A Message from Steve K...09/05/2023

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Date: 09/05/2023

Topics in This Issue:

Capstone Neighborhood Meeting 

Capstone is the student housing developer who’s proposing a change of zoning for the SE corner of Speedway and Euclid, the purpose of which would be to add student housing at a height that’s not currently allowed in the Main Gate Overlay zoning. Capstone has been meeting with neighbors and my office for several months. A lot has changed in the design being proposed since they first came to us. On Wednesday, September 27^th they’ll host a final neighborhood presentation during which they’ll show what the proposed project has evolved into. The meeting will take place at the Trinity Presbyterian Church located at University Blvd and 4^th Ave.

One of the concerns raised was the massing being proposed for the corner – you can see how they’re proposing to step the height back from the intersection. Another concern was the massing along Euclid. That is to be a buffer between the student housing and the West University neighborhood. Capstone is proposing 2 story workforce housing for the western-most face of the project along Euclid. And there are several existing historic houses now sited along Euclid that Capstone is proposing to move into the WUNA historic district to preserve and reuse as rentals. 

Come on the 27^th and share your thoughts with the development team.

Ahmad’s Asylum

A former friend from KVOA – now working for KGUN – had the opportunity to sit down with Ahmad Wakili last week to talk about the delays he is experiencing in getting his asylum case settled. It’s far more than just getting a piece of paper. Having that legal status opens doors many of us take for granted, such as securing solid employment and taking out loans. Here’s Denelle Confair’s interview with Ahmad: 

 https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/afghanistan-judge-who-took-on-taliban-still-awaiting-asylum-status

At the end of the interview attorney Mo Goldman mentions that litigation might be the only way to compel action by the federal government. The reality is that by statute the process is supposed to yield a decision in a timely fashion after the asylum interview. In Ahmad’s case that took place over a year ago. Remember, this is the guy who was shot, bombed and had his home hit by a rocket propelled grenade because of his work in support of our efforts to control Taliban. We got his wife reunited – that also took nearly a year after my office got involved, and thousands of dollars – but they’re here with their status in limbo.

I’ve told Mo that I’ll help in the litigation however I can when he’s ready. The defendants would be the head of the L.A. Asylum office, the director of the USCIS and the director of homeland security. I tried working with each of those offices throughout the process of getting Ahmad’s wife and daughter to Tucson. None were responsive. What we’ve learned is that none of the line workers can deliver. And to be clear, litigating Ahmad’s case would only be done to shine a light on the larger story of the thousands of people who are here seeking asylum and whose cases are sitting dormant waiting for a broken system to be repaired. I’m grateful to Denelle and KGUN for chasing the story.

On that same topic the folks at St. Francis in the Foothills Church are hosting an informational event on Monday, October 30th introducing Alba Jaramillo the co-executive director of the Immigration Law & Justice Network. The event will begin at 5:30pm. The topic will be the right to asylum. The ILJN is a non-profit that focuses on providing legal representation at low or no cost to people seeking asylum status. The Ahmad stories are multiplied by the thousands, although few if any have a set of facts as compelling as his arguing for a quick decision. Alba will speak to the current system and share the work the justice network is doing. There will be limited seating so it’d be best to register ahead of time through the contact information shown on this flyer:

Mosiac Tile

Last week I opened with a sad story about someone stealing two tile works of art from in front of the Himmel Park library. Here’s a link to Conor McGill’s story that aired on KVOA: Search is on for two handcrafted benches stolen from Himmel Park Library on Friday

This week though there’s a good news tile art story to share. It’s the beautiful and very meaningful ceramic mural that was installed recently over at the Randolph Park Pottery Center on Alvernon. The work is in memory of Kathy Roberson – a parks employee for a quarter century whom we lost last year.

If you were around the pottery center, you likely saw Kathy. She was initially hired as the Leisure Class Coordinator and through that work was largely responsible for building the pottery program to one of the best in the nation.

The mural made in her honor is a community project that involved the work of more than 100 local artists and potters. Handmade tiles were submitted and over 300 of them were arranged by Julie Stein. Here’s the finished product – now on display at the center:

The four outer panels represent the four seasons. The two panels in the center show features of the Randolph and Udall pottery centers. We at the ward 6 office are grateful to the community members who pitched in to create this tribute to Kathy.

Thieves

During the middle of last week somebody climbed the retaining wall that houses the ward 6 air conditioning unit and began dismantling it with the clear intention of stripping out the wires. Something spooked him – we found the damage when noting the community room had no air flow. I didn’t get a video image of him, but I did find some paperwork that TPD now has that contains what I hope to be contact information for the guy.

I’d like to say that our building is a target right now because nobody is occupying it – but at the 4900 block of East Speedway businesses there are getting hit over and over. One of them had better luck with their video than I did at the ward office – this is the guy TPD is looking for. If you see him call us at the ward office or call 911. There’s a fundamental difference between compassion for someone who’s homeless and down on their luck vs someone who’s committing crimes. We’ll help the former – not so much the latter.

Yellow Brick Coffee 

Based on the current renovation schedule we expect to be back in operation at the ward office by November 1^st. Please reach out to Nadia if your group is interested in booking one of our rooms after that date. Her email address is nadia.ispiani@tucsonaz.gov. And if you’re an artist who would like to display your material in the community room you’ll want to connect with Dora at dora.maldonado@tucsonaz.gov.

Diana sat in for Mark out at the Yellow Brick Coffee shop last week. It was great connecting with those of you who stopped by on Thursday to chat. Mark’s out in front of the coffee shop again this Thursday 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. They’ve got an excellent product and friendly staff to help you decide which of their goodies to select.

TEP Public Open House

This is a reminder that Tucson Electric Power is hosting an open house at the DoubleTree by Hilton over east of Reid Park on Thursday, September 21^st  from 6pm until 8pm. The purpose is for them to introduce you to their new plan for midtown transmission line upgrades, and one would hope they’re also there to solicit input that will guide their planning. KOLD’s JD Wallace ran a good piece on the issue last week. Here’s a link to his story:  https://www.kold.com/2023/09/01/tep-seeks-input-midtown-reliability-project/

Here’s a link to the TEP site that describes the project. Or at least the intent of the project. https://www.tep.com/midtown-reliability-project/ As TEP spokesman Joe Barrios says, the question they’re asking is how many and how large poles you want. It’s not about undergrounding or renewables. This is the study area map. You can see they’ve shifted the eastern boundary a mile to the east, but otherwise it’s about what we all saw during their first attempt.

You can fill out their survey at the link to their site, or just email them at midtownreliability@tep.com.

Tucson Plastic Program 

Here’s the site for the upcoming mural wall.

The ‘wall’ will be a series of 6-7 individual walls set apart from one another. The separation will reduce the size of the structural footings and vertical supports, and it will allow water flow between the murals. In this rendering you can see the reveals on the ends so people will see the blocks that will go into construction of the walls.

We have similar reveals inside of the tiny house at the ward office. We’re still hitting 6+ tons per week. Thank you for your continued support of this program.

Food Waste

We’re doing our part in reuse of plastic. Sustainable Tucson is asking members of the community to take a food waste challenge through their program called the “Food: Too Good to Waste Challenge.”

I’ve seen estimates ranging from 30% to the mid 40%’s as the amount of our landfill that’s taken by food waste. Even at the low end of that range, it’s substantial. There are several ways you can take part in reducing your greenhouse gas emissions – one is through your transit choices. Another is reducing your food waste.

Starting in October Sustainable Tucson is sponsoring this food waste challenge. The goal is for you to see how much food waste is happening in your home, and how you can do your part to reduce it. It’ll be a 6-week challenge. Every participant who completes the challenge will be entered in a raffle where you can win a copy of the James Beard Foundation cookbook titled “Waste Not” or a $50 Sprouts gift card.

To learn more about signing up for this food waste challenge go to the Sustainable Tucson Food Waste Challenge Facebook page.

Place Network Investigation (PNI)

In 2022 we began an approach to cleaning up crime that is both based on a data-driven model and will serve as a national model. It’s identifying a ‘place’, understanding that crime hot spots involve a ‘network’ of individuals who are working the area to keep the criminal activity going, and forming a team of resources who conduct an on-going ‘investigation’ of the site. The team interrupting the network is the goal.

The data used to select the sites is based on calls for service due to gun crimes. The assumption is when guns are involved there are layers of criminal activity underlying that level of escalation. We’ve got 3 different PNI sites up and running.  Is the PNI effort working? According to the most recent data gun violence at all of the sites is down by a minimum of 75% since the program started.

The investigative team that makes up the board consists of 65-70 members. That includes city staffers from transportation, parks, housing, water, the attorney, manager, police, fire and wards 3, 4, 5 and 6 council offices. It includes other law enforcement agencies such as BATF, the FBI, U.S. Marshal and Pima County victim services, probation and juvenile protection. And of course, we have neighborhoods and businesses from the area all represented. It’s a big group that brings multiple skill sets to the table at the periodic meetings.

The three sites are the southeast and southwest parts of the city – and at Grant and Alvernon. While the midtown site is in ward 3, our ward 6 residents and businesses feel the impacts of the crime, so we’re directly involved with that PNI site.

The direct site for the midtown PNI work is the Oasis Apartments over on north Dodge. This map shows the many other nearby apartments and buildings that are suspected to be part of the network.

Why did we land on Oasis for this PNI site? This is violent crime data for Oasis and surrounding apartments. With only 72 apartments in their complex, Oasis has had over 2,300 calls for service since 2018 and 52 violent crime incidents. You can see how they compare to surrounding apartments from the data in this table:

One example of a success PNI has had at Oasis was the discovery of a narcotics connection to the calls for violent crime and how nearby apartments were serving as ‘comfort spaces’ to the drug dealers and buyers. The result of the investigation was seizure of 8 pounds of meth, 53,000 fentanyl pills, a half-pound of heroin, some counterfeit pills, cocaine, mushrooms – you get the picture. Oh, and 15 firearms were seized, including an AK-47.

The cooperation of the property owners is an important component of the PNI work. At one of the 3 sites the owner is stepping up and... well, taking ownership of the problems. One reason the city attorney’s office is involved as a part of PNI board is, so we know the legal tools we have to start actions against owners, managers and others who are complicit in enabling the problems.

We’ll have an update on the PNI program at this week’s study session. It takes a lot of resources, time, effort and money. It involves the city, law enforcement, residents and businesses. And the goal is cleaning up our neighborhoods where slum lords have allowed crime to grow. We’ve got some great property owners and landlords. This program is aimed at those who don’t fit that label.

Last week I introduced you to Zona. She’s the electronics-sniffing pooch that is now a member of the TPD sex trafficking unit. Actually she’s a part of the crime lab, but Zona will travel to whatever crime scene she’s called to as long as her ‘mom’ Gayle is there with treats for when Zona finds the goods. A perfect employee – no intra-office affairs or drama to deal with. Just treats.

We decided to put her to the test. Three of us hid our cell phones around what’s left of the office. Zona found them all. I was surprised to learn that there is a chemical used to activate some of the electronics in your phone and other electronic devices. The scent is heavier than air so even when I put my phone up in a ceiling grid, Zona stopped right below where the phone was, laid down on the floor but pointed her nose up to indicate the phone was above us. Pretty cool.

Note Zona’s booties. Her handler/mom made sure that Zona wasn’t walking around on 110-degree asphalt. Please remember that in our summer heat asphalt can get over 150 degrees. If it’s too hot for you to lay your hand on it for 10 seconds, it’s too hot for Spot.

On the topic of sex trafficking, we’ve now set a date for the upcoming trafficking informational/educational forum that’ll be led by our partner from the ASU school of public health Dominique Roe Sepowitz. It’ll be held at the TCC on Monday, October 23^rd in the Turquoise Room. It’s going to be an all-day training session that’s open to the public. The target audience is vulnerable populations – which means any youth who uses social media. Zona is used to find the electronic items a victim may have hidden to protect her abuser. Parents, people working anywhere around youth, and young people want to attend this event. More on it to come. If you’d like to register, now contact Dominique at dominique.roe@asu.edu.

COVID Update

COVID is creeping back into the news again. In the past couple of weeks, the CDC reports nearly a 20% increase in both new cases and in deaths due to COVID nationwide. Most of the impact is right now centered in the southeastern U.S. Arizona has not begun to see any appreciable increases in case counts, although we lagged the east coast in the early years of COVID so it’s worth watching.

Another area in which the virus is creeping back into the news is a program the UA is involved with called RECOVER (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery.) It’s being conducted under the umbrella of a partnership the UA is in called the Precision Aging Network. They’re trying to understand the long-term impacts of the virus - ‘long COVID.’ So far, it’s clear the virus can have long term effects on the heart, lungs, immune system and the brain. But the impacts vary so broadly from person to person that this study is trying to focus on how the virus particularly affects older adults. And that focus is even more targeted to cognitive problems.

If you’d like to read about the Precision Aging Network you can at https://precisionagingnetwork.org/  What’s known is the virus can enter the brain and damage neurons. And the effects of the social isolation many seniors had to endure are not at all well understood yet. Think about masking when in closed areas with lots of other people and speak to your doctor about whether a booster is recommended given your age and health status. And on the vaccine topic, it’s getting to be fall so also ask your doc about a flu vaccine.

Park(ing) Day 2023

When COVID hit Tucson one of the accommodations we made in our zoning allowances was to explore the idea of outdoor seating at restaurants. The use of existing parking spaces for that seating is still happening throughout downtown. Coming on Friday, September 15^th our transportation staff will be hosting Park(ing) Day to get your input on how we might rethink how we use curbside parking spaces.

This is a global event that last year had 177 cities taking part. We’re joining that movement this time around. Here are a few images showing what uses other cities have put curbside parking to – other than parking a car:

The event will take place from 9am until 1pm and will be held at 100 N.  Stone Ave., on the east side of the street between Alameda and Pennington. Bring your creative ideas. If you’d like to request materials in accessible formats, or in a language other than English please get ahold of Kristina at 520.269.1779 at least a week prior to the event.

Take A Loved One To The Doctor

September is Take A Loved One To The Doctor Month – at least that’s one of the things being celebrated this month. My bride and sister-in-law do that often with my mother-in-law who’s still active and healthy at age 102. Here’s a poem she wrote just last week – nice message:

Love, Companionship, Bliss

Go together like a sun shining day.

Family, Friendship, Fun

Make the day complete.

Tied in with taking a loved one to the doctor the Coalition for African American Health & Wellness is teaming up with our friends at PCOA to bring an informational forum on health issues and Medicare. The event will highlight two experts in their respective fields – internationally acclaimed motivational speaker Bobby Burns will focus on recovering from mental health challenges, and on living with diabetes. And Linda Khumalo is the Program Coordinator for Medicare at PCOA. She’ll be on hand to talk about Medicare, diabetes and mental health issues more broadly.

The event will take place at the Donna Liggins Center – 2160 N. 6th Ave. It’ll run from 9am until noon – doors will open at 8:30am so you can get registered and enjoy some refreshments. Consider taking that loved one you’re taking to the doctor to this event as well. The information is invaluable.

Tucson Deaf Awareness Week

I mentioned above that one of the things September is taking a loved one to the doctor month. It’s other important things too – one of which happens during the week of September 18^th through the 24^th. That’s the 7^th annual Tucson Deaf Awareness Week.

Throughout the week members of our deaf community will be hosting events such as skating, trips to Eegee’s, art and quilting events, and combining for a DeafBlind Social. You can get the times and locations from their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/708993435818061/

The entire community is invited to join and support our deaf neighbors during their closing ceremonies on Sunday, September 24^th at Ramada #4 at Reid Park. There will be a variety of activities in that location throughout the afternoon. The ceremonies will run from noon until 5pm. It’d be great to see wide support for our deaf friends and neighbors throughout the week, and certainly at the closing ceremony.

Sun Tran Ride with Respect Campaign

We’ve heard from our transit employees and from some riders that since we went to fare free transit there have been some safety and behavioral concerns, primarily on some bus routes. In response Sun Tran has increased security on select routes and all major transit hubs. In an effort to continue providing a safe and respectful experience for all riders and our drivers, Sun Tran is launching a Ride with Respect Campaign. It’ll be a series of videos, signage and YouTube messages that highlight the rules for riding on our buses and streetcar.  You can find the videos here: Rules for riding "Ride with Respect" YouTube video

Here’s the list of 10 rules you’ll see in those videos – each of which is narrated by one of our Sun Tran workers:

• All forms of smoking are prohibited
• Don’t strike or intimidate riders or operators
• Loitering is prohibited at all transit facilities and vehicles
• Save priority seating for seniors and disabled riders
• Luggage and bags cannot block an aisle or take an additional seat
• Don't be so loud that you disturb others
• Eating and open containers are not allowed on board
• Keep aisles and doors clear
• Mobility devices must be secured by an operator
• Keep pets in carriers except for service animals

If you’ve got questions or constructive input about the campaign, please give the Sun Tran customer service line a call at 520.792.9222.

Literacy Connects Resource Fair

The Ward 6 office has a long-standing relationship with the great folks over at Literacy Connects. So much of our work in support of seniors, low-income residents, refugees and others simply overlaps. Coming on Saturday, September 23^rd they’ll be hosting a resource fair from 10am until 1pm. It’ll have access to all sorts of services so consider stopping by.

There will be people on hand who can help you with rental or utility assistance, how to navigate through government bureaucracies and secure benefits aimed at low-income residents, access to healthcare and lots more. They’ll have some free homemade potluck goodies – and the services will be offered on a multi-lingual basis. 

The event will happen at 200 E. Yavapai Road – in the Thrive in the ‘05 area. It’s open to all though, so even if you don’t have any particular needs consider giving a ride to the event to someone you know who might find it of value.

Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports (SAAS)

If you’re out on the Loop walking, jogging or biking you’ll from time to time see guys and gals in chairs rolling along. If you travel at my pace, they’ll be passing you. Many are members of SAAS and the UA Adaptive Athletics group. On Tuesday, September 12^th they’re going to gather at Flora’s Market Run for a casual meet and greet where you can learn about how to ride with or support the group.

My history with the UA part of the group dates back literally a couple of decades. Dave Herr Cardillo ran the UA wheelchair basketball team for years. He and I worked together planning the annual wheelchair basketball game in McKale. It was great to place the event right in front of a men’s basketball game so the players in chairs had the experience of playing in front of thousands of fans. Everyone benefitted.

On the 12^th you can learn about how to help them fund the Eduardo Aguirre Adaptive Cycling Center. That’ll happen through sponsorships of SAAS riders in this year’s El Tour de Tucson. All of the information about the Flora’s event is in this flyer:

Sincerely,

Steve Kozachik
Council Member, Ward 6
ward6@tucsonaz.gov

City of Tucson Resources

• COVID-19 Updates: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/covid-19/covid-19-updates
• I Want To... : https://www.tucsonaz.gov/i-want-to