A Message from Steve K...05/30/2023

Film Incentives 

For the past decade I’ve been working with the Visit Tucson film office and the local film industry advocates to get the state to reinstate a solid film incentive program. We’re losing films to other states such as New Mexico – our neighbor - because they offer motion pictures and other film products financial incentives that place Arizona filmmakers at a competitive disadvantage.  

Thanks to the hard work of the local film industry and the Visit Tucson film office we finally have a legitimate incentive in place. In fact, the film office at VT has been so busy assisting movie producers get up off the ground that they’ve had a tough time catching their breath to take a bow for the work.  

In addition to the local efforts, I should also give mention to the Arizona Commerce Authority for hosting the incentive program. The Arizona Motion Picture Production Program (MPPP) is a refundable tax credit program that is giving production companies the ability to claw back a percentage of their production costs. The recapture can reach north of 50% of their production costs, so it’s finally a real attraction to film producers outside of Arizona. 

This link gives all of the details on the MPPP. It also has links that will help local indies file applications. This is great news for Tucson and southern Arizona. We belong in the international film business and this incentive program finally gets us a seat at that table. 

Feed the Kids is a relatively new non-profit that my office is committed to helping expand their reach. Below you’ll see how you can be a part of that. 

Feed the Kids (FTK) is working with several local schools. They provide food to kids on a Friday to assure the kids and their families don’t have to go until the following Monday without having a healthy meal. Not all of the kids involved are in a free lunch school program, but many are. In fact, FTK is going to connect with Safford Middle School this fall where nearly all of the students are on a free lunch program. The FTK goal is to expand out into multiple schools throughout Tucson and Pima County. Check their website for more information:

https://www.thetucsonfamilyfoodproject.org/  

Feed the Kids provides the ‘fixins’ for healthy meals, teaches the kids how to cook the meals and sends them home ready to prepare a meal for their individual families. One recent survey found that just under a quarter of the school-aged kids in Pima County are suffering food insecurity. FTK is addressing that. 

Yes, I continue getting contacts from people we left to die in Afghanistan. Sorry, but there’s no reason to sugar coat the ongoing maladministration of the partial evacuation from Afghanistan. This was one I received this week – kids (young girls) are being killed by Taliban in the aftermath of the signing of the Doha Treaty in 2020. Young girls under the age of 10 are being raped and forced into marriage with Taliban. The treaty we signed was the precursor to our withdrawal and had the stated purpose of ending the conflicts in Afghanistan. Instead, we left and this is a typical email I receive from those we forgot: 

          I hope you are fine. I want to inform you the life under the rule of terrorist taliban and the result of Doha treaty in Afghanistan.  

1- The primary school were also closed for girls in south western Afghanistan by taliban chief last week. 

2 - Taliban blacken the faces of the people and tie on the square in bazars who write or talk about the sutuation regulerly  picture 1 is the case of this week. 

3 - taliban's inteligince and gun man kidnape people even children for getting money otherwise kill them very regulerly. Picture 2 & 6 are case of this week in kandahar city. 

4 - Taliban attack on families at night kill them incloding childern those who worked with Afghan malitary or foriegners.   Picture 3 is Two weeks ago case in Paktika provinc. 

5 - Taliban rape and marry under ten years old girls by force very commenly. Picture 4 is the latest case of pregnancy of 11 years old girl. 

6 - taliban have closed girls school and are changing boy school with terrorist training centers and changing their text books. Taliban arrest those who persuade people for education. Picture 5 is mathiullah wesa a vulanteer compainer for education is still in gail who was arrested two weeks ago in Kandahar province. 

These were very few cases of thousands cases of wild taliban. 

I hope you send it high officails. 

Thank you, 

I’m not including all of the photos that were sent to me – too graphic for this newsletter. But here’s one of a young girl who was murdered by Taliban, along with other young people who suffered the same fate, or are about to. 

And yes, I did ‘share it with high officials.’ None responded. 

This weekend in Tucson the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service) is hosting an Afghan support event. They’ll have a variety of agency heads on site to offer instructions on various benefits, education opportunities, health screenings – the kinds of things a new arrival needs in order to get started in their new home. There will be employment assistance – if you’re an employer you should stop by and poach people from that line if you’re hiring. There will be legal assistance, a dental clinic, food assistance – they'll have a wide variety of ways our new Afghan families can get help.  

I met with the group who’ll be putting on the event and offered to host it at the Ward 6 office. One reason they chose to use the Tucson Marriott by the UA is that I told them I’m reluctant to limit people coming to just Afghan refugees. We’ve got people from all over here in Tucson – let's help them all. They won’t be turning anybody away, but the federal funding for this event forces them to advertise it for Afghans only.  

They will have interpreters in Dari, Pashto, Uzbek and Pashayi. If you know refugee families or individuals, please share this event with them. Here’s the location, days and times. 

We continue collecting donations for refugees, asylum seekers, homeless and now the Feed the Kids program. Hygiene products, sunscreen, lotions, belts, ball caps, sneakers sizes 6-13, new underclothes – you've seen the list before. We get roughly 600 new arrivals every single day at Casa Alitas. Nothing you donate goes unused or unappreciated. Here’s the KOLD story Bud Foster ran last weekend on the border issue: 

https://www.kold.com/2023/05/27/usmexican-border-is-quiet-now-fear-is-it-could-change-quickly/  

Paws without Borders 

As is true in other Tucson shelters and the Humane Society Paws’ shelter capacity is being challenged. Paws Mexico now has over 100 dogs, and that number is growing. The rehoming effort is growing in urgency along with the number they’re housing at the shelter. If you’re looking for a new family member you can drive out to PACC, over to the Humane Society – or you can contact Paws without Borders to see what they’ve got to offer. Use this link to connect with their website: 

Paws Without Borders 

Ward 6 Budget Funds 

Each year at this time my team and I look at how much we have left in our operating funds and decide what causes in Tucson we should allocate some of it to. We’ve done ward 6 speed humps, Green Stormwater Infrastructure projects, road repair – lots of those kinds of projects. We’ll still help with that sort of thing, but this year we recognized two particularly important needs that we felt could not go unaddressed.  

Pima Council on Aging has had such a huge increase in calls for food assistance among our senior population that they’ve had to temporarily put a hold on applications. During the city ‘outside agency’ funding application process this year PCOA’s Meals on Wheels program was left looking for $50K to continue their feeding program. That’s one of the holes we’re going to fill with some of our unspent operating money.  

The other is rent and utility assistance for our seniors. Our housing department works through the Interfaith Community Services agency to help people stay housed with rent and utility payment help. We gave to this program last year with some of our unspent money – we're doing it again. The fastest growing demographic of homeless in the Tucson region is seniors. We’re doing what we can to help address that.  

Here’s the language I submitted for the June 6th agenda identifying how we’d like $75,000 of our unspent $85,000 to be allocated. I left a little in the hopper just in case the year end projections are a bit off the mark. 

The dust is gradually settling in the aftermath of Proposition 412 failing. So, what now? The short answer is that your power will not go off, TEP will continue to operate as our primary electric utility, and we will go back to the drawing board to craft a new franchise agreement that will eventually go back to the voters for approval. Ultimately it is the community that will need to agree to the extension of the current franchise agreement. The community needs to be at the table as we work out the details of that new proposal. 

As soon as it was clear Prop 412 was going to fail, I reached out to my primary contact at TEP and offered to help facilitate a meeting between TEP administration and ‘the community’ to restart the conversation and hammer out a deal that would have buy-in from the majority of the people who actively opposed 412. I was the only member of the mayor and city council to openly oppose Prop 412 so I believe I owe it to you to make a significant effort. The reply was they’re waiting for the dust to settle and reassessing their approach. 

In making the offer to facilitate I made a few things clear. First, the mayor or a representative from the mayors office and one other council member will need to be included. In addition the people who comprise ‘the community’ for the purpose of these discussions would include groups who may have been on opposite sides of the 412 vote. There were far too many silos in place in the runup to 412. We need to be in the same room listening – and hearing – one another.  

Secondly, my approach to a renewed franchise agreement proposal will be to sanitize what goes to the voters and put together a separate agreement that addresses climate and undergrounding commitments. A franchise agreement should simply be giving approval to the utility to work in the public right of way. I agree with Kevin Dahl when he says we tried to do too much with what went into 412. But those other elements are not unimportant – they need to be addressed simultaneously with taking another franchise agreement to the voters. Without those who opposed 412 seeing real climate commitments articulated, a renewed franchise agreement is likely to fail once again. 

One example of silos being created prior to the vote took place on the issue of undergrounding utilities. There are scenic and gateway corridors surrounding and running through all parts of the city. At some point the requirement for undergrounding is going to re-emerge on a scenic corridor other than Campbell-Kino. The ordinance requiring undergrounding new utilities on scenic and gateway corridors has been in place since before even the current franchise agreement was put into effect. Maintaining the integrity of our ordinances is important because if we give a pass now that precedent could vitiate the integrity of our ordinance later on. Undergrounding is a necessary component of whatever side agreement evolves. Let’s avoid pitting one part of Tucson against another and instead all agree that we all benefit from preserving the beauty of our entire community – now and going forward. 

The mayor and council put into effect a Special Exception process for TEP to use when they want to go above ground on one of our scenic or gateway corridors. That is a very public process which remains in place, despite the 412 vote. 

Climate concerns are real. TEP engages in long range planning through what’s called their Integrated Resource Plan. You can find it on their website. That is a plan – not a commitment. It is a statement of intent, not a binding statement that the public can point to and be confident certain articulated climate investments will be made throughout the course of the franchise agreement. Those certain and articulated commitments will need to be in writing if even a ‘sanitized’ franchise agreement is to be successful. Decades ago that was not the case. That was then. This is now and our climate realities have changed. 

We have until 2026 to finalize a franchise agreement. But TEP has signaled that they have immediate needs for upgrading some of their capital investments. That means the conversations – plural and in tandem – should start sooner rather than later. Putting together a bare bones, right of way permission franchise agreement is easy. Getting the parties together to create a separate binding set of agreements is going to be the challenging part. Without it the next iteration of 412 will face the same opposition. That’s the ‘community conversation’ we need to get to work on. I stand ready as soon as TEP feels the dust has sufficiently settled to get back to work – together. 

The honest truth is that not a single meaningful piece of legislation has been passed since last year when we held this event. That despite this growing list of gun violence deaths: 

Bowdoin, Maine – 4 killed 

Allen, Texas – 8 killed 

Henryetta, Oklahoma – 6 killed 

Cleveland, Texas – 5 killed 

Dadeville, Alabama – 4 killed and 32 wounded 

Louisville, Kentucky – 5 killed and 8 wounded 

Nashville, Tennessee – 6 killed (3 students, 3 teachers) 

Half Moon Bay, California – 7 killed 

Monterey Park, California – 11 killed and 9 wounded 

Colorado Springs – 5 killed and 17 wounded 

You get the picture. The list could go on and on. That’s just a sample, many of which I’m sure went under your radar screen because it’s all too common to be nightly news any longer. 

Come on Saturday and help us advocate for the elimination of military style assault weapons from the hands of citizens who are causing this sort of trauma in stores, churches, at parties, in movie theaters and in our schools. 

Thank you for your involvement with the program – and thanks are due to my team for what they do in support of your support every week. 

Back on the home front we had another week that included significant media interest in the plastics program. On Friday I did an hour-long presentation to the Circular Economy Solutions subcommittee of Arizona Forward. That’s the statewide group we won the Crescadia award through up in Scottsdale. It was great to see their continued interest. On the call were people who work for the city of Phoenix and for some major retailers who have outlets throughout the state. Both have reached out since the zoom event to get more deeply involved with the program. Every major city in the country should be doing what we’re doing with plastics. 

Also last week the Arizona Republic (the Phoenix daily) ran their piece on the program. Here’s a link to that story:  

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2023/05/24/tucson-approves-new-plastic-recycling-program-in-zero-waste-effort/70225775007/  

The Republic’s Tucson reporter Clara Migoya did a great job of covering the program from inception to where we are today. 

Where we are today is further along than when even Clara did her story. On Friday we finally completed the contract with ByFusion that identifies the roles both the city and BF will play. At our end we’ll be building the shell of a building for them to operate from out at Los Reales. I introduced the city manager and environmental services to a general contractor who can do the work on what’s called a ‘design build’ process. We give the specs to the GC, he works through an architect to get construction documents and pricing and we get to work building the structure. While that’s going on BF now has a legal document, they can show to lending institutions and investors to help them finance the fabrication of the blocker machine. It’s called a Micro Diversion Platform (MDP.) The BF folks cringe when I call it a blocker so I’m going to work on using ‘MDP’ - keep that acronym in mind so we’re tracking together. The MDP will cost them just under $2M to construct and get to Tucson. I’m really hoping to get the building done and the MDP on site as a Christmas present to the community. Construction take time though so that’s a goal, not a hard deadline. 

The city is going to invest seed money over the next 4 years helping BF get established. In our ward office budgets we are all getting $300K in ARPA federal money. In order to get this program off the ground I’ve allocated $250K of the ward 6 funds to help the city manager with the initial funding stream. In our office we are all-in on standing up this operation. 

The city is also responsible for delivering the plastic to them at Los Reales. BF will be also standing up some curbside subscription opportunities once we get closer to them going live in production. Until then our current drop-off locations will be what we have to work with. By way of reminder, here they are: 

I’m setting up weekly check-in meetings with BF, city staff and my office. In a recent meeting BF told me they’re going to be putting together a Do It Yourself (DIY) kit for some of the more popular consumer products. I told them the first one out of the chute should be seat benches. I know many of you have asked to buy blocks so you can make one – varying sizes – for your house or business. The DIY’s are coming. 

Another idea BF and my office are working towards is giving people who want to help financially support the program during this interim time when we’re spending money and there’s no income. The details haven’t been worked out but likely something at a commercial scale where local businesses can ‘buy’ carbon offsets based on the amount of plastic they’re putting into the program. The values and quantities are being calculated right now. Businesses (or consumers) would then be able to advertise their support for what we’re doing and their financial involvement will help us bridge this time gap during which we’re writing checks, but there’s nothing coming in to balance the costs. More on that and DIY to come. 

As you know the product is out and about in the community on a residential scale. Ward 6 constituent Rory came by and got about a dozen blocks from me and went home and built this raised mailbox pedestal. The first picture is the project before he applied the stucco. I give Rory high marks for the work he put into the project. It’s amazing what a little (or a lot of) pressure from a spouse can do to move a project like his along. But great job on the finished product. 

Another big environmental step we took last week was our vote to move forward studying the microgrid proposal I presented to M&C. I teased the proposal in last week’s newsletter. It could be a game-changer for local power generation options, and all of what I’m suggesting would be grounded in renewables.  

This link has the full proposal. It’ll take you a little time to get through it – the basic idea is to use our proposed Norte-Sur transit line/development hub to run solar panels above walk and bikeways along the corridor. In addition to the power that would be generated, we’ll be providing shade for walkers and bikers. And we can collect rainwater from the panels to help from a water conservation standpoint. To get to the full proposal click this link and then click the highlighted link in the memo that appears. 

https://tucsonaz.hylandcloud.com/221agendaonline/Documents/ViewDocument/MAYOR%20AND%20COUNCIL%20MEMORANDUM%20SS_MAY23-23-112.pdf?meetingId=1696&documentType=Agenda&itemId=68327&publishId=122618&isSection=false 

The microgrid will not be connected to the TEP system. There is no need to coordinate or get approvals from the utility since we’re not touching their infrastructure. During my presentation I mentioned several options for us to use the power created by the microgrid. That can be powering the transit operation (still to be identified,) provide safety lighting under the shade canopy, power EV stations along the corridor, run DC power to homes and businesses along the route for a less costly option than what people are now forced to pay TEP, power LED lighting, appliances, computers – broadband equity. The options are endless, but the first step is getting funding for the design and implementation of the 15-mile microgrid. In the report you’ll see where I’ve identified several federal funding sources. 

I need to interject here that where I use the term “I” in relation to putting this proposal together it should be read as inclusive of others who did the heavy lifting on the report. Yves Khawam and other colleagues who work in various roles with the county deserve to take a bow for the concept and bulk of the content. I’ve had numerous conversations with Yves about the proposal, challenging some of the assumptions and fine-tuning the approach. I appreciate their expertise in getting us this far. 

The next step will be to get the proposal in front of both the city climate advisory committee and to the citizen Commission on Climate Energy and Sustainability (CCES.) The first group is made up of city staffers working in a variety of different departments. Here’s their ‘org chart’ -  

The mayor was insistent that the city climate advisory group put eyes on the proposal. I’m totally fine with that. And yet I am insistent that we also get input from our CCES citizen group. I’ve sent the link to the proposal to my representative on that commission. Our goal is to get feedback from both groups by our first meeting in September. I’ve also sent the link to the county administrator. The more people engaged in this early stage, the better will be the outcome. 

Taking power demand off from the TEP grid will ease some of the pressure they say they’re facing due to increased loads. During my study session comments I mentioned the potential for the city to sell power to businesses and residents. I immediately got a text from a TEP guy saying that was prevented by the state constitution. But the state constitution also says this: 

Article 13 (municipal corporations) Section 5 (Right of municipal corporation to engage in business or enterprise): "Every municipal corporation within this state shall have the right to engage in any business or enterprise which may be engaged in by a person, firm, or corporation by virtue of a franchise from said municipal corporation." 

Article 15 provides rights to the Corporation Commission which can place limitations on selling power by entities other than the authorized franchise holders, but municipalities are specifically exempt from this article and ACC oversight. 

Furthermore, it appears City of Mesa operates an electric utility and sells power to its residents in the city core: Electric | City of Mesa (mesaaz.gov). 

I understand that tensions are a bit elevated within TEP right now in the aftermath of Prop 412 failing. But we’re in this together. Let’s begin working towards climate solutions together and drop the knee-jerk predictable reaction tossing roadblocks in front of efforts to expand our access to renewables. 

Summer Safari Nights are sponsored by our local hospital and community partner TMC. The programs are presented Saturday nights starting at 6pm. Each Saturday will have a different theme. And each Saturday you’ll get giraffe feedings, games, face painting, dinner at the Flamingo Grill, rides on the Cox Carousel, do activities with the Ready, Set, Rec van staff – and lots more. Check this link to get more information. Come multiple times – it'd be fun to see many of you on July 1st.  

Reid Park Zoo Summer Safari Nights 

The zoo and Summer Safari Nights is fun. Arizona Inn is fun. There’s a darker side to life in Tucson and Pima County though. It is much cheaper and much easier to get fentanyl on the street than it is to get a legal prescription through your doctor. And it’s more lethal. And Tucson is not unique in having to address this problem. It’s all over the nation, and it’s a factor making homelessness more difficult to address. That’s not a statement demonizing the unhoused. It’s simply a fact that many of our homeless population are suffering the effects of addiction to this extremely easy drug to get. Here’s some data to support that reality. 

Overdose deaths in Pima County went from 262 in 2017 to 458 last year. Look at this chart and see how deaths from overdosing spiked about the time COVID hit. There are plenty of factors tied to COVID that play into that correlation – loss of employment, isolation, ease of access to fentanyl – but the numbers are real people we’ve lost due to this dangerous and inexpensive drug. 

Not all of the OD deaths were from fentanyl. But most are. This pie chart shows that of the overdose deaths shown in the previous chart, 6 in 10 are from fentanyl. It costs about a dollar to get a pill on the street. When you buy one you have no way of knowing either the strength, or what other chemicals the pill was cut with. It’s a Russian Roulette game every time someone gets high. 

So, what’s being done? The Pima County Health Department is offering training to groups who want to get educated on this issue. There is not a single institution (school, church, business) that is exempt from this issue.  The PCHD folks are engaged in significant public health messaging as well. But many of the people who are most vulnerable to this are not seeing that messaging. So, both fentanyl test kits and Narcan are being made available through PCHD. I’ve got Narcan kits here at the ward 6 office if you know of people who can use them. Narcan counteracts the effects of fentanyl overdoses, at least temporarily enough to get someone to an emergency room for further treatment. And fentanyl test kits can be useful if you know someone who is using – the test kit shows the presence of fentanyl in the various drugs a person might be taking. While I of course don’t advocate people use street drugs, knowing that what you’re about to take has been cut with fentanyl can save your life. 

All of us at the ward 6 office are grateful to the PCHD staff for their hard work on addressing this national issue. Contact us if you’d like access to any of the services I’ve outlined.  

Last week we issued a notice of intent to raise commercial water rates. That is not ‘the city raised commercial water rates’ - it is that we are considering options for crafting a new structure for commercial water users, the effect of which if adopted will be an increase in rates. And the effect will be to send a stronger conservation message to non-residential water users. 

Last year we gave direction to staff to study a variety of commercial water rate options and bring us back some recommendations. Tucson Water is doing a bit of a balancing act – they rely on water sales for their revenue, but everybody knows we have to conserve the resource. The proposed rates take that balance into account. 

Right now, commercial customers establish an Average Winter Consumption (AWC) based on the amount of water they use between November and April. That figure is used during the summer months as a sort of baseline and when consumption exceeds the AWC a surcharge is added. The rationale is that the winter use won’t include much of the outdoor watering that spikes up during the summer. The winter rate sets the bar at what the business legitimately uses indoors, and the rate structure adds a cost for the added watering that takes place when it gets hot.  

Staff came back with several ideas, but we focused on only two. The two options have one part in common – both shorten the period of time used to establish the ‘winter consumption’ for commercial customers. Instead of using November through April, each proposal shortens that to December 1st through the end of February. Those are the truly chilly months so we’re excluding months where hot weather might be resulting in greater outdoor water use.  

In option ‘A’ that’s the only change being proposed. In option ‘B’ the new 3 month ‘winter’ baseline is adopted, but a new surcharge is added for water consumption that’s above 215% of the businesses average winter consumption. This chart shows how A and B compare. We are not considering option C. 

Note the difference between A and B is in “Block 4.” With A there is no additional surcharge when use exceeds 215% of the AWC baseline. With B a 22% surcharge is added for water use above 215% of the businesses AWC. That is consistent with what is now charged in the residential rate structure. 

When I was speaking with Kevin Dahl the weekend before our vote, I told him my preference was for option B. His was for option A. Given that option A was the staff recommendation I suspect Kevin had the votes to move that forward and ignore B. Far too often at the M&C table the unstated goal is to win a vote. Kevin deserves high marks for making a motion to advance both A and B forward for public consideration. In my experience over the past 14 years on the council, that level of consideration for not simply ‘winning’, but for being willing to entertain discussion of a colleague's position has been rare. So, this is a public ‘thank you’ to Kevin for showing that level of integrity. 

Option A sends a slightly lower conservation message than option B. But option B, because it could encourage lower consumption at the high ends is a bit more risky from a revenue stability perspective. That’s the main reason Tucson Water staff landed on A as the opener. This chart shows how each option scores. Green is best – pink is worst. 

Up above I noted that the RSR van will be at Summer Safari Nights each Saturday at the zoo. But it’s also continuing to make the rounds at parks throughout the city. Thanks to Sierra Boyer for keeping the scheduling current and keeping us up to date. Here’s what you can count on in Ward 6 during June.