The Daily Agenda: A delicate balance of needs and concerns
We previously reported about controversy surrounding a new housing project ... City officials say they're working to address these concerns ... New tool for 911 system.
When barrio residents began sharing their concerns last month about plans to develop affordable housing on South 10th Avenue, city officials left the room.
They left the community outreach meeting about the project to take up posts at different information stations set up outside of the church, while the 30-or-so meeting attendees stayed to listen to what residents living in the surrounding neighborhood had to say.
“Our goals were really to try to provide more information on the concerns we'd heard to date, and be able to have more individualized conversations so that everyone in the room could get their questions answered,” said Ann Chanecka, the Director of Housing and Community Development.
But by leaving the room, Chanecka, Mayor Regina Romero, City Council Member Lane Santa Cruz and others actually missed out on the opportunity to hear the stories and sentiment behind those concerns, which included environmental issues due to the lot’s prior use, the outreach process and gentrification.
Ernesto Portillo, Public Information Officer for Housing and Community Development, said the city knows about the concerns and is working hard to address them while grappling with the immediate need for more affordable housing.
“We have been and continue to be very cognizant of history. We're well aware of the history of Barrio Ochoa and Santa Rita, relative to the lost barrio, which was destroyed in the late 1960s,” Portillo said. “That is a constant threat in our discussions. How are we going to be sensitive to the history, recognize a history of past harm?”
He said the city has also received positive feedback about this project and that barrio residents also recognize the need to create affordable housing.
“They understand, they desire that their family members can return to South 10th to enjoy (this if it’s) built. Maybe the Nana can come and live on South 10th, maybe the grandchildren can come back,” Portillo said. “In any project, any part of the community, any part of the country, there's always a concern about change.”
At the meeting, some residents even mentioned that casitas could be a better alternative for housing in that area. But that doesn’t change their concerns about the environmental impacts.
An environmental report commissioned by the City of Tucson found that the soil sampled had trace amounts of arsenic, barium, chromium and lead.
But because the levels were below a certain level defined by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the city is not required by law to remove the substances.
”Until we select a co-developer, really start to figure out what that plan looks like, and really get the funding to implement that plan, we won't know exactly (what environmental assessments will be next,) but based on those preliminary tests, we at least have an initial understanding,” Chanecka said.
Despite this, residents still have concerns and say the site had been flagged by the EPA 14 times in the past for environmental issues.
The site was previously used as a container maintenance facility where waste dumpsters were cleaned and fixed. Until last year, it was also used to house a 5,000-gallon above ground diesel storage tank and before that, an underground diesel storage tank.
The details of the specific issues aren’t listed, but the Tucson Agenda has filed a records request with ADEQ.
The city says they’re taking the appropriate steps in assessing the environment for development.
“There's standards to adhere to, that is part of us doing our jobs,” said Chanecka. “Not only must we adhere to these rules, but it's something I fully believe in ensuring that we continue to preserve and protect the Sonoran Desert.”
Still, residents are resistant and say the development could have disastrous effects to the environment and the neighborhood.
“Those violations are enough to be of concern. The community has a concern,” said Linda Robles, founder of the Environmental Justice Task Force. “If there is anybody that we should put first … it's the people who live there, who work there, who are going to play there, who are gonna live there. They are the experts.”
Some residents are also afraid that bringing in more development might cause their property taxes to increase, which would push many people who have lived there for decades out of the neighborhood.
“The way to address gentrification is to … have affordable housing in the neighborhood,” said Ward 1 Council Member Santa Cruz. “What we're trying to do by building mixed income housing –– anywhere from super low-income to workforce housing –– is going to help balance that out so that you're not just having $300,000 to $500,000 homes out there, but have something that's actually accessible to families that live in that area.”
Ultimately, Robles chalks it up to a lack of communication and education about the full scale of the project.
“The community members really didn’t get the opportunity that they should have been given to speak orally at these events,” Robles said. “They came all the way from their house and took time to be there, they want to be involved. But they were not given the opportunity to speak the way they wanted to speak.”
The city says it is following all needed environmental assessments and continues to plan more outreach events, saying that the project details will be informed by community input.
“We need housing across the continuum here in the city of Tucson and we want to work with neighbors to determine the exact combination that's appropriate for that site,” Santa Cruz said.
Susan's work with the Tucson Agenda is supported by the Local News Initiative of Southern Arizona, a fund of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.
To report on this story, Susan had to research dozens of EPA sites. Help us maintain this level of quality reporting by becoming a paid subscriber!
New tools: The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is using automated call-backs in the 911 system, the Arizona Daily Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar reports. The system sends texts and emails in English and Spanish letting callers know whether there will be any delay in responding to their call and who their case was assigned to, along with the person’s contact information.
New rules: Now that President Biden’s executive orders are in effect, asylum seekers who cross the border between ports of entry in Southern Arizona are finding themselves sent back to Nogales, Sonora, National Public Radio’s Sergio Martínez-Beltrán reports. That includes a mother from Oaxaca, Mexico who is trying to earn money to pay for an operation for her daughter, who suffers from a rare blood disorder.
Slicing and dicing: As state budget negotiations get going, our sister newsletter the Arizona Agenda breaks down what lawmakers are thinking about cutting from the budget. They’re talking about sweeping hundreds of millions of dollars from dedicated funds, like the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority, along with cutting one-time spending, such as postponing the widening of Interstate 10. And they’re talking about cutting $8 million from the University of Arizona.
Not again: The Pima County Democratic Party deleted a meme from its Facebook account the other day, but not before it managed to ruffle a few feathers. The comments were largely critical and there were many more crying emojis than thumbs up. This isn’t the first time the party has been met with criticism for its behavior on Facebook. In April, it deleted a post saying the platform was dying and getting weirder every day, after readers called the comment ageist.
Filling a vacancy: After the unfortunate passing of Catalina Foothills Unified School District Governing Board member Amy Bhola, Pima County School Superintendent Dustin J. Williams appointed Carole Siegler to fill the vacancy on the board, the superintendent’s office announced in a news release. Siegler is a former Catalina Foothills board president who spent 26 years on the board.
Coming home: One of the finalists for the chancellor job at Pima Community College is a graduate of PCC, the Arizona Daily Star’s Ellie Wolfe reports. Veronica Garcia went to Sunnyside High School and then PCC, but she didn’t plan on pursuing higher education. But two counselors encouraged her and she ended up getting a Ph.D. from Oregon State University and is now the president of Northeast Lakeview College in Texas.
6: The number of cooling centers run by the City of Tucson.
