Date: 05/15/2023
Topics in This Issue:
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Refugee Donations
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Plastic Program
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Wednesdays at the Inn
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Craigslist and Puppy Mills
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Transit Fares
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Prop 412
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Supreme Court and Guns
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Neighborhood Association Basics
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22nd Street Bridge
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Game and Fish Adopt a Tortoise
Refugee Donations
If you’re following the news even slightly, you’re aware that the border crossing resulting from the end of the COVID restrictions has escalated significantly. I’m on daily briefings being offered by the county and city staff who’s running point on this. Due to their ownership and management of the Alitas Welcome Center and the emergency management center the county is hosting the meetings. The on-site operations at Alitas are still being managed by Catholic Community Services but given Pima County’s position as public health authority – and owner of the facility – they're our primary point of contact for how things are developing.
The short message is that between the city and county our resources are stretched beyond capacity. City, County and Alitas staff have so far done an excellent job of navigating the increase in arrivals without having any street releases. One factor people need to keep in mind is that while we’re struggling to identify enough room/bed space, staffing, and managing those facilities is also a part of the equation. We’re not simply renting hotel rooms and dropping people off without any further involvement. So, all facets of the program are being challenged.
All the dynamics of this change daily, so the information here is a rough average to give you the scale of what the federal government has dropped in our lap. Alitas is taking in north of 1,000 people per day. They’re also getting just under ½ that number into buses or planes in route to their next of kin. So, there’s daily turnover, but barely enough to stay even with the new arrivals. CCS has volunteer opportunities. If you’d like to look into that, call them at (520) 623-0344.
Ward 6 continues to be a hub for receiving donations. In addition to hygiene products (sunscreen, toiletries, etc.) they can also use baseball caps, belts, shoelaces – all confiscated by CBP when people are detained. And of course kids toys for travel – not big stuff like bikes. The donations we’re after should be ‘travel size.’ They also need new unopened underwear for men & women sizes small/medium/large and for kids in all sizes. Men's plain T-shirts in sizes small/medium/large in darker colors (easier to keep clean). Socks are also important. They can be any style or color for men, women and children. New or gently used is fine. And if your still thinking on what to give, Sneakers for men - size 9,10,11,12 and 13. Any that you could possibly walk 6 miles in. New or gently used will be appreciated.
Alitas comes by the ward office weekly to pick up your donations. They join me and my team in thanking those of you who continue to step up and help with what pretty much overnight last week became an emergency, all hands-on deck effort.
Finally, it’s important to note there are dozens of city and county staffers who are working way outside of their lanes on this issue. It’s after hours, weekends and trying to anticipate where the next emergent need is going to pop up. They all deserve credit for the extra effort that’s being put into managing this issue. There have already been street releases in Naco, Nogales and in Douglas. Our joint effort is to minimize the impacts of those on all parties involved.
Plastic Program
Last week M&C approved a service agreement with ByFusion. During one of my morning runs last week a lady on a bike called out ‘yay ByFusion’ - I agree. We’re off and running.
Before I dig into the plastics program, I’ll share this video produced by one of the Star mixed media staffers. It’s about the glass reuse program – which was a part of the Arizona Forward environmental excellence award we won two weeks ago. And it was the precursor to the larger plastics effort. I think Riley Brown from the Star did a nice job of covering the glass project. And having Anita from Bottle Rocket included was a cool touch.
https://tucson.com/news/local/tucson-program-helps-turn-crushed-glass-into-new-products/video_c21e037b-0519-5d42-87c3-532f170dab36.html
One more video to share – it's the Arizona Forward review of the plastics project. We won the statewide award in the ‘circular economy solutions’ category. Here’s how that category was described by the group that was judging the entries:
 Clearly our project hits all the key points in that description. This 1-minute video is their summary of the program. https://arizonaforward.org/portfolio/tucson-ward-6-glass-and-plastic-reuse-project/
Here’s a fun international approach to the mess the world is facing with plastic. The two areas in Indonesia that are highlighted on this map have both banned plastic bags. In fact, in Bali, they’ve banned businesses from issuing single use plastics to customers – things such as straws and cups, in addition to the bags. The Arizona state legislature has a preemption law in place that prevents us from doing that. But in Indonesia they’ve taken the whole plastic management effort to another level.
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This is an ad they’ve got running in Bali – an Indonesian province – that introduces a program they have in place where you can use your empty plastic bottles as bus fare. More on the Tucson fare free transit item below. But in southeast Asia you can board the bus by presenting 3 one and a half liter bottles as your fare payment. Or 5 of the roughly ½ liter bottles. They recognize the value of the commodity and are both capitalizing on that, plus giving people a way to benefit from diverting the plastic from the waste stream. Keep in mind though that the plastics we can use in our block program are non-recyclable. They’re of no value as a commodity so every part of this project is value added.
And this note is from a trip out into the Pacific garbage patch by The Ocean Cleanup group. I’ve written about similar work in the past. They’ve pulled over 75 tons of plastic out of the ocean during their scavenging trips this season. Sadly, there’s plenty more that has been left behind.
The service agreement with ByFusion is a 4-year deal during which time the city will take on some obligations, and BF will do the same at their end. This is a link to Nicole Ludden’s Star article of the arrangement: https://tucson.com/news/local/firm-that-turns-plastic-trash-into-building-blocks-to-set-up-operations-in-tucson/article_bccc6c80-ef64-11ed-93f4-1f66f8eb0f85.html
Over the next 4 years the city will make quarterly payments to BF that will help them stand up their operation out at Los Reales. We will begin building the shell of a structure for them to operate from. The article says that’ll cost “$2.4M.” In fact, that figure is inclusive of both the building and the site work necessary to prep for the structure. The building itself is just over $1M, and the city will self-perform much of the site work, so the article overstated the actual cost of that piece. Also, it’s important to note that the city will own the building so if BF ever decides to pull out, we will have the structure to use for other purposes out at the landfill.
The city responsibility will continue to be to collect and deliver the plastics to BF out at the new facility. That comes with a cost so BF is obligated to give the city 10% of the blocks being created for us to use in our own construction projects. If we get to the point where we are in-between projects, we can use the value of the blocks we’d otherwise be getting to offset the payments we’ll be making to BF.
ByFusion has already begun hiring for their Tucson operation. They are starting fabrication of the blocker machine (a “Micro Diversion Platform” - MDP.) That comes at a cost of between $1.5M and $2M. The blocker will be delivered to the new structure we’re putting up out at Los Reales. That’s where the operation will take place once we’re up and running. ByFusion is going to continue hiring local people as they gear up their operation. They’ll also be expanding significantly on the commercial outreach I’ve been helping to get started. I have not run across a business or non-profit that isn’t interested in seeing how they can play a role in diversion of plastics. Also, as Nicole’s article mentions there are already several projects in design. During the pilot of this program, I’ve had the opportunity to introduce the BF team to 4 of our local general contractors, the owners of Ace Hardware, top management at Raytheon, Roadhouse Cinema, Home Depot, the UA and several other ‘intros’ that should be of value as they arrive in Tucson and start to ramp up their local presence.
Other benefits to the city and to the wider community? Preserve the landfill, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce our costs to Republic for contaminants that end up at the landfill, reduce deforestation as more building using the blocks evolves, reduce pollution of the ocean and our environment generally, reduce mining activity necessary to produce cinder blocks, and add to our local economy as jobs are created both within the ByFusion operation and out in the workforce as new construction skills are taught using the blocks. There’s no downside.
The total tonnage you’ve provided since last August is now 92.07 tons. Last week was another in which you brought over just under 4 tons of plastic (3.83.) If the community had not stepped towards this program in such a meaningful way BF would not be coming to Tucson. All of us at the ward 6 office are grateful to those of you who have and continue to take part.
Here are the drop off locations. Remember for the next couple of weeks the ward 4 site is inside the first entry to Lincoln Park off from Pantano.
Wednesdays at the Inn
Last week we had groups from Broadway/Broadmoor, Rosemont, Arcadia, up in the foothills and Kevin Dahl brought his wife along for some laid-back relaxing at the Audubon Lounge at the Inn. Those groups plus the snowbirds who are here staying at the Inn made for another very nice evening of music, food, drink, and chat. They’ll be doing renovation work in the lounge on weekdays starting in June so there are only a few Wednesdays’ left to come and enjoy their wait staff, food, drink and all the rest. Thanks to all of you who have participated in this experiment the Inn has allowed us to test. Everyone has been happy with how it's turned out. The music is from 5pm until 8pm Wednesday evening.
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Craigslist and Puppy Mills
A few years ago, I had a local ordinance ready to go that would have banned the sale of puppies through retail stores. We know that method of sale is often a way for puppy mills to move their ‘product’ - and at expensive prices – and at the expense of our shelters continuing to be overstuffed. We had to put the ordinance on the back burner when the state passed legislation pre-empting local ordinances like ours. The state legislators were heavily lobbied by owners of local pet stores and caved. Our ordinance is sitting waiting to be dusted off when we get legislators up in Phoenix who care about controlling puppy mills.
Best Friends Animal Society has put together a video you can use to help curb the sale of mill-bred puppies and kittens. Craigslist is now a vehicle being used as a conduit. Scrolling through the listings is a quick and easy exercise. And ‘flagging’posts for puppies and/or kittens that are clearly in violation of the Craigslist rules is one way the state cannot prevent us from acting locally.
On Craig’s List they post these rules for people putting products on their site:
You may not post pets for sale on Craiglist. You are allowed to post animals you want to rehome, and a small rehoming fee is allowed to cover your costs for vaccines and your own adoption fees. Something in the $200 range is considered reasonable. I pulled this post from the Tucson list over the weekend – note the mention of a ‘small rehoming fee.’ As it is written there’s nothing that violates the Craigslist policies.
But this one from up in Mesa clearly is in violation of their policies:
The cost isn’t objectionable if they don’t add on excessive fees, but Craigslist specifically says you may not use their site as a way of selling animals. There’s no way to verify breeding history, vaccination status, and there’s no sales tax being collected. I saw some local posts with ‘rehoming’ fees of up to $800. That’s far more than is justified, and is probably worth flagging on CL.
This post is questionable – clearly not an accidental litter, and clearly using Craigslist as a way of marketing the breeding business. It’s likely not a puppy mill, but the posting violates the rules of CL.
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 Here’s a posting that was on the L.A. site of Craigslist that is in violation of the CL rules:
 Fees of $10,000 and $12,000 are not ‘rehoming fees.’ This type of sale is often for cash, and with no way to back check breeding conditions. Even the watered-down Arizona law requires local pet stores to post where they sourced their dogs.
So, what can you do to help clamp down on this inappropriate use of CL to control puppy mill breeding? Flag the posts. If a particular post gets flagged several times by people visiting the site CL will take it down. Here’s another post that violates their rules of not using CL for sale of dogs:
When I visited the Craigslist site to do my own checking, I found the vast majority of the posts are on the up and up. People whose dog or cat had a litter are making the offspring available. But there are others who are simply using the site to further breeding-for-sale operations. Those need to be removed from CL.
One other transaction that’s not allowed on CL is offering dogs for stud services. This post for example should be flagged on their site.
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Best Friends has a short tutorial you can watch to learn the rules CL has in place, and how you can go to the site and browse through the listings checking for illegal posts. Here’s a link to their video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM44Mo-GHQ8
If you’ve got questions about particular posts, or about this effort in general please email to OnlineSalesProj@bestfriends.org.
The best case would be for the state to reinstate our ability to control retail sales locally. Short of that you’ve got this small tool to use to help put a dent in puppy mill operations.
Transit Fares
Last week we had what I expect to be the last discussion of transit fares for quite a while. Since the beginning of COVID we’ve had all of our transit system going fare free. Up until recently federal dollars were subsidizing the lost fare box revenue. The conversation around our table has been whether to reinstate fares, and if so at what rates. We are sacrificing roughly $9M in lost revenue by going fare free.
For the past year we’ve been extending the fare free system in 6-month increments. That has been to tie in with our budget cycle so we can plan on how to cover the lost revenue. Throughout our riders have enjoyed the opportunity to board without hassle, and without worrying about whether they have money to ride. For many it’s more than simply an inconvenience to come up with the cash. The cost of pretty much everything is escalating.
It continues to be true that many people who ride Sun Tran have the ability to pay to support the system. In order to help us from a budgetary standpoint, but to avoid having to find a middle ground on what fares to impose I’ve asked the city manager to look into placing stickers on our fare boxes giving people the option of dropping money in to support our homeless work program. If we can support that program, it’ll help us budgetarily, help our unhoused population, and avoid the issue of reimposition of fares. He’s looking into the logistics of getting that started. If it can’t simply happen administratively, I’ll bring the item back to M&C for formal approval.
The city manager identified about ½ of what we’ll be losing by keeping fares free. Here are the funding sources he was able to come up with:
During our study session on this item, I confirmed with Ortega that these can become committed sources for making up our lost revenues and not simply one-time allocations. The council began with a motion to extend the free fares through the end of the calendar year and to form a task force of stakeholders to study options, look at route efficiencies and come back to us with recommendations in about 4 months.
My amendment to that motion was to effectively say we’re making a commitment to free fares. I offered a friendly amendment to the original ‘end of the year’ motion to ‘declare that the city is adopting a fare free transit system until a future M&C affirmatively votes to reinstate fares, and following a comprehensive Title VI analysis of the impacts those proposed fares would have on low-income communities.’ The amendment was accepted, and we voted unanimously to go with it.
We already have a Transit Task Force whose charge is to look at fares, routes and make recommendations. If another task force is formed our current citizen volunteers have to be included. They’ve been at this for years in some cases so losing that history cannot be a part of our studying system efficiencies.
I’m hoping the voluntary donations to the homeless work program is soon a part of what you see as you board each bus, streetcar, or Sun Van. And we should look at system efficiencies. And now that we’ve put on the table our part of the lost revenues others such as the UA, TUSD, Pima College and major employers should follow our lead and ante up to help offset the balance of what we’ll concede at the fare box through this new policy.
Nicole Ludden from the Star did a good piece on our vote. The headline is misleading because we did not sunset the free fares at the end of the year. But her content clarifies our vote. Here’s a link to her story.
https://tucson.com/news/local/tucson-public-transit-fares-to-stay-free-through-2023/article_a11fa32c-eea5-11ed-859b-1b3264eac3b1.html
Prop 412
Election day is on Tuesday so if you have a ballot do not put it in the mail. If you do it will be late and will not count.
In the Star last week there was a column written by 4 members of the business community. They’re all colleagues with whom I look forward to continuing a solid and productive relationship in the days and weeks ahead. But on this item, we differ.
I want to correct the misconception their op/ed portrayed. In it they stated, “rather than forcing its way forward, TEP chose to collaborate with city leaders and local residents on a plan to install parts of the project underground.” I nearly gagged when I read that. While it’s true we worked together finding a solution to their proposed violation of our local ordinance, getting there was not the arm-in-arm effort suggested by the writers.
TEP had proposed a significant above ground extension of large transmission lines. Their initial public outreach came with the message that ultimately it would be the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) that would make the final decision on what route to take. TEP’s initial outreach was to get the community’s input, but from having spoken to many of the residents who took part it was clear the presentations were more informational than it was an effort to take input and include that in the design plans.
During that outreach TEP had a zoning hearing related to the location of the UA/Banner substation. That appeal for a variance was denied by the zoning examiner. He stated that without any clarity on what the downstream impacts of the project would be he did not feel comfortable approving the design TEP was after for the substation. At that same time, I brought to the city council a study session item in which I wanted us to take action to affirm the integrity of our local undergrounding ordinance – and to provide TEP with a mechanism that through a public process they could request a variance. We did that by including the request for utility work within our existing Special Exception process.
That was the context of how we got to Prop 412. It’s a funding mechanism for the underground work TEP is proposing along our gateway and scenic corridors. If they ‘chose’ to collaborate it wasn’t without that rather contentious history immediately preceding it.
On Thursday of last week, the ACC approved what will be an approximate $10 per month increase in the average TEP residential bill. That increase is to cover the increased fuel costs TEP is absorbing and will be in place for a year. In addition, they’ve got a 12% general rate increase still to be decided on by the ACC. They’ve signaled that they’ll likely vote on that increase sometime this week.
The fee increase included in Prop 412 is on top of those rate hikes.
Supreme Court and Guns
Naperville, Illinois as well as other Illinois cities has a local ban in place on the sale of certain assault weapons. What those are is defined in their laws. Generally, think AR-15's and AK-47's – you know, the ones we see pretty much weekly being used to kill scores of people and injure many others. Naperville is being sued by the National Association for Gun Rights. The case has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. A ruling could be issued this week and given the makeup of the court the result could end bans on the sale of assault weapons.
 Illinois state law also prohibits the sale of large capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition for the ARs, or more than 15 bullets for handguns. Depending on what the Supreme Court rules all of that could be legalized in all 50 states. In Tucson I brought to the M&C banning the sale of assault weapons, large magazines, and the requirement of doing background checks on all gun sales happening on city property. We have that in place, and it will not be affected by a Court ruling.
The suit is filed by the National Sports Shooting Association. They represent retailers whose primary focus is on making money through the sale of assault weapons and large capacity magazines to civilians. In their filing they note “irreparable injury due to the loss of constitutional rights.” Here is a link to the court docket materials filed by both the NSSA and the Illinois Attorney General.
National Association for Gun Rights v. City of Naperville
The briefs on this case are due in June. If the Court decides in favor of the gun group, the decision would need to be followed throughout the entire nation. In 2011 a federal appeals court upheld the District of Columbia’s ban on the sale of assault weapons. The lone dissent in that case was Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by Trump in 2018. Trump also has Gorsuch and Barrett on the Court to go along with very conservative judges Thomas and Alito. If you’re counting, that’s a majority.
What’s even more troubling is that the Napperville case shows up on what’s called the Courts “shadow docket.” That’s a mixture of ‘emergency’ measures that are often decided without full briefing or oral arguments. And without any explanation as to the rationale behind the decision. Here’s a primer on that process - “shadow docket”
Soon all of this might be legal to sell to any civilian who’s not on a prohibited possessor list. And if it’s a person-to-person sale there’s no need to check even that.
The decision could come down at any time since it’s on the shadow docket. If so, we’re left with this:
Neighborhood Association Basics
In the past several months we’ve had a couple of neighborhoods begin to form or reform their associations. We’ve also had leadership turnover in a few ward 6 neighborhoods. All of that means people may benefit from a primer on what’s required of NA’s, what services are available to them, and other information related to being on a governing board for a neighborhood association. On Thursday of this week our Neighborhood Resources staff will conduct an informational session by Zoom to review the basics of being a registered neighborhood association.
The meeting will take place beginning at 6pm. There’ll be a short presentation followed by Q&A. They’d like you to register for the event ahead of time. You can use this link to do that:
Register Here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf3z4ds3ESVR-qPmATN2eMDO0PLIHh6NciO8XQNQ7mgoe7qRQ/viewform
We appreciate the hard work our neighborhood resource team does. If you’ve got questions about the Zoom, or general questions about your own NA, please feel free to reach out to us at the ward 6 office, or email to neighborhood@tucsonaz.gov
22nd Street Bridge
The 22nd Street Bridge renovation is one of the 2006 RTA approved projects. It was recently primed with a $25M federal grant. The project is scheduled to begin construction this fall. It's likely going to be a 3-year construction effort. Here’s a rendering that appears on the RTA information page:
Concerns have been raised about cut through traffic during construction and how communication between residents and the project team will be handled. Coming on Wednesday, May 17th at 6pm the project manager and our transportation department public information officer will be presenting an update on the project. The meeting will be in person at Lineweaver School – 461 S. Bryant. That’s about ½ mile south of Broadway on Columbus. If you’d like to look over the project history and current information ahead of that meeting, you can find all of that through this link:
https://pagregion.com/info-center/news/22nd-street-bridge-project-expected-to-begin-in-spring/
Game and Fish Adopt a Tortoise
Arizona Game and Fish has between 100 and 200 desert tortoises they’re looking to place in good forever homes. A tortoise can live for up to 80 years so this is what you’d call one of the longer-term commitments you’ll be making.
It’s illegal to privately breed desert tortoises. G&F has a pretty large supply of critters that they believe were bred illegally. They won’t be going jogging with you in the morning, but from what I hear from those I know who do own them, they’re low maintenance, and they provide some relaxing turtle-watching during the evenings.
Check this website to learn more about this adoption program - https://www.azgfd.com/?s=tortoise+adoption. On the site you’ll find information on how to build a shelter for your tortoise, care and feeding. Check it out. They’re interesting creatures that need a good home.
Sincerely,

Steve Kozachik Council Member, Ward 6 ward6@tucsonaz.gov
City of Tucson Resources
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