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Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American (APIDA) Forum
May is APIDA Heritage Month. We’re jumping the gun by a few weeks and hosting this forum – more a community conversation and listening session. The purpose is to give space to our Asian brothers and sisters for sharing their personal experiences. You’ve seen the horrible visuals on the news of APIDA people being publicly attacked. But making people feel like the ‘other’ in our community can take many forms far short of violence. It’s my hope that by inviting a broad representation from the Tucson community to actively listen, hear and learn how our Asian friends are feeling, we can become a more understanding and compassionate city.
Mayor Romero and I will share a couple of brief opening thoughts. Our friend Jasmine Chan will be moderating the listening session. She’s the chair of the Asian Pacific American Community Council at the UA. There will be a brief review of the history surrounding the treatment of the APIDA community in the United States, but the bulk of the meeting will be hearing and sharing. If you join, please come with a heart to actively listen.
Here’s all the sign-in information you’ll need to join. It’s on Wednesday, April 7th from 6 pm until 7:30 pm.
Topic: Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi American (APIDA) Community Conversation
Time: Apr 7, 2021 06:00 PM Arizona
Meeting ID: 846 2908 2568
And here’s how you can connect by phone:
1.669.900.9128 - passcode, 84629082568#
Confession – yes, I had to look up which countries are included in the ‘Desi’ group (pronounced “They-See.”). Those include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. I did relief work in Sri Lanka after the tsunami, but the rest are on my big bucket list of places to visit.
More on the COVID changes below, but I want to set the stage by opening with this reality check from Europe. As we know, what happens in Europe doesn’t stay in Europe. The virus has been a frequent flyer in the past – we need to remember that as it spreads.
This is one of the many bridges in Venice. It usually has crowds of people this time of year. You can see the effects COVID has brought them back to - as was also true last year.
About ¾ of Italy’s population is now barred from going outside, except for necessary services or going to work. Germany is also under a partial lockdown. In Poland, they’ve closed all non-essential businesses and switched their schools back to remote learning. And in France, the U.K. variant is now responsible for about 2/3 of their infections, with their death total close to 100,000.
In January, French President Macron rolled the dice and opted against implementing more restrictions – against the recommendations of his health care advisers. Now France is being battered by a new wave of COVID infections. They’ve instituted a third national lockdown.
Here, both the city and county mask mandates are in effect. Inside of private businesses, they’re optional. And of course, the selections you make for where you shop are also optional. Please be aware that COVID is alive and well – and is expanding again in the U.S. and in Arizona.
Vaccine Update
I want to open this week’s vaccine update with a note of thanks to the Pima County health team for assisting me in coordinating a series of vaccination evenings at the Islamic Center of Tucson (ICT) during next month’s Ramadan season. Many of the members of that community are refugees, and many speak primarily Arabic. Pima County recognized that this was going to be a hard-to-reach population. I join the ICT community in thanking Jess Seline and Krista Romero-Cardenas, along with all the PCHD staff, for taking the lead in organizing this outreach.
At Pima County vaccination sites (PODs), they’re now offering vaccinations to anyone, age 16 or older. One reason they’re able to do that is our vaccine supply is adequate to meet that demand. The other, though, is to keep pace with the increasing community spread we’re seeing. More on this below, but now there’s a new COVID variant that’s unique to Arizona. You’ve heard of the U.K. variant and the South African variant. Now there’s an Arizona version of COVID. They’ve also found it in New Mexico and in Texas.
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Nationwide there have been over 30 million COVID cases reported to date. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we’ve now given over 99M doses. And around 55M people have been fully vaccinated. We have over 325M total population in the U.S., so we’ve certainly still got a hill to climb. According to Bloomberg, the Arizona map now looks like this. We’re pretty much on a par with the rest of the country.
In the U.S., we’re averaging about 2.9M doses administered per day. That means it will take another 4 months before 75% of the population is fully vaccinated. It’s progress – and this quote from Bloomberg:
It’s now a life-and-death contest between vaccine and virus. New strains threaten renewed outbreaks.
Please continue following the CDC guidelines. If you need a hand with the Pima County registration process, please call either 324.6400 or 222.0119. Things change every day with this program, so don’t hesitate to call them if you’re unsure at any point in the process.
COVID Uptick
Many experts aren’t surprised, and indeed many have been predicting a new surge in infections. It has started in over ½ the states in the country. Michigan is seeing an explosive rise in cases, while both New York and New Jersey are bad as well. Hospital capacity is once again being strained in several jurisdictions. Seven of the top 10 cities experiencing the fastest national increases last week were in Michigan.
The causes include mayors and governors who have lifted restrictions on group size and mask-wearing, and people taking advantage of that, getting together in less cautious ways than we’ve been doing. It’s how viruses spread. COVID is only different in that it’s more contagious than many other diseases. And it has killed over a half million people in the U.S. since last year.
This chart was shows cases updated as of April 2nd. You can see that the national 7-day average is back to where it was during last summer’s surge. In the past 2 weeks, the numbers have increased by 20%. So far, the steep increase hasn’t hit Arizona, but the risk levels remain high.
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 Here’s the trend line for Pima County – starting an upward tilt, which is not a good sign.
Here’s the national risk map. Check out Michigan and the northeast – it's what we’re trying to avoid becoming again.
Right now, Pima County is at 9 new cases per 100,000 population. Miami-Dade is at 44 cases per 100,000. Chalk that up to spring break and the partying we saw on the news. And in Michigan, they’re over 58 new cases in the past week per 100,000. It’s how science works.
Variant Strains
I mentioned above that Arizona now has its own unique COVID strain. We’re now over 100 cases of new strains in the state. Nationwide that figure jumped from 8,500 last week to over 13,000 as of the weekend. You can see the change in maps – this one from last week:
 Compare that to what the CDC had online last weekend:
Note that the map reflects the U.K. variant numbers. It’s by far the most common, but others are hidden behind the map you see. Florida more than doubled from 1,042 up to over 2,300 U.K. variant cases this past week. Michigan added over 300 new cases as well.
The vaccines still appear to work on these variants, so please do what you can to get registered for one. Warnings included in some of the county correspondence I saw last week affirms the importance of getting the vaccination. And by extension, it demonstrates the importance of the governor getting out of the way of the county-run federal POD.
“The Communists in government want to take our guns away”
That’s a quote I saw posted on the state website below the text of the new law they’re considering that will force us into federal court if Ducey signs it. The law simply says that in Arizona, we will ignore any federal gun laws. Here’s the text:
Last week we had a mass shooting event for the 3rd consecutive week. This one was in Orange, California. Four people were shot to death, including a 9-year-old boy who was being cradled in his mom’s arms. She was shot and is now in critical condition. We seem to be right where we left off pre-COVID. And so does the majority in the Arizona state legislature.
Please consider letting Ducey know how you feel about this potential law. He has not supported earlier efforts at this sort of thing – perhaps he’ll have another lucid moment and oppose it this time as well.
Innovative Cities Forum
Former mayor Jonathan Rothschild is staying active in the community, and organizing the Innovative Cities forum is just the latest example. It’ll be held virtually on April 16th as a part of the Rothschild Fund for Civic Innovation.
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The forum will include a variety of themes. Those include a session on localism, the rise in ‘second-tier cities,’ placemaking (think Sunshine Mile,) and what’s changing in the development incentive arena. Jonathan and his team have invited several nationally plugged-in speakers who will follow the welcome provided by our own mayor Romero.
Tucson Innovating / Recycle-Reuse Plastic
Recently we initiated a change in our recycling program through which we’re now taking glass out of the waste stream, crushing it, and reusing it in productive secondary ways. The concrete sidewalk outside of the Ward 6 office, for example. And benches you’ll find on 4th Ave that I’ve shared with you in past newsletters. On May 4th, the mayor and I will be asking the council to join us in another innovative recycling step. This one involves plastic. Here’s our study session agenda memo:
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Right now, we collect plastics in the recycle bins. Only a couple of the grades of plastic are of any value in the recycling market. The process we’re suggesting puts all grades to use. Here’s a picture I took of one of the plastic blocks on the right.
You can see the nubs on top – just like a Lego. The holes in the middle of each nub are where the rebar inserts to hold the stacked blocks together. As we say in the memo – no mortar is necessary.
The blocker machine can be scaled for anywhere from 30 tons per month up to 90 tons of throughput per month. Based on the amount of waste plastic we receive, we can easily put the 90-ton unit to work.
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 The plastic is loaded into the chute at the end, runs up a conveyor to the blocking units, is heated by steam, compressed into the block, and is discharged from the unit. The process is nearly completely self-contained, with near-zero energy waste. And this chart shows the characteristics of the plastic block as compared to lumber and concrete.
We have a contract with Republic to operate the material recycle facility. My hope is that the council joins Regina and me in our desire to turn our city manager lose to negotiate a deal with Republic and get the machine up and running. As we say in the agenda memo, there are multiple construction projects coming with Prop 407 that we can use the product on. That'll save construction costs and extend the reach of those tax dollars.
It’s Tucson filling our spot as an innovative city.
Tucson Village Farm Rummage Sale
In 2018, the Tucson Village Farm was the recipient of an Angel Charity grant. They used it to build the Children Culinary Education Center out at the farm on Campbell. They finished that in 2020, just in time for COVID. Now they’re looking forward to welcoming kids into the space, and they’re holding a rummage sale to help fund some infrastructure finishing touches on the classroom.
The rummage sale will include all sorts of items; furniture, sports equipment, home decorations, housewares – all donated to the cause by the Tucson Village Farm community. You can get an early start on picking through the goodies in a Facebook live auction on Friday, April 16th. Watch this link or their social media pages for information on how to access that auction: https://tucsonvillagefarm.arizona.edu/rummage-sale-april-17th
The on-site rummage sale will take place at the farm, Saturday, April 17th, from 8 am until noon. They’re located at 2201 E. Roger Rd – Campbell, just south of the Rillito. It’s a great cause. I hope you can support their work.
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Reid Park Zoo Expansion
The city has started its new public outreach process related to the zoo expansion. A part of that is asking for input through an online survey. I’m including it here, with links that you can access for both English and Spanish.
At issue is whether we honor our contracts or cancel them after having invited the zoological society to solicit over $4.5M in donations in support of the Pathways to Asia project. Here’s the graphic that was widely shared during the 2018 public outreach:
For those who say they couldn’t make out the impact on the Barnum Hill area, this language was also included in that same set of presentations:
Pathway to Asia extends across Lakeshore Drive and includes the park’s southern pond and Barnum Hill. Development of the land will be conducted with sensitivity to the environment and any wildlife currently living there.
A core stakeholder group is right now working on seeing whether they can come consensus on a proposal for M&C. They’ll need your survey no later than the end of the day on Tuesday, April 13th. It only takes a couple of minutes to fill out. Please take the time and give us your thoughts.
RTA Next
Quick update on the RTA Next process. Last week we received a note from the RTA chair that was in response to our letter outlining the city priorities in the new package. Those priorities include making sure the new RTA tax includes money for road repair, some form of weighted voting, projects to be funded in a consistent way with our contribution to the regional tax base, and safety/multi-modal pieces in the new plan. The note they sent was intended to deliver their message back to us that we’re going to receive push-back from the RTA on both of the ‘weighted’ pieces of our list; the proportionate project funding and the weighted voting. Included in what we received was this memo, sent last August by the then RTA Board Chair Ramon Valadez. It was intended to remind us of how we arrived at ‘one-jurisdiction/one-vote - and to send the one for all and all for one regional message.
Date: Aug. 3, 2020, From: RTA Board Chair Ramón Valadez To: Thomas McGovern, Chair, RTA Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chuck Huckelberry, Chair, RTA Technical Management Committee (TMC) Re: RTA Plan Development Process Cc: RTA Board and CAC members
As you may recall, prior to the successful 2006 RTA, there had been five failed transportation efforts. The original RTA legislation gave both Pima County and the City of Tucson unilateral veto power over any action of the RTA. During a RTA discussion meeting of the PAG Regional Council in 2004, I surrendered the Pima County veto and invited my friend, Mayor Robert Walkup, to surrender the City of Tucson veto, and he did. We did this because we understood that if we were to be successful, this had to be a collaborative effort of all partners in our region. It was a clear signal to our entire community that the RTA was not going to be business as usual but rather a new way of doing business that was citizen-driven, not jurisdiction driven
Included in the packet they sent out was this list of RTA plan goals for the next round. It has some of what we’re after - ‘improve the conditions of existing roadways,’ and the bike/ped/transit/safety pieces. Clearly omitted are the pieces about proportionality.
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In the new federal infrastructure funding that was announced last week, there was a considerable amount of attention given to transportation-related line items. You can see in this graph that there’s some overlap between the new federal package and the items we’re talking about with the RTA.
We’re also still moving our way through the Move Tucson project and funding discussion. All of this is happening in tandem. I’ll need to see some give at the RTA end if I’m going to be supporting taking that regional tax out to the voters again. Some of their members appear to think the M&C is bluffing with our list of priorities. They really shouldn’t think that. It’s unlikely that we’re going to ask our residents to fund projects in outlying areas if city residents are carrying a disproportionate burden.
NCAA Pay to Play
At the same time the UA women’s basketball team is bringing national attention to the program, the NCAA this week is in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on a federal antitrust case. At issue is whether student-athletes should be able to make money from their celebrity while competing in college athletics.
The brief filed on behalf of the athletes said, “The NCAA and its member conferences and schools receive billions of dollars every year through the hard work, sweat, and sometimes broken bodies of student-athletes. Yet the schools have agreed among themselves to limit what student-athletes may receive for their work in generating these extraordinary revenues.”
March Madness – the NCAA post-season basketball tournament – yields around a billion dollars in media rights revenues. For its 115 year history, the NCAA has prohibited student-athletes from making extra money, beyond the educational benefits they receive through the institution. In the past couple of years, states and even Congress have begun looking at adopting statutes that would allow students to sign contracts in which they’re paid by sponsors so they can profit from their “name, image or likeness” (NIL.) The NCAA has pushed back. For example, if you’ve been following the women’s progress through the tournament, you know point guard Aari McDonald’s name. If a local car dealer wanted to pay her to promote their product, Aari would be prohibited under current NCAA rules. Any other student on campus would not be prohibited. What’s at issue is the definition of amateurism in college sports.
It’s all coming to a head right during the time of year that the NCAA profits most heavily from the student-athletes. If you’d like to read more background on the issue, click this link, and it’ll take you to an Inside Higher Education article on the consequential case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this week. And this link takes you to an article on the NIL laws passed by states.
Here’s the perspective from Geo Baker – a basketball player for Rutgers. Change is certainly coming to how players are treated by the NCAA.
City Senior Center Opening
Last week we began a phased reopening of our senior centers. They'll be open for activities 3 days per week, at 50% capacity. All participants will need to be over 50 years of age, and we’ll continue to insist on masks, distancing, and wellness checks at the door. The hours of operation will vary by location, so please refer to this schedule when planning your visit:
Opening Tuesday, March 30:
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El Pueblo Senior Center 101 W. Irvington Road Mon-Fri From 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Beginning April 5: Mon-Fri From 9a.m.-4p.m.
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Morris K. Udall Carol West Senior Addition 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road Mon, Wed, Fri from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
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Armory Park Senior Center 220 S. 5th Avenue Tues, Thurs, Fri from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
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El Rio Neighborhood Center 1390 W. Speedway Boulevard Tues, Thurs, Fri from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
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Freedom Park Center 5000 E. 29th St. Tues, Thurs, Fri from 9 .a.m-1 p.m.
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Fred Archer Center 1665 S. La Cholla Boulevard Tues, Thurs, Fri from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
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Quincie Douglas Center 1575 E. 36th St. Tues, Thurs, Fri from 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
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Donna Liggins Center 2160 N. 6th Avenue Tues, Thurs, Fri from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
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William M. Clements Center 8155 E. Poinciana Drive Tues, Thurs, Fri from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Opening Monday, April 12:
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Randolph Center 200 S. Alvernon Way Tuesday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
We’re continuing to follow all CDC COVID guidelines, despite the Ducey suggestion that since there are available hospital beds, we should drop all those rules.
Arts Foundation – Project Creosote
April 29th is the deadline for artists and arts organizations to apply for grants through Project Creosote. The program will offer grants ranging from $2K up to $10K. It’s all in an effort to help arts groups who’ve suffered through COVID and are in a rebuilding stage.
All arts organizations in Southern Arizona are invited to apply. The Foundation is centered on underserved communities, rural areas, and Native Sovereign Nations. The grant money may be used to cover salaries, fees for artists, and facilities costs. If you’d like to see all the details on applying, use this link: https://artsfoundtucson.org/grant/project-creosote/
COVID Risk in Pima County
The University of Pittsburgh has gone back into a shelter in place mode. They’ve found COVID outbreaks in 13 of their residence halls. They’re back in lockdown until things calm down on their campus, and importantly, in the surrounding community.
The infection spread in the state, Pima County, and around the UA is now above 1 in all three locations again. Any value above 1.0 means we’re back into a community spread condition. Here’s how that has progressed since the middle of March:
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The UA area is again a COVID spread hot spot. Partying and gathering in bars/restaurants cannot be dismissed as a part of this increase in community spread around campus.
Since daily counts are unreliable due to reporting lags, I’ll instead show the weekly totals as a way of tracking how things have evolved in Pima County over the past month.
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March 8th - 14th - 720
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March 15th - 21st - 618
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March 22nd - 28th - 517
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March 29th - April 4th - 688
Last week was the first weekly increase we’ve had in over a month. We’re doing significantly better than the days of 1,000+ new cases we saw in January. But I see a lot of restaurants and bars full of people. Masks are rare in those places.
The Harvard Global Health Institute map has more changes this week. This is what I had in the newsletter last week. But none of this is static.
This is how things have regressed in the past week:
Michigan is all red, and there’s significant deterioration in the northeast and in the Midwest. As I mentioned above, much of this is due to the new variants.
Here’s our statewide map. I’ve been sharing these weekly for over a year now. In Pima County, we’ve now passed 113,000 COVID cases.
In Pima County, we’ve lost over 2,300 friends and loved ones since this began. When we did the memorial event in Himmel last October, the number was 622. At the time, we planted a flag for each person. Now that field of flags would cover the entire hill we gathered on.
Please keep focused on getting a vaccine and continuing to practice safe habits. We can see the finish line, but we’re not there yet.
For the NY Times data sets, use this link:
The State Department of Health site is at this link: www.azdhs.gov.
Sincerely,
Steve Kozachik
Council Member, Ward 6
ward6@tucsonaz.gov
City of Tucson Resources
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