Valley Metro Transit will formally begin streetcar service in Tempe later this month as part of a $190 million public transportation project which began construction in 2018 and has been funded by federal grants, regional funding, and local public-private partnerships.
Operation of the streetcar, which is smaller than the light rail vehicles typically seen in the metro area, will be paid by the City of Tempe. The three-mile route is slated to service the ASU- Tempe campus, downtown Tempe, Gammage Auditorium, Sun Devil Stadium, and Tempe Beach Park starting May 20.
But while Tempe is expanding its public transit options, questions are being raised in other parts of the Phoenix metropolitan area where some bus routes frequently attract less than a handful of riders, day after day. Valley Metro’s own reports confirm significantly low ridership on some route, drawing attention to the cost and associated problems in providing regional public transit.
Transit officials in the Valley attribute some of the ridership changes seen in late 2021 and early 2022 to the effects of service reductions and route changes due to COVID-19. For the year ending June 30, 2019 there were more than 49 million pre-pandemic Valley Metro bus riders, which dropped to 39.7 million the next fiscal year which included the first six months of COVID-19 cases.
However, the unreliability of public transit and mask mandates forced many residents to find other options and they have been slow to return. For the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2021 there were less than 21 millions Valley Metro bus riders, according to public records. Valley Metro light-rail ridership also dropped around 50 percent from FY 2020 to FY 2021.
While a lack of ridership is a growing concern in the Phoenix metro area, it is the change in rider demographics that is currently creating problems for Tucson’s Sun Tran bus service, according to the union representing the drivers.
Teamsters Local Union 104 reports there were only 14 physical assaults on its drivers in 2018. That jumped to 47 in 2021, while there have already been 17 as the end of April, putting Sun Tran on track for more than 50 attacks this year.
But those numbers, union officials say, do not include verbal threats and abuse directed toward drivers, who are also called coach operators. And then there is the escalation in the frequency and cost of property damage to the buses, as well as public health issues.
The union insists the problem is directly tied to the City’s decision to waive all bus fees during the pandemic in an effort to aid workers and students who relied on public transit. The waiver, paid for by $43 million in federal pandemic funding, is set to end this summer, and union officials say it cannot come soon enough.
Teamsters 104 contends Tucson’s city buses have become “a mobile refuge from the elements frequented by drug users, the mentally ill and violent offenders” due in part to the fee waiver. The usual fare-paying rider is no longer using Sun Tran to get to work, school, or medical appointments, having been replaced by non-paying passengers who instead “ride for hours on end, sleep on the buses, abuse drugs, relieve themselves and assault drivers,” the union says.
Another consequence of the free fair-induced change in ridership, the union says, is that those for whom the public transit was designed are now choosing alternative methods of transportation to avoid risks to their health and safety, especially elderly riders and those who have children. The situation, Teamsters 104 claims, has resulted in a workplace environment that has deteriorated for Sun Tran drivers while “lawlessness abounds and violence in commonplace.”
Meanwhile, the City of Sierra Vista discontinued three intracity fixed routes of its Vista Transit on Monday. In their place, city officials approved a new limited bus route with stops at the county’s major hospital as well as at state and county offices located with the city.
The change, which was noted as temporary but with no end date, means there will no longer be fixed route bus service available to and from Fort Huachuca. And while the city’s announcement puts the blame on “staffing shortages,” local residents as well as city officials have commented about the dearth of riders in post-pandemic months.
Vista Transit was one of the first in the state to change over to smaller, less expensive buses several years ago. And with budget season in full force, it is likely city bus service will look much different when the suspension is lifted, according to officials.
At the same time Sierra Vista is making serious cuts to its public transit options, the Town of Gilbert is considering whether to spend nearly $290,000 to study bringing commuter rail service to its town. The proposal has received pushback from local taxpayers as well organizations like the Arizona Free Enterprise Club concerning efforts by some town officials to keep the matter a secret.
This past month, Phoenix preschoolers fundraised for the largest national organization granting wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses, Make-A-Wish. Eight of the nine of the preschools in The Learning Experience (TLE) centers challenged each preschooler to raise $40 for Make-A-Wish’s 40th anniversary, which was in 2020.
So far, TLE has raised over $1.24 million for Make-A-Wish. The eight TLE preschools in Arizona have raised over $28,600. The cost of every child’s wish varies, but the average national cost in 2018 was over $11,000.
TLE Ocotillo in Chandler raised over $5,500, over 100 percent of their goal; TLE Eastmark in Mesa raised over $1,200, or 21 percent of their goal; TLE Gilbert-Higley in Gilbert raised over $1,800, or 37 percent of their goal; TLE Gilbert-Morrison Ranch in Gilbert raised over $10,100, or 101 percent of their goal; TLE Dobson Ranch in Mesa raised over $2,300, or 58 percent of their goal; TLE Palm Valley in Goodyear raised over $2,500 or 53 percent of their goal; TLE Phoenix raised over $4,000 or 81 percent of their goal; TLE Surprise raised over $800, or 34 percent of their goal.
Make-A-Wish was founded and is headquartered in Phoenix. Currently, they grant a wish about every 34 minutes. According to the average national cost of a wish, that means an eight-hour working day amounts to an average of around $176,000 in wishes.
The most-requested wishes include: getting a puppy, seeing snow for the first time, meeting a favorite celebrity, being a cowgirl, or getting a backyard tree house. About 77 percent of wishes involve travel, with Disney involved in about half of all wishes.
According to their latest data, Make-A-Wish has granted over 520,000 wishes worldwide. One of the organization’s most elaborate wishes granted was for five-year-old leukemia patient Miles Scott in 2013, who wished to become “Batkid,” Batman’s sidekick. The entire city of San Francisco worked with Make-A-Wish to make the little boy’s wish into a reality: a day-long adventure of Scott chasing down the villain, the Riddler, and rescuing a damsel in distress.
Scott has been cancer-free since then. A documentary, “Batkid Begins,” was released in 2015.
One of President Joe Biden’s signature initiatives is not going smoothly, with one of the government’s largest users of construction materials taking steps to forgo the May 14 deadline to ensure the manufacturing of all construction materials used in federally assisted infrastructure projects occurs in the United States.
In January 2021, Biden issued Executive Order 14005 to announce his Made in America initiative. It directed all federal agencies to maximize the use of goods, products, and materials produced in the U.S. when providing financial assistance awards and in procurements.
There have been longstanding federal rules for when iron and steel is American made, but implementing the Build America, Buy America Act enacted in November as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is not something the U.S. Department of Transportation can have in place by May 14 deadline.
Federal agencies had to wait for the Office of Management and Budget to determine the manufacturing process criteria for other construction materials. Which did not happen until two weeks ago when OMD announced its “preliminary and non-binding guidance.”
And that poses “a significant problem,” according to Polly Trottenberg, DOT’s deputy secretary.
DOT is responsible for funding thousands of road, bridge, rail, and transit infrastructure projects across the country through the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Under the new law, DOT will now also be responsible for ensuring those federally funded projects comply with Buy America.
But figuring out criteria for compliance based on non-binding guidance released only two weeks ago is not workable. Which is why Trottenberg is moving toward obtaining a 180 day temporary, transitional waiver of the deadline under a public interest declaration.
“The Department recognizes both the importance of ensuring Buy America compliant construction materials and the need to implement the requirement in a way that is not overly burdensome,” Trottenberg recently wrote.
According to Trottenberg, DOT officials have received concerns from stakeholders about the new Buy America manufacturing requirements as it relates to construction materials other than iron and steel. A waiver would avoid delays to much needed projects.
“Until we have more complete information on how construction materials are manufactured, and whether the manufacturing process complies with the OMB guidance, the Department is unable to ensure that transportation infrastructure projects continue to be obligated in compliance with these new requirements,” Trottenberg wrote.
The impact of new Buy America’s construction materials standards “could be significant,” said Trottenberg, who noted the National Bridge Inventory shows more than 62,500 bridges in America made with wood or timber elements, of which nearly 17,000 bridges have a main span consisting of wood or timber elements.
Another 19,562 bridges contain polymer-based products elements while 2,281 bridges contain non-ferrous metal elements, none of which have currently defined manufacturing processes to ensure compliance with Buy America standards.
DOT officials would use the waiver period to seek information state, local, industry, and other partners and stakeholders on challenges and solutions in connection with the Buy America construction materials mandate. It would also allow DOT to gather data on the sourcing of a full range of materials and products used in federally funded transportation projects while giving officials time to strategize for building up domestic capacity of construction materials.
Further, DOT hopes OMB will have issued its final standards by then.
“By the end of the waiver period, DOT expects state, industry, and other partners to establish an effective review process, as already in place for products such as iron and steel, as appropriate for construction materials, consistent with the [Bipartisan Infrastructure Law] and interpreting guidance and standards,” according to Trottenberg.
Comments and feedback on the proposed temporary waiver can be made here. All submissions received, including any personal information therein, will be posted to the agency’s website without change or alteration.
The Democrats’ top lawyer and central actor in Russia collusion hoax, Marc Elias, deleted all tweets published prior to April 4. As AZ Free News reported, Elias is assisting several activist groups in their lawsuits against Arizona for enacting a law requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote. According to court filings, only one case has seen action beyond the initial complaint: the court allowed Attorney General Mark Brnovich to intervene in the case filed by Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA).
Elias hasn’t offered an explanation for the sudden purge; he joined Twitter in March 2009. In recent months, federal investigators have closed in on those behind the Russia collusion hoax, or Russiagate.
At the end of March, the Federal Election Commission fined the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign $113,000 for misrepresenting payments for opposition research used to create Russiagate. Elias was Clinton’s general counsel and his law firm at the time, Perkins Coie, billed for “legal expenses” that were used to hire an opposition research firm, Fusion GPS, to do their work on former President Donald Trump.
Fusion GPS obtained the debunked “Steele dossier” linking Trump to Russia from former British spy Christopher Steel, who created the dossier using false information from a Russian analyst living in Virginia, Igor Danchenko, who in turn received some ideas from former Clinton aide Charles Donlan Jr.
Buzzfeed first published the fake dossier in January 2017, ten days before Trump’s inauguration. The lies cast a shadow on all four years of Trump’s presidency.
Although Elias wasn’t President Joe Biden’s general counsel for his campaign — he served as Vice President Kamala Harris’ general counsel during her short bid for president — the Biden campaign and the DNC enlisted his help to counter 65 lawsuits challenging the 2020 election results.
Last August, Elias left his partnership at Perkins Coie to launch his own law firm: the Elias Law Group. He took 10 partners with him.
A month later, a federal grand jury indicted Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussman for making false statements to the FBI concerning alleged communications between Trump and Russia. In a 48-page motion last month to admit additional evidence, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that Sussman attempted to manipulate the FBI to advance the interests of his client, the Clinton campaign, by giving then-FBI general counsel James Baker information that Trump was colluding with Russia based on alleged internet server communications between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank. Sussman’s indictment noted that he billed the Clinton campaign for time spent drafting the document given to Baker.
Then, the DOJ alleged that Sussman turned around and ordered Steele to create reports about the Alfa-Bank communications. After that, the DOJ alleged that Sussman and Fusion GPS employees presented their information to media.
Sussman wasn’t one of the 10 partners that Elias recruited for his law firm.
In January, Elias testified in Sussman’s case. In February, Sussman asked U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to dismiss the case; Cooper denied the request last month. The trial is scheduled for May 16. At the pretrial hearing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
While Sussman was dealing with the fallout of Russiagate, his former employer and Elias moved onto other controversial clients.
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Black Lives Matter PAC paid the Elias Law Group nearly $8,000 for legal services and Perkins Coie over $8,000 for compliance services from January through March. Black Lives Matter came under scrutiny over the last year for its use of millions in donations to purchase mansions.
As for the DOJ case against Sussman, Elias and other top Clinton officials are fighting to keep the work done by Fusion GPS under wraps, claiming that it qualified for the confidentiality required of legal work.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona Senate President Karen Fann (R-Prescott) accused Maricopa County’s top election officials of gaslighting Attorney General Mark Brnovich as part of an ongoing massive cover-up of their alleged mistakes in the 2020 election. She asserted that Brnovich was doing his job, even at the risk of facing media attacks that could undermine his senate campaign.
Fann noted that Recorder Stephen Richer had no reason to participate in the alleged cover-up because he didn’t assume his role until January 2021.
“It still goes beyond me that they are still denying the mistakes that happened,” said Fann. “[Richer] joined up with the board of supervisors to do this massive coverup. Mind you, they kept saying everything was fine and perfect. No it wasn’t.”
The senate president appeared on “The Conservative Circus” with host James T. Harris. She brought up past admissions by the county as evidence of a massive cover-up.
Fann gave one example of the county’s admission that one 2020 election poll worker double-counted 50 ballots. She said that although that amount didn’t seem like a lot in the context of a presidential election, it would’ve mattered in the 2016 primary election between Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) and opponent Christine Jones. Their race necessitated a recount; Biggs ultimately won by 27 votes.
As an example of the county contradicting its claims on the nonexistence of widespread fraud, Fann cited Richer’s emails. She read aloud from one, in which Richer wrote of the existence of “plenty of instances of actual, prosecuted and convicted election law violations [from] both administrators and normal citizens,” some of which he asserted were recent.
Additionally, Fann revealed that Richer’s emails identified major issues with chain of custody and signature verification.
“But now? Nope. He’s part of the cover-up by saying, ‘Oh no, everything is fine,’” said Fann. “The Arizona Senate was the only body in the entire nation to step up and actually say, ‘Let’s get to the bottom of these rumors. Let’s get to the bottom of these allegations.’ The Senate has been attacked from day one — before the auditors were selected, before anything happened.”
AZ State Senate President Karen Fann discusses AZ AG Mark Brnovich claiming 200 ballots that have no chain of custo https://t.co/xKre6loBvI
Fann’s remarks on Thursday were in response to the actions of the Maricopa County election officials this week.
On Wednesday, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Richer presented a unified front against Brnovich’s interim report on the 2020 election. The officials accused Brnovich of lying and using the election controversy to score “cheap political points.”
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Recorder accused Attorney General Mark Brnovich of executing a dishonest investigation into the 2020 election. In a public letter, the election officials claimed that Brnovich’s interim report on the 2020 election released last month was nothing but misinformation intended to “score cheap political points.” Brnovich is a candidate in the upcoming U.S. Senate race.
“Rather than being truthful about what your office has learned about the election, you have omitted pertinent information, misrepresented facts, and cited distorted data to seed doubt about the conduct of elections in Maricopa County,” read the letter.
The election officials then refuted claims made by Brnovich: that up to 200,000 ballots lacked proper chain of custody, that Maricopa County didn’t cooperate fully with Brnovich’s investigation, that the county relied on artificial intelligence to execute signature verification, and that the number of rejected ballots were too low. They also challenged Brnovich on his decision to publish an unprecedented interim report, characterizing it as improper commentary on an ongoing investigation.
On Wednesday morning, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors held a press conference during their special and formal meeting. Chairman Bill Gates said that Brnovich’s interim report was backing fraud and necessitated a response from the board.
“We’re all Republicans who actually have the statutory responsibility to run these elections, and we’re saying these allegations are false, that there’s no systemic fraud,” said Gates. “Our democracy is on the line here.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer reiterated one of the promises made in their letter: that the county would submit public records requests of all of the public records requests sent to the attorney general’s office for the last two years.
Richer explained that the goal of the massive undertaking was to see how many of those requests Brnovich’s office fulfilled. He accused Brnovich of living in a glass house.
The county is making a public records request of the Attorney General's Office for all public records requests the AG has received in the past two years and if and when those requests were fulfilled.
I'm going to bet somebody lives in a glass house.
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) May 4, 2022
Brnovich called the county’s response “disappointing.” He accused Maricopa County officials of casting stones instead of working alongside his office to resolve election integrity concerns.
“The reality is we issued an interim report that identified several issues that need to be addressed,” said Brnovich.
Brnovich held that up to 200,000 ballots lacked proper chain of custody. Brnovich also challenged the supervisors’ office to offer a clear, consistent answer on signature verification processes, pointing out the range of times they estimated it took to verify a signature.
While many people are frustrated, the important thing to remember is that we should all want the same thing — fair elections that maintain accuracy and promote public confidence.
Here is my response to the special meeting from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. pic.twitter.com/6phLqURWXn
Richer called Brnovich’s statement “nonsense.” He said that Brnovich wasn’t being impartial about the 2020 election, referencing the attorney general’s interview with right-wing talk show host Steve Bannon.
lol. This is such nonsense. Show me where I brought up "ballot counting."
Also, pretty rich of you to say, "let's be civil," after you issue an interim report (which you know is a ridiculous thing) and insinuate the county broke the law.
