Afghan Donations
Every day we continue to see a wide cross-section of the community bringing donations to our office in support of the incoming Afghan refugees. In the past week, we had a ‘community donation’ from an HOA in Green Valley. So word of this is out region-wide.
 The India Society of Southern Arizona made a couple of trips over last week. That’s their logo – and their mission statement says the ISSA shall ‘engage and promote diversity, organize cultural performances, and organize charitable and philanthropic endeavors. ‘It’s that last piece their student group Seva Squad did. Seva means ‘service.’ In their two trips to the ward office last week, they delivered a combination of home goods that will be very welcome when they reach the Afghan refugees.
Another donor last week was this young guy – Ayden.
Ayden’s 12. Ayden is also autistic. But that is not an impediment to him organizing his own ‘relief effort’ in support of the refugees. Greg Bradbury from KGUN did a very nice piece on Ayden’s work. Here’s the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6dpTK8MGPg
We’re grateful to all who take the time to come by and help with this work. Right now, there are just over 100 refugees in Tucson. That number will grow to over 500 in the coming weeks. Our arrangements with the Muslim Community Center of Tucson and Habitat for Humanity are working well to get the donations from here at the ward office into the hands of our new community members.
People ask what we need. Right now, we have plenty of clothing. Kids' toys, hygiene products, bedding/towels, and household goods are the most sought-after. There’s also an effort to arrange food commitments. Some groups, including the MCCT are providing meals on particular days of the week. At the ward office, we’re taking food donations as long as it’s non-perishable items. Our friend Lynn from MCCT is gathering that weekly from us.
I think one of the reasons our community is so willing to pitch in is that many of us have refugee family histories. My dad is 1st generation from Poland. He joined the U.S. military and was involved with the liberation of concentration camps at the end of the war. And this is a photo of a lady who now lives in Colonia Solana – she’s the little girl on the far right. Her mom and little brother are shown in the picture as they arrived at Ellis Island during WWII. They fled the Soviet occupation of Poland. The ship was named Liberte.
On a similar note, last week, members of TPD met over at the Maracana soccer pitch for a friendly match with some of our refugee youth. This is Asst. Chief Silva – he’s reaching out to Jonathan Chibasa, the coach of the refugee kids. I believe Silva is begging that they blend the teams, so TPD didn’t get humiliated by the group. They did blend the teams, and everyone had a great time.
Mission Garden Native American Art Show
And along those same lines, much of our heritage is alive and on display out at the Mission Garden’s. Coming this Saturday, November 13th, they’ll host an art exhibit that’ll include the work of 30 Native American craftspeople. In addition to the art – yes, it’ll be for sale – they'll have 10 Native American food vendors and chefs offering samples of their food and selling packaged foods of Native American origin.
Come and take part. There will be music, food demonstrations, raffles, and all the craft exhibits. And you can tour the Gardens. I hope to see you out there for this fun event.
Diana Alarcon
When we poached our transportation director from Ft. Lauderdale, many of us knew we had struck oil. Diana Alarcon has been a true community asset since the day she arrived. I am very sad and disappointed to have to announce that she’s leaving us at the end of the year. Due to some family considerations, she’ll be relocating to Tennessee.
Diana has been great in responding to neighborhood requests, advocating for city interests at the RTA/PAG meetings, and has been a true team player throughout COVID. We at Ward 6 will miss her, and I will on a personal level. We wish you the best in your new home.
|
Vaccine Update
Speaking of employees, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled last week that our vaccination mandate is legal. Our position was as an amicus (friend) in the Arizona School Board Association suit against the state in which they challenged the catch-all budget bill the legislature passed at the end of the last session. In addition to trying to make our vax mandate illegal, the legislature tried to outlaw the mask mandates many school districts have implemented. And they also included several other items that had nothing to do with the budget.
The single-subject rule is a part of the Arizona State Constitution. It’s pretty clear – every act must refer to “but one subject and matters properly connected therewith, which subject shall be expressed in the title” (Ariz. Const. art. 4, pt. 2, § 13). In our case last week, it took the court less than 60 seconds to unanimously find the bills as adopted violate the State Constitution. So our timeline for vaccinations remains intact, and December 1st remains the deadline for city employees to voluntarily get vaccinated.
The staff has looked at every possible vacancy that could result due to the vaccine mandate. All have been posted for recruitment, and as of November 1st, over 800 applications had been received. That’s from October 22nd to November 1st. We read in the paper where people are voluntarily leaving their jobs. Here’s an example of people recognizing that the City of Tucson is an excellent employment opportunity. The HR department is streamlining the onboarding process so as to minimize any impacts in service delivery. In addition, we have the option of hiring temps or contract workers to fill temporary gaps. The December deadline is for real, and I’m hopeful our workers who have hesitated, possibly waiting to see what the courts have to say, will now get the vaccination.
There’s a clinic that boasts on social media about giving out medical exemptions. There’s a doctor we know of who is evidently giving them without much of an examination. And some of our workers are pretty proud of having gamed the exemption/religious accommodation system to avoid vaccinations. This is a part of a post from a guy who had called in ‘sick’ last week - the header was “Got to go to our first NASCAR event. Thanks to my parents for the tickets. The boys had a good time.” People calling in sick have increased in certain departments.
|
 And there are nearly 90% of our city workers who didn’t take this as lightly as those others, recognized the seriousness of the pandemic, and got vaccinated to protect themselves, their loved ones, co-workers, and the public. We’re grateful for those employees.
Last week COVID fatalities passed the 5 million mark worldwide. That’s according to data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. They also say that number is likely undercounted. Many countries don’t have accurate ways to count, and I’ve shared several maps of where many poor nations simply don’t have access to either testing or vaccinations. They’d love to have the opportunities we have. Even if the 5 million number was not an undercount, think of what that number represents. Approximately 30 states in the U.S. have populations in the 5 million range or lower. It’s everybody in L.A. and Chicago combined.
Our vaccination mandate is on the right side of the law, it’s on the right side of ethics, science and it’s on the right side of history. If you’re a city worker who’s still hesitant, please get the vaccine. Hundreds of millions of doses have been administered with little to no side effects.
The city manager is meeting pretty much daily with all of the city department heads, working out approaches to assure service delivery isn’t compromised by the workers who choose to remain unvaccinated and voluntarily terminate on December 1st. The timeline in place is different depending on the kind of vaccine used.
Moderna: First dose must be received by Nov. 3, 2021
Pfizer: First dose must be received by Nov. 10, 2021
Johnson & Johnson: This is a single-dose vaccine and must be received by Dec. 1, 2021.
Both of the doses in the two-dose vaccines must be received by December 1st, or the termination process begins.
Not only are workers who remain unvaccinated the minority among city employees, they’re now the minority statewide. Arizona is now ranked #30 nationally – not something to write home about, but at 53% fully vaccinated, it again makes the case that most people take advantage of what science has to offer.
Our Pima County numbers didn’t move much in the past week. This is what the NY Times data shows for our vaccination rate. Age 18+ and age 65+ both increased a bit. The others stayed the same.
In last week’s newsletter, I showed that the Pima County risk level numbers (for unvaccinated people) had taken a significant uptick over the previous week. This is what I had last week:
Sadly the average case counts continued to increase again this week. Here’s the current data. We continue to be at the ‘very high risk’ for transmission level.
The national map continues to look dismal. And the vast majority of Arizona continues to be in the ‘extremely high risk’ category. Nobody who borders us is doing any better than high risk. Keep that in mind if you’re traveling.
The CDC is now providing data for COVID fatalities, comparing people by vaccination status. I guess if you’re of a mind to see left wing conspiracies in all the data, this won’t move your needle. But for the majority, here’s what the science shows.
 The message to city employees is clear. Thank you to the 85% who looked at the data and protected yourself, your co-workers, your family, and the public. I’m always on the verge of saying to no vax people to go ahead and roll those dice on yourself – but the fact that the decision to remain unprotected impacts the health and safety of others is why it’s a selfish and irresponsible decision.
The Pima County health department continues to do what it can to make vaccines available. Here are the mobile sites for this week – all free and with no appointment needed.
 This is their list of standing points of vaccine distribution. I know some of the pharmacies are requiring appointments for both COVID and flu vaccinations, so you should call ahead to be sure.
 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.
More COVID Data
I try to present the data a little differently from week to week. This is the national trend, followed by the trend data for Arizona and our neighboring states. We have employees still feeling their ‘liberty’ trumps the trend and the safety of others. Utah is the best of the bunch, and their 14 days count still increased by 10%.
 The UA finally updated their data on the rate of infection. While it’s still lagging by a couple of weeks, these charts clearly show what has been happening not only around campus but in Pima County and statewide throughout October. Remember, anything above 1.0 means the virus is actively spreading. In the 85719, these data mean every infected person is infecting on average 1.56 other people.
 You can find the most current data at this site: https://covid19.arizona.edu/dashboard.
I’ll keep my own weekly count going. This is what we experienced in October. It validates the infectivity rate numbers shown in the Rt chart above.
Week of 10/4 - 1,964 new cases
Week of 10/11 - 1,521 new cases
Week of 10/18 - 2,233 new cases
Week of 10/25 - 2,746 new cases
Last week the increase continued.
Week of 11/1 - 2,856 new cases
And reminding you, during the first week in June, we had 130 new cases.
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU)
The vote we took (6-1) to approve up to 1,000 sq/ft ADU’s might be coming back for a reconsideration. I appreciate Paul Cunningham putting this on our agenda for tomorrow. That vote will simply be to decide whether or not to reconsider the size part and a 1 year owner occupancy part of the new ordinance. If we do, that would take place on November 23rd. It will take a majority vote to bring it back.
The city is right now around 50% rentals. The neighborhoods around campus are well over 70% rental. And their lot and home sizes are such that ADU’s in many cases, will be allowed to be larger than the primary dwelling unit. That’s an invitation to real estate investors to come in and add student housing. The Arizona Republic had an article last week with the headline “How iBuyers, investors are shutting the door on first-time homebuyers in metro Phoenix.” It’s happening here, too.
There’s nothing ‘affordable’ about what M&C adopted. But out at the Bridges in Ward 5, the new Cabana project has studios at 468 sq/ft, 1 bedroom apartments at 624 sq/ft, and 2 bedroom units at 828 sq/ft. They’re being built to meet the missing middle market at about $1K per month. That is not at all what will be built in 1,000 sq/ft rentals near campus. All of the Cabana sizes will comply with the reduced sizes I was asking for before the vote. They’re what we will be voting on to reconsider on Tuesday.
And here’s the floor plan of a 640 sq/ft 2 bedroom ADU made from shipping containers. I’ll be bringing this concept forward in an ‘affordable housing’ conversation, but it’s germane to the ADU reconsideration as well. This unit sells for about $120K. That’s affordable. And it also fits within the size guidelines I’ve asked for.
 Thanks to all the neighbors who have written in with concerns about what M&C just adopted. I’ll be voting for the reconsideration. We really shouldn’t have made this so difficult.
Sustainable Tucson
Sustainable Tucson is inviting several city and county staffers to make presentations at this month’s meeting. The theme, of course, will be how each group is working on some piece of the environmental/climate issue.
Included in the meeting will be our new Urban Forestry Manager, Nicole Gillett, and the city’s Urban Landscape Manager, Irene Ogata. The county representatives will be Natalie Shepp, who is their Senior Program Manager for Outreach and Education in the county Department of Environmental Quality, and Supervisor Grijalva’s aide Samantha Neville will also take part. The meeting is on Tuesday, November 9th,beginning at 6 pm. They generally go for about 90 minutes. Use this link to get into the meeting: (www. sustainabletucson,org)
Becton Dickinson (BD) Facility
The Pima County Department of Environmental Quality (PDEQ) is going through a public comment period on a proposed air quality permit for the Becton Dickinson facility. I wrote a bit about it last week and also attended their public hearing online last Thursday. The hearing was well attended, primarily by people concerned with the emission of Ethylene Oxide (EtO.)
The facility is planned for out by DM in Ward 4. This graphic shows the location of the 32-acre plant. Note the tan area in the middle of the map. That’s what is called the Approach-Departure Corridor (ADC) for DM. It’s exactly what the name implies – the landing and take-off path the planes from DM take. That’s worth noting for reasons I’ll share below.
 The BD facility is right now under plan review by the city. The proposed 120,000 sq/ft facility will be used for the sterilization of medical equipment. EtO is used in that process. According to documents provided by PDEQ, EtO is a carcinogen that is no stranger to the EPA. In fact, recently, the EPA increased the cancer risk from exposure to EtO to 60x what they had 5 years ago. New rules for exposure are currently being discussed at the federal level.
In addition to the cancer risk, EtO is highly flammable. The Air Force has expressed concerns about the facility being right next to the ADC. If an aircraft were to impact the facility, there’s a valid concern over the effects from an EtO fire downwind. That concern is increased based on the plan to use up to 450,000 pounds of EtO annually. If they ever have over 10,000 pounds at the facility at a given time, they’re required to provide an emergency plan to the EPA. A release of just 10 pounds of the stuff requires notification within 15 minutes to the National Response Center. For comparison, that 15-minute call isn’t required for sulfuric acid until there’s an accidental release of 1,000 pounds. It’s possible that they’ll never have the 10,000 pounds on-site at any one time. That ‘on-time delivery means they’ll be transporting it over city streets on a frequent basis.
Pima County DEQ is still taking public comments. You can see their public outreach schedule and offer your thoughts at https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=740735
I will be asking for an update from our planning people at an upcoming study session.
5G and Aviation
If you’ve flown recently, you might remember the flight attendant reminding people to put their electronic devices into ‘airplane mode’ while in the air. The intent is to avoid interference with some of the plane’s own electronic equipment. Last week the Federal Aviation Administration issued a report on the potential impacts of the new 5G planned deployment on the safety of planes – whether or not the device is in ‘airplane mode.’ The telecom companies have been asked to delay the rollout of their planned December deployment while the matter is studied.
A few months ago, I wrote about how the 5G companies bought several billions of dollars worth of access to new spectrum in an auction last year. Some of what they bought is in the same bandwidth that major airline altimeters function in. In an FAA report, the airline operators were given several warnings. These are some of the many included in that report:
 Yes, altimeters tell you what altitude you’re flying at. It’s good information for pilots to keep in mind if they want to avoid other air traffic – or the ground.
I won’t get into all the spectrum and band details, but the overall message is the whole impact of the 5G technology on interference with aviation is now under review. The telecom companies have agreed to stand down on their planned deployment and work with the FAA on the issue.
In addition to the recommendations made to the airline operators, the FAA included advice for radio altimeter manufacturers, aircraft manufacturers, and pilots. The Deputy Administrator of the FAA, Bradley Mims had this to say: “The FAA shares the deep concern about the potential impact to aviation safety resulting from interference to radar altimeter performance from 5G network operations in the C band.” That’s the ‘band’ the telecom’s just bought new access to.
If you’d like to read the FAA bulletin, you can find it at this link: special information bulletin.
The city is preempted by state law from stopping the deployment of the small cell towers being installed to facilitate 5G. But the feds have stepped in and asked for a pause. I’ll share the outcome as it’s made public.
Special thanks to Genna’s mom for having her friend and Garden District neighbor Deedra give me a heads up to look into the issue.
Glass Crushing
Quick update on the progress being made with the glass crushing operation. The commercial scale crusher arrived a few weeks ago. It’s out at the Los Reales ‘sustainability campus’ - a bit ahead of the ‘campus’ being laid out, but we’ll take it. So many of you are participating in the glass reuse program that getting to this point is a milestone we’ve been looking for.
The 22’ glass recycle roll off that’s at the Ward 6 office is being filled about twice per week. On Saturday morning while I was running through the park at the end of Tucson Blvd I heard bottles being tossed into the bin located out there. So we know they’ve got plenty of supply out at Los Reales to get the program started. Now with the arrival of the crusher, some staffing and logistics details are left to sort out.
I appreciate the Environmental Services crew that’s at work getting the program off the ground. I know they have plenty of other duties, so seeing this start to take shape is to their credit. And as always, thanks to Val from West University who planted the right seed months ago and got the early conversation started. Yes, there’s more to do, but this is progress.
And on a similar, but side note, last week I was in touch with ByFusion about the pilot projects we’ll be implementing in some of our parks using their ‘plastic blocks.’ I was able to share some design plans with our E.S. folks that I got from ByFusion. I’m looking forward to being able to share images of some finished projects so you can stop by and ‘touch and feel’ what can become of recycled/reused plastics.
First the glass – next the plastic. It’ll all fit within the eventual sustainability campus that’s in design for Los Reales
Pima Council on Aging Senior Counseling
Several health plans are right now in their annual open enrollment window. The team over at PCOA is helping seniors navigate the various medicare plans. They don’t sell or endorse any particular plan, but are giving help to people who need some assistance understanding both the enrollment process, and what benefits the plans include.
The Kaiser Family Foundation did a survey and found that in 2020 fully 57% of people do not do coverage comparisons before signing up. The service PCOA is offering is a chance for you to re-evaluate what coverage you’ve got and compare it to other options that may exist. It can lead to real cost savings, coverage that better addresses your particular needs, and may affect beneficiary benefits as well.
PCOA’s help comes under the umbrella of the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP.) Using their counseling will help get and keep you in a plan that most efficiently meets your needs. Feel free to reach out to them at 546.2011, or email ship@pcoa.org.
RTA Next
The departure of Diana Alarcon will have an important impact on our ability to put together a comprehensive package related to the extension of Prop 101 – our road repair ½ cent sales tax. She has also been a strong advocate for city interests at the RTA/PAG meetings, so others of us will have to fill that role. In the past week we submitted to the RTA our complete list of transportation needs. I’ve shared it with you before – this is the chart with the various categories. We’re waiting for a response from the RTA on what will be included from our list in the Next RTA package.
That list tracks our Move Tucson priorities. The ‘pavement maintenance and repair’ category is self explanatory – fix the roads. No matter which funding source we land on, road repair must be a part of a dedicated funding source allocation.
The ‘safety project’ category will include things such as crossing improvements, HAWK signals, more street lighting and that sort of thing. It’s about enhancing everyone’s awareness while out on our roadways, whether you’re in a car, on a bike or on foot. The public transportation item is to increase funding for frequency and reliability of our bus system, and to support the implementation of more regional long range facility and service upgrades. And the Bike and Ped improvements are primarily focused on neighborhood ‘getting around’ issues.
I’ve spoken with Supervisor Rex Scott and others within the county about how we bridge our differences. I’ll be speaking with ADOT representative Ted Maxwell this week about the same. Regional collaboration can be a win for us all, but only if it’s done in a way that doesn’t disenfranchise residents of the city of Tucson.
Harvard Global Health Institute
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been tracking the new Delta Plus variant. In mid-October it accounted for 6% of the new cases in the U.K. Last week it had climbed to 10%, and now it’s at about 11%. The new variant is now present in 8 states in the U.S. Those include California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Washington. It’s also in D.C. The new variant is still a tiny percentage of the cases in the U.S. The CDC says that it appears the new variant spreads more quickly than Delta, but that it doesn’t appear to cause more severe symptoms. It also appears to still respond to vaccines.
The Harvard risk map looks the same for Arizona this week as compared to last week. The entire state is in the Red, high risk level. Here’s what I had in the previous newsletter.
 And here’s what they have posted for this week’s national risk assessment. You can scroll back and forth, but generally the picture is pretty much what we’ve come to expect; COVID is alive and well throughout the country.
 Last week Harvard had our cases per 100,000 at 35.7, with a 7 day moving average of 374 new cases per day. This week, consistent with the NY Times data I shared above, those numbers have gotten slightly worse in Pima County.
 It has certainly been a roller coaster since April, 2020 but now we have vaccines, and now we have a large percentage of the population ignoring that reality and causing the pandemic to continue. The new variant strains have a better chance of continued mutation as long as the virus has unprotected hosts in the community. These data show Arizona’s cumulative case and fatality counts. Everybody has an individual responsibility to do their part to stop this.
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:
COVID kills 19x more people than the flu. Please get your flu vaccination, get your COVID vaccination and booster, wear a mask when in confined areas, and watch out for the misinformation that’s being spread.
Here’s this week’s statewide COVID map. We now have a vaccine. If you’re one of the vast majority of city workers who understand the severity of these data and have gotten your vaccine, thank you. If you’re in the minority who would rather fight the data and science, that’s an employment decision you’re making on your own.
Sincerely,
Steve Kozachik
Council Member, Ward 6
ward6@tucsonaz.gov
City of Tucson Resources
|
