THE GENTRIFIED DOWNTOWN AND THE RONSTADT TRANSIT CENTER // HAY CAMBIOS EN EL CENTRO DE CAMIONES RONSTADT

by Brian Flagg

I feel bad because I was stupid enough to allow a reporter to take my words out of context and misrepresent me (“Early Reactions to Ronstadt Plan Positive” Arizona Daily Star, 7/27/2015, http://tucson.com/news/blogs/road_runner/early-reactions-to-ronstadt-plan-positive/article_bd1028a0-55ff-5c75-828e-9ed345103ec4.html) I should have known better. I should have been more disciplined.

He quoted me to the effect that both plans were fine with me.

What I told him was that I would be most happy if both plans disappeared from the face of this earth because ultimately they both mean more gentrification (the process by which those with capital invest in lower income places, gradually making them more yuppie and white, while lower income folks get displaced).

I told him that largely because of the actions of the Tucson Bus Riders Union the City Council has declared that the transit footprint, the transit function, at the Ronstadt would not be reduced. So that became a bottom line for both development plans. I told him how we at the Bus Riders Union see this as a struggle to make it so that bus riders, many of which whom are low income, are not gentrified out of downtown.

I was also clear that the Peach plan was much more conscious of the needs of bus riders and that the Alexander plan seemed much more concerned with historic preservation. I told the reporter that making bus riders enter the center through turnstiles (the Alexander plan) was obnoxious and a mechanism for social control.

Bus riders have definitely been at the table, influencing this process and we plan to continue to do so.

You can’t always get what you want,

But if you try sometimes,

You just might find,

You get what you need! (a little bit of transit justice!)

HAY CAMBIOS EN EL CENTRO DE CAMIONES RONSTADT

Yo me siento mal porque mal porque fui un poco tonto cuando me entrevistó un periodista sobre este asunto. Su historia no conto mi comentario de una manera autentica. El manipuló mis palabras para que tuviera otro significado. Fue mi culpa. Hablé mucho con el.

Al contrario de lo que dijo en su historia, a mi no me gustan los dos planes que tienen para desarrollar Ronstadt. Ambos planes van hacer mas dinero para los gabachos ricos mientras que van a empujar a la gente mas pobre del downtown.

Expliqué al periodista sobre la lucha de la Union de los Pasajeros a mantener Ronstadt en su lugar ¡Los Políticos de la Ciudad de Tucson están de acuerdo! Vamos a continuar la lucha para quedarnos usando Ronstadt.

También fui muy claro que el plan de la compañía Peach fue mucho mejor para los pasajeros que el plan de la compañía Alexander. Pienso que el plan de Alexander es muy enfadoso porque va a tener solamente dos entradas muy estrechas. Es para tener mas control de los pasajeros .

Los pasajeros han luchado con mucha fuerza y efectividad en esta lucha y no nos vamos a dejar.