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OPINION
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Who cares about polls? The Valley has our hearts
BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ
Tribune Columnist
With all due respect to the �ine journalists who toil for U.S. News and World Report, their magazine’s annual list of “Best Places to Live” once again ranks as one of the most hilarious acts of journalism committed to print this year. Want to yuk it up? Listen to this Top Five of America’s Best Hometowns: Ranked �ifth, there’s Austin, Texas, “laidback to the point that if you’re dressing up, it must be a life event.” Fourth, Fayetteville, Arkansas, where – and I quote – “people wave and smile at each other in the street, and community events are well-attended.” Third, we have Huntsville, Alabama, which boasts “the most educated population in the state.”
The state of Alabama. Need I say more?
Number Two goes to Raleigh & Durham, North Carolina, whose selling points include “gathering over craft beers in one of the region’s many microbreweries” and “strangers ... quick to provide a friendly conversation when standing in line at the supermarket.”
I prefer Budweiser and silently bagging my groceries to get the hell out of Basha’s as fast as possible.
The big winner for 2021: Boulder, Colorado, named America’s Best Place To Live for the second consecutive year. I’ve been to Boulder. Nice place – if you like John Denver songs, chocolate chip edibles and hemp underwear.
As U.S. News puts it, Boulder “has opportunities from forest bathing and free meditation sessions to an abundance of marijuana dispensaries, spas and alternative health care studios. The full spectrum of yoga disciplines is represented here, as well as … ‘Animal Flow’ ground-based movement classes.”
Sounds like a pulled hamstring waiting to happen. Plus, the description alone gives you the munchies. And zero desire to �ire up the moving van.
The Phoenix metro area ranked 40th this year, up 13 spots from 2020 and sandwiched between Houston and Knoxville. We scored high for having “a thriving job market, a relatively low cost of living and plenty of ways to enjoy the nice weather.”
No mention of chatty strangers in the grocery store, a thriving weed scene or ample chances to do goat yoga.
It could be worse. Tucson ranked 81st. Dead last? San Juan, Puerto Rico.
My problem with this list is my problem with all such lists: They attempt to scienti�ically rank something that is less science and more emotion.
U.S. News – whose brand depends entirely on ranking things like cities and colleges – has created a formula by polling 3,600 internet users, then weighting each area’s job market, housing affordability, quality of life, desirability and how many people move in and out annually. After that, there’s a whole lot of mumbo jumbo about standard deviation and something called a Z-Score. This seems as good a scienti�ic method as any to rank places, but it still misses what really motivates humans to live where we live: The job that beckons us or the chance to live near those we love.
I’m sure my story is typical and illustrative. I moved to the Valley 26 years ago for work, then stayed because I laid down roots. There are people I love here, a business I built, and a million little things that lift my spirit.
Like the crunch of my hiking shoes on Piestewa Peak. The sound of Al McCoy’s voice calling a Phoenix Suns basketball game. The breakfast quesadilla at Bit-zee Mama’s in Glendale. And the countless purples and oranges that drip down the sky during each night’s sunset.
So what if Boulder scores a 7.6 because it has “Tube to Work Day” and “dirtbag climbers (who) live in a van?” The Valley may only score a 6.8, but the place has our hearts. ■
Democrats con�licted on democratic elections
BY JD HAYWORTH Tribune Columnist
The America of the 1950’s seems quaint by today’s standards. Because our memories of that era match the monochrome images that danced across early television screens from coast to coast, we see Dwight David Eisenhower as a genial grandfather and golf enthusiast instead of the decisive leader and hardened warrior.
In his 1982 book “The Hidden-Hand Presidency,” political scientist and historian Fred I. Greenstein revised the thinking about Ike and his two terms in the Oval Of�ice.
Rather that foster the perception that he was a bold “man of action,” as so many of his successors would encourage of themselves once ego met ambition at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Eisenhower employed a style that encouraged an incurious or even an indulgent reaction, considering that he was the �irst septuagenarian to serve as president.
His press secretary, James C. Hagerty, recalled an anecdote that typi�ied Ike’s approach. When considering a challenging question he might face concerning a controversial topic at a press conference, Eisenhower told his staffer: “Don’t worry, Jim; if that question comes up, I’ll just confuse them.”
While Eisenhower exploited imprecision as part of his personal image, other leaders from the other side of the aisle have employed it to achieve policy goals. Lyndon Johnson dramatically expanded the federal role in health care by advocating and signing into law both the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Three decades after those programs were established, historian-turned-House Speaker Newt Gingrich theorized that by sowing deliberate seeds of confusion over Medicare and Medicaid, distinctions between the two would be forgotten and therefore any stigma about government-run healthcare would be minimized in the public consciousness, thus aiding the left in advocating a complete federal takeover of healthcare.
Fast-forward to the here and now. Joe Biden leads a Democratic Party increasingly con�licted about truly democratic elections.
Despite the parroting of the “voter suppression” canard by a reliably partisan Washington Press Corps, this is one instance where the American People are relying on their collective commonsense. Understanding that Photo ID is required to cash a check, board a plane, or even enter a federal courthouse, the public does not see why the same stipulation should not apply to voting.
Polling shows that eighty percent of the public embraces the idea of Photo ID as a way to safeguard voter integrity.
So, Ol’ Joe is taking a page out of the “LBJ Playbook.”
When asked about the Supreme Court’s decision that af�irmed the constitutionality of the new Arizona voter integrity laws, Mr. Biden blew past the particulars of the case to outline his major concern, which he readily admitted was not part of the court’s Arizona decision.
“I think it is critical that we make a distinction between voter suppression and suspension.”
Voter suspension? Sounds similar to voter suppression. What’s the difference?
Joe is making the shift because he wants to get ahead of the mounting evidence of vote fraud – here in Arizona and elsewhere. He’s doing so for his own political survival.
To hang on to power, leftists will claim that if any votes are thrown out – “suspended,” in their new vernacular, it will be a denial of the “will of the people.”
Conveniently forgotten in this new semantical twist: any evidence that proves the “suspended” votes are fraudulent. ■
Available for Review
Nogales to Wickenburg
The Arizona Department of Transportation, in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration, announces July 16, 2021 as the publication date for the Interstate 11 Final Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement and Preliminary Section 4(f) Evaluation (Final Tier 1 EIS), beginning a 30-day public review period. The Final Tier 1 EIS process, conducted in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, identifies a Preferred Corridor Alternative for the proposed I-11 corridor between Nogales and Wickenburg.
REVIEW THE FINAL TIER 1 EIS DOCUMENT
The Final Tier 1 EIS is available for review on the study website at i11study.com/Arizona. Hard copies of the Final Tier 1 EIS are also available for review during normal business hours at the following repository locations:
• Wickenburg – Wickenburg Town Hall, 155 N. Tegner Street, Ste. A • Wickenburg – Wickenburg Public Library, 164 E. Apache Street • Surprise – Northwest Regional Library, 16089 N. Bullard Avenue • Buckeye – Buckeye Public Library/Downtown Branch, 310 N. 6th Street • Buckeye – Buckeye City Hall, 530 E. Monroe Avenue • Phoenix – Burton Barr Central Library, 1221 N. Central Avenue • Goodyear – Goodyear Library, 14455 W. Van Buren Street, C-101 • Rainbow Valley – Buckeye Valley Fire District/Station 326, 19937 W. Arlington Road • Hidden Valley/Maricopa – Thunderbird
Fire Station, 12356 N. Ralston Road • Maricopa – Maricopa Public Library (Pinal County
Library District), 18160 N. Maya Angelou Drive • Casa Grande – Main Library, 449 N. Drylake Street • Gila Bend – Gila Bend Library, 777 N. Logan Avenue • Eloy – Eloy Santa Cruz Library, 1000 N. Main Street • Marana – Picture Rocks Fire District/Station 121, 7341
N. Sandario Road • Marana – Town of Marana Municipal Complex, 11555
W. Civic Center Drive • Tucson – Flowing Wells Library, 1730 W. Wetmore Road • Tucson – Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Avenue • Tucson – Richard Elías-Mission Public Library, 3770 S. Mission Road • Sahuarita – Sahuarita Town Offices, 375 W. Sahuarita Center Way • Green Valley – Joyner-Green Valley Library, 601 N. La Cañada Drive • Nogales – Nogales-Rochlin Library, 518 N. Grand Avenue
You can order and purchase a printed hard copy version of all or part of the Final Tier 1 EIS at:
• Wickenburg – Wickenburg Kwikprint, 177 W. Wickenburg Way, Ste. B | 928.684.7229 • Buckeye – To The Limit Printing Solutions, Inc., 108 N. 4th Street | 623.374.4303 • Phoenix – AlphaGraphics, 2120 E. Camelback Road | 602.263.0122* • Phoenix – Graphic Ideals, 4631 E. Thomas Road | 602.318.4084* • Maricopa – Impressive Imaging, 44480 W. Honeycutt Road, Ste. 102 | 520.568.3098* • Casa Grande – International Minute Press, 973 E. Cottonwood Lane, Ste. 105 | 520.208.2516* • Marana – FedEx, 8150 N. Cortaro Road | 520.572.8345* • Tucson – FedEx, 2607 E. Speedway Boulevard | 520.795.7796* • Green Valley – UPS Store, 190 W. Continental Road, Ste. 216 | 520.625.9311* * Offers delivery to your location.
Contact the vendor for details. Submit any review comments by Monday, August 16, 2021 via: Online: i11study.com/Arizona Phone: 1.844.544.8049 (bilingüe) Email: I11Study@azdot.gov Mail: I-11 Tier 1 EIS Study Team c/o ADOT Communications 1655 W. Jackson Street, Mail Drop 126F Phoenix, AZ 85007 The Draft Tier 1 EIS was published on April 5, 2019, and made available for review and comment from April 5 through July 8, 2019. Six public hearings were held in April and May of 2019 in Nogales, Tucson, Marana, Casa Grande, Buckeye and Wickenburg. The Record of Decision (ROD), the final decision-making document prepared by the Federal Highway Administration, is expected to be published later in 2021 after the public review of the Final Tier 1 EIS. This document will include the Selected Corridor Alternative. Pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other nondiscrimination laws and authorities, ADOT does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. Persons who require a reasonable accommodation based on language or disability should contact Laura Douglas, ADOT Community Relations Project Manager, at 602.568.7721 or ldouglas@ azdot.gov. Requests should be made as early as possible to ensure the State has an opportunity to address the accommodation. De acuerdo con El Título VI de la Ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964 y la Ley de Estadounidenses con Discapacidades (ADA por sus siglas en inglés), el Departamento de Transporte de Arizona (ADOT por sus siglas en inglés) no discrimina por raza, color, nacionalidad, o discapacidad. Personas que requieren asistencia (dentro de lo razonable) ya sea por el idioma o por discapacidad deben ponerse en contacto con la Laura Douglas al 602.568.7721 o ldouglas@azdot.gov. Las solicitudes deben hacerse lo más pronto posible para asegurar que el equipo encargado del proyecto tenga la oportunidad de hacer los arreglos necesarios. 如需中文文件请致电 1-844-544-8049
EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE - 07/18/2021
