THE FACE OF POVERTY: WE DON'T SEE IT

posted by Michael Chihak

A decade ago, a Tucson politician set out to do something about poverty.

The politician took aim at the poor people who populated traffic medians at city intersections, where they stationed themselves each day trying to cadge spare change from motorists.

They were a raggedy bunch in worn clothing, with sunbaked skin and unkempt hair. They were the very visible face of poverty in Tucson, and not a pretty face at that.

So this politician, on the pretext of concern for their safety, began a drive to get them off the medians. In a few months time, six of the seven City Council members voted to ban solicitation of motorists from medians.

The panhandlers quickly disappeared from the medians. They weren’t gone, though. They were simply out of sight, out of mind, at least in the city of Tucson.

They were too messy to deal with, perhaps because they reminded us that we’re a society less egalitarian than we care to admit.

That was a decade ago. Today, we likely have more poor people among us. But where are they?

Not on city medians. Rather, in line at food banks, which are overwhelmed with requests. At homeless shelters that don’t have enough room. Waiting for meals at soup kitchens where resources are stretched thin.

Governmental help is minimal. Arizona’s Department of Economic Security has closed 10 offices around the state, cut cash assistance to poor families by 20 percent and reduced the amount of time families are eligible for assistance, knocking 14,000 households off the list.

These statistics are not enough for us to know the pain, to recognize that we’re a society in which people who need help aren't getting it, although they ought to. For that, we need to see the face of poverty.

Ten years ago, we in Tucson chose to let our politicians hide that face. And now, many of us have forgotten what it looks like.

UPCOMING IRC MEETING COULD BE HELD IN TUCSON

posted by Melanie Huonker

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission may add a public meeting in Tucson on Oct. 10, time and location to be announced, on its congressional draft map.

The meeting is a part of 30 days of public comment following the approval of the map on Monday, according to Stuart Robinson, public information officer for the commission.

The approval came days after some groups were urging the commission to rethink district lines in Southern Arizona. One group was the Hispanic Coalition for Good Government. It denounced the map, claiming it would dilute minority representation in Pima County and shift it to Maricopa County. This, they argue, will cause Tucson’s interests to not be fairly represented.

Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias spoke on behalf of the advocacy group in a letter to the IRC. He addressed their primary concern that the redrawing of Southern Arizona district lines “would ultimately impermissibly frustrate the ability of Hispanics to elect a candidate of their choice.”

But if you watched our program two weeks ago on the IRC topic, Richard Gilman, leading contributor to thinkingArizona.com, said his research shows that majority-minority districts don’t always elect a minority candidate as their person of choice. It ultimately comes down to their ability to represent a district, rather than their status as a minority, Gilman said.

The draft map proposes that three of Arizona's nine congressional districts will be competitive, thus equally pitting Republicans and Democrats against each other for a win. Democrats Ed Pastor and Raul Grijalva will likely keep their seats in Democratic-leaning districts that are also the state's two majority-minority districts. The remaining four are Republican-leaning.

Tell us what you think of the congressional draft map. Arizona Week wants your feedback for coverage of the IRC in a coming program.

POVERTY IN ARIZONA; NOT A PRETTY PICTURE

posted by Michael Chihak

The effects of the economic downturn and resultant governmental and nonprofit budget reductions on poverty will be the topic of Friday's Arizona Week.

Arizona's poverty rate went down slightly from 2009 to 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but it is still fourth worst in the country. The Cronkite News Service detailed the statistics in a report last month.

For Friday, we will interview Penelope Jacks, director of the Children's Action Alliance Southern Arizona office. The alliance tracks information about child and family welfare and advocates on their behalf.

We also are seeking interviews with the director of the Community Action Human Resources Agency in Eloy to get a picture of the issues in rural Arizona, an official with the Arizona Department of Economic Security and officials of food banks and homeless shelters around the state.

BACKGROUNDING THE AZ COMMERCE AUTHORITY

posted by Lucy Valencia

The Arizona Commerce Authority. What's that? I asked myself when I was assigned to research it for Arizona Week for this Friday's program.

All I had heard was of CEO Don Cardon’s hefty pay increase in August.

The ACA project seemed modern, innovative and a good effort to advance the global competitiveness of our state, in a newsworthy way, of course. So I was very eager to grab my reporter’s notebook and begin making calls to the reputable people backing the project.

At the rudder of the ACA are Gov. Jan Brewer, sports team owner Jerry Colangelo and Cardon, a successful Phoenix developer, among the 31 board members.

The Arizona Commerce Authority is new. It is well known among leaders, politicians and corporations. It has millions of dollars, many of them taxpayer dollars, in its pocket, ready to selectively support Arizona corporations to help fuel and propel their businesses through loan funds.

The ACA project focuses on diversifying the business economy beyond real estate and construction by reaching out to new industries such as science, technology, aerospace and renewable energies. It attracts all business people alike, who can submit proposals to see what the ACA will have to offer.

Brewer and ACA officials took a trip to China this month to pursue new contacts and help the state’s economy.

In other news, the U.S. Department of Treasury recently awarded an $18.2 million grant to the ACA. I knew this story would have a wonderful journalistic aspect to it, any audience would be interested to see uncovered. I was excited to shine some light on the ACA.

I started sending out emails and gathering names for my research about a week in advance. I was excited and scared, without much of an idea in which direction my sources would lead me.

Finally, after scouring a few Websites, I found a way to get hold of Don Cardon. I shoved my phone against my face, half-expecting his media contact would somehow open doors for me that day with the sheer sound of her voice.

When nobody answered, I sent e-mails.

Then I just waited, sort of bemused for a few days. I left voice mails and figured I could wait for them to call back or respond until tomorrow. Tomorrow turned into a few more days, and I began getting nervous.

The problem is, this wasn’t just happening with Cardon. Essentially the entire posse of ACA board members was unreachable. Many experts who might have a global economic or political opinion about the ACA felt they did not know enough about the new project to comment, and I kept getting passed along to different references.

This was all OK, I told myself. I had other options, I said as I tried to stay calm, cool and collected in my research process for the next few days. I began calling government agencies and experts in Tucson and Phoenix, who might have valuable input on the ACA and Arizona businesses’ potential to reach a global status.

I sat at my desk, typing on the computer and looking at my long list of possible contacts for the week’s topic as if this was the only thing left to do. All of the names had been crossed off with little notes next to them indicating they declined or did not answer.

As the week unfolded, however, I learned that I had to start contacting people lower in corporation ladders in order to reach the top leaders and CEOs. I finally got hold of one person, from the Greater Phoenix Economic Council with whom I had an amazing conversation about possibly interviewing for Arizona Week.

I told her about our broadcast, answered all her questions about how our taping was done, and everything seemed to be going great. It took about 10 seconds for the horror to set in after she, too, politely declined.

Would I ever find a source to interview for our topic on the Arizona Commerce Authority? How long would an intern like me be tolerated for such a delay in finding sources? And most memorable of all, I remember feeling inundating by Friday looming around the corner; the final day for interviews.

At the end of the week, Michael Chihak was able to find sources. I was pleasantly surprised when he mentioned he had secured time slots to interview someone in Scottsdale on Thursday.

In the end, the struggle was worth the time. All the people who tried to help me along the way thanked me for the offer and said to call back if I ever needed an interview for a different topic.

COMMERCE AUTHORITY: CAN IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

posted by Michael Chihak

Friday's Arizona Week will take a look at the state's attempts to reinvent the economy by growing businesses that provide high-quality jobs, to balance the housebuilding and development industries that for years have fed economic growth.

Arizona can't depend on population growth and the ensuing flurry of land development, construction and their boom-bust cycles any more.

The Arizona Commerce Authority, a public-private agency set up by legislation passed in February, is getting its work under way.

We will look at what Commerce Authority officials and others think is needed to make a difference in the state and to grow jobs and the overall economy.

Some key questions:

• Does the Commerce Authority have the funding and the right people in place?

• How much do the severe cuts to education -- both K-12 and higher education -- hamper the economic development effort?

• Can the Commerce Authority succeed by targeting certain industrial categories, or does it need to be more egalitarian?

• What role will local economic development organizations play in the grander scheme of things?

• What special ideas are there for rural economic growth?

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: REDISTRICTING

posted by Melanie Huonker

I first received word that I would research this week’s topic, the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, a couple weeks ago. Little did I know how much I would gain out of the experience.

From the get-go, I poured over countless articles covering all aspects of the commission. Absorbing facts such as the Voting Rights Act, Attorney General Tom Horne’s investigation, the commission’s struggle with time.

One of the people I spoke with was Jennifer Steen, a political science professor at Arizona State University. Her last words to me left a lasting impression as my role as a journalist.

She said many media outlets are simply reporting “he said, she said” stories without providing substantial support about the commission, specifically involving the recent investigation. It’s important as a journalist to interpret the situation for the viewers and give them more.

That’s what I hoped to do during my on-air discussion with Michael Chihak.

Watch Friday’s program of “Arizona Week” to hear about the IRC’s influence and the arithmetic it takes to redraw Arizona’s nine congressional and 30 legislative districts.