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A flower to Tucson's modern streetcar project, which is approaching the end of its gestation period. A big stumbling block recently was pushed aside with agreement on a preferred route for the streetcar.

The City Council is scheduled to vote March 27 on what is called "the locally preferred alternative route."

The route begins near Helen Street and Campbell Avenue, just south of University Medical Center. It will head south on Cherry Avenue to Second Street and the Main Gate shopping district, then go west on University Boulevard and south on Fourth Avenue.

From there it will go under the new and as-yet-unbuilt Fourth Avenue underpass. The streetcar will then head west on Congress Street and end up west of Interstate 10 in the cultural campus now under construction near the base of "A" Mountain.

The proposed route recently was extended a third of a mile along a new street, Avenida del Convento, south of Congress, to what is being called the Cultural Plaza.

Agreement on the final route is a major step. Once the council gives it a stamp of approval, the city can apply for transportation funds from the federal government to augment the $90 million earmarked for the project by the Tucson Regional Transportation Authority.

The city anticipates asking the Federal Transit Administration, or FTA, for about $50 million.

A flower to the Tucson KARE Family Center, celebrating its fifth anniversary.

KARE stands for Kinship and Adoption Resource and Education. The agency is a project of Arizona's Children Association, Pima Council on Aging, Casey Family Programs and other private and public organizations.

It has provided information and support to 6,000 households where grandparents are bringing up their children's children.

The KARE family center provides essential services to older citizens in our community.

AARP, the organization that lobbies on behalf of older Americans, cited Census Bureau data showing that Arizona ranks fourth in the nation for the number of grandparents raising their grandchildren. As of last July, 96,062 children in Arizona were living in a grandparent-headed household.

We applaud KARE for the help it provides to this burgeoning population of older Americans raising their grandchildren and other relatives. The Tucson KARE Family Center is at 4710 E. 29th St., Building 7. Call 323-4476 for information.

A thorn to the moving parking lot on Interstate 10 between Prince Road and 29th Street.

While preparations are under way to begin widening the freeway, traffic is snarled in a frustrating bottleneck. State transportation officials should get stop signs off the frontage roads. Pronto.