What’s the 411?
The “411” is that Tucson’s neighborhood streets are in lousy condition and in great need of repair. I heard this loud and clear when I spoke to residents of Ward 3 and Tucson during my campaign, and since then, too.
The “411” is also the official title of a ballot measure that can do a lot to solve this problem.
On May 17, Tucson city voters will be asked to extend an existing half-cent sales tax first approved by voters in 2017. If passed, 80% of the funds generated will be invested in a major effort to repair, restore, resurface, or improve every local neighborhood street in Tucson during the next 10 years. A portion (20%) of the funds will be used to make streets safer for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians by investing in sidewalks, lighting and traffic calming measures.
The special election was called by Mayor and Council, who decided unanimously on Tuesday to send this measure to the ballot. The official title of the ballot measure will be Proposition 411.
As we near the election there will be more information about this measure, but please take note and be ready to vote in May!
-Kevin
Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Tucson
On a recent, cool winter’s day, Kevin and his team joined Tucson Water staff on a tour of potential new Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) projects in Ward 3. Tucson’s GSI program is a 3 year pilot program that aims to “build and maintain projects throughout the City that capture stormwater runoff from public streets and parking lots, and divert it into vegetated water harvesting areas.”
Blue Baldwin, Xochitl Coronado-Vargas, CJ Boyd, Brook Bushman, Katie Bolger, Kevin Dahl, Jeremiah Dean, Kristin Woodall and Jon Choi at the site of a future pocket park in Bronx Park neighborhood.
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The GSI fund is a small fee assessed based on a customers water use at a rate of .13 cents per ccf (about $1.00 per month to average customer). The fee is only charged to City of Tucson residents. |
The benefits of GSI are many. By diverting stormwater off pavement and asphalt, we can reduce flooding issues and wear and tear (think potholes!) on our neighborhood streets. At the same time that water can be put to beneficial use by planting and maintaining native trees and vegetation, that once established can survive with little to no supplemental irrigation. The outcome of diverting stormwater is shaded streets, sidewalks and bikeways-beautification of our neighborhoods and habitat for birds, lizards and other tiny creatures 🌳
For more information on the City’s GSI program visit the City's GSI website
Visit with Tucson Fire Department
This week we took a field trip to Fire Central, the department headquarters, to meet Chief Chuck Ryan. The fire house is located at 300 S. Fire Place in a state-of-the-art facility that includes beautifully restored historic fire engines and memorabilia, as well as the grounds for the training academy. A self-described eternal optimist, Chief Ryan stepped into his role in late 2019 after relocating from Fairfax Virginia and claims to like Tucson better!
Chief Chuck Ryan and Council Member Kevin Dahl with Council staff CJ Boyd (L), Kristin Woodall and Marlene Avelino
Chief Ryan gave us a candid rundown of the current state of Tucson’s Fire Department and although there are areas for growth and improvement, we should all be proud of our fine fire department.
Currently we have just about 650 officers, 50 shy of what a city of our size should have. There is an academy training currently underway of 45 recruits and there will be another midsummer. Chief Ryan recently sought and received approval to host a second training per fiscal year to help close the gap saying that even with the 45 recruits, due to retirements and officers moving onto other opportunities they have been in a cycle of catch up since his arrival.
Academy trainings are 22 weeks long and when we arrived, they were in the middle of a demonstration on how to deliver a baby in breech position. Very thorough! When asked for the reason officers choose to leave, he answered, “burnout”. Although unexpected it is unsurprising especially with so many of us hearing and feeling burnout in almost every field of work.
Firefighters have a 56-hour work week consisting of three 24hr shifts in a row and due to understaffing there has been a lot of mandatory overtime. We can help our firefighters by installing and checking our smoke detectors regularly, never leaving our cooking unattended, and making sure our children sit in properly installed car seats placed in back row.
If you are interested in joining the fire crew visit: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/fire/tucson-fire-department-training
Housing
This week Ward staff member CJ Boyd attended a forum hosted by the Tucson Association of Realtors (TAR) which centered around the city’s plan to make source of income a protected class with regard to housing discrimination. The primary consequence of this shift will be that landlords will not be able to refuse a tenant simply because their rental income derives from section 8 vouchers. The main speaker at the forum was Housing and Community Development director Liz Morales, who gave a clear explanation of the policy shift, providing context and answering questions about the finer details. TAR opposes the change on the grounds that it is a regulation on landlords, which they maintain is unnecessary and overreaching.
As Morales explained, the reason for the change is the dwindling number of landlords willing to voluntarily take section 8 vouchers. Of the 1800 landlords who participated in the voucher program last year, only 350 have indicated a willingness to continue this year. This has meant that the 5300 holders of section 8 vouchers (roughly 2.5% of Tucson households) have not only experienced a 40% increase of rental prices in the last 2 years, but are now squeezed into the situation where they are all competing for a small and shrinking number of units that will work with them.
This is a housing crisis within a housing crisis for the most vulnerable renters, and exactly the data-driven reason Morales, the Housing Department, Mayor and council have supported making a policy change to protect low-income renters who can’t afford market rents during this season of unprecedented rent increases. Placement of section 8 voucher holders has recently gone from 84% to about 60%, and will continue to diminish without action on the part of council. For context, about 25% of section 8 recipients are seniors living on fixed incomes who are not able to keep up with rent spikes.
In a meeting at the Ward office after the forum, Council Member Dahl and Ward staff were happy to talk with Tucson Association of Realtors (TAR) President Lisa Suarez, Vice President Jeff Hebb, and Realtor Jennie James. Our discussion touched on finding other solutions to address the housing crisis, given the supply-side issue of insufficient housing stock. TAR supports the idea that building more housing would be sufficient to curb skyrocketing housing costs.
What the data from here in Tucson and around the country suggests is that both building more housing and crafting better policy to protects tenants are needed to address the housing crisis. Just building more housing, which is certainly necessary, will not stop out of state investors from buying up our existing and future housing stock and using predatory rent hikes to price out our most vulnerable. Community-oriented, data-driven policy is necessary to ensure Tucson remains a place that people from every income level are able to live.
There may be disagreements on how we try to fix the housing crisis, but we all agree there is one and it’s getting worse every day. We plan to work with the Tucson Association of Realtors and others to address this urgent issue.
Ward 3 Neighborhood and Coalition Meetings
Limberlost
Saturday
February 5
10-11:30 am
zoom
Barrio Blue Moon
Sunday
February 6
2-3 pm
Esquer Park
Alvernon/Grant Initiative
Tuesday
February 8
6 pm
email paloverdena@gmail.com by 12:00 pm for zoom link
Ward 3 Events
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The Ward 3 office is currently closed to the public. Staff will answer phone messages, emails and requests for meetings by the next working day. Leave your message at 520-791-4711 or email at ward3@tucsonaz.gov. |
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