agencies work long and hard to create trust with the communities they are sworn to protect and serve. TPD implemented body cameras in May 2015, due to the approval of a citizen-approved bond that provided funds to provide all uniformed officers. As an appointed member of that citizen's committee that managed the monies, we were thrilled to see their use. In service by Oct 2015, the cameras provided a method for BOTH the officers and the public: creating trust/evidence, to combat or assist in unsubstantiated/substantiated allegations of misconduct

Congress approved in April 2026, $20 million dollars for ICE, and they are still not fully in use. The lack of transparency will create issues for all law enforcement agencies across the country

Margarita Bernal

West side

'Misdirected outrage'

Regarding the letter "Misdirected outrage" (July 23):

No need to redirect the outrage to another topic. Stick with the main topic of transsexuals. I have granddaughters and don't want biological males in any private biological female spaces, similar to Representative Juan Ciscomani. The minuscule percentage of transsexuals in college sports is accurate. But the vision is shortsighted. In the latter part of the 20th century, legal abortion and same-sex unions were "miniscule" too. But look what's happened in 50 years. Yearly abortions in America top out at one million. Same-sex marriage has become mainstream in America. The point being: Transsexuality will increase dramatically in 50 years, same as abortion and same-sex marriage have done in 50 years.

Witness how in the past five years transgender ideology has been discovered to be part of many public schools' "normal" curriculum across America. Mostly in states with Democratic governors. Thousands of these children will become tomorrow's transsexual college athletes.

Daniel Pryor

West side

Downtown shooting

I read with dismay deflections regarding the downtown Tucson shooting last weekend. Guns injured the victims, not anything else. Mayor Romero’s response, emphasizing the importance of gun control, directly addresses the issue by calling for stricter gun control measures and state and federal legislation. Without guns, this shooting would not have occurred. I support Mayor Romero’s and others’ calls for stricter gun control. This can be done while still protecting gun owners’ rights.

Ann Vanino

Downtown

Dem party and communism

I'm old enough to remember Republican Senator McCarthy who, in 1950, claimed he had the names of 250 communists in the State Department. McCarthy never produced any solid evidence that there was even one communist in the State Department. The present-day McCarthy — Donald Trump — is making such an enormous claim when he talks about communists in the Democratic Party. He uses the C word over and over as if he just discovered it. (Remember how he overused "groceries" over and over?) This is Trump's friendship with the current communist Chinese dictator; he recently said: "XI, it is an honor to be your friend". So Trump considers it an "honor" to be friends with the Chinese communist dictator XI, but considers communism to be bad, and his MAGA supporters believe his every word. Shameful.

Jerry Lujan

Oro Valley