A Message from Steve K...04/17/2023

Our friends with Tucson Residents for Responsive Government conducted their own survey. We hosted a large TRRG meeting last month during which they asked each person in attendance to list actions they’d like to see the city take now, soon, and eventually. There were representatives of 46 neighborhoods taking part throughout the day – mostly from the midtown area, but with a few outliers. All were welcome. It was good to see such a good level of participation. 

TRRG did what lots of groups did during COVID – they took a step back and focused on just surviving the pandemic. Now they’re back together, with lots of new blood, but from my perspective airing many of the same sorts of concerns we heard pre-2020. They’re welcome to use the ward 6 facilities when needed. 

5th / 6th Street Prop 407 Project 

The Prop 407 walkability project on 5th / 6th Street is about to kick off. That’s the sidewalk and pedestrian enhancements from Campbell to Alvernon. There’ll be landscaping, better lighting, crosswalks and continuous sidewalks on both sides of the roadway. There are 2 open houses coming for all who are interested in a project update. 

Through Prop 407 you approved just over $5M for this segment of pedestrian work. This is not the road reconstruction/road diet piece. All of this work will take place outside the curb lines. 

We had a visit last week from some USCIS workers. They flew in from both Atlanta and from Chicago on a planning trip. During the first 3 days of June, they’ll be hosting a resource fair specifically geared towards Afghan refugees. We offered the use of the ward office – they decided to do it at a Sheraton. That’s fine – they're a year too late but we’re supportive of any information and assistance they can offer to the refugee population. One reason they may have decided on the Sheraton is that I told them we would not be limiting their fair to simply Afghans. There are far too many refugees from far too diverse a geographic mix to limit an informational and assistance event to people who arrived well over a year ago. They won’t be turning anyone away – if they reconnect, I’ll share the details on their event in the newsletter. 

I was also in touch with the director of the Casa Alitas welcome center. She and a group came to the Arizona Inn last week and caught a little of the music set as they made their way into their meeting. I was surprised to learn that the vast majority of the arrivals they’re seeing now are from India. The needs are the same, and we’re happy to continue collecting donations, regardless of the country of origin. So with that in mind please consider continuing with the lotions, sunscreen, hygiene products and new underclothes. Everyone who arrives at the welcome center has been through some very difficult travel conditions, and they arrive here with uncertain futures. The assistance you provide, coupled with the welcoming spirit they experience at Alitas speaks volumes about the Tucson/Pima County ethic of taking care of those in need. Thank you for all of your help. 

The sex trafficking forum ended up having well over 100 people register. All of us at the ward 6 office are grateful to Dominique Roe Sepowitz for securing the grant that funded the presentation, and for rounding up experts in the field who came and brought informational and educational material.  

The group in attendance included people who work with youth in our community, people who work in the behavioral health and drug rehabilitation fields, law enforcement, the courts, educators, shelter operators and neighbors. It’s an issue that has the potential to touch every household in the valley. Our hope is that by making this introduction to the topic we can use this as a catalyst for more effective follow up on tips. It’s about helping victims and punishing perpetrators.  

We’ll continue working with Dominique on future steps in this field. Please keep this 24-hour statewide trafficking hotline handy. It was formed through a grant from AZDPS and any service-related calls are sent to one of the trafficking agencies we’re working with on the upcoming educational forum. The number is 1.877.4AZ.TIPS. 

Those of you who have been following this newsletter for a while will remember when I opened each week with a half-staff update. It was because we have so many gun-related deaths that it seemed we should honor those who have lost their lives due to gun violence. We only drop the flag to half-staff when somebody ‘noteworthy’ dies. The general public is noteworthy too. 

A couple of weeks ago it was 3 nine-year old kids and 3 staffers at the Nashville school. Last week a guy in his 20’s shot and killed 4 of his colleagues at a bank in Louisville. There were 9 others who were wounded in the attack. In the aftermath of the killing spree Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell said “We send our prayers to the victims, their families and the city of Louisville.” 

Sorry MItch – done with that cliché.  

So far in 2023 there have been 15 mass shootings. In 2019 there were 45 in the whole year. We’re on a pace to knock that record out of the record books. Here are some more from last week that you didn’t hear about because gun violence is simply too common to fill the news with every night. 

Got the picture? And of those only the top one would qualify as a ‘mass shooting’ because it’s the only one with 4 or more victims. This goes on every day in cities across the country. 

Above I asked for your input on our budget. One way we might save some money is buying shorter, pre-half-staff sized flagpoles. It’s something for the city manager to consider. 

When we’re out and about talking-up the program we can present a pretty nice display. I know ByFusion has brought on their first local hire. If your group would like some in-person outreach let us know and we’ll either handle it ourselves from the ward office, or we’ll connect you with Heather from ByFusion if we can’t make your event. 

I expect the service agreement with ByFusion to be finalized – finally – next week. The terms seem to have been worked out and I for one am very ready to get this program moving towards completion. The outreach events are great, but we need ByFusion in Tucson to make this whole idea complete. It’s close. 

Thanks to Scott from Sam Hughes for suggesting I get back to giving some real examples of what our plastic pile represents in addition to the weekly update on tonnage – we’re now at 76.5 tons collected. Last week we gathered just over 3 tons at ward 6 and one of the other locations turned in just under a half ton. Please help to pass the word that there are now 3 drop off locations in town. Here are the locations. 

We will generate about 70 blocks per ton once the program is fully up and running. That means what we’ve gathered so far would yield roughly 5,300 blocks. To put that into perspective, we used about 10 for each of the benches we have over in Himmel park. That means we can build over 500 benches with what you’ve donated so far. Our planter at the ward office has 36 blocks. We could produce about 150 raised planters the size we have in front of the office. And remember the holiday tree? It had 72 blocks. We’d be able to ‘plant’ 75 more trees with what we’ve got.  

And the pile grows hourly. My staff and I are really looking forward to getting the deal done, seeing ByFusion a part of the Tucson family and starting to market these blocks. 

Pima Council on Aging (PCOA) is our go-to partner in the community for services related to seniors. One seriously difficult function in that area is family members providing nonpaid care for their at-home senior loved ones. PCOA is offering free training for that sort of informal care giving. 

The training will be offered to address both the stresses caregiving can cause for those providing the care, and then they’ll address some of the physical and built-environment safety elements of in-home care. The first session runs from 9am until noon, then after a break they touch on the second part from 1pm until 3:30pm. These classes will be offered monthly through November at The Katie – the PCOA facility located at 600 S. Country Club. 

Please use this link to register: https://caregivingessentials23.eventbrite.com 

Capstone Student Housing 

When TRRG did their survey of neighbors who attended their meeting here at the ward office, one of the items that rose to near the top of priority concerns was how residents are notified of upcoming public meetings. With that in mind, an important one is coming that neighbors who live in the UA area might want to be aware of. 

Capstone Companies is a national student housing developer. They’ve been putting plans together for a proposed student housing project on the SE corner of Speedway and Euclid. There are some complexities to the project due to both the existence of some historic homes that’ll have to be moved, and to a commitment the city made when negotiating the Main Gate Overlay that the edge of Euclid would serve as a buffer between student housing towers to the east and single-family homes to the west. Capstone is looking at how to possibly thread that needle. 

The formal neighborhood meeting ahead of the zoning examiner hearing will be held here at the ward 6 office on Thursday, April 27th at 6pm. This will be an all in-person meeting so please plan accordingly. 

Here are the renderings Capstone included in their meeting notice mailer. Come with your questions. It’s a significant proposed development and deserves a thorough public conversation. 

It’s starting to feel like summer outside. That means it’s time to think about registering for indoor Parks & Rec leisure classes as well as summer KIDCO camps. The classes include things such as arts and crafts, dance, gymnastics, music, sports and craft skills such as photography and pottery. It’s a ‘something for everyone’ array of options. 

For the KIDCO classes your young person must have completed kindergarten. The age range is from 5 to 11 years old for the little ones, 12 to 14 for the in-betweeners and 14 to 17 years of age for Junior Staff training. The number of slots open depends on how many staff we have on board so if you’ve got young adults who’d like to be trained as staffers please let them know about the opportunity. Costs vary depending on which classes/camps you’re registering for.  

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen conflicting court decisions regarding FDA approval of the abortion care drug Mifepristone. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sent out an update and clarification letter last week relating to the legal status of Mifepristone in Arizona. It’s a fast changing situation so this information is subject to change depending on how the courts act, and when. 

I won’t go through all of the various court cases on this but will highlight where we are today. It began with an April 7th federal court in Texas ruling that effectively undid the FDA’s approval of the use of Mifepristone. But that same day a court in Washington issued an order that prevented the FDA from changing their approval of the drug. Based on those rulings the federal court in Washington issued a ruling that keeps access to the drug intact, pending action at the US Supreme Court.