The Pleasure of Culture
In the United States, it’s quite different and difficult to understand the way in which developers are aiming to build, especially when you look at past developers like Robert Moses of New York City. "It is astounding that anyone in local elected or appointed office, anyone with capital and places to risk it, any cooperative group, any prudent conservative bank or loaning agency not compelled to do so, is willing to run the gauntlet and brave the brick bats, rotten eggs and dead cats on the way to slum clearance."Moses, R. (1986).
As you drive around Tucson, you can begin to see it. Since before the COVID pandemic, which shocked this city’s eyes open to the possibility of tragedy at such a large scale, the city has begun to change behind closed doors. “Citing a lack of transparency, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is contesting the Arizona Corporation Commission’s December 10, 2025 decision to authorize Tucson Electric Power’s (TEP) private energy agreement with Humprey’s Peak Power LLC., and its affiliate Beale Infrastructure Group to power a hyperscale data center complex known as Project Blue.”Attorney General Kris Mayes Contests Utility Regulators Hasty Approval of Tucson Electric Power’s “Project Blue” Data Center Private Energy Agreement | Attorney General’s Office. (2026, January 5). Furthermore due to the COVID pandemic, this city has become infested with developers from other major cities looking to get their hands dirty with small town city money that could otherwise bolster their portfolios. For example, the high-rise on 4th ave that was built by a Minnesota developer for $60 million on a local development initiative called a “GPLET” (2022). This program is costing Tucsonans to foot the bill of development while the developer takes a bonus on funds that could otherwise benefit the city in which they pay for every day.
These are just some examples of the corporations that are causing harm to local capacities to do things that have always been down. Technology isn't new anymore so there should be new standards as to how we allow them into our daily lives. Monsanto isn't creating anything that'll largely benefit our food systems especially when the old system hasn't changed from pandemics like COVID. Being from a big city, construction and development isn't new. It's always happening and doesn't always need to happen in the same ways. Companies like these are those that threaten the localities of places like Tucson because they're held to a low standard tho they have garnered a lot of resources. How do we create a better standard for how companies conduct themselves amongst our communities?