Topics in This Issue:

-Climate Action and Adaptation Plan

-Plastic Program 

-Community Gardens

-Semi-Automatic Weapons for Children

-Sex Trafficking

-Rodeo and Electric Prods

-Weeding 101

-Prop 411 Road Repair

-Refugee Donations

-COVID

I’m going to open with a little quiz – take a look at this young girl. The quiz is for you to simply take a moment and based on the photo frame in your mind what your thoughts are about her. What’s her story? Mentally get an image of what you’d expect to find if you ever met. I’ll tell you ‘the rest of the story’ below.

Climate Action and Adaptation Plan

For about the past 18 months city staff has been working with our consultant Buro Happold engaging in significant community outreach which has resulted in Tucson’s draft Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.

The vision for the plan was set in place in 2020 when the mayor championed Tucson’s first Climate Emergency. She correctly cited the combination of public health, environmental and economic threats if we ignore the climate realities we’re facing. Now the draft of the plan – Tucson Resilient Together – is available for some final public comment.  

The plan is 156 pages long and filled with graphics so when you click the link to open it, be patient. It’ll take a bit to fully load. Here’s the link:  Click here to view and download  

There’s a tab you’ll click that will allow you to offer comments. Take your time working your way through it – you've got until Tuesday, February 21st to finish the review. It’s good stuff, and as you’ll see in the next section of the newsletter, we’re already acting on the emergency declaration. 

Plastic Program

This is going to be a corner-turning week for the plastics program. One way or another things will change. Last Thursday Bud Foster and KOLD ran a good piece on where this is likely headed. Here’s that segment: 

https://www.kold.com/2023/01/20/tucson-ready-to-lead-country-into-future-plastics-recycling/  

The animal world was well represented in the plastics program this past week. This is a picture of the pile of plastic the UA Animal Care Unit’s shipping department brought over. It’s about a week’s worth of shipping plastic. They’re on board and are a regular contributor to the program.  

And many of you will remember TROT (Therapeutic Riding of Tucson.) They’re located out on the east side so they’ve got a bit of a ride to make their donations. They reached out to me last week and let me know they’ve been doing that regularly. And I’ve begun a conversation with them about the possibility of using ByBlocks for a new tack room out at their site. The talks are early, but it’s great to have them involved however that evolves. 

TROT is nearing their 50th anniversary in Tucson. They use horses as therapy for special needs folks. It’s a very cool program that you can check out at this link: www.trotarizona.org  I’m an animal lover so having these partnerships matters a lot to me. 

Tomorrow we’ll have our study session during which we’ll talk about what scaling up the program might look like. ByFusion will be here to help in the presentation. I’ve met several times with them and city management in an effort to begin the conversation about what a partnership looks like. The community’s response to our pilot program has sent a very clear message to ByFusion that people throughout Pima County welcome them with open arms and support the program. Here’s a sneak peek at one of the slides they’ll be presenting tomorrow at the study session. This represents work done during our pilot program: 

Tucson is the first city in the world to engage in a pilot of this type and magnitude. You should be proud for being a part of it. 

On Wednesday we’re hosting an in-person public meeting along with the ByFusion group here at the ward office to give a briefing on what will have been decided at the study session, and to answer any questions you’ve got about the project, the product and where it’s all headed. The meeting will run from 5:30pm until 7pm. We’ll offer masks for those who feel they’d like that added layer of protection. The meeting is open to everybody so please pass the word and come hear about plans for the future of the program. 

To date we’ve collected 42.92 tons of plastic since August 1st when the pilot began. That’s over 86,000 pounds of material that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill, on the side of the road or in the ocean. It’s that kind of community involvement that has attracted ByFusion to Tucson. This is what we’re trying to address

Community Gardens 

Another example of how Tucson steps towards ‘green’ things is the work being done by Community Gardens of Tucson.  

They’re a non-profit that has sites scattered throughout Tucson on which people can rent a plot of land for the purpose of sharing in the work of the garden. You can rent a 60 sq/ft plot (3’x20’) at the garden and for $22 p/month they provide you with tools to work with, education on how to plant and grow in our climate, and the cost of the already-installed automatic drip irrigation. 

Within ward 6 there are 4 of the gardens up and growing. Two of them are full of growers, but there’s a plot available at the other two. Here’s the list of the ward 6 locations:

Click Here to View the More Information About City Of Tucson A Message From Steve K Newsletter - January 23, 2023