A Message from Steve K...11/28/2022

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

Date: 11/28/2022

Topics in This Issue:

• Desert Nights Downtown

• Refugee Needs

• Plastic Blocks

• Water Conservation

• Ready, Set, Rec

• More Killing

• Tucson Rodeo

• Sol y Luna

• Parks & Rec Indoor Leisure Classes

• 29^th Street Thrive

• COVID

Please mark your calendar for Sunday, December 18^th at 2pm. The Loft Cinema will be showing Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s not only a Tim Burton classic but my brother Pete was nominated for an Oscar as the Director of Photography in it.

This showing will be a bit more special. The Loft is donating 10% of all proceeds to Friends of Aphasia. Aphasia is a condition in which the person with it has trouble understanding speech and/or delivering speech. Sometimes it’s caused by a stroke or traumatic injury. In other cases, the condition is dementia-related and is irreversible and progressive. That’s the kind my brother has. Very sadly, right now he cannot carry on a regular conversation. My pure speculation is that it was caused by the hundreds of hours working in closed movie sets creating ‘effects’ the producers wanted. Breathe in the stuff they use to change visuals on the big screen, and it has to have an impact. It’s tragic for a guy who used to make a living communicating in all sorts of creative ways. See Nightmare and you’ll get a taste of that.

In the promo you’ll see this tagline:

A portion of the proceeds from this screening will benefit Friends of Aphasia, in honor of Oscar-nominated visual effects artist, Pete Kozachik.

I’m grateful to the Loft for recognizing and honoring Pete in this way.

Desert Nights Downtown

Thanksgiving is now in the rearview mirror so that means the kick-off of the holiday season. Thanks to the work of the Downtown Tucson Partnership, along with support from the city, county, and Rio Nuevo, downtown is now ready to host several attractive events, programs, and retail specials.

Visit Jacome Plaza and see the 36’ tall holiday tree – not made from ByBlocks, but still worth seeing. Over 60 buildings are illuminated, and the DTP has wrapped 148 street trees with LED lights. Come on the evening of December 17^th to the Parade of Lights. It’ll wind through the Armory Park area. I’ve asked Paul Cunningham, Kevin Dahl, Lane Santa Cruz, and Nikki Lee to join me and some of my staff in riding Tugo’s through the route. We’ll be pretty easy to spot amid the cars and other parade participants.

Remember the ice rink outside the TCC. And check this link for a full description of what’s going on through the end of the year downtown.

Desert Nights Downtown Lights

There will be crowds so please consider masking when social distancing is not possible.

Refugee Needs

During the upcoming State of the City event, they’ll be showing videos sent in by some of the local electeds. Mine spoke to the generosity expressed by so many of you. Here’s the 30 second clip.

State of the City Video.mp4

This week there’s an addition to the hygiene list – bath towels. New or used, but if they’re used, please wash them. And of course, we still need the hygiene items I’ve been listing. Please keep in mind that many of the people we’re seeing come through the Alitas program are not large folks. Any of the underclothes you bring should have that in mind.

New and unopened underwear (men size S-M, women size 5-7 or S-M, 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.

NO CLOTHING PLEASE. Just the items listed. We’re located at 3202 E. 1^st Street – across Speedway from the Loft. Our office is open until 1pm every weekday. We appreciate the responsiveness of the community.

We continue with the blanket drive. We’ve already made one deposit of warmth for our refugee friends. It’s great to see so many of you helping out, especially during this holiday season, and especially with the temperatures starting to dip at night.

We’ll be working through the Muslim Community Alliance to get the blankets distributed. This effort will continue through the end of the year to be sure we’re doing our part to help our new residents on a purely non-sectarian basis stay warm as the temperatures begin to drop.

Of course, the Community Food Bank collection box at our front entry is being filled and emptied pretty regularly. Especially as we enter the holidays the CFB is stretched thin in terms of what they are being called on to provide in support of the community. Your donations are an important part of meeting the growing needs.

All non-perishable foods are in need. We recognize that making trips to the ward office with things for all of these groups is an added chore in your day. Having interacted with families represented by each of those for whom we’re gathering items I can say that the gratitude expressed makes that extra effort worth it. I remember one time while we were still taking in guests over at the Benedictine when we also did a collection drive for local seniors through the Lend a Hand program. Overnight migrants came into the sanctuary where we had all of the items for the Lend a Hand drive laid out on tables and they added other items from the little they had to give. Sort of a ‘widow’s mite’ effort. The people receiving from you continue to be very grateful for your graciousness.

Thank you to all of you who are helping meet these ongoing needs in the community.

Plastic Blocks

The holiday tree event is coming this Saturday here at the ward office. The ByFusion team will be here to assist in putting it up. They’ve done a test run over in L.A. and I’m told the tree is very cool. You’ll have a chance to take part in building our tree. We’ll begin around 10am on Saturday.

Remember that ByFusion will be bringing some of the items they make and market using the blocks. You’ll have the chance to get some of that, plus the UA compost Cats will be here with free bagged compost. We’re looking forward to seeing a big crowd – please consider wearing a mask while you’re here mingling. Even if you’re not sick you don’t know if someone else in the crowd is shedding some sort of virus. Just be safe.

It was great to hear last week from yet another new commercial partner. Roxanne from Citibank connected and let me know that their Green Team wants to be involved with the plastic blocks program.

They’re setting up designated boxes to collect plastic items at their workplaces. Every business can follow their lead. Many already are – every ounce collected represents more being diverted from the landfill and waste stream. Thanks to Citi and Roxanne for jumping on board.

During Thanksgiving week, we/you passed 27 tons of plastic that have been diverted from the landfill – or from the ocean, or from the side of the road. We’re more than 14,000 pounds of plastic ahead of our goal, and there’s still a full month to go. Here’s the weekly program graphic that our partners at ByFusion provide each week.

Over 27 tons now, and still with a month to go. Keep your plastics coming. It’d be cool to top 35 tons before the end of the year.

Last week ahead of the holiday I sent out an invitation to several members of the state legislature to come and join us on Saturday for the tree plant/build event. It’d be nice to see what Tucson is doing scale up at the state level. I’ve already made several Phoenix-area and Flagstaff contacts that would kick-start a larger effort. I know there are cities around the country watching how we handle the program in Tucson. Close to home, Phoenix is one of those.

Cities all over the world should be watching what we’re doing. This is a picture of a ‘plastics haul’ being unloaded on a barge in the Pacific. That’s all plastic that they pulled from the ocean. A group called The Ocean Clean Up pulled over 20,000 pounds of plastic from the Pacific garbage patch in just 6 days. Friend Robin writes and asks me to encourage people to reduce the use of plastic. Of course – and good luck. The junk is unavoidable.

Here’s a quick look at them unloading the mess.  https://twitter.com/TheOceanCleanup/status/1582733541112094722

Thank you for being a part of the solution.

Water Conservation

Over the course of the past few weeks 30 jurisdictions and water authorities have signed onto a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) intended to address water conservation throughout the Colorado River user area. That’s the 40 million people included in 7 states, each pulling water from the dwindling Colorado River supply. Tucson is a signatory to the MOU.

As far as it goes the MOU is a nice statement of intent. It doesn’t mandate measurable goals, but it does highlight several areas where conservation measures can and should be taken. I’ll list the full text of what we’ve all committed to. Reading through it you’ll see several of them that Tucson is already doing. We can do more. Here’s the list. I will bold my thoughts after each item.

Specifically, we commit to take the following actions:

1. Continue and expand our programs to increase indoor and outdoor water use efficiency. Tucson already has incentives to encourage low water use fixtures. We also have a greywater and rainwater harvesting ordinance in place. We’re also considering several more conservation measures. Given the drought and the condition of the Colorado, more is necessary.
2. Introduce a program to reduce the quantity of non-functional turf grass by 30% through replacement with drought- and climate-resilient landscaping, while maintaining vital urban landscapes and tree canopies that benefit our communities, wildlife, and the environment. We’ve already asked staff to bring us back some specific recommendations for managing outdoor turf areas. One person’s ‘ornamental turf’ might be functional and necessary to another person. And outside of some commercial developments, there’s not a whole lot of front yard lawns in the city. We’ll do something in this area, but it’s likely not going to be a huge water conservation item in our city.
3. Increase water reuse and recycling programs where feasible, contingent on the dependability and security of our existing Colorado River supplies essential to support these efforts. I’ve already mentioned the rainwater harvesting and greywater programs. That’s reuse and recycling. Expanding our reclaimed water system is another important component of reuse. And because we’ve been so efficient the city has 5-7 years of usable water stored underground for when the Colorado is no longer a reliable source. And yes, we can do more. Staff will be providing suggestions.
4. Implement best practices and sharing lessons learned to help one another accelerate our efficiency strategies. Water providers will select from the following approaches those tactics best tailored to preserve thriving communities, environmental health, and strong economies:

a. Transforming our outdoor landscapes and urban environments in a manner that improves climate resilience and promotes an ethic of wise water use through mandatory watering schedules and compliance enforcement, incentivized turf removal, and limitations on new turf; I would support a financial incentive to get people to remove turf – the same for commercial developments to remove turf areas.

b. Increasing efficiency of indoor fixtures and appliances; We offer rebates for efficient fixtures. Check the Tucson Water website.

c. Employing best practices for industrial processes and commercial operations, including minimization of evaporative cooling; Tucson Electric Power might need to be a partner in some of this. Swamp cooling is substantially less costly than electric. Industrial and commercial users might need some help from TEP to pull this off at a large scale.

d. Adopting conservation-oriented rate structures to incentivize efficiency; We already have them for residential users. We’re looking at them for commercial users.

e. Accelerating water loss control by prioritizing supply considerations in asset management programs and exploring water loss control regulations to minimize water loss; Here’s an area where providing water audits to Tucson Water customers might pay dividends and meet the intent of this item. Staff will be returning with proposals on this item.

f. Improving coordination between land use and water planning efforts through improved processes, best management practices, and additional regulations, where appropriate; Agriculture uses roughly 70% of the water consumed in Arizona. There are plenty of low water use crops. There are efficiencies that can be employed in irrigation. And there may be better areas of the country to do agriculture than in the middle of a desert in the middle of a drought. and

g. Employing other strategies tailored to the unique needs of each community.

5. Collaborate with other water users in the Colorado River basin to bring the supply and use of the river into balance. A robust agricultural economy, healthy watersheds, opportunities to recreate, and vibrant communities are all vital to our western way of life. No one sector, nor one state, can achieve sufficient use reductions independently. For the sake of current and future generations, we all must work together to achieve a balance of supply and use and thereby preserve a functioning and healthy river system. This is a nice aspirational statement. Yes, we all love recreation, and most of us eat foods agriculture produces. The statement ‘we must all work together’ is where this is going to continue to be tricky. The Bureau of Reclamation issued what appeared to be a hard line in the sand edict late last summer. They told the 7 states on the Colorado to come up with a significant conservation plan or they’d impose one. Now they’re paying water users to leave water on the River. That’s not going to last, and by pivoting to the compensated consumption approach the Bureau lost some credibility. We’ll see how they regain that, and we’ll see if the 29 other water groups signed onto the MOU can catch up to Tucson and how our community has led in water conservation literally for decades.

And yes, we can do more. Here’s a link to KOLD’s Bud Foster’s piece on the city plans for more conservation measures.

https://www.kold.com/2022/11/22/water-restrictions-coming-tucson-sooner-rather-than-later/

Ready, Set, Rec

Among all of the opportunities for holiday activities please don’t forget checking out the Ready, Set Rec van when it comes to your area park. All of the times for December will be from 3pm until 5pm – just before sundown. Here’s the schedule of locations for Ward 6.

Thanks to Susan from Parks for the invitation to come and share some music at the Craft Fair held at Reid Park last weekend. You can see from this shot taken by friend Julie that the weather was perfect, and the crowd was all on-hand to get arts, crafts, food and a nice time. Even the furry family members were welcome at this event.

More Killing

We at the ward 6 office hope you and your loved ones had a close and meaningful Thanksgiving holiday. Sadly, recent mass killings assure us all that affected families spent the weekend mourning fresh losses in their hearts. It was anything but bounty-filled.

Gun Violence Archives defines a ‘mass shooting’ as one in which 4 or more people are killed or injured in an incident. To be clear, survivors continue to be victimized through the trauma they live with. Sometimes those manifests in ‘survivor’s guilt’ and other times PTSD from recalling the horrible incident as it unfolded. So far this year there have been over 600 documented mass shootings in the U.S.

Here are some you may not even have heard of – or remember:

March 19^th when 26 people were wounded in a mass shooting that took place at a car show in Dumas, Arkansas.

April 3^rd in Dallas when 1 person was killed and 16 wounded in a shooting that took place at an outdoor Easter event.

Also, on April 3^rd there were 6 killed and 12 wounded in a gang-related mass shooting in Sacramento.

April 12^th Brooklyn subway shooting there were 10 people wounded during a random shooting event in which 33 rounds were discharged in just seconds.

May 14^th was when 10 were killed in the Tops Supermarket racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo.

Uvalde, Texas joined the list on May 24^th when 19 children and 2 teachers were murdered by yet another deranged person wielding a military-grade semi-automatic weapon.

On June 1^st at the Saint Francis hospital in Tulsa there were 4 murdered, including one doctor whom the shooter blamed for pain in his back following an operation.

In Highland Park, Illinois there were 7 killed and 30 injured in a mass shooting that took place during their 4^th of July parade.

On a nature trail in Raleigh, North Carolina on October 13^th, five people were killed and 2 wounded when a 15-year-old kid went on a killing spree that included his older brother as one of the victims.

On November 13^th at UVa, there were 3 football players killed, and two other students injured when a former football player shot multiple rounds into a team bus.

November 19^th at the Q Nightclub in Colorado Springs in a hate-motivated killing spree there were 5 people killed and 17 others wounded in another incident involving a military-style semi-automatic weapon.

November 22^nd was the Chesapeake, Virginia Walmart shooting that took 6 lives and left 2 others wounded. One of those killed was 16 years old.

What would a family gathering over Thanksgiving be without some violence. We didn’t have sides like this at our meal, but evidently, some did.

In Houston (Texas – where else?) 2 were killed and 2 were wounded in a shooting that took place inside a home after Thanksgiving dinner had finished.

That list is very much partial – and it could not be replicated in any other country in the world. Bought and paid for “2A” politicians’ tired and lame platitudes are costing people their lives. But anybody who isn’t outwardly calling for and working towards a ban on civilian ownership of AR15 style weapons is also complicit. There is not a single valid reason a civilian should own a weapon that was explicitly design for a battlefield. According to the NRA roughly 50% of all weapons sold in the U.S. right now are semi-automatics. I regularly hear from the gun group that the ‘founding fathers’ drew into the Constitution the need for civilians to arm themselves to fend off an intrusive government. They had muskets in mind, not a weapon that shoots hundreds of rounds in a minute.

Expect that list of mass shootings to continue to grow until someone with some guts starts to bang the ‘ban on assault weapon’ drum loudly.

Tucson Rodeo

For well over a month, I’ve been in contact with the Tucson Rodeo Board Chair attempting to get a commitment from the Rodeo to stop using electric prods on the animals. This conversation has a long history, dating back to a 2009 incident in which Rodeo staff was videotaped shocking horses as they left the bronco chute. At the time the Rodeo personnel said they did not approve, and that the guy who was caught on tape administering the shock was dismissed. Good enough, but it happened again on tape in 2013 and again in 2019. Here are the videos, each of which has been shared with the current Rodeo Chair.

2008 Tucson Rodeo: Horses shocked around the head and from behind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69g6jMUMwcw

2013 Tucson Rodeo: Horses shocked around the head and from behind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE_VrUuckms

2019 Tucson Rodeo: Horses shocked around the head.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/op5ybqi23qtsta0/Tucson%202019%20Clips.m4v?dl=0

Several major rodeos have banned the use of electric shock prods since 2008. Asking Tucson’s rodeo to stop shocking animals is not a unique request – even in a ‘sport’ that overtly treats animals poorly. Calf roping jerks a cow running full steam by the neck. Bronco riding involves spurs on the sides of the horses. Bull riding involves the use of straps placed around the abdomen of the bulls that are so uncomfortable that they buck to try to get it off. Asking Tucson’s rodeo to ban electric shocking of the animals is consistent with what these other rodeos have already committed to:

Cheyenne, Wy, Omaha, Ne, Denver, Co, Colorado Springs, Co, Greeley, Co, Dallas, Tx, and San Antonio, Tx. Those are major operations in the rodeo business. Tucson should follow suit.

Last weekend the Professional Bull Riders visited the TCC. From sitting in the seats, you wouldn’t likely see them shocking the animals. But this link shows an incident that took place on September 24^th of this year at George Mason University. It lasts 1:35 – in the video you can see the bull being shocked with a Hot Shot right as the chute is opening. You can then see the animal lose his balance and fall. Watch for this guy at the 3-5 second mark in the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFas1KoOF6w&t=14s

This is a Hot Shot prod. You can find them on Amazon, among plenty of other places. That thing discharges between 4,000 and 5,000 volts when the two metal prongs touch the skin of an animal. It’s not enough to kill, but it is certainly enough to cause significant pain.

The rodeo uses prods to cause discomfort and make the animal buck. While it might be entertaining to the fans, it’s abusive of the animals. Animal rights activists in Tucson and I have called on the Tucson Rodeo to ban them at Tucson’s event. It’s coming soon – I’ll keep you posted on what we hear.

Sol y Luna

The holiday’s got in the way of completing many of the repairs and maintenance issues at Sol y Luna last week. I was in pretty regular touch with the new owners (Vespers Holdings,) and they are saying all the right things. Now that we have Thanksgiving behind us, we’ll see what progress they make.

In the meantime, thanks to Laurel for passing along the NYTimes article in which Nelson Partners is the focus. They’re being sued by Vespers and by Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae is a federally backed mortgage finance firm. They’re suing Mr. Nelson for over $12M of a loan made on a foreclosed property. Vespers is after $14M they say Nelson defrauded them on during the sale of Sol y Luna. The judge in the case told the Nelson Partners lawyers “it appears to me that there has been some highly improper behavior by your client. You need to have a real hard and long conversation with your client. It doesn’t look good.”

Nelson is now out of the Tucson student housing picture. We’re hopeful for a brighter day ahead with Vespers.

Parks & Rec Indoor Leisure Classes

Beginning on Saturday, December 10^th you’ll be able to start registering for the Spring, 2023 indoor rec classes at Parks & Rec. These will include everything from jewelry making, music, photography, arts and crafts, dance, gymnastics, and a bunch more. And check out these new class offerings:  

• Beginning Jazz for ages 5-8 years old
• Beginning Ballet for ages 6-10 years old
• Beginning Yoga for ages 17 years old or older

You can start registering at 8am on the 10^th if you’re a city resident, and at 10am for non-city residents. Use this link to get that process started: EZEEreg.com. The deadline for registering is Wednesday, January 10^th, but most of the classes will fill up well ahead of that so get in early if you want to be sure of a spot. If you’ve got questions, you can call Parks at 520.791.4877.

29^th Street Thrive

Also on December 10^th is the 29^th Street Thrive block party. It’s being organized in an effort to engage residents from the Alvernon/Craycroft/22^nd/Golf Links area in the planning process for 29^th Street revitalization. But the block party is more than just a planning session.

The party runs from 10am until 1pm at Freedom Park / 5000 E. 29^th Street. There will be music, food, free family portraits, jumping castles – and Santa might pay a visit. If the 29^th St Thrive is going to be a success it will need the public’s involvement. Please come to this block party and talk to city staffers about how you and your family and business can be a part of this revitalization effort.

COVID

If you have a meeting scheduled in the ward office and you’re experiencing any symptoms, please call and reschedule. And we are recommending that groups using our facility self-regulate and ask attendees to wear a mask. We have them available all the time on the table by our office entryway.

COVID cases continued to climb in both Arizona and in Pima County last week. So did fatalities. We’ve got over 300,000 deaths in Pima County alone since all of this began. There’s no excuse for letting the guard down. Masks, distancing, vaccines, staying away from others if you’ve got symptoms – all of that is only being considerate of others.

Here’s the chart I’ve been keeping. The numbers are headed in a bad direction right ahead of the season when they were already expected to increase.

There were 62 fatalities in Arizona last week. Above I listed several mass shooting incidents that ruined the holiday for survivors. COVID deaths similarly leave a hole in hearts. Nationwide, we continue to lose over 300 people daily.

You see the news. Hospitals are full again, not just with COVID patients, but with people suffering from the flu and other respiratory ailments. Due to the holiday, they didn’t update the flu map last week. On November 12^th things were headed in a bad direction. Here’s that map. Flu vaccines are free and easily available.

Get your flu vaccine. Get your COVID vaccine. Mask up. Socially distance. Stay home if you have any symptoms.

Here’s the statewide COVID count map by county. Pima County is now over 300,000 cases. That’s roughly 1/3 of our population.

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