Primary Election
By now, if you’re a registered voter in Wards 3, 5, or 6, you should have received your ballot for the primary election. Please take a moment to make your selection and take part in the process. Despite the attempts to suppress peoples’ ability to vote, in Tucson, we still make it easy. Fill ‘er out, sign the form, and mail it in.
 Tuesday, August 3rd, is election day. If you haven’t mailed your ballot in well ahead of that, you can still vote in person. Here’s a list of voting locations. Thanks for supporting the political process we on the M&C have been fighting to preserve in the face of opposition from the leadership in the state legislature.
 Ward 6 Survey
Once again, we’re grateful to our transportation director Diana Alarcon for joining us in last week’s survey report-out. The conversation about 5G, and how we’re incorporating Complete Streets design elements in our roadway projects was informative. Tomorrow will be our final survey meeting. We’ll shift gears to crime, public safety, homelessness, equity, and parks. I’ll give a quick review of the progress we’re making in our Prop 407 parks rollout, provide some background on the efforts we’re making to address the complex issue of homeless in the community, and then turn things over to our guests.
Assistant Chief Kasmar is overseeing the operations out at the 911 center. Each time I visit, I’m impressed with the staff and how they deal with the calls for assistance that come in. Chad will share how the place runs, upgrades they’re making, and of course, will field questions on the whole topic of public safety. Crime and law enforcement was listed by 80% of respondents to our survey as being either ‘important’ or ‘very important,’ so I’m sure we’ll have a good exchange.
 Same as before, we’ll go from 5:30 pm until 7 pm. Here’s a link for the event. Please share it widely so others can take part.
Tues, July 27th: 5:30-7 pm
Steve's Virtual Summer Roundtable III
Crime & Law Enforcement | Homelessness | Equity & Social Justice | Parks & Recreation
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88567623238?pwd=ZTQ4TGlCa204eHkwOUN3RXpiWXNuZz09
Meeting ID: 885 6762 3238 Passcode: 950954
Dial in: +1 669 900 9128
 Thanks very much for your active participation in the survey. It was an important tool validating that we’re tracking the issues of greatest importance to you.
If you’d like to take a look at our July 8th roundtable, this Youtube link will take you to it. https://youtu.be/CO4cybvj1lE
And here’s the link for our meeting held on the 20th.
July 20th: Steve's Virtual Summer Roundtable II - YouTube
Finally, this. During the call last week, there continued to be questions about our ability/inability to regulate 5G cell service based on health effects. While the state has taken our voice out of certain elements of the 5G process, it’s a federal law that prohibits us from regulating based on RF. Here’s the citation from FCC rules:
(iv) No State or local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radiofrequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Commission's regulations concerning such emissions.
47 U.S.C.A. § 332 (West)
Pursuant to federal case law, this prohibition applies to the regulation of operations of personal wireless facilities as well. The way that ties into the Arizona state prohibition is that we cannot deny a permit unless the proposed site fails to comply with our local codes. Since the FCC says we cannot regulate based on RF emissions, we can’t place that into our local code.
Vaccine Update
When I was advocating for the UA to mandate testing for all students participating in classes, the message out of the president’s office was that it was ‘unconstitutional.’ It wasn’t. Schools all over the country were doing it to protect their communities. And when I was advocating for the UA to mandate vaccinations for all returning students, the UA was one of 2 schools in the conference who sat on the sidelines and didn’t join the nearly 600 colleges and universities across the nation who are implementing that policy. They waited long enough for Governor Ducey to bail them out by issuing another Executive Order saying nobody can mandate vaccinations for attending school. And by the way – that requirement isn’t unconstitutional, either.
Last week a federal judge ruled against a legal challenge that had been filed against Indiana University. IU has issued a vaccine mandate that says all students must be vaccinated from COVID before returning for fall classes. Eight students filed a lawsuit arguing the requirement violated the 14 Amendment – depriving them of ‘life, liberty or property’ without due process. That’s what the UA said about the testing mandate, too. It failed as an argument. The judge said the requirement is simply IU’s administration acting “reasonably in protecting the public’s health.”
Here’s where we are nationally – note that Arizona is still in the top group for seeing a resumption of the COVID epidemic.
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 And yes, there’s a political connection to the vaccination hesitancy issue. I pulled this from a NY Times article last week:
 In Arizona, the explosion of COVID is not spread evenly across the state. Here’s the map -
The darker the color, the more severe the outbreak. In Pima County, we’re at 8.5 cases per 100,000 people and are averaging 89 new cases per day. In Maricopa County, they’re at 17 cases per 100,000 people. Just north of them in Yavapai County, the rate is 22 cases per 100,000. In all cases, the numbers are increasing. The reason is the Delta variant and that people are not getting vaccinated.
Here’s a comparison between those same 3 Arizona counties in terms of vaccination rates.
It’s how science works.
Here’s this week’s national map. Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Louisiana are all surging. Our neighbors Colorado, Utah, and Nevada all have some significant hot spots. I also found it interesting that one of the worst spots in the country right now is over in Valdez, Alaska. That’s the dark spot on the SE corner of the state. They’re at 101 cases per 100,000 over the past 14 days.
 Here are this week’s mobile vaccination sites - none of them require an advance appointment.
 And these are the remaining standing points of vaccine distribution – the same as with the mobile sites, and no appointment will be needed. Do you remember not so long ago that everyone had to have an appointment, and getting one was a major hassle? Now there is no good excuse for not vaccinating.
 Go to the Pima County Health site if you want to find the list of pharmacies that’ll give you a dose or if you’re a veteran looking to be vaccinated. Use this link - www.pima.gov/covid19vaccine.
Each week since the start of June, our weekly COVID count has increased in Pima County. It has gone from 130 that first week of June to 681 last week. We’re now back to the levels we were seeing in March and April of this year. That spread is validated by the Rt (community spread rate) numbers in the table shown below.
Here’s the past month of ‘spread-rate’ data. Above 1.0 means the virus is spreading. You can compare the June 22nddata with the bottom chart showing the spread-rates as of July 20th. Pima County has gotten worse, but the state has really seen an increase in community spread.
You can find the most current data at this site: https://covid19.arizona.edu/dashboard.
It wasn’t long ago that the news on COVID was mostly good. Now case counts are increasing, vaccination rates are falling, and people are out celebrating. Please consider the impact your actions will have on others. And get vaccinated.
Water Security
I write about the PFAS contamination issue as news pops up. What’s happening in some parts of Utah right now is germane to my sense of urgency in getting the PFAS plumes addressed quickly.
This is the Rockport Reservoir. It’s located in central/northern Utah, near Park City. The reservoir was formed when they built a dam in the mid-’50s, with the intent of creating a recreation center. It’s still in use for fishing and boating, but as you can see, there is a significant drop in the water supply. Similar to what we see in Lake Mead, the drop in water level is easy to see at Rockport.
 Oakley is a mountain town in Utah. The entire state is in a long-term drought. Oakley has relied on a mountain spring for its water source. As things have dried up, Oakley has instituted a 6-month moratorium on all new buildings in the region – anything that would require a new water connection is stopped for now as they work through the water shortage.
In a recent NY Times article on this, Tucson was noted as one city in the western U.S. that has done an excellent job banking water, so we’re not imperiled immediately like towns such as Oakley. But Utah is one of the 7 states included in our Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan – the one that needs to be updated within the next 5 years. And the one that nearly didn’t get adopted until the state legislature allocated significant money to agricultural interests, largely in Pinal County. The point is that when I write about our reliance on groundwater and the need to ensure it’s clean, stories like this highlight the reality that waiting on the DOD and Air National Guard or waiting on the conclusion of our litigation vs. 3M is not responsible planning.
To be clear, nobody is proposing a building moratorium in Tucson. But Oakley and other Colorado River basin towns similarly situated are the canary in the drought coal mine. We’ve got several years of water stored. When we need to use it, it must be free of PFAS. And the day we’re going to need it is coming sooner than the time frame proposed by the DOD to study our PFAS plume.
This graphic shows the plumes – both those we have clearly identified and those still under study. The red dotted lines are PFAS plumes that we are not yet certain on the boundaries. All the blue dots are our production wells. Because of contamination, we’ve now shut down 24 of them. Where you see the large cluster of blue does near the number 3, that’s midtown – that's our central well field. That’s what we have to protect from the PFAS plume migrating. And where you see the number 10 - that's where we had to shut down the treatment facility due to the excessive concentrations of PFAS.
 This chart shows the projected shortage declaration. Look at the dotted line in the middle of the left side glass – “Projected elevation January 1, 2022.” The solid red line above it is where a Tier 1 shortage is declared. That will not affect our supply. We’ll be called on to supply Pinal County agriculture 5,000-acre-feet of our water but will be made whole for that through the state water bank. It’s when Lake Mead reaches 1,025’ that Tucson will start losing parts of our CAP allocation. Right now, the Bureau of Reclamation estimates there’s a 20% chance of that happening by 2025.
 Last year we saw water usage increase vs. the previous year. Right now, we’re trending in that same direction. Water conservation is not an option for all of us. This chart shows that we’re using our renewable Colorado River water (light blue) and storing our groundwater (dark blue.) As reductions in our CAP allocation become more of a threat, our stored groundwater becomes more of a lifeline. Please conserve! And we’ll keep working on the DOD and 3M to ensure the groundwater is clean when we need to tap that source.
 One of the challenges to our getting federal assistance with the PFAS contamination they’ve created is the EPA has not yet set a Maximum Contamination Level (MCL.) With that established, Superfund money would become available. But last week, I sat through the Unified Community Advisory Board (UCAB) meeting and listened to representatives from both the DOD and Air National Guard state that even with an MCL, they’ll need to ‘go through the formal CERCLA process’ (Superfund process) before they’re ready to suggest solutions. In each case, the quickest they suggested that can be done is 3 years. As I’ve said many times – the plume is moving faster than the process.
Some states have established their own MCL’s. The effect is to give those states leverage over polluters. It doesn’t kick-start federal dollars. For example, Colorado, Montana, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Maine, and others have MCL’s in place. Ducey recently sent the Biden administration a letter asking them to get busy acting on the problem. He has not suggested the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality establish an Arizona MCL for PFAS, though. For him, this is political. As with COVID-related issues, that flies in the face of science.
I’ll stick with the issue. It’s the most important topic we’re facing at the local and regional levels. I’m grateful to those of our congressional delegation who are on board with trying to adopt legislation that’ll free up remediation dollars.
Seneca Basin and West University
And speaking of water, hasn’t the recent rain been nice? Last year the Pima County Flood Control District, in conjunction with our Parks Department and the residents of the Palo Verde neighborhood, took on the creation of a pocket park. It’s at the NE corner of Dodge and Seneca, right by Catalina High School. The goal was to capture water before it hit the nearby neighbors’ homes. Well – it did its job last weekend.
 We’re grateful to all who played a role in getting this protective measure into place. The timing couldn’t have been better.
And this is a basin in West University – built by WUNA neighbors, under the guidance of our partners at Tucson Clean & Beautiful. It’s an example of the value we’re getting from the Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) projects M&C started funding a bit over a year ago.
 We have several Ward 6 GSI projects in the pipeline right now, but the new cycle is coming this fall, so now is the time to think through whether your neighborhood has areas you’d like to try to get included. To find out more about the program, go to www.tucsoncleanandbeautiful.org. The GSI grant program is included as one of the options you’ll see scrolling across the main page screen. And if you’ve got more questions, contact Ariel at our office at ariel.fry@tucsonaz.gov, and she’ll help.
DUI and Restitution
We are right now in the middle of some litigation in a midtown neighborhood in which an individual intentionally ruined some well-established landscaping. The city isn’t inclined to simply let that go and ask taxpayers to foot the bill. We’re seeking restitution.
Over the weekend, someone decided to take a chance while driving drunk. Here’s the result:
This is what that same traffic circle looked like before the crash. The guy is very lucky he wasn’t killed after slamming into that boulder.
Three messages – first, nobody should have to be reminded, but here goes. Do not get behind the wheel of a car if you’re even slightly impaired. You place the lives of others at risk. Yours, too, but the others are innocent victims. Next, residents and the city have invested lots of time, money, and effort to install traffic calming amenities to our midtown neighborhoods. They’re there to keep everyone in the area safe. Please respect that. And finally, we will be seeking restitution for this mess as well as the other one I mentioned above. You don’t get a pass for your irresponsible behavior.
I’ve been hit while on my bike 5 times. None were my fault, but I was the loser in each of the transactions. I can attest that becoming someone’s hood ornament is not a great experience. Our streets are dangerous during the monsoon season. Do not add to that by drinking and driving.
Feast for Homeless
A couple of months ago, I shared some of the work on behalf of the needy in our community that’s going on over at Feast restaurant. They’re located at 3719 E. Speedway, just up the road from the W6 office. Well, they’re at it again, and you can take part.
Doug Levy and his staff are collecting donations now that they’ll use to purchase food for our homeless population. The next round of Feast donations will be going to our partners at Sister Jose women’s shelter and Primavera men’s shelter. After that, they’ll be back to Youth on their Own and the Alitas Center. All are groups we’ve been involved with and are also proud to support.
Earlier food assistance from Feast has gone to benefit our health care workers, caregivers, first responders, and even patients who are stuck in health care settings. If you can help with this current effort, please contact Feast at 326.9363, or drop them a check with Food Donations in the subject line. Their zip code is 85716.
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Expungement Clinic
This coming Saturday, I’m joining forces with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in hosting an expungement clinic. We’ll have the community room at the Ward 6 office open from 11 am until 3 pm for people who have prior convictions for pot-related activity who’d like to get their records cleared.
The convictions covered in Prop 207 that the courts can clear include possession of up to 2 ½ ounces of pot, up to 12 grams of concentrate, up to 6 plants, and paraphernalia. NORML will have some volunteer staff here ready to help you begin the process. Please bring as much documentation on your convictions as you have – it'll make the application go more quickly. Also, remember, these must be Arizona convictions. Arizona courts cannot expunge records from outside the state.
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The counseling sessions will only take you about a half-hour. There are more clinics scheduled for Saturday, August 14th, from 5 pm until 8 pm, and Saturday, August 21st, from 11 am until 3 pm. Each will be held at the Harambe Café at 6464 E. Tanque Verde.
If you’d like more background on how expungement works and the ways NORML is helping people through that process, check this link. It also includes clinics that are being held statewide.
https://arizonanorml.org/expungement
Low-level pot convictions can affect housing and employment applications. It’s worth your time to stop by and start the process of getting your record cleared. I hope to see you on the 31st. And please remember when you come that we are following all of the CDC COVID recommendations. If you are unvaccinated, you will be required to wear a mask. And yes, the booths will be properly distanced from one another.
Safe Digging Day
When talking to many of you about tell-tale signs of a 5G pole that may be going in, I suggest looking for blue stake paint on the ground. This item is that but in reverse. It’s to request your own blue stake before you do your own digging.
I know the recent rains have made some of those home projects you might have been putting off more attractive, especially if they involve digging. Post holes, footers, fence posts – each of them could end poorly if you hit a utility line below ground. If you’re headed out to scope out your project, please call 811 before you start poking below ground. Or you can go online at www.call811.com, and you can start the blue stake process that way.
Thanks to our friends over at SW Gas for the reminder. Safe Digging Day is coming August 11th, but this matters every time you’re doing work that involves digging. Hitting a utility line can be dangerous and/or interrupt someone’s utility service.
Eviction Prevention
In partnership with our friends at Pima County, the City Housing and Community Development staff has allocated nearly $20M in emergency rental assistance. If you’re a landlord, or if you’re a tenant, please get into this program and help keep people housed.
Right now, a group called Solari is making calls to every landlord or tenant who has submitted an eligibility form but who has not yet been assigned a case manager. Solari is under contract with the Arizona Department of Health Services – they're legit and are working to keep people housed. If you’re a landlord, there may be up to 15 months of rental assistance your tenants qualify for. But you need to be a part of their solution.
This help is for both rent and utility assistance. The program has received over 14,000 applications, so we know the need is real. To get involved, please go to www.pimaep.com or call the Pima County Community Action Agency at 724.2667, and they’ll get you enrolled.
Live Train Cams
This is pretty cool – if you’re into trains or have kids who might enjoy watching them virtually – but live.
The Virtual Rail Fansite has live video cameras signed up at 99 different locations across the U.S. and internationally. Click on this link www.VirtualRailfan.com, and it’ll take you to their site. There are options that you can explore just for fun, but the first box on the left has a link called Watch. Just click that, choose your location, and the site will take you to their live camera mounted on the depot at that trainyard. One of them is our own historic train depot downtown.
Hey, not everything in the newsletter is news-heavy. Have fun with this one. And keep watching for the next event I’ll let you know about down at the depot.
United Way Days of Caring
Ok, back to the serious stuff. The deadline for project submission in this year’s United Way Days of Caring program is coming on August 6th. The actual event is coming on October 22nd and 23rd, but now is the time to get your neighborhood or organization’s application in for United Way support and recognition. Tucson Clean & Beautiful did, and they’ve already won the $500 stipend drawing.
These projects are people helping people projects. They can be activities such as sending out encouragement cards, shopping for seniors, the Palo Verde/Garden District neighborhood outreach for Youth on their Own, or virtual activities and training. The goal is for your group to be making an impact on the lives of others.
We don’t know what the COVID rules will be in October. Any activity awarded support through this program will have to adhere to the health regulations that are in place at the time of the event. But certainly, things like making calls to isolated seniors or Veterans or hosting game-day virtually won’t bump up against any of those protocols. The key is just use your imagination and get your application in.
The United Way contact for these projects is Meredith Bode. You can reach her at 903.3902 or mbode@unitedwaytucson.org. She’ll walk you through any questions you’ve got. Or, just use this link to create your account and submit your project.
Submit your project HERE*
Good luck. Have fun with this. You’re making someone else happy through your volunteer effort.
Harvard Global Health Institute
In the context of ‘pictures tell the story,’ I’ll open this section with a comparison of the Harvard risk level maps – this one that was in last week’s newsletter:
And this one from last weekend. Yes, the more red you see, the worse the COVID condition is.
 Three weeks ago, Pima County had a spread rate of 3.9 new cases per 100,000 people. Two weeks ago, it was up to 6.7. Here’s where we landed last week. We’re up to 8.9 cases per 100,000, and our 7-day moving average went from 70 new cases daily up to 93.
 I’ve also been watching what’s happening in our neighboring states. Scroll back up and look at the increased infection spread in Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. Everything I read indicates experts are convinced the Delta variant of COVID19 is the reason we’re seeing this increase in infections. And the increases are largely among people who have not been vaccinated. Not exclusively, but largely.
The spread is expanding in southern states as well. I’ve been highlighting Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Florida. Now it appears Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama are all seeing surges too. Some of this can also be attributed to July 4th activities. For those, it’s a reminder that large events are not what they were pre-COVID. Distancing and mask-wearing are still keys to self-protection and protecting others.
In Pima County, we’re pushing 700 new cases in the past week. The first week of June, we had 130. Dr. Cullen from Pima County health said last week that the new increases in cases will likely lead to an increase in hospitalizations. That didn’t compel the UA to mandate testing last year at this time, and it can’t compel them to mandate vaccinations since that's now off the table in Arizona. But they can implement rules surrounding large gatherings. So far, they’ve announced full capacity will be the rule at all events. We’ll see what the next month brings.
You can check what’s going on in your home county by hovering your cursor over it on the Harvard map. Use this link to access it:
https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/
Here’s our statewide map. These are cumulative numbers. As noted above, they’re increasing once again.
Sincerely,
Steve Kozachik
Council Member, Ward 6
ward6@tucsonaz.gov
City of Tucson Resources
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