Imagine Greater Tucson
Phase I Data Gathering
| U of A Planning Class - Table 1 | ||
| CALA Building University of Arizona, Tucson | ||
| Date of Conversation: Thursday, December 02, 2010 Time: 3:30 – 5:30 PM | ||
| Facilitator: Sandra Bernal Recorder: Patrick Hartley | ||
| Number of Tables: 2 Number of Participants: 12 | ||
| Theme 1. Parks and Recreation | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Biker friendly (relatively) | ||
| Outdoor activities | ||
| I like the sunny days so we can be outside a lot | ||
| Outdoor activities | ||
| Biker friendly | ||
| Big Parks | ||
| I like the bike trails and biking can be a realistic alternative | ||
| Outdoor Amenities (hiking, bike trails, etc.) | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Change development of community preferred plan | ||
| Outdoor seating | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| Good for wildlife | ||
| Good way to meet people and socialize | ||
| More opportunity for water recharge (pervious surfaces) | ||
| Increases property values | ||
| Promotes an active lifestyle | ||
| Cools the city (mitigates effects of urban heat island) | ||
| Mental and physical well-being of residents | ||
| Breaks up buildings, gives variety to the urban form | ||
| Provide people with green space and an opportunity for health | ||
| Theme 2. Transportation | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Plan for the light rail | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Lots of congestion | ||
| Mass transportation | ||
| Reduce traffic (cars) | ||
| Too many visible parking lots | ||
| Lack of public transit | ||
| Add more public transportation | ||
| Lack of public transit | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| Transportation underlies all other problems (along with the media) | ||
| People feel unsafe and harassed at bus stops. It's not practical or safe | ||
| Provide shade at bust stops | ||
| Provide amenities on buses to encourage usage (ex. Free wi-fi) | ||
| Mentality and culture need to change (bike lanes alone won't solve the problem) | ||
| Needs to be more bike lanes and trails | ||
| We should have alternative transportation nodes to encourage alternative transportation | ||
| Some bus stops are privately owned | ||
| Private funding encourages sprawl | ||
| Improve the integration of cars and bikes | ||
| Equity, public transit helps those that can't afford a car | ||
| Street width encouraged car dependency | ||
| Dark skies ordinance harms safety standards (yellow lights around U of A) | ||
| Product of sprawl, it goes hand-in-hand | ||
| Improve road surfaces. This is a safety issue | ||
| Should shut down some streets | ||
| Stigma attached to public transit | ||
| It encourages denser development. Tucson needs transit! | ||
| Theme 3. Sprawl and Development Patterns | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| I like the size of the city. Not too big and easy to get around | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Limit sprawl | ||
| Too much sprawl | ||
| Spread out | ||
| Multiple central business districts | ||
| The sprawling bland urban landscape | ||
| Very spread out city | ||
| Sprawling, need to cluster communities (drawing of mixed-up arrows going everywhere) | ||
| Very spread out. Cars are necessary because distances are not walkable | ||
| Density- too spread out! | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| Contributes to Greenhouse gas emissions | ||
| It's really repetitive | ||
| It's lonely | ||
| We still think in terms of single-family detached residences (The "American Dream"). Different times now | ||
| Damages economy - no one wants to leave their houses to see a band play etc. | ||
| It's inefficient (waste of space, resources, time, and it's expensive) | ||
| Lack of central planning | ||
| There are many vacant commercial spaces (sprawl increases vacancy rates) | ||
| Sprawled, low-density development is visually boring | ||
| "Cool points" (social standing) dependent on car | ||
| Destruction/disturbance of wildlife | ||
| Dehumanizes - encourages everyone to be the same. Works against diversity | ||
| Promotes segregation | ||
| Limits access to public facilities | ||
| Not socially just | ||
| Sprawl=Increased travel time | ||
| Sprawl=driving=car accidents | ||
| Isolated | ||
| Very disconnected community, no sense of relationships | ||
| It results in more drinking and driving (have to go across town to bars) | ||
| It separated people, separates community | ||
| Theme 4. Agriculture | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Like the Farmer's Markets | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| More emphasis on agriculture | ||
| Theme 5. Downtown | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Organic growth | ||
| Investment in Downtown | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Make downtown more of a destination | ||
| Theme 6. Creativity | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Underground musician network | ||
| Southwestern architecture | ||
| Tucson is creative | ||
| Theme 7. Public Policy and Safety | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Building code enforcement | ||
| Government's inability to accomplish any goals | ||
| Rundown areas - old buildings not maintained | ||
| Insecurity | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| Wild West of public policy, the biggest guns get the biggest policy wins | ||
| Lack of leadership | ||
| Stakeholders have conflicting interests | ||
| Things are too ad hoc | ||
| Lots of talk about sustainability but no action | ||
| Tucson needs a sustainable comprehensive plan | ||
| Lack of central planning- every neighborhood is doing its own thing | ||
| Theme 8. Ecosystem | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Mild Winter | ||
| Wildlife | ||
| The Sonoran Desert environment and culture | ||
| Mountain Views | ||
| Mountain Views | ||
| Weather | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Heat | ||
| Air quality | ||
| Theme 9. Pedestrian Safety | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Tucson needs more sidewalks | ||
| Needs to be safer 4 walking for pedestrians | ||
| Theme 10. Education and Human Capital | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| U of A | ||
| U of A area (but ASU is still #1) | ||
| University area, 4th, U of A campus | ||
| Areas around the University (mixed use, diverse, 4th Ave, University Ave) | ||
| What do you most want to change or improve about our community/region? | ||
| Poor education | ||
| Lack of economic opportunities | ||
| Lawmakers need to value education, not building prisons | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| Education provides innovation | ||
| Humans aren't looked at as how they can be improved (only how they can be controlled) | ||
| Education is essential for workforce and skill development | ||
| Political environment affects schools through funding | ||
| Schools isolate children- they should be out in the community socializing | ||
| Increases median income | ||
| It decreases crime | ||
| Good education attracts investment to the community | ||
| Education is a gateway to opportunities and quality of life | ||
| U of A is a center for research | ||
| U of A education monopoly in Tucson | ||
| U of A very practical, not so theoretical - gives hands-on experience | ||
| Bring agriculture into schools and cities | ||
| Arizona ranks very low in funding for education, very high for prisons | ||
| Cultural community goes with education | ||
| Mentoring programs | ||
| Things around campus appeal to young people (nightlife, walking) | ||
| Theme 11. Human Diversity | ||
| What do you like the most about our community/region? | ||
| Diversity | ||
| Close to my family in Mexico | ||
| Interesting people | ||
| The multicultural communities | ||
| Why is this important? How does this affect you? | ||
| Concentration of different nationalities into separate neighborhoods | ||
| It's not the message, it's the method of delivery (SB1070 wasn't presented well) | ||
| Gives a negative connotation to immigrants | ||
| SB1070 takes attention away from local police forces (should be the Border Patrol) | ||
| SB1070 discourages diversity, increases racial profiling | ||
| Innovation | ||
| Equal representation of people (religion, education, views) - it's fun | ||
| "why eat a cheeseburger when there is a taco stand around" | ||
| Increases quality of life - makes daily life interesting | ||
| Diversity=Growth (both in terms of population and personal) | ||
| The University brings people from all over the world | ||
| It is important in general | ||
| We are a border town | ||
| SB1070 | ||
Tuesday, December 14, 2010