A Message from Steve K...11/06/2023

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Date: 10/06/2023

Topics in This Issue:

Halloween at Ward 6

For Halloween I decided to dress up like my staffers. Or something like that happened. We all hope you, your friends and family had fun celebrating. With all the serious stuff going on it’s important to carve out some space to just enjoy each other and appreciate all the good we have in our lives.

Just Tricks, No Treats 

Over the weekend this guy stole a laptop from a local business located in the Elm/Tucson Blvd area. We’ve got a very nice video of the jerk trying various doors until he found one that opened, walking in and coming out with the laptop. The computer has business-related information that’s of no use to him – and certainly no use if all he’s doing is fencing the laptop to get some cash to buy some drugs. A police report has been filed, but if you see this guy in the Blenman-Elm neighborhood area, please let us know at the ward 6 office.

11/20 Event at St. Phillips in the Hills

In recent weeks I’ve been including links for people to support Ukraine, Israel and Palestine. Turn on the news and you can’t miss the heart-breaking coverage of what’s happening in those areas of the world. Coming on Monday, November 20^th at 7pm, St. Phillips in the Hills will host an interfaith service in which multiple faith communities will come together in support of safe, secure and fair elections. It’ll be a way of showing that in Tucson we can sit together, set aside differences and agree on some common principles.

We will have Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of no particular faith group gathered together at this event. It’s a Tucson event after all. Here’s the list of confirmed speakers:

St. Phillips has a seating capacity of about 400. In order for the organizers to have a sense of what to expect in crowd size they’d like people to pre-register. It’s not mandatory so if you decide at the last minute to come and take part, please feel welcome. But if you can give an indication please use this QR code:

Neighborhood Newsletters

Until recently the city paid for 1 mailing of neighborhood newsletters per year. At the end of last fiscal year I dedicated funds from the ward discretionary allocation so we can provide up to 4 neighborhood newsletters per year. That money is still in place to allow 4 mailings for ward 6 neighborhoods. Last week our Neighborhood Resources team announced that they’re increasing their own offering up to 2 mailings each year. Since my funding didn’t have a ‘use it or lose it’ component the effect is that ward 6 neighborhoods will get their next 6 mailed for free.

A mailing can be anything from a post card up to a 4-page newsletter. There are guidelines you’ll need to follow that relate to when you submit your draft, what can and cannot be included as content, a required disclaimer and that sort of thing. I had it all in a previous newsletter, but if you want a refresher use this link

The fiscal year runs from July 1^st through June 30^th. Your first two mailings in the current fiscal year are now being covered by the city. For ward 6 neighborhoods the next 4 will come from the funds I allocated. These are important ways for neighborhoods to stay connected and share information about meetings and events. If you’ve got questions that aren’t answered in the link included above you can email to Neighborhood@tucsonaz.gov

Asylum/Homeless Donations

With the November 20^th interfaith meeting in mind, we continue to be the drop off site for donations. My staff and I are connected with asylum seeking shelters, refugee groups, homeless shelters – generally the gamut of those trying to get their lives together. Weekly we get your donations out to Casa Alitas – they’re still getting more than 800 new guests per day. If we get items they can’t use there are homeless shelters we’ve donated to. Whatever clothing you bring in – as long as it’s in decent shape – it finds a home.

Hygiene products are always needed. Shampoo, soap, lotions, sunscreen, toothpaste/brushes...those sorts of things. The clothing needs are shifting to chilly weather items, and new underclothes. The only sizes we can’t use are XL or anything larger. Also backpacks, winter gloves, men’s shoes sizes 8-13 and women’s shoes sizes 5-8, kid’s shoes all sizes, belts, caps, shoestrings and small travel toys.

We truly appreciate your involvement.

Eldercare Reports of Phone Scams

Eldercare Locator is one of the resources working with Pima Council on Aging (PCOA) to help connect seniors and people with disabilities to resources in the community. In the recent past they’ve seen a significant increase in the number of people calling to report attempted phone scams. Phone scammers are bad enough – when they’re targeting seniors and the disabled community they’re especially low lifes.

If you get a call from somebody who claims to be from Eldercare, Eldercare Locator, Social Security or Medicare please be aware that none of those groups will ever ask you for your social security number or any banking information over the phone. They will also never demand a payment or threaten fines. And they will not repeat phone calls over and over simply to harass you. If you experience that, or if a senior in your life is getting those kinds of calls please pass along these tips:

• If you are ever suspicious about a call, hang up immediately. Find the organization’s contact information on your own (don’t use caller ID), and call or email them directly to discuss the situation.
• Never give out your Social Security number, banking information, or Medicare number to anyone who contacts you through unsolicited calls, texts, or emails.
• Never pay someone you do not know well via gift card or wire transfer.
• Never click on an email link or attachment, unless you fully trust the sender.
• Sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry.

Eldercare is a partner in serving our senior community. You can learn more about their operation and how you can connect with their services by using this link: Eldercare Locator

 And if you get calls that you feel are attempts at scamming you please report them to 1.833.FRAUD.11

Senior Olympics

It’s time once again for ‘seniors’ to register for activities in the 2023 Tucson Parks and Rec Senior Olympic Festival. This year we’ve also got a partner sponsor – the Pain Institute of Southern Arizona. Being eligible for the events I can understand why we’ve got them on board.

To be eligible you must be 50 years or older. At 50 you’re still barely post-hatched, but that’s what the organizers are allowing. There will once again be a wide variety of events you can register for – archery, golf, horseshoes, badminton, running events, bowling and a bunch more. There will be nearly 100 events scattered around at more than 20 different venues. To get the full rundown on events and how to register  visit the Senior Olympic Festival website. The various entry fees vary depending on which event(s) you’re signing up for. And if you have questions about the event please reach out to either Joe Stubbins or Debra Henley at seniorolympics@tucsonaz.gov.

Registration deadline is December 29^th. The events will take place between January 6^th and 28^th, 2024.

PFAS and Tucson Airport Authority

The EPA and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) sent the Tucson Airport Authority (TAA) a letter in which they requested detailed information on how TAA is addressing the PFAS problem on and around the airport. The Air Force and Arizona Air National Guard have conducted training exercises at the airport property and through that process they’re likely contributors to the PFAS contamination that is at excessively high levels around TAA. Tucson Water customers should not be asked to pay to clean our own water aquifer when the pollution was caused by others.

PFAS is known as a ‘forever chemical.’ Once it’s in a system (water, eco, body) it doesn’t simply dissolve and go away. It’s around for the long haul, causing various forms of cancer. I’ve written about it in several previous newsletters. We have issues with PFAS over by Davis Monthan that’s threatening to contaminate our central well field. ADEQ is working with us on setting up a test treatment system at Randolph Park which, if effective will need to be replicated in several other locations. The issues out at TAA are a different plume.

I’ve reviewed the TAA response to the EPA letter and some of what they include continues to be troubling. They’ve had the letter since June 30^th and yet much of the response is along the lines of ‘we’re working on the answers.’ Here’s one section on their ‘review of the documentation’ - note that “COT” stands for City of Tucson.

There isn’t a single substantive and responsive part of that review. And they’re questioning whether Tucson Water really incurred the costs we’ve billed them for. I’ve written and said before – the plume is moving faster than the process. We’ve already shut down over 20 water wells. This is not a theoretical problem.

The cause of the pollution is the military’s use of a fire fighting foam called Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF.) The DOD has it spec’d into the foam they use for jet fuel fires. They’ve used it in training, and we know they’ve both hosed it into the soil and dumped it into the sewer system. It is not a mystery that “the most effective approach for ensuring that other drinking water will not be impacted by PFAS associated with Tucson International Airport is cutting PFAS off at the source.” That’s a quote from the TAA letter. One problem though is that the DOD just stopped buying AFFF on October 1^st of this year. Last month. And they’re not going to be done deploying it into water systems until October 2024. There is another product that is immediately available – F3 – it's a mostly fluorine free foam. ‘Mostly’ because the military spec for F3 is that it has PFAS levels of at or less than 1ppb. The EPA health advisory level for PFAS is measured in parts per trillion. That’s 1,000 times smaller than a part per billion. F3 may still violate the non-detect standard now required by the EPA.

But in their defense, TAA does not control the DOD product specifications. Here’s their statement relative to getting rid of AFFF from their property:

It’s all a frustratingly slow process. Meanwhile the problem continues to travel, and our Tucson Water officials are spending time, money and effort to assure the water we’re serving to our customers both inside and outside of the city is free of this contaminant.

On Wednesday, November 8^th at 5:45pm there will be an online Special Exception hearing to address the zoning for the Randolph treatment plant. Here’s the Zoom link and a call-in number if you can’t join by computer. This treatment facility is a necessary component of our getting control of PFAS. If you take part in the hearing, I certainly hope you’ll be supportive.

ZOOM https://us06web.zoom.us/j/9844761151

Meeting ID: 984 476 1151 Call-In Number: +1 669 444 9171 US

Lead Contamination

PFAS isn’t the only potential contaminant that might impact your water supply. Back in the day lead-based paint was common in homes. There were also lead pipes, faucets and fixtures that could bring the contaminant into your drinking water. Those products were used in older homes and are no longer sold. But if you’re in an old home you might still have some of them around. Through a federal grant our Housing people are working with Tucson Water and the El Rio Health folks to check for and remediate lead, and do blood testing to help ‘get the lead out.’

The criteria you need to meet in order to qualify for the free testing include:

• Your home must be located within city limits and it must have been built before 1978
• You must have children under the age of 6 living in, or regularly visiting the property
• There are income limits HUD requires you to meet
• The property must be current on mortgage and tax payments.

To qualify for the program the household income may not exceed 80% of the Area Median Income. This chart shows those levels:

Homes that are selected for the program may receive up to $20,000 in remediation. Once the remediation is completed children who are 6 years old and younger are eligible for free blood testing at El Rio – or through your own health provider.

It’s a no-lose opportunity for those families who are eligible under the HUD guidelines. For more information, contact Susan.Cerda@tucsonaz.gov 520.837.5346 or go to tucsonaz.gov/hcd/homeowner-programs

TEP

Last week I included in my TEP section an invitation for neighborhoods to appoint a member to the TEP Advisory Group. The group met on Wednesday, October 25^th for the first time – they'll continue meeting periodically until an alignment for the transmission line poles has been adopted.

I met with TEP and got some more information on which neighborhoods still need to appoint a representative. Within ward 6 the list includes:

Armory Park

Blenmann Elm

El Encanto Estates

Feldman's

Iron Horse

Miramonte

Sam Hughes

West University

To get someone signed up your neighborhood president needs to send Teresa Bravo an email making the appointment. I can’t do it for you. Teresa’s email is teresa.bravo@tep.com. The group meetings take place from 6pm until 8pm at the Dunbar Pavilion – 325 W. 2^nd Street.

For more information about the midtown transmission line project visit: https://www.tep.com/midtown-reliability-project/

On Sunday David Wichner from the Star wrote a nice update on what TEP is trying to achieve and where they are in the whole process. Here’s a link to his story. https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/tucson-electric-neighborhood-zoning-university-arizona/article_950f7e80-782b-11ee-b70f-8709d5505328.html

The next public outreach by TEP will be an open house on November 16^th from 6pm to 8pm at the Doubletree on Alvernon.

Prop 411 Residential Road Repair

We get calls from time to time asking when work on residential road repair will begin in particular neighborhoods. We’ll have 3 significant sections in midtown starting this week – actually one began with some prep work late last week.

This is the area that got the first touches last week. It’s the NE quadrant in Sam Hughes neighborhood – roughly Speedway to 6^th and Tucson Blvd to Country Club. Residents in the area should have gotten notification letters.

Next, jumping across Country Club the Miramonte work will start. The work begins this week. It’ll be in the Country Club to Palo Verde and Speedway to 6^th area.

Peter Howell neighborhood also starts this week. This work will extend from 5^th Street to Broadway, and from Alvernon to Columbus.

In each case the work will involve several steps. First, you’ll see a micro-surface treatment being applied. They’ll also do some tree trimming to get the overhanging branches out of the way of the larger machinery. That will be followed by rubber chip sealing and then a final layer of the micro surface coating. All of the work is scheduled to be done by the end of the calendar year.

I know tree trimming is an important item for many residents in midtown. If you have questions or concerns please contact the transportation department landscape architect David Marhefka at david.marhefka@tucsonaz.gov. And for other project-related information you should call the PM on the project Nick Germanos at 757.719.1618.

Midtown Development

Also, in the general area of that road repair work is this rezoning project. It’s early in that process and we’ll be hosting the mandatory neighborhood meeting on Wednesday, November 29^th at 5:45pm.

The project will include rezoning 3 parcels in the Tucson Blvd/6^th St area. The two primary goals are to allow a microbrewery operation, and to clean up an existing non-conforming condition.

On the former Rincon Market site there’s a portion of the property that is currently zoned C1. That does not allow a microbrewery. It's the rectangular building with the #1 on it in the image. The project proposes that the building be used as a tasting room, with the ability to ‘brew’ limited amounts of beer on the site. Kitty corner across the street – the building labeled number 2 – is where the actual production of the beer will take place.  And the building labeled number 3 is currently occupied as a non-conforming use on the site. What’s being proposed is to include that site in the Planned Area Development (PAD) and get it into the right zoning category. Using the PAD process simplifies having to go through 3 separate rezonings – not a logical option considering 2 of the sites are working hand in hand, and the third is already functioning as a restaurant and the PAD just gets them into the right use category.

The project is in Sam Hughes neighborhood. They’ve recently rewritten their neighborhood plan and this project is consistent with the newly minted plan. That is, commercial activities stay in areas where commercial already exists, and public outreach will be a part of any redevelopment.

Microbreweries have popped up in many spaces scattered throughout the downtown entertainment area with no particular problems created. It’s a pretty benign use that should fit in nicely with the surrounding area.  The neighborhood meeting will be held in our community room at the ward 6 office – it'll be in-person only. 

Colonia Del Valle

Another neighborhood-related item is this weekend’s Colonia Del Valle neighborhood wide yard sale. This is one of our ward 6 neighborhoods that recently sort of rebooted itself and is now up and running and active. The general boundaries of CDV are from Craycroft to Wilmot, and from 14^th Street down to 22^nd Street. I think it’s great that they’ve come together again.

Similar to the Garden District neighborhood yard sale, CDV’s will include multiple homes. It’ll happen this Saturday, November 11^th beginning early in the day. If you’re a yard sale surfer then you already know to show up early while all the good stuff is still available. You can get a map of all the participating homes by going to www.cdvna.org. If you’re out and about this Saturday it’d be great to see support for these neighbors.

Plastics Program

The weekly totals are very consistent at right around 5 tons of plastic. That’s 20 tons per month and 240 tons annually that you’re bringing in. That’s the supply ByFusion has waiting for them when they arrive. I met again last week with Heidi and (get to know the name) Kris – he's the project manager on the Los Reales facility. Design details are being finalized for the layout of the equipment that’ll make the blocks inside the facility. With that TEP will get to work ordering all of the electrical gear the site will need. There’ll also be an option we’re looking into for upgrading the electrical gear to a 3000-amp supply to make room for growth. Both the Los Reales site and ByFusion will certainly need that over time.

These updates won’t have a lot to do with design details. That'd bore you. What I’ve been focusing on recently is affirming both the need for this program, and how other communities worldwide are addressing pollution and recycling. The need is obvious – look around the next store you’re in. Plastic is what we buy. Sometimes there’s even a product inside of that plastic package.

And it’s not even the packaging you’re walking out with that’s adding to the waste stream. This plastic is laying all over the back rooms of the stores you visit. It’s the shrink-wrap their deliveries come in.

This is a clothing company – they ship their freight in 2” thick plastic wrap. Then the clothes themselves are also wrapped in plastic. Stores all over the country get hundreds of tons of this kind of delivery every day. Most of them are paying a private hauler such as Republic Services or Waste Management to come and pick up their mess and haul it to the landfill. I’ve seen some of the invoices – Republic is charging one local company $40 per ton and $750 per week to haul the stuff. When ByFusion gets here I will be looking to them to intercept those contracts, charge the businesses less per ton and instead of diverting to the landfill, the plastic will become construction blocks.

There are also some creative ways the supply chain of recyclables is being affected. You’ve driven past a construction site where a building is being demolished. The quick and cost-efficient way to do it is to bring in some heavy equipment, knock everything down, and haul it away. At the landfill that waste is called “construction material.” You can imagine how much of an impact it’s having on the life span of our landfill.

In Durango, Colorado they’re experimenting with a new city ordinance that they estimate has already kept over 60 million pounds of waste out of their landfill. It’s called a ‘deconstruction project.’ The idea is that instead of simply demolishing buildings the traditional way, they methodically deconstruct the building and reuse the material they can on other construction projects. I know – it's costly up front, but at the back end it saves money in buying new material, and it certainly saves in the long run environmentally.

This is a photo of some of the deconstructed material Durango got from a 250,000 square foot hospital.

Some of that is now in foundations of other structures of new city buildings. Some is also housed on-site ready for future reuse or resale. The hospital is one of the first deconstruct projects to have been done nationwide – and yes to you structural engineers – they have very strict standards for testing before reuse. Colorado is leading the way – Boulder City has a mandate that will divert 75% of home and commercial structural removal from landfills. That can affect roughly a third of what ends up in their landfill – ours, too if we did something similar. Their challenges include the added demo costs, and assuring they’ve got uses for the material. I’ll be poking around on this idea for a possible local application.

It’s coming up on holiday season so you might be wanting to do some online gift shopping. We get questions every day about how to buy blocks – or just get small items made from the blocks for home. Here are some examples of what ByFusion has available online:

If you come to the ward 6 office, you’ll see our planter and bench outside. Those blocks are rather rough. Come inside and you can see some of the little ½ block planters. Run your hand over them and you’ll see the difference. When home goods are produced from the blocks, they’re smooth and finished. You can use this link to take you directly to the ByFusion store to see more of what’s available.

https://shop.byfusion.com/

And how about this – pay a visit to a local store – or to the post office. Ask them for their waste plastic wrap and use it in packing your holiday gifts for mailing. Let me know if any of them blow you off. Why in the world should we not reuse that waste to re-wrap a gift. They should be thanking you for the initiative.

Armory Park Revitalization

Our parks staff is conducting outreach to see how the community feels about some proposed changes to Armory Park. There have already been some public meetings to get input and as the design options evolve we want to hear your thoughts.

There will be more in-person meetings, but the easiest way to get your thoughts known is through this online survey. It’ll be open until November 25^th. Our goal is to continue more fully activating the park. The survey will only take you a few minutes to complete.

To view the survey, please click on this link: https://forms.gle/z1wjL2t5MT33Gsa26.

22^nd Street Bridge

One project that was included in the 2006 RTA package was the redesign and rehabilitation of the 22^nd Street bridge – the one that goes over the Barraza Aviation Parkway, from Kino to Tucson Blvd. Here’s a graphic showing the general scope of the project.

There’s no good argument against the need for giving the bridge a structural face-lift – it's so compromised that right now it has a weight limit of 15 tons. That means large trucks have to divert around it for safety reasons. The challenges the project is facing involve both funding (as with all RTA projects) and the design.

The originally proposed design included plans for a bike lane and a sidewalk. In 2009 that plan was changed to a bike/ped path that was to be suspended on a bridge below the roadway. The costs involved with that design caused more changes, and now the project is proposed to include the bike/ped crossing to be moved into the center of the roadway. This is the current design:

To access the center lane bikers and pedestrians would activate a HAWK light, stop traffic and make their way to the center island. At the opposite side of the bridge they’d again activate a HAWK light and exit to the sidewalk/bike path outside of the roadway. It’s the only such design I’ve ever seen, and it has caused some considerable push back from the community.

Some of the concerns raised include safety in crossing traffic, and the environmental impact of causing stop and go traffic at the HAWK lights. In response to the public outcry over the design the project team has put it on hold, pending discussions about a further redesign, funding and how the changes will be received (or not) by the RTA. There’s also a federal component – they've put $25M towards the project so any redesign needs to be done in a way that doesn’t jeopardize that funding stream.

There has not been a date set for renewed public outreach on this project. If you’d like to see the history on how this project has changed, funding sources and just stay up to speed on developments you can access it through this link:

The 22nd Street Widening and Bridge Replacement project

Bus Rapid Transit

Another project we’d like your input on is the proposed Bus Rapid Transit route that’d take people from the Tohono T’adai transit center that’s next to Tucson Mall to the Ronstadt Center downtown. There are a couple of different routes under consideration. And yes, there’s yet another survey out to gather your input.

This graphic shows the two routes being considered. One runs up Oracle and the other runs up Stone.

BRT is a high-capacity transit system that will improve travel time even beyond the current bus system. This area was chosen because of its already high ridership, and because there’s a significant level of investment already happening through the Thrive in the ‘05 project. That’s an Oracle Road revitalization effort. BRT will have dedicated bus lanes, high quality wait stations, advanced ticketing and signal priority for the coaches.

Here’s a link for the survey - Comment/take the survey: https://www.tucsonrapidtransit.com/#comment

And if you’d like to attend an in-person meeting to learn more about what’s being proposed, there are these three opportunities coming:

• Tuesday, November 14 (in-person) | 5:30-7:30 p.m. | Donna R. Liggins Recreation Center | 2160 N. 6th Avenue, Main Meeting Room
• Wednesday, November 15 (virtual) | 6-7 p.m. Link: bit.ly/tucson-transit Phone: 1-408-638-0968 Meeting#: 951 9345 0111
• Thursday, November 16 (in-person) | 5:30-7:30 p.m. | Amphitheater High School | 125 W. Yavapai Road, Panther Hall

Ice Skating Downtown

I know, it has been in the high 80’s recently, but our friends on the Rio Nuevo board are not to be deterred by mother nature – the ice skating rink will be back up and running outside the TCC ticket office starting on November 19^th. It’ll be up and running through the holidays, shutting down on January 7^th.

As has been true in the past, each skating session will last for 90 minutes. They start at designated times and you can reserve your spot ahead of time with tickets  purchased online. There are a limited number of skating spots for each time slot so it’s wise to book ahead of time. Skates are included with your reservation. Socks are not – if you haven’t skated before taking my word for it that it’s worth wearing 2 pairs of thick, comfy socks. And elbow pads. And knee and hip pads...

And whatever other parts of you that might need some extra padding. Ice is a pretty unforgiving landing pad.

There are discounts offered for the first session each day. And the rink can be rented for private party’s off-hours. Call 520.791.4101 to get more information.

Alley Maintenance

Finally, this reminder. We get calls from time to time asking about whose responsibility it is to maintain the alley out behind your house. It’s yours. This is the Tucson City Code that describes what property owners are responsible for maintaining:

If there’s an alley behind your house, you’re responsible for maintaining the half of the alley closest to your property. Your neighbor across the alley from you is responsible of the half closest to their home. The purpose of keeping alley’s clear is to allow free access for utility workers and for our environmental services workers. Please be mindful that if weeds cover gas, water or communication equipment it can be damaged causing interruptions to service. If you have questions about what’s yours to keep clear please call the environmental services help line at 520.791.3171.

Sincerely,

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

City of Tucson Resources

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