A Message from Steve K...05/22/2023

Here’s a link commemorating the relay. 

https://fb.watch/kGdH9oGZ5q/?mibextid=v7YzmG 

Thanks to Angelica Gomez and Joselito Naval for sending in their thoughts with respect to the city budget priorities. They’re the winners of the Locals Only gift cards. We appreciate everybody’s input – over 1,800 responses was an excellent cross-sample of the ward neighbors’ priorities. Those were public safety, roads and climate. Check, check and check. We’re headed down a budgetary road that’s consistent with what we’ve heard from you. 

Thanks for participating, and we wish Joselito and Angelica enjoyable evenings out at a local Tucson restaurant. 

Some of the local media coverage of the border issues we’re experiencing since the lifting of Title 42 arrive at the curious conclusion that since we were not overrun with hoards of people streaming through the city that things are humming along nicely. I participate in daily border briefings and can tell you that yes, things are humming along, and yes, we’ve got them generally under control. But that’s not the full story. 

Prior to Title 42 being lifted Casa Alitas was receiving from 300 to 500 new arrivals every day. Your donations have been a great help in keeping that operation going. Since the lifting of 42 Alitas is seeing north of 1,000 people per day, with most days closer to 1,500. It is only through the hard work of both city and county staff – many working outside of their normal jobs and filling in to help get the new arrivals situated and connected with next of kin – that we have avoided street releases. Buses are coming in from Naco, Douglas and Nogales daily. Some buses are also headed up to Phoenix. The city is managing 3 hotels, rotating people in and out as their travel plans allow. Think of the logistics – transportation, communication by phone and/or computer, food, clothing, hygiene products, and very basic but necessary items such as cleaning the rooms between the departure of one family and the arrival of another. It’s all going on in real time, over and over throughout the day, every day. Staffing is the #1 challenge so we’ve contracted with a third party firm to help manage some of the shelter operations. The county emergency operations staff is engaged. The city manager has tossed his top staffers into the mix. And city/county workers from a variety of unrelated departments are stepping up to help.  

So yes, it’s ‘under control.’ That’s not the full story though. 

If you would like to volunteer in some phase of the work please do not just show up at one of the shelters. There’s a process that begins with you going to  volunteers@casaalitas.org  There are several ways you can get involved.  

One of those ways is what many of you are already doing – donations. Some of the needs include new/unused underwear of all kinds, belts, men’s t-shirts, socks, sneakers for men sizes 9 through 13, sunscreen and other hygiene products. The ward 6 office continues to be a drop off site. Casa Alitas is by here weekly to collect what you’ve provided. 

World Refugee Day 

On that same topic, Pima College is hosting World Refugee Day on Saturday, June 17th at their downtown campus (Speedway and Stone.) The event will run from 10am until 1pm. Stop by and see the exhibits and speak with many who have had to flee their homes due to threats of safety and starvation. This is the Tucson piece of an international day of celebration honoring the strength and courage these people have shown. 

The people you’ll meet during this event are now your Tucson neighbors. It’s always great to see how our community reaches out a welcoming hand to all new arrivals, and to this group in particular. 

May 22nd through June 2nd is national period poverty awareness week. In cities all around the country organizations are collecting women’s hygiene products to donate to the needy in their communities. In collaboration with Nicole Jones and InterVol ward 6 has already donated hundreds of products to the Pima County District 5 collection drive. We’d like to invite you to join in the work as well. 

This week we’ve got in our front entryway a collection box with the Period Poverty logo printed on the side. Please stop in and drop all new and unopened packages of pads, liners, and other women’s products in the bin. We’ll be adding this to what we’ve already donated to the cause at the close of the week. We appreciate your help in this important effort.  

It was a busy week in the ByFusion/City world. It started early in the week when my staff and I headed out in back of the office to fill the roll-off with what had been left while the bin was being emptied. The back wall of the office was loaded with plastic bagged up. It was great to see the three residents who were already out back tossing the bags into the bin. We truly appreciate the help – we're out there a few times each week tossing bags. Thanks to the group who jumped in to help. 

Another anonymous helper surprised us with contributions to the planter out in front of the office. All of the cuttings I transplanted from my house to the ward 6 office are starting to take hold. Now they’ve got some fun painted rocks that someone made and left to be a part of the display. We love them, and we’re grateful for the addition to what we’ve got going in the BF planter at ward 6.  

According to Eric the students were both surprised and thrilled to see the blocks being used during their graduation exercises. 

There was also lots of local media coverage – as would be expected after we inked the deal becoming the first city on the planet scaling up the plastic reuse program. Here’s Bud Foster’s piece from KOLD -  

https://www.kold.com/2023/05/16/tucson-signs-deal-recycle-non-recyclable-plastic/  

And this is Breanna Isbell’s story from KGUN9 -  

https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/recycling-unrecyclable-plastics-where-to-take-plastics-that-dont-go-in-your-blue-bin    

Arizona Public Media on the UA campus also picked up the story. This is Paola Rodriguez’ audio piece on the ByFusion agreement. 

https://news.azpm.org/p/newsheadlines/2023/5/16/216011-plastic-waste-into-construction-blocks-tucson-strives-for-zero-waste-model/    

I’m in the process of working on a story with Clara Migoya from the Arizona Republic. That should be out this week. Clara met our roll-off out at Tank’s while they were dropping the load from ward 6. This is her picture of that happening – note the pile of plastic, some of which began in your dining room. I’m in regular touch with ByFusion and Tanks talking about how we bale and start processing that mound of plastic.

Another media contact on the program that happened last week was with OPIS – they're a Dow Jones company located on the east coast. They cover commodities and do stories related to energy products. That’s coal, gas, diesel, petrochemicals and renewables. They’re intrigued with the service agreement we’ve signed onto and will be covering various angles on it as we work towards ByFusion setting up shop in Tucson. 

All of that’s good stuff – keep the public eye on what we’re doing. That means we’ve got to do it right. It was suggested to me by city staff last week that our current plan is to take from 9 months to a year to build the shell of a building for ByFusion to move into. That’s totally unacceptable. If there are long lead time items such as electrical panels then get them ordered now. Better yet they should have been ordered before our vote to move ahead. None of this is a surprise to city staff. We’re building the shell of a building and bringing some utilities to it. And it’s happening on city-owned land with no zoning challenges. Trust me that I won’t be shy in urging the construction process along. In “9 months to a year” that pile out at Tanks will have another 50 tons added to it – we've got to be better than that. 

It was great to hear from Justin and Kimberly Retzlaff out at America’s Swimming Pool Co last week. They’ve been steady partners in the plastics program from the start, bringing by their empty large buckets and other pool maintenance materials. Kim was checking to see if they can add skimmers, skim baskets, pool vacuum hoses and those sorts of things. Yes to all of them. This program uses all non-recyclable plastics. We’re happy to have all the material ASP has to offer – and other pool companies as well. 

You brought us 3.98 tons of plastic last week. That brings the total since we started to 96.05 tons. We could hit the 100 ton mark this week. You’re amazing at how you’ve grabbed onto this and become a part of our effort to make a dent in this international problem. 

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. 

The plastics program is off and running – almost. At least we have the service agreement with ByFusion in place and both the city and BF are working on what we need to have ready for them to set up shop at Los Reales. With that moving along I want to start down a new path, one that is as environmentally attractive as finding ways to productively use the plastic that consumes our lifestyles. 

This is a KB home located in Menifee, California. KB is one of the largest home builders in the country. Last week they announced a new home community that will be the first all-electric, solar and battery powered ‘microgrid’ community. Focus on ‘microgrid.’ On Tuesday that’s the idea I’ve asked Kevin Dahl to join me in bringing to the council. The mayor has also indicated support. 

In the KB project they partnered with the US Department of Energy, and some solar/electric companies to put their microgrid community together. There’s over $60M federal money available for what they’re calling ‘connected communities.’ The 200 houses in the KB project will include solar, with battery back up storage, EV charging stations and most importantly, they’ll be interconnected creating the microgrid. The solar panels collect the energy and store it in the batteries as backup. Ok, file all of that away – here's what we’ll be talking about on Tuesday. 

Microgrids are not new and untested. We just haven’t explored their wide use in Tucson. We’re already doing outreach for the Norte-Sur transit line – about 15 miles of corridor from the NW out to the airport. Over the course of the past year I’ve been working with some county employees on putting together a proposal to create a solar microgrid that runs the length of the Norte-Sur line we can use for a variety of purposes. The grid can power the transit, EV stations, affordable homes and businesses along the way, LED and safety lighting. 

And the grid will be built over the existing Right of Way creating a covered walking/biking path throughout the corridor. 

As proposed the grid will use DC power and will not be tied into the existing TEP network. That being the case this microgrid can help to alleviate some of the burden TEP is pointing to on its existing infrastructure. Think about eventually doing this over by the UA or Banner UMC to help with the challenges TEP is having there – the challenges that led to Prop 412. And the beauty of the Norte-Sur microgrid is that by using existing ROW, we’re not put into the position of looking for large plots of land on which to plant solar panels. 

Approximately ½ of the city electric load is to power our Tucson Water pumps. In an extreme heat situation if TEP has an outage, if those pumps are run by a DC microgrid we don’t lose the ability to provide water. Homes and businesses already are wired for many DC uses; computers, LED lighting and some appliances. DC is less costly to run than AC so dual wiring homes and businesses can add to their affordability. I’ll have more on this next week after the M&C vote on the idea. When we began the glass reuse program, it took some convincing. The same was true with the plastic reuse program. On the heels of the Prop 412 discussion, it’s timely that we start exploring microgrid power. This will take federal financial support, but once we demonstrate the utility of the idea it can be a powerful piece to working collaboratively with the primary electric utility in addressing regional needs. 

I’ll start this review of the Prop 412 election with TEP’s complete statement following the election: 

We’re disappointed that City of Tucson voters defeated Proposition 412, as it offered a collaborative response to important energy-related issues. We must now address those issues directly in ways that support affordable, reliable and increasingly sustainable energy for our community. 

In the near term, TEP will resume development of a new 138-kilovolt transmission line to serve growing energy needs in central Tucson. We will work in consultation with area residents and stakeholders to identify the best route for the line, which will link our Kino and DeMoss Petrie Substations to a new substation near the University of Arizona. 

We will be restarting our review of potential routes for the project through central Tucson. Because the line is urgently needed to maintain reliable service, we will seek to complete it by the summer of 2027 – the same timeline we hoped to achieve if Prop 412 had passed. Additional details will be provided soon to area residents. 

Meanwhile, TEP will continue to operate under its current franchise agreement with the City of Tucson, which authorizes use of public rights of way for our local energy grid. We will once again seek approval of a new franchise before the current agreement expires in April 2026, as operating without a franchise could increase costs and reduce electric reliability for City of Tucson residents. 

Finally, we will continue working with the City of Tucson toward an agreement to supply up to 100 percent renewable energy for city operations. We remain committed to helping customers achieve their clean energy objectives as we pursue our own plans for a cleaner, greener grid. 

The morning after the election I reached out to one of my contacts at TEP and offered to facilitate a meeting with community members and TEP administration. The goal is to hammer out a deal we can take back to the voters for approval. His reply was that they’re not ready – they want to ‘let the dust settle.’ That’s fine. We’ll need a franchise agreement approved by the voters before 2026. My offer was to sit down with TEP and members of the community who had issues with what was on the ballot and see if we can come to an agreement that’ll pass muster with the voters.  

My approach would be to bring in many of the environmental advocates who wrote op/ed’s in the Star opposing the franchise agreement. I agree with Kevin Dahl – Prop 412 tried to do too much. My suggestion will be to scrub the new resiliency fee from the FA and make it the normal bland “we’re giving you approval to work in our right of way” deal that usually passes without controversy. Then in a separate document we’d hammer out an agreement that addresses the climate needs most of the community recognizes need attention before the 25-year term of the franchise agreement expires. 

Included in that list of climate needs is undergrounding of utilities.  A false narrative began during the runup to the Prop 412 election that said aesthetics are unimportant. The reality is Tucson has both scenic and gateway corridors running through and all around the perimeter of the city. Preserving the viewsheds by adhering to our undergrounding mandate is going to be a part of any deal I’m willing to support. That, along with the carbon footprint issues are things we can and need to address in an agreement other than the franchise deal. I’m not a free agent and so would of course coordinate with the mayor's office and another council member (to avoid open meeting violations) as the conversation began and evolved. 

TEP cannot operate in our rights of way without a franchise deal. I suppose they could, but every time they had work to do, they’d be getting a new permit. They need the deal. We all need them to be successful. And we all need a broad climate commitment sitting alongside the FA so voters know that not only will the utility continue to be allowed to work in our ROW, but we’re also headed down the climate resiliency path together. They’ve indicated a willingness to come up with a plan for getting city assets to non-renewables. That’s great. We need that for non-city assets as well.  

And as luck would have it, Nadia and I were invited to join Watershed Management Group in the grand opening of their new learning center. TEP is the primary sponsor of the facility so we had the good fortune of linking arms in public support of WMG and their work.  

The learning center is an expansion of the WMG operation. It was built with all the same sustainability features the rest of their campus has, but now they can accommodate school groups, families, professional colleagues –in person and in a hybrid setting. Stop by and take a tour of the space – of their whole campus. You’ll love what you see. And if you’d like to contribute to their work, you can use this link:  capital donations  

Ben’s Bells 

When our parks director uses the word ‘ecstatic’ when she’s announcing something, I take note. Great work by Lara Hamwey and her entire team for meeting and surpassing their goal of hiring and training 250 lifeguards for this summer’s city pool operations. They’re just finishing the certification process that will result in our being able to open all 20 pools we have in operation citywide. 

In addition to the regular swimming that’ll happen, the parks team is going to offer more programs than we’ve been able to since COVID shut us down. Here’s a partial list: 

• Swim Lessons 
• Adaptive Swim (instruction for children with physical and cognitive disabilities) 
• Competitive Swim Teams 
• Synchronized Swim Teams 
• Water Aerobics Classes 
• Pool Party community events 

The summer pool season begins this weekend. Here’s a full list of the pools, along with their location and hours of operation. 

Over the course of the past week+ I’ve been mildly frustrated by the reports from local media regarding our vote to go fare free on the transit system. The headlines almost universally indicated the fares will only remain free until the end of December. Congratulations to Samantha “Sam” Parker for her work at the Wildcat – she got it right from end to end in her piece. 

This was the headline in last week’s Wildcat story: “Tucson public transit remains free indefinitely, city council decides.” 

Correct. Not just until the end of December unless the M&C affirmatively vote to reinstate the fares, and then only following what’s called a Title VI evaluation of the proposed fares. That’s not happening anytime soon. 

The Tucson City Council decided in a unanimous vote Tuesday to keep public transit free in Tucson until further notice. 

Transit will remain fare-free until there is an affirmative vote from the council to reinstate the fares, according to city Councilmember Steve Kozachik. 

Kozachik and the council are calling on the university to become a more involved partner in this effort to permanently eliminate transit fares, especially considering “roughly 70% of the ridership on the [Sun Link Tucson Modern Streetcar] are students,” Kozachik said. 

Kozachik hopes that the university community’s stake in the issue of fare-free transit will compel the UA to get more involved in the funding of these services. 

“Instead of playing chicken and waiting for somebody to make the first move, let’s take our $4.5 million, throw it on the table and say ‘there we are. We’re in,’” Kozachik said. “We’ve got skin in the game. You guys match it. We’re looking for the UA, we’re looking for [Pima Community College], we’re looking to [the Tucson Unified School District], we’re looking for some of the major players in the area like Raytheon, people whose employees and students are benefiting from it to help us out. But we’re committed to it and we showed that with our vote.” 

University involvement with and funding of initiatives like this one is not unprecedented. In North Carolina, for instance, Chapel Hill Transit has been fare-free since 2002, made possible through the partnership between the town of Chapel Hill, the town of Carrboro and the University of North Carolina. According to the Daily Tar Heel, UNC’s student newspaper, in order to fund this fare-free transit, in 2021 “the Town of Chapel Hill contributed $5.5 million, the Town of Carrboro contributed $1.9 million and UNC contributed $8.5 million.” 

“We’ve used [North Carolina] as an example to Robbins several times,” Kozachik said. “This is not like we’re asking you to do something that nobody else in the country is doing.” 

The only way these fares will be reinstated, Kozachik said, is if the council votes to reinstate them following a “Title VI” analysis. According to the Federal Transportation Administration, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “protects people from discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance,” and FTA also “works to ensure nondiscriminatory transportation in support of our mission to enhance the social and economic quality of life for all Americans.” 

“We’ll go route by route and look at the new fares that are being proposed whenever we get around to that, which could be never, and say, ‘What is the impact on low income people, [on] minorities? What is the impact on the various communities of these new fares?” Kozachik said. “And if there is a disparate impact that negatively affects low income folks, we would not be able to do that.”