A Message from Steve K...08/28/2023

• Himmel Park Thief 

• Nazar

• Sex Trafficking 

• Yellow Brick Coffee  

• Tucson Plastic Program

• United Way Days of Caring 

• Special Futures Initiative 

• Tiny Homes/Housing Affordability/Homeless Issues 

• Respite 

• Neighborhood Newsletters 

• Tucson Residents for Responsive Government (TRRG) 

• UA Health Sciences Innovation Building  (HSIB) Art Exhibit 

• Ready, Set, Rec Schedule 

• Community Energy Choice 

When I get video of someone stealing a Christmas star from our ByFusion tree, or setting a fire in out bin, I share that mug shot in the newsletter. Sadly, I don’t have a mug shot to share on this item because the Himmel Park library doesn’t have a video system that picked up the thief. 

These bench tops were made by local tile artist Kim Crooks. They were a part of the Himmel Park beautification project the Sam Hughes residents completed a few years ago. Last week someone lifted the tops from the bases, kicked over each base and made off with the tops. 

Even while we’re not able to receive donations for refugees I continue to hear from some of those who have reached out for help with family reunification. If you follow this newsletter, you’re familiar with Ahmad and his wife Nilofar. We were able to get her safely here about a year ago – Afghan refugees who are now Tucson residents.  

Nazar is the pilot who flew alongside U.S. military in Afghanistan. He was stranded in Kazakhstan right about the time the blundered evacuation took place in August, 2021. Through a series of events he ended up in Tucson. His two sons were stuck in Kazakhstan and his 21 year old daughter and wife were stranded in Afghanistan. Through a series of very frustrating attempts working through congressional folks and the state department we felt as though all we were getting were brick walls. 

Enter the Iranian embassy in Boston. They were able to do what our State Dept and federal elected officials were unable to do. Last week Nazar’s two sons were reunited with him in San Ramon, California. His wife and daughter had been scheduled to fly out of Kabul but were held up at the airport. There’s still hope and expectation that they’ll soon join Nazar and the family in California.  

It was great speaking to him by phone last week. For the first time in a couple of years he is together with at least a part of his family, with hopes for the full reunification. Ahmad’s parents and siblings are still stuck in Kabul. It appears the Iranian civil servants might be a more effective route to securing their release than our people are. 

Sex Trafficking 

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve shared how this office is working with TPD to up our game in the field of sex trafficking investigations. There are some internal changes being made that will add to the effectiveness of how trafficking referrals are followed up on. The agencies who make the referrals are looking forward to seeing those changes put into effect. 

One staffing change that will put TPD on the cutting edge of trafficking investigations is the addition of this young lady – her name is Zona. She’s a member of our crime lab unit. 

The goal of any investigation is to both save the victim and to bust the captor. It's not uncommon for victims to feel the need to try to hide the identity of the person who’s controlling her. That can be out of fear, or in some cases a reliance on the perpetrator for drugs, housing, food – whatever it is the victim may feel indebted for. The connection between the victim and the perp is often kept in some form of electronic storage device (ESD.) That could be as basic as contacts in a cell phone, or exchanges they may have had through email that’s contained on a laptop.  

So where does Zona come into the picture? You’ve heard of drug or bomb sniffing dogs. Zona is trained to react to the presence of ESD’s. Whether that’s a cell phone, SIM card, camera – she'll sniff it out. When a victim is ‘working’ from say a hotel room she’ll often hide any devices to prevent any chance of ‘outing’ her relationship with the captor. It’s Zona’s job to go into the room and find the evidence. The detectives in the newly formed sex crimes unit know about Zona’s skills and that she’s available to assist when called on.  

I’ve written previously that trafficking these days doesn’t generally happen with someone being abducted from a street corner. Social media is often involved. And with social media comes electronic storage devices. It’s great to see our crime lab working in support of sex trafficking victims, and that Zona is on the job and ready to put her skill set to the task of busting people who are out selling victims into sex crimes. 

It was great connecting with those of you who stopped by Yellow Brick on Thursday to chat with Mark from our office. He’s out in front of the coffee shop on Thursday’s from 10:30 until about noon. Mark will have the free plastic bags for the plastic program and will also be taking notes on any concerns you’ve got. As long as it’s proving valuable to you, we’ll keep posting him out there.  

Please consider stopping in the coffee shop and supporting this local business. The renovation project at the ward office is moving along but there’s no way we’ll be back in full operation before the end of September. But the secondary ‘office’ at Yellow Brick, emails and phone calls are keeping us in good contact with you so we’re trying to find ways to not miss a beat, despite the hiccup the relocation has caused. 

This is a Newsletter so I’m sharing this to give an update on what I had hoped would be a vote on changing the location of the ByFusion operation. I had reached out to two council members to brief them on the idea. Both were supportive. Due to open meetings law, I cannot ‘sell’ an agenda item to what would constitute a quorum (4 members of the M&C) so the two I contacted was the maximum number I could consult. I had spoken with the city manager and he was going to do the rest of the outreach. He didn’t have time, so we had to move the item to our next meeting on September 6th.  

Why is the Plumer site superior to Los Reales? One way is that we’d be leasing a space that can also be used for other city needs. ByFusion would be a tenant. The cost of construction is out of sight. Leasing means much less investment into tenant improvements into the building. The lessor is willing to kick in $250K towards the improvements we’d be making in the site – and give us 7 months free rent. The site is over 4 acres – plenty of room to bring in community activities related to both the ByFusion program and other city initiatives. The ByFusion tenancy is non-exclusive. And the location is convenient to every ward in the city so everyone would share access to the success. I hope to have this behind us during our September 6th meeting. 

Another cool part of the Plumer site is its history. The quonset hut was built in 1947 back when the city owned and ran the transit function. It was called Tucson Rapid Transit Company and the Plumer site was used as a bus garage. There were also maintenance and office functions on the site. Similar to what I noted above, the site is large enough for multiple uses. That use continued until 1976. Here are a couple of old photos sent to me by long-time transit advocate Gene Caywood. This first one is from ‘47 and it shows buses lined up after their daily run. 

In the summer of 2003, the UA leased the property. They’ve been using it for a combination of storage and as the hub for the Cat Tran operation. That lease expired – I'm hopeful we’ll get the M&C to agree to sign a new lease and get both the BF operation up and running, along with multiple other community activities we can host on the site.  

Another step forward is that we’ve got the full line of Do It Yourself bench kits now available from BF. I’ve already alerted BF that I’m buying one for the zoo in honor of the Eco-Challenge event they participated in. And I’ve shared the link with several of you who have also been expressing interest. 

There are several models – the base without a seat top and clad with Hardie Board that you can paint is the most basic. You can also get that same bench with a wood top – either treated for exterior use, or left untreated as an interior piece of furniture.

Here’s the link to the full guide. ByFusion 2023 ByBench Line Sheet.pdf. Let me know what you’re ordering. I think it’s great we have these now available for the public. If you want to order benches, or ask questions about what to expect in your DIY kit reach out to Heather Bowers at heather@byfusion.com. She’s here locally and can help get your order placed. 

Last week was another 6+ ton donation week. Thank you for continuing to show your support of this project. It’s great to be able to share some real progress this week, and to tag it with another record-setting week from all of you. Here’s the list of drop-off locations. 

United Way Days of Caring 

The event(s) will take place over the weekend of October 20th and 21st. Registration to volunteer opens on Friday,  September 1st and will run through Monday, October 16th. They need to know what to count on for volunteers before finalizing the projects.  

If you’d like to take place in this year’s event please use this link to get signed on as a volunteer. 

Days Of Caring | Nonprofit Charity Donations - United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona (unitedwaytucson.org).  

Last week Nadia and I attended the monthly meeting of Special Futures Initiative. They’re a group of parents of adult children with special needs. They’re both a support group and an advocacy group. If you’ve know of someone who might benefit from associating with this group you can find out more through this link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18oL5yk1ced3xlKlxi2KaHK2_UcbH5hKknEVo1bW7mkc/edit  

Special Futures doesn’t focus on what sort of disability the child has. Their focus is on being sure their young person is cared for after the parents are gone or are simply no longer able to do the caregiving.  I began speaking to them about the initiatives we’re exploring for zoning changes related to tiny homes, tiny home community villages and generally how we need to adjust some of our current outdated zoning conditions to address housing affordability and the new products that are hitting the market. At some point in the meeting questions about the plastics program took over. It’s the topic of the day at most speaking events I take part in. 

Please share the Special Futures link with people you know who have adult children with disabilities. They’ve got over 200 members right now, and they’re growing. 

During last weeks study session, we had an update from our homeless protocol staff. A part of that was a presentation by County Administrator Jan Lesher and one of her top deputies Steve Holmes. There are so many moving parts to the issue of homelessness that it necessarily overlaps with how we’re looking into zoning and housing option changes. 

I shared with M&C two housing options being tested in other cities. Both of them are on the radar screen of our homeless protocol team – Mari Vasquez is a shared employee with the county, and Brandi Champion runs some of our shelter operations. Mari is the one who introduced me to the work being done in Houston to provide a navigation center as a transitional stop for people affected as Houston decommissions encampments. I’ve been advocating for controlled camps. If that’s not an option the M&C might want to explore the Houston navigation center is a next-best opportunity. Check out this 3 minute video that explains what they’re doing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZW5dJMZwgI 

Working in cooperation with the Southern Arizona American Institute of Architects, planning department staff are hosting a casita design feedback session. It’ll be an opportunity for anyone who wants to submit designs to ask the experts any relevant questions they’ve got. This is a drop-in meeting so go as your schedule allows.  It’ll be held on Thursday, September 7th from 4pm until 6pm at the Sentinel Building, 320 N. Commerce Park Loop. 

In order to assure they’ve got adequate staffing ready you’re asked to pre-register. Use this link:  

Register: https://forms.office.com/g/CyLky8jCmv  

In addition, you should bring either printed plans or a laptop you can use to share your plans digitally. The deadline for filing your submission will be midnight on September 18th.  

All of these initiatives are important as we continue to see the homeless situation grow citywide. This chart shows that no part of the city is exempt from the impacts of the issue. These data show the number of encampments our homeless team is working. Where you see XL it means the camp either covered more than 25 yards, or it had more than 10 people staying there. And to keep this in perspective, as of the 2023 point in time count, we had roughly 2,000 people on the streets with 785 shelter beds in the city. 

While meeting with our homeless team last week I was gratified to hear that we’re exploring a large no-barrier congregate shelter. I’ve been asking for that for months. And we are no longer assigning a ‘tier’ status to any camp that’s adjacent to either a residence or to a business. No more poking your head over your back yard fence and seeing a row of tents that we won’t address. That’s another change I’ve been after for months. It means our need for shelter space, or a community village is increased. 

The county is taking the lead on setting up a transition center. It’ll be for people who have been arrested for low level violations. As the person is leaving the prebooking area they’ll be walked through the transition center. In the center they’ll be approached by navigators who will engage with them to learn their immediate needs – treatment, detox, housing, etc. The goal is to incentivize the person to use the services being offered. The incentives might be cell phones, resource bags or transportation to an approved drop-off site. The transition center is a non-mandatory stop for people leaving custody. It will not provide treatment, but the navigators will be in a position to direct clients to the services they need. This graphic is from the presentation the county folks gave to us. In quick form it tells what the center is set up to do, and not to do: 

Respite 

It’s becoming more and more common to address the issue of keeping someone housed by providing caregiving services. Last week I shared some of the work Pima Council on Aging (PCOA) is doing on training non-paid caregivers – often loved ones caring for family members. Those people can all benefit from respite. 

At its most basic level respite is giving the people who are providing the care for loved ones a break. The stress of caregiving for someone you love that you see declining is exhausting. Everyone needs some time away to replenish. And it doesn’t do anybody any good if the caregiver gets sick – that's where respite comes in. 

Respite can be a few hours at a time, or longer. There’s no formula. It can be informal like just having a friend stop in just to socialize with you. My sister-in-law is looking at adult day care to give her some time ‘off.’ And there are professional services that can step in to help. Our friends at PCOA have a monthly magazine that covers a variety of topics related to the aging process. This link will take you to an article on respite for caregivers:

Learn so much more about respite on page 15 of the August edition of Never Too Late.

If you’d like more information on respite, you can call PCOA at 520.790.7262 and a caregiver specialist will walk you through some options. 

During the recession the city was facing significant budget deficits. While maintaining our core service obligations as defined in the charter, we had to cut back on some other things we were offering out in the community. One example is paying for registered neighborhoods to mail out periodic newsletters. Right now, we pay for one mailing annually.  

My neighborhood currently sends out that annual newsletter. Staying in touch with neighbors in the interim times takes some creativity. Other neighborhoods do periodic electronic newsletters but not everyone can access those. I’ve worked out an arrangement with city staff through which I’ll be using ward 6 discretionary funds to pay for quarterly neighborhood newsletter mailings to registered neighborhood associations within ward 6.  

There are ground rules when city funds are used for newsletters. If you’re interested in exploring a quarterly mailing have your elected board review the guidelines. Here’s what I can help fund: 

• Mailings may not take positions on ballot issues or political candidates.  
• Mailings cannot contain slanderous material 
• Mailings cannot contain commercial advertising. I know some of the ward 6 newsletters that are being handled internally by the neighbors solicit advertising from local businesses. If you’re using the program I’m offering to mail out newsletters you cannot advertise for businesses 
• City resources can be used to allow an association to inform the community about a political forum the association is hosting as long as the forum or how it’s noticed in the newsletter does not endorse an issue or a candidate. That is, you can announce a forum as long as all candidates and/or people interested in a ballot issue will be given an equal opportunity to present their position. 
• All of the newsletters using this program will have to contain this disclaimer (don’t we love lawyers?) “The City of Tucson, its officers and employees, its Planning and Development Services Department and all other offices neither agrees with nor disagrees with the views expressed or implied in this communication or any referenced websites and are not therefore responsible. The distribution requester is solely responsible.” 

The current annual mailing is for anything from a post card up to a 4-page newsletter. Right now, for the annual mailing you need to get your draft into our planning people 10 days before mailing for a postcard and 18 days ahead for the newsletter. That gives their staff time to check your draft to be sure it’s compliant with the rules. What’s changing here is that you’d send that draft to our office, we’d check the copy and forward it onto the planning folks to mail in the usual way. To give us time to get the proofing done we’re going to require that you have postcards to us 12 days before the mailing day and 20 days before the mailing day for newsletters. And in order to assure we’re getting copy that’s endorsed by your elected board we will need that draft sent to us by your neighborhood president. What are we ‘proofing’ for? Simply compliance with those rules I listed up above.  

So, kick all of that around within your board and let us know if you are going to want to do more than the single mailing that’s now being paid for. We’ll work through glitches with you and our planning/neighborhood resources folks as this unfolds and expands. 

We have historically hosted the TRRG meetings at the ward 6 office. Given the current condition of the office and meeting rooms TRRG will be using the ward 2 meeting space for their upcoming follow-up from their recent effort to identify ways the city can be more responsive to neighborhood concerns. 

In March TRRG had representatives from 46 registered neighborhood associations meeting at the ward 6 community room. The purpose was to gather input from residents on topics they feel the city can better serve the interests of neighborhoods, and to identify ways neighborhoods can influence the drafting of Plan Tucson. Now its 6 months since that meeting and TRRG is once again getting together to review what was learned during that first meeting and to explore strategies for advancing that agenda. 

The meeting will take place from 10am until noon on Saturday, September 9th. The ward 2 office is located at 7820 E. Broadway, just west of the Pantano intersection. The ward 6 office is in shambles. The ward 2 office is brand new so enjoy what they’ve got to offer out there. 

In order to assure they’ve got enough material on hand TRRG wants you to RSVP to Barbara Lehmann. You can do that at bhlehmannaz@cs.com. They’ll ask you to check in at 9:45 so they can get started right on time. 

For the last couple of years, I was employed at the UA each morning I’d walk past the major construction work going on at Cherry and Mabel. It was HSIB – a very modern looking, and architecturally innovative space that opened in November of 2019. A few months later everything shut down for COVID. Given the technological amenities HSIB was built to deliver the health sciences students who were enrolled were well positioned to stay active with their studies. 

HSIB is back in full operation and now they’re at a point where they’re reaching out to the surrounding community and inviting them/us in for tours. The next opportunity will combine a digital art exhibit with seeing and hearing about the great work they’re doing in the facility. 

The Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a strong advocate for a process that gives residents choices in terms of what company they buy their power from. Right now, unless you’re one of the very few people who are ‘off the grid’ you’re probably using TEP. Community Choice is a program that would add options to that small marketplace of suppliers. 

There are currently both state law and state constitutional challenges to any city in Arizona simply adopting a ‘choice’ program. On Saturday, September 9th the CCL group is hosting a forum during which they’ll explain both the program, and the challenges. That meeting will be followed up with a deeper dive into Community Choice on Wednesday, September 20th.  

The opening meeting will be held at the Pima College downtown campus beginning at 10:30am. Here’s a flyer that serves as your invitation to take part.