Author Archive: Miguel Ortega

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Tucson Localism: The Best & Worst of 2013

January 2, 2014 |
A Raging Sage Coffee Roasters' patron enjoys a coffee while reading a newspaper. photo: Miguel Ortega

A Raging Sage Coffee Roasters’ patron enjoys a coffee while reading a newspaper.
photo: Miguel Ortega

The holidays are over. Maybe your face still hurts from smiling so much and your gifts sucked. Or maybe everything went perfectly for you. Weirdo.

But, hey, it’s 2014, we survived, and we still live in this awesomeness we call Tucson. The only thing left to do now is to look back at the best and worst of 2013:

Best Localist: Deanna Chevas, former Tucson Membership Coordinator, Local First Arizona. Who doesn’t love Deanna? For almost two years she was the face of the localism movement here in Tucson. She is a passionate and articulate localism advocate and we will miss her.

Worst Presidential Brain Freeze: Obama gives speech on his job creation program and the economy at an Amazon warehouse. Yes, he did exactly that. Who is advising this guy? That is like giving a speech on justice for chickens at KFC headquarters.
Best Young Entrepreneur: Israel Zavala, owner of The Underestimated City. First, this guy opens up his Tucson-centric street wear shop downtown while he and his brother were on unemployment. Then, according to Zevala, streetcar construction and a lack of help from City Hall forced them to shut down. Somehow TCU pops up again on 4th Avenue.  Zevala’s localism marketing – using “TUC” as their store acronym – is just pure genius. Look for big things to come from this guy. Israel is the kind of young talent we want to grow and keep here in La Tusa.
Worst Economic Development Idea: Tucson Mayor & Council proposal to sell El Rio public land to the private Grand Canyon University. If the City would have succeeded, it would have been the first major sale of an active, recreational, public park to a for-profit, out-of-town company. And oh what a sweetheart deal the City of Tucson was offering GCU: the kind of assistance mom and pops can only dream of.

Best Sports Team: The # 1 Wild Cats. When they win, local restaurants & bars are full. Period.

Worst Branding of Tucson Idea: Dropping Tucson’s “Old Pueblo” nickname. First, how exactly do you even do that? Second, dumb ideas from newcomers to Tucson should only be made after at least three years of residency.

Miguel Ortega is an independent business development consultant. His radio program, “Locally Owned with Miguel Ortega”, airs on KVOI 1030AM every Saturday at 11 a.m. You can also listen to his radio columns on KXCI 91.3FM and follow his blog at LocallyOwnedAZ.com.

 

Invite Sonoran Visitors to Shop Locally Already!

December 15, 2013 |

Right now, my huge, extended family in Sonoroa, Mexico is gearing up to do some Christmas shopping in Tucson. Soon they will be hitting our shopping malls and buying a bunch of stuff.

And soon you will join them, driving your car in those full lots as you notice all those Sonoran license plates and – because I know you are smart and you get it – you will smile knowing that these Mexican tourists are pumping millions into our local economy.

Some local tourism leaders, however, think that my relatives are obsessed with chains. They think the only way to keep my cousins coming back to Tucson is by emphasizing corporate shops. These tourism experts use social media to showcase Golden Corral, Best Buy, Starbucks, etc.

Why? Well, they say that is just how Sonoran visitors are and it’s the only way to get them here to shop.

Really?

When is the last time the Italians said you would not visit Rome if they did not first entice you with a visit to their Olive Garden? When is the last time you saw Mexico City tourism experts promote Taco Bell as a great place to get a bite to eat while visiting their great city?

News flash: Mexicans attend colleges and read books. They have things called museums. And, in big cities like Hermosillo, local business owners understand how sales taxes work and how that revenue stream helps their local economies.

Maybe a better approach would be to entice Sonoran visitors to shop locally owned businesses because, by doing so, more of their money stays here in Tucson to support the schools, roads and public safety that many of their Tucson relatives depend on. Do our tourism experts truly believe that Mexican visitors can’t understand that?

Besides, our local shops rock! Sonoran visitors would love The Sunshine Mile, 4th Avenue, Campbell Avenue or the Furniture District if they were simply informed of their existence. Sonoran visitors are no different than tourists from all over the world that crave authenticity when they travel.

What’s our problem, anyway? Let’s put away the tupperware and break out with the good stuff already!

Miguel Ortega is an independent business development consultant. His radio program, “Locally Owned with Miguel Ortega”, airs on KVOI 1030AM every Saturday at 11 a.m. You can also listen to his radio columns on KXCI 91.3FM and follow his blog at LocallyOwnedAZ.com.

The Perfect Cafe

October 28, 2013 |

photo by Miguel Ortega

The plan was to find a place where we could quickly grab some lunch and coffee and then hit the beach. It would be the first ocean experience for our 3-year-old. The San Diego sky finally opened up so we had to act fast in case the clouds returned.

But when you are on a family vacation nothing goes exactly as planned. Right, Chevy? At some point we all become that fumbling tourist you make fun of back home. I mean what were the chances we would find that awesome cafe with perfect grab-and-go sandwiches and killer espresso?

The odds were against us because papa did not google “Awesome, locally owned cafes in La Jolla” back at the hotel as mom advised.

So, after walking around for a while with no luck, we find this sandwich chain. It was unnecessarily bright, generic and soulless. And it was huge. It was like three-storeys tall. I just kept thinking: Why? Why so big?

We had no choice. We were in a hurry. Don’t get connected emotionally, we thought, just fuel up. Sure enough, the food was awful. And it took forever.

And. The. Coffee. Was. The. Worst. Ever.

I’m not even a professional coffee snob but, man, that stuff was bad.

After we rushed out of Sandwich Hell Hotel California, we asked a guy for the quickest way to get to the beach. He pointed across the street. So we cross the street and what do we find?

The. Most. Authentic. Sweetest. Cafe. Ever.

Man! Seriously?

The best part? It had the biggest window overlooking the pacific as the waves crashed onto the rocks below. And they had freshly made sandwiches and all kinds of pastries. It was the real deal. Everything inside appeared to be made of wood, including the worn counter next to the register. To me, that always means people dig a place.

People were sitting down, sipping on espresso and blissfully throwing back their heads in laughter. Laughing at me, I thought, for somehow missing this place.  

Miguel Ortega is an independent business development consultant. His radio program, “Locally Owned with Miguel Ortega”, airs on KVOI 1030AM every Saturday at 11 a.m. You can also listen to his radio columns on KXCI 91.3FM and follow his blog at LocallyOwnedAZ.com.

Accessible Localism: It’s an Actual Thing

September 14, 2013 |

Relax. It’s ok. So you ate at a chain recently. You shopped at a big box store. It’s alright. Really. Well, if it was at that one big box, I’ll need you to provide a proper and viable excuse.

But, really, it’s ok. You see, as much as I absolutely, positively support all things locally owned – it’s the name of this dang column, after all – I also live in the real world. And I practice a specific brand of localism that I like to call Accessible Localism. Yeah, I made that up all by myself and, yeah, my wife pretended to be impressed with me.

But I say it really is a thing. So, after googling it first like a big dork to see if I can really annoy my wife and claim I coined it, I created a definition for it:

Accessible Localism (akˈsesəbəl ˈlōkəˌlizəm) n. A non-hipster, guilt-free approach to localism that encourages the entire population to participate in the building of a movement to grow and strengthen independent, hometown economies rather than celebrate as an exclusive, elitist club of do-gooders.

In other words, get over yourself, do the best you can and don’t judge.

Chances are, you may run into me at some point walking towards my truck with a set of keys in one hand and a venti-capa-frapa-moca-poca-loca in the other. Again, don’t judge. If my mother-in-law wants a venti-capa-frapa-moca-poca-loca, I’m going to get her a venti-capa-frapa-moca-poca-loca. She is a bona fide, professional Nana, with curandera-like powers. I mean she is a 3-year-old-whisperer who loves and takes great care of my son so the least I can do is pick up whatever damn drink she wants.

You see, it’s like this: If we really want to convert localism into an actual, viable, national movement, we need to admit that you and I are the weird ones. I am talking to you, the one holding this awesome magazine in your hands. And me, the nerd writing this column. We are the crazy ones, not the rest of the mainstream population.

You and I are obsessed — or at least inspired — with being independent and hyper local, as Zócalo’s own mission statement puts it. And we are freakin’ proud of it, as we should be. But we are outnumbered by normal people. Most people want to do the right thing, if not for the world, at least for their themselves and their families.

It’s not like anyone says, “I would love to eat food delivered to my grocery store that has been frozen in a truck from Michigan for the past five days. Yes, I prefer that to something local and fresh.” Right? Normal people just don’t see it that way because normal people are tired after work and alternative stuff is just too damn expensive and too complicated to think about.

Now, if you want a real localism movement, find a way for these normal folks to participate. Tear down economic barriers that make it hard for them to join our hipster club and push elected officials to pass localism policies with teeth.

If you want a real localism revolution, recognize that it is us who should join them. We should join small business owners, every day Republicans and Democrats, the young and old and build accessible ways for everyone to participate.

Ironically, the corporate world already gets this. While many of us have been celebrating our indie cred within a limited sphere, national companies have spent millions on consultants and focus groups to find out that localism is catching on and does, in fact, resonate with the masses. So now, more and more, you find “locally owned” this and “independent that” in much of their advertisements.

Meanwhile, our credit unions, our local mom and pops – in fact entire cities and towns – have actual, authentic, built-in, locally owned assets that go unused. National chains have to spend millions to manufacture localism.  We, on the other hand, are made up of the essence of localism and don’t need to manufacture anything.

Do we allow our movement to be co-opted? Will we let them beat us to the punch and reach everyday people with our own cause before we do? Think about it.

So the next time you see me rushing to my truck at 5 a.m. with a venti-capa-whatever or coming out of a pizza chain with my kid, just hug me. Obviously, I would rather have a much better, locally owned cup of joe or slice of pizza, so life must really be kicking my butt to have to break-corporate-glass-for-emergency situation!

Miguel Ortega is an independent business development consultant. His radio program, “Locally Owned with Miguel Ortega”, airs on KVOI 1030AM every Saturday at 11 a.m. You can also listen to his radio columns on KXCI 91.3FM and follow his blog at LocallyOwnedAZ.com.

 

 

Indie Wheel – May 2013

May 11, 2013 |
Keeping the ‘Oh My’ Factor in Downtown Tucson

Who should benefit from the progress being made Downtown and along 4th Avenue? There’s nothing wrong with making a buck, but should it only be made by those that just want to profit from a new Tucson? Or should beneficiaries include the artists, the small business owners, and the Tucsonans who not only invested many hours of their time but also thousands of dollars from their pockets back in the 80s and 90s when no one else would? When no one cared?Don’t we want to keep the people that truly care about our local economy here? Shouldn’t we fight for the very people who invested in our downtown to remain downtown? After all, there was no guaranteed return on their investments, yet they kept at it through thick and thin.

Don’t get me wrong. Like most people, I’m giddy about our blossoming Downtown. Come on, you know you are, too. We like seeing all those people walking in the streets, in and out of locally owned restaurants and night clubs. It’s inspiring. We have been waiting a very long time for this.

Yet I am also a little worried. For all of us. As Downtown Tucson rises, locally owned businesses continue to fall. We may be repeating history in Tucson by destroying some of our best assets and then regretting it 20 years from now, just as we did with the barrio that once stood where our lovely Tucson Convention Center now stands. We sure screwed that one up, didn’t we?

It hurts to this day because every person with a little business sense – or any sense at all – knows that what makes a downtown great is its locally owned businesses and historic neighborhoods. Locals and tourists alike crave authenticity. We want what is real with all the gritty, scruffy edges that come along with it. We don’t travel to Rome to eat at an Olive Garden or go to Puerto Rico and complain about a bumpy ride on the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan. Yes, we love the real stuff, don’t we?

Yet, slowly, we may well blow it again if we don’t advocate for our locally owned businesses and artists. Several longtime businesses have already closed down or moved. More may do the same because they cannot sustain the hits from all the construction, delays and mistakes due to the Modern Streetcar. Some businesses may not even survive this summer.

Whether you know it now or don’t realize it until 20 years from now, you want a downtown that is a little funky and perhaps even slightly uncomfortable. It’s what I call the Oh My factor. You know, it’s what tourists and locals alike say when they encounter something edgy and perhaps culturally very different from their own personal experience. They say, “Oh my!,” and then they proceed to enjoy that unique culinary or arts experience. Believe me, businesses and local Tucsonans alike do not want the Old Pueblo to lose its Oh My factor!What we want is for Noël Chester, a longtime theater artist and owner of The District Tavern (I’m talking an artist from the a.k.a. theater golden years) to stay put downtown. What we want is to honor the decades of contributions to the downtown performing arts scene donated by my friend, the late, great David “Bunga” Felix. Believe me, Noël and Bunga both inspired many gasps of “Oh my!” over several decades, and their presence and spirit should remain downtown.In essence, what we truly want is to keep the old with the new, side by side. You want your out-of-town, prudish aunt and your tatted, rebellious nephew alike to enjoy themselves downtown. What we must have in order for this thing to work is for new places like The Hub to coexist with places like The District Tavern and for people like Noël to stick around.

There is no doubt about it: we are in the midst of perhaps the biggest, fattest do-over opportunity in Tucson history. Will we get it right this time? I sure hope so.

COMMERCE

Bentley’s House of Coffee and Tea on Speedway and Campbell has awesome restrooms. Yep, I dig the coffee and food, but the restrooms make a statement. I have always said that the baños say a lot about cafes and restaurants. And yet I want our beloved Epic Cafe on 4th Ave and University Blvd, funky restrooms and all, to stay exactly the same. Weird of me, huh?ART
Announcing the I Just Made This Up Tucson Arts Awards for April 2013: The Most Politically and Economically Awkward Yet Beautiful Art Award goes to Melody Peters for the bronze dancers at the 4th Ave underpass. And the He Has Stuck Around Forever and Should Stick Around Even Longer Award goes to Ned Schaper. Congratulations on my made up awards, Ned and Melody!POLITICS
So I thought of a ‘walks into a bar’ joke, but I’m not sure it’s very funny. Here goes: A council aide, a former city manager, two school superintendents, a former college chancellor, a consultant, and a bunch of politicians walk into a locally owned bar in Tucson. Bartender says, “I’m sorry, we don’t serve– wait, you know what? Just get out. Please. Get out now!” That’s it. Told ya it wasn’t that funny.
Contact Miguel Ortega at miguel.riosonora@gmail.com

Indie Wheel – April

April 10, 2013 |

by Linda Victoria

Conventional wisdom in Tucson typically says that unless you have the political support to do something, you will fail miserably.This same source of wisdom often perpetuates the myth that local businesses and neighborhoods have nothing in common and are destined to be at odds with each other. We have seen examples of both proving to be true, yes, but this is not always the case. Tucson has an encouraging amount of people who – how can I put this in a P.G. way – could care less about this paternalistic and cynical wisdom.

One very significant yet little known example of this brand of healthy defiance is showcased every year during a street fair in Tucson that draws tens of thousands of people. This festival takes place along an avenue that is dotted with locally owned businesses and is surrounded by historic neighborhoods. Once a year, sidewalk to sidewalk, this avenue turns into a river of Tucsonans flowing along to the soundtrack of local bands covering popular cumbias, Tejano and old school jams. And yes, there’s food. A lot of food.
Unless the cumbias, Tejano and old school gave it away, you are probably thinking I am describing the 4th Avenue Street Fair. I’m not. I love that one, too. But, no, I’m talking about the the Fiesta Grande Festival in Barrio Hollywood on Tucson’s Westside. A surprising amount Tucsonans still have no idea about this event (it’s on April 13 & 14 this year, by the way). When asked about it I playfully describe it as the Other One or the Chicano Street Fair. Then I share the festival’s slogan – ‘Welcome to Barrio Hollywood where everyone is a star’ – making it clear that all are  welcome.
In a nutshell, this is what makes this event special: After a gigantic sinkhole opened up on Speedway and Grande Avenue back in 2003, residents and business owners were devastated with a traffic nightmare, the stench of oozing sewer everywhere, and empty restaurants and retail businesses. It was pretty bad. The solution? Clean it up and throw a party, of course.
Ten years later, this annual event has accomplished more than anyone ever expected; it has provided businesses with branding and marketing worth tens of thousands of dollars; it raised over $100,000 in funding for the Midnight Hoops program keeping hundreds of kids off the street; it leveraged one million dollars to establish the Cambio Grande initiative which funded street improvements, new sidewalks and benches along Grande Avenue; it secured private foundation funds to create beautiful, historic murals, and so on.
This was all made possible because of a little known street party in the barrio. According to that conventional wisdom I mentioned earlier, the Fiesta Grande should never have succeeded. But it has. Neighborhoods and businesses were not supposed to seek a solution together for mutual benefit, yet that is exactly what happened. Throughout the years, Barrio Hollywood organizers have called the shots first, then invited elected officials to follow their lead. To this day, there has never been a question about who is in charge.
And Barrio Hollywood is just like many neighborhoods around Tucson that exhibit this kind of independent instinct. Recent efforts by the newly organized Sunshine Mile on Broadway and the longtime and fiercely independent production of the annual All Souls Procession come to mind. They don’t wait on political blessings or depend on agencies or city bureaucrats to determine their fate. They go ahead and do it for themselves.
So the next time you want to make a difference in your neighborhood or advocate against that ubiquitous chain about to squash and replace your favorite locally owned cafe don’t ask for permission prior to acting. Just step up and do it.
(sidebars)
Commerce
I love visiting St. Mary’s Mexican Food on Grande Ave and St. Mary’s Road. It’s like being in an old episode of Seinfeld. The food is excellent and super affordable. But never once has my food been ready to pick up when they said it would be. Yet I keep coming back. They used to have an ordering system that consisted of cut out cardboard squares with the numbers written with a magic marker. Don’t care. I still go back. And not a piece of furniture matches. Whatever. I’ll eat standing in their parking lot if I have to. They are that good.
Art
I have this urge to go to The Loft, pay full admission for the next random movie but ask not to be told what I’m about to see. Then, right after that flick, I want to do the exact same thing at the Arizona International Film Festival over at the Screening Room downtown. And to finish things off, I want to go check out a thought proving documentary at Casa Video, grab an extra bag of their free popcorn to go and watch it at home. Is that just weird of me? Is a person allowed to do that in Arizona?
Politics 
The following is a public service announcement: Beware of a sudden epidemic of Marco Rubios popping up around town and across the nation. They may be wearing sombreros. Maybe not. They may speak to you in Spanish and may be accompanied by a full mariachi in the background. But perhaps not. If you encounter one, stay calm. Call you nearest GOP headquarters and have him picked up. We will issue a similar PSA to warn you about whatever the Democrats come up with in four years. This has been a public service announcement. Thank you.

Indie Wheel – March 2013

March 9, 2013 |
It happened 20 years ago on a beautiful spring Sunday morning in Tucson. I was riding my bike on 4th Avenue on my way to buy a loaf of bread or something to make breakfast at home. I had done that a hundred times as a young guy living near 4th Ave. No big deal.

That particular morning, however, I was feeling it. I was really feeling it. As I peddled along a stretch of 4th Avenue I let my bike just slowly drift to the middle of the avenue. There wasn’t a car in sight, you see. The road was completely empty. Open. And it was absolutely quiet except for the occasional screen door closing or dog barking something in Sunday morning dog language. So, I was peddling just enough to keep the bike moving. Then, I slowly extended my arms out and leaned my head back to feel the sun on my face. Yup, I was that guy – no rush, nothing important on my mind, just gonna get that loaf of bread. Eventually. Maybe. Or some fruit. Whatever.

At that moment, on that bike, along that avenue, even after doing it hundreds of times before on hundreds of Sunday mornings, it occurred to me how good it all felt. I had no consequences, no barriers, nothing stopping me from saying or doing anything. I was independent in the purest sense of the word because my choices were completely up to me and no one else.

Today, my nostalgia for that perfect bike ride 20 years ago guides me more as a point of reference. It is where I click “home” when I try to make sense of the world. It guides my views on politics, commerce and the arts.

Simply put, I have come to believe that independent thinking just makes everything better. Everything. Like adding chiltepin to your bowl of menudo, or getting that unexpected monsoon after a hike in late June. When you add indie values to something, that thing significantly improves.

Think about it.

The food we eat at locally owned restaurants is better because the owners tend to base their culinary choices on what we Tucsonans value and not what a corporate board member based in Chicago thinks is good and profitable enough for us. Locally produced art is better because the artists creating it strive to express something real that comes from their souls and not from a formula that fills art galleries or theater seats. And politicians tend to produce better policy when they shape their positions based on what they truly believe in, or on what their constituents want instead of what political machines or parties expect from them.

And that is the perspective I will bring to my Indie Wheel commentaries. In my columns, I will: review plays and films, analyze what we are doing as a community to support our hometown economy, and celebrate moments of independent thinking by elected officials. You will quickly figure out my politics so I have no qualms about saying, for the record, that I am a registered Democrat. What kind? The kind of D that is pro-choice, supports gay marriage, detests the draconian policies of Phoenix politicians over the years, and so on. You get the idea. But make no mistake. I would much rather have an intelligent conversation with an independent thinking Republican than I would with a Democratic cheerleader that views politics more as a football game, supporting his team no matter what they do or say.

So, in a nutshell, I look forward to bringing you my views on local commerce, politics and the arts from an indie values perspective. Let’s add a little chiltepin to the Old Pueblo and see what happens.