A Message from Steve K...01/23/2023

The vision for the plan was set in place in 2020 when the mayor championed Tucson’s first Climate Emergency. She correctly cited the combination of public health, environmental and economic threats if we ignore the climate realities we’re facing. Now the draft of the plan – Tucson Resilient Together – is available for some final public comment.  

The plan is 156 pages long and filled with graphics so when you click the link to open it, be patient. It’ll take a bit to fully load. Here’s the link:  Click here to view and download  

There’s a tab you’ll click that will allow you to offer comments. Take your time working your way through it – you've got until Tuesday, February 21st to finish the review. It’s good stuff, and as you’ll see in the next section of the newsletter, we’re already acting on the emergency declaration. 

This is going to be a corner-turning week for the plastics program. One way or another things will change. Last Thursday Bud Foster and KOLD ran a good piece on where this is likely headed. Here’s that segment: 

https://www.kold.com/2023/01/20/tucson-ready-to-lead-country-into-future-plastics-recycling/  

The animal world was well represented in the plastics program this past week. This is a picture of the pile of plastic the UA Animal Care Unit’s shipping department brought over. It’s about a week’s worth of shipping plastic. They’re on board and are a regular contributor to the program.  

TROT is nearing their 50th anniversary in Tucson. They use horses as therapy for special needs folks. It’s a very cool program that you can check out at this link: www.trotarizona.org  I’m an animal lover so having these partnerships matters a lot to me. 

Tomorrow we’ll have our study session during which we’ll talk about what scaling up the program might look like. ByFusion will be here to help in the presentation. I’ve met several times with them and city management in an effort to begin the conversation about what a partnership looks like. The community’s response to our pilot program has sent a very clear message to ByFusion that people throughout Pima County welcome them with open arms and support the program. Here’s a sneak peek at one of the slides they’ll be presenting tomorrow at the study session. This represents work done during our pilot program: 

Tucson is the first city in the world to engage in a pilot of this type and magnitude. You should be proud for being a part of it. 

On Wednesday we’re hosting an in-person public meeting along with the ByFusion group here at the ward office to give a briefing on what will have been decided at the study session, and to answer any questions you’ve got about the project, the product and where it’s all headed. The meeting will run from 5:30pm until 7pm. We’ll offer masks for those who feel they’d like that added layer of protection. The meeting is open to everybody so please pass the word and come hear about plans for the future of the program. 

To date we’ve collected 42.92 tons of plastic since August 1st when the pilot began. That’s over 86,000 pounds of material that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill, on the side of the road or in the ocean. It’s that kind of community involvement that has attracted ByFusion to Tucson. This is what we’re trying to address. 

In the ‘70’s Country Joe and the Fish recorded the Vietnam Song. One line in it was ‘be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box.’ Wee1 is following in that set of blood-stained footprints. 

AR’s or similar semi-automatics have been used in some of the most deadly mass murder events in the nations history. Think Sandy Hook Elementary (26 people killed, including 20 children,) Sutherland Springs Church (26 people murdered and 22 wounded,) Stoneman Douglas High School (17 people murdered and 17 wounded,) Robb Elementary School (19 students killed, 2 teachers killed and 17 others wounded,) and of course the Grand Daddy of them all Las Vegas where some maniac fired over 1,000 rounds in just minutes killing 60 people and wounding another 413. Over 800 were injured in the stampede of people trying to avoid becoming a victim. 

I mention the Las Vegas shooting last because it’s ironic that Wee1 Tactical is using a Vegas trade show to introduce it’s new AR for kiddies. It appears they believe the U.S. having about 120 weapons for every 100 people in the country isn’t sufficient fire power for the public. Evidently neither does congressional luminary Marjorie Taylor-Greene. Here’s here tweet in response to the Robb Elementary School mass murder: 

With kids in mind now is a good time to fill in the blanks about the little girl I asked you to form a mental picture of her story.  

Sex trafficking of youth is happening in Tucson. The public outreach on the issue is weak at best. Through our office we will be changing that in the coming months. 

Ann from my staff has been working with the ASU college of public health and the Kaimas Foundation on addressing the issue of sex trafficking of minors. We’ve hosted meetings here in Tucson on the topic. Each time the youth who are involved are surprised at what they learn. Ann and her ASU partners have also been working hard to bring the message to Hawaii. This is Sex Trafficking Awareness month and for the past week they’ve been in several Hawaiian locations leading a youth summit on the topic. Sex trafficking knows no borders, and it hits both young boys and young girls. 

If you missed it, scroll back to 4:42 in the video. You’ll be surprised to see the little girl I opened with is included on the wall of the thousands of western Michigan youth who have been victims of trafficking.  

With the Hawaii summit done we’re now going to focus on hosting another one here in Tucson. If you are young, if you work with youth, if you know young people that you care about you’ll want to be involved with this. Contact us here at the ward office and we’ll be sure to include you and your group as we develop the plans for the Tucson summit. Email Ann.Charles@tucsonaz.gov to get signed up. 

Any young person who has access to the internet is a potential victim. It happens every day and it happens in every social strata of the community. 

Please jot down this number – 888.373.7888. It’s the national trafficking in person hotline. Victims or those who know of a trafficking situation that’s going on should call for help.  

Last week Eric Fink from KVOA ran a story on the Tucson Rodeo using electric prods on animals. Here’s a link to the piece. Please take particular note to the rodeo boards vice chair when he says (1:25 into the piece) that they ‘usually’ only use the prods ‘when an animal has stalled in the chute and we want to be sure they get out towards the arena.’ 

Controversy surrounds Tucson Rodeo this upcoming year 

The translation of the ‘stalled in the chute’ comment by their vice chair is that the animal doesn’t want to entertain the public by bucking some guy off his back. So, they shock the animal into obedience, purely for entertainment value the event provides. An alternative action could well be to dismount and take the animal back to its stable. Even one of the major rodeos, Cheyenne Frontier Days has banned the use of prods. They say that if a horse stalls twice in a row, they don’t perform that day. 

Several other rodeos throughout the country have banned the use of prods. They’ve also banned the use of other shocking devices, straps used to make the animal so uncomfortable that it bucks more violently, and in some cases they’ve simply banned rodeos altogether. Tucson would not be close to being the first if they finally complied. Here’s a partial list of rodeos showing the list of measures they’ve taken to reduce animal cruelty: 

Now that the rodeo board is finally engaged a very simple formal statement saying they will ban the use of electric prods – like many other rodeos have already done – would be a step in the direction of eliminating one of the cruel elements that still exists in their event. Here’s the KGUN9 story showing the right way to train a horse: https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/tucson-councilman-kozachik-threatens-to-keep-funds-from-rodeo  

Vista del Monte neighborhood is hosting a ‘weeding 101’ educational meeting. The gathering will take place on Saturday, February 11th at 9am. They’ll meet at the rainwater basins in McCormick Park – Columbus just south of Fort Lowell. The instructional part will be led by representatives from Tucson Clean & Beautiful. They plan on being done in about an hour so it’s important to be on time. 

There will be some ‘hands-on’ work during the training. Please bring some gloves if you have them. Tools will be provided at the park. 

Prop 411 is the ½ cent sales tax that was passed overwhelmingly last year to fund residential road repair and adding complete streets outside-the-curb amenities. It’ll last for 10 years and will generate roughly $750M over that time. From time to time, we get people asking ‘when is my street going to get done?’ 

Since the voters approved 411 city staff has been conducting an analysis of Tucson residential streets. The goal was to put into place a comprehensive roster of all the streets with an indication as to their individual condition. That process has now been finished and there’s now a draft list that staff will be presenting to the bond oversight committee. That committee (the Independent Oversight and Accountability Committee – IOAC) is made up of citizens appointed by each council office, the mayor and city manager. They’ve already been doing the work with staff related to prioritizing the Prop 101 roadwork. They’ll now shift focus to this new and updated listing. 

Since the election the funds which will make up the repair money has been building up in an account sequestered under the truth in bonding rules specifically for this work. Recognizing that the funds are still accumulating, staff is recommending the IOAC consider first doing some low(er) cost work such as fog sealing roads. This is done early in the life cycle of a street as a way of preserving and lengthening the life span of work that has already been done. Pavement preservation is a step that was skipped for too long and the result is most of our streets being in need of full rebuilds. But under Prop 101 many streets were repaired and so hitting them with a fog seal now will both extend their life, plus doing that up front will allow the 411 fund to continue to grow so we’ll have more money in the bank for the more costly full reconstructs. 

Later this month staff and the IOAC will talk about the prioritization plan; preservation first followed by a ‘worst first’ pecking order, with ward equity being included. Once they’ve had that conversation, we’ll be in a better position of answering the ‘when’ questions we occasionally get. We hope to be in that position late in February. 

It’s important to message this out now – and I’m sure it’ll have to be repeated. If the decision is made to do the preservation, less costly pieces first, it is likely you’ll see some streets that were repaved somewhat recently getting fog sealed while yours is still sitting untouched. Preservation is the way we’re going to get the roads to last a full life cycle. The optics may not be the best, but from the standpoint of putting an effective long term pavement management program into effect, it makes sense. 

Our disjointed immigration/asylum system was on display again last week. New rules were adopted that will allow migrants and asylum seekers to use our legal system if they’re abused or have been subjected to other labor violations without putting their status in jeopardy. That’s fine – should have always been true. But the new process also caps the number of refugees we’ll accept from some of the countries that are now filling Casa Alitas to the brim, it will increase fees people have to pay, and it puts in place requirements for where the application filed. The time delays will continue to be excessive until the feds hire more case workers inside the judiciary system to process the applications. 

In response to the continued very high number of refugees arriving at Alitas, the county is standing up a large warehouse setting that once they get done with the interior renovations will serve partially for migrants and partially for homeless. Instead of charging refugees who have no money an increase in fees, Homeland Security should be funding the shelter capacity changes the county is arranging. 

Your donations continue to be welcomed by the hundreds of migrants who are arriving at Alitas daily. It’s the same list of needs:  Small size clothes – travel size towels and wash cloths – hygiene products of all sorts – sunscreen, shampoo, new underclothes, kids toys and puzzle books that adults can use while traveling from Tucson to their final U.S. destination. You can bring them to the ward office M-F from 9am until 1pm, or if you want to do the Amazon route the mailing address is 3202 E. 1st, 85716.  

The COVID case count news is very good. I’ll keep tracking it for a while but there’s not a whole lot left to say – consider your vaccination status, mask up if in tight quarters and stay home if you’re sick. Anyone who’d be convinced to do any of that probably already is. 

The reality is that the current state of COVID is largely where much of this started. More than 90% of deaths due to COVID are taking place with seniors. And hospitalizations are more than 5x higher for people over the age of 70 than for all other age groups. This chart shows those relationships. 

I haven’t read anything recently that suggests a return to the strict measures taken in 2020 and 2021, but the recommendations I opened with are common among health professionals. 

Here’s the case count chart I’ve been keeping. Our current numbers look very promising.  

Fatalities due to COVID continue to be a real thing for far too many Arizona families. Statewide there were 128 deaths last week, and in Pima County COVID took the lives of 18 loved ones. It continues to be more than a ‘bad cold’ for far too many people. Please keep that in mind if you’re going to be around people who might be immunocompromised or elderly.  

You can check the Pima County health site if you want to see where to test or to get a vaccination: https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?pageId=527452  

Please do not come to the office if you have any symptoms – COVID or otherwise. Call and reschedule. And if your group is using the ward office, we strongly encourage you to require participants in your meeting to wear a mask. My casual observation is that some groups are requiring it, others are rolling the dice. Respiratory diseases are spread in part through airborne transmission. While not 100% effective, masks do help in reducing spread.  

Here’s the statewide COVID count map by county.