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Hello Tucson, I hope you had a safe holidays and a happy new year!
First, I want to take a moment to remind everyone to be extremely careful to protect you and your loved ones from COVID-19. Earlier this week, Arizona had the highest rate of new infections in the nation. With vaccines on their way, there IS light at the end of the tunnel. The City of Tucson stands ready to help our partners at Pima County and AZDHS in any way we can to ensure a swift and smooth roll out of vaccines. It’s all hands on deck.
We have much to look forward to in 2021. We have already hit the ground running with exciting new projects, and other updates that I’m excited to share with you. Below, you can read more about a few of the items we’ve been working on this week.
As always, please remember to wear a mask, stay home as much as possible, and take care of yourself and loved ones.
Have a great weekend. Somos Uno.
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Today marks the 10th year anniversary of the January 8th shooting that took the lives of 6 Tucsonans and injured many more, including Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. We honor the lives that were lost as well as the survivors – who continue to be an inspiration to all of us. This dark moment in our city’s history is a reminder that even during the most difficult times, Tucsonans are able to come together as one community and show our resilience.
Although we cannot all gather in person today, I want to share some photos from the beautiful ceremony that took place last year:
  
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I also want to take a moment to address the chaos that erupted inside of our nation’s capital yesterday. What should've been a day celebrating a cherished tradition in our democracy turned into disarray, emboldened by the President himself. While I’m pleased that Congress eventually certified the presidential election results, yesterday’s events are a stain on our democracy, and we must learn from them. |
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In other news, Mayor & Council made a once-in-a-generation decision to take advantage of historically-low interest rates and sell pension obligation bonds to secure our public safety pension system. This move has the potential to save Tucsonans more than $800 million taxpayer dollars over the next few decades, and ensure the retirement security of our first responders. My thanks to the City Manager and his financial team for their diligent work and commitment to positioning Tucson on such strong financial footing.
Read more here.
For over a decade, the City of Tucson has been providing water service to landowners outside the city limits if they agree to annex later by signing Pre-Annexation Development Agreements (PADAs). PADAs have supported the development of 94 parcels, averaging 15 acres in size. However, only 23% of the parcels have been annexed into the City of Tucson.
For years, my colleagues and I have been exploring opportunities to increase annexation rates, be good stewards of our finite water resources and ensure Tucson benefits from construction sale taxes and state shared revenues. On September 22, we approved a notice of intent to begin the process of instituting a $750 application fee to cover the cost the City of Tucson currently absorbs to process each PADA.
This Tuesday, we directed staff to present Mayor & Council a second notice of intent by early next month for a $1,000 fee per Equivalent Dwelling Unit (EDU) in all new PADAs. EDUs are fees for applicants based on the water needs of their parcel developments. For example, single family homes would pay less than commercial buildings.
Both the application and EDU fees are expected to be in effect by July 2021.
Register today to join our community meetings for more information on The Central Business District (CBD), which was first adopted in 2012, was renewed in September by Mayor and Council for an additional 10 years. This Spring, Mayor and Council will determine the future of the CBD and how best to utilize GPLET as a tool to accomplish community goals.
Mayor & Council are hosting community meetings in partnership with the Economic Initiatives Office to gather feedback from the public that will help inform future economic development priorities in the City of Tucson.
It's official: the full $1.25 million that was contributed by Open Society Foundations and an anonymous donor has been distributed through the Somos Uno Immigrant Relief Fund! These funds have been critical to helping immigrant workers and families meet their most basic needs - a group that fell through the cracks of early federal relief packages.
Funds were administered by Sunnyside Foundation in collaboration with the following community-based organizations:
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Arizona Justice for our Neighbors (AZJFON)
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Chicanos por la Causa (CPLC)
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El Rio Health
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Primavera Foundation
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Regeneración in collaboration with Scholarships AZ
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Southside Workers Center
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Sunnyside Unified School District Opportunity Center
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Tucson Unified School District Mexican American Student Services
A video highlighting the needs and successes of the immigrant relief fund can be found here.
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