I sat down with three individuals on January 22 for the live taping of the Press Room at the Paul and Alice Baker Center for Public Media. They talked with me before hearing representatives from the RTA Next speak on the panel. This three part series chronologically looks at the Regional Transportation Authority from past, present and future lenses. The voices of Paul George-Blazevich, Denise Leahy, and an anonymous engineer are featured in each episode of this series, with additional background from RTA representatives Michael Ortega and Ted Maxwell.
RTA Next: Before the Vote pt. 1
We look at RTA’s past, from its beginnings in 2006, to its two-decade growth. Our three interviewees talked about the previous RTA projects and management, on the more recent side of the twenty year plan. Paul George-Blazevich has lived on and off in Tucson since 2018, and seen more urban projects, bad and good. Denise Leahy spoke about the last ten years since 2016 and how many changes have occurred with the agency. The engineer only started looking at RTA three years ago, and asked questions about Steve Kozachick and Farhad Moghimi. Mike Ortega, executive director of the RTA, spoke at the panel about how internal communications from the RTA were handled in the past, and how that will be different going forward.
RTA Next: Before the Vote pt. 2
The second installment focuses on the now. What is going on with proposition 418 and 419? And what is the language used for each proposition in the ballot for RTA Next? The engineer challenged both propositions in regards to how they’re worded. The same confusions arose for University of Arizona retired employee Denise Leahy, who wanted to hear more about the specific projects first before saying yes or no. Urban planning graduate student Paul George-Blazevich explained that he is “steeped” in RTA Next conversations in his spring classes at the University of Arizona leading up to the March 10 vote. Ted Maxwell, an RTA Board member, added that specific measures were included in the propositions to focus on long-term construction.
RTA Next: Before the Vote pt. 3
The final chapter of this series focuses on the vote, and the opinions of each individual who came on that day in January. AZPM was able to follow up with Paul George-Blazevich a month later and ask him what he learned at the live Press Room taping. He had already turned in his ballot and selected no, despite being fully in the yes category immediately after the taping. Back in January, AZPM asked Denise Leahy and the engineer which way they were voting. Leahy questioned more about the implications of voting no in 2026. The engineer, similar to George-Blazevich, was fond of the taxation but not of the project as a whole. George-Blazevich in January read his question to me that he also shared with Mike Ortega and Ted Maxwell at the live taping. They answered his question, but in the end, he was not swayed and voted no on both propositions.
Check back here for results on the vote after March 10.
