Aussie miners bearing presents to Santa Cruz County

California political boss Jesse Unruh put it plainly: “If you cannot take their cash, drink their whiskey, (date) their girls, take their cash and vote towards ’em anyway, you do not belong in skilled politics.”

Nicely, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday to just accept $110,000 from Australian mining firm South32 to supply some education schemes. We’ll see what occurs subsequent. Mining corporations concurrently might be good company residents and totally dominate and solely to go away a neighborhood for useless.

The cash would undergo the County Superintendent of Colleges’ Workplace, and breaks down like this: The corporate would give $51,500 for an elementary robotics college program, one other $22,000 for the Technolochicas LiFT program to get women into science, know-how, engineering and arithmetic fields, and $22,000 for persevering with training.

It is one thing good for the county, supplied by the mine. Proper? What’s the issue? It is solely $110,000… this time.

The Board of Supervisors does not get to approve South32’s Hermosa Mine. That is a federal matter. The board’s assist for the venture can be expressed in approval of initiatives associated to the mine because it begins to fireplace up operations and wishes stuff off-site. The Aussies would like a optimistic relationship with native elected officers.

Elements of the neighborhood are offering loud opposition to the venture, although.

So the connection between Santa Cruz County supervisors and the mining firm is essential and fraught.

As a man who as soon as lived in and reported on a mining neighborhood, I can say this relationship goes to be tough. Mines do not exist as that factor over there that folks solely sometimes concentrate. Mines work their means into the civic cloth. The native economic system orients towards mining. Companies begin as much as service the mine. Homebuilders throw up homes the place miners can reside. Retailers money the checks the miners spend at their place of job.

Then the value of the mined commodity drops and – growth – the entire city shudders by means of layoffs and lowered output. 

The corporate swears it is going to by no means depart. It can stay part of the neighborhood. Then someday, they up and depart. “So lengthy. Thanks for all of the Manganese. Sorry concerning the slag heaps.”

Staff get severance checks, possibly, and directions directing them to the unemployment insurance coverage program on the Arizona Division of Financial Safety web site.

Then again, this mine will produce battery-grade metals. The Biden administration has fast-tracked it as an important component within the gearing-up various vitality machine.

The Board of Supervisors are caught within the center, right here. They’re going to clearly take the cash. Will they then stand as much as the mine ought to the time come?

Keep tuned.

A.S. Who?

The city of Marana has negotiated a deal to provide workers a ten p.c break in tuition at… Arizona State College and Grand Canyon College.

They understand each are within the monstrosity generally known as “The Valley,” proper?  Tucson does not name it that. To us it is all simply “Phoenix.”

Base tuition at ASU runs $11,308 and at GCU it prices $8,250 so transfer the decimal over one and the maths is completed.

The deal is meant so as to add an incentive to get folks to come back work on the city and provides present employees an opportunity to fluff up their instructional bona fides. All native governments try to enhance compensation to compete with the personal sector, additionally pressured to offer higher wages and advantages throughout the Nice Resignation.

It is gotta be odd for “take-this-job-and-love-it” employers round Tucson. Seems, possibly leaving snow shovels behind is not value $30,000 a 12 months in psychic earnings. 

The city council is about to approve the settlement throughout its Tuesday assembly.

There’s additionally extra proof the housing growth is constant in Pima County.

The council will vote on giving the “all-clear” on three agreements with three totally different builders to start out building on 260 new properties in Dove Mountain and Tortolita Mountain Estates. All these initiatives have obtained their subdivision plats however these offers got here with circumstances, which builders have met.

After which there is a water-wheeling settlement with a pair properties within the Twin Peaks space.

I wrote about this water-wheeling settlement a few 12 months and a half in the past and nonetheless have PTSD. so there is not any motive to reinvent… the… uhhh .. yeah, wheel.

I bear in mind this took me hours to pin down and I needed to discuss to a few specialists on a topic about which I declare no deep information. Permit me to make use of the wording I slaved over in Dec. 2021.

The Central Arizona Venture has a coverage that meant to ban the CAP’s water distribution system from getting used for distributing non-CAP water. The coverage is supposed to guard groundwater. 

The town of Tucson and the city of Marana have entered into an settlement to let Tucson Water present the city with CAP water. As a part of that deal, developments inside Marana city limits have to be hooked as much as Marana Water. Any waiver have to be authorised by each Tucson Water and Marana Water.

There’s one developer who was in negotiations for such a waiver whereas that inter-municipal deal was being hammered out. Marana city employees is giving a nod to the deal, assuming the venture can win assist from Tucson Water.

The events have labored out their settlement with the Tucson Water and are actually prepared for approval by Marana’s council.

Throughout its assembly Tuesday, the South Tucson Metropolis Council will forged a closing vote on its $7.5 million 2023-24 finances. 

Police will get an additional $293,000 and town initiatives a year-end stability of $1.4 million within the finances. That is about, oh, $1.4 million greater than final 12 months.