PHOENIX On Tuesday morning, John Arnold, director of the Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting, presented Brewer’s budget to a joint House and Senate Appropriations Committee. Rep. Chad Campbell [D-24] grilled Arnold about a provision to have K-12 public-school students pay a $15 fee to get a broadband connection, whether or not their school already…
As the session begins, declarations of collegiality ring out, but the fissures soon start emerging
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An exterior shot of a 1949 Airstream at The Shady Dell in Bisbee, Arizona. It is an example of one of nine trailers guests are able to choose from to rent. Photographed by Jennifer Luria[/caption]They’re a piece of Americana, making their debut in the 1930s, the streamline design of vintage travel trailers holds a special place in southern Arizona.
At the Shady Dell, a B&B comprising vintage trailers, the 1951 Mansion, a Spartan classic, is furnished with a leopard rug and an antique radio playing old classics.
“I think we are the only kitschy, ‘50s – almost time capsule – like, no one’s been in there since the time they were built,” says Jennifer Luria, owner of The Shady Dell.
The B&B, in Bisbee, Ariz., is home to nine fully restored trailers – ranging from a 1949 Airstream to a 1957 El Rey, which visitors can book for the night. The Shady Dell had been a campground for weary travelers on the legendary Highway 80, which stretched from Savannah, Ga. to San Diego, Calif., and most closely approximates the route of the historic Lincoln Highway, the first road across America.
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Street vendor Lupita Alvarado straightens some wares on her table near the tourist district in Nogales, Sonora, in September 2013. Alvarado, who moved to Nogales from her home state of Oaxaca five years ago, laments the significant decrease in foot traffic in the area. © Steve Choice[/caption]Walking around the roughly five square blocks that make up the tourist district of Nogales, Sonora, one gets the feeling the town is dead.
Shops and pharmacies that did a brisk business just a few years back now have troubling amounts of elbow room for day-trippers who make the trip south.
Though Nogales has never had the panache of more famous tourist districts in the United States like Old Town San Diego or Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, it’s traditionally managed to attract a significant number of visitors. That is, until recently.
People on the U.S. side of the border are still spooked by the spate of street violence that rocked the city in 2009 and 2010.
Though the city of 220,000 had 83 murders in 2011 – a decrease of 60 percent from the year before – locals will quickly point out that no tourists were caught up in any violence. Everyone from police officials to local politicians to guys quietly drinking a Tecate in bars like the Salon Regis say the same thing – the violence has ended, and the city’s back to normal.
