Date: 10/10/2022
Topics in This Issue:
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Migrant Needs
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Plastic Blocks
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Sustainable Tucson
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RTA
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Transit fares
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Garden District Porch Fest
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Tucson Wildlife Center
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Disability Pride Day
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Domestic Violence Awareness Month
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Angel Charities World of Play at the Zoo
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Thanks to Sun Link Workers
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Alamo Wash Renaming
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Pima County Youth One Stop Hiring Event
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Desert Living Home Tour
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COVID
Migrant Needs
Last week our team delivered out to the Alitas Welcome Center the hygiene donations many of you have been bringing. As we pulled up, they were just letting roughly 100 new guests off from a bus. As we were leaving about a half hour later an ICE bus had pulled up and was dropping off another 60-75 people. The staff and volunteers out at Alitas are working hard to accommodate the people in a welcoming and compassionate manner. City staff and volunteers are doing the same at the hotels we have had to stand up to take care of the overflow from Alitas. On a ‘normal’ day about 400 people arrive. Those numbers spike, and occasionally have spiked to the north of 700 recently. All of your donations are going to people who have traveled over some very difficult conditions, leaving life-threatening conditions in their home country, and show up at our southern border. Border Patrol arrests them, processes their paperwork and when they arrive at Alitas they are here legally, pending the outcome of their immigration/asylum process. They show up with nothing more than the clothes on their back.
The majority of the people we’re now seeing at Alitas come from Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Of course, other South and Central American countries are also represented.
We continue to need the following:
New and unopened underwear (men’s and women’s and children’s,) new socks, and personal hygiene products. That’s shampoo, sunscreen, lotion, toothpaste, feminine products, soap – that sort of thing. New children’s toys.
One lady came to the office last week and let me know she was ordering some hand puppets. What a great idea. The kids will be on a bus or plane for days or hours, traveling to their next of kin or their sponsor. That’s a perfect way for them to entertain themselves. Other small travel-sized kids toys are also welcome. NO CLOTHING PLEASE. Just the items listed. We’re located at 3202 E. 1st Street – across Speedway from the Loft. Our office is open until 1pm every weekday. We appreciate the responsiveness of the community.
Plastic Blocks
I know many of you have enjoyed and appreciated my handwritten/scribbled “Plastic Only” signs on the roll-off. Some of the gents over at Environmental Services thought they could give us a better ‘look’ - so you’ll be seeing this baby outside the ward office now. Same size – same rules of the game – plastic only, but let’s continue filling it up. We’re grateful to the staff at E.S. for taking this added chore on.
We have another new partner in the plastic program. That is Vegan Deli located at 5071 E. 5th. Tanya and her team have copies of our starter kits on their front counter. The program fits with the environmentally sensitive ethic the Deli promotes.
Another thing they’re promoting is their ‘Burger of the Month.” Note the name – and yes, they gave me the opportunity to select the ingredients. Nadia from our Ward 6 team used to make Tempeh from scratch back home in Indonesia. It took her 3 days of prep – she gives the Vegan Deli Tempeh 5 stars.
Here’s the Koz Burger. It’s excellent. Stop by this month and try it out.
You know I’m a fan of critters, so this little guy caught my eye while we were visiting Tanya’s place. There are no critters hidden inside the Koz Burger.
We continue to expand the reach of the plastic program. If you’ve got a business then you create waste plastic. We want it. We made our first pick-up at the Assistance League last Friday. Caridad Kitchen is now partnering with us. I spoke with Tohono Chul – they're coming on board. The program continues to expand by the week.
Here’s our current progress report. We began this on August 1st. On October 1st, we have passed the 13-ton mark. That’s well ahead of what I had anticipated, and it shows how you’ve bought into the program. I know having a single drop-off point in the region is not the most convenient so please know that all of us who are taking part in this pilot phase appreciate the extra effort you invest in showing how much the program is valued. As I write this on the weekend our first full semi-load of plastic is headed over to ByFusion in California. Of note will be the number of blocks they send back, and the contamination rate they find in the bales. We should have the contamination information for me to share by next week’s newsletter.
Here’s the link to sign up for updates on the program. It will also help us keep the zip code information growing and up to date.
https://www.byfusion.com/pilot-program/
Keep your non-recyclable plastic coming. The driveway area by the roll-off turns into a steady stream of cars. We appreciate you taking the time to come by and do the drops. We’re still giving away clear bags – come grab some if you’d like. We’re open until 1pm every weekday. And when you come by, please take a moment and toss your stuff in the windows on the back side of the roll-off. It’s common for the thing to look jam-packed when in fact there’s room on the rear.
Sustainable Tucson
This month’s Sustainable Tucson topic is sort of tied in with our zero-waste plastic program. Their speaker will address how we can tackle food waste in Tucson.
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When my bride and little girl and I did a game safari in Kenya (shooting with cameras, not guns) we stayed at one site in the outback where at the end of the evening meal they tossed all of the uneaten food out and let the hyena’s come and chow down on it. The animals were habituated to sort of hiding in the brush on the outskirts of the place and as soon as the guy tossed the food they rushed in and grabbed a bite. Sustainable Tucson won’t be suggesting that approach during their Tuesday meeting. |
Nina Sevilla from the National Resources Defense Council will be the speaker. She has published a report titled “Wasted: How America is Losing up to 40 Percent of its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” On Tuesday, October 11th she’ll share her findings and let the conversation flow to what a local solution/approach might look like.
You can find the link to the meeting – and more information about Nina’s work at the ST website: www.sustainabletucson.org. The meeting begins at 6pm on October 11th.
RTA
We had 2 transit/transportation-related items on our agenda last week. The elephant in the room is our relationship with the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA.) In February, the M&C voted to stay at the table and continue talking about our role in RTA Next – the planned second iteration of the current 20-year transportation plan. RTA 1 sunsets in 2026 so now is when conversations are happening about what the next phase could look like.
One of the most important issues we were wrestling with when we decided to stay at the table was having our remaining projects fully funded by the RTA. In 2006 nobody voting on the plan had in mind that the 2006 project cost estimates would hold for the next 20 years. And yet in the 2022 RTA Performance Audit, they say “The remaining RTA projects are facing increased construction costs due to recent spikes in construction materials, labor availability, and supply chain issues...these added costs are the legal responsibility of the lead agency.” In February one part of the motion the RTA board unanimously passed was to “identify the proposed plan and funding to complete the projects as part of the original RTA.” At the time it was represented to us that the clear intent was to fully fund our remaining projects. Leaving inflation increases out of that equation simply makes the vote by the RTA board in February at best meaningless, and more accurately disingenuous. Last week when I directly questioned him at our M&C meeting the RTA Director did not commit to including inflation. We don’t seem to have an agreement from February after all.
The cost of the remaining Tucson projects is in the $150M range. Grant Road has $88M unfunded by the RTA right now. First Ave still has not been scaled back by the RTA to the 4-lane option that we have proposed – to save money and to make the design more appropriately fit the current needs. That project is underfunded by roughly $40M. There are several east side projects that voters have been promised and are waiting anxiously to see started. Other council members mentioned projects that are literally in every part of the city – unstarted, and unfunded. The only solution so far being suggested by the RTA is to push those off to RTA Next and hope the voters reapprove the extension of the ½ cent sales tax. They need to do better than that if I’ll be supporting an extension.
A White Paper was produced on September 20th by two guys who have been active in RTA-related matters for years. The director disavowed any knowledge of the document when I shared it at the M&C meeting. These guys are former allies of his so unless there has been a parting of ways internally, I don’t believe the Paper is a surprise to him. If there has been a parting of ways, it speaks to the need for changes within the RTA leadership. As I said at our meeting, the job of the director is to bring the various member jurisdictions together, not to silo some and work at odds with their interests. The paper clearly identified inflation as an appropriate cost for the RTA to deal with – in a way other than shifting the burden onto the city. It’s a $150M issue that is holding back any positive movement between the RTA and the City of Tucson.
We’ll talk about the funding issues again at our October 18th study session. I’m hopeful that we hear something more creative than shifting our projects out to the Next plan, and that we finally hear agreement that City of Tucson projects will be funded with inflationary costs included.
Transit fares
Our other transportation-related item was whether or not to continue with free transit fares. Staff commissioned a study of 12 peer transit companies, some of whom had free fares, others who don’t. The report shared things such as how they’re funded, safety concerns riders and drivers have raised, and their plans for fare policy moving forward. This table shows the cities we were compared to, and how they’re addressing fare policy.
At the peak of our ridership, our fare-box revenue was in the $12M range. Now it’s closer to $9M. That’s the amount of money we’re trying to fund if we do not return to some level of payment.
Other cities have strong financial support from their local University. The UA does not pay a penny towards supporting our transit system, despite the fact that UA students make up roughly 60% of the streetcar riders and 20% of the Sun Tran riders. If the UA is about partnership, they should certainly take on a share of that $9M. Other strategies used in other cities include things such as a tax on rental cars, some property or sales tax levy, Grant funding from the state or federal level, or simply absorb the loss into the General Fund.
It's undeniable that we have riders on the system who can absolutely afford to help fund the operation. For them we must provide a safe, clean, and reliable system that has an easy to understand and use fare policy. For those who cannot afford to pay the other funding options need to be considered to help offset the General Fund subsidy of the system.
Staff is doing outreach to the UA and will be bringing us back a progress report along with ideas about how to move this forward. Right now, the fare free policy is in effect through the end of this calendar year.
Garden District Porch Fest
Garden District hosts one of the longest-running and largest porch fests in the city. Theirs is coming again on Sunday, October 30th. This year they’ve got 14 different bands/performers lined up. A couple will be playing for 2 full sets, but most of us will take a 75-minute set, break down and let the next group share their music.
The first sets begin at 2:30pm, followed by the next group at 4. I’ll be playing in the first set at 1826 N. Desmond. They’ll have the usual opportunities for food trucks and the streets will be friendly to those who want to walk or bike through the neighborhood and just share some time outdoors with friends and neighbors.
Porch fests are not a time for a bunch of political expressions. It’s about the music and about being with others. I hope you can carve out sometime to join us on the 30th.
Tucson Wildlife Center
On Sunday the Star ran a piece that contained allegations of mistreatment of animals out at the Tucson Wildlife Center. If you follow this newsletter, you’ll know that my staff and I support the work they do out at the Center. The quote of mine that was used in the Star was accurate – and partial. What I said was that ‘it’s important to recognize that the work they do at the Center is uniquely important and is uniquely challenging. All of the animals that arrive at the Center are in crisis the moment they arrive. It’s not as though their staff can sit down and ask them where it hurts.” I know many on the staff and many of the volunteers. They’re all dedicated to the welfare of the animals.
The Star article contained snippets of an email the Director Lisa Bates had sent to them. While that works for a newspaper article, I thought it would be more fair to Lisa and their staff to let you see the entire email so the short quotes you may have read can be seen in their full context. Here’s the email:
This statement is Lisa Bates’ response to the Arizona Daily Star:
The Tucson Wildlife Center for more than 20 years has provided the most humane care possible to the animals that we take in. So, concerns and allegations the reporter raised are taken very seriously.
I’m not going to debate, point by point, all that you have raised in your article. Too many of the accusations are vague, based on misinformation or lack context. But I want to correct some misperceptions, point to independent corroboration of the quality of our work and support the tireless efforts of our staffers and volunteers.
First and foremost, the safety and well-being of the 5,000 animals we take in every year will always be our priority and our mission. We do not let animals go hungry. We never want an animal to be in an unsafe or unhealthy condition and we take rigorous steps to ensure all animals are properly cared for at the Center.
Our work is regulated and monitored by outside experts – and we welcome that scrutiny.
Dr. Ann Pearson supervises our work and a half-dozen other veterinarians are on-call and are frequently at the center providing their medical expertise. The Arizona Game and Fish Department regulates our center, including providing my license as a wildlife rehabilitator. We contacted Game and Fish, and they did not corroborate that an investigation is occurring. Game and Fish has not informed the Center of any allegations and has not asked the Center to provide any information. We value our relationship with Game and Fish. If they identify any concerns, we will respond promptly and transparently and provide any information requested.
Our center also is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, the world’s leading organization for the accreditation of sanctuaries, rescue centers and rehabilitation centers. Independent observers from the Washington Post to PETA have cited the value of this accreditation, with PETA noting that GFAS “requires member sanctuaries to observe a strict code of ethics and meet animal welfare standards that far exceed the minimal ones outlined in the federal Animal Welfare Act.” That accreditation took years to earn and involved on-site visits and reviews of our policies, procedures, finances, board of directors and more.
The Tucson Wildlife Center is fiscally healthy, with annual grants and donations that total about $1 million, with expenses around $900,000. Audits conducted by an outside firm have resulted in no findings against the center. As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, our financial results are available for anyone to review.
To be sure, this is difficult and challenging work and disagreements arise. In 2015, we had a turnover of some of our board members – not the entire board, as you indicate – after it became apparent that our financial stability was in question and some disagreements arose regarding the future direction of the Center. Those financial stability issues were promptly rectified by the remaining board members and the support of our valued donors and the vision and mission of the Center was re-affirmed. That was a painful time, but we weathered it and years later, continue our work. More recently, last December, we had several employees leave. That was a particular concern to us because, like many organizations, we have struggled with staffing through the COVID-19 pandemic. We have now rebuilt our paid staff to 17 employees, still down from our peak of 25 but at a level where, with the help of an army of dedicated volunteers, we can provide the care to the animals that has been our hallmark.
I thank all of you for your continued hard work for the animals.
Lisa Bates
Note:
Also, in response to some concerns raised regarding a euthanized tortoise, the person who reported the incident lacked understanding of the process: All of TWC’s animals are 1) given anesthesia before they are euthanized so they are unconscious and feeling no pain before 2) receiving the euthanasia drug. With a tortoise the additional steps (by the book Mader’s Reptile and Amphibian Medicine) are Step 3) place in a quiet dark room overnight, again because of the slow metabolism 4) place in a freezer. Also, anesthesia time is increased because of a reptile’s slow metabolism, which I increased.
Ok, back to me – the article also quoted a person from Arizona Game & Fish without noting that the person quoted has been removed as the G&F overseer of the Center for a variety of reasons. I’ll leave it with this – with literally hundreds of injured animals arriving at the Tucson Wildlife Center every week the work they do is to be applauded. I felt it was important to get Lisa’s full statement out for you to see.
Disability Pride Day
Kudos to Paul Cunningham and his team out at Ward 2 for sponsoring what will be a fun and important day where people with disabilities of one sort or another will have a chance to share their talents. It’s not until December 3rd, but mark your calendar now so you don’t miss out on the chance to be supportive of this part of our community.
The day will include music, other kinds of performances, adaptive sports demonstrations, discussions about disabilities and the challenges/opportunities they present – and of course food trucks and other vendors. The event will take place at Udall Park – Tanque Verde near Sabino Canyon Road. It’ll run from 10am until 4pm. It’d be great to see you there.
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Data show that nearly 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men experience some form of domestic abuse in their lifetime. Those experiences very often come with follow-on conditions such as PTSD or other psychological impacts. We’re in Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the team over at Emerge is fully engaged in assisting victims – and in advising those who may know someone who’s in an abusive relationship.
In order to help people, navigate the various DV challenges, Emerge has put together an easy-to-follow guide they’re calling the Domestic Violence Awareness Month toolkit. It gives you direction on how to raise awareness of DV, and it has information on how to access resources related to domestic abuse. To see the kit, Click here
To get you started, here’s what you’ll find in the Emerge toolkit:
Next week Emerge will host the 2nd awareness seminar. This one is titled “For the Love of Black Women: My Body Matters.” The community conversation will address issues such as disparities within the health care system that primarily affect Black women. The event will take place on Wednesday, October 19th online from 11am until 2pm. You’ll need to pre-register using this link: Register here
The Emerge hotline is up and running 24/7. Please use it for yourself or others you know of who are, or may be in abusive relationships. The number is 520.795.4266.
Angel Charities World of Play at the Zoo
While at first glance this might not be a real exciting picture, the story behind it is all good news. This is the eventual site of the World of Play that’s coming to the Reid Park Zoo. The site is now cleared and they’re starting the underground utility work.
World of Play will include a series of tactile exhibits where kids can ‘roam the world’ within this one exhibit. There’ll be representations of Redwoods, Antarctica, South American rainforests, and a bunch more. It will be infused with STEM learning opportunities, so if you’re an educator plan on some field trips.
Here’s a rendering of the final product. We join the zoo staff and zoological society board in thanking Angel Charity for Children for sponsoring this exhibit. The expected opening date is coming next summer.
Thanks to Sun Link Workers
We get calls and emails from time to time pointing out the extra mile city workers go that often don’t get recognized. Brian from West University shared this photo of Sun Link maintenance workers who were out during the middle of the night doing PM work on the streetcar line. We at the Ward 6 office join Brian in thanking these guys for their hard work and dedication to keeping our city running smoothly.
Alamo Wash Renaming
I was joined by Nikki Lee and Paul Cunningham in proposing that we rename the Alamo Wash the Jonathan Rothschild Alamo Wash Greenway. The process includes a 45-day public comment period which closed on Sunday at midnight.
The Greenway is a part of the Prop 407 bond package that Jonathan worked so hard to get adopted. Prop 407 is our 7 year, $225M effort to upgrade parks and connectivity elements. The Greenway is one of those elements. It passes through wards 2, 4 and 6 – which is why the 3 of us partnered in putting this out to the public.
Staff is now putting the comments received together and will soon be sending this to M&C for action. There are $13M of the Prop 407 dollars dedicated to this project so when it’s finished it’ll be a fitting testament to the work Jonathan did on behalf of the citizens of the community, and of visitors who will enjoy the Greenway for years to come.
Pima County Youth One Stop Hiring Event
Pima County Youth One Stop is hosting an event aimed at connecting our youth with employers – the goals being to get them some employment, teach some job skills and prevent them from dropping out of school. This job fair is coming on Wednesday, October 19th from 1pm until 4pm. It’ll be held out at the Sentinel Building at 320 N. Commerce Park Loop.
Ed Nossem comes to Pima One Stop from the Metropolitan Education Commission. He’s leading up the organization of this job fair. If you’d like to connect about being a potential employer, or if you’d like more information on how to get your young person involved you should contact Ed at edward.nossem@pima.gov. The flyer shown below has all the information on the event itself.
Desert Living Home Tour
Our friends at Watershed Management Group are partnering with the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter in sponsorship of this year’s Desert Living Home Tour. The tour is actually being held statewide, but the Tucson component will feature 12 Tucson homes and 5 Tucson community spaces as a part of the tour. The goal is to show you how to reduce water use – a clear need given the challenges we know are real with respect to the capacity of the Colorado River.
There are things each of us can do in and around our home to help save water. The tour is happening on Saturday, October 22nd from 10am until 3pm. It’s totally self-paced. You’ll be able to visit homes that contain sustainable features like what you see in the photo. And more. And I’d add that the ByFusion plastic blocks are a great product to use in building raised planter boxes.
The tour will feature rain basins, greywater systems, residential-scale vegetable gardening, active and passive solar – all things zero waste. And consistent with that theme, the tour will offer both bike and bus options for going between homes that are featured on the tour. The cost is $20.
Check out their site for more on how to sign up and take part -
Desert Living Home Tour
COVID
Both the statewide and Pima County COVID new case numbers have been consistently steady for the past few weeks. Sadly, there are still fatalities being connected with the virus so these numbers represent far more than just data points on a table. Here’s this week’s update:
Please consider your vaccination status.
The flu still has a low infection rate in Arizona and in all of the states surrounding us. Texas continues to have the highest rate of flu infection nationwide. Flu shots are right now available at all major pharmacies. Anybody who is around others who are in vulnerable categories should really take their own vaccination status seriously.
Here’s the statewide COVID count map by county.
Sincerely,
Steve Kozachik
Council Member, Ward 6
ward6@tucsonaz.gov
City of Tucson Resources
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