 I’m going to open the New Year with a story of kindness that was sent to me by a constituent. She’s a senior who’s living in a group setting. I’ve attached the photo she sent to me, and her email in full below it, just as it was sent to me. It speaks for itself.
 On Christmas l was all alone. But notice my security guard working that day. I knew that he was Muslim, so I made up a cup of tea. I had gout that week so my feet would hurt I put tea on my Walker. When I went up I told him today is the day for compassion and love and that we should believe in oneness and this Earth. For we were all created as one. I gave him a small figurine of a small sunflower and told them that is the symbol of my family that in darkness we bring out the light in the world. That love compassion be practice all year round not just in special days. So I'm sending you a special gift of someone's joy that day.
On Christmas morning the Islamic Center of Tucson was vandalized, and one of their members was assaulted in their parking lot. I’ve shared videos of the incident with TPD, and they’re working on it. On the other side of that anti-Muslim spectrum is this woman’s act of kindness – and I’d add all of the donations you’ve been bringing for Afghan refugees to the ward office. Thanks for being the real heart and soul of who we are in Tucson.
Judge Wakili and His Family
I continue working on getting Judge Wakili’s wife and 2 year old reunited with him. Last week she had a meeting with Turkish officials who will decide whether or not to let her stay any longer in Turkey. The day of that meeting I received a note from someone close to the situation. A part of it had this message:
In the meantime, I got a note from a staff that she received a threat phone call from a Talib on Dec 25. I got a note from another staff, that they are not able to leave their house because the Talibs have their biometrics and are tracking them. I have absolutely no clue how they are eating or if they are able to get any food.
In another case, I got a detailing of threats where her brother and brother-in-law were captured and tortured. Her brother-in-law died. The Talibs told her she is next. She is going from friend's house to friend's house, trying not to get discovered.
I fully understand that these two are two among thousands. And yet, they’re under threat solely because of the work Ahmad did for the U.S. in opposition to the Taliban. He’s here. The rest of the family needs to be. Over Christmas, Ahmad and I filed every conceivable piece of paper the Unites States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) should ever need. He had already done this back in October, but USCIS sent a snail mail reply saying they needed him to pay fees before they’d review the information. They sent it to Turkey. He never received that notice.
Congressional and senatorial offices are aware. Our D.C. team tells me their contacts within the State Department are also aware. What I’m told is the case is recognized as unique and has been ‘escalated’. Taking the week off for a holiday vacation wasn’t helpful. I’m still hoping for a post-Christmas miracle.
This is an article a woman who’s working on Ahmad’s case with me sent last week. She is very familiar with the conditions on the ground in Turkey – which is where Ahmad’s family is stuck. My contacts in Congress and State say we shouldn’t worry because “Turkey isn’t deporting anybody”. The article paints a much different picture. I’ll share the cover page since it’s from a publication not many of us is familiar with.
 The article captures the situation in Turkey very well. Here are a few opening paragraphs from the article:
SINAN TAVSAN, Nikkei staff writer October 1, 2021 16:55 JST
VAN, Turkey -- A tipoff from Afghan army acquaintances prompted Ahmad* and his wife Fatima* to flee the capital Kabul hours before it fell to the Taliban. It marked the start of a perilous journey of more than 4,000 kms with their young daughter -- and a destination, the eastern Turkish city of Van, that is hardly the sanctuary they hoped.
The family does not regret their decision to leave Afghanistan. They say they had to go because of military connections that make them Taliban targets. But now, they face a different set of hardships in a country where government and public opinion has been turning against refugees after years of hosting millions of them.
"We were right to escape Afghanistan -- we know that we are now on a death-list now due to my family's military past," Fatima said, showing a photo of her late father in an army officer's uniform. "If our lives were not in danger, we would not have escaped Afghanistan after seeing all the hardships through our journey, including our current hide-away in Van, where authorities are searching irregular migrants like us for deportation".
The family's troubles are a sign of the growing regional shockwaves triggered by the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban rule of the country. They are also part of a wider story of how the plight of refugees globally is getting worse. Global forced displacement, including internal displacement, rose 4% in 2020 -- despite the pandemic -- from the previous year, reaching 82.4 million, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR,
But even as refugee numbers grow because of conflict, poverty, and global heating, the places where they can expect a compassionate welcome are dwindling.
The Ahmad referenced in the story is not our Ahmad. But the story is the same. His connection with our forces, and his adjudicating Taliban is the reason he and his family are high-profile targets. Now that all of the Taliban prisoners he sent to jail have been released, they’re seeking retribution.
It’s also important to remember that back in the ’80s, the U.S. funded the Taliban through Pakistan in the fight to overthrow the Soviet-led effort to take over Afghanistan. We sent money and equipment that was ultimately used to run the Soviets out. Time passes, things change, and today we’ve fled the country, left families and allies behind, and now some of us are trying to get them reunited and out of harm’s way.
There’s a much larger story about those left behind in Afghanistan. I’m stepping towards that in the coming week. And there’s a much larger story about our broken immigration and refugee program and process. A man I know is a U.S. citizen who works in Tucson. His son is also a U.S. citizen – an engineer here in Tucson. He is married to a Pakistani woman. They have a 1-year-old child. The wife and child are in Pakistan. We cannot get that guy’s wife and child reunited with him in Tucson. They’ve been separated for nearly a year. And yes, all of the “proper paperwork” has been filed more than once. The same people whom I’ve alerted about Ahmad’s case are also aware of this one. That is emblematic of a broken system.
Throughout the course of trying to get this and other families reunited, I’ve become acquainted with sponsors, refugees, and others who are stepping towards these needs simply out of the goodness in their hearts. One shared this quote from her faith tradition that motivates her. I suspect it applies to many of the people bringing in donations and connecting with these and some of the many other needs the less fortunate among us bear.
“Be not the slave of your moods, but their master. But if you are so angry, so depressed, and so sore that your spirit cannot find deliverance and peace even in prayer, then quickly go and give some pleasure to someone lowly or sorrowful, or to a guilty or innocent sufferer! Sacrifice yourself, your talent, your time, your rest to another, to one who has to bear a heavier load than you -- and your unhappy mood will dissolve into a blessed, contented submission to God”. – Abdu’l Baha, son of the founder of the Baha’i Faith
Islamic Center Vandalism/Assault
On Christmas morning, there was yet another act of vandalism that hit the Islamic Center. We’ve had bottles and other objects thrown from the adjacent student housing dorms in the past, and students have been evicted as a result. This time there was a broken window and a physical assault on one of the ICT members. Please look at these photos that I pulled from a video provided to me by friends at the mosque. These are just some of the perpetrators – police are looking for them. When they are identified, ICT will press charges.
Call 88-CRIME if you can help with the identification. Thanks very much.
Vax Hesitancy Video
On a COVID vaccine note, I’ve been opening recent newsletters with a vaccine update. Last week I ran across this short video that speaks to reasons some people may still be resisting the vaccine. It’s about a minute long, and I hope serves as a motivation to those who may continue to be on the sidelines of science. More on science and COVID below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YitGWiS7pz8
Ready, Set, Rec
And thanks to Sierra Boyer for getting us this Ready, Set, Rec schedule for the Ward 6 van. These are the locations and times you can plan on getting out and taking part in some light outdoor activity with our Parks staff and your neighbors.
 DTP Connects
A quick note of thanks to our Downtown Tucson Partnership team for the work they’re doing keeping our downtown core safe, clean, and welcoming. This photo is an example of one of the DTP Connects staffers presenting a gentleman with a new wheelchair. He’s a homeless guy who is familiar to the DTP team. The chair he had didn’t work due to a broken wheel. Now he’s back in action. We’re grateful to Kathleen Ericksen and her DTP group for their compassionate work.
COVID Data
The city’s mandatory vaccination policy has now gone into effect. This is the general policy that is now in place:
 The city uses Rescue Me Wellness as one of our testing contractors. There is another testing firm that many of our public safety workers were collaborating with ahead of the policy going into effect, getting medical exemptions and other work-around efforts. Rescue Me Wellness is the group I worked with a year ago going into student housing dorms doing the testing. Some overly-creative city workers have now drawn the conclusion that since their favorite didn’t get the contract, I must somehow be getting a kick-back from Rescue Me Wellness. A very little arithmetic would clue them that the rumor is pretty stupid. Rescue Me pays $18 per test. They’re charging our employees $20 per test. They have to pay their own overhead somehow with that $2 difference. If there’s a kickback left in that, I’d say it’s mighty tiny. A better approach than using your spare time concocting fables would be to use that time getting a vaccination. That would certainly be more aligned with the notion of ‘public service’ than inventing fake conspiracy theories.
Lots of the Omicron coverage has focused on two things; its ease of transmission and the notion that it’s less deadly than Delta. But this graphic shows hospitalizations are still on the increase. Although still below last winter’s peak, the emergence of Omicron, coupled with Delta and the flu, have the trend lines headed in the wrong direction. And the case counts have eclipsed those of last winter. I’m sure you hear some of the medical experts saying this’ll all be done by mid-January. That sounds vaguely familiar – and here we are again.
 On Sunday, the U.S. was reporting nearly 400,000 new COVID cases per day – largely due to Omicron. Its severity is less than Delta, hospitalizations are increasing at a slower rate than Delta, and the death rate is increasing less quickly than it did with Delta. One reason medical people are citing is Omicron appears to focus in the mouth and throat and not in the lungs. That’s good – in comparison to Delta.
Combined with the flu, all the positive speculation about mid-January could be out the window. It has been a couple of weeks since I had the flu spread map in a newsletter. This one looks significantly different than the mostly green one I most recently had.
 Arizona’s still in the minimal-to-low activity level. It’ll change. I wonder if the COVID no-vax group is also a flu no-vaxer? I haven’t seen any data on that.
I ended the year with this running total of new case counts.
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
Week of 11/1 - 2,856 new cases
Week of 11/8 - 3,597 new cases
Week of 11/15 - 4,353 new cases
Week of 11/22 - 3,432 new cases
Week of 11/29 - 3,639 new cases
Week of 12/6 - 2,965 new cases
Week of 12/13 - 2,493 new cases
Week of 12/20 - 2,022 new cases
How’s that for a coincidence – the week before the start of the new year, we had 2022 cases. The week of 12/27, which ran into the new year, we had 4,229 new cases. With one exception, we haven’t seen that number of new cases in months. You’d think we’d have this figured out by now – the virus spreads when groups get together.
I’ll keep this chart in as an historical record for this one more week. We’re back to the high marks of fall 2020.
 Here’s another historic benchmark. This graphic shows hospitalizations over the past 6 months in Pima County. It’s broken down by age and sex. The 20-44 age group is catching up to seniors. Hey, millennials – you're not immune. And yes, this is hospitalizations, not simply new cases.
 It’ll take a few weeks to see what impact, if any, the holiday gatherings will have. If you’re a hospital or health care worker, you’re probably not looking forward to late January.
TreeCycle
If you’ve got a live Christmas tree, now is probably a good time to treecycle it. After a couple of weeks, they tend to dry out, even with regular watering. It takes a dry evergreen just seconds to burn into an uncontrollable torch – and having that happen in your living room is a problem.
The city is again hosting multiple sites around town for treecycle. The program will run until Monday, January 17th. This list shows where you can take your tree until then. They’re open during daylight hours every day unless otherwise noted. Click on the location if you need a Google map to help.
- Oro Valley Naranja Park, 810 W. Naranja Dr.
-
Tank's Speedway Recycling & Landfill Facility, 7301 E Speedway (turn north on Prudence Rd., Open Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Saturday, 7 a.m. - 2 p.m)
- Golf Links Sports Park, 2400 S. Craycroft Rd.
-
Tucson Rodeo Grounds, on 3rd Ave. (3rd Ave North of Irvington Rd.)
-
Los Reales Landfill, 5300 E. Los Reales Rd. (Entrance is at intersection of Craycroft Rd. & Los Reales Rd., follow signs; Monday-Saturday, 6 a.m. - 5 p.m)
- Tank's Ina Land Reclamation Facility, 5300 W Ina Rd. (1/4 mile west of I-10, Open Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. - 2 p.m)
- Purple Heart Park, 9820 E. Rees Loop (near dog park).
-
Randolph Golf Course, 600 S. Alvernon Way, (Southeast corner of parking lot)
-
Joaquin Murrieta Park, 1400 N. Silverbell Rd. (use East entrance, turn north from Speedway onto El Rio Dr.)
RTA Next
At the end of this month, we will make a decision on whether or not and/or to what extent we will participate in the next round of RTA. We’ve made it clear to the RTA jurisdictions that without some important changes to how the Pima Association of Governments or the RTA votes and how representation is addressed, as well as other specific issues related to what goes to the ballot, we may opt-out of being an RTA member jurisdiction and fly solo. I think that’d be unfortunate, but there have been editorial pieces written by both the Marana and Sahuarita mayors that demonstrate the intransigence we’re facing.
The Marana guy just said the 20+ year old arrangement isn’t in need of fixing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. In fact, we’ve pointed out several areas in which we believe it needs attention. The Sahuarita guy focused on the incorrect assertion that the budgets that were in the 2006 RTA plan have been what jurisdictions get from the ½ cent funding. Anything above that is their nickel. But that’s neither consistent with how for example, Marana projects have been funded, nor is it consistent with the RTAs own bylaws.
This is a project called the Camino de Manana/Tangerine Road project. In the RTAs own agenda material describing the project, it said it was to “the economic benefit of Marana and Oro Valley”. The Town of Marana expanded the scope of what was on the original ballot, and some of the new cost was picked up by regional funds. Here’s the “budget performance” notation describing the costs and funding mechanisms.
 Regional funds were indeed used to fund the project, even though the added costs were the result of a change in scope. The City of Tucson deserves the same consideration.
But there’s an even more basic cost issue that’s germane to our remaining nearly $300M in un/underfunded projects. That’s an inflation escalator. According to the Sahuarita mayor, any cost increases due to inflation should be borne by us for our projects. That’s a convenient position to take from someone whose projects were essentially front-loaded into the RTA plan. As we near the end of the 20 year time horizon for the RTA, though, City of Tucson projects will absolutely be more expensive than what appeared on the ballot – due to inflation.
In the RTA bylaws, they anticipated that reality and included this language.
 So if the RTA members decide to ignore those policies and tell the City of Tucson that we need to come up with any inflation-related cost increases, that will be a key piece of our thought process deciding whether or not to continue as an RTA regional partner for another 20 years. Another piece of that decision will be getting past the current ‘one jurisdiction/one vote’ policy.
Other regional transportation authorities have figured out how to adjust for population and/or tax base. It’s not reasonable to give regional members the same weighted vote or representation if their contribution to the whole is vastly different. Texas has more members in the U.S. House of Representatives than Maine does. Same idea.
This map shows how other jurisdictions handle the weighting issue. We’re the anomaly. Even Phoenix has a weighted voting model.
 Many of us began to address this concern by simply saying the City of Tucson would have a more highly weighted vote on RTA matters than some of the tiny jurisdictions – Sahuarita, for example. After some study though, it became clear that in order to achieve that, we’d need state statute to be altered in order to make that change. But there’s another way to achieve the same result with just changes to the PAG bylaws – which does not involve the state legislature.
This is a portion of a legal opinion we received from the City Attorney’s office. In short, it says we can increase representation on the Pima Association of Governments regional council through a bylaw change. And representation on the RTA board flows from the PAG board membership. A different way to achieve the same result that we started with.
 We’re still faced with some of the existing member jurisdictions saying, ‘it ain’t broke’. Trying to achieve some movement, the county representative on the PAG, Rex Scott, offered an idea to break the logjam.
His idea was to leave the RTA voting as it is but to change the PAG voting structure. The change would more closely reflect the relative population base among the various cities, towns, and tribes that make up the PAG. Tucson would get 4 votes on each item, the county would get 3, and all of the other jurisdictions would get one each. The result would be if the city and county joined forces, they still would not win a majority vote, and if all of the other jurisdictions joined forces, they wouldn’t either. The idea didn’t gain support.
But at the most recent RTA meeting, Regina (Tucson mayor) offered a new approach, also trying to get some movement on the representation/voting topic. Hers was to follow the legal opinion direction and simply change the PAG bylaws to allow more members on the regional board. Matching the population base each jurisdiction brings, Tucson would have 8 members, the county would have 5, and each of the others would have 1 member each. If we went strictly by population, some towns such as Sahuarita wouldn’t even have a full member, so giving 1 was a sort of olive branch. The idea didn’t get support, but they did agree to work towards a compromise between what Rex proposed and what Regina has on the table at the next meeting. That’s coming less than a week prior to our February 1st deadline on deciding our role.
Other than Tucson and Pima County, the rest of the members making up the PAG/RTA are Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita, South Tucson, Tohono O’odham Nation, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and ADOT. It will take 5 of that group voting in favor of some change in order to change the current 1 person/1 vote system.
Rosemont Copper
A couple of months ago, I raised the issue of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) board placing on their agenda an item in which Rosemont Copper would be allowed to use our water storage facility to store their water. We have an existing agreement with the CAP that outlines how much each of us can store in the Pima Mine Road Recharge Plant (PMRRP) If there’s excess space, then the City of Tucson gets the right of first refusal to top it off. There is excess space. CAP wanted to allow Rosemont to do the topping off. We had the item pulled from their agenda so staff could remind the CAP of our agreement and our rights.
The issue is back on their agenda. Here’s the item summary. The acronym NIA stands for ‘non-indian agricultural’.
 Under the scope of the services section found in that ‘agreement’ is this further description. The CAWCD is the Central Arizona Water Conservation District – longhand for CAP.
 Under the scope of the services section found in that ‘agreement’ is this further description. The CAWCD is the Central Arizona Water Conservation District – longhand for CAP.
 During New Year’s week, I sent staff a note voicing my objection to agreeing to doing anything “for the benefit of Rosemont”. The entire M&C have formally voted similarly, multiple times. That means top off the storage facility with ‘our’ water leaving no room for Rosemont to store theirs. Their meeting is coming on January 6th. This is the CAP board recommendation:
 M&C don’t meet again until after that vote happens. I’ll be interested in knowing if others from the council weigh in with their thoughts. Due to open meeting laws, we cannot collaborate on that policy discussion outside of a regularly scheduled and agendized item of our own.
Harvard Global Health Institute
This week’s risk level map from the Harvard folks looks pretty Christmassy. Lots of red – high-risk level. It’s nearly exactly where we began 2021.
 Focusing in on Pima County, we see the 7 days rolling average is back up from where we were pre-Christmas. Here’s pre-Christmas:
 And here’s how we begin 2022:
 A small percentage of COVID tests are run through the process of seeing which strain of the virus is accounting for the positive result. Speculation is much of our increase is due to Omicron. That’s consistent with what the rest of the country is experiencing.
Best Wishes to Chuck Huckelberry and His Family
I’m going to end this first newsletter of 2022 with a personal note. It’s easy to go on with our lives and forget friends and colleagues who may be out of sight – but shouldn’t be out of mind. Chuck Huckelberry spent the holiday season in rehab, coming back from his bicycle crash. We at the Ward 6 office wish him well and continue to hope for a full and rapid recovery. It has been a difficult holiday for him and his family. We’re hoping that quickly changes for them.
And here’s my usual closing – the current Arizona COVID count by county.
Pima County Attorney’s Office Victim Services Division
 Sincerely,
Steve Kozachik
Council Member, Ward 6
ward6@tucsonaz.gov
City of Tucson Resources
|
