City taking a hatchet to public services
With funding cuts imminent to deal with the city’s anticipated $51 million deficit, some city departments – especially the Parks and Recreation Department ð- are cutting corners by slashing public services. As the Arizona Daily Star reported, recreation centers will close on weekends, part-time workers are being let go and the free downtown shuttle has been discontinued. We agree with the need for cuts; what’s disturbing is the lack of public discussion about cutting services that affect many Tucsonans. The city council isn’t set to meet about budget cuts until next month, and Council Member Karin Uhlich told the Star that she’s been getting calls from the public complaining about the lack of readily available information on what’s being cut. The city’s interest in greater efficiency is laudable, but they shouldn’t forget that they have an obligation to be upfront about what they’re doing.

Finding another Olson will be a formidable task
Replacing Lute Olson will be difficult for a variety of reasons, not least because any coach stepping into the legendary Hall of Famer’s shoes will face more intense expectations than any of his players. UA athletic director Jim Livengood said Sunday that he didn’t expect a new coach to be in place until April. It’s not simply that he wants to take the time to get the choice right; even if the perfect candidate showed up tomorrow, as Livengood noted, he or she would be abandoning his or her program in the middle of the season – not the kind of leader you could rely on, in other words. The biggest problem, though, is that today’s society just doesn’t produce many people of Lute Olson’s caliber. In today’s career-obsessed world, where athletes and coaches won’t hesitate to abandon their programs if it means more money, replacing a man like Olson is well-nigh impossible; he came to the UA when its team was among the worst-ranked in the country because he was confident he could turn it around. In today’s heated sports environment, how do you find someone dedicated enough to stick with a single program for a quarter of a century? That’s the question Livengood and the rest of the athletic department have to wrestle with.

‘Robocalls’ ineffective, annoying
If you were awakened this weekend by a barrage of automated calls, you weren’t alone. “”Robocalls,”” as they’re called, are used by candidates because they’re cheap and aren’t banned by the federal Do Not Call list since they’re considered to be political speech under the First Amendment. Sen. John McCain unleashed a major round of robocalls last month attacking Sen. Barack Obama; Obama launched his own anti-robocall robocalls in response. By most accounts, though, robocalls are an ineffective – and irritating – way to spread information. As Farhad Manjoo wrote in a Slate.com article Oct. 27, various studies show that robocalls “”don’t convince voters to go to the polls (or to stay away), and they don’t change people’s minds about which way to vote.”” We wish both candidates – as well as supporters and opponents of the various propositions alike – would learn that.

‘Apathetic’ a misnomer for student voters
Our generation doesn’t get a lot of credit. Since the ’90s, young people have typically been portrayed in the media as apathetic and apolitical. This month, we can’t accuse them of being either. As the Daily Wildcat reported Friday, students have been lining up at the early voting stations at the Student Union Memorial Center since it opened Oct. 8, but the lines have been getting longer and longer as the election draws closer. With Obama and McCain signs, T-shirts and stickers virtually everywhere you look, it’s safe to say that this election hasn’t gone unnoticed by our generation; what’s been less certain is whether young people would actually turn out to the polls. Judging by those lines, students are taking their futures a lot more seriously than many people have given them credit for.

Editorials are determined by the Daily Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Andi Berlin, Chris Carter, Justyn Dillingham, Lauren LePage and Nickolas Seibel.