A Message from Steve K...01/22/2024

I’m starting with something light – there'll be the more weighty stuff below. I’m doing a couple of noon-3pm music sets at Corbett’s; Saturday 1/27 and Saturday 2/3. Come on by and enjoy our great outdoors, avoid the night driving for those of you who’d prefer that, and do the Corbett’s experience. They’re located at 340 N. 6th Ave.  

If you go to this link (https://corbettstucson.com/) you can prebook your pickleball and place an online order. 

5 years 

$2.2M, escalating $200K each year to max at $3M 

$200K for community engagement  

$200K from Learfield  

$200K from Nike 

$250K if he’s still here on 1/30/26 (so he gets a quarter of a million dollars for not bailing out in 2 years on the 5 year deal he just signed)  

$100K for making the 12 team football playoffs  

$125K for making the 2nd round 

$150K for making the 3rd round 

$175K for making the finals and 

$400K for winning the championship 

$40K for being in the top 3 in the Big 12 conference 

$75K for playing in the Big 12 title game 

$150K for winning the Big 12 title 

$50K for playing in any of the 42 post season bowl games 

$25K for a cumulative team GPA of 2.8 (that’s a high C in letter grade terms,) escalating by $5K for every 1/10 percent up to a max of $55K for a 3.3 (low B) team cum. 

$40K if the team wins 8 games with an additional $5K for every win thereafter 

You may have seen the first figure - $2.2M. You had to dig to see the full set of facts surrounding the package. So, in the midst of concerns about being disingenuous in how the financial mess has been messaged out (the non-resignation), in the midst of still working out how to address the $240M shortfall and the $87M ‘loan’ to athletics, the UA has its new football coach with the deal terms shown above.   

UA and ABOR priorities on display. More. 

Last year the UA president had his contract extended until June 30th, 2026. ABOR will have to judge whether a malfeasance clause is operative.  He’s paid a base salary of $816,100 and received a bonus last fall of $132,500 and is in line for another $150,000 bonus next year. He sees about $171,000 put into his retirement fund each year, receives a $10,000 annual automobile allowance and is given use of the UA ‘presidential residence’ in Sam Hughes neighborhood as his primary home.  

On Friday one part of UA faculty broke their silence. This Release was sent out by the UA Campus Workers Union calling for the termination of both Robbins and the former CFO. They use the word ‘resignation’ but I suspect they mean it in the commonly understood meaning of the word and not how Robbins used it on December 13th.  

They hit the nail on the head – what’s lacking is a culture of transparency, accountability and honesty. There’s still no official statement coming from the faculty senate – a body that purports to be closer to the administration and representing faculty more broadly.   

Robbins did try to address what he called ‘media reports’ related to the failure to fully disclose the terms of the CFO ‘resignation.’ He did that in a self-serving letter to the UA faculty last week – here's the operative section:   

Arizona Game and Fish are not going to come and try to remove wildlife from your neighborhood unless there’s a clear indication that there’s aggressive behavior being exhibited towards people. In previous newsletters I’ve shared ways you can make your property, and the neighborhood generally less attractive to urban wildlife setting up shop. Rake the date palm droppings, don’t have real pumpkins out around Halloween, don’t have exposed compost piles, avoid decorative blooming flowers in your garden – those sorts of things. If you go to this site, you can see the full array of suggestions G&F makes: https://www.azgfd.com/wildlife-conservation/living-with-wildlife/  

If you choose to use those locks you must completely remove the cables before the truck arrives for your trash. Leaving them hanging with the clips released will get the cables tangled up in the gripper arm. Better yet, if you’ve got problems with javelina or coyotes tipping your trash, our environmental services team can exchange your bin for one with a locking device. They prevent critter tampering and won’t mess up the truck mechanisms.  

I love our urban critters – not so much the dog that bit me - and ‘love’ them at a distance. I don’t love cleaning up after they’ve chowed down on the contents of the trash bin. Consider the G&F suggestions and if they don’t do the trick get ahold of environmental services at https://www.tucsonaz.gov/Departments/Environmental-and-General-Services    

The forum is tonight beginning at 5:30PM here at the Ward 6 office. We’ll have experts in the field, including the story from one victim, and an update from TPD’s Human Sex Trafficking (HST) unit. This is an in-person meeting only. We’ve got the room bookended with meetings, so we’ll be starting on time and ending a bit before 7pm.  

Stop by – if you’ve got young people in your life, it’s highly likely they’re on social media. That means they’re vulnerable to the way trafficking works these days. Parents, educators, people working in youth services – and youth – all who attend will take away some nuggets you can pass along to make ours a safer community. The Gem Show starts soon – it's a haven for people who work the trafficking circuit, so this informational forum is timed perfectly. 

Thanks to Susan from out on the east side for sharing an article from the Dwell publication last week. It had a great story about a real estate developer named Gene Eidelman who paired up with visionary Ross Maguire and they’re now constructing prefab’d living units with 3D printers. Each unit is made from materials that would have otherwise made their way into a landfill.   

This is one example of what they do. This is a module that’s roughly 200 square feet in size. It was printed in just 24 hours. The entire manufacturing process takes about a week, and ‘construction’ takes about a day. Each of the 3D units this size repurposes about 150,000 plastic bottles.  

The company – Azure Printed Homes – also has units ranging from 100 square foot studios up to 900 square foot homes. Their prices range from just under $20K up to $200K. Each is prepped for power, or they can come with a solar panel and battery to operate independently from the grid. Here’s a link to the full story:  https://apple.news/A6k8rZf7oSsOw6-6t3Rdi-A  

No huge update on the Tucson project this week. Residents continue to fill the bins for 6 days p/week pick up, we’re in the 5–6-ton weekly range, design continues for the ByFusion operation – all moving in the right direction thanks to the support from you out in the community. 

Building a Resilient Neighborhood (BaRN) 

Our friends at BaRN are hosting another important opportunity for neighbors to connect and devise approaches to how we can be mutually supportive in times of power outages. We know they’re coming, especially during our excessively hot summers. Now’s the time to put the plans and processes into place to prepare.  

During any major catastrophic event where infrastructure is affected neighbors are generally the most likely people to actually be your ‘first responder.’ Think of the news stories of natural disasters – you always see neighbors reaching out to aid neighbors. The BaRN meeting is an hour-long informational zoom aimed at building a more resilient community and using neighbors as the backbone of the effort.  

The meeting will be held on both Wednesday, January 23rd  Register here at 4pm and on Thursday, January 24th   Register here at 7pm. Getting their inspiration from Physicians for Social Responsibility, Building a Resilient Neighborhood is a group of Tucson residents – many of them your neighbors – who meet to mutually prepare for what tomorrow will bring. The meetings are free and invaluable. 

Our economic development arm is hosting an open call to all non-profits for the next round of city funding assistance under our ‘Economic & Workforce Development” and “Special Events” grants program. These are for non-profits serving the Tucson area intending to fund workforce development programs or special events between July 1st, 2024, and June 30th, 2025. The grant applications are due by March 8th at 4pm. 

When I was first elected the city doled out cash for special events and non-profits in a sort of random (read ‘political’) way. In 2012 we put into place a formal process through which applicants respond to a Request for Proposal and each submission is reviewed by a citizen-led group who makes recommendations for allocations. That’s the process that’s starting now.   

If you’re interested in getting an application in, please use this link that gives you more information both on the program and how to submit your entry:  

 tucsonaz.gov/Departments/Office-of-Economic-Initiatives. 

Long Term Care System 

I know lots of people who are trying to navigate the Arizona Long Term Care system. Loved ones sometimes get to the point where added help is needed. Knowing the rules for eligibility and what kinds of services – and costs! - are involved is a key part of making informed decisions. And if you haven’t already gotten your feet wet in this area a word to the wise is to get familiar with the process way ahead of when you’ll actually need it. It’s neither easy nor inexpensive. 

Pima Council on Aging (PCOA) is hosting workshops on the 4th Wednesday of every month aimed at sharing information on the Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS.) The presentations are done both in person and by zoom. And they’re free. They run from 2:30pm until 4pm – and you need to register ahead of time.   

The in-person meetings are held at the PCOA Center located at 600 S. Country Club. There’s parking on site. And to register for the zoom please use this link: 

Palo Verde New Year’s Party 

Council member Cunningham is a middle school teacher. All credit goes to him and his staff for putting this after school program together. If you know Paul, you won’t be surprised that it’s focused on basketball – but they’re also in the process of putting together a similar program that’ll have an arts focus.  

Wednesdays are early day out in TUSD. That gives teachers an extra planning/grading hour, but it results in an added unsupervised hour for the students. Each Wednesday the ward 2 staff hosts afternoon hoops from 3pm until 5pm. The activities are held at Jesse Owens Park (400 S. Sarnoff) and are aimed at middle schoolers. But everyone is welcome. 

The Tucson Buckets are Tucson’s semi-pro ABA basketball team. They put on this clinic every Wednesday. The focus is on teaching the kids technical basketball skills – but mostly the focus is on having a good time. There are snacks and drinks also provided. If you’re out on the east side and are looking for a safe and fun way to fill that extra childcare time on Wednesday’s, give this event some thought. This flyer has the dates through February. There’s no need to pre-register. Just show up and have fun. 

For the past several weeks both Sun Tran and our transportation department have been conducting a system-wide analysis of our transit routes. Together they’ve looked at over 60 Sun Tran routes, 14 Sun Express routes and 8 Sun Shuttle routes. The goal of this comprehensive operational analysis was to see where efficiencies may be achieved. The survey and analysis have been completed and staff is hosting a series of public meetings to share the results. Please keep in mind that what’s being shared are proposals, not final decisions on eliminating or changing any particular routes around. That action will come later in the spring by the M&C.  

Here are the dates/times/locations for these public presentations. We’ll host one in the ward 6 community room on Friday, January 29th at 5pm. All of these are in-person only. 

1/22 @ 5pm – Fred Archer Center – 1665 S. La Cholla 

1/23 @ noon – W2 council office 7820 E. Broadway 

1/24@ noon – Woods Library – 3455 N. 1st Ave 

1/25 @ noon – Pascua Yaqui Tribal Chambers – 7474 S. Camino De Oeste 

1/25@ 4:30pm – Miller Golf Links Library – 9640 E. Golf Links