After running as a write-in candidate in Tucson’s primary election, the Green Party’s Mike Cease qualified to appear on the general ballot in the city’s race for mayor. Cease discussed his campaign and priorities with Lorraine Rivera. Unlike Cease’s opponents, Democrat Regina Romero and independent Ed Ackerley, Cease supports the sanctuary city initiative, known as Proposition 205.
“It’s not only a public safety issue, but it’s also a moral issue. Sanctuary is a human right,” Cease said. “It’s been found that it’s unconstitutional to withhold federal funds for being a sanctuary city.”
Cease said he would also enact a Green New Deal in Tucson to address what he refers to as an ongoing climate crisis.
“We’re not here to make small incremental changes. We’re here to make massive mobilization of this community in response to the climate,” Cease said. “We’re going to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses with energy conservation measures: solar energy and water harvesting.”
To help pay for his plan, Cease said the city could create a public municipal bank that would provide loans to homeowners and businesses based on future energy savings. He also supports raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour with a citywide living-wage ordinance.
“It’s been done in dozens of other cities nationwide. It’s not been done here, and the question is, 'Why?' The political will has been lacking. That will change,” Cease said.
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