Festival en el Barrio: Great Event, but Missing Free Water
Here are some of the many good things to say about this year's Festival en el Barrio (Music, April 5), and those who made it possible. Great musical artistry. A lovely neighborhood. Super integration of the Tucson Museum of Art. A seemingly flawless shift to a larger venue. A separate, pastoral stage for mariachis!
I'd also like to point out a serious weakness: no free-flowing fresh water. Tucson is no place to host a few thousand people for a warm afternoon dance party and require us to buy expensive bottled water, or find our way through additional security and a back door into the museum's limited facilities to fill empty bottles and cups.
As I work to tighten up my cumbia footwork, I hope next year's organizing team will take some steps to recognize the moral, environmental and biological imperative to either allow us to bring water, or provide a readily accessible source. We need more festivals, but we don't need more dehydration, plastic in landfills, or acceptance of the notion that fresh water is available only to those with cash in hand.
J.R. Welch
If Pancrazi Feels the Need to Carry a Gun, That Means Something
I saw a mention of Lynne Pancrazi, a Yuma Democratic state representative, and this ongoing dustup with Daniel Patterson ("The End Is Nigh," The Skinny, April 5).
I'm sorry to hear that Lynne feels so threatened that she has to carry a pistol. I know Lynne personally; she and I taught elementary school together at Yuma School District One. If Lynne feels like she has to carry a gun, then she means it, because she usually fears nothing.
Roger Fulton
Correction
In "Stop the Polluter Protection Act!" (The Skinny, April 12), we published an incorrect phone number. The correct toll-free number for Gov. Jan Brewer is (800) 253-0883. We apologize for the mistake.
