A Message from Steve K...06/12/2023

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From: Ward 6
Contact: 791-4601 or ward6@tucsonaz.gov

Date: 06/12/2023

Topics in This Issue:

Remembering Donovan Durband
PACC Rats
Refugee Donations
Tucson Plastic Program
Inforgraphics – Invasive Plants
Summer Safari Nights
RTA and the Citizen Advisory Committee
2023 Arts Organization Grants
Palo Verde Neighborhood Parade
Sustainable Tucson Panel Discussion
Sustainable Tucson
Investments into Homeless Services

Remembering Donovan Durband

Last weekend 2^nd Saturday’s Downtown was properly dedicated to the memory of Donovan Durband. I appreciate the television media coverage (the Star took a pass) honoring Donovan and highlighting how grateful downtown merchants are for his work. But there’s only one local reporter who really knows Donovan and was able to do justice to telling the story of his loss. Here’s Bud Foster’s piece on 2^nd Saturday’s and Donovan:

https://www.kold.com/2023/06/10/second-saturday-downtown-tucson-merchants-honor-donovan-durband/

I love that segment – but even that didn’t capture all of what Donovan had his hands in. The city has received a designation as an International Festival and Event City – largely through the effort Donovan put into getting our application in and his work with the Festival and Events Association of Tucson and Southern Arizona. Watch this short video that was created during that application process, and continues to be a tool used to attract outside events:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIbw7nGVf1g

There are 50 cities in the world that have received an “International Festival” city designation. Here’s the list – we’re among a pretty impressive group of international cities – thanks to Donovan and his work.

List of “International Festival” city designation, 50 cities

In case you missed 2^nd Saturday’s last weekend, here are some pictures of how the merchants honored and recognized Donovan. My staff and I are extremely grateful to all who gave the evening this added touch.

This picture shows how the 2^nd Saturday’s committee dedicated the Scott Street sound stage to Donovan. In Bud’s video you see him speaking about people just wanting to be outdoors having fun – this is one example.

Here are the Fox, Rialto and the Screening Room – all of the venues on Congress that have a marquee. Each did their part to offer a special recognition to Donovan.

I know Erin (Donovan’s wife) was downtown taking pictures on Saturday night. More to come on the details for the June 24^th memorial celebration I’m working with her on for the Fox.

PACC Rats

Mark your calendar to come and hear an informational presentation on rodents, roof rats, all sorts of these little guys (or not so little guys).

We’re hosting this meeting here at the ward office and via zoom on Tuesday, July 11^that 6pm. Monica Dangler from PACC is loaning out her rodent expert Paula along with some experts in the field from the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to come and speak about how we can all rodent-proof our homes. Why is this an issue? Because some areas in midtown are seeing a large uptick in rats. The speculation is they’re roof rats because many have been seen up in trees. But Paula will be using curriculum direct from the Rodent Academy (no kidding) and give information on how to identify the kind of rodent you may be dealing with, and most importantly how to be sure they’re not sitting beside you on your couch watching the nightly news some evening.

Ok, I’m a ‘critter guy.’ But these things are gross. There are a few ways to try managing a rat population when it has invaded your trees and yard. One is with sterile feral cats. They’re not the best solution because their range isn’t great, they need to become habituated to an area (being fed by someone) and you run the risk of over-feeding so they’re not hungry enough to be out on the prowl for the rats. But everyone knows cats’ prey on mice, so they’re one option.

This guy is another option. He’s a barn owl.

The rat isn’t cute. The owl is. They’re not the huge ones you might hear hooting in your neighborhood. These guys are smaller and so they aren’t going to swoop down and nab your small dog or a large cat. And they have about a ½ mile range so planting several in a given neighborhood can conceivably be an effective antidote to rats. But they could see a small kitten and take it. And they require a nesting box that keeps it safe from snakes and other prey. So, there’s no perfect solution to the midtown rat situation – explaining the options and educating us on how to be sure the rats don’t enter our homes is what Paula’s team will be speaking about.

If left unchecked the rats will reproduce and what is a problem in one neighborhood can quite possibly migrate to another nearby area. For that reason, I’m encouraging all neighborhoods that are in the general vicinity of the UA campus and midtown to at least send a representative to this meeting so you can report back to your board and neighbors. Here’s a zoom link so you can also take part virtually.

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977177649?d=RW16NXVTbzAxeEtyZ3dvVERwb1dGQT09

Meeting ID: 819 7717 7649 Passcode: W@rd6

But Paula is going to bring some real examples of a variety of rats (dead ones – they won’t be scampering around the ward 6 community room) so the in-person presentation will be more, well gross, and compelling. We hope you can make it.

Refugee Donations

If you’ve followed this newsletter for a length of time, you’ll remember the saga of the Afghan judge my office worked with to get his wife and 2-year-old daughter out of Turkey. A quick review is that he worked alongside the U.S. military adjudicating Taliban terrorists while we were still in Afghanistan. For his efforts Taliban shot him ambush style as he got out of his car, bombed his car on another occasion, and hit his home with a rocket propelled grenade. To protect his wife, he got her a room in Turkey and continued assisting our war efforts commuting back and forth. On his last trip into Afghanistan he was shot, the government fell, we split, and he was caught up in that evacuation and eventually ended up in Tucson. That’s when we met, and I started working on getting his family back together. The partial happy ending is that she’s here, their daughter is her and they just had a baby girl.

The ending is only partially happy because after what is going on 2 years the U.S. government has still not approved his asylum status. He was interviewed for that in both March and in September 2022. If the set of facts he brings to the table don’t warrant asylum with a credible fear for his life if he was returned to Afghanistan, no set of facts will qualify. All of the Taliban he helped imprison are now free and running the country into the ground.

Last week his attorney checked on the status of his asylum application. Here’s a portion of the very predictable and yet unbelievable response: (I’ve redacted his name where it appeared in the letter)

There is no dispute as to the set of facts surrounding his service in our war effort, any of the attacks on him and his home, and there is no dispute on the fact that sending him and his family back to Afghanistan would be a death sentence. And yet his case is under ‘extended review.’ And note also that they blew out of the water the 150-day decision time frame (“as required by Congress”) and there’s no penalty for any of the bureaucrats who are responsible for failing to comply.

I share this to point out that likely not even one of the Afghan families who came here under Operation Allies Welcome back in August 2021 have advanced their asylum application any further than the judge has. They’re all in legal limbo because Congress and the administration continue to allow a failed system to limp along while families remain separated, people have no way of expediting the process and their loved ones who we left in Afghanistan are suffering and dying under the hands of Taliban. For our new Afghan arrivals none of this is theoretical. They’re living it. The Star ran an article about an Afghan arrival over in Houston who’s going through the very same incoherent process that leaves him and his family uncertain of their future.

The donations you bring go to a variety of people in need. Refugees and people seeking asylum are examples. We continue to supply Casa Alitas with the goods you bring in for people coming across the southern border. And our local homeless population are recipients as well.

With respect to the homeless we’re partnering with a group of student nurses from the UA for the next few weeks and helping them gather hygiene products that they’ll bag up and distribute to some of our unhoused residents. This flyer has a list of the kinds of things they’re collecting. We’ll have their collection box in the front entryway from now until June 20^th. Then the nurse group will collect what you’ve donated, put it into ‘hygiene bags’ and under the supervision of our homeless protocol team go into encampments and distribute the items. You’ll see that much of what they’re collecting is what we’re already getting from you, so for the next few weeks we’ll focus the hygiene products on the nursing student program.

And we’ve set a date for the Family Food Project demonstration that’ll happen here at the ward office. From 3:30 until 6pm on Thursday, July 6^th we’ll have the founder of the Project here along with a group of kids we’re out recruiting. They’ll introduce the program, cook a meal and give the kids we’re bringing in a bag with all of the ingredients they’ll need to go home and cook up that same meal for their own family.

I’ve invited some local restaurant operators and owners, and leadership from a couple of local churches. We’d love to have neighbors, parents and their kids, businesses and non-profits drop by for the demonstration to learn about the program and how everyone can help. Many of you already are supporting this program with the pots and pans you’re bringing into the ward office. Those will be donated to the families who take part in the program.

Here’s a list of the most-needed items:

Frying pans (preferably non-stick)
Saucepans of all sizes
Roasting pans
Baking sheets
Colanders
Wooden spoons
Spatulas
Mixing bowls
Kitchen towels

Steven has made several great contacts within the food service industry through which he’s getting much of the food donated to the project. As the program expands, he’ll need to also expand that part of the operation. Please get ahold of us at the ward 6 office if you can help at the food end. And come on July 6^th to watch the process and see how you can get involved. The goal is to send food bags home with kids on Friday’s, so they and their families aren’t going hungry over the weekend while kids are away from the school lunch programs.

And of course, we continue our weekly collection of items for the people who arrive at the Casa Alitas welcome center. With the heat now on us it’s important that we get the things we’re used to in our daily lives in the desert – sunscreen, lotions, soaps, and other hygiene products. And the need for new underclothes, caps, shoelaces, belts, sneakers sizes 9-13 – all of that is needed as Alitas continues receiving over 500 new arrivals every day.

Speaking of our homeless population, the city and several non-profits have made arrangements for people to have a place to get in out of the heat. Here’s a list you can share with people you might encounter who need to get out of the elements:

In addition to those non-profits and county work the city has set up cooling stations that are scattered throughout the city. Each has restrooms and water. These are temporary indoor centers. They’re open daily with the exception of June 19^th and July 4^th. Here’s a list of each cooling center.

Tucson Plastic Program

On Sunday the Star ran a Tim Steller opinion piece that pretty much stated the obvious – plastic is a problem. I’m quoted in the piece as saying, “It would be wonderful if we could say ‘stop using plastic.’ It’s not going to happen.” The opinion piece focused on the issue of micro plastics getting into the environment. When Tim called to talk about the plastics program with ByFusion I’m involved with we spoke for about 15 minutes before he asked, ‘what about micro plastics.’ That’s how it works – the initial chatter about the subject is camouflage for the real focus of the piece. Here’s the reality – nobody is unconcerned with any level of plastic pollution. One comment I made to Tim that didn’t make his article was “We’ve diverted over 100 tons of plastic from the waste stream. You’re asking about a pound of micro plastic that might get into the environment from our reusing that. Who wins that comparison?”

I also said to him that some people are suggesting I should be working on an international treaty to ban the use of plastic. I’d sign in a minute if one came through the U.N. It’s not going to happen so I’m working with ByFusion on a reasonable local solution to that international problem.

For the record – please stop using plastic.

For reality – good luck with achieving that.

This is the 70+ ton pile of plastic we are managing right now. Some of your stuff is probably in that pile. Or in the baled plastic you see sitting off to the side.

Picture of the 70 plus tons of plastic piles

Our work now is on standing up the ByFusion production facility. In the Steller article he repeated the incorrect price tag for the facility that appeared in an earlier Star story - $2.4M. About a million of that is simply site prep work that the city will likely self-perform if the facility ends up out at Los Reales. Last week ByFusion came to town and joined our Environmental Services director, me and some of my staff looking at another possible location. If we can make it work the whole financial piece reduces. We’ll meet again this week to compare notes and see if the new location is a better option.

Either site is going to take several months to complete. There are long lead time items involved with the construction of the MDP (blocker machine.) ByFusion is picking up the tab for fabrication of the production machine. That’s going to be in the $2M range. The exact design is going to be driven to some degree by which site location we choose – so there’s a lot that’s sort of on hold while we finalize the decision about location.

We clearly cannot simply allow the pile of plastic to grow for months. Another part of the conversation is getting the baled plastic to either a temporary storage location, or better yet over to ByFusion to have them process it into blocks. There are costs involved with each step – and no current revenue tied to the operation. We’re helping to stand up an entirely new fabrication facility to tackle an immense international problem on a local scale. There’s a ton of work going on behind the scenes – which I try to update weekly. We’ll keep at it.

Last week you continued the streak of roughly 4 and a half tons at the three drop locations. It was nice to see both the fire station on the west side and ward 4 out on the east side bring in over .6 of a ton – increases from their earlier numbers. I’m hopeful that means the word is spreading out around those sites. Combined we had 4.46 tons delivered to the 3 locations, bringing our total to 109.58 tons since last August. That’s a lot of blocks we’ll be processing and keeping the plastic out of the landfill, side of the road and the ocean.

Infographics – Invasive Plants

When I put the short infomational piece about Stinknet weed into the newsletter a couple of weeks ago I thought it’d be a mildly interesting piece that many of you would read and move on. In fact, it got quite a bit of response. This week I’m sharing Monique Laraway’s website that gives information in a graphical format – infographics. Lots of people are visual learners so seeing depictions of an object sticks in their mind better than verbal cues. Monique is capitalizing on that to spread the word about several invasive weeds we should be on the lookout for in and around Tucson. Click this link: on my website and feel free to share it as a way of spreading the word about landscape conservation work we can all take part in.

Also, on the site you’ll see a link for a coloring book. Monique has put in pictures of several native animal species that’d be great for your kids or grandkids to color in and learn as they enjoy the activity. Thanks to Meg for introducing me to Monique and her work. And thanks to Monique for sharing her work with the community.

Summer Safari Nights

Thanks to my friend Miguel Ortega, his team and the many midtown residents who came out on Saturday to enjoy some food, drink, conversation and music out at Monterey Court. It’s a great venue located in ward 3.

This reminder of a weekly activity that you can enjoy with your whole family – the zoo’s Summer Safari Nights. It’s held each Saturday at Reid Park zoo from 6pm until 8pm. You can get your tickets ahead of time online at this link: https://reidparkzoo.org/event/summer-safari-nights-2023/

TMC Healthcare sponsors these evenings. Each week will feature a new chat by some of the zoo animal keepers about the animal being highlighted on that night. Coming this week, they’ll talk about the African Wild Dog – their habitat is immediately off the left as you enter the zoo. The dogs are some of the most active and most popular critters the zoo has.

Also, each week there will be food, drink, activities for the kids, giraffe feedings, crafts – it's a family outing opportunity. They also have live music – I'm booked to play/sing on July 1^st when their featured animal is the Grevy’s Zebra. My family and I saw them all over the place when we went on a game safari in Kenya over 20 years ago. Now, as is true of all the wild animals in Africa (worldwide) their numbers are dwindling due to loss of habitat. Come on July 1^st and learn about them and enjoy some music.

Here’s a listing of what you can expect for each of the next 4 Safari nights.

listing of what you can expect for each of the next 4 Safari nights at Zoo

RTA and the Citizen Advisory Committee

I know – I'm writing about the RTA and the CAC again. Last week it was how the RTA was not allowing our citizen advisory group to get their proposed categorical elements and spending allocations into a publicly noticed agenda and openly discussed at the CAC. During the course of their meeting some of the Tucson representatives gave it the old college try to once again get their allocation proposal advanced to the Technical Management Committee. That’s important because right in the RTA guidelines it says this about the CAC:

The CAC is collaborating with the RTA Technical Management Committee on technical matters and will recommend a draft RTA Next plan to the RTA Board for approval and eventual voter consideration.

A part of collaboration is considering all options. One non-city CAC member moved to send the staff proposal to the TMC. A city member tried to offer a substitute motion to send the alternate proposal that I shared in last week’s newsletter. Under normal Roberts Rules the committee should have followed this process:

Last week when the substitute motion was offered the chair simply said he didn’t want to do any substitute motions because it might send the message that the committee was not unified. Well, they aren’t. And it’s not up to the chair to make up rules as the meeting goes along. The TMC can still look at the alternate proposal that was prepared by the Tucson CAC members, but the alternative that was formally passed along to the TMC was staff’s own recommendation.

The alternative proposal reduces the amount of roadway projects outside jurisdictions would have funded. The committee wrestled with whether they should simply move the staff proposal along that follows the existing framework or engage with the smaller jurisdictions and let them know they’d need to supply a new, pared down list of projects. One of the members referred to the city of Tucson as “Big Brother” and suggested that having us fund infrastructure for outside small towns is how a ‘regional approach’ should work. You should know that that’s the perspective of the RTA staff, with the exception of the city-appointed CAC members. If/when RTA Next comes to the voters, Tucson tax-paying residents are Big Brother funding the infrastructure for small outlying towns. My hunch is that’s not language they’ll use to sell the package within city limits.

If you’d like to hear the Big Brother comment, use this link and scroll forward to 2:23.

Citizens Advisory Committee - June 5, 2023 11:00 a.m.

2023 Arts Organization Grants

The Arts Foundation is managing grant funding applications that will help to support local arts organizations. These grants are coming through ARPA federal dollars. In order to be eligible your organization needs to be a tax empt 501(c)(3) or a charitable organization that’s in good standing with the IRS. Tribal nations may also apply.

These grants will range from $5K up to $10K. They’re intended to help arts organizations cover costs related to things such as artist contracts, facility costs, and salaries. Both the city and the National Endowment for the Arts are supporting this effort.

The deadline to apply is Thursday, July 13^th. Use this link that I got from the Arts Foundation to learn more about who’s eligible, and how to get your organizations application in on time. This is not a statewide outreach. One of the eligibility requirements is that your organization reside and provide services in regions south of the Gila River; that includes Pima, Santa Cruz and Cochise counties. Good luck – it's free money to help our artist community so take a few minutes to file your application.

Please share this link to the full guidelines with your constituents.

Palo Verde Neighborhood Parade

The residents of Palo Verde are once again hosting their neighborhood July 4^th parade – non-mechanical, so the Rodeo Parade isn’t unique in that sense. Join the fun early on Independence Day at the Palo Verde pocket park located at 3330 E. Fairmont. They’ll kick things off at 7am and call it a wrap by 10am before things really start getting hot.

If you can help with the organization or administration of the event (they can always use volunteer help) use the link I’ve got below. Also, if you’re a business and can help with a donation to defray costs that link will give you that ability as well.

Thanks to all who are working on making this another fun and family-friendly community building event. https://paloverdeneighborhood.org/4thofjuly

Palo Verde Neighborhood 4th of July Parade flyer

Sustainable Tucson Panel Discussion

Thanks to the 30-ish people who took the time last week to participate in the Sustainable Tucson led panel on extreme heat and readiness. Joining me on the ‘panel’ (by zoom) were Trevor Ledbetter from the UA sustainability office and Joe Barrios, one of the public information officers with TEP.

The meeting lasted for over an hour, and I’m sure we could have continued for another hour. There’s of course lots of interest in energy, TEP, renewables and how all of that fits together at this time of climate concern. The failure of recent Prop 412 is a clear signal that the community demands an approach to climate matters that isn’t bound by the mold the current arrangement is in.

One of the issues we were supposed to address is how the UA, TEP and the city are advancing their involvement in renewables and climate matters. The city is doing a lot – and we have plans for much more. This chart shows the various pots of funding we’re tapping for work on climate issues. There’s already over $17M in federal funds coming to help our work, $300K annually from the state to fund our TUGO bike share program, and nearly $50M coming from a variety of local funding sources. And the chart also shows more yet coming.

As is true with our investments into tackling the homelessness issue, simply general fund allocations do not come close to telling the true statement. If that was all we had to work with we’d only be spending about $1.5M, nowhere near enough. The total is more like an $80M investment into climate-related issues. Those range from simple programs like the TUGO bikes, to EV stations, solar installations, making our parks and walkways more friendly to users, water conservation work and lots more.

During my remarks I also pointed to the proposal I’ve got the citizen climate commission looking at right now. It’s the solar microgrid being proposed for above walk and bikeways along the 15-mile Norte-Sur transit corridor. Microgrids could help build resiliency into the current TEP system, keep water flowing in the case of a utility outage, provide power to our cooling centers (noted above) if power were to go out, and reduce the need for system upgrades (new transmission lines and poles) TEP is currently deploying. I’m looking forward to hearing from our citizen group in September.

At the panel discussion I also had the chance to remind the TEP representative that I am ready and willing to re-engage with them on Prop 412 any time they want to resume working on it. The community will play a key role in those meetings or the next version of 412 will also fail. The response was they’re thinking about the offer to meet.

Sustainable Tucson

The panel discussion with TEP and the UA I shared about above was not the formal monthly Sustainable Tucson meeting. That’s coming on Tuesday, June 13^th at their normal 6pm start time. It’s an all-zoom meeting.

This month they’ll look at one angle of the plastic waste situation. The speaker will be Dr. Veena Singla, a scientist who works for People & Communities program with the National Resources Defense Council. Veena’s presentation will discuss turning plastic into fuels, the process used and some of the unintended downsides to that effort. You can use this link to sign into the meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82331269556?pwd=OXZSUmRpSGdZVExGL2s2TEtyTjRvQT09

For more information, please visit their website, www.sustainabletucson.org.

Investments into Homeless Services

On Sunday the Star ran an op/ed written by 3 of the organizers of a group called the Tucson Crime Free Coalition (TCFC.) In it they took credit for kick starting the conversation about renovating the old county jail annex into a detox/treatment facility. Two weeks earlier another op/ed written by the mayor, chair of the county board of supervisors and the county attorney also took credit for that initiative. I love it that they all now think that’s a great idea, but none of them are responsible for starting the dialogue. And I know at least one of the writers of recent op/ed know that, and at least 2 of the authors of the earlier op/ed are aware.

The idea of renovating the annex into a detox/treatment facility was started by Dan Raneri, head of La Frontera. Several months ago, Dan asked me what I thought of the idea. I love it – and so I facilitated a meeting in which Sheriff Nanos (he runs the facility) Dan, and I met to talk about it. I had invited others to the meeting but nobody else at the time believed in the concept. Nanos was supportive but said he’d need direction from county leadership, so the next day I contacted the county administrator and floated the idea. She reported back to me that at the time they didn’t feel that was the best location for the center, but they’d explore other locations. The political winds shifted and now that’s the site. We’d do a whole lot better if we could find ways to support others’ ideas – at least explore possibilities and not wait to capitalize when it becomes politically expedient. Thanks to Dan for bringing the idea forward and to Nanos for supporting it.

In their op/ed the TCFC list a few ‘deliverables’ they want implemented by the city ‘immediately.’ They include these:

Replicate the ‘please don’t give money to panhandlers’ on medians signs the county has in place – I've asked the city attorney about that, and his opinion is that if we put them up, we’d open ourselves up to any other group who wants to use the medians for political signage.
Establish a fentanyl multi-jurisdiction command center – the city and the county are already actively working on the complex issue of fentanyl in our community. We had a briefing on those 2 council meetings ago. Everybody on the M&C are supportive and engaged.
Give back to TPD the authority to ‘do their jobs’ - TPD has the same authority to ‘do their jobs’ as they did before the TCFC existed. We are using a layered approach to dealing with homeless/drug addicted people. The goal is to get them to treatment, not to jail. Where criminal activity takes place, the police have the authority to arrest and book offenders.
Clean up our parks – agreed. We do not allow overnight camping in city parks. But everybody has the right to use our parks during the day, regardless of your housing status.

I’d add these items, each of which I’ve been advocating for over a year with no action: safe park areas, no/low barrier men’s shelter, small, controlled camps.

Here’s a link to their op/ed - working together is a lot more effective than trying to take credit for things others have already started, standing in the way of ideas that you might not totally embrace, and engaging in offensive rhetorical activity that only divides us.

https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-tcfc-visible-solutions-needed-immediately-for-a-safer-community/article_07469650-ffd2-11ed-8338-03b5f103882e.html

Above I made the case for significant city investments into climate initiatives well outside of our general fund allocation. The general fund competes for a broad array of services we are responsible for funding. That’s the reason you must include other funding sources in order to get an accurate picture of how much we’re really putting into a given area. The same is true of homeless services.

Over the course of the past couple of weeks there was a letter-writing campaign urging us to spend more on homeless services. Some were form letters – others suggested defunding the police was how we should approach homeless support. None of them seemed to understand the complexities of our budget and instead simply focused on our general fund allocation for support of our unhoused neighbors. On Tuesday last week we had a full presentation on what we actually invest in that issue. It’s far more than the general fund investment.

In much the same way we have multiple investment sources for our climate work, homeless support comes from local, federal and grant-funded pots of money. This chart breaks down those various sources. Note that the $9M figure the letter writers were citing is less than 10% of the total amount we invest in homelessness and housing. Data are neutral – they tell the accurate story.

I continue to believe we are not casting a wide enough policy net and should be allowing for controlled small encampments – away from residential and commercial areas – safe park and investment into a large no/low barrier men’s shelter. But I believe it’s also important that when people are critical of our efforts in this area that they educate themselves before staking out a position. There’s a lot going on at the city level regarding to homelessness. There’s no single solution – there's also no reasonable reason to reject trying ideas that would add to our options.

Sincerely,