The saguaro will survive, not sure about the senior residents of Tucson

 From the desk of a long-time Tucson resident

The saguaro will survive...that's a given

The year is 2022.

The greed is suffocating us -- us, as in the senior citizen.

Not the ones already homeless. Unfortunately, that black mark is already bedded into our society. But let's focus on the ones out there who have yet to give up. The ones who worked most of their adult life...the average Joe or Jolene, if you will, who still battle every hour of every day looking to survive in a world where corporations buy up all the existing homes and apartment complexes they can find, throw on a can of paint and drive the housing market in a small town like Tucson, Arizona through the roof.

There's no stopping them, especially in Arizona, where no laws protect the inhabitants who shutter once a year, awaiting the subsequent increase in their rent.

Envision, if you will, walking into the office of a complex in 2022 and being told your rent payment is going to increase to a monthly fee along the lines of a monthly bill on a new Lexus...or with a quick calculation, you discover there will be no more visits to Safeway. 

A 25 percent increase! Say that...again! A 25 percent increase!

Yes, there are plenty of seniors out there who made all the right moves in their life, or tried to, and can relax on their sofa at night and shake their heads as they watch the evening news and try to rack their brains around what is becoming the standard, chaotic world we live in.

But!

For example, the plight of the average Joe, or Jolene, who find themselves in their mid-70s in hopes of living out...maybe months or maybe a few years, if their luck holds out... a somewhat everyday existence before the sun sets on their life. Perhaps they are holding their breath and live in downtown Tucson, or south near the San Xavier Mission, or west across the Tucson Mountains...or east to the Rincon Mountains, or north to Sabino Canyon... to a place where the soothing sound of water rushes under, and sometimes over, the many bridges, which lead to the top of the trail...a beautiful walk -- 7.4 miles up and back to be exact.

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A walk that allows temporary freedom from the hustle and bustle...and greed that lies below.

Tucson --a dusty town back in the 1950s where you could tune in KTKT inside your 1964 Ford and listen to Frank Kalil push the button on yet another Dion and the Belmonts tune -- has now turned into a haven for greed as the greedy corporations rush into our little city, dismantling our way of life.

You can walk only so far in Sabino. Sooner or later, you must return to the valley and turn on the news.

There's a storm brewin' in our city.