Editor’s note: This was an open letter sent to Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup, City Council members Regina Romero, Rodney Glassman, Karin Uhlich, Shirley Scott, Steve Leal and Nina Trasoff, and City Manager Mike Hein.

All of you have been interviewed on KVOI radio by John C. Scott. For that, I thank you, and I appreciate your heart to serve. I know it isn’t an easy job.

It is one of the great things about our country that we have the ability to speak freely and question those in authority over us.

One of the other great things about our country is free enterprise. We don’t live in an oligarchy, like Mexico, where a few retain and hold power and wealth and where few others ever rise above their station in life. That is the reason so many people want to come here to America where they can be free and become successful.

John F. Kennedy said that "when the tide rises, all boats rise." He realized that it is not a zero sum game where someone has to lose if someone else wins. We reward actors, artists and athletes financially because we appreciate their gifts.

Why is it that when a business person exercises his or her gifts and receives a reward that we consider that bad?

When someone like Bill Gates brought his entrepreneurial gifts to Seattle, all boats rose in that community.

We are driving away the best and the brightest from Tucson because we don’t appreciate their gifts. The only way our community will improve and vital projects like Rio Nuevo will get completed is if we recognize the gifts in the private sector and enable them to build and profit from their labors. This will draw higher paying employers to our community and all boats will rise on the Rio Nuevo.

I have shared with you before that I am from Albuquerque and I have witnessed from afar the wonderful transformation of that city from what I remember from my childhood to today. The council in Albuquerque and particularly Mayor Martin Chávez realized that they should work with the private sector to make their city beautiful.

Successful business people are not all greedy and evil people. The problem we have today is that many of the business people I have talked to that could help, don’t want to. They have not been invited to the table and feel they are hated by our city government and officials because of their success.

If that is true, it is a shame. Prejudice in any form is wrong. People should not be judged by their color, religion, nationality, success or lack of it. They should be judged by their hearts. I pray for all of you daily and hope that we will see great things rise out of the ashes of our community.

Contact Doug Martin, president and general manager of Good News Broadcasting, at doug@kvoi.com. Good News Broadcasting owns and operates radio stations KVOI 690-AM, KGMS 940-AM and K-Love KLTU 88.1-FM in Tucson and KNXN 1470-AM Sierra Vista, KAPR 930-AM Douglas and KJAA 1240-AM Globe