I know many of you have been following this newsletter for quite a while. If that’s you, you’ll remember the sad human interest piece I shared about a year ago related to the couple who lost their life-long boxer puppy named Annie. Well, Steve and Sandy – some of my Loop acquaintances, now have little Ellie. She’s a 1 ½ year old pup who will now be a new addition to the animal crowd you see out on the Loop. This is a good likeness of Ellie. She’s new to the world, so approach her gently.
Another of my Loop dog-friends is O’Rien. He’s a hound who you Loop walkers/runners/bikers might also recognize. He’s a hoot. You see, O’Rien cries when his (human) mom doesn’t let him stop to make friends with other dogs. And he cries when people (like me) who stop to play with him have to leave. His cry is a howl. And it goes on and on. It will crack you up. His poor mom probably dreads it when she sees me jogging in her direction, but O’Rien loves the attention. He just hates it when it ends.
I thought I’d start on a light note. There’s enough serious stuff coming. Keep an eye out on the Loop for Ellie and O’Rien. In his case, keep an ear out. You’ll know you’ve found him when you hear the woeful howl.
As we close in on our final budget vote, we at the Ward 6 office are doing a couple of outreach efforts. One is a simple survey we’re conducting intended to simply gauge which issues are of greatest importance to you. It takes less than 5 minutes. Here’s the link – www.tinyurl.com/ward-six
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Ward 6 Budget Town Hall
In addition, we’ve scheduled a budget town hall for 6pm on Tuesday, June 15th. We’ll have people from our budget office doing a short presentation, followed by some time set aside for you to ask them questions, and to offer your input. The meeting will be held virtually. Here’s the link for that.
We’re scheduled to vote on final adoption at our June 22nd meeting. These are challenging times, and the variety of issues we interact with daily is all over the map. It’s important to us here at the Ward office to stay connected with you in ways that are most meaningful. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to do the survey and carve out some time to hear about our budget.
PFAS
I’m going to keep this reminder in the newsletter each week leading up to the PFAS presentation I’m hosting later this month. We are not going to be the next Flint, Michigan – and being fully transparent with all of the water-related information I’ve got is one way we will assure that.
The meeting we’re having on June 30th will focus primarily on the area around DM, just southeast of the central well field. But this is a truly fluid issue, and new information comes out regularly. If needed, we’ll expand the conversation to include whatever PFAS-related updates are timely on the 30th.
As was true last time, we’ll have representatives from the DOD, EPA, ADEQ, Tucson Water and one of our city water attorney’s on the call. The meeting will run from 6pm until 7:30pm. Here’s the zoom link for you to join:
Meeting ID: 829 6307 3142
And on July 21st, a group called the Unified Community Advisory Board (UCAB) will be meeting to get an update on the TARP/AOP area. Those are acronyms for the treatment plants we have out on the southwest side. They were built primarily to contain and treat the chemicals TCE and 1, 4 Dioxane. The carbon filters that are in the AOP facility just happen to also treat for PFAS, so it’d doing double-duty. The UCAB group has been meeting for literally decades, with a primary focus on contamination out by those treatment plants. That meeting begins at 5:45pm and will also be done virtually. If you’d like to join in that meeting, contact Yolanda Herrera at acuinteriors@aol.com and she’ll get you connected.
5G
Anybody who suggests that 5G poles are not a significant issue for not only Ward 6 residents, but for residents countywide is simply out of touch with peoples’ concerns. All week long my office and I were involved in on-site meetings with neighbors, zoom meetings with providers, and emails with staff, residents, and utility representatives. If there’s progress, it is certainly slow in coming.
One change that I hope will send a significant message to all of the utilities involved in the 5G rollout mess is your direct involvement. In 2 recent instances I’m aware of neighbors who have organized peaceful civil protests that have impeded the start of construction. Once the telecom provider has the permit from the city, if you say have a little block party that gets in the way of the start of construction, it’ll be up to the telecom vendor to go to court, seek an injunction and then come back and have it served on anyone holding up the work. It’d be a much better look for them to work with us ahead of that sort of thing coming to pass.
This is an example of a pole planned for El Montevideo neighborhood. What you can see is the selected location will cause significant ‘trimming’ of that beautiful tree canopy. It will also sit directly outside from this historic home. And the city issued the permit, ignoring the fact that a TEP utility pole is directly across the street, maybe 25’ to the east. It’s intervening in these sorts of decisions that is taking up so much time – and is sadly necessary since we’re not getting the level of scrutiny on these site selections that we should be.
We did have some successes with plans for collocation on existing city streetlights. That’s a positive. But assuring we’re not allowing rights of way with existing landscaping to be torn up is also a piece of this that isn’t being communicated sufficiently to residents.
And we held what I’m hoping will be the final meeting with utility providers last week, going over our draft of the utility infrastructure manual. It’s going to provide guidelines for installation of poles. After having taken part in some of the meetings I can tell you that the two main areas of push back are where we’re proposing no ‘vertical elements’ (poles) being allowed within 150’ of any other existing vertical element, and a robust public notification and communication process. Once the manual is done and published, I’m hopeful that much of our current legwork is going to diminish. Not because the poles will become any more aesthetically pleasing, but because we’ll be forcing a level of interaction that has simply not been happening. Stay tuned – and please continue to let us know if you become suspicious of new poles going in around your neighborhood.
We cannot prevent 5G poles from going in based on perceived health risks. That is clear in both FCC policy and state law. But we are actively engaged where we have the legal authority. Pretty much daily.
Migrant Protection Policy (MPP) - “Remain in Mexico”
 In 2019, the Trump administration implemented a policy by which most migrants arriving at our southern border were to be held in Mexico, pending their asylum hearing. The stated goal was to streamline the asylum process. The actual result was to keep thousands of people seeking asylum in horrid conditions in detention camps in Mexico. Last week, the Biden administration cancelled the program.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas issued a memorandum outlining the basis for the decision. In it he outlined the original goals. One was to accelerate the asylum process. The reverse has happened. There is now a backlog that will take years to undo.
Another goal was to allow border security law enforcement to refocus on border security work. In fact, they have now been devoting time to build, staff and secure specialized immigration hearing facilities, facilitating moving asylum applicants to hearings, and providing transportation to and from ports of entry. The MPP program failed at refocusing border law enforcement on that task.
Finally, MPP was to enhance border management. The increased numbers of asylum seekers have made it clear that the answer to people fleeing life-threatening conditions is to address the conditions in a regional, multi-lateral fashion. Not building detention facilities south of the border and pretending that’s ‘border management.’
In the memo, Mayorkas notes that the change may impact some of the groups they’ve been relying on to manage migrants. That’s Casa Alitas, and other shelters we work with throughout the city and region. I appreciated this mention by Secretary Mayorkas:
“The Department has also worked in close partnership with nongovernmental organizations and local officials in border communities to connect migrants with short-term supports that have facilitated their onward movement to final destinations away from the border.”
The Biden administration is setting up special court proceedings that will be specifically dedicated to asylum claims. And they’ll be providing legal counsel to migrants as they enter the system. The hope is for a more rapid, and fairer asylum process – certainly more humane than the detention camps we’ve been placing people in.
It remains unclear when Biden will rescind what’s called Title 42. That’s the policy implemented by the Trump administration when COVID started. By Title 42, most migrants are being turned away at the border. With COVID hopefully winding down, Title 42 might be ended. That, combined with the changes in the MPP program may have a fairly quick impact on the number of people we’re seeing locally at the Alitas center. It’s all good – we’re treating people with the dignity they deserve.
Please continue considering donations. Toiletries, hygiene products, new and unused underclothes, kids’ books and toys, and gift cards from Costco or Walmart so the Alitas folks can buy food in bulk. If you’ve got backpacks you’re no longer using, they can put those to good use, too.
Thanks to Peggy and her friend from Oro Valley, Elizabeth from Banner, Connie and her family from Garden District, and to Ruth from Miramonte for their generous donations last week. We at the Ward 6 office continue to be grateful for the concern you show. Do not take your donations straight to Casa Alitas. Contact me directly at Steve.Kozachik@tucsonaz.gov and we’ll make arrangements for you to drop them off here at the ward office. We’ll take care of the transport out to Alitas. People just randomly stopping by interrupts the work the Alitas staff and volunteers are doing out there.
Period Poverty
And thank you to all who stopped by the Ward 6 office to donate to the Period Poverty drive that was organized by Adelita Grijalva’s team. We shot this photo of the group of us who loaded up her van last week. It was such a success that I’m sure we’ll be doing this again.
 Running Events through Parks & Rec
As we edge more and more towards some new form of normalcy, our Parks folks are hosting a series of outdoor running events that may be of interest. They’ll also include some field events that will be available for people 12 years, and older.
Every Tuesday and Thursday in June and July, Parks will host our annual Summer Track and Field events. Those will include all the field events such as long jump, shot put, high jump and more. And there’ll be track events such as the 100, 200, 400 meter dashes, and longer running track races. The cost is $3 for youth, and $4 for adults. All of these events will take place at Palo Verde High School – thank you, TUSD for partnering – located at 1302 S. Avenida Vega. The meets begin at 7pm, so be there no later than 6:30 to register.
The road races will include a 1 mile race, 2K (about 1 ½ miles) and a 5K (3.1 miles). The cost and registration times are the same as with the track events. And these races will all begin at 7pm as well. What will change is the location. Here’s the rundown on where they’ll take place, week by week:
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Thursday, June 10 Gene C. Reid Park (SW corner of Country Club Road and 22nd Street)
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Thursday, June 17 Freedom Park, 5000 E. 29th St. (south end)
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Thursday, June 24 Chuck Ford Lakeside Park, 8201 E. Stella Road. (Ramada 1)
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Thursday, July 1 John F. Kennedy Park, (La Cholla Blvd. and Ajo Road., west of La Cholla)
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Thursday, July 8 Lincoln Park, 4325 S. Pantano Road (by swimming pool)
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Thursday, July 15 Gene C. Reid Park (SW corner of Country Club and 22nd Street)
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Thursday, July 22 Freedom Park, 5000 E. 29th St. (south end)
 If you’d like more information on any of these activities, use this webpage or call them at 791.4870.
Gun Control in Arizona
Saturday I was honored to share some thoughts on Wear Orange Day with our local Moms Demand Action (MDA) team. It was great to see over 30 people on the call. Sharing stories and music aimed at fighting loss from gun violence is much better done in person. The poignancy deserves a human touch – physically.
Lety Bazurto did another wonderful job putting some graphics behind this song from A Star is Born. We played it during the MDA event Saturday. I share it with you here – the graphics show some scenes from shooting incidents, so if that is hard for you, please just listen with your eyes closed.
On April 6th, Ducey signed the first of its kind gun control ‘nullification’ bill in the country. Here’s the relevant text from the bill:
 HB2111 says is that in Arizona, we will not recognize or enforce any federal gun laws. And that any public official or employee who does is subject to criminal charges.
HB2111 says is that in Arizona, we will not recognize or enforce any federal gun laws. And that any public official or employee who does is subject to criminal charges.
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Article VI; clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution is called the “Supremacy Clause.” It says the U.S. Constitution is recognized as the ‘supreme law of the land’ and that it takes precedence over any state laws that are in conflict with it.
On Tuesday I’m asking the M&C to direct staff to adopt a local resolution letting the state know that within the Tucson city limits, we intend to enforce all federal gun laws, regardless of what HB2111 says. Might it cause some legal push back from Phoenix? Yes. And when it does, I believe we will be the first jurisdiction to successfully challenge one of these unconstitutional nullification bills, hopefully setting the tone for other cities across the nation to do likewise.
The existing pre-emption statute that’s in Arizona Revised Statutes continues to take away our ability to adopt local gun laws that are stricter than what they allow at the state level. But that does not give Ducey and the majority in the state legislature the right to violate the U.S. Constitution. I expect support from my colleagues – and then it’s game on.
Vaccine Update
The number of colleges and universities that have committed to requiring proof of vaccination prior to students and staff returning to campus this fall is now up to over 450. This map shows who’s on board. Note the continued absence of the UA. Requiring it isn’t unconstitutional, and it’s not pandering. It is scientifically sound. That leaves either politics, or the thought that it’ll help recruiting (tuition dollars) if we don’t join the rest of the conference schools in requiring it.
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Getting vaccinated helps you become a dead end for the virus. And that helps the rest of the community.
Nationally there was in increase in vaccinations shortly after the CDC allowed 16 year olds to get the shot. It wasn’t a huge jump, but it stopped what had been a steady decline, so that’s a good sign. Many in the health care community are now talking about 90% as being the target for herd immunity. With the number of people who will simply not get the shot, we won’t reach that level of community participation. With the continued expansion of variant strains, that adds up to the need to be continually cautious when in large groups of people.
 That’s the national picture. Internationally though, there’s still a vast discrepancy in who has been vaccinated, and who has not. The darker the hue in this map, the more the population of the country has been vaccinated. You can easily see there are still lots of places where doses are simply not available. Many of them are right now experiencing severe COVID outbreaks – both of COVID19, and of variants.
If you’d like to dig more deeply into the national vaccine program, use this link: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/ . The map that pops up on the screen will give you the ability to click on any county in the country to see how they’re doing.
Here’s this week’s addition to the infection data I’ve been tracking for Pima County. After seeing an increase in infections two weeks ago, last week was, well it was a curiosity-driving count. I’ll explain more below, but the state reported a negative COVID count in Pima County last week. That’s not possible if their original data was accurate. Our testing numbers are way down, so it’s important to continue being cautious.
May 10th - May 16th – 206
May 17th - May 23rd – 333
May 18th - May 30th - 591
May 31st - June 6th – negative 24? See my comments along with the Arizona map, below.
Not much change in the ‘spread-rate’ in the state, or in the UA area. Pima County did see a nice drop though. The most recent data is a week old, but with students now having largely gone home, it’s probably a safe bet to think the data is pretty accurate.
You can find the most current data at this site: https://covid19.arizona.edu/dashboard.
Pump House for Sale
The Downtown Links road project is bumping up against the historic Stone Avenue underpass pump house. Literally. The road work is going right over where the pump house is located. It was built in 1936, still has ‘good bones’ and is needing to find a new home. The city is taking bids up until July 1st.
The estimated cost of moving the structure is from $30K to $60K. Because of its historic status, the city will require some evidence of a game plan that assures the building will be successfully relocated. The back bed of a pick-up truck isn’t going to make it.
The pump house is still active. But as a part of the Links project, it’ll no longer be needed. Once the construction-related coordination is done, the sale can be awarded. Whoever wins the bid will then have to get the permits required for the move.
The pump house is about 140 square feet. It’s made of reinforced concrete, so it should withstand a move. The sale will go to the first qualified buyer. If you’d like to place an offer, contact jennifer.toothaker@tucsonaz.gov. All the permits will need to be in place before September 10th of this year.
Harvard Global Health Institute
This week’s Harvard Global health risk map is once again a little less guarded than it was last week. Arizona is finally now all in yellow. That’s a relatively low risk, but relative to where we were. Our daily numbers of new infections still reflect COVID in the community. The vaccinations are clearly helping. The variants remain a concern. So please get vaccinated to help us all get back out and into wider circulation once again.
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Last week the CDC ran a story on how they’re concerned with seeing an increase in teenagers now being hospitalized with COVID symptoms. They were the last to become eligible for the vaccination, and they were together in school settings for the past month so it’s not all that surprising the age group is now suffering from COVID symptoms. While the immediately evident symptoms are less severe than what we were seeing when all the ventilators were in use, nobody knows right now what the longer term effects of COVID will be. There’s a syndrome called “long haulers”. They’re people who got COVID early in the pandemic and who continue to have symptoms months after they ‘got better’. People down to the age of 12 can now be vaccinated.
Internationally the infections have moved most significantly into Central and South America. This hot spot map makes that clear.
It’s starting to pick up a bit on the African sub-continent, but I’d be willing to bet it’s worse there than we know since testing and reporting is nothing near what we’re accustomed to in other parts of the world. Again - the message – get vaccinated.
Here’s our statewide map. I’ve been sharing these weekly for over a year now. Throughout that time I’ve often written about concerns with the validity and reliability of the data collection process. This week is probably the clearest example of how the COVID numbers coming out of Phoenix are, well, suspect.
Throughout the week there were daily increases in case counts. At the end of the week there was a ‘correction’ - a negative count. Here’s the map showing Pima County at the start of last week having had 116,874 cases of COVID since the beginning.
Now look at what they’re reporting at the end of the most recent week. Like magic we’ve got 24 fewer cases than when the week began. Maricopa County went up by over 2,000 cases. Pinal, our neighbor went up by a few hundred. Every other county in the state had increases, so I’m not buying the notion that we have it solved here in Pima County. I’ll keep tracking the data and will be interested to share with you how this curious ‘healing’ trend plays out next week.
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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