Ward 2 Council Member Paul Cunningham

I’d like to extend some congratulations to a Ward 2 resident that has been a friend to my office for several years. 

Community Service Officer Lori Oien has been working in TPD’s Midtown Division as the full-time PNI Community Resource Officer. She is featured in the division’s newsletter as March’s “Officer of the Month.” 

I’ll admit that we have an unusual system for picking our mayor and council. We are the only city in the state the does so on a partisan basis and the only one I can think of anywhere that has primary by-ward and general election at-large. 

The important thing to remember about our quirky system is that the voters of Tucson chose this system and have re-affirmed it numerous times despite attempts to alter it. 

The Environmental and General Services Department (EGSD), along with representatives from Housing & Community Development, Tucson Police Department and the Tucson Fire Department will be hosting an open house in each of the City’s six wards to present information about services available to residents and neighborhoods that support a clean community.

I want to talk a bit about sports and history today. Actually, it’s really about Tucson sports history.

ESPN Gameday did a broadcast from McKale Memorial Center last weekend. In part, this was to witness a contest between the Wildcats and UCLA Bruins. However, the visit by “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” was appropriate because it comes only a few weeks before the 50th Anniversary of McKale. 

My office has gotten a lot of questions about The Pit and its ordered closure by code enforcement officials.

For those of you who don’t know, The Pit is located at the corner of Pantano and 22nd Street at the location of an old gas station. The owners have agreements with several food truck operators and it amounts to a permanent version of those food truck roundups that occur around the city.

As I send this to you on Friday morning, I have some good news for you. By the end of the day, southbound Kolb Road should be open at Speedway.

To summarize the last few weeks, in the early morning of December 12, a 24 inch water main suffered a catastrophic break that damaged the road. Water service was fully restored to the immediate area within days, but this was a problem for businesses in the area.