If Republican Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup and the six Democratic members on the City Council didn’t learn from their parents years ago that "the truth hurts," the saying hit them between the eyes when they picked up the July 27 Arizona Daily Star.

"$77 million has been spent on Rio Nuevo, and this is what we have so far..." the front page headline proclaimed as reporter Rob O’Dell presented more than a full page of evidence showing we haven’t received much.

That won’t surprise most Tucsonans, but we finally have a report on downtown development’s costs and benefits so far.

When Councilwoman Regina Romero and some of her colleagues asked for specific numbers, they found that few bureaucrats knew the details.

If they read the newspaper, they do now.

The article prompted State Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, to warn again that some of his Republican legislative colleagues have discussed cutting or eliminating the tax increment financing law slated to give Tucson up to $600 million in sales tax money for Rio Nuevo by 2021.

This is a crisis, but it’s also summer, when our council doesn’t meet weekly. The council’s first meeting since the article won’t happen until Wednesday (Aug. 6).

Apparently seeing no crisis, the ever-optimistic Walkup told the Star: "A lot is going on, and it’s all positive."

He added that Rio Nuevo’s arena and convention hotel are "right around the corner."

He probably said that last year, too. Or was it three years ago?

Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, who chairs the council’s Rio Nuevo subcommittee, said: "We need to get the public to share our belief that yes, it is happening."

That would be easier if it really were happening.

In the 1960s, Tucson addressed pressing city issues differently.

Realtor Lew Davis won the mayor’s post in 1961 and brought fellow Republicans G. Freeman Woods, Marvin Linner and Bill Rees into office with him. They joined incumbents James Lee Kirk, Charlie Branin and Ray Weaver on a 7-0 GOP council.

Infrastructure hadn’t kept pace with population growth so Davis and city officials moved quickly to meet with Chevrolet dealer Buck O’Rielly and other business leaders to create a multi-million-dollar bond issue for a four-lane Broadway underpass, the city’s first 22nd Street overpass, the current City Hall, parks, streets, water facilities and other needs.

After convincing the Pima County Board of Supervisors and publishers William R. Mathews of the Star and William A. Small Sr. of the then Tucson Daily Citizen the bonds were both needed and reasonable, city officials scheduled an election.

Politicians, business people and citizens worked together, and local media explained the proposals in detail. The bonds passed easily, and construction started within months.

Admittedly, some things are different today, but consider what Phoenix, Glendale, Goodyear, Surprise, Peoria, Chandler, Scottsdale, Tempe and other Maricopa County jurisdictions have done in only a few years more than Tucson has been planning and replanning Rio Nuevo.

Maricopa’s city and county politicians, business owners, media and citizens have produced new convention facilities, major hotels, light-rail and freeway projects, parks, baseball stadiums, a Super Bowl-class football facility, theaters, museums, concert venues and other projects.

Now they’re reaping the benefits of their vision, cooperation and energy.

Yes, the Phoenix area got more state and federal funding than we’ve received. But that’s partly because Tucson and Pima County haven’t taken advantage of funding opportunities as well as the Phoenix area has.

Our county and its cities, business people and citizens also haven’t worked together as well as we could have.

We could correct some of those flaws, but our leaders haven’t shown they want to.

Contact Steve Emerine or e-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Emerine, a Tucson resident since 1960, has run Steve Emerine Strategic Public Relations since 1994. He is a former local newspaper reporter, editor and columnist and served as Pima County Assessor from 1973 to 1980. He is a regular Monday guest on the John C. Scott radio talk show, which airs from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. and from 11 a.m. to noon weekdays on The Voice KVOI 690-AM. This column appears weekly in Inside Tucson Business.