On March 28th, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky extended the eviction moratorium until June 30th of this year. Citing the adverse health effects tied to COVID, the extension says landlords may not evict any ‘covered person’ through the end of the moratorium. Rents are not being waived, so please continue working with your landlord to try making partial payments if you’re having trouble making the full one’s. The announcement included these qualifying criteria:
The Pima County Community Action Agency is set up to help people apply for rental assistance. There are certain declaration forms you need to file. The county folks will walk you through that process. Please reach out to them at www.pima.gov/RentHelp. Or you can call 724.2667 weekday’s from 8:30am until 10:30am and someone will give you a hand. This is about helping people avoid eviction. It’s a team effort including you, your landlord and this county-aided assistance.
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A contract has been issued to Deployed Resources, LLC to provide a large tent in which the feds will house asylum seekers. Early reports indicate they’ll be minors. Nothing in the contract confirms that though.
 This is the ‘soft sided facility’ you may have seen in recent news reports. The project description is straightforward:
 The contract was signed on April 2nd. Initially it obligated $32M. By the time the contract is fulfilled on October 19th of next year, the total bill will be north of $105M. Here’s that summary portion of the contract:
Deployed Resources, LLC is a for-profit company located in Rome, N.Y. To put the magnitude of that contract into perspective, when Homeland Security reimburses Catholic Community Services for one of the Casa Alitas guests, they get $21.50 per day. If you divide the $105M contract by 540 days (approximately the 18 months of the agreement), it comes to $195,445 per day. DHS says that due to COVID they’ll cap the number of people housed inside the tent at a maximum of 200. Divide $195K by 200 and that means they’re going to spend $977 per person, per day to keep them in the tent.
We can do a whole lot better than that using available hotel rooms. And the conditions would be far more humane than warehousing people who are here trying to put their lives together in a tent – with summer heat coming up.
We continue taking donations for the Alitas work here at the Ward office. Thanks to the UA Fraternity and Sorority Program for their very kind donation last week. Connect with me at steve.kozachik@tucsonaz.gov and we’ll coordinate receiving what you can spare.
Vaccine Update
As the UA ponders the idea of requiring vaccinations for students returning this fall, plenty of other institutions have made the commitment to their surrounding communities. For example, this was tweeted out last week related to the entire UCal system:
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 As you’ll recall, it was a fight to get the UA administration to recognize mandatory testing was not going to hurt their recruiting efforts. Now the same dynamic is playing out. As the rest of the country looks at requiring vaccines for COVID this fall, the UA is thinking about it, and seemingly only if the other two state universities do it. Very simply put, community health should be more important than marketing tools to attract the grossly out of line tuition that’s being charged. I’ll keep track of the issue as it slowly evolves.
In Pima County we still have a combination of walk-thru, drive-thru and mobile vaccination sites. Here’s a quick rundown on the large vaccination sites:
Kino Event Center – 2805 E. Ajo – Monday through Saturday from 9am until 7pm.
TCC – 260 S. Church – Monday through Friday from 8am until 4pm
TMC @ Udall – 7200 E. Tanque Verde – Monday through Friday from 8am until 5pm, and on Saturday from 8am until 2pm.
El Pueblo Center (101 W. Irvington) Monday-Wednesday-Friday from 4pm until 8pm.
Banner South Kino Stadium (2500 E. Ajo) Monday through Saturday from 7:30am until 12:30pm. This is a drive-through site, and they’re only giving 2nd doses so call ahead at 833.509.0908.
Other than the Banner South site, the rest are walk through, and they’re all giving Moderna only. You can get on-site registration at Kino, TCC and El Pueblo. For the TMC site use the website I’ve got below to make a registration.
This week there are 4 pop-up vaccination sites scattered around town. Here’s the list.
Dr. Fauci continues to say in order to return to relative normalcy, we need at least 75% of the U.S. population vaccinated. At our current pace, that will take another 3 months. The worldwide figure is under 7% vaccinated, so this isn’t going to end right around the corner.
According to the Bloomberg tracker, in Arizona we went from just under 32% of the population covered to just over 34% in the past week. Here’s their data:
COVID rates have flattened in 9 states where they’ve exceeded 40% fully vaccinated. Things are progressing, slowly.
And as always, if you have trouble registering through the links I gave up above, call either 324.6400 or 222.0119 and they’ll give you a hand.
COVID Uptick
I mentioned above that the worldwide vaccination rate is still under 7%. The World Health Organization (WHO) put out a report last week in which they confirmed that the pandemic is showing no signs of easing from a global perspective. That matters. People travel.
According to the WHO study, a third of the global cumulative COVID cases and fatalities have been reported since February of this year. Reports of new weekly cases are similar to our previous international peak from January 2021. This chart shows where all that activity is coming from:
Last week was the 8th straight week COVID cases have increased worldwide. The number of deaths increased for the 5th straight week. Last week we passed 3 million COVID fatalities. It took us 9 months to reach 1 million, another 4 months to reach 2 million, and we added this 3rd million fatalities in just 3 months.
This chart shows the uptick in new case reports. If we lived in a bubble, nobody travelled, and we didn’t care about the well-being of people living in other parts of the world, we could ignore this. But none of those ‘ifs’ are true, so we cannot ignore these increases in virus spread.
This is the national ‘Risk Level’ map. A few weeks ago, the real hot spots were relegated to Michigan and much of Florida. Now we’re seeing that spread to the middle part of the country, and out west.
Zeroing in on Pima County, we’re back to being on the edge of the 10 per/100,000 risk level. We’re headed in the wrong direction.
Here’s this week’s addition to the infection data I’ve been tracking for Pima County. It went in the wrong direction, too.
March 29th - April 4th - 688
April 5th - April 11th - 629
April 12th - April 18th - 520
April 19th - April 25th - 651
And the community spread data is back over 1.0 again – which means spread is happening. Locally, it’s the UA area that is the hot spot.
One caveat to all this data. Testing has decreased. That means even these increases are likely being understated since people can be carriers without knowing it. Please continue being safe and encouraging others to stick with the CDC program as we pull ourselves back toward normal.
Two weeks ago, the CDC stopped issuing a separate count for new cases involving the variant strains. At the time we were over 23,000 reported cases involving one of the several new strains. They’re not reporting that out any longer, perhaps because the vaccinations appear to be equally effective on them as they are on regular COVID-19. We know there’s community spread. What we don’t know – because they’re not releasing the data – is how much of that is due to COVID-19, and how much is due to the new strains.
I’ll keep watching the CDC site to see if they resume reporting on the variants. This is the site I’m tracking. If you’ve got one that shows current counts, please share it with me.
Late last week the Star ran a story announcing the very early stages of the Kino Sports complex that is right now in the pre-development stage. This is a rendering of the new field house that’s being planned.
The building you see poking through in the background is an Iceplex. The county is working on a pre-development package with Knott Development to begin the design phase.
The field house is right now programmed to house several basketball courts that can be transitioned into volleyball courts. They’re also looking at indoor lacrosse. And the concept for the iceplex is for 3 ice rinks that would host local hockey and skating programs, many of which are right now driving to Phoenix to find ice time.
They’re early in the design, but as this develops it will be a significant hub for incoming events that I’m sure our Visit Tucson team is excited about. Congratulations to the county folks for this forward-looking addition to the existing Kino stadium complex. It will be a game-changer for the region in the years to come.
6th and Campbell Development
This project would have been a game-changer for the residents living in the immediate area had it gone through as planned. When the planned area development (PAD) for the SW corner of 6th and Campbell was circulated to city departments for comment, my response was that it was way out of scale for the area, it would increase traffic on an already overloaded street, and that another student housing tower was not something I’d support. The proposal was for a 140’ tall student housing tower, a 70’ hotel complex and a 50’ retail component on the SW corner of 6th and Campbell.
The project has made its way through the zoning examiner process. During the past several months, I’ve convened multiple meetings with the development and design team along with neighbors from both Rincon Heights and Sam Hughes. The hope was to come to some agreement on scope/height/density and uses. None of that happened. Last week the zoning examiner (ZE) issued his draft recommendation that effectively denies the project as proposed. In his decision, the ZE said it would be unfair to residents in the area to approve something of the scope being proposed and leave it to simply trust the development to scale back to something reasonable.
With other PADs we’ve been able to meet with affected parties and the developer and agree on the sorts of issues that are of concern at 6th and Campbell. I fully support the zoning examiner’s position. The project doesn’t fit the character of the area.
When ‘athletics director’ UA president Robbins first arrived on campus I spent 90 minutes with him and a couple of his staffers in his office talking about the then proposed Honors Dorm. That was the land deal the UA engaged in by which they removed themselves from having to go through any city zoning process. My message to him was going forward with that kind of deal would hurt the credibility of the UA with surrounding neighbors. They ended up completing the project anyway. That scar will remain in the minds of nearby residents for years.
The UA owns a tiny parcel within the proposed 6th and Campbell PAD. The developer has met several times with the UA on what they’d like to see on that site. I know they’ve talked about student housing in the tower for UA athletes. I also know Robbins has wanted a hotel on that corner since the day he arrived. Originally, he was looking at the north side of the street, on UA property in what used to be the football practice field. As this development bubbled up, the UA became interested in preserving their own green space for athletics department programming, and letting the development take place on the site south of campus. The ZE was more sensitive to the concerns of neighbors than the UA has been – witness Honors and the land deal.
If the UA wants student towers, they’ve got plenty of space inside the perimeter of campus to cut deals with developers and go vertical. I’ll keep working with the developer and residents on the 6th/Campbell site to see if we can come to agreement on something appropriate. What was on the table didn’t meet that standard.
Green Stormwater Infrastructure
Several neighborhoods in Ward 6 have benefited from the Green Stormwater Infrastructure grants we’ve made available over the past couple of years. They’re for neighborhood scale water conservation projects that enhance landscape, and with that enhance the quality of life in our residential areas.
On Wednesday, May 12th, we’re hosting a Zoom with Jon Choi and Jenny Moscato from Tucson Clean & Beautiful. The purpose is to let them present the GSI program, talk about some of the projects we’ve already funded and take your questions about how your neighborhood can get involved.
These are very cool projects that are making impacts related to water runoff and tree canopy all over the city. Please plan on carving out time on the 12th to join us. The meeting will run from 5:30 until 6:30. You can use this link to join:
In case you’re prompted, here are the meeting ID and passcode numbers.
Meeting ID: 890 8307 7939
And if you’re out and about but would like to take part by phone:
1.253.215.8782 then enter 89083077939#
Grant Road Widening
Over the weekend city staff hosted a public open house in Tahoe Park related to the Grant Road widening project. The focus is specifically on phases 5 & 6 – the middle section running from about Mountain over to Palo Verde. Two more public meetings are scheduled for the near future. One will be tomorrow, April 27th from 4pm – 6pm in La Madera Park (Treat and Glenn.) The other will be from 5:30 until 7pm on May 3rd. That one will be held virtually at http://bit.ly/GrantRdOpenHouse.
If you’d like to get an overview of what’s being discussed at these meetings, this link will take you to a 16-minute video that’ll show you what’s planned for that segment of the project: http://grantroad.info/. The RTA is still working on a funding model.
I’ve been taking part in a series of productive conversations with the Rio design team and neighborhoods along the Broadway corridor. What’s noteworthy is that we were able to reduce the width of the planned Broadway widening, largely because we were able to demonstrate traffic along the Sunshine Mile is far less than what was projected on the 2006 ballot. It’s interesting that the Grant traffic counts are showing a similar reduction from what was predicted. It’s all food for thought as we start conversations about projects that may appear on the next RTA ballot measure.
Cigna Counseling
It was great to hear from former colleague and friend Mary Okoye last week. One of her current clients, Cigna is offering counseling over the phone for people who may be having a tough time working through the stresses of the day.
The program they’ve got available is for people who don’t have health benefits or employee assistance programs that include the opportunity to talk with people qualified in helping others manage their anxieties. Whether those are building up due to home or job-related situations, or coming from the news of the day, Cigna is encouraging people to take care of their mental health and to look for support if you need it. If that’s you, or someone you know, please consider calling this toll-free number at 866.912.1687. They’re there 24/7.
Home Base Hair Salons
Sometimes the small changes we make in our local ordinances can have a huge effect on people in the community who are doing their best to make ends meet. Last week we had an opportunity to do that.
From left to right, this is Linda, Shani and Jen. Linda’s a single mom, Shani is a mom of 5 and Jen is a single woman. All are local entrepreneurs working as licensed hair stylists. Last week we adopted a change to our ordinance that now allows them to run a home-based hair salon within the city. The change was long overdue.
The state licenses hair stylists. The state also allows home-based salons. For public health reasons they require a separate entry, and a restroom that’s separate from the one the rest of the household uses.
The city allows home-based businesses with the exception of auto mechanics, medical businesses and until now, hair salons. The pandemic has caused us all to reimagine what business looks like. With parents trying to balance home schooling, parenting duties, and work – and life – eliminating salons from the restricted category just makes sense.
We included some neighborhood protections with the ordinance change. The business may only have a single customer at a time, they may not have outside employees, and we’ve capped the number of customers they can have at 10 per day. Beyond that, I wish Jen, Shani, and Linda all the best as they transition from multi-chair facilities to the comforts and conveniences of home.
Yume Gardens Season Ending Event
One of our local hidden gems is having a 2 evening ‘end of season’ event. Yume Gardens is located at 2130 N. Alvernon, just south of the Botanical Gardens. Coming on May 7th and 8th they’re hosting Paul Amiel. Paul is involved with Tucson’s Empty Bamboo Shakuhachi Circle. They play contemplative music, and Paul is bringing both a harp and a Japanese bamboo flute to Yume to perform. Aside from a ‘performance,’ it’s more of an opportunity for visitors to listen and relax under the spell of his music.
The events will be timed 1-hour long presentations. It’s a limited admission event in order that they can assure social distancing. So, you must get advanced tickets if you’re going. Throughout the evening Yume’s “The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō” exhibit will be open.
The times for Paul’s music are 6:30 until 7:30 and 7:30 until 8:30pm on both evenings. To get more information visit their website at www.yumegardens.org, or call Patricia at 272.3200. They will require face coverings throughout your visit.
If you go, please do not park on Hampton Place. That’s the short cul-de-sac north of Yume. It’s too tight for overflow parking so please respect the neighbors’ need to get in and out of their homes.
Jefferson Park Plant Sale
And one final event to alert you to – Jefferson Park is our Ward 6 neighbor, across Campbell, between Grant and the hospital. They’re hosting their annual ‘plant sale’ neighborhood fund raiser May 7th through the 9th from 8am until 2pm. This is more than simply plants – you'll find yard art, tools for gardening, a variety of pots – and of course a variety of plants. This flyer has all the information on when and where. It’s a way to support the community work being done by the Jefferson Park neighbors, while picking up the gardening needs you’ve got and avoiding bumping shoulders in a busy store.
Leaf Blowing
One quick ‘gardening-related’ note. While I’m out running/biking/walking through neighborhoods, I often see people using gas-powered leaf blowers to help with their yard work. The Pima County health folks have put together a list of some things you can do while using one of those in order to minimize the dust and other particulates you may otherwise be blowing around. Here are a few – starting with considering use of a rake or broom. But beyond that, you can still make a difference for the neighborhood. Here’s the county ‘cheat sheet’ on how you can help.
 5G Update
In last week’s newsletter I shared the Guest Piece I wrote for the Star. In it I made several references to TEP and their involvement in the 5G rollout. I’m now advised that the utility didn’t like the bad press, so they’ve written a response. I welcome that – at least they’re finally acknowledging a role. That’s the first step towards getting all parties to the table for solutions.
With respect to collocating small cell equipment on their poles, in their response editorial they said they had “approved the only such request we’ve received (Verizon) to date the following day.” And that they hadn’t done so before because “they haven’t asked”. That’s the shifting of the burden back to the telecom industry that I called them out for during the joint TEP/Verizon Zoom meeting I hosted last week. The Verizon request came last week a day after that meeting. And the reasons nobody has bothered to make requests until now are that there is no Master Licensing Agreement with TEP, and the TEP specifications are so restrictive that the cell providers have told me there’s no point in even asking. Here’s the reality – because of all the public activity we’ve generated on this issue, everyone is now at the table looking for solutions.
In their editorial TEP also said they’ve got a history of allowing ‘telecom’ providers space on their poles. If you paint with broad enough strokes, you can hide the flaws in a disingenuous statement. In this case they’re referring to Cox and cable providers. That’s not small cell providers, so the statement was intentionally self-serving, and not on point. But as long as they raise the issue, this picture is what is being allowed to happen in our residential areas:
TEP comes in and increases the height of a pole and Cox is then allowed to leave their lines on the orphan pole next to the new one. Now we’ve got 2 poles with this aesthetic clutter. Cox has some statutory period of time to remove their lines before TEP removes the orphan pole. But that is simply not happening. If TEP has any question about that, I’d welcome a stroll through any number of midtown neighborhoods so I can point out where literally dozens of these conditions exist. And what we don’t need is a small cell pole going in next to this mess.
Someone drew the analogy in this fight for the aesthetics of our neighborhoods to David vs Goliath. I prefer the image of Lemuel Gulliver in Lilliput. Lots of us working together getting control of the situation.
I know – there’s satire and a bunch of other meanings in Jonathan Swift’s writing – it's the image of lots of ‘little people’ getting involved, and effecting change that I like.
So some good change did happen last week. TEP and Verizon have agreed to collocate a Verizon array on one of the utility poles north of Grant by Doolen Middle School. Also last week I took part in an introductory meeting with Cemrock and Verizon. That’s the company that hides vertical elements in fake trees and cactus. They’re talking. And we finally met with AT&T and opened dialogue with them. I’m hoping that leads to a better outcome on a proposed pole over in El Monetvideo. Right now AT&T has proposed this site:
That tree doesn’t need a 35’ tall cell pole as a neighbor. You can see all the utility poles in the background. We’re working on a better outcome.
The issue is only going to increase in intensity as more poles are proposed by more companies. As I’ve told each of the utility representatives – our intent is not to fight state law. We don’t have that authority. Our intent is to compel a conversation among all parties that leads to consideration of alternatives superior to the ones now being selected. It’s unfortunate that TEP didn’t like the press I gave them, but if the result is more robust and direct conversations on this issue, then it was worth the ink.
Harvard Global Health Institute COVID Map
I shared the Harvard risk assessment map up above. In going through their site this week, I found a new data set that might bear some watching. It’s hospital bed capacity/availability. Back during the peak COVID times, it was pretty much a nightly point of interest. I’ll show this week’s Pima County condition and keep an eye on it to see if changes occur that might be of interest.
The map can be found on the Harvard Global Health Institute site. Each of the circles represent a locality for which they’re keeping hospital bed data. In the upper right hand corner is the Pima County data I captured last weekend. It shows we’ve got 157 ICU beds available. During the surge, that figure got down into the single digits. It’s worth tracking as the numbers slowly continue their increase – and considering we don’t know what role the more virulent variant strains are playing in that trend.
 Most of our local schools are now back to hybrid. If you want to track the risk factors guiding that decision, you can find them on the Pima County COVID site with this link: https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=568644.
Here’s our statewide map. I’ve been sharing these weekly for over a year now. In Pima County we’ve now passed 114,000 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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