A Message from Steve K...05/02/2022

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Date: 05/02/2022

Topics in This Issue

• Humanizing Homelessness 

• Transit Free for All Policy 

• Refugees

• Verizon / painting poles in Peter Howell /

• Gun Violence

• Pima Council on Aging Memory Care Support  

• Plastic Block

• Arizona Luminaria  

• Proposition 411

• Rincon Heights Row Houses

• COVID

Humanizing the Homeless

This is Leona. She is 37 years old and was born in Tucson. Wish her a happy birthday if you see her, she ‘celebrated’ it on April 15th. Leona made it through 11th grade at a high school in Juno, Alaska. She travelled there with her mom and sister to be with her dad who was working the mines in Alaska in the '80's. I had several friends do the same. Leona still has local Tucson ties with an uncle who works for the City. She married, but after having had "7 or 8" miscarriages, her husband left her in order to find someone he could have children with. Leona is broken hearted about not being able to give birth.

Leona moved a lot, largely due to her husband being in the military. She worked as an in-home caregiver, and as a medical assistant. After the divorce she ended up on the street, moving from camp to camp, and through an occasional shelter. The issue with shelters is most don't allow partners. She has a guy who she travels with - for companionship, and for safety. Maintaining that relationship is worth more to her than sleeping in a temporary shelter. She struggles with 'schizophrenic affect.' That's what she called it, and when I asked her to describe the symptoms, she said it presented as being concerned that people around her were talking about her, staring at her - general paranoia. That's another challenge with her being in a shelter situation. She gave credit to CODAC for providing her meds that help control the condition. And she is grateful to 'the guys who protect me' when she's on the street.

She says the homeless form bonds/family and they look out for one another. When I met her, she was watching out for one of her male partners who was sick and sleeping. Another homeless guy came up while we were talking and gave her the Big Gulp drink you see in her hand. They were truly concerned for one another's wellbeing.

Leona eats by food stamps and through a church soup kitchen. She feels safe sleeping on the street but would prefer a shelter that allows couples. Leona says she finds joy in reading the Bible. What makes her sad is being alone when her partner isn't around - and the loneliness of homelessness generally.

Thanks to Kari for sharing this article with me. It’s a testimonial written by a mom whose message is that everyone has a story. Even if that person is living on the street. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/21/searching-for-my-homeless-son/ 

These photos are from midtown camps/washes. The mayor and city council, as well as some of the leadership representing a service provider that’s under contract to manage our hotel ‘aren’t ready to support’ controlled camps, so this is what we’re trying to address. It is dehumanizing, unsafe and unsanitary. Waiting on beds in shelters will only continue to result in this.

Transit Free for All Policy 

During our last M&C meeting I raised the issue of re-assessing our fare free transit policy. I’ve spoken to Sun Tran drivers as well as Sun Tran management. Everyone I’ve spoken to affirms that by allowing free rides for anybody at any time, we’re driving away choice riders, losing drivers, and hurting the system.

What I suggested was reaching out to Sun Tran and getting their input into how other cities are being creative in making fares accessible for those who can’t pay but implementing a policy that gathers some fare revenue from those who can afford to help invest in the system, and in the process deters some of the activity we’ve seen since the COVID free fare policy went into effect. The only response from colleagues was along the lines of ‘parks are free so buses should be too.’ Actually, we charge people to use our parks facilities, but that’s not the real point here.

Last week the Teamsters Local 104 sent a letter to our citizen’s Transit Task Force in which they made the exact same points I had made. The difference is they had data. Here are two paragraphs from their well written letter to the TTF:

Refugees 

Our evenings are beautifully mild, so the weather was great for them to gather outdoors. Unfortunately, more juvenile and criminal behavior interrupted their event. More beer cans – some partially full – were tossed onto cars, into the seating area and throughout the site. And once again they came from Sol – the Nelson Properties owned student housing facility. 

This time they were smart enough to have their balcony light off when they threw the cans.  However, came back and looked with flashlights to see what impact they had caused. Top balcony – two flashlights, likely accompanied by drunken laughter. And a closeup– the video footage comes from the ICT system. The ownership of Sol y Luna never followed through with their commitment to install video on their own building. I’m placing this in the Refugee section because I know there are numerous refugee families who attend the ICT. They’re learning about Tucson and our culture. It’s difficult to convince them that what you see in the photos isn’t us. Seeing is believing. I shared videos and photos once again with the city attorney last week, and he has reached out to the ownership of this property – again – and asked yet again for evidence of them acting on this criminal behavior. This is from the letter that went out to Nelson Properties on Friday: “During the meeting, one NP representative stated that management was prepared to “drop the hammer” on the residents of the units already identified as being in violation, and that eviction notices would soon follow. Did this ever happen?”

The question is rhetorical because we know they never followed through. In fact, the place continues to have code violations and I get calls/emails from residents and their parents regularly about the condition of the place. We’ll be following through again, but until they enclose the balconies, this activity will continue every semester with new students.

On a more positive refugee note, we had several families come through the Habistore last week and once again empty the $5,000 Afghan fund. While it’s a drag that the fund is gone again, it’s very good news that families have had the opportunity to benefit from the support Kaimas Foundation gave. We’re grateful to Charlie and his staff over at the Habistore for taking part.

We’re still working with the State Department – who in turn is working directly with the Turkish authorities on securing the release of the judge’s wife to fly to the U.S. Logistically things are rather clunky, but once we’re past the Muslim holiday and they’re all back at work we should see some real progress. William is an extremely generous Ward 6 neighbor who has offered his ‘winter house’ to the judge and his family on a house-sitting basis while he escapes our summer heat. Things look promising for this one family. There are hundreds in Tucson struggling with the same needs.

Donations needed continue to be rugs, insta-pots, other household goods, laptops, and kids’ toys. And we continue to be grateful to Sam Hughes neighbor Debbie for dedicating time each week to keeping our community room/donation center looking tip top. We’ve got lots of great partners in this effort.

Verizon / painting poles in Peter Howell /

One group that took a step backwards in terms of ‘partnership’ last week is Verizon. By way of quick reminder – for going on 2 years we’ve been working to get consideration from them and from AT&T on collocating new 5G cell antennas onto existing poles. This began with the rapid proliferation of new cell poles popping up in front of peoples’ homes. At the time the telecom response to our objections was that we were precluded by state law from telling them where they could locate the poles. There is a state law that circumscribes our authority – but it doesn’t stop us from making reasonable zoning-related conditions on where the poles can go. That’s what we did.

In fall of last year, following many months of difficult discussions with the utility industry, we produced a utility manual. The manual has several new policies that telecoms must follow when putting in new cell poles. One is a distance requirement that has had the very positive effect of resulting in every one of the new poles erected since the manual came out being collocated with another vertical element (TEP pole, light pole, street sign...) Another new policy that’s in the manual is a robust public outreach prior to a final decision being made on a pole site. There was virtually no public involvement prior to the manual being finalized.

Peter Howell neighborhood now has 3 relatively new Verizon poles scattered in their neighborhood. The locations for each were determined prior to our having the manual in effect. That means there was no public involvement in the decisions surrounding their placement. It also means the neighbors never had the benefit of asking for reasonable considerations such as painting the poles an earth tone to deaden the visual impact. In fact, prior to the manual being finished, Verizon representatives told me and told city staff that they’d paint poles if neighbors asked. Two weeks ago, Peter Howell asked for their new poles to be painted. In a letter to the mayor and council, after a few paragraphs of telling us what ‘good corporate partners’ they were, Verizon took this position:

We remain committed to our efforts to provide infrastructure that fits the Tucson community’s aesthetics as long as the requests are made prior to construction and installation. In this instance, the new request to paint the poles has come in more than six months after the poles have been installed.

That’d be a reasonable and understandable position to take if in fact there had been any sort of public outreach made by any of the telecoms prior to our mandating it in the utility manual. Here Verizon is saying ‘if you’d have asked before the poles went it, we’d have done it.’ What they’re not saying is they didn’t have a single on-site meeting with Peter Howell neighbors before the poles went in.

I’m working with our transportation folks to find a way forward. I share this with you as a head’s up – when you have a representative of one of the telecoms in your neighborhood doing outreach on new proposed 5G poles, get the issue of painting them on the table early. Now, because of the new manual they must listen. Prior to the manual going in, what they said they’d do evidently wasn’t binding.

Gun Violence

A while back I used to open the newsletters with a section on gun fatalities. It was a half-staff notice where we’d respect those who’ve lost their lives due to gun violence but who weren’t so widely known that there was an official half-staff notification. We did our own through the newsletter.

Since things began reopening after COVID it seems each night we see another example of a mass shooting. They’ve been at shopping centers, schools (again), parties and at a wedding. It’s how we settle differences these days.

The University of Michigan did a study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It quantified the leading causes of death nationwide for our youth. They defined their study age group as ages 1 through 19. Based on their analyzing CDC data the study found gun-related deaths for that age group increased by nearly 30% from 2019 through 2020. This chart shows that gun deaths have surpassed even motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death among our young people.

Over 4,300 youth died nationwide from firearms in 2020. Included in that number are homicides, accidental deaths, and suicides. Car crashes caused about 3,900 fatalities among that age group. Third is drug poisoning – a distant third.

This graph is from the Gun Violence Archive site. It shows a 7-year trend for gun violence. Every category is increased since their record keeping began. A few jumps off the page; teens at over 4,100, mass shootings tripling, deaths at nearly 20,000, and children under age 11 at 1,000 killed or injured. Home of the free – land of the brave.

These aren’t statistics. They’re numbers that represent the loss of human life. If you’re concerned and would like to get involved with an advocacy group, check the Mom’s Demand Action site at www.momsdemandaction.org. Browse through the site and you’ll find plenty of ways you can get involved. And if you own guns, please store them responsibly and be sure anyone handling them has been trained in their safe operation.

Pima Council on Aging Memory Care Support

This is a fundamentally important topic not just locally, but nationally. As the baby boomers, well...evolve...in time, we’re seeing more and more of their parents struggling with memory loss. Sometimes that’s a part of dementia, and other times it’s just a function of aging. And the honest reality is boomers are on the cusp of this as well. PCOA is hosting a 6-month long series designed for caregivers who are working with loved ones wrestling with memory loss. I know from my own family experience that this can be a difficult issue for those giving the care. I wish I had exhibited more patience in some of the instances I faced. This series will help those of you/us who are facing the issue in our own families now.

The classes will take place at the new Katie Dusenberry Healthy Aging Center – across from Randolph Park at 600 S. Country Club. The meetings will run from 1pm until around 2:30. The schedule is shown in the table below.

Plastic Block 

Another week and no word from the city on them getting a price from our contractor and issuing a notice to proceed on the trash bin that’s going to be made out of the plastic block we now have sitting in a warehouse. I’ve stopped asking for a status update. They can use this weekly section as an indicator that I’m moving ahead with the idea on a parallel path – in different neighborhoods.   Last week I shared some exchanges with neighbor Paige and our ByFusion partners. There’s a pocket park going into a landscaped median in her midtown neighborhood and they are looking for a small seating node to attract people to come and enjoy the ambiance. We’re working on getting details of a seat bench made from the By Blocks – formed from heated and reused plastic.  You’ve seen these graphics before.

What Paige and her neighbors have in mind is something like this. We’re working on the design details, but one idea is leaving a peek-a-boo opening so people will be able to see the block the bench is made of. And I’m just showing the with and without a backrest option so you can see all of what’s in the conversation.

We’re also working on design drawings and pricing for a ramada in another park. Neighbors have expressed an interest so I’m just helping to facilitate some movement on this while we wait on the city process to go through its evolutionary cycle.

Arizona Luminaria

A new online news outlet has begun. Arizona Luminaria is now up and running under the direction of former Arizona Daily Star reporter Becky Pallack. She’s working collaboratively with co-founders Irene McKisson and Dianna Nanez. Their focus is on local stories – a focus area that I welcome more coverage on.

Arizona Luminaria joins the Tucson Sentinel as the local news go-to. Local print media is suffering, and I often see stories covering action we’ve taken at the M&C level a week after the fact. Online is nimbler and timelier.

Luminaria has a values statement posted on their site. Here’s what you’ll find in their reporting:

You can find them at https://azluminaria.org/  And if you’d like to get a flavor of coverage they’ll be bringing, here’s a link to a story they did on the redevelopment of the 4^th Avenue Food Conspiracy Co-Op.

https://azluminaria.org/2022/04/27/food-conspiracy-co-op-growing-up-in-tucsons-fourth-avenue-district/ 

 Proposition 411

In the runup to Proposition 411 election day I’ve been watching some of the letters to the editor the Star prints to gauge how people are feeling about the issue. The Star doesn’t fact-check letters before putting them out for everyone to read, so I’m going to correct a couple of the misnomers found in some of what’s appearing in the paper.

One person said she won’t support 411 because the city has been doing a poor job of fixing certain roads. Each of them she cited are outside city limits. Correct. We are not attempting to repair county roads. Another person pointed to the financial shortfall the RTA is experiencing as an example of why people should not support 411. The RTA has absolutely nothing to do with the work being proposed in 411. Another person didn’t see the need for a ‘special election’ now when the tax doesn’t expire until 2026. In fact, it’s the RTA tax that expires in 2026. Our current ½ cent sales tax for residential road repair ends on June 30^th of this year.

The roads targeted by Prop 411 are entirely city of Tucson residential streets. Not out in the county, and not the arterials the RTA is struggling to fund. If you’d like to see a full description of the Proposition, use this link:

"The Choice is Yours" (PDF) Proposition 411

If you’ve got questions about the Proposition, or voting generally, you can browse the city clerk’s website at https://www.tucsonaz.gov/clerks/elections or call them at 791.4213.

And on a related note, the city clerk’s office is hiring 24 people to work on Election Day, May 17^th. The workers will assist with drop-off ballots at each of the Tucson voting locations. To qualify you must be a registered voter and be willing to take an oath to become a deputy city clerk.

The work will be done in 2-person teams. You’ll have to arrive at the voting location by 5am and help set up the voting site. Ballots begin to be accepted at 6am, and the operation shuts down at 7pm. You will receive $225 in pay for the day. If you’re interested, please contact the city clerk’s office at 791.3221, or email to ana.marrufo@tucsonaz.gov or yolanda.lozano@tucsonaz.gov.

Rincon Heights Row Houses

Last Friday Diana and I visited a cool housing project over in Rincon Heights. There’s some history behind how it has evolved. Credit KVOA’s Angelique Lizarde for the good news coverage of a UA College of Architecture project that was unveiled last week. It’s what will soon be a series of 4 Row Houses located behind the UA parking garage on 7^th Street.

COVID  

Last week Los Angeles saw a 40% increase in the number of COVID cases reported. That’s ‘reported.’ Due to self-testing, reporting data isn’t what it was back when COVID began. It’s the first time since early March that L.A. has been in a high-transmission category.

The national data also has COVID back on the increase. And while fatalities are down, this New York Times chart shows the impact on hospitals is once again increasing. We have more effective treatments to control the severity of the infection, but even people who have been boosted are not fully immune. And anticipating the response by some – yes, the vaccines are effective in reducing the impact of the virus. The fatalities health care workers are seeing are vastly from among the unvaccinated.

Most of the real hot spots are right now in the northeast where people have been cooped up due to the weather. In each of the past 2 years we’ve lagged their experience. It’s not necessary if people simply get vaccinated and follow normal health care protocols – socially distance, wear a mask if you’re in enclosed areas with lots of people, and isolate if you feel sick.

Pima County health is offering free self-test kits. There will be several locations for those kits this week. None require an appointment. Here’s where you can go to get your free self-test kits:

There continue to be options for you to get vaccinated for either COVID or the flu, or boosted for COVID. Here’s this week’s Pima County health vaccination site listing – no appointments are needed:

You can get both the COVID and a flu vaccine at each of those sites. Right now, the flu isn’t a big deal in Arizona. But it is in neighboring New Mexico, and Colorado. In each of those states the flu is increasing at a troubling pace. You can get a free flu shot at each of the Pima County health vaccine locations.

Two weeks ago, in Arizona there were 2,377 new COVID cases reported. Last week that number remained about the same at 2,350. Here’s the statewide map showing the cumulative numbers since this all began. Who thought in March 2020 that we’d see anything close to this level of COVID impact?

And yet, there’s no denying we’ve made some great strides. The fact that there are pockets of areas in which COVID is seeing a new rebound is troubling though. Here’s this week’s Harvard Global Health risk level map. As I mentioned above, the northeast is having a rebound. Here in Arizona, Gila, Apache, and Coconino counties are having some issues.

In Pima County last week this is what was reported. 

I know 5 people who live here and who spent the past week with symptomatic cases of COVID. So, assuming my circle of friends is not wholly unique, these data from the Harvard group (which represent what the Arizona Department of Health Services reports) are simply not true. I’ll check back next week to see if AzDHS has done a more accurate job of reporting cases.

Please get tested if you either feel symptoms, or if you’ve been around someone who tested positive. It’s the only way we can expect the State Health Department to be able to keep accurate data to track the COVID spread.

Sincerely,

Steve Kozachik
Council Member, Ward 6
ward6@tucsonaz.gov

City of Tucson Resources

• COVID-19 Updates: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/covid-19/covid-19-updates
• I Want To... : https://www.tucsonaz.gov/i-want-to