A week without wheels
Ortiz’s car cleanse … Donate to my (personal security) campaign …. And there's a name we haven't heard in a while.
While you were cussing at traffic on the I-10 this past week, Democratic Sen. Analise Ortiz was riding past you on a bus.
The West Phoenix lawmaker recently swapped her car keys for a bus pass and a bike helmet, and she documented the experience on her social media feeds.
The series is filled with plenty of hiccups like late buses and flat bike tires, yet Ortiz said the experience was ultimately “eye-opening.”
The seven-day no-car streak was part of a national challenge encouraging participants to rely on public transportation, walking, biking or rides instead of their own cars. America Walks organizes the campaign every year to push leaders to fix the public transit systems that a lot of people rely on every day.
Disability advocates launched the project in 2021. Last year, more than 3,500 people, including 750 policymakers and elected officials, joined in on the trend.
But instead of reenacting “Hamilton” or lip-syncing to sea shanties, documenting your week without driving is intended to enact meaningful change.
After completing the challenge, a Washington state senator, for example, helped pass a law to add public transit users to transit-related governing boards. And local groups like Tucson’s Living Streets Alliance are using the challenge to rally support for safer, more accessible streets.
As part of the challenge, participants are asked to consider a central question: “What if getting around didn’t require driving a car?”
For Ortiz, it meant a loss of control.
She was late to a constituent event after a 15-minute drive took an hour and a half on three different buses. She had to limit her grocery purchases to what she could carry home on a bike. And the challenge meant she was confined to her own neighborhood while door-knocking for her reelection campaign.
But it was a temporary experience.
For many people, taking public transportation isn’t a choice.
“So many of my constituents who are always on the go as well, they have to make it work with public transit,” she said. “Whether that means waking up two hours early or sacrificing what they buy at the store because they can’t take home 10 bags of groceries.”
When Ortiz asked a fellow bus rider why the bus was late, he explained that delays are routine. He said he can’t drive because of a visual disability, and relies on the bus because when his security job ends late at night, the cost of ride shares quickly adds up.
Ortiz also got a lot of insight into why a 20-minute drive could take hours on the bus.
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The QR code that riders can scan to pay their fares often doesn’t work, leaving bus drivers to either wave passengers on or hold up the line until the payment goes through, she said.
“It was just really wild that something as simple as swiping your phone to pay your fare was so challenging, and so many people on social media told me the same thing happens to them all the time,” Ortiz said.
Outside of the anxiety from running late, the senator never felt unsafe on her bus and light rail trips.
Biking was a different story.
“There are some protected bike lanes … but drivers are eating, looking at their phones. I really did not feel safe sharing the road,” Ortiz said.
Figuring out the bus system was still the most frustrating part, she said, and her social media videos chronicle the late arrivals and confusing schedules.
So she called on former Rep. (and frequent public transit rider) Mark Cardenas, who helped her figure out that Valley Metro has a rapid route that stops right in front of the Capitol.
And when the next legislative session starts in January, Ortiz said she’ll start taking that rapid route to work.
Most public transit reform happens at the local level. In this case, the Phoenix area’s Valley Metro is run by a board of elected officials.
That’s Ortiz’s first stop for meaningful transit change: She wants to meet with Phoenix officials and Valley Metro to learn what support they most need from the state.
Ortiz also wants to make “some deliberate asks” to fund public transit in next year’s budget, and continue running defense on anti-public transit bills.
In 2023, far-right lawmakers launched a massive campaign against legislation to let voters decide whether to extend a local transportation sales tax and called it a conspiracy to make people “give away (their) freedom.” Last year, Republicans pushed a voter referral to ban spending public dollars on “replacing motor vehicle travel with walking, biking or public transit.”
“It’s so out of touch with reality and with the issues that our constituents are dealing with for any politician to say that investing in public transit or street safety is some kind of liberal agenda,” Ortiz said. “There are people of all walks of life who rely on public transit.
Adapting to the times: In light of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes says candidates can use campaign funds for personal security, the Capitol Times’ Reagan Priest reports. Fontes sent out a memo saying state law isn’t clear on whether campaign funds can be used for that purpose, but his office won’t open any complaints if candidates feel the need to use their campaign haul to pay for a bodyguard or other security needs. Fontes and staff in his office have faced threats of their own, and in 2023, Fontes asked the state to pay for an around-the-clock security detail, which the Department of Public Safety denied. Republican Sen. Shawnna Bolick,1 said the decision is a good starting off point, but could require more legislation to restrict what people are allowed to purchase.
“If it’s not clearly defined how you want to secure yourself, you might have members who think this is a good time to go out and buy a bunch of firearms or attack dogs or something silly,” Bolick said.
Bearing a grudge: Republican U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh won’t let go of his loss in his 2022 election to become Arizona’s attorney general, and now he’s trying to oust the judge who wouldn’t declare him the winner three years ago, per Capitol scribe Howie Fischer. Hamadeh is looking for “brave attorneys” who will run against Lee Jantzen in Mohave County. The problem is, Jantzen has repeatedly said he’s not running for reelection next year.2 Last year, conservatives condemned progressives for targeting judges based on opinions they didn’t like — specifically, the campaign against Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn H. King, who both upheld Arizona’s controversial 1864 abortion ban and faced stiff opposition in their 2024 reelection campaigns.
Not looking good: Two officials in Pinal County are getting a behind-the-scenes look at the negotiations over the Colorado River, and they’re not encouraged by what they’re seeing, PinalCentral’s Noah Cullen reports. The Trump administration gave the states a Nov. 11 deadline to reach an agreement on Colorado River allotments between the Lower Basin States, which includes Arizona, and the Upper Basin States. But both Pinal County Supervisor Steve Miller and state Sen. T.J. Shope said there has been “little movement or resolution” in the negotiations.
Speaking of negotiations, if we drop the price of an annual subscription today, will you upgrade?
Axon, Ax-off: A yearlong battle over the planned Axon headquarters in Scottsdale is heading to court, the Scottsdale Progress’ Tom Scanlon reports. Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky and several council members have clashed about the Axon project for months, with “the bloc” of anti-Borowsky councilmembers recently voting against a petition that requested the Axon-rezoning referendum be completed as soon as possible — another step in the project.
Second setback: The U.S. Supreme Court started off its new term on Monday by declining for the second time to hear arguments from Apache Stronghold to block a copper mine at Oak Flat, the Republic’s Debra Utacia Krol reports. Apache Stronghold says the legal fight isn’t over.
“Oak Flat deserves the same respect and protection this country has long given to other places of worship,” the group said.
In other, other news
Mesa is voting on whether to recall a city councilwoman who was elected last year to represent central and south central Mesa (Cecilia Chan / East Vally Tribune) … The first supermoon of the year was visible in Arizona last night (Scripps News Group) … A Florida man has been charged with illegally obtaining thousands in Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account funds (Kevin Stone / KTAR) ... Gov. Katie Hobbs promised to continue providing state support to Globe while visiting the city after historic flooding last week (Adam Klepp / ABC15).
You may remember Mark Brnovich, the erstwhile attorney general of Arizona who buried his office’s findings that there was no fraud in the 2020 election.
Brnovich was smart enough to know that Trump’s claims of election fraud were nonsense, but desperate enough not to say that out loud.
So in 2022 — as he was leaving the AG’s office and running an ultimately failed campaign for U.S. Senate — Brnovich produced an “interim” report on the 2020 election that drummed up claims of “serious irregularities” in Trump’s reelection in Arizona.
A more complete picture of his office’s investigation emerged when Attorney General Kris Mayes took over and released documents showing his investigators had debunked those claims and declared the 2020 election was actually on the up-and-up.
Anyway, Brnovich’s willingness to bury the evidence was widely viewed as the reason Trump nominated him to serve as the ambassador to Serbia in 2024.
That is — until last week, when Trump officially withdrew the nomination, per the Daily Independent.
Brnovich told the Serbian Times that the deep state was to blame, and he was excited for the opportunity to instead stay “close to family and friends in Arizona.”
“(T)he bureaucracy of the ‘deep state’ does not want to serve anyone with my political, ethnic and religious background in Serbia,” he told the Serbian Times.
The Independent reported that MAGA insiders thought Brnovich was too “unethical” for the job.
And with that, we finally found something both the left and the right can agree on.
When running for office in 2020, Bolick listed a UPS store as her address because her husband sits on the state Supreme Court, and judges’ addresses are protected under the law.
Judges are directly elected in Mohave County, unlike in more populous counties, where they’re appointed and then stand for retention election.
Ah yes, the public transit system. Over the years, I have suggested that some employees be replaced (ok, I said fired) because they don't use the system and therefore have no idea what it is like to depend on public transit to get around. An Sen. Ortiz is right about the QRC code on people's phones not working. I have a card...tap and voila, my ride is paid for. And then there are the buses that are not on time....late is most irritating, but being early is even more irritating at times. Still, the fare is reasonable, and I get a lot of reading done. Grocery shopping is not an issue. I cloth bags and a backpack it necessary. I figure if what I purchase won't fit in those, then I probably don't need it. And I am surprised that Sen. Ortiz did not do her homework to discover the existence of the rapid buses.
You will never have a robust and well-used public transportation system in a metropolitan area that isn’t densely populated, and the Phoenix area is too spread out. It doesn’t make much sense to get into your car to drive to a mass transit or light rail line when you might as well do the entire trip by car. Plus, even if you use the car to get to the light rail, you still have to walk several blocks to your final destination, which isn’t fun in the summer.
We shouldn’t spend millions on under-used light rail systems. To improve public transportation availability, create a reliable system of more affordable and flexible buses. Still, I guess that option doesn’t suit those who want to pretend we’re in a trendy city with its own “Metro” that they can ride to “Copper Square,” another failed effort to make us seem different from what we are. If you want to ride a “Metro,” move to Portland, but bring your own riot helmet.