A Message from Steve K...09/06/2022

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From: Ward 6
Contact: 791-4601 or ward6@tucsonaz.gov 

Date: 09/06/2022

Topics in This Issue:

• Plastic Blocks

• Sol y Luna Again

• ¡Viva Tucson!

• 911

• Code Enforcement Link

• Refugees

• Sonoran Stitch Factory

• End of Life Options

• Water Security

• Sustainable Tucson

• COVID

Plastic Blocks

We are just over 5 weeks into the plastic diversion program and you’ve passed the 5-ton mark. More on that below, but the popularity of the program has gotten us to the point where we’ve needed to set up a regular schedule for emptying the roll off with our environmental services partners. That matters to many of you because each time it’s getting emptied inevitably someone shows up to drop off donations. Starting next week, the roll off will be gone for about an hour every Monday and Thursday. If you happen to show up and its gone, please feel free to bring your plastics into the office and we’ll toss them into the bin when it returns. Getting to a regular schedule is a part of the program progressing.

Last week we extended the reach of the program. The Oro Valley Basis school is now involved. We appreciate them making the long drive and committing to the work. But they were topped by the guy who drove down from Phoenix to drop off some plastics. He poked his head in and asked if I could start up a program in Phoenix. I told him that we’ll get there, but Tucson is the focus right now. He’ll be back with another load.

The city of Flagstaff topped us all last week. They’ve issued permits for the construction of a 600 square foot house that’ll be made using ByBlocks. Many of you have asked if this is construction-grade material. The two bedroom/one bath house that’ll soon go into construction in Flagstaff is evidence that the material is a fitting replacement for cinder block. We’re doing benches, walls and enclosures – this is the pilot. I am fully confident that we’ll have much more significant structures being built with the plastic blocks once this program is fully integrated throughout the community.

So, what about the ‘reach’ of the pilot program? Those of you who have signed up for the updates and have given us your zip code are included in this map. It shows that virtually every area of the region is participating – with one single drop off location. That’s why we’re filling it with more than a ton of plastic every week:

Here’s our current progress report. Averaging about a ton per week is pretty impressive. You all should take a bow. It’s also testimony to the reality that you simply cannot avoid plastics – and therefore you simply should be collecting it and bringing it to Ward 6’s roll off.

What those numbers reflect is purely the residential involvement in this program. ByFusion, my staff and I are committed to using only what residents bring in to demonstrate the popularity of the program to the mayor, council and city staff. That’s what you’ll see in the graphics showing the progress each week. And yet we’re also generating spin-off partners. Last week one of them – a local plastics producer – baled up over 4,000 pounds of their waste and we had it shipped to ByFusion. This guy’s loading some of the baled plastic waste onto the waiting delivery truck. As more commercial-scale partners come on board, the tonnage data will spike upwards. Call me if you’ve got a business that would like to join in on this work. I’ve got several conversations in play right now – more is better.

Recently a lady stopped in and asked if we can use the plastic twine used for things such as horse-leads. She is affiliated with a local stable. That’s one of what may turn into a more commercial-scale partner. Below is a picture of all sorts of plastic twine that was pulled from the ocean during a 45-day marine debris cleanup that Ocean Voyages Institute conducted. Their tour brought in 96 tons of plastic waste. Much of it was transported to the ByFusion Innovation center – the non-profit arm of ByFusion that’s working hard to pull plastics from both the ocean and from landfills. We’re doing the landfill piece with them.

If you’d like to read more about the innovation work being done through ByFusion’s non-profit, use this link: ByFusion Unity

If you’d like to sign up, use this link. It’ll take you less than a minute.  Signing up will get you regular updates (beyond my newsletter) on how the project is progressing, and it’ll give you insights into other work being done that’s related to our project. The Ocean Voyages Institute work is an example of what you’ll see when you sign up. The goal is to demonstrate to the city that the community wants this program and that we need to find a way to make it happen broadly. When that comes about it’ll be because of your support and encouragement.

https://www.byfusion.com/pilot-program/

One factor that will make things much easier when your material gets to the ByFusion facility is that you put your plastic into a clear plastic bag. If the people running the conveyor-line at ByFusion can easily see inside the bag it saves a bunch of time where they’re having to cut open say a black/opaque bag to be sure they’re not sending something other than plastic to be shredded. We’re still giving away clear bags – come grab some if you’d like. We’re open until 1pm every weekday.

Sol y Luna Again

Last week Dora, Diana and I walked into Sol y Luna and were invited on a visit to the upper floors by residents. It was the mess I wrote about it in the last newsletter, and it continues now. Since then, Sol y Luna’s ownership Nelson Partners has put on file with TPD a No Trespass letter. That’s good. Me and my team won’t be doing any more ‘site visits’ now that that’s in place, but parents and students continue trying to get resolution to a variety of quality-of-life issues. And they continue sending pictures from the facilities so we’re up to date on whether any progress is being made. Note to Nelson Partners – having a No Trespass letter on file is much more effective if you also have exterior doors that lock and security at points of entry.

On September 1^st, Bloomberg ran a piece on the student housing industry. Any business sector that exceeds $10B in investments earns that label – industry. In 2021, student housing experienced what was described in the article as ‘near record deal levels’ more than doubling the investments they saw right as COVID started. At the time there was concern student enrollment would plummet and student housing would take a significant hit. That didn’t happen.

In April of ’22, Blackstone Inc announced they had purchased a familiar name to us in Ward 6 – American Campus Communities. That’s the group the UA entered into a land deal with in order to avoid having to follow city zoning. They built the Honors College on the outskirts of Feldman’s neighborhood. ACC has now sold out to Blackstone for just under $13 billion dollars. That’s billion – not a typo. The expectation is student enrollment will grow by about 10% between now and 2031. That’s an additional approximately 1 million beds to fill.

Not all student housing companies are doing that well. The Bloomberg article had this to say about our friends who own Sol y Luna:

But a handful of off-campus developments were forced to seek legal cover following the pandemic.

San Clemente, Calif.-based developer Nelson Partners put three of its luxury student housing projects into bankruptcy last year, citing revenue loss caused by the pandemic. But the firm had also been plagued by financial and legal issues, including litigation brought by lenders.

In June, Nelson Partners put its Auraria Student Lofts building into Chapter 11 less than an hour before lender Fortress Investment Group LLC was set to foreclose on the downtown Denver high-rise, it stated in court papers.

“Like any type of real estate, you can really get yourself upside down if you have too much debt,” Litt said.

With that as a backdrop, our efforts to get Sol y Luna into a safe and livable condition continued all week last week. One unfortunate development was the lady who had been assigned as point of contact began receiving some threatening emails – likely from parents who have had it with their sons and daughters living in an unsecured building. But threats are not how we’ll solve this. Nelson tried this approach first:

Going forward, we will not be communicating through this forum any further, email chain due to privacy issues. Residents/ Parents, can email the customercaresyl@solyluna.com for any issues that need attention. All work orders should be entered into the resident portal, both parent and students can enter and view status.

Predictably that resulted in a renewed volley from parents – like this:

So you will not communicate on this forum because of privacy, but you will leave unlocked doors, which risk the safety of these young adults? That clearly is a bigger issue than privacy.

And this:

If a resident is raped or killed, so much for their life, or privacy, right?

The lady who has been our POC advised everyone that their Chief Operating Officer would take over as contact person. When I reminded her that we had been told she was our go-to, this was the response:

POC is James MacQueen going forward. Please do not contact me again. Thank you!

I guess I’m not surprised. There are over 500 people on the Facebook page formed to try to resolve the concerns. Some of us in the office have wondered out loud how any of the NP staff can justify continuing to work for a company that welcomes tenants to a property that’s charging north of $1,000 per bed with conditions like this:

Unsecured entry doors with no security present:

Electrical rooms doubling as storage for wet products.

Garage entry doors left open and unsecured.

So with that, welcome to the conversation Mr. MacQueen. Local media needs a ‘new angle’ so Nelson is fortunate that for now they’re out of the media spotlight. Many of us are just hoping that new angle isn’t a tragic one when it occurs.

¡Viva Tucson!

Beginning on September 15^th, Tucson will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. This inaugural celebration is largely being promoted and coordinated through our partners at Visit Tucson.

The month-long celebration will include art displays, music, film and of course – food. We are the city of gastronomy after all. The Fox Theater will host the kickoff event with a Mexican Independence Day Concert performed by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and others. That event is being hosted by the Consulate of Mexico – stationed in Tucson.

For more information on the various activities tied to the event check www.visittucson.org . That’s the Visit Tucson general site. For information on the free kick off concert, here’s the link: https://www.visittucson.org/event/mexican-independence-day-concert/11767/

911

We are grateful to the 911 communications staff and TPD for the time they invested in an informational meeting we hosted last week with some midtown neighbors. There had been a troubling incident that resulted in questions about how 911 calls are handled, and the sorts of information that’s important to give the call taker when you dial 911. We get similar questions periodically, so I’m sharing some of what we covered during last week’s meeting.

Call takers follow a standard process when a call comes into the 911 system. All callers are asked where the incident is occurring, who is involved, who’s calling, whether medical assistance is needed and a description of what is happening. It’s also important that they determine whether any weapons are involved. While the call taker is interacting with the caller that information is being entered into the system so whoever is dispatched knows the real-time description of what’s going on.

The 911 center takes in more than 1.4 million calls annually. There are both call takers and dispatchers in the system. In the normal course of things, you’ll be talking to a call taker. During high volume call times though, dispatchers can assist with the phones. Otherwise, they’re on radios working with units that are sent out to incidents.

How a call is prioritized depends on the information given to the call taker. They’ll code a call as Level 1 through Level 9, with 1 being an emergency response where an incident poses an immediate threat to life and that threat is on-going. Level 2 is similar – where the incident has a high potential for a threat to life if the situation escalates. And the 7’s, 8’s and 9’s are low level calls that may include a call from an officer to file a report. Be very specific in what information you give to the call taker. It’s based on the information you provide that a call will be assigned a priority level, which determines the kind of response it will receive.

We often have people ask what to do when an incident isn’t an imminent emergency, but they want TPD to know about it. Things such as vandalism, lost property, thefts – those can and should be reported online.  Use this link and it’ll walk you through how to file a report: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/apps/crime-reporting/

In 2021 the 911 center processed over 1.2M calls. That’s over 107,000 calls per month. Only roughly 1/3 of them resulted in calls for service. It’s important to use online when you can in order to free up the lines for true emergencies. And in those true emergencies, please calmly help the call taker as he or she gathers the information from you. What you say will determine how they respond.

Code Enforcement Link

On a similar note, the city sponsors an online reporting opportunity for code violations. You can use this link if you feel neighbors or nearby businesses are not maintaining their property properly. Once the form is filed our code enforcement team will schedule a site visit to confirm the violation. As with everything, there’s a process.

https://docs.tucsonaz.gov/Forms/EGSD-Code-Enforcement-Violation-Report

Refugees

Last week, I included a lengthy verbatim list of instructions refugee families are being required to submit in order to even get into the queue for evacuation from danger zones. The frustration is the lack of responsiveness from the unaccountable people working ‘on behalf’ of these families in the state and homeland security departments. Late last week, in the 16^th email in a thread of exchanges I’ve been sending trying to get somebody’s attention about a family that’s in grave danger in Afghanistan, we finally got someone from State to acknowledge they know the case exists.

The case is a man who has worked in support of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. He did so for years. He could not get to the airport during the evacuation so he and his family are still stuck in Kabul. Even so he has successfully submitted all of the documents the U.S. requires in order to try to get his Special Immigrant Visa and get out of the place. “All” except for one. Here’s what we got last week – the only communication we’ve received:

Dear Sir/Madam: (my note – this is how impersonal the system is. They absolutely know they’re in communication with a man about him and his family.)

We reviewed the forms and documents you submitted with your Chief of Mission (COM) application. We need the following documents to complete your application: ·    U.S. Government or Military Identification Badges.

That was it. Dozens of pages of documentation have been provided and months after the whole process started, they’re holding it all up until our family provides a badge number. Here’s my response:

Steven, thank you. This is the 16^th email in our effort to get somebody to respond. I am advocating for the applicant Sayed. He and his family are moving from house to house trying to avoid being murdered by Taliban. They've provided multiple documents in support of their application. Are you holding everything up until you get a badge #? They will be dead if that's our current protocol. Please advise how they can be expected to produce that sort of information and not risk their lives securing it?

Thank you - Steve Kozachik

Further to that, the ‘badge’ no longer exists. It was burned up when Taliban burned down this guy’s house. Here are images of his home after it was ransacked by Taliban. This was sent to the embassy person who’s asking for the badge #. Our bureaucracy is so disengaged from the reality of the people they’re supposed to be helping that they’re asking for things that literally do not exist. And applications are being held up pending receipt of them.

Last week Hannah Tiede from KOLD ran a piece on the reunification we celebrated with judge Ahmad and his wife and kid. Included in that story was another family who is still wrestling with the process. Here’s a link to her piece:

https://www.kold.com/video/2022/09/01/only-kold-afghan-judge-reunited-with-family-tucson/

I spoke to a lady who’s helping the Afghan family you saw in Hannah Tiede’s piece in the link above. She asked if there’s anything else she, or anyone can do to help get that family out. There is a 15-year-old girl whose considering suicide as the only option to a forced marriage with Taliban. That’s their reality. Ours is waiting for badge numbers. There is virtually nothing else we can do other than continue to advocate that our congressional people make immediate and significant changes to ‘protocol’ and save some lives.

Sonoran Stitch Factory

Many of the Afghan refugee women we’ve met worked in textile factories back in Afghanistan. Through your donations we’ve been able to give roughly 50 sewing machines away to these women. Some of them ended up going through the program the city is partnering in over at the Sonoran Stitch Factory.

The Arizona Stitch Lab is a free workforce training opportunity that focuses on all-things sewing. They cover industrial sewing, digital pattern making, 3D modeling and lots more. Our partners in the operation are the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Moonshot AZ, and the Sonoran Stitch Factory. Together they’re offering these free training programs – the next one will run on Saturday’s beginning October 1^st and running through November 5^th. The workshops go from 8am until 4pm each Saturday. During the 6 weeks participants will learn all the sewing-related stuff, as well as receiving instruction on factory and machine safety protocols. Graduates are expected to start at wages of $15 p/hour, but with earning potential of up to $100K annually.

You’ve got to register for the upcoming course. To do that email to info@azstitchlab.org, or you can check out their website at www.azstitchlab.org. Either way will get you what you need in order to sign up for the classes.

End of Life Options

On Sunday, October 2^nd the Arizona End of Life Options folks are hosting a film/discussion at the Loft Cinema. The film is a documentary on 73-year-old Jack Tuller. He had a terminal brain tumor and was planning his own last days. I’ve worked with Compassion and Choices in the past on end-of-life issues. The film “Jack has a Plan” is a continuation of that theme.

The film will begin at 2pm. You can see a trailer showing what it’ll be about using this link:

https://jackdocumentary.com/

There are few more important decisions you’ll make than how to manage your own last days. The film and post-viewing discussion will present you with some issues you should include in your own planning. Please carve out some time on the 2^nd to take part in this event. We’re grateful to our friends at The Loft for hosting another key community issue.

Water Security

A key part of us each taking responsibility for water security is managing the things that are within our own control. One example is the kinds of fixtures you have in your home.

Tucson Water has several rebate programs, each of which is tied to water-saving fixtures. Everything from financial rebates for installing a high-efficiency toilet, to purchasing qualifying clothes washers and rainwater systems. Some of this is income based so look closely when you go to this link in order to determine your own next steps:  https://www.tucsonaz.gov/water/residential-rebates

The values of the rebates range from $100 up to a couple thousand dollars, depending on the kind of fixture or system you’re installing.

Sustainable Tucson

It’s hard to believe but another month has passed and the Sustainable Tucson folks are back again. Virtually still. On Tuesday, September 13^th at 6pm they’ll host a meeting that will focus on National Preparedness Month. Given the reality of extreme heat, forest fires, flooding and the collateral damage all of those causes, being prepared is an apt topic.

On this month’s panel, they’ll have Matt McGlone and Joe Tabor – both Pima County workers. Matt is the outreach manager for their Office of Emergency Management, and Joe is the lead environmental epidemiologist at the PCHD and is a member of their heat relief team. As usual you can find a link to the zoom meeting at www.sustainabletucson.org.

This month’s meeting is being offered in partnership with the work Tres English has been leading in an effort to bring neighbors together on this topic.

COVID

With so much self-testing going on, there’s a high likelihood that the COVID data being reported through the CDC is an undercount. With that in mind, the Pima County Health Department is working in partnership with the CDC and is conducting wastewater testing to see how our regional numbers track with the reported data. If you want to look into a variety of data sets you can use this link:

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveillance

The wastewater testing is considered an early warning system. It reflects increases in the virus before that’s clear from testing results. There are two areas in Pima County where data is collected through wastewater. This chart shows how those data are reflected in our current COVID concentrations:

While that chart might appear to indicate a surging virus level, the wastewater link I’ve shared above has this to say about Pima County’s risk level: 

These are the locations of the Pima County wastewater test sites. It’s a valuable tool and could probably stand being expanded to more locations. 

As the COVID numbers continue to decline it’s interesting to me to see the number of people who are no longer wearing a mask while out in public. I haven’t been in a store recently where one is required. Most simply leave it up to customers. This is data from August. Just under a third of us are always masking up while in public. 

Here’s the chart I’ve been keeping current weekly since the end of April. That’s when the recent surge seems to have started. It lasted and peaked during the summer and in the past month the new case counts look like they’re levelling off – at a rather high level, but the trend is a good one. Both the state and Pima County bumped up just a bit last week, but not significantly.

There were another 67 deaths statewide and 10 in Pima County last week due to COVID. We never see anything reported on COVID fatalities any more on the news. They’re very real and noteworthy for the families and loved ones who are affected. The positivity rate in Pima County last week was 10.5% - so despite the mask wearing numbers, COVID is still out doing its thing.

The CDC reported a new vaccine that’s supposed to target Omicron. The rollout is still being discussed. It’s called a ‘bivalent’ vaccine because it was created to address BA.4 and BA.5 - the currently dominant strains of COVID. The CDC says the vaccine is being shipped to locations around the country right now and should be widely available in the next week or two. Check online with Walgreens and CVS to see when they’re scheduling appointments.

Testing is also still an important part of managing our way out of COVID.  The federal government free test program ended last Friday. Pima County is still handing out free test kits though. This week they’ll be available at these locations:

This link is from our partners at Pima County health. It gives easy to follow instructions on how to give a self-test: https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=787398

The COVID numbers for new cases, hospitalizations and fatalities are still high. Vaccines continue to be available for free – as is also true of boosters. This link will take you to the Pima County health site showing both their mobile vaccine centers, and the standing ones: https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=669257

Here’s our state map dating back to the start of this in 2020.

Here’s the Harvard risk level map, by county. Arizona is doing pretty well – moving from red to orange. It’s interesting that the wastewater testing data has the risk level in Pima County as being low. The CDC still has us in the high-risk category.  I checked their website update and see that it hasn’t been changed for 3 weeks. So, since they’re no longer doing timely updates to the data, I’m going to stop using them as a data source.

BA.5 continues to be the dominant strain of COVID in the country – and in our community. It is the most highly transmissible variant we’ve seen. Read up on the new vaccines so you’re up to speed when they arrive. Just Google ‘new omicron vaccine’ and several articles will pop up.

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