Here are some photos I took at the Thursday festivities christening the Fourth Avenue underpass. The area was swarming with people, cars, bicycles and, yes, a trolley or two. A motorist got stuck straddling the virgin tracks during rush hour, and the trolley tooted madly—it was awesome! A grumpy guy in the (already "tagged") elevator bitched about the pricetag, but he was no match for the happily honking horns, and the feeling that local history was being made. An activist challenged me to call Giffords about health care on the spot, so I did. A train went overhead, mobs passed by, and I felt like I actually lived in a city of one million people. It was nice...

More photos after the jump.

Last night's birthday party for Tucson and underpass celebration was amazing, even if you had to wait an hour to get cake at Hotel Congress. If you stayed away because you aren't happy with how the underpass looks or because you're mad about anything to do with downtown redevelopment, then you missed out. I was amazed by the number people that continued to walk down Fourth Avenue, through the underpass and into downtown. From 4 p.m. and close to 9 p.m., I saw hundreds of people still walking back and forth. Congratulations to everyone involved in organizing the event. We'll have photos soon.

Here's another happening to consider just in case you want to repeat everything last night or you missed your chance. The wonderful folks of Creative City and the Parasol Project are putting on a grand party tonight to remind us of our creative community in Tucson and celebrate the underpass with Create Your City Art Party.

From organizers:

Events begin with the "Re-Connection Pre-Show” on the Winsett Park Stage at 6:30pm (free) featuring puppets, clowns, stilt-walkers and dancers. At 7:30 pm a festive parade extravaganza with performers from Winsett Park will lead people to the Rialto Theater. The Art Party at the Rialto will start at 7 pm with eight bands, performance installations, interactive arts, vending and so much more! “Be art, bring art” is the motto. Join in this family-friendly, all ages event- bring instruments and colorful costumes.

Schedule:
6:30 — 7:30 pm — Re-Connection Pre-Show at Winsett Park (North 4th Ave. & 8th St.), FREE
7:00 pm — Doors open at Rialto Theatre (318 E. Congress), $10-$25 suggested donation
7:30 pm — Re-Connection Procession from Winsett Park to the Rialto Theater

Bands at the Rialto include Mata Leau, Combo Westside, Michelle Blades, BATUCAXÉ, Tom Walbank & the Ambassadors, Ensphere, PLOY, Flagrante Delicto, and Mr. Free & the Satellite Freakout. Tickets for the Rialto event are $10 in advance by going to www.rialtotheatre.com. Tickets tonight at the box office cost $10-25 sliding scale.

For more information, visit www.creativecity.org or call Michael Schwartz at 791-9359, or Jacqueline Pollard, 762-4947.

Guitar Center is having a national competition for the greatest undiscovered blues guitarist. The national winner will receive $25,000 in cash and other prizes. Local competition dates are underway and continue on Thursday, Aug. 27 and Sept. 3. On Sept. 10, the best in Tucson move on to the District Competition in Phoenix. The Tucson Guitar Center is located at 4720 E. Broadway Blvd. There are also other locations in Arizona.

For detailed information about the competition, visit http://gc.guitarcenter.com/kingoftheblues/

Today is Tucson's birthday, and if you look at the schedule here, notice things got started early—8 a.m., with plenty of free stuff all over the city: free chocolate chip cookies, free admission to the zoo, FREE stuff.

Then, of course, there's the Fourth Avenue Underpass party from Main Gate Square to downtown. This is probably the day we get to see if any higher power is paying attention. There will be loads of people showing love to our city and celebrating the reunion of downtown and Fourth Avenue, while some will be looking at the underpass bridge wondering why it was so spendy. If we get through the day in peace and harmony, with a few smiles on our faces and maybe a short monsoon to help us prepare for winter, perhaps we'll all go home tomorrow night ready to do the right thing when it comes to our city and downtown.

Let's just hope we all wake up Friday with a clear vision of what the hell that means. Hey, one can hope, right?

Maybe you just want to check out what Corona de Tucson Fire Chief Whitehouse's band sounds like, or maybe you care more about tap water since the truth about bottled water just won't go away. Either excuse should work to get you to show up for an Empire-Fagan Coalition Town Hall.

The Empire-Fagan Coalition—those residents who've been taking on the good fight on our behalf against CalPortland's proposed mining operations in Davidson Canyon (a waterway that happens to feed into Tucson's water table—and once CAP runs out—it's what we'll be drinking sooner than you realize) just above Vail—are having a public town hall.

The event is to rally support, specifically to implore you to write to the Army Corps of Engineers during the CalPortland comment period regarding the company's Clean Water 404 Permit the cement giant has applied for in preparation of hauling limestone (yes, it's not just a mineral loved by beautiful ocotillo, but it's what makes cement). According to the Empire-Fagan Coalition folks, the permit is needed by the company in order "to be able to build a haul-road across the biologically sensitive canyon."

Join up with Whitehouse and others on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 6 p.m. at the Corona de Tucson Fire Station, 99 Tallahassee St., Corona de Tucson.

To view the CalPortland document, click here.
Comments can be e-mailed to Marjorie.E.Blaine@usace.army.mil or mailed to:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
ATTENTION: Regulatory Branch (SPL-2004-01399-MB)
5205 E. Comanche Street
Tucson, Arizona 85707

Aug. 26 program:

6:00 pm - Opening
6:05 pm - Welcome and Opening Remarks
Mike Carson, President, Empire-Fagan Coalition
6:15 pm - Speakers
- Gayle Hartman, President, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas
- Roger Featherstone, Arizona Mining Reform Coalition
- Ray Carroll, Pima County Supervisor
6:45 pm - Expert Panel / Q&A
- Lainie Levick, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas
- Claire Zucker, Pima Association of Governments
- Trevor Hare, Sky Island Alliance
7:30 - Music compliments of Fire Chief Whitehouse and his band

From the Coalition's press release:

The battle for Davidson Canyon heated up today as The Empire-Fagan Coalition announced a multi-pronged response to cement and mining giant Arizona California Portland Cement Company (CalPortland), as the company moved forward with plans to mine calcium carbonate in two open-pit quarries spanning Davidson Canyon.

Earlier this week, CalPortland made a formal application to the Army Corps of Engineers, to be allowed to build a mining haul road across the canyon, which runs along Scenic Highway 83. Davidson Canyon, parts of which were recently designated an "Outstanding Water of Arizona", is a major tributary to Las Cienegas Preserve, and a critical link in a watershed that supplies the Tucson Basin with up to 20% of its recharge.

The nuts who brought AR-15s to Obama's Phoenix appearance make the Daily Show!

(Jon Stewart is still great, but does anyone else get the feeling that the correspondents are slipping in quality from the glory days of Steve Carell, Ed Helms and Mo Rocca? Oh, well: At least we get a whole half-hour of Colbert every night.)

Barney Frank compares a town hellion to a dining room table.

Whether you're watching the national health-care farce or Arizona's legislative circus, you can't help but wonder sometimes if democracy is doomed because the conversation takes place so far away from the facts, while the election of our lawmakers is dependent on citizens who have a very shaky grip on what, precisely, government does, as well as a very limited understanding of whom they're elected to solve our problems.

Peter Suderman has some thoughts on the process over at his Reason blog:

I share Nick Gillespie's frequent worry that politics is a rotten way to conduct our affairs, and, as I've said frequently over the last few weeks, I think it's inevitable that the more we turn our daily business over to the government, the more we find our lives politicized. But while we're in the midst of politicizing everything, I find myself in agreement with the great anti-democrat H.L. Mencken that, nevertheless, there's a great deal of amusement to be found in such riotous scenes. “I enjoy democracy immensely," he wrote. "It is incomparably idiotic, and hence incomparably amusing. Does it exalt dunderheads, cowards, trimmers, frauds, cads? Then the pain of seeing them go up is balanced and obliterated by the joy of seeing them come down.” I imagine Mencken, scourge of both populist outbursts and the New Deal, would've frowned upon the idea of health-care reform, but would've found great pleasure in the freakish outbursts and political chaos the debate has generated.

Our Capitol sources tell us that Gov. Jan Brewer may be ready to sign a GOP budget without a tax referral, if certain changes are made. Details to follow...

This kid will probably have a show on MTV by the end of the year.

Hat tip to Fish Karma.