Good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much. Really appreciate you all being here joining us today. Um we will start our study session of Wednesday January 21st and items 1 to three are executive sessions. Miss Clerk, item one, executive session administrative order and consent with EPA for ion exchange facility and is being held pursuant to ARS 38.4. 431.03 A3 and A4. Item three is exe executive session Arizona Department of Transportation A DOT versus City of Tucson notice of claim 31451 and is being held pursuant to ARS 38-431.03 A3 and A4. May I have a motion to go into executive session, please?

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So moved. There is a motion and a second. Any further discussion on this motion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Any against? Motion carries. We'll be out in how long, Roy? 45.

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45 minutes. We'll see you in 45 minutes. Yeah. Heat.

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to me. Heat. Heat. to return to [music] study session.

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Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Any against? What is the council's pleasure for item two? Your honor, the the appropriate motion is to proceed as discussed in executive session to authorize the city attorney and the city manager to take all actions necessary to enter into and the mayor to execute an administrative order on consent with the EPA to construct an ion exchange facility as part of the Tucson airport remediation project or TARP. So moved. There's a motion. May I have a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I.

1:09:58 – 1:10:43•0

I. I. Any against? Motion carries. Item four. What is the council's pleasure for item four? Mr. for attorney. Your honor, the appropriate motion would be to proceed as discussed in executive session to authorize the city attorney and the city manager to settle settle the torque claim number 31451 in the amount of 562,91.34 and to pursue any and all payment arrangements with the Arizona Department of Transportation for that sum. May I have a motion? So moved. There is a motion. May I have a second? There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion on this item? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I.

1:10:38 – 1:11:15•0

I. Any against? Motion carries. Now, we're going to move on to item five, but I'm going to do a little bit of movement with um with the agenda. So, we're going to do item five and then item seven. Then, we're going to take a little break and come back to item six. Okay. So item five, time has been set aside to provide the mayor and council with an update on delivery of the 2006 RTA program and the RTA next plan with special attention to transit services funded by the RTA. Mr. Manager,

1:11:13 – 1:13:11•0

thank you honorable mayor and members of the council. Joining me here at the table is director of transportation mobility Sam Credio who will be uh giving a brief overview of those uh items as requested. Thank you, Mr. Manager, and good afternoon, honorable mayor, members of the council. This is our continued discussion on all things related to the RTA. Uh, first, I do want to let you all know that there is an upcoming RTA board meeting uh next week on January 29th. The board packet for that has not been made available yet. We did provide the link to that board packet u or to the website where that board packet will be posted in your material. We do expect that the content discussed with the board will be primarily focused on the delivery of the 2006 RTA plan. In fact, I do understand that RTA staff together with the jurisdictions will be providing an update on the completion of the 2006 RTA plan, which brings me to our uh next item we want to update you on. We did provide a very high level summary of the remaining projects included in the 2006 RTA plan roadway element. Uh two that I do want to draw your attention to is the downtown links project which we are very very close to completing and a ribbon cutting is planned uh for uh very soon early 2026 and so we hope that you all can attend that uh celebration. Uh it's been a long time coming and we're excited to uh open that roadway up to all users. And then the second project that I'd like to briefly update you on is the 22nd Street Bridge reconstruction. As you know, we've been working on this for uh many years now. We have a raise grant that was awarded to the city of Tucson on this project and I'm very happy to report that we're ready to begin construction on 22nd Street Bridge. We had a very successful pre-construction openhouse last week that was very well attended and we are holding a groundbreaking ceremony on February 4th. Uh again, I I invite you to join us for that. Um that is a a very exciting occasion um because this project is a long time in the making and

1:13:09 – 1:15:09•0

we do expect that the road will be closed in the first week of March for about 2 and a half to three years with the construction that'll be eminent is the uh demolition of the existing bridge. So we're very excited to get that project started. And then for the remaining projects you can see that we're making progress either in planning design or construction on all of the remaining projects that the city has to complete in the 2006 RTA plan. The next item that we want to spend the bulk of our time today talking about is the RTA transit element. Uh and specifically uh the 2006 RTA plan. Um just to orient yourselves annually the uh city of Tucson and the RTA uh enter into two intergovernmental agreements IGAS. The first is for projects 44 through 49 and that includes funding for uh weekday frequency expansion nights weekends the express service. Uh these were most recently approved uh by the mayor and council uh in December. And then the other IGA that we also enter into is for regional transit service which is primarily for transit uh outside the city limits uh in Puma County, South Tucson and Morirana. Again, both of these IGAs were approved not only by the city of Tucson mayor and council but also by the RTA board. And based on the recently adopted IGAs, the value of the transit service in those IGAs is just shy of $21.8 million. There the breakout of that is about $10.3 million allocated for service operated inside the city limits and then around 11.5 million allocated for service outside the city limits. The other thing that I want to draw your attention to is prior to COVID, we always deducted the fair revenue that we collected on those routes from the IGA. We've continued to do that, but through a fair revenue credit. And so when you deduct the fair revenue credit from uh those amounts I just listed, it totals 19.1 million. We did include in the material a table that shows the breakout not only for uh the

1:15:07 – 1:17:05•0

the various projects, but also across jurisdiction. So you can see exactly how that uh transit funding is allocated across the region which the the largest receiver of the of the transit service outside the city limits is Pima County. Uh then what we did is we took a look at a draft scenario uh for city operated transit if in the event that the RTA next vote on March 10th, 2026 is not successful. Um, there's a couple assumptions that I want to list for you before we get into the details of this draft scenario. First, we took a look at the baseline service standard, which is providing service from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. We also uh tried to maintain a weekday frequency of 30 minutes or better and uh weekend frequencies of 60 minutes or better. The other assumption that we made as well is that the jurisdictions outside the city limits would want to continue to provide their uh service um as it's currently um um programmed in the system. Um once we did that, we took a look at a draft scenario that includes the reduction of approximately 141 daily weekday trips, 205 daily Saturday trips, and 115 daily Sunday trips. um that roughly affects the system in terms of reduced service hours on 21 routes uh reduced headway frequencies on 13 routes and five of those routes having both service hours and frequency impacted. The other thing I want to draw your attention to is the ondemand service and express service is wholly funded by the RTA. And so um this represents a total elimination of 34 daily weekday trips on 11 express routes that would be cut and uh the elimination of the two ondemand zones. Um I do want to draw your attention to the maps either that were handed out to you or on the screen. Um I'm going to go through this pretty quickly and I'm not going to spend a lot of time. This wasn't your

1:17:03 – 1:19:02•0

material. What we tried to do is visually show what the impacts of these service cuts are um for both weekdays. Let's see here. There we go. And so as you flip back and forth between these maps, what you can see is the darker colors represent. Let's see. The darker colors represent higher frequency. The lighter colors less frequency. And let's go to Sunday. There we go. There we go. And so, as you can see, as we flip through these, just the changing colors across those different uh maps. I'm gonna try to go back here. Come on. All right. I'm trying. I'm trying. We go back one more. There we go. Right there. And so you can see where um those those darker colors on weekday service where the impacts are the most. Also, just want to draw your attention to that dashed those dashed lines. That is the service outside the city of Tucson. again primarily in Puma County uh both north of the uh city as well as down in the Palverie area and then down in the far southwest. And so what this equates to is that if RTA next is unsuccessful in March, um we do expect that these service changes would be major service changes. Um, we would have to return immediately following that vote to the mayor and council and start the process for major service changes, which includes public outreach, ultimately a public hearing, uh, as well as a service equity analysis, and then, uh, finally, those changes couldn't take effect until an affirmative vote by the mayor and council. Um, on the contrary, if our TNX is successful, we would maintain the current service levels, but we'd also look at re uh implementing the recommended service changes that were included in the COA, which was approved back in 2024. Some of those recommended service changes are major service

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changes and would require the same process I outlined. Uh, again, that work would occur roughly May uh through July with uh service changes taking effect shortly after. The other thing I want to note is that if the RTA next plan is successful, there is $726 million of transit funding across the 20 years in the plan. Uh some of that funding does include funding for expanded service. And so we would expect that there would be a a dialogue not only with the mayor and council but our transit advisory committee and other stakeholders about how that expanded transit service would be allocated across the system with the majority of that funding coming to the city of Tucson ultimately with the recommendation by the RTA to the RTA board and how to allocate that funding. The last thing I want to leave you with and then I'll be happy to answer any questions is just the impacts to Sun Shuttle and Sun Shuttle Dialeride. Um that service is operated by the RTA. It's primarily operated outside the city limits. However, there is one route route 450 uh which is operates entirely in the city limits between Puma Community College and the Rita Ranch area. And it is expected that with the absence of the RTA uh next funding that uh RTA would not be able to operate Sun Shuttle and Shuttle Dialeride. And with that, mayor, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

1:20:16 – 1:21:26•0

Thank you, Mr. Credo. Uh, I appreciate you all bringing this information to Marian Council and the public. Um, I requested that you bring this item to us so that we could potentially look at a scenario in the future without um the investment of Proposition 418 and 419 by residents in Pima County. And um one of the uh questions that I had is besides the I think it's about $10 million a year that fund weekend service and um and uh extended hours during the week and all of these other services. Are there any um without uh future RTA, are there any transportation projects of the elements that um for transportation expansion, etc. Are those affected as well?

1:21:24 – 1:22:15•0

Uh thank you, mayor, for that question. There are several projects included in the RTA next plan that are a carryover from the 2006 RTA plan. Some of which are required to be included in the plan because there is a change in scope, others because there's, you know, some additional funding that needs to be brought to the table to complete those projects. So, um, not only would those be lost, um, we do have several projects in the roadway element for the city of Tucson, um, there are also, uh, several categories within the safety category that, uh, allows some some flexibility for the city of Tucson to invest in, um, active transportation projects, uh, the improvement of our, uh, traffic signal infrastructure, as well as funding for safe routes to school projects. Um, aside from the transit funding as well,

1:22:12 – 1:22:53•0

what are the four projects that were um moved to the uh RTA next? Yeah, thank you, mayor. So, the the two projects that we've not begun work on that were absent from my list here was uh Hton Road north of Broadway up to Tankerverie. That project has been deferred to the next uh plan. Also, 22nd Street West, which is essentially from Kino to I 10. that project uh is and actually both of those projects have scope changes specifically. Um we also expect that there will be some needed funding for 1 Avenue as well as Grant Road 5 and six.

1:22:51 – 1:23:20•0

And do those transportation projects affect the general fund? Mayor, neither of those transportation projects have general fund uh funding allocation, but they just would not happen. They would just not happen. That's correct, Mayor. Okay. Does the transit elements, the the what the city of Tucson and uh the other jurisdictions receive to run their transit systems, do those affect our general fund?

1:23:18 – 1:23:54•0

Yes, mayor. In fact, uh our transit system is primarily funded through the general fund uh and the absence of the RTNX funding that uh we outlined in the material, um the another funding source would have to be fun found in order to provide that service. So if if we do not receive I think it's going to be more like $16 million a year if Proposition 48 and 419 pass um then we would have to find approximately $10 million just to keep the services that we have now.

1:23:53 – 1:24:38•0

Yeah. Yes, mayor. That's correct. In the in the table one of your material, I we provided a column that uh lists city of Tucson cost and just for the service that's provided inside the city limits only, it's 10.268 million. So in order to provide those transit services, we would either have to cut about $10.6 million worth of transit services or find $10.6 6 million I would imagine from our general fund. Mayor, we'd have to find another funding source to to fill that gap. That's correct. If not, the services would be cut. We would have to find some way to reduce costs to the system in order to to uh fund the system.

1:24:35 – 1:24:47•0

Okay. I just wanted to open it up for my colleagues on the council there if there's any questions. Council member Schubert and then Vice Mayor.

1:24:46 – 1:26:45•0

Thank you so much. Thanks Director Credio for this um information and for DTM staff for putting this memo together. Um you know uh some just initial thoughts because my understanding is that this discussion item is for members of the council to um provide feedback and ask questions. Um so my first piece of feedback um is that um from my perspective I believe that cuts to transit service should be a last resort um not the first or only scenario to consider. Um, our prosperity initiative compels us, plan Tucson compels us, and our current traffic violence levels, which are unacceptably high, also compels us to continue to find creative solutions to keep operating transit um, as near to the same levels of service that we currently have. Um, I wasn't on the council for some of these discussions leading up to this memo, but you know, my takeaway in reading the memo, um, was that the most obvious path to maintain current levels of transit service throughout the region is to pass RTA next. And if we don't, then it just it goes away. Um, but I think we're we're living in a reality where we don't control voters and we shouldn't be trying to influence them based upon how we're shaping the information that we're giving to them. I'm coming to this meeting fresh from an interaction that I had last night at a neighborhood association meeting. Um I was cornered by a group of constituents um who are very engaged in local issues and expressed um many concerns about the plan as it's currently proposed. Um and these aren't random people. These are well-informed, credible individuals, two of whom have uh held local elected office previously here in Tucson. uh and they cornered me because they are angry about the plan and feel that it takes us backwards. Um so I have those constituents um and others that I've heard from over the last weeks on my mind as I take up space in this study

1:26:42 – 1:28:28•0

session. Um and as you know Sam when we met um we had a lot of questions about the memo when we reviewed it oneonone. Um, so just for full transparency and following Mayor Romero's advice, uh, we did reach out, um, to PAG RTA executive director Mike Ortega and PAG attorney Lisa Anne Smith. They weren't able to make it today, but we do have a lot of specific questions. Um, I'm interested in making sure we're not just jumping to the worst case scenario and cutting a service that is so essential to constituents and that we're exploring all of our options. Um so we will be meeting on Friday to um ask those questions. Um I just feel that by focusing exclusively on service losses and omitting discussion of backup strategies, shared responsibility or financial flexibility, we're being asked to support RTA next based on worst case assumptions rather than a full understanding of all of our options. Something that that brings to mind for me was when I was listening back on the bar on the RTA board meeting from December 4th. I was listening to the discussion about the funding for the 22nd Street Bridge because there there was a shortfall that was a part of the conversation. Um you know, executive director Ortega indicated that he had found a solution to that funding shortfall, mentioning that we can't let that project fail. um and that we should be confident in our partnerships and collaboration to find creative solutions. And it's just hard to not think that we should be doing the same for public transit. If we uh if we truly believe that it's a component of the prosperity initiative, which is literally to break generational poverty, um I think we need to treat transit as the essential service that it is.

1:28:29 – 1:28:55•0

Did you have any questions about alternative? Um, so we're going to ask those questions on Friday and I just want to put to my colleagues that I don't want to jump to the worst case scenario and just say it's a black or white situation. Um, so just just wanting to open up that conversation. I don't know where it's going to land, but I think we need to be honest and we need to be creative and not just say, "All right, transit's on the chopping block. That's it."

1:28:53 – 1:29:31•0

Right? I Well, as you well know, I have been a supporter of free transit for the last five years. I've also sat on the PAG RTA board for the last six years that sometimes uh it would be better to pull my hair out than sit in those meetings. And um you know, we've had these conversations um and uh sometimes it felt very lonely. Council member Schubert, I saw you. There were a lot of there were a lot of organizations that could have shown up

1:29:27 – 1:31:25•0

and could have spoke out that didn't. Um, and so I think that as mayor of the city of Tucson, I, you know, being one voice in that table, um, I had to fight to make sure that we had the best possible RTA plan uh, to take us into the future. And I agree with you that you can't tell voters uh, we don't know how voters are going to respond, right? We had the best intentions as mayor and council with Proposition 414 to um provide, you know, incredible investments in the safety uh of our city. And um voters said no. And so we don't know what's going to happen in March of this year [snorts] with Proposition 418 and 419. But as mayor and council, we have a responsibility to talk about the potential consequences of not seeing uh an initiative that frankly all of us at this table worked really hard to get to where it's at. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. uh could we have uh more investment even though we get 255% of the investment of the dollars that are coming in for the next 20 years. Of course, we could have it all. But um I think that it is important that my colleagues here on the council um really know what uh the scenario is, but also is there bridge funding? because I think that um

1:31:21 – 1:32:09•0

knowing what happens if RTA next or Prop 418419 does not pass, what's what happens immediately after that? Right. Um and Mr. Timur, Mr. Credo, would would you know um I know we've had these conversations before at the table at at the RTA board, but can any leftover money be used for transit services? Um if March 10th does not happen, can any leftover money that's still coming in be used to pay for transit services? according to what we've heard at the RTA board.

1:32:07 – 1:32:44•0

Thank you, mayor, for that question. Uh it is our understanding that the uh commitment to fund transit was for 20 years and also to deliver all the projects in the RTA plan. And so it's my understanding that any available fund balance beyond July 1st needs to be used to deliver the projects that have not been delivered because the commitment to fulfill transit or fund transit service for 20 years has been um fulfilled. Now, with that being said, I would suggest, mayor, that that question ultimately be asked of the RTA executive director and they provide an a formal response to that question

1:32:42 – 1:34:42•0

because I I think that you're recalling the same thing I am that we were told by the RTA attorney that the uh physical projects like the transportation projects that are in uh construction right now have to be finished versus supplanting uh any of those leftover funds for transit. But I think it would be good to have the RTA attorney possibly write us um the mayor and council to let us know if uh if those funds could be used as bridge funds. Uh I I know that uh there are some people out in our community that talk about an alternative. I haven't seen any conversations or meetings or any draft plans um from anyone to convince me that there is a credible plan that could supplant uh this particular um option uh for the voters of the region. But I'm would love to and usually I am of the of the thought that it should be a yes and yes, right? I'm um I I uh furiously believe that investing in ourselves is the only route moving forward. Um we cannot uh rely on the federal government to save us. We cannot rely on the state government to save us and invest in us. Uh we must do that on our own. And so for me it would be a yes and yes. Um that was my philosophy with you know the proposition 414 um that there were some RTA believers

1:34:39 – 1:34:58•0

that that felt as though if we approve 4148 and 419 would not pass. I think otherwise, but I'm, you know, I'm generally a very positive person. So, any other questions, comments? Vice Mayor?

1:34:56 – 1:36:27•0

Uh, thank you, mayor, um, for your remarks. And, Council Member Schubert, um, I I feel, you know, also feel that, um, service hours and frequency cuts are the opposite direction, you know, that that we need to build a a solid regional transit system. Um, and I also feel like as as legislators, as people who are in charge of helping balance a budget, we need to have a sobering um, picture of what we would be facing um, if this source of funding um, is no longer there. Mostly because our transit system does depend so much on our general fund, on RTA and federal funding um, which are not not significant. So, um I I think it's just helpful for us to have this information um as we um wait to see the will of the voters in March and then have, you know, a follow-up conversation of what this is going to going to look like because, um regardless of the RTA, we we have ongoing um discussions about what do we need for a long-term sustainable funding for our public transit system that needs to happen regardless of RTA. Um but my my question right now um Sam is for the road projects that are still to be finished by this existing RTA. What are the estimated outstanding costs for completing those city projects?

1:36:28 – 1:36:42•0

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Santa Cruz, I I don't have those right off the top of my head. We'll we'll provide those to you following the meeting. We can get you those that information. Councilwoman Lee.

1:36:40 – 1:38:18•0

Thank you, Mayor. And I I just want to also thank you, Mayor, because I remember when Council Member Ulich was sitting in the W three seat. I remember conversations we were having at the table about giving ourselves a timeline to decide what we were going to do. And then when she was in the W six seat and so we have been at this for a very long time. And mayor, you have done a really great job to be our collective voice over the past six years at that very difficult table that you occupied. So I want to I want to thank you for that. And I agree, it's not perfect. If you go talk to W four voters, they would love to see more road projects out in W 4 because there are very different needs in different parts of town. And I think that this plan has tried to address as many of the needs and given everybody in different pockets of Pima County some some value. And I think that that's really important. I also appreciate mayor and and Sam and city manager bringing this particular conversation to the table because I love a good contingency plan and we really do have to have a plan in place in the event that things do not uh turn out positively for the RTA next vote. Um we have, you know, been talking about how we creatively continue to keep uh fair free transit and we've only gotten so far down that road. So I agree with the vice mayor. we really have to have a long-term conversation about how we're going to fund the transit system um in in regardless as you said vice mayor regardless of what happens with this because we know the general fund just cannot absorb um more and more and more of of the need that exists in our community. So um again thank you for the conversation. I really appreciate it and look forward to um seeing where the vote goes next month.

1:38:16 – 1:40:15•0

Council member Barakas and then council member Cunningham. Okay. Well, thank you, Sam, and the whole staff at DTM for this. And thank you, mayor. Um, I'm really concerned that the most vulnerable in our community will be the first ones to be impacted if RTA Next doesn't pass, especially those that don't have the time or capacity to attend neighborhood meetings or even have access to social media. So the less frequent buses reduce evening and weekend service and loss of paratransit services could be devastating to people who rely on transit to get to their jobs or to get around independently because they are unable to drive or do not have their own cars. Um as we heard, you know, as mayor and council, they've discussed at meetings prior to my election to this council. And I knew going into this role that we were still going to have limited options on how we can fund our transit system. So using funding to support transit operations as well as capital needs in RTA was a smart investment. When it comes to transit to me it is critical that we provide safe, frequent and reliable and affordable service. So we have already been working to address transit safety and the discussion around free fairs has been ongoing. So I'm just not sure how we'll continue to offer fair free transit if RTA next doesn't pass. The Sunlink Street car was made possible with significant investment in RTA 1. Now we have the opportunity to expand highcapacity transit here in Tucson in part with funding from RTA next. So this one is near and dear to me as I spent many years leading community engagement efforts through our community ambassadors during the Tucson Northur and Tucson rapid transit projects. I want to see those efforts succeed and I want us to be able to build upon that dream of bringing highcapacity transit to the southern segment of that corridor

1:40:12 – 1:41:57•0

and I know that dream is many years from happening but making it a reality requires investment starting now. So, in addition to the transit part of the equation, both RTA 1 and RTA next include funding for roadway projects that I'm looking forward to, as well as funding to create more complete streets and features to support bicycle and pedestrian safety. Some of the differences in RT next that I'm really um hopeful to see um more investment specifically on our south and west sides, areas that have never experienced these type of investments before. And I'm hoping that um our our residents will be able to finally receive the investment that they deserve. And uh looking forward to Drexel Road Bridge project, too. And that's a huge project that I know residents I worked on that too. They were they would ask me, is this really going to happen? Because it's been in the works for years beyond my lifetime here on Earth. So, let's make it happen for the residents. Thank you. you know, council member Barakas, I'm thinking about the two things. One, the paratransit services that could possibly uh reduce service hours and coverage. Um particularly in the outskirts, uh which is, you know, the optional service area. Um and primar transit services serves people with disabilities, um and elderly. Uh, so I I'm really concerned about that. I'm also concerned about what uh 10 point what did you say $10.9 million

1:41:56•0

10.3 million roughly

1:41:57 – 1:42:52•0

$10.3 million hit to Suntran means in terms of jobs like a $10.3 million hit in our transit system because I mean we have to remember we're looking at a possibility of $40 million budget deficit So bringing on another $10.3 million in order to keep the services even if it were to be for 8 months, 10 months would be devastating. So I'm just thinking and Sam, I don't know if you've put pen to paper about uh the jobs at Suntran that could be affected um and how long would it take to affect that? I don't know if you thought about that further.

1:42:51 – 1:43:22•0

Uh thank you mayor for that question and we have thought about that and we've begun conversations um with our contractor about what that could look like and uh absolutely there will most likely be an impact to the number of drivers we would need to provide the service. I think initially we would take a look at any vacancies that we might have first and then beyond that we would be looking at uh potential layoffs if that um if if we had more drivers than we had service to provide. Council member Cunningham

1:43:19 – 1:45:17•0

is [clears throat] in word two in this version of the RTA there's actually not a new project and constituents have asked me but we're finishing out off the project that we carried over. Not only that uh it meets all the maintenance needs of the projects we already finished. So there's always more to it. I've discussed multiple times how one of the problems I had with the first version of RTA was that we didn't need new roads. We need to maintain our existing roads. This gives us an opportunity to do that. Uh it's interesting that people have come up to me and said, well uh we don't want Tucson to get any money. And then we tell them that Tucson's getting 62% of the money or excuse me, Tucson's getting 52% of the money, but 62% is being charged in the city. And then they're mad that Tucson isn't getting their fair share. We have contradictions. Like people just kind of try to find reasons why they don't like something. And when you really look at everything holistically, I had someone criticize the fact there's $720 million going into transit and they say that that's way too much. I had somebody in and that's a pretty good balance of what we're trying to do. um or that there wasn't uh a cross town freeway. And again, I've reminded people that the opportunity to do that rests with uh some collaboration with ADAT and that's a bigger discussion than just RTA. So each one of these things have been conflated and we've had all that different uh pieces to it. Um rough numbers the

1:45:14 – 1:47:12•0

riff expected for Sun Trends is 80 jobs 75 to 80 jobs probably. I mean if you're doing rough numbers and you're backing out some some O andM that's how money comes out. So when we really think about um how hard it is to get all the players in multiple municipalities, a tribe and unincorporated PI county to agree on something with multiple meetings and multiple give and take and multiple compromise. It's a pretty amazing task. Uh the other piece is is that this isn't introducing anything new. And if you look around the state, uh, even if the RTA passes, Tucson will be on the lower end of sales tax, especially when you factor in the fact that we don't tax food. So, I think about all of these things, and I have no incentive to want this. I've always said I want the county to incorporate and all these things, but at the end of the day, the RTA and what it's done in the past 20 years and what it can do for us in the next 20 years are some of the best things we have and it can probably carry us to all the things uh it definitely carries us to a lot of the things that people have been visioning for a long time. They've just got to be involved and let their voices be heard. So, I come with this discussion today. I really appreciate talking about transit um and what we risk. Uh I'm not sure we're not due to revamp how we think about transit. I don't like that we don't have a line that goes AC along Sunrise and that we don't have lines that go north of uh that don't end in LA

1:47:09 – 1:48:17•0

Canada or Sunrise and Swan or Ventana. I don't like that we have that that that we kind of we kind of h picked and choose where our our our lines went outside the city. Uh and I also don't like the flexibility we have in paratransit or the lack of flexibility we have in paratransit and I brought that up multiple times. So for me, the RTA offers an opportunity to discuss all those things. So that's why I've I I've been in support of the package. That's why I voted for the package to be put to the voters because I felt that that's important that everybody's voice has an opportunity to be heard. So that's kind of where I'm at with with this. And again, none of this is anything new. We knew we knew six years ago that if we didn't renew RTA, not only were our road maintenance going to take a hit, not only is our public infrastructure going to take a hit, but our public transit is going to take a hit. Facts. So, we have to decide whether or not that hit is worth it. And that's what the whole region has to decide in March. Thank you.

1:48:14 – 1:49:11•0

Any others, questions, comments? I think one of the biggest questions that I get in commentary uh when I'm out and about doing my grocery shopping [snorts] is um mayor when are we going to b fix x road? Um usually it's like you're doing a great job but when are we going to fix our roads? Um, and I know that I I we had a lot of back and forth at the RTA board about um investment in our roads, just like repaving and modernizing our roads. Um, we included additional funds for that. Sam, um, how much how much is that investment in what is the formal language that we're using for it? I always lose it.

1:49:09 – 1:49:33•0

Uh, mayor, I believe the the element is arterial and collector u pavement rehabilitation. Okay. So, that's repaving and redoing and modernizing our roads. How much is going to that? Mayor, there's roughly $177 million in the plan for um for that element. Okay. So, if it doesn't pass, it's just not going to be there. That's correct.

1:49:31 – 1:51:30•0

Okay. Any others? Thank you so much. I think that um council member Schubert has a a really good point in terms of like how else uh besides transit, you know, where else are we going to receive a hit? I would love to be able to get that followup, Mr. CRIO, in terms of like, okay, which are the projects that are not going to happen? How are we um going what funds do we have available to finish the current projects like 22nd Street and um and Grant Road 56. How much money is going to be left? And then of course if there's a possibility of getting a legal opinion from the RTA attorney about um using the leftover money for uh for bridge funding for transit. that would be really helpful to get for all of us and the public to understand. Any others? Okay. Thank you so much for the presentation. I really I I really appreciate your uh your time. All righty. So, we're going to move Let me see if I find my work here. We're going to skip item um six and move on to item seven. But let me find my space here for a second. All righty. Um, this particular item here was requested by Vice Mayor Santa Cruz and I to have a discussion with our

1:51:28 – 1:53:27•0

colleagues on the council, city manager, city attorney. Um, as your mayor, I'm focused on taking actions that are within the jurisdiction of the city of Tucson. everything uh I can do as the mayor of Tucson to be able to protect our community um from uh concerns and incursions that are happening uh in our community in our state and around the country. Um, I'm completely focused on providing our residents safety and security and quality of life. And we work day in and day out to make sure that our residents feel as they can count on the city of Tucson, on our police department, um, on our offices as mayor and council to come to us to ask for uh, the appropriate services that they deserve. our immigrant community and all of our residents deserve certainty uh that our city-owned properties and resources will be used to deliver is specifically that quality of life services to our residents no matter their immigration status. Um, and one of the reasons why I uh support the mayor and council making a decision in terms of the usage of city of Tucson owned property is because we've got to give our residents the certainty that if they go to the park to walk their, you know, their dog or uh take their kids for a picnic or if they're going to go to a recreation center, either their child or themselves um or even go into one of our buildings,

1:53:23 – 1:54:51•0

say Tucson Water, to pay their bills. Uh that they will not be um you know, in those spaces be um confronted or attacked or harassed um by any federal agencies. Um this time we're going through a very dark time in our country. Um unfortunately uh the this administration our current administration is providing um creating fear and chaos and intimidation uh especially to immigrant communities throughout the country. And as a mayor, I feel we have to provide this certainty to our residents. And it's important uh to make sure that we take a stand that we are clear um about what we can do uh in terms of providing that safety and quality of life and assurances and certainty uh that our resources will not be used um to create fear and um attack our immigrant community in our city. So, just wanted to open up with that and hand it over to the vice mayor that signed this request uh with me.

1:54:48 – 1:56:45•0

Uh thank you, mayor. Um I know that um you were part of a team to direct staff to um put communication out on our city official website about knowing your rights and and knowing your risk and how to stay safe during this moment. Um we held um uh time with some press last week um to discuss what the city was doing. Um we are getting a lot of constituents who are reaching out to our offices when um afraid from what they're seeing whether it's on social media um or through group text. Um, so we're trying to respond um to this real sense of of fear and uh not having clarity about who what's the role of the city of Tucson and TPD and what's the role of um federal ICE agents. And so we wanted to provide um clarity to our community about what it is that we can do as a city and what we can't do. And what we do have control over is our city-owned property. And so the memo is requesting that um we not allow these uh federal agencies and other non city uses um to use city-owned property for staging um or processing of immigration enforcement actions. So that includes parking lots, garages, vacant lots, parks, public facilities. We want to continue to assure our community um that we want them to report crimes and we want them to use city services and everything that is within our power to show that we're we're wanting to be um a a good governing body that's going to that's going to protect all of our community members regardless of their immigration status. I think it's important in this moment. Um, so I I I'm not sure if we were if city attorney was going to speak or if I should make a motion and then go from there.

1:56:43 – 1:56:54•0

Vice Mayor, I think that you should make your motion and then I don't know if you have a second, but uh after that we can have further discussion.

1:56:51 – 1:57:56•0

Okay. Um, so with that, uh, my motion is that I move to direct the city manager and city attorney to return to Maring Council with the proposed ordinance and any necessary administrative guidance that would prohibit the use of city-owned or city-controlled property for staging, processing, debriefing, or other civil immigration enforcement operation by Immigration and Custom Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, US Customs and Border Protections, or any other non- city use without explicit permission except as required by law. The proposed ordinance and guidance shall also establish consistent city-wide protocols governing requests by federal immigration enforcement agencies for access to city property or resources, including clear procedures for city employees, designation of a centralized point of contact, training for relevant departments, and reporting back to the Maring Council on implementation and any anticip anticipated fiscal or operational impacts with staff returning within 30 days for consideration. That's a motion. I have a second.

1:57:54•0

Right. There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Any other colleagues? Councilwoman Lee and then Council Member Cunningham.

1:58:03 – 1:58:47•0

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to thank you and the vice mayor for bringing this item forward. Um, my brain is always looking at what we can and can't control. And the list of things that we can control is much smaller than I would like it to be in this moment in time. So, I think it's essential that everything that we do have the ability to influence, we do to protect our community and signal to our community that everyone at this table is going to do everything within our power to keep them safe. Um, just a quick note, Vice Mayor, I love the motion. I also just want to encourage you all. I heard uh the county attorney talk about some of the protocol that they're putting in place for county employees in buildings, and if we could compare notes and see what they're doing, there may be some opportunities to leverage um similar protocol.

1:58:42 – 2:00:41•0

Thank you, Council Member Cunningham. The original idea behind any department of public safety or any public safety, law enforcement, whatever you call it, is to the idea is for people to feel safe. As an elected official, you should feel safe. When I hear any part of an ICE doing an operation in Tucson, I actually feel less safe. They are not helping. And that's our problem. They are not actually doing anything that makes people feel good. And I don't know how well I I think there's a lot of reasons that people can identify on how they got off the rails this far. But the bottom line is it's important for us to send this message and let them know not only are we taking remedial action because our people don't feel safe with them running around like a bunch of Gestapo goons in our community. It just doesn't work. Now, I don't know if they did that on purpose. I don't know I don't know what the intent is, but the perception is bad. And if it was so good, then you wouldn't have what's going on in Minneapolis. You wouldn't have protests every single time they try to do an operation. They're not doing whatever they're supposed to be doing, right? And I don't know why that is. I think it's pretty interesting that we found out after the fact that on that Taco stuff, like all those people are out of custody now. That's ridiculous to me. So I don't I'm not even trusting their process right now. So, I think that's how a lot of people feel and I think that and I want to thank you guys for putting this forward. So, it's a good move and it's it's something that's it's a bit it's the two something to do.

2:00:38 – 2:00:49•0

So, I'm on board. You council member Dah and then Council Member Rakas.

2:00:46 – 2:02:26•0

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Vice Mayor, uh for bringing this forward. Um and my colleague, Councilwoman Nikki Lee, for what can we do? I think we can also speak out and I'm going to use this forum to call it what it is. It is fascism in America. Uh our founding fathers did not envision the president having his own palace troops to be deployed wherever he wants. Greenland, Venezuela, Minneapolis, Portland, hopefully not Tucson. Um this has to be stopped to have law enforcement. We can only vaguely call them law enforcement when they wear masks, where they don't identify who they are, where they get $50,000 signon bonuses, where they're stealing from um they're recruiting from law from real law enforcement outfits, um they're not making us safer. A small portion of the money that's going to this federal police force, and it's just amazing that we have a federal police force. um if it was distributed to counties to states to cities to bolster our law enforcement who are well trained. We know they go throughmies we know that they follow the law. We know that there's consequences when they shoot people. We know that that um that they don't kidnap people that they follow due process that we know where people who have been arrested are going and um that transparency is an essential part of law enforcement. And I agree with my colleague, uh, Council Member Cunningham. We don't feel safe. ICE does not make anybody in America feel safer. Thank you. I look forward to what we can do.

2:02:24•0

Council member Vargas,

2:02:26 – 2:03:36•0

I just want to thank you, mayor and Vice Mayor, for putting this memo together. Um, as a proud Tusone in somebody with deep roots, you know, Tucson is home to a diverse community rooted in the indigenous peoples who have stood this land since time in memorial. And it's important that here now at the local level that we do have the responsibility to protect the well-being and safety and dignity of all residents despite immigration status. Um it's important that our families feel safe. You know, our residents feel safe in our neighborhoods, in public spaces, our parks. So, I'll continue to work with you all in partnership and with our community organizations, our legal advocates and residents to share accurate information. You know, as our vice mayor shared, I'm also receiving a lot of messages of what to do if there's any know your right forums going on. Um, and making sure that we protect the civil rights and and ensure that Tucson residents are safe and can live, work, and live, you know, just without fear and and thrive without fear. So, thank you again.

2:03:34 – 2:03:57•0

Thank you, uh, Vice Mayor. I just, um, had, uh, one more thing I wanted to add. But I know that in Minneapolis, um, city staff were giving direction to design a sign for private property owners who wanted to law lawfully restrict ICE activity in in their non-public areas. And so I'm just wondering if that's something that we can also consider doing.

2:03:55 – 2:04:36•0

I don't know, Mr. Attorney. Um, I know that we can control our own property as a city of Tucson. Um there are a lot of questions because of the fear that is being created and the chaos that is being created. Um I receive a lot of questions about what you know what can the mayor what can the council what can the city of Tucson do. I don't think we can protect uh private property because that is you know there's p private property uh rights but those that want to is there any type of language um that we could recommend?

2:04:34 – 2:06:33•0

It's a good question mayor and and you're right we we can control our own our own property. uh where it comes to private property, the challenge is not only we want to be very careful about telling folks what they can and can't do with their own property, but also we want to be very very careful about uh because we we have mechanisms for enforcing what happens on city property, right? Private property owners would engage with TPD and then you involve TPD against ICE and that's not really a good situation to to have and the concern would people would get hurt. So we just want to be very very clear that you know in the sense that uh there is law enforcement activity on private property you have the right to control your own property and if it's being used inappropriately you can you can take action uh either through no press uh no trespass signs which are already available and and are readily usable um but also be very careful about understanding the difference between something like an HSI investigation versus a ICE civil enforcement activity and So, I think the the actions that you've taken, mayor, and and W one and and the other word uh W council members have taken in terms of uh putting that information out through the know your rights uh website and those sorts of things are are a available for folks to use and to use in protection of themselves and their own property. And I think that's that's a good way to go. Um, also in terms of the know your rights uh website that we put out, I know that we've been um on the same page with the city manager, our city, our uh chief, Chief Casmar. I know that he feels very strongly about having a good relationship with our residents uh because of the possibility of of people not reporting crimes and and um people taking advantage and

2:06:32 – 2:08:31•0

abusing uh the status of of individuals in our city. So, we've gone through this before. I just want to remind us of this. We went through the S SP 1070 days. I was on the council uh when all of that was happening. Um I introduced uh uh the changes in TPD's general orders uh to be able to protect our community and so that they could feel safe with our own police officers and our police department. Um and so the general orders in terms of immigration and how to uh how to treat um juveniles and uh victims and witnesses of crime and you know all of the all of the changes that we did at that time are done. Um as mayor I'm comparing notes with other mayors across the country uh to see what they have been able to do. is just different because each city has a different um a different system of government. There are cities like Chicago that has a strong mayor um system of government and usually they can just go ahead and do you know do executive orders and and and uh the laws are very different. There's cities that um also are blue cities in blue uh states that have the support of their governor and their state legislature and they could do many other things. Uh so every city is in a very different um place in terms of what we can do because of the uh the government uh system that we have and then of course where they uh

2:08:28 – 2:09:06•0

if they're part of a red or or a blue state. So, uh, I will continue to make sure to work with other elected officials in the state, um, to work with organizations that want to work with me and want to work with us to help, uh, protect our community. I'm open and uh, willing to work with anyone um, to help make sure that we are protecting our residents as much as we possibly can. So, with that, I don't know if there's any other questions or comments. Council member Schubert,

2:09:04 – 2:09:55•0

just want to quickly also express my thanks to um mayor and vice mayor for putting this memo forward and for um my council colleagues comments. I feel really proud to be um a part of a group of people that um you know, we're not going to fall in line and we're not going to be intimidated um into complying because we're afraid of being targeted. You know, this is about looking at all of our available options, what's legally available, because that's what the constituents are asking us to do. I'm I'm like the rest of you. We've been getting phone calls. We've been having folks stop in asking, "What is the city doing? We know you're on our side, but literally, what actions can you take?" So, I was very excited to get to share this memo with um with my constituents in W 6, and I'm excited to see where this conversation goes. Thank you so much.

2:09:53 – 2:10:20•0

Uh thank you so much. Thank you, Vice Mayor, for helping lead with this. Um, we're missing Council Member Cunningham, but the motion is alive and on the floor. There's a motion and a second. Um, I don't know if there's any further discussion. Hearing none, all those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying by saying I I

2:10:17 – 2:10:57•0

I. and let the record show that council member Gunningham did walk in just in time uh to vote on this. Yes, I saw that. Uh thank you so much. We're going to take a little bit of a fivem minute break and and then come back with the item seven which is a Tucson resilient together update. Thank you. I'm sorry. [music] [music]

2:14:36 – 2:15:21•0

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2:15:28 – 2:16:22•0

Hey, hey, hey. [music] [music] [music] [music] Heat up [music] here.

2:16:30 – 2:18:03•0

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2:18:41 – 2:20:36•0

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Heat. Heat.

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We're going to turn with item six on the agenda. Item six, time has been set aside to provide the mayor and council with a semianual report on the implementation progress of Tucson Resilient Together. Mr. Manager, the floor is yours. Thank you, honorable mayor and members of the council. Uh happy to have with me here today Fatima Maluna, our chief resilience officer who's been leading our efforts in uh climate action and mitigation. And uh apparently she came bearing gifts today. So I I won't steal any of that thunder. I I'll hand it over to Fatima.

2:25:34 – 2:27:33•0

Thank you, city manager. Um, honorable mayor, members of the council, thank you for the opportunity to present another update on the implementation of our climate action plan to Sun Resilient together. Uh, you do have a memo and our report. I do want to uh note that we were alerted that there was a typo in the memo and so that has been corrected and reposted as corrected. Um so I am pleased to report that from 2024 to 2025 uh the number of actions that we have advanced increased from 74% to 85%. Um and over this last uh six months some key highlights include climate leadership. So Tucson continues to lead on climate. uh Mayor Romero really elevated Tucson work um at a global stage at the COP uh 30 uh local leaders forum in the C40 world mayor summit. Uh it was really great to see our mayor uh really uplift the work that Tucson is doing and also uh see her share some of our heat work um especially with some of the communities cities around the world who have not been experiencing heat the way that we have. So, a lot to um teach and also learn. Um when it and speaking of heat resilience, we had a successful 2025 heat preparedness and relief season. Uh we worked with nearly 200 volunteers who help us uh supported outreach and heat relief efforts. We distributed over a thousand heat relief kits. um knock on over 800 mobile homes uh sharing resources but also supplies or cooling centers and all uh cool tainers. This is only city uh cooling centers and cool containers recorded nearly 5,000 visits just this summer.

2:27:29 – 2:29:29•0

Um, so we also enhance our existing partnerships with the Pima County Health Department, the Red Cross, and also form new partnerships actually with the Tucson Indian Center and SAMU. It's a first response group. And so collectively, these uh partnerships really allow to not only enhance the quality of our heat relief kits, but also um our ability to have uh better supplies and spread our work even more across the community. So we are now three weeks away from our third annual Southern Arizona Heat Summit. Um the summit, if you haven't checked out the website, please do. I'll just pass it um on both sides. We have an amazing line of speakers. We have a youth panel with six youth uh ages 10 to 18. They're going to share their experience, their lived experiences with extreme heat and also some u proposed solutions. So, it's looking so great. Um and we have a website. Uh and then on that note, I just want to take a quick moment to give a shout out to Karina Martinez who is here and part of the team for not only building the website but also the Loia that you have with you. Um so this is a heat awareness lotia and it's really going to help us as part of that uh preparedness for the heat season. So the intention is that we would host lotia at nights or maybe evenings depending on the community on heat vulnerable communities. We're thinking on like the common areas of mobile home parks uh but also the cooling centers to attract more people and have programming uh and so if you're interested in hosting a lot are your board office or uh in a particular location let us know. So this is part of the preparedness um strategy that we're using this year. So, it's going to be new. Um, and so, and so thanks to like

2:29:27 – 2:31:25•0

the sponsors and also a grant that we received, we are going to be able to provide breakfast, lunch, um, also gift cards for youth participation at the heat summit. And so, um, I just wanted to share that much. Um and in addition like we have been working really hard to build relationships with foundation uh so that they support uh heat work and I'll share a little bit more about that in just a second. Um so when it comes to nature based naturebased climate solutions or urban forestry team Nicole who just left and Viennet uh continue implementing the growth Tucson grant uh focusing on workforce development and training uh we continue to partner with Tucson Clean and Beautiful to plant trees on the ground but we also co-ounded a position at the tree center. So, we're now going to be able to increase our tree tree production capacity to 7,000 trees. Uh, hopefully putting a lot more trees on the ground, uh, across our Tucson community. Um, so, um, we have been very intentional about enhancing and also spending partnerships. Uh I represent the city of Tucson and the Arizona communities foundation environmental accelerator program uh which is trying to pull uh resources from different foundations and philanthropists to fund environmental work in Tucson. Um and so thanks to this participation we were able to secure $50,000 uh for tree planting you tree planting uh and programming uh to some clean and beautiful. This is also thanks to like the advocacy work that our mayor has been doing for uh bringing funds uh for tree planting um as well as another 30,000 uh and I'm very excited about this because this is going to support youth participation at the heat summit but

2:31:21 – 2:31:56•0

also implementation of youth uh le projects around building heat and so that's why I'm so excited to listen to the solutions that they would be providing at the summit because there's uh implementation funds available. So, we also partnered with the uh city's small business center and local first to implement the green business boot camp. So, helping businesses um improve water and energy efficiency. Um and so, yeah, I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

2:31:54 – 2:33:54•0

Well, first and foremost, thank you and congratulations to all of the work that your small but mighty team have been working on, Fatima. Um, I'm really excited that we moved from 766% of our Tucson Resilient Together actions that are underway or completed last year to 85% that are underway or completed this year, which tells me that we're moving fast and furiously, which is something that we absolutely must continue to do even in the face of uh this federal administ administration stripping away um grants that we won were uh fair and square. uh that we have proven and you and your team have proven to us that um you really have adapted that you're partnering with foundations and nonprofit groups and local businesses and you know academic institutions to make sure that we continue moving the needle on our climate work. Um, and I'm especially happy that our Tucson Million Trees Initiative, we're up to I I heard the latest 175,000 trees planted in this in and around the city of Tucson. And so I'm happy, very very happy, especially because we are focusing so much on uh youth development and training and work uh just preparing the future arborist and scientists uh in our community. Just last weekend, last Saturday, I joined um the Tucson Clean and Beautiful and the youth team, youthled team. We invited Congresswoman Adelita Grihalva to join

2:33:52 – 2:35:50•0

us to plant trees. It was really beautiful to see must have been like 40 young people leading us in uh planting trees in a neighborhood that um really I started working with since I was a council member. This was the Alvida neighborhood um and where we saw in action the gorgeousness of what green storm water infrastructure does and uh tree planting and using an area that had been desolate and bare uh to creating a luscious luscious um you know storm water capture park uh with hundreds of trees. that helped the community deviate storm water. These neighborhoods in Alva, you recall, uh, Vice Mayor Santa Cruz would get flooded up to their doors every single time it rained. And with our work with Tusan Clean and Beautiful, Pima County, I think we even got a federal grant, um, and then of course AOTD and expanding their, uh, water culverts underneath I19. We we got an incredible result and that we continue planting uh trees in um areas of our city throughout the city that uh see more heat because of less trees in their neighborhoods uh is just amazing. So congratulations. I you know all these things get me very excited. Um but um I really highly invite all of you to attend the heat summit. There's incredible conversations happening there. Um important conversation that we have to continue having. And then I'm going to sit with the young people in

2:35:47 – 2:36:56•0

their panel uh to listen to their ideas of what we have to continue doing, but also to answer questions of what the city of Tucson can do um to continue moving the needle on climate resiliency. So, congratulations. Very excited the work that you're doing uh in the face of um federal partnerships and and funding going away. you're bringing it all in. Fatima also uh attended the um uh uh COP 30 and C40 mayor summit in Brazil with me and we're taking notes about what other cities in the world are doing uh for climate resiliency comparing notes with Sydney, Australia and what they do in terms of heat um and them wanting to learn from the city of Tucson what we're doing. And so we we really are leading worldwide uh not just in this country. So congratulations Fatima. Any questions or comments? Council member Vahas.

2:36:54 – 2:38:27•0

Well, thank you Miss Fatima Luna. Um I just want to give you kudos you and your team you know picking back on our our mayor. I've spoke to different colleagues around and you know and outside of Arizona and a lot of folks have wonderful things to say about you know the work that you're doing because you are putting us on a national map and I just want to encourage my colleagues here to attend that heat uh summit. I went last year um not back then, not as a council member, but it was really a lot of those maps that um is inspiring me to do the work that I'm doing here in W 5 because W 5 was identified as, you know, some of the hottest neighborhoods in town and in the city. And I'm hoping through the work that we're going to continue to do together that we're not going to have that maroon color in the map and that we're going to, you know, because of the investment. and also to give kudos to the youth that are planting trees. A couple months ago, I was at Al PBLO with, you know, the the team and with Tucson Clean and Beautiful alongside Sunnyside Foundation and University of Arizona partners. And it was those youth teaching me how to plant some of the trees and showing me tools and and they were excited and energized and I'm looking forward to seeing their growth in their path and hoping that they're going to get um some leadership positions, you know, when they're done at Sunnyside because they're Sunnyside student. So just thank you for all the investment and all the seeds you're planting literally and and also in the minds. So thank you.

2:38:27 – 2:38:53•0

Any other questions about the work that we're doing? So council member Dal Fatima did come with props. I just want to say such excellent props. I can't wait to play this game. Yes. Yes. Yes. [laughter] Uh thank you. We really appreciate it. Mr. Manager, I don't know if you wanted to add anything else.

2:38:51 – 2:39:23•0

Thank you, Mayor. I I would just part with uh my thanks to Fatima and her team. Uh we we went down the path in a prior role. I was involved in um working with Fatima to bring Tucson Resilient together to to your uh office for approval. And um just very grateful for the fact that it as you directed it is not a plan that was just put on the shelf. was a plan to implement and the fact that we've got so much success. A lot of that uh falls to Fatima and her team. So, thank you Fatima.

2:39:21 – 2:41:21•0

Yeah, thank you so much. We can we can continue talking about all the great successes uh from your team, but thank you Fatima. Really appreciate the update. And I think that for those that are want an update, they can go online and look at the report that you submitted to Marian Council uh for them to be able to really read all of the all of the work that we are doing on the ground uh to implement Tucson resilient together. So thank you. All righty. So we now move um where are we to item uh eight. Item eight, which uh is time has been set aside for discussion and direction relating to matters pending in front of the Puma County Board of Supervisors and other regional jurisdictions. Uh Mr. Manager, I know that you have a report in front of us. Honorable mayor, members of the council, uh joining me again is Jackie Vega, uh who does compile this report by monitoring the activities of other jurisdictions. And um I would like to highlight just a couple things because I know we're going into budget season. Um you've also recently made some actions related to to taxes and fees and uh you're going to be faced with uh utility rates and other things coming your way. Um you're not the only jurisdiction in that book. recent actions by the Morirana Town Council. They recently adopted a multi-year multi-year rate adjustment for their water and wastewater rates. Their water rates will be going up 10 and a half% per year for the next few years and water reclamation or wastewater 2 and a.5%. What you'll be seeing is much lower than that. Um, and I just wanted you to know there's a context out there. And Oro Valley recently adop approved uh some uh use tax and um adjustments to their revenues. So, we're we're we're we're

2:41:19 – 2:41:40•0

all starting to see other jurisdictions starting to see some of the things we've been projecting for a number of years and bringing to you, which is um the revenues are are something that we need to all be looking at. So, you're you're not alone. That's that's what I wanted to highlight and I think uh that's our report for you today.

2:41:37 – 2:43:36•0

Uh thank you so much. I uh first and foremost want to um congratulate Supervisor Jen Allen for being elected to serve as a chair for the Pima County Board of Supervisors and congratulations also to Supervisor Matt Hines for being elected to serve as vice chair. I'm looking forward to continued collaboration um towards a safe, resilient, and thriving Tucson and Puma County. I usually joke about uh working with you know what is it five chairs of the board of supervisors now I think it's just four um but I'm happy to continue the work that we're doing with unsheltered homelessness and of course our justice systems and ironing those out as well as um you know partnering with our opioid settlement funds uh that the city of Tucson received as well as Pima County and other jurisdictions. Uh talking about ROSAC funding, um outside agencies were awarded as well as Puma County agencies. So, I appreciate the board of supervisors unanimous action to invest opioid settlement funds into community- based organizations that are doing critical lifesaving work. Some of these organizations are uh Boys to Men, the Haven, and the Tucson Indian Center. Alongside that investment, it's equally important we are addressing gaps in treatment. Uh very excited and celebrated uh in the funding of a safer center, a safe alternative for recovery center, something that the mayor and council have been pushing for and talking about uh for quite some time. and um that you know we pushed the envelope on to make

2:43:34 – 2:43:59•0

sure that opioid settlement funds were being used to create a pilot safer center um uh in in in partnership with Pima County and I believe which one is it Kodak Tim that we're that's doing the pilot for the safer center CBI mayor

2:43:56 – 2:44:40•0

CBI yeah CBI so very important commitments to meet the needs of our community and I'm I'm going to keep an eye on the safer center looking forward to a tour uh invite you all to do a tour as well um so that we can continue making sure that we are big advocates for for that pilot and that system. Other than that, I I I didn't want to include anything else, but I wanted to open it up for my colleagues on the council. Councilman Lee and then Council Member Cunningham. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for the updates. These are really wonderful. Um, just a question on scheduling and our next joint meeting. I know we talked about 2026 and do we have a sense of when we're going to be getting with the board again?

2:44:38 – 2:45:11•0

Um, Mr. Manager, honorable mayor, members of the council, council member Lee currently targeting for the first quarterly meeting to be on March 3rd. Um, as you may have tracked, uh, the county has recently, uh, adopted some changes to their meeting schedule moving forward, but those take effect in May. So, I think we're still going to wrestle with what the rest of the year looks like, but uh, March 3rd would be the tenative date for the next TRI meeting. We're staying on track. Any others? Council member Cunningham,

2:45:13 – 2:46:34•0

there's been been a perception about sales taxes in Tucson and it's an interesting perception that's gone on for a long time. It's a lot of apples and oranges because Tucson doesn't charge for for food or uh 70 of the 91 towns do. And so it's really important that we I think we should take a look at maybe six six or seven cities maybe 10 throughout the state and the one and use all the ones in Puna County and keep a running chart because right now our city our city portion of our sales tax is 2.6% and more importantly the city and county portion of our sales tax is 3.1%. And to give you an idea uh of where that stacks up um for just you know other cities um let me get let me bring up Phoenix here. Um Phoenix is three. So we're basically exactly the same. Um there's a city called Quartzite that's four. There's some cities um that are 6%. And so we're at 3.1. We're right. We're actually probably one of the lower end of the 91 cities. I'd have to do some research to but I'd love to have a group of 10 or 11 cities that so people know how we stack up so at least they're informed.

2:46:32 – 2:47:24•0

And I think that would be something that we we could keep on our website all the time so people know exactly what they're getting and what they're paying for. The other piece is I think we should probably consider that doing consider doing the same thing for property taxes. not the county part, the municipal part, because the municipal part is the only thing that we're in charge of. And I think it's really important for people to understand that. We talked about I've had discussions about different businesses, landlords. We've we've looked at some utility relief and trying to come up with a voluntary rent control system like a program like that. So, we've tried we we've had these dialogues and when we talk about the uh property tax relief for the si for the city portion, it's a very very small small amount.

2:47:20 – 2:48:35•0

It doesn't really actually affect the finance plans. So, we've really got to have these discussions honestly. And I know it's a little wonky, but uh that's kind of my Bailey Wick, especially the the finance piece. So, I'd really like to at least I'd like to have it at my fingertips where I can just bring it up to some I can send somebody the link and say, "Look, this is how Tucson stacks up just so you know." And it makes it easier. And if we do that for water rates and we do that for for sales taxes and we do that, we're being not only transparent so anybody can look up their sales tax without like it's on our website. This is what we charge, but also they get to see how we stack up to other cities. And I I guarantee we're really competitive. So, thank you. Any others? All righty. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. So, we move on to item nine. Um, item nine, time has been set aside for mayor and council to receive an update on state and national legislation and regional committees, executive orders, and direction to any associated litigation. Mr. manager.

2:48:34 – 2:50:33•0

Thank you, honorable mayor and members of the council. We have entered the exciting times. [laughter] The state legislature is in session. The state of the state was delivered yet this morning. And Laura Dent is our intergovernmental director and it's not me giving this update. [laughter] So, those three things I I I deferred to you, Laura, to give the update. And we're we're literally off and running. Congratulations, Mr. Manager. Good afternoon, Honorable Mayor Romero, Vice Mayor Santa Cruz, members of the council. It's great to be with you. I'm going to go ahead and start with a state update. The legislative session, as referenced, convened a little over a week ago, and we've seen a record number of bills drop, so lots of action at the capital right now. Um, in accordance to the guidance that's was provided by you via adopting the state legislative agenda, I've been monitoring bills that relate to that agenda and weighing in accordingly. Um, I'll just share a little bit about the strategy and the approach that we're taking just for some context. Um, every week as we look at committee assignments, we're using that as a guide on how we weigh in on bills. Um, that's really to kind of take this apple one bite at a time essentially. As you know, so many bills are floating out there for political reasons or other. Um, many of them will go places and many of them won't. So, instead of trying to tackle all of the good stuff and the bad stuff, we're really just going to take it a week at a time. What's coming up in committee, what's coming up in hearing, and what is really moving forward so that we can um take a systematic approach as we get started the session. So, um, some context. So, if you see bills that you care about that are not listed on the list that we've weighed in on already, please do let me know. It's really helpful to track and be aware of that. Um, but also know that we're really cognizant of what's moving, what's not moving, and tracking those, and we'll weigh in as um they move through hearing and into committee. So, just touching quickly on the bills that

2:50:30 – 2:52:30•0

we've weighed in on already. Um, we did go ahead and oppose HB 2115. That is a bill that um establishes a cap on administrative costs for local government. Really is difficult to navigate what is a direct service and what is an administrative or overhead cost. It also opens uh the community up to some litigation. So for that reason, we've taken an opposition posture. We have supported HP 2116, which is an appropriation for the Colorado River Litigation Fund. We know those negotiations continue and we're going to need resources to uh defend the state's interests there. So, we've supported that initiative and we have opposed HB2118, which is a mobile food vendor and licensing bill, which would undercut the ability of local jurisdictions to require specific types of um licensing for mobile food vendors. So, I just want to um acknowledge staff really for their support and getting feedback. It's really helpful to engage subject matter experts in a timely way, and I've been firing off emails and calls to senior staff, department directors, and the city manager's office. So, I just want to acknowledge everyone for their quick response to help us understand all of the implications for these initiatives on the city of Tucson. Moving into the federal update, we have some news on federal funding. Congressional appropriators released the four remaining fiscal year 2026 spending bills ahead of the January 30th continuing resolution deadline. Uh that was just this past weekend and the measures cover defense, labor, health, and human services education, homeland security, and transportation HUD. So together um focusing specifically on housing, excuse me, appropriators prioritize stability for core HUD programs that communities rely on. Some highlights there include the community development block grant fund that was funded at 3.3 billion and maintains flexible locally driven investment. The home investment partnership program was preserved. This is really good news as that was zeroed out in previous versions. So we're happy to see this protected. Housing choice vouchers have been funded at levels that are

2:52:28 – 2:54:26•0

sufficient to maintain our existing housing vouchers. Ideally, um the investments are growing with the need, which our community is seeing rise um but it has not seen a cut. And continuum of care and homeless assistance grants are fully funded as well as public housing operating and capital funds. We saw some cuts here, but not as deep as proposed. So, um, overall, we'd like to see the investment match the need, but not as bad as we were expecting given the political constraints and environment. Um, so with that, I will go ahead and conclude my remarks. Thank you, Laura. Uh, I just wanted to add a couple of things I forgot to say a little bit earlier. Um, I want to thank Governor Hobbes and her team for bringing the state report to Tucson today. I appreciate the governor's focus on affordability. uh including creating resources to add money to the housing trust fund and the focus on working families and our public schools. Um I I was very uh heartened to hear her agenda for 2026. Uh we're happy to have the governor back in Tucson um in the near future when we're cutting the ribbon on Tucson House in March. a great example of the impact uh that we can make on creating affordable housing in partnership with the governor and the Arizona Department of Housing. Um I also want to highlight a few items on the city's legislative agenda. One of the reasons we have a robust legislative agenda, I think that agenda is like 10 pages long. uh is to make sure that we can take action on hundreds of bills that are coming out fast and furiously at the state legislature and to make it abundantly clear to our delegation and other legislators where the city of

2:54:22 – 2:56:05•0

Tucson stands on um uh on the issue. So, we are seeing several anti-trans bills move forward as well as anti-choice initiatives. The city of Tucson stands in strong opposition to these bills. These bills are a distraction from the issues important to our city, important to our working families, including the affordability, resiliency, and uh safety to our residents. Uh also, water supply is important that we focus on as a city and as a state. We remain focused on advancing the bills that will bring common sense gun safety measures to Tucson and other cities in Arizona and reducing easy access to guns. Uh we are advocating for the state incentive for data centers to be revoked and the governor was very clear about her intentions to uh advance that. Uh and then we look forward to working with our state delegation and Governor Hobbes and her team during this legislative um session and and budgeting cycle to make sure that the priorities of Tonins are front and center in front of them. I was really happy to see my colleagues on the council that attended opening session at the state legislature. It was a big contingency of of Tucson there. Uh it's always good to remind them that we are here and we exist and we have needs as the second largest city in Arizona. So uh appreciate you all that that went out. Anything else, Mr. Manager, Miss Dent?

2:56:03 – 2:56:30•0

Uh no thanks, honorable mayor. I think that concludes our report. Anything else from my colleagues on the council? Righty. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. We move on to item 10. Does anyone have any items to remove from the consent agenda? Seeing none, item 11. Does anyone have any future agenda items to present? Council member do.

2:56:29 – 2:56:55•0

Thank Thanks, Mayor. And just because I would probably forget about it, but it occurred to me when we were talking about RTA that we will want to have a a study session item soon after it passes or doesn't pass. So, um we can discuss the ramifications. I heard today that there were um we might want get an early when it if it passes we want to get an early start on getting some of the our things lined up first and if it doesn't pass well

2:56:54 – 2:57:29•0

sounds good we should be scheduling it that's right any others all righty hearing none we are adjourned for a regular study session I don't know let's see what time is it what great we have a little bit of time we can even do a little bit walk around, stretch our legs. So, we will be back at 5:30 for a regular session. Thank you all. [music]

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Miss clerk, let's go to roll call. Mr. Cunningham here. Mr. Dah here. Mrs. Lee here. Miss Barahas here. Nick Schubert here. Vice Mayor Santa Cruz here. Mayor Romero here. Before we go to item two, the city attorney will go over the rules of decorum for mayor and council meetings. Mr. Attorney,

4:48:24 – 4:49:42•0

honorable me, may mayor, members of council, Arizona's open meeting laws provide that members of the public may attend and listen to the proceedings during tonight's public meeting of the mayor and council. Arizona law also allows the mayor and council to enforce rules and procedures for public attendance of the meeting to ensure orderly behavior and to prevent unnecessary interference with the public meeting. Here are the rules that apply. The rules require decorum and orderly conduct by the members of the audience. No person attending the meeting shall engage in conduct that disrupts or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting, including any statements or conduct that interrupts the persons who may be who might be addressing the mayor and council or that disrupts the discussions of the mayor and council. The mayor has the authority to ensure compliance with the rules of orderly conduct. If disorderly or disruptive conduct continues after warning, and this is that first warning, the mayor may direct the removal of persons from the chambers and or recess the meeting itself. If disruptive behavior makes it necessary to clear the chambers, the persons who disrupted the meeting will not be allowed to return to the chambers for the remainder of tonight's meeting. As a final note, please be aware that interfering with or preventing this lawful public meeting from being carried out in an orderly manner not only violates the rules of participation, but also violates title 13 of the Arizona Revised Statutes.

4:49:40 – 4:51:39•0

Thank you, Mr. Attorney. Item two, invocation, pledge of allegiance, presentations, and appointments to boards, committees, and commissions. The invocation will be given by Rabbi Yehuda Stin of Shabat Tucson. After the invocation, I ask that you remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. Almighty God, we gather this evening at the Tucson City Council in the presence of the mayor, council members, and fellow citizens. We do so mindful that we are about to approach and the world will be marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day this Tuesday, January 27th. On this occasion, we remember those who perished and those who survived and who chose to dedicate their lives to teach, to heal, and to build. We recall with particular gratitude the late Eva Schllo, a survivor of Awitz and the stepsister of Anne Frank, who visited Tucson several years ago and recently passed away. This council rightfully proclaimed the day of her visit in 2018, recognizing a woman who witnessed the darkest depths of humanity, yet devoted her later years to planting seeds of hope and moral responsibility. Eva frequently mentioned the breaking of her world. However, during her visit, I took her to Sarro National Park and she witnessed and she looked at with amazement the Sarro cactus and she found inspiration from a ca a cactus that exemplifies growth and endurance despite extreme and heat extreme heat and drought. Eva frequently mentioned how her father has guided her and her stepfather Frank

4:51:36 – 4:52:20•0

guided her and her his mantra was hate won't take you anywhere. Love lifts you up. Her own mantra was that the foundation of shared civic life is simple. To bring good to our community, to uplift one another, and to honor the basic commandments of human dignity. In this spirit of remembrance, may we work together to ensure that Tucson, our beloved city, remains a city where every individual can live without fear, where tradition is respected, and where the sanctity of the human soul is upheld as our highest priority. May this be your will and let us say amen. Amen.

4:52:21 – 4:52:36•0

To the flag of the United States of America. to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

4:52:39 – 4:53:53•0

Thank you, Rabbi, for gracing us with your presence. All righty. So, we move on to item 2 C. Uh, Council Member Barakas would like to present the 2026 W five safety calendar winners. and we would like to um go over to the podium and we'll present the um the winners, the young artists, and I know that their families are here. So, uh I'm going to also join council member Barahas, and I ask that if any of our council colleagues wants to join us up there, we would be more than happy to have you. Good evening everyone. Well, thank you mayor. Well, today I am proud to welcome our 14 student artists from the Tucson Unified and Sunnyside Unified School Districts into the council chambers and to honor them for their artwork being included in the 2026 city of Tucson Ward 5 council office safety calendar. I have props to Council Member Dah.

4:53:52 – 4:54:13•0

[laughter and gasps] I would love for the artists to come up to the front to be recognized. I would also like to show you where to stand and what to do. Our W five staff so the 14 students join.

4:54:11 – 4:54:55•0

So we're going to start off with the front cover. Mila Robas. Um, yeah, you can show the month by month. Jeremiah Otto, Janessa Valencia, Adella Leva, Norma Enriquez. What month are we? [laughter] April.

4:54:51 – 4:56:50•0

Okay. Norma Enriquez. Marcel Canalano [clears throat] de Campo Sophia Rust [applause] I know the year is flying by sorry Molina Flores Roberto Rodriguez Mila Perez Michael Felix, Rodo Nunes, Tessa [clears throat] Rico, and Milo Valencia. So, let's take a couple minutes. So, what the students are doing is they're standing in front of their artwork. So, this annual WR 5 collaboration with local fourth and fifth grade classes includes a variety of safety related themes. tips to keep us safe while we're in our homes, on the road, enjoying the outdoors, and celebrating holiday traditions such as trick-or-treating or cooking Thanksgiving turkeys. I would like to thank the mayor, Mayor Raa Romero, city manager Tim Tamir, our fear ch fire chief Shannon Mcdana, police chief Chad Kasmir, and for all providing letters to include in the calendar. Your participation in this effort means a lot

4:56:47•0

to our W 5 community. I would also like to thank Raising Canes for donating free kids meals for you all today.

4:57:02 – 4:58:13•0

So, if you don't know a little history, I've been in uh this role for a month and three weeks as the newly elected council member for W 5. However, this calendar is a long-standing community initiative that centers youth voice, creativity, and public safety education. Congratulations to you all. This year's award winners from Karo K5 Communication and Creative Arts Magnet School, Alvivara Elementary, Los Nño Elementary, and Mission Manor Elementary for participating in this year's safety calendar. A huge thank you to the person who made it happen, our senior adviser, Lupita Robles, for your continuous efforts to put this together. Thank you, Lupita. As well as to all the principles, teachers, and staff for supporting and cheering on your students to participate. Can we take a moment for the principles, teachers, and staff to stand up so we could give you a round of applause?

4:58:21 – 4:59:11•0

And thank you to all the families joining us tonight to support your amazing kids as well. So, can I have the families please stand up? I know it's been a long day. So, thank you all for joining us. When the presentation's done, you could stay for extra credit hours if you want to stay for the entire meeting, but if not, feel free to leave. But I would really like to thank the students here with us tonight for participating. And just remember, safety is key. Um, [clears throat] and if we can, I would love to take a group picture and just know that all the families here are walking away with a calendar. And you all in the audience get a calendar today as well.

4:59:14 – 4:59:55•0

You get a calendar. You get a calendar. So, happy new year's everyone. Have a good 2026. Look at the airplanes. Get in there too, Kevin. If the art teachers and then we'll take a group picture and then I would love if the staff can come say 2026. Where should we look? We're looking at We're just looking at you. You get that

4:59:56•0

young kids.

5:00:06 – 5:00:21•0

You got it, Adam. So, don't worry families. We'll make sure to send those quality photos your way. Um, and now, can I have the staff and the principles, art teachers, please come up, too? Can I?

5:00:19 – 5:01:02•0

Yes. Yes. Can I just say congratulations to all of the young artists that submitted uh their piece to us. Thank you so much. Keep up the good work. Keep up with your art and creative endeavors and do good at school. And I just want to take a point of personal privilege to recognize my niece, Gracia, that works at Sunnyside, who is an art teacher [laughter] um and uh is a wonderful leader for for her students. So, I just want to thank the parents for being here. Thank you all and thank you council member for following on this tradition that council member Fimra started.

5:01:00 – 5:01:18•0

Yes, always. And just a funny story, last night, my daughter was actually my eight-year-old was looking at this calendar and she fell asleep looking at all of your artwork. So, just know you impacted her life already. [laughter] So, you all are welcome to come back. Thank you.

5:01:24 – 5:01:35•0

Did we get the one with the teachers and stuff? Yes. One more. [laughter]

5:01:38•0

Just look up.

5:01:52•0

Congratulations.

5:01:53 – 5:03:07•0

Thank you all. All righty. Item 2D, appointments to boards, committees, and commissions.

5:03:04 – 5:03:20•0

City managers communication number 23 dated January 21st is received into and made part of the record. May I have a motion to approve the appointments in the report? So moved, your honor. Second.

5:03:17 – 5:04:20•0

There is a motion and a second to appoint Martha Mccclemens, Siri Trumbol Beedler and and at to Armory Park Historic Zone Advisory Board and the appointments of Lizzie Golden to the public art and community design committee. Um I just want to thank you all for your willingness to serve the city of Tucson. Is there any further discussion on this motion? Yeah, I just want to add my um my respect and appreciation um to Martha Mccclemens for serving again on the Armory Park Historic Zone Advisory Board. Uh long time long time um city of Tucson advocate um for historic preservation over 30 years in the Army Park neighborhood. Has served on so many different boards, I can't keep track of them all. um and the neighborhood and the city do benefit from uh from Martha's um historic knowledge and um just keen understanding of the ins and outs of historic preservation. So, thank you so much.

5:04:17 – 5:05:01•0

Thank you, Council Member Schubert. All righty. Uh anything else, Council Member Baras? I would like to thank you, Mayor, Clerk, and colleagues. I wanted to congratulate Liz Lizzy Golden on her appointment and thank you for her uh the willingness to represent W 5 on the public art and community design committee. Thank you, Lizzy. Thank you, council member. Any further discussion on this item? Council member D. No. All righty. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I. Any against? Motion carries. Are there any other personal appointments to be made at this time? Hearing none, we move on to item three.

5:04:58 – 5:05:39•0

Mayor and council report summary occurring events. City managers communication number 13 dated January 21st is received into and made part of the record. This time has been scheduled to allow members of the mayor and council to report on current events. These are to be current events of activities within the community, not position statements on policy issues. Does any council member have anything to report at this time? Yes, I see some nodding. Um, should we start with W six and then move on down to W one? You get much more attention from me when you're closed, so take advantage.

5:05:38 – 5:07:38•0

Okay. [laughter] All right. Sounds good. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, all right. For our current event report, I just want to acknowledge first um the many protests, rallies, and demonstrations that have been occurring nearly every day here in Tucson. It's been really inspiring to see the size of the crowds. We were in executive session yesterday and just kept hearing the roar of the crowd and all the honking. Um so it I just feel very proud to be a part of um of a community that um is so centered on refusing to comply with an unjust and lawless system um that is enabling people to be disappeared and imprisoned without due process or basic human rights. Um there were a number of walkouts yesterday um from multiple local high schools which so exciting to see activism from the youth. Yeah, let's give them a round of applause [applause] and um you know you probably saw the footage, but uh the march that started at the federal building downtown completely took over Congress Street. So very proud to be a part of this community. Um, in the W 6 newsletter, we're going to do our best to include information about upcoming opportunities to get involved. Um, and I also want to encourage you to send any information our way if you want um if you want those um messages to be amplified. And just the importance of protecting the rights of all people, whether they're immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, citizens, or legal residents, is a question of following the rule of law and comp and complying with basic human and civil rights. This is not an ideological debate. Um, also in current events, um, I was fortunate to be able to attend the packed TE town hall with Attorney General Chris Mays. That was on January 13th at the YW.CA. Um, and the town hall was to hear from Tonins about the impacts of TEP's rate increases. She said that if the if the request is approved, TE would collect

5:07:33 – 5:09:33•0

about $172 million more per year. Um, she said if TE's requested rate hike is approved, customers will likely play pay an extra $1943 per month for electricity beginning next year. Interestingly, they're also Attorney General May's office is also requesting that the commission undo its decision to approve an energy service agreement between TE and the developers of Project Blue. She called the agreement a secret deal because a portion of the agreement is redacted. And then very pertinent to you all, Attorney General Maize is encouraging TE customers to submit comments and speak at several upcoming uh public meetings regarding the rate case in March and April in downtown Tucson. It's going to be um at the State of Arizona Building at 400 West Congress. We're sharing those dates in the W 6 newsletter, but if you reach out to us, we'll also let you know when those opportunities to make your voice heard are happening. I think it's important that as many TE customers as possible speak up about how these things might impact them. Um later this month on January 28th um Emerge um is partnering with um the Arizona's missing and murdered indigenous people task force established by Governor Katie Hoffs um and Indivisible to Hono to host and and the Tucson Indian Center. Uh they are hosting a survivor and family listening session. This gathering is focused on hearing directly from survivors and families impacted by the missing and murdered indigenous um indigenous um people epidemic and the sober living crisis. The goal is simple and essential uh and that is to ensure that responses, policy and coordinated efforts are shaped by the voices and experiences of those most impacted. They are inviting family members of people who are missing, anybody who's lost a loved one to homicide. Um survivors who are navigating the sober living crisis. Um

5:09:30 – 5:11:29•0

they are inviting um members of the public um and community members are invited to attend in the spirit of respect, care, and accountability with an understanding that this space centers survivors and their families. So again, that's going to be on January 28th um from 2 to 8:00 p.m. And we're including information on our newsletter, but also feel free to reach out to W 6 if you want the details about that. Thank you so much, Council Member Barahas. Thank you, Mayor. This past weekend was rooted in service, healing, and unity. I had the honor of sharing words and breakfast at the 36th annual Martin Luther King Jr. prayer breakfast hosted by the PBLO Gardens Neighborhood Association and MLK committee. I also participated in the National Day of Racial Healing talking circles at the YW.CA and proudly marched alongside our community and Ward 5 team at the 2026 march and celebration. Deep gratitude to all the organizers, neighbors, and community members who created a safe space for reflection, dialogue, and collective action. I would like to share a special public event that is happening right now at the Al PBLO Activity Center, UKAB's anniversary event. UKAB stands for United Community Advisory Board and for 30 years has shown its commitment to ensuring clean, safe water for families impacted by the Tucson International Airport Area Super Fund site. If you have photos, stories, or names to share about UKAB history, please contact Yolanda Herrera, UKAB community co-chair. My office can also share that contact information if you are interested. I'll be mentioning this more at our next mayor and council meeting because I would love to see you all here. Ward 5 is hosting a W 5 fiesta openhouse style. So come on by to our office on Thursday, February 19th, anytime between 4 and 8:00 PM. Rodeo

5:11:27 – 5:11:40•0

Vakerto Vetera clothing is strongly encouraged and we'll post information on our social media and everywhere soon. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Council Lee.

5:11:38 – 5:12:28•0

Thank you, Mayor. U my team and I would like to invite you to attend a virtual project update meeting with the city of Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility and the Regional Transportation Authority. At this meeting, DTM will give us updates on the projects in Ward Further and construction and upcoming and representatives from the RTA will give an update on the RTA next plan. The virtual meeting will take place next Wednesday, January 28th from 5:30 to 7:00. And you can find the link in our newsletter that we sent out today on our city of Tucson website under the Ward 4 section. If you can't make the January 28th meeting, never fear. There will be an in-person eastside RTA between wards 4 and two on February 9th from 5:30 to 7:00 at the W 2 council office at 7820 East Broadway Boulevard. That's all I have. Mayor,

5:12:26•0

thank you, Councilwoman. Council member D. Thank Thank you, Mayor. No announcements this time. Council member Cunningham.

5:12:32 – 5:14:32•0

Few things. Um Fort LOL the Fort L Museum 2900 uh North Croft. It's it's it's open and they'll they're hosting story time for little ones every third Saturday of the month from January to April. Uh it's from 11 a.m. to noon. Please join them. Activities uh for children ages 4 to 7 at the uh historical Fort LOL Museum. It's a good opportunity to check out the park. Uh we're also going to be doing a tree dedication there as we revitalize Cottonwood Lane. And so uh we're really excited with some of the things going on at Fort Will Park. The other thing is at Wilmont Library. Also in W 2, uh we'll be having the uh the Puma County assessors holding meetings to help people with their uh property tax valuation. Uh a lot of people don't know that they can apply for property tax valuation relief as we try to make Tucson more affordable. Uh, so that's going to be uh on February 20th, which is a Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Uh, please bring ID and if you can uh bring pertinent documents to the evaluation of your of your property. We got a memo from Mobile Meals and they're actually looking for volunteers. Now, mobile meals um serve uh all ages, mostly seniors uh and adults with disabilities who have trouble cooking at home, and it gives them an affordable option to receive meals delivered to their home. Um it's also an opportunity for the people who deliver to visit with folks and help uh against social isolation. So, mobile meals is looking for volunteers. It's very rewarding. Um you can call 520-622-1600. 5206-622-1600 and um we encourage you to do that. Woo's uh working on team up to cleanups. We're going to be planning three of them. We're going to be doing one uh the last week of every month, the last Friday of every month. Uh if you want to join the W 2 office, you can contact us at 520-7914687 where we do uh team up to clean up.

5:14:30 – 5:15:18•0

Also, starting next Wednesday, we're bringing Wednesday hoops back. That's uh Ward 2 at Jesse Owens Park at Cory Williams Court. Um that's right off of uh that's just north of uh Broadway on excuse me, just south of Broadway on Sarnoff. And that's a really great program. It's run by our our office staffer uh Marcus who played at Sanita High School and we have a middle school pickup basketball and you know uh the big thing about that is that school um and gets out early. Middle schools get out early on Wednesdays. So, it's a real opportunity kids to learn about teamwork and fair play and sportsmanship and it's a good opportunity. So, feel free to check out uh Wednesday hoops Wednesdays uh at 3:30 at Jesse Owens Park. Thank you.

5:15:16•0

Thank you, Council Member Vice Mayor Santa Cruz.

5:15:19 – 5:16:48•0

Thank you, Mayor. So, this uh Sunday, January 25th, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., join us for the Westside Connection Caes Consos Tugo's block party in Bario El Rio. We're celebrating the expansion of the Tugo bike share to the west side. We will have games, music, food activities, and community fun. This free family-friendly block party marks the addition of five new Tuggo bike stations supporting safer, more connections in our westside barios. So, we'll be um uh meeting along El Rio Drive and then we'll be having a celebration at Hakim Muretta Park. Um, and then on Friday, January 30th from 6:00 to 8:30, join us for our monthly VCA delsur. Um, ride with the community for a fun, family-friendly evening bike ride. Um, featuring music, tacos, and free bike rentals. Um, come connect, ride together, and celebrate accessibility, accessible mobility on the south side. We meet at the El Po Center, um, 101 West Irvington Road. If you would like to reserve a free Tugo bike, you can text 520-261-5446. And then on Saturday, January 31st from 8:00 am to 1 pm, join us for the Menel Park neighborhood yard sale. Come treasure hunt or take part by hosting a table, purchase a table for $50, and keep what you earn or donate your goods for volunteers to sell at the neighborhood tables. Um, the location will be at 901 and 905 West Congress Street. Thank you, Mayor.

5:16:46 – 5:18:45•0

That's a great idea. I'll go and drop off a lot of donations for you all. Um, and for me, I'd like to thank Governor Katie Hobbs and her team for bringing her state of the state report to Tucson today. Uh, it was great to gather with leaders and young people from across our city to hear about the governor's priorities for 2026. I appreciate the governor's focus on issues that we care about here in Tucson. uh the focus on affordability and affordable housing, including creating resources to add money to the housing trust fund and to focus on working families and investing in our public schools. Um her priorities align uh very neatly with the mayor and council legislative priorities. So, I'm happy to I'm hap we were happy to host her and happy to hear her priorities. Also, uh this Friday marks the 100 days of Star Village, our safe outdoor sleeping space pilot. Uh we are happy to report that Star Village is full and women there are being served and receiving wraparound services, job training, and there are several pets uh in Star Village as well. Uh this is an important addition to the resources being offered to unsheltered individuals in our community. Over 400 people have been served through our Star Village pilot uh and through outreach and 112 housing assessments have been completed. This is a really good news on a pilot program uh that um you know we it took some time for us to put together but um it seems to be working out great. With that we're going to move on to item

5:18:44 – 5:19:03•0

four. City manager report summary of current events. City manager communication number 14 dated January 21st is received into and made part of the record. This time has been scheduled to allow the city manager to report on current events. Mr. Manager.

5:19:01 – 5:19:38•0

Thank you, mayor. Just one announcement for tonight and it echoes some of the comments made by um the members of the mayor and council earlier today at study session and also this evening. Um just important to note that u the city recognizes that all individuals in the United States have rights regardless of immigration status. The city of Tucson wants residents and visitors to understand those rights and has provided information and resources on our website to help with that effort. Please visit the city of Tucson's homepage, tucsonaz.gov, to find the know your rights resources locally and nationally. Thank you, mayor.

5:19:36 – 5:20:18•0

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Item five, liquor license applications. City manager communication number 24 dated January 21st is received into and made part of the record. Miss Clerk, please read the liquor license agenda. Your honor, on the evening's agenda, we have two applications for new licenses, one person transfer, two person and location transfers, and eight special event applications. All applications are in compliance with city requirements. So, an appropriate motion would be to forward items 5B1 through 5B5 and 5C1 through 5C8 to the state liquor board with a recommendation of approval. So moved your honor.

5:20:16 – 5:20:40•0

There's a motion. There's a second. Any further discussion on this item? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Any against? Motion carries. Righty. We move on to item six. Call to the audience. Miss Clerk, do you have any announcements for this item?

5:20:38 – 5:21:28•0

Yes, your honor. At this time, the public is allowed to address the mayor and council on any issue except for items scheduled for a public hearing. Call to the audience will last for 30 minutes, and speakers are limited to three minute presentations. The green light will turn on when you begin speaking. It will turn yellow and beep when you have 30 seconds left of your allotted time. When your three minutes are up, the light will turn red and the timer will begin beeping. If that happens, please immediately conclude your remarks. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Clark. Our first speaker is Diane Schultz, I believe. Diane Schultz. All righty. We'll try and come back to this one.

5:21:24 – 5:23:23•0

Oh, Diane, there she is. Thank you. Yes. My name is Diana Schultz and I am on the board of directors for the Tucson Society of the Blind. I h am here tonight to uh remind you that I have sent in a petition that is uh has been generated by the Tucson Society of the Blind to help our disabled citizens of Tucson and Puma County. As of now, we have uh individuals that are unable to take advantage of the Dileride or Sunban systems because they live outside the so-called boundaries. We have collected over a thousand signatures in support of this petition so that each individual that is disabled in this community it can take advantage of the rides provided by Sunvan and Sun and Sun Shuttle. We feel that this is an injustice to our disabled community by telling them that they're either live out of boundaries or there is absolutely no transportation available to them whatsoever. You talk about people having rights. Yes, they do. And our disabled community has rights as well. We feel that this is taxation without representation. and we we uh want this to see this injustice corrected. I have already presented the petition to the board of supervisors and I also am have presented it to the RTA. I am hoping that uh you will all can take this into

5:23:19 – 5:24:23•0

consideration and make make this uh in incredible injustice. Uh well, I don't I don't I'm looking for the word. I'm sorry. Uh anyway, we need to make it right by our disabled community. We have people that live uh in Rocking K for instance where there are 900 homes and there are people out there that are not able to take advantage to go to doctor's appointments, dialysis or uh even grocery shopping. So I'm asking that you please take this into consideration. I have been to several meetings with Mr. Cunningham's office in the past regarding Sunvan and I uh have been working on this project for almost two years and I would appreciate it if uh you would take this all into consideration and grant us the right to the rides. Thank you.

5:24:20•0

Thank you, Miss Schultz. [applause] Jason Jensen.

5:24:33 – 5:26:33•0

Jason Jensen, resident on my own accord. Recently, the city celebrated the birthday of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and he was a reverend over a doctor. I never chose Reverend King as my leader, not because of his race. And I chose Einstein not because I looked as he does. Maybe because of his hair as a fearless character, but assuredly because he said that imagination is greater than knowledge. And no problem is resolved without the imagination to see a solution. But the real reason I didn't choose Reverend King will be harder for you all to accept. I have never seen a community actually live by what he stood for. Reverend King did not speak about just race. He spoke about hierarchy and poverty. And he spoke about how division becomes institutionalized, how it hardens into policies, how it corrupts systems, and that outcome deadens the soul. We can congratulate ourselves on races becoming socially unacceptable and diminished. That is real progress. But hierarchies are still here. Poverty is still here. And in thinking we have evolved beyond what he said slows continual progress. And one hierarchy in particular that is almost never spoken about is mental disability. Physical disability has ramps. They have braille, sign language, interpreters and they have codified procedures. But the mentally disabled exist in a legal and practical vacuum. So I want to ask something very concrete. If a person with autism, schizophrenia, bipolar,

5:26:30 – 5:27:38•0

PTSD, or any other neurological disability encounters Tucson police, what exactly is their accommodation? Where is their protocol? Where is the training? Where is the recognition that neurode divergence is not crimality? You have a blue folder recognizing the issue. But what if I'm not driving? We celebrate pride for sexual identity and we talk about diversity and race and culture, but autism is expected to wait for acceptance as if cognitive structure could not possibly be something to respect. as if imagination, pattern thinking, intensity, and difference were defects instead of human variation. And what do we actually fund? Not accommodation, communication systems, or response teams. We fund drugs, chemical restraint, sedation. This is not civil rights. This is management. Reverend King warned that when one form of hierarchy collapses, another replaces it. I guess I ran out of time. Thank you.

5:27:37•0

Finish. If you want to finish your thought, go ahead.

5:27:40 – 5:29:18•0

Go ahead and finish your thought. Reverend Queen, if we want his holiday to mean something, then this city must confront the hierarchy that still hides in plain sight. the treatment of the mentally different as problems to be controlled and citizens to be protected and encouraged. I'm not asking for symbolism. I'm asking for policies, po protocols, individualized rules of engagement where the honest is not on the disabled to explain everything to every officer they meet just with just to then have to prove their disability. training rights that function in real life and recognition that neurological difference is not a defect in humanity not is is not a legitimate cause for concern to promote isolation and exclusion that the loss of the ability to effectively communicate does not indicate dangeress of or incapableility of self-care that Baker's action in Florida so long ago bear no resemblance upon my own intent. That would be honoring Dr. King for these issues mirror the mirror the fallacy of racebased providence and inflict upon all races. Anything less is just a ceremony. Thank you.

5:29:14•0

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. [applause]

5:29:19 – 5:31:17•0

Reyes Suarez. Thank you, mayor and city council. Um, it's good to see my first time speaking with our new council members, Schubert and Barahas. I I want both of you to come in. So, I'm really happy to see you. Um, yesterday at the end terror demonstration, we had thousands of people all across Tucson come to speak up in solidarity against this oppressive regime and its rogue agency which is committing acts of cruelty and violation of civil rights across the nation. There were students, workers, retirees, a coalition across generations, races, races and citizenship status. [snorts] They called out not just for you to listen but for you to act on. There is no time left to drag your feet, bloate and distract. There are time to be reactive is not acceptable. You must be proactive. One way you can start is the dismantling of the surveillance state across the city. While I don't speak for everyone in attendance yesterday, I can recognize that the Flock pilot program must be stopped. Not just Flock, but the other Motorola ALPRs and discontinuence of Axon fixed and bodywn AI cameras. No more AI tech which is violating citizens natural right to privacy tech that is shifting to become more intrusive and Axon in particular is working on facial recognition implementation. I'm dismayed that in discussion with Chief Kasmar just in November when I expressed concern over flock cameras he tended to put me at ease saying TPD did not have a flock camera implementation. There was a PRS in use but from other companies not quite as mired in shady practices. All this only to sign in on a pilot program for 2026. Casmire also assured me that the Cobweeds Tangle fiasco AI, which monitors our social media, um was untrue and that he planned

5:31:15 – 5:32:47•0

on releasing a press briefing about it only for me to see that p purchase agreement um signed in 2023 for 28 months. I believe it doesn't end until March. Um, I'm still losing my trust in Casmar and in correlation the members of the city council. We don't need a study session or a public hearing on this matter. We need a full town hall on surveillance tech. You need to bring in the community to discussion regarding it and you will see that it goes against our interest. Cameras don't build community. It stifles it. They don't prevent crime which is born out of desperation. Um, and they don't completely solve it either. They only put us at risk of a very apparent and oppressive government. To say these corporations are in bed with the administration is quite frankly an understatement. In addition to giving them backdoor access to control, they are counting on their support on easing and banning regulation fantastic security. Our tolerant are not coming across the shores and land borders. The call is coming from inside the house. Even Puma County Boord Supervisors voted unanimously on not renewing their Axon AI body cameras for the sheriff's department because of said concerns. We need you to address this as well. And I want to leave you with a quote by Edward Snowden Snowden who was one of the first whistleblowers about the ongoing surveillance state and increasing of it. [snorts] Arguing that you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like arguing you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. Thank you.

5:32:44•0

Thank you, Ree. [applause]

5:32:48 – 5:34:46•0

Um, Thomas Thomas Hackwit. Hello, my name is Thomas Hackett and I live in the Sam Hughes neighborhood. Driving around town, I am constantly outraged by the slow progress of road work. Stuck on one construction obstructed road, I attempt to detour only to find another worse road. To be clear, I'm not at all I'm to be clear, I'm all for improving Tucson's roads. I have lived all over the country in Los Angeles, in New York City, in Raleigh, North Carolina, in in Eugene, Oregon, in Austin, Texas. And hands down, Tucson has the worst roads anywhere. We rank in the top 10, if not the top five, of the most dangerous cities for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Setting safety aside, the roads are also in atrocious repair. It's truly pathetic. I assume you know and share my embarrassment, but I do question your sense of urgency. At first, I thought maybe my exasperation was just me, just one cranky man ranting in his car. I emailed my ward representative and was told that quote, "City road projects are complex and often take longer than anticipated due to safety, funding, and scheduling conflicts." The statement appeared to be generated by chat GPT. For every every project at every level

5:34:43 – 5:36:10•0

faces such conflicts, they aren't unusual to Tucson. Still, I thought I should survey my fellow TSonians. [clears throat] I wrote a statement and asked random people I encountered in my daily life if they would sign it. Turns out others are even angrier than I am. It took almost no work to gather these 100 signatures. affected business owners are particularly irate. Only a few people declined to sign my statement simply because they had no hope that the city council would ever get its act together. Good luck. They said they won't do anything. Everyone wanted answers to the same questions that I have. Why does Tucson take years to complete work that other cities finish in months? Why are long stretches of road work encumbered with confusing construction cones even when no work is being done? Why do cones and barricades go up and then come down yet it seems no work has been completed? Why do construction crews appear to work only a few hours a day, if at all? Why is the paving invariably done in a slipshot manner? I also had dozens of conversations speculating on possible reasons that Tucson struggles to complete common municipal.

5:36:08 – 5:36:50•0

Come to a conclusion, sir. I'm sorry. Come to a conclusion. Your three minutes are up. Sure. Okay. Perhaps my my impatience is off base. I have various uh people have various theories of why the city is incompetent. But I'm here to tell you that people are really running out of out of patience. Thank you. So I let me get this clear. Are you pissed off that the roads are bad or that we're fixing them? That that or both? That they're bad that you're fixing them and there's no sense of urgency in getting them done.

5:36:49 – 5:37:15•0

All righty. I'm going to talk to the city manager and make sure that he um works on the schedules for the ones that we're fixing. I can't. I'm I'm sorry. And if you can turn in the hundred signatures, we would be more than happy to get them. Sure. And I think your three minutes are up. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Louise Campos. Luis Campos.

5:37:18 – 5:38:34•0

Good evening. Um, my name is Luis Campos. I am a resident of the city of Tucson. I am also an immigration lawyer and I'm a human rights lawyer having practiced in the area more than 25 years now. I say this because in those 25 years I've never seen law as marginalized by this federal government as it is now. It is a tragedy. It is irrelevant. As a lawyer, I can say that law has become irrelevant on the federal level. I'm asking you to make law relevant again locally at the very least. Now, I say I'm an immigration lawyer also because I want to emphasize what I see on a daily basis. So, what I see are calls from desperate family members who have had a mother, a father, a sibling, or a son or a daughter snatched off the streets by mass men, at grocery stores, at convenience stores, near schools. I have seen what this does to families, including mixed status families, families with US citizens, permanent residents, and individuals without status. And I should add that I have also received calls from the families of US citizens who've also been abducted off our streets.

5:38:31 – 5:40:29•0

I'd like to share some some statistics. Data from the American Immigration Council tells us that roving patrols and at large arrest as well as arrest at work sites and outside courouses is up 600% in the first nine months of the president's administration. The current Trump administration's uh admin, excuse me, administration, I repeated myself. And also arrests of persons with no convictions surged by over 2,000% in 2025. This data squares with what I see on a daily basis. So, I'm asking the city, don't be complicit in this. Do not be complicit in this nonsense. Do not permit or facilitate the use of city property or assets in these kinds of operations. The federal government tells us that it is going after the worst of the worst. This is not true. After the most hardened criminals, this is not true. It is an Orwellian twist to have them tell us that 2 + 2 equals 5. It doesn't equal five. So what this what I specifically ask the city to do is to commit yourselves and this city to public safety of all of us independent of our status or our citizenship. Protect all of us and prohibit the use of city property and assets including parks, parking areas, and vacant lots from being used as staging areas of federal civil immigration enforcement operations. Don't let them use these places for processing, interviewing, and detaining individuals for civil immigration purposes. And don't let these places be used for conducting surveillance related to civil immigration enforcement unless compelled by a judicial warrant or a court order. I ask you to stand up for all of us. Honor this community, honor its children, honor your responsibilities, and stand up to this government, this federal government. Thank you. And then Mr. Compost, just for your information for the public here in

5:40:27 – 5:40:45•0

attendance, the mayor and council had this item at the request of myself and the vice mayor and unanimously voted to move in that direction. So you're coming here at a good day. Thank you. Uh our next speaker is Margot.

5:40:48 – 5:42:47•0

Good evening. Uh my name is Margot Ituli and I am a native Tonan and a very concerned citizen. We are facing a most dangerous threat to our country, our freedoms, our democracy, our relationship with the rest of the world. To quote Christopher Armmitage, we are playing in a system where one side breaks all the rules and the referee calls fouls only on one team, the other team. People who still have a sense of decency are horrified by the destructive and reprehensible actions of federal immigration enforcement Asians, invading, terrorizing, and disappearing people in our cities and neighborhoods. We need to be prepared for what is inevitably coming to Tucson as a border community. I'm adding my voice to the chorus in this community, demanding that elected officials step up and take a stand. We need to establish a concrete plan that will protect people in our neighborhoods. Attorney General Bondi has repeatedly asserted that Article 3 judges have no jurisdiction over executive branch decisions on domestic terrorism threats, border security, or immigration enforcement. I'm no legal expert, but this sounds like the executive branch is giving itself absolute immunity. My understanding is that the DOJ is claiming that article 3 judges can no longer intervene to roll to rule on immigration matters. Now that Trump has threatened to invoke the insurrection act in Minnesota, our local leaders need to partner with state officials and take measures that protect our community from federal overreach. The city of Tucson draft statement regarding potential federal deployment does not go far enough to provide meaningful protection for tonins. The statement doesn't provide concrete

5:42:45 – 5:43:42•0

policy rules or protections for overreach on immigration enforcement. It would be very important for Tucson City Attorney to partner with Arizona Attorney General to structure policies and rules based on the ACLU's nine models policy which are designed to protect our families and our neighbors families from some of the worst abuses of this administration. While I support the city's policy to restrict ICE operations on city property, I am asking for a specific policy that police not provide security for ICE enforcement actions. It's not TPT's job to support ICE. We need the council's commitment in resisting compliance with the Trump administration's unlawful agenda. It is critical that we go on the offense in a way that is strategic and has longl lasting effect. Thank you for your time.

5:43:39•0

Thank you, Miss Archuli. [applause] Chris Arisa Jr.

5:43:56 – 5:45:55•0

Hello, mayor and uh council members. I want to begin with the numbers because uh numbers do not moralize, they do not speculate and they do not exaggerate. Numbers tell us what is structurally true. The budget reality we can cannot ignore. In 2023, the Tucson Pima County Homeless Coalition estimates that between 50 and 70 million was spent attempting to end homelessness in Puma County. That figure alone should give us pause. Why? Because despite that level of spending, homelessness persists and by every projection, it's not declining fast enough to justify the cross trajectory. This is not an argument they were spending too much. It's argument that we are spending at the wrong point in the system. Let's examine what is happening upstream before people ever enter shelters or encampments. According to National Equity Atlas, 11,000 renter households in Puma County are behind on rent. The average rears is 2200. Total rent debt equals 24 million. Now, for less than half of what we already spent annually responding to homelessness, we could eliminate the entire current backlog of rental debt that is actively feeding future homelessness. Now, let's follow the math further. The average household size of Puma County is 2.9 people. If only 10% of those behind rent are evicted. A conservative estimate in a tight rental market that equals, 1100 households evicted, 3,100 people newly homeless. a figure alone approaches or exceeds a significant portion of the entire current unhoused population. This is not speculation. This is basic arithmetic applied to known risk factors. Evictions are not a side issue. They are the front door into homelessness. In 2023, Puma County collaboration and homelessness system modeling report identifies that only 3,300 shelter and housing beds currently exist. 6228 beds are needed. There's a shortfall of nearly 3,000 beds. To close that gap after people become homeless requires an estimated 135 to 158 million in additional funding largely for rental

5:45:53 – 5:47:14•0

assistance and essential case management. Let me restate this plainly. We are already spending 50 to 70 million annually and the system tells us itself we need another 135 to 158 to catch up. That is not a substantial curve. That is a structural failure model. The reason is simple. We are trying to build our way out of a problem that is being continuously replenished by evictions. From an economic perspective, this is a classic case of late stage intervention failure. We are paying for emergency shelter, outreach teams, law enforcement interaction, hospital utilization, long-term case management, administrative overhead. All these costs occur after housing has already been lost. By contrast, preventing affliction requires modest short-term rental assistance, mediation, temporary stabilization. In system engineering terms, small inputs upstream prevent massive downstream expenditures. This is not generosity. This is cost avoidance. I propose the creation of a rental stability and eviction prevention fund financed by a flat eviction filing fee applied to individuals or entities owning two or more rental properties. This how it works. So flat fee is assessed at the moment eviction fail is no is filed. Funds are legally restricted to rental rears assistance eviction mediation um utility stabilization rapid rehousing before shelter entry.

5:47:10 – 5:47:33•0

Mr. Arisa your time is over but if you can yeah wrap it up as quickly as possible and then you did not give us any contact information and what you're saying is is really important. These are good ideas. So I'm going to ask our clerk to get your number. Okay, that was an email address.

5:47:30 – 5:48:04•0

Yes. So, um it's almost done, but I I appreciate that. Um uh so this policy does not promote evictions. It does not cap rents. It does not punish landlords. Simply recognize a basic economic truth. Evictions impose predictable public costs and a portion of those costs should be internalized at the point of origin. So, we want to not give the money the cost to the taxpayer, but rather transfer it to the people who are causing the evictions. these large, you know, employee, these large industries as well as uh multi- um housing people that own these rents coming to Tucson, taking the money out of Tucson, bring it back.

5:48:00 – 5:49:59•0

Yeah, that's right. Thank you, sir. And the clerk, Mr. Argisa, the clerk is going to get your contact information. Our last speaker is JP Salvater. Madame Mayor, council JP Salvatira native uh not on retainer. I' I'd like to acknowledge that there's some things that we can do to improve uh the uh integrity of the council and our uh representative de democracy. And that would be essentially from this point on to uh have no virtual public meetings. They only represent stakeholders and not the public at large. Uh [snorts] reject any and all non-disclosure agreements. No executive session ultimate decisionmaking. More public hearings on RTA next priorities. define action over rhetoric as progress and u requesting that future study session uh identify TEP's public commonwealth utility takeover state, city and county can create the uh the legal support and the the funding to make this happen. No one's going to take it from them. They're going to hold on to it to the last minute because it's big money and we need that for our independence as a community. Uh we also demand that ADQ protect us from PM2.5 talcum powder dust from Copper World and South 32

5:49:55 – 5:51:22•0

Amosa LLC's uh contamination and stringent aggressive inspection. We'd uh we don't sell our Sanorita watershed uh from Patagonia subdivisions uh that have been granted a 100redyear potable water uh supply to uh protect their their own property rights and [snorts] their their property values and survival. Water is survival. We don't write sacred water resource checks without public aquafer integrity first. And if you can't remove foris and te and these foreign proxies that have uh over lobbyed our federal government, then uh I've actually lost confidence that uh I can I can reliably vote on the RTA next and any other future tax measures uh without taking care of business first. We the constituents are more important than foreign proxies and special interest groups. You represent us first. Thank you very much.

5:51:20 – 5:51:44•0

Thank you so much. I really appreciate all the speakers, all the individuals that came um to speak to their council, mayor and council. Item seven, consent agenda. Items A through D. Reports from the city manager on the consent agenda are received into and made part of the record. Miss clerk, you are requested to read the consent agenda.

5:51:42 – 5:52:26•0

Item A is approval of minutes. Item B is an intergovernmental agreement IGA with the city of Tucson and Regional Transportation Authority of Puma County RTA for construction funding for the Black Li bicycle boulevard project. Item C is an intergovernmental agreement with a Puma County and the city of Tucson regarding the interconnection of data networks. Item D is updates to Tucson code article 11 independent audit and performance commission. May I have a motion, please? Mayor, I move to approve the matters on the consent agenda. Second, your honor.

5:52:21 – 5:52:43•0

There is a motion and a second. Um, any further discussion on this item hearing? None. Let's go to roll call. Mrs. Lee, I. Mr. Cunningham. I. Miss Schubert. I. Mr. D. I. Mrs. Barahas. I. Vice Mayor Santa Cruz. Hi. Mayor Romero.

5:52:41 – 5:53:23•0

I. The items on the consent agenda are approved by a vote of 70. Item eight. Public hearing. Proposed changes to Park Tucson rates and fees citywide. The city manager's communication number 16th is dated January 21st is received into and made part of the record. This is the time and place legally advertised for a public hearing to take formal action on the proposed changes to Park Tucson rates and fees. This public hearing is scheduled to last for no more than one hour. Speakers are limited to five minute presentations. Do we have any speakers for this item? Yes, ma'am.

5:53:21 – 5:53:45•0

Okay. Uh, please come forward when I call your name and make your presentation. State your name, whether you live in the city, whom you are representing, and whether or not you are a paid speaker. Um, do we have a presentation by our park Tucson or Department of Transportation? No, mayor. Thank you.

5:53:43 – 5:55:42•0

Okay. All righty. So, we're going to start the public hearing again. Uh, please state your name if you're a city of Tucson resident. uh and whether you're a retained speaker. We do not need your address. We just need to know if you're a city resident. Okay. Our first speaker is Reyes Suarez. All right. Thank you again for letting me speak. Um I don't have as much prepared on this. I'm just kind of winging it. Um first I wanted to make it a point that um this matter doesn't affect me directly. I don't drive. I don't have a car. I rely on public um transportation. Um now that being said, it definitely adjacently affects me because I enjoy coming out downtown and uh on 4th Avenue um and having the diverse options of entertainment, eating. Um I've always been around downtown ever since I was a teen. Um, and I've only seen businesses struggle more and more to keep up with the increased rent and uh lower population of people come see them, which this parking rate increase and um the extension of the of the times is definitely going to affect. Um, I have relationships with multiple venue owners who are already struggling with getting people to patriotize their establishments. um they're seeing less and less people and that's has a direct correlation from like when they extended those rates previously and how much it costs for people to stay. Um you know there's a cap of like two hours. Um how sometimes people want to come to a show a venue and that goes on longer than that. Sometimes they want to eat a meal with friends and you know hang out and that caps that. Sometimes they want to

5:55:40 – 5:56:21•0

see a movie at the Fox Theater or the screening room. um you know, it just makes it harder and harder for them to do that and to get people to come out. Um and this is going to directly impact them and we're going to see a lot more closed businesses and um stifled uh economic value coming through um with these increases. Um, so yeah, I hope uh you all see this and and you recognize that they're struggling bad. Um, and we need to, you know, keep them open, keep them helping, keep traffic coming through downtown cuz I don't want this to become an empty space. I don't want to lose what Tucson is. Thank you.

5:56:24•0

Um, Sharon, I think it's Feedler. Sharon Feedler.

5:56:39 – 5:58:38•0

Good evening. I'm Sharon [clears throat] Feedler and I live in Puma County. Um, I am uh I recently had the um the privilege of going to the city of Tucson court to appeal a citation that I had received on 12th Street, which is one block north of Broadway. Um I had um uh fortunate that I'm able to go home and see Wisconsin and see grandchildren during the summer. So, I was not aware that the city of Tucson had changed the amount of when meters were in effect. And um the years that I had gone to see plays at the um Temple of Music and Arts, if I would park at 5:00, go and have dinner downtown, which I'm assuming people would want me to do, then going to a theater, being in that parking spot for four hours. I never had to plug the meter before. Um, this year, the first play of the season, I got a ticket um because I had parked more than two hours in that parking spot, not knowing that the requirement had changed to 700 p.m. Um, when I was speaking with the judge last week, she informed me that the consideration is now to change the parking meter to 10:00. And Tucson is a beautiful city. We have so many wonderful venues for arts and entertainment and music. So, the inconsistency of the parking meters throughout town, um, just on that 12th Street between

5:58:34 – 6:00:29•0

Scott and Sixth Street, there are parking signs that indicate you can be there for six hours. There are signs that have no meters. There are meter there are spots that have no meters whatsoever. Um, there are some spots that say there is 2-hour parking and that that only goes until 7:00. There are spots that say it's just two hours parking and it doesn't say daytime, nighttime. It's very very inconsistent. A dollar an hour for parking. I don't I don't think that that is a u an unreasonable fee for the city. But the inconsistency of the meters downtown tonight, I parked out on the street right out over here on the north side of the building. It says two hours. I don't know if that's at night. I don't know if I'm going to go out there and find a ticket because I went over my two hours for this meeting tonight. And um as the other gentleman was saying, 2 hours when you're parking downtown for evening's entertainment to go to a play, to go to dinner, to go to listen to music, that's an unreasonable limitation on the meter. Um I um that's probably all I have to say, but um raising the fee is acceptable to me, but consistency around the meters and also having it public service announcements that the fees that the at that the meters change the time. Um that would be helpful. So thank you for listening. Thank you, ma'am.

6:00:32 – 6:02:14•0

Riley um Longhan, I believe. I'm sorry if I'm butchering your name, but it's Riley. Hi there. My name is Riley Venibals. I am a resident of downtown Tucson. Um, I am against the um this resolution because I live down here and I have a parking pass I paid for in December for the Armory Park area. The Armory Park area is extremely extremely busy and dense. So, I often cannot park in the Armory Park spots. So, I have to park in the metered spots until 8:00 p.m. or whenever Armory Park spots clear out. So, in turn, making it until 1000 p.m. means I have to park for an additional 2 hours and pay for it. This would ultimately come out to around $70 a week because I get home at three and then I have to um wait two hours, pay for those two hours, change a spot because I can only park there for two hours and then do it until around 1000 p.m. Then that gets very expensive very quickly. And I believe if Tucson's goal is affordability, then this is only going to be a money pit, a money hole. Thank you.

6:02:11•0

Thank you, [applause]

6:02:14 – 6:04:14•0

Jasmine Pierce. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, I am also here in opposition of extending the times on all parking meters like across the board, but specifically for 4th Avenue, I am against even raising the rates. Um, Fourth Avenue has very unique challenges, parking being one of the very large and longtime one of them. Uh, I understand that you need the money to maintain garages and surface lots, but Fourth Avenue doesn't have any garages or any city maintained lots. The city promised our district over a decade ago that the revenue from installing the meters on 4th Avenue would go towards parking solutions for our district, but instead the city's taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in meter revenue from our district to pay for other district's parking garages. In addition to that, the city has made most of the side streets in our district permit only. Has given outofstate developers multi-million dollar tax incentives that could have actually benefited our it could have possibly benefited our district if public parking actually would have been required in those deals. But instead, the developments eliminated the majority of the private parking that was always available to 4th Avenue patrons previously. Downtown has almost 9,000 public on street garage and surface lot spaces. And that's not even including the thousand plus spaces for uh permits and event parking. 4th Avenue has less than 400 spaces. That's that's literally like one space to downtown's 20 plus. I don't think it's reasonable to continue to put stress on our district's accessibility.

6:04:12 – 6:04:58•0

The financial burden of other districts parking maintenance should not be on us. And I hate that it feels that the city's given up helping us find parking solutions, but even if it doesn't go directly towards parking, the revenue generated from our district should be reinvested in our district. I would like to think that we all have 4th Avenue's best interest in mind, but with proposals like this, it frequently doesn't feel that way. So again, I ask that you not make changes to our meters and permits. Don't extend the times on any of them. It really does affect accessibility. And I mean, people do go out to events, but two hours is not is not enough. But that's all. Thank you for your time and consideration.

6:04:55 – 6:06:52•0

Thank you, uh, Joshua Gutierrez. Good evening, Mayor Romero and city council members. My name is Joshua Gutierrez and I reside and work in downtown Tucson. I am not paid to be here. My fellow tenants and I are respectfully urging you to vote no on the proposed changes to Park Tucson rates and fees. When I moved into downtown my downtown apartment in August 2023, my monthly parking rate at the depot plaza garage was $65. Since then, the rate has steadily increased without any end in sight. A $5 monthly increase was implemented in July 2024 and another $5 increase is scheduled for March of this year. With this proposal, an additional $5 will be added and we will be paying $80 a month, which represents a nearly 23% increase since I moved in to access the same parking spot. Our parking garage ranks among the highest monthly garage rates in the city. Previous rates increase have not resulted in improved facilities management. We have experienced cracked non-functional elevator buttons, persistent flooding, and malfunctioning kiosks. We have also experienced months of al uh garage elevator outages. Sometimes both elevators are out of service. Having to use the stairs has been particularly detrimental to those with disabilities

6:06:49 – 6:08:48•0

and other physical limitations for our building and the adjacent public housing um MLK apartments. When this proposal was brought up in study sessions, talking points only focused on increasing metered street parking fees and extended hours. This has led to the perception that this proposal only consists of a mere 75 cent increase for every 30 minutes as stated by some council members. This action has disregarded the $120 annual increase that many downtown residents will face. In addition, the public education on extended parking enforcement and the new fees have been absent. Neither I or the tenants in my building have been informed regarding this matter [snorts] despite being directly affected by these changes. City residents and even members of this council have been confused about recent changes. Local media reports as recent as yesterday indicate that the proposed increase of a street meter parking to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, will deter individuals from visiting downtown, thereby exacerbating the challenges faced by local businesses in this district. During my time in t downtown Tucson, I have observed numerous businesses either closing or relocating. Storefronts remain empty as the economy takes a downturn and residents can justify extending trips here due to increased parking fees. If the objective is to promote tourism and betterment of life to the heart of Tucson, these actions are fundamentally contradictory to that goal. We are not comparable to Phoenix in terms of parking rates due to

6:08:46 – 6:10:14•0

our lower population and lack of downtown amenities. It is unjust to employ that as a justification. Members of this council frequently emphasize the economic turmoil that the community and the nation are experiencing. We are witnessing a reduction in governmental funds allocated to assist the less fortunate. Consequently, voting to approve this measure disregards these concerns as if they were never present and imposes additional burdens to those who are already struggling. Downtown residents will be among the most adversely affected if this is approved. My building's residents will each end up paying $960 a year in parking fees for the continued absence of maintenance facilities. I along with many of them are single inome households with rising bill costs and often rely on financial assistance as it is. This proposal imposes a financial burden on hardworking constituents to raise the capital for your heart of Tucson initiative full of improvement promises that should have been implemented during previous rate increases. With this approval, I anticipate the s the city further exploiting constituents without addressing deteriorating infrastructure. With all due respect, I urge you to vote against this fee increase. Thank you.

6:10:10 – 6:12:09•0

Thank you, Mr. Jason Warake. Jason Marake. [snorts] Good evening esteem mayor and council. Uh thank you for allowing the opportunity to speak tonight. Um I'd like to take a little sidebar and also thank you all for maintaining this democratic process and um just as an individual and as a citizen um as a veteran, as a someone who grew up as a co person of color in South Tucson, I understand that democracy is not something that's guaranteed. It's a vision and it's a dream and it's a flame that needs to be constantly fed. And I'd like to thank you all for keeping that making Tucson really just a beacon and a safe place for democracy and for allowing us to have our freedoms that were constitutionally guaranteed. So I'd like to start with that. Um I'm here to represent um both of Santa Cruz and um also as a employee of the city of Tucson at Tucson City Courts. Um I did not expect this to be a big issue within our within our body but it's something that came to discussion and a few points have been made. Uh one of the major points is that you know throughout our history in generations past uh downtown Tucson has been a cultural center for a lot of us. Um the neighborhood we come from there's u a lot of it's it's near downtown Tucson but it is kind of urban in in the respect that we we farm animals and we have horses and uh the rodeo parade did kind of originate here in downtown and it was always a big event. Uh personally I grew up on 4th Avenue 24th Street. Um coming downtown was a big thing for us. We would get dressed up, we would put on our boots and we would come celebrate. Uh the message that our our neighborhood wants to pass on is you know working

6:12:07 – 6:14:03•0

with the city we understand that improvements and progress uh takes a lot of work and one of the great barriers there is funding and money. So we understand where these increases are coming from. What we would like to uh the city of uh council and mayor to recognize is uh our cultural impact and our cultural history and we don't know if there's a solution to it, but if there is a way to recognize uh the lifelong residents of Tucson, those of us who have kept that culture alive and to offer some sort of discount or some sort of way to find more affordable housing so that we don't feel shut out of uh downtown where, you know, many of our generations grew up and celebrated our culture. Um, moving on, I'd like to say um as a city of Tucson employee, there's also been a lot of discussion towards that. And um well, I know there will be more um more said from the rest of um our representation. Uh one thing I like that really stuck with me is that, you know, over the past few years, we've been forced to make a lot of tough decisions. uh whether those tough decisions are in housing and being forced to move out to places like a Veil or out by the casino to find affordable uh family housing and the commutes that we take every day to come work downtown and provide services for the city. Um we're making tough choices whether it's in food uh transportation uh health or mental health uh and things like that and increasing the parking rates. you know, it is already a burden and we do get a stipen which we appreciate, but um the stipen does not meet our needs and uh alleviate the burdens as well as we would hope. Uh so we would like the mayor and council to take that with them with their decision-m and to maybe afford some kind of a discount or some additional stipen towards city workers to help alleviate those burdens and um make our service a little more manageable. and as far as our work life balance and the decisions we have to make. Um otherwise, thank you for your service and thank you for the

6:14:02 – 6:14:27•0

opportunity to speak tonight. Thank you, Mr. War. [applause] Um I think it's Karolina Silva. Karolina Silva. I'll come back to her just in case she comes back. Uh, Desi Navaro.

6:14:31 – 6:16:29•0

Hello, Mayor and Council. I get five minutes instead of three tonight. So, lovely change. I am calling to speak for the proposed rate changes for parking and for the monthly permits. Um, there's been a lot of talk about the people who wants to come down and experience downtown. I am representing city of Tucson's workforce. People that aren't just down here for fun and entertainment, but are providing providing services and doing their job downtown, a place where we're required to be. We're working for the city. So, just keeping that in mind, we do have a stipen. I'm glad that Jason mentioned it. The site was put into place in 2001 by a mix city council and mayor de Republicans, Democrats, independents who recognized the need that if they're going to have a workforce downtown, they need to be able to afford to work there. And so when they started implementing parking costs, they gave our employees a $25 stipen in 2001. Since then, that has not changed. For the past 25 years, we are still receiving $25 a month to park downtown. And we've seen rate increases ac years and years and years. I can show you on this sheet how many times that $25 has gone unapproved when there were rate increases that were far out of hand. Um for one of these parking garages, I found it interesting that council member Schubert were talking was talking about TE and their rate hikes would cost working families $20 more a month. One of your garages will 100 will raise by 100% from $40 to $80 and immediately put a raising cost on a working family for $40 right off the gate a month. It's unfair. It's unjust. If we were going to follow even before this rate change, just inflation that stipen should be $45.75. It's not with this rate increase going through. If it does, even that will not be sufficient. We have workers that are basically a tax on city of Tucson

6:16:27 – 6:17:38•0

workers who are supplementing their own paychecks by paying the two city back for the privilege of coming to work. If you're parking in a surface in a garage here, even surface ones, the cheapest one there is $40 a month. That's the one proposed to go to 80. The next one up is $45. So that's paying back that $25 stipend plus an additional $20 on top of that. we are paying you to come to work and the more you raise these costs, the more you're putting that burden on the workers. So, I understand there's budgetary needs and you guys have got to make your your money somehow, but it cannot be on the back of your labor force. We are disproportionately impacted cuz we pay downtown to park. So, I would encourage all of you to vote no on this, especially without bringing in other people that are going to be in affected by this as part of the discussion because raising these rates on your workers again who already got their pay their pay increases capped and cut down, who are already getting rising health care costs, putting another parking stipen on top of there is an unfair burden and a tax on your workers. Thank you,

6:17:38•0

Arlene Leaf. Arlene Leaf.

6:17:59•0

Hello, Mayor and Council.

6:18:01 – 6:20:00•0

Hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Arlene Leaf and I am a merchant on 4th Avenue and I've been there for 46 years and I want to speak today about the parking situation and to ask you to please really consider I I came speaking from the merchant point of view but honestly I hear all these other points of view and they're equally important that I really feel that if there's any way to delay making these decisions at this time, it would be very prudent. From the merchants's point of view, I know uh for 46 years, the city has said it was going to solve the pro parking problem. We've had a parking problem on 4th Avenue. When they put in the meters, they said that money will go to support a parking garage or something that will help alleviate the problem. And one of the rationale was by having it for two hours it would force a greater turnover on the avenue. So you wouldn't have the people that are just coming there and parking all day long. So now we have the two hours. If you're one minute over the two hours, you cannot put more money in. You have to go find another place. And I really think it is the heart of Tucson downtown and Fourth Avenue, the public parking. And I was thinking it more from the shopper or the visitors point of view to go and visit the shops and go have something to eat and support the neighborhoods, right? But the um whole argument with the entertainment for if you want to go to the theater, if you want to go to a meeting, anything like that, this the two the arbitrary two hours is very

6:19:56 – 6:21:07•0

difficult. So, um I feel I feel that everyone Jasmine has done a fabulous job of researching just the differential between the availability of parking downtown and what's available at 4th Avenue and 400 spaces is very small. We have one paid parking garage in back and I don't I don't know what the capacity is and we have somebody else who opens it up sometimes to the public but I figure in my rough decision is that you're already making a million dollars a year off the parking on 4th Avenue as it stands with the hours and with the dollars and that to increase it by 30% and then to extend the hours which would be a hardship to the commercial district and to the people living there. Um, I just really want you to truly truly consider very deeply what all the implications of this type of a decision is for the community and for the the visitors that come here that support us. Thank you.

6:21:08•0

Thank you, Miss Leaf. Eddie Mias.

6:21:26 – 6:22:31•0

Hello. Good evening, mayor and council. I'm a native Ton and a local teacher and a downtown resident. And I just am asking you to vote on raising parking fees. It's just not fair. people aren't going to visit me or businesses or anything. Um it's if we a few fewer people are going to come downtown already since it's the 7:00 they raised the time. Fewer [snorts] people are coming. Nobody wants to come. They're like we don't want to come. It's we don't want to pay. We don't want to pay for parking and they're not going to come and they're not and then we go out and we go to all the businesses. And so I think it should please just reconsider this additional hardship. It's just a hard economy too. But thank you James. Um James

6:22:30•0

is it Owens? I'm sorry. James Owens. I'm on a roll [laughter] here. That's good. Uh, thank you.

6:22:37 – 6:24:36•0

Yeah. Thank you, mayor and city council. Uh, my name is James Owens. I am a Tucson resident and a small business owner down here. I own Brickbox Brewery located right behind the Rialto Theater. Um, I was looking into numbers. I wanted to come up here and give a professional uh, look at that and I realized I don't need to do that. Uh, I've seen a huge decrease in my business since the initial rate change that happened recently. Um, and it's been very difficult to convince people to come downtown and spend their money in a space that almost has a it creates a difficult environment for people to want to stay. Um, as mentioned before, a show at the Rialto doesn't last 2 hours and it definitely starts around 6 or 7:00. Uh people like to come downtown. They like to eat. That's going to take you a while. You're going to want to go to a local restaurant, have some food. By the time you finish your meal, you can't go to the show. You need to repark your car. Uh this hour change is going to be devastating to downtown businesses. I'm not saying this like it might be. I'm telling you like it is going to be. I've watched it already be a problem with 700 p.m. It's very dangerous what you're playing with. If you need to find money, please don't do it by crippling the businesses that live here downtown. Our employees are constantly fighting the situation of parking and like mentioned before the stipen not being enough. It's problematic. Uh, one of my other major concerns I wanted to raise is the safety issue. My business is on Broadway. There is zero police presence on Broadway. Um, there's no one walking to beat. Uh, half the time I try to get a hold of 911, I'm usually hung up on and called back. I understand that's another issue. My concern is when my employees leave a building at 2 or 3:00 a.m. depending on how busy the night was. Now I'm asking them to walk down a street with no lighting, which is Herbert Street, and on top of that or street that I've known people to have problems with or to be

6:24:33 – 6:25:40•0

harassed or robbed even. Uh I'm asking these employees of mine to walk down that street with no concern um about their safety because now they can't park close to the business they work at. Uh there's no solution for this and parking at a garage is way too far for Charo Char del Rey, for anyone that works at PBLO Vita, for any of the Rialto staff. It's a very difficult situation. Raising these rates and also increasing that time is going to devastate the Rialto Theater, uh us at Brickbox, Cartel Coffee, anyone that's there in the afternoon. So I urge you and I beg you, please reconsider this and do not pass it. Um, I have already seen the problem that is created with the increase with the loss of business and I'm very scared for you guys to do this. As a business that's two years old, we are fighting to stay above water and this is only going to hurt us. So please, please, please, please, I'm begging you. Take a look at this. Again, if you need to find the money, there's other ways. This is not the move. It's only going to hurt us. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you listening.

6:25:37•0

Thank you, Mr. Owens. [applause]

6:25:43 – 6:27:43•0

Jacob Snider. Thank you, Mayor and Council for letting me speak. Um, my name is Jacob Snder. Uh, I am a resident of the city of Tucson. Um, I'm here representing myself. I hope you'll ap let me apologize. I didn't prepare anything nice like uh these other people. I decided to speak uh relatively recently. Um I thought that I was going to be among uh uh opponents I should say here. I I personally very much oppose this uh this proposed rate increase and this hour expansion. Now I just learned about this recently actually. I'm I'm a resident of Tucson for a couple of years now and um I heard about this actually on the radio and I I decided to uh to come and speak. Um I'm here not on uh specific numbers which is I'm a numbers guy. I usually like to speak about numbers. Um I don't have numbers here because I did not have a lot of time to prepare for this. Uh one thing that I did while I'm just sitting there on my phone trying to do as much much research as possible. Uh it seems like a large motivation here is to to fund Sunlink. Uh fund Sunlink, excuse me. Uh it sounds like the council is uh thinking that they can you guys can raise $1.7 million by these rate increases in our our expansion. Um, something that I haven't heard brought up yet is that uh if Sunlink is not is not being used enough or needs more money, uh perhaps funding Sunlink through the users of Sunlink is a valuable proposition. Now, I understand that maybe there's a a an advantage to uh keeping this a free service and I've thought about using Sunlink actually myself uh given that it's free and uh it's should be easy to use. The problem is just that the the honestly the schedule is is not easy to uh understand. There's poor marketing. There's poor understanding of when when

6:27:40 – 6:29:39•0

it's running. Uh hours do not seem to be uh particularly valuable or or or useful for my uh use cases. I don't work downtown. Um but funding a a service through the people who use the service seems to be a logical uh thing to do. Now, something else that was brought up earlier in the meeting, um, uh, Council Member Schubert, you mentioned, I believe, that the Arizona C, uh, uh, Corporation Commission is, uh, expected to raise rates and it's going to cost the average Arizona family $1943 per month. Um, somebody else brought this up and I was very glad to hear that these parking rate increases just like really back of the envelope calculations that I just did sitting right there uh is going to wildly exceed for an average user or somebody who wants to go visit downtown. I already find myself, like I said, I've been here a couple years now. I already find myself purposefully avoiding downtown, visiting downtown businesses for places that I things that I can do elsewhere. Uh, a good example, the other day I meant to went to go ship something at the UPS store. I like the UPS store downtown and they have really nice people and they have great hours. Uh, I purposefully chose a different place. I rearranged my the the order of my errands because it's it's not just a monetary cost of of a dollar or two. There's also a technological temporal cost of I have to go download an app and I'm I'm figuring out which spot am I in and I just want to run in and drop something off and come out. there's no grace period, x number of minutes free, whatever. Um, rate rate increases going up 30%. It's it it seems to be um, again, I'm very happy that it seems like I'm amongst uh, other people here who who tend to agree with me. It just seems like this was a poorly thoughtout uh, solution and that there's there there must be another way to to do this. If the motivation is is Sunlink, there are certainly ways to do this uh, through funding Sunlink in in other ways. And I understand again that there's probably motivation to um to keep that free and I

6:29:37 – 6:30:17•0

I like that too. But if there's a if there's an if there's a desire for the people who for the administration or organization who runs Sunlink to uh make money off of Sunlink, they will find better ways to expand hours, to expand access, to expand location coverage, to expand uh all all the things around that that would make it a more valuable service. and there's a incentive structure there that maybe can be utilized to fund continued Slink operations. So I don't know again maybe I'm just being a a a straw man right now because I didn't entirely understand the motivation but if that is the motivation then there are certainly other uh other options. Thank you again for letting me speak.

6:30:14 – 6:30:59•0

Thank you Mr. Snider. [applause] All righty I'm going to call Karolina Silva one more time. All righty. I think that was our last speaker. Let me see. All righty. I think that was our last speaker. Thank you so much. Um I will Madam Mayor Sure. JP, I don't I don't have your card. That's all righty. Uh let's see. We do have a time available for anyone else in the audience to speak that wishes to be heard. JP, go ahead.

6:30:57 – 6:32:56•0

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Jonathan Salvatier, Tucson native resident. And I, you know, I'm very concerned about this uh the rate increase the way it's it's written here, changes to Park Tucson rates and fees, parenthesis, citywide communications. Okay. Then further in this it says relating to transportation and park Tucson. Now, I don't know if that relates to um transportation mobility issues, uh their funding or anything, but the uh the emphasis here is that if people make use of the downtown area and particularly 4th Avenue, you know, it's it's a a strengthening thing that we all need. We're a unique culture and we're so locally close to the university that this creates a synergistic effect when the availability of parking and reasonable cost. And I might also mention reasonable fees for tickets and citations, not $200 $300, you know, for something. I mean, that's just way out of hand. Uh the other thing that that really bothers me is okay and and these these kind of fees, you know, are are um discriminatory against people that can't uh afford them, first of all, and uh for our tourists that that find that it's so inconvenient. Oh, well, let's just go somewhere else. We won't visit downtown. Um, another huge primary issue that I learned about uh through uh a presentation before uh a civic uh

6:32:52 – 6:34:52•0

activity that I I attend is that a speaker for the uh 4th Avenue Merchants Association mentioned that they bring $65 million worth of re revenue that they generate during the gem show. Okay. Now, as a perspective, uh Beal with uh Project Blue, they're going to hypothecate 15 million. They're not confirmed. They're hypothecating. Uh other other issues, you have you have a 3% franchise fee from TEP and they uh that's $14 million. Okay. But is that a general fund thing? Because we all know that a corporation doesn't absorb the cost. They pass it through to we the public who are the last holders of recourse. That's a very important thing that we all need to remind ourselves about. Uh I'm I'm sure you know you have very significant concern about this and and related to the uh the public and uh the use of the downtown area and emphasizing you know tourism and and convenience and and multiple venues that they participate in. I know when uh when Mayor Rothschild was in in office, uh all city employees uh don't have to worry about parking. It's paid for. The majority the majority of other some some members maybe not all. I know some public pum uh have to pay, but that's that's another standing issue. It's just about being reasonable. It's about having, you know, a balance. And this is really, I never wanted to say it

6:34:50 – 6:36:15•0

before, but it's really lowhanging fruit. It really is when you can't have it both ways. If you allow big business and the building community to have their additional dwelling unit, 650 square foot is roughly about $200,000. So, when you're looking at that versus uh having the the parking restriction that allows them to park underneath a two-story structure, that works and that's amanable. That's compromise. But when you put students out on the street for someone to vandalize their vehicle, snatch, grab, their insurance rates go up. We know that. It's a fact. Uh it's it's just such a there there's so many different ways that we can support our our local 4th Avenue Merchant Association. And we used to be able to uh get your get your parking validated if you went in and had a meal. I mean, that was common place. Why can't we do that now? Don't let this go after 7:00. That's ridiculous. It's a it's an incredible, you know, uh challenge to residents in the uh the downtown area and it's just uncomfortable for all of us.

6:36:13 – 6:36:26•0

Time is up. Thank you. Thank you. You've had your five minutes. Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to uh speak on this? Come on up.

6:36:24 – 6:38:20•0

Thank you. Thank you. I pulled out a card. I don't know where it went. I'm Rachel Dquisto. I work downtown. My children go to school downtown. I am a small business owner. And as I work towards building my business, I'm also an employee of the Rialto Theater. Uh I am opposed to this and I would urge you to consider uh where else and how else we can raise funds. I will echo all of the things that have been said in opposition are valid and valuable to take into consideration as you uh review this. Uh everything from residents and at best for folks visiting downtown for just the evening, it's confusing. There wasn't uh as James mentioned a a rate increase not that long ago and an extension of ours not that long ago. It's inconsistent. So at best folks uh shy away. Um and at worst we are putting the burden on the folks who are in the acute ecosystem like business owners and uh schools and or people who attend school and uh residents. So, I would like you to consider I also really enjoyed uh what the other gentleman had to say about possibly if it is to raise funds for a different thing like Sunlink that maybe we should look harder at how to raise these funds. I um I don't think this is the best solution. I understand the challenge and I just wanted to echo my opposition. Thank you for letting me speak. I appreciate that. Of course. Thank you. [applause] All righty. Um I do not think we have any additional speakers. May I have a motion to close the public hearing?

6:38:19 – 6:39:04•0

Mayor second. There's a motion and a second to close the public hearing. Um all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Any against? This public hearing is closed. Miss Clerk, you are requested to read resolution 2462 by number and title only. Resolution number 24062 relating to transportation and Park Tucson adopting the increase to Park Tucson rates and fees for garages, parking lots, residential and non-residential permits, and meter metered parking administered by Park Tucson and declaring an emergency. What is the council's pleasure? Councilwoman Lee.

6:39:03 – 6:40:50•0

Thank you, Mayor. I can get the party started up here. Um, lots of valid concerns from a variety of folks. So, I really appreciate the everyone for coming out and talking today. Um, Tim, I have a couple questions for you. Just want to zoom way out real quick and set some context to remind us and our our neighbors who came out today why this is in front of us exactly what the purpose is where the funding is going to go how it's going to be used and if you could just refresh us on why this is in front of us today as a starter and then I do have a few other questions. Honorable mayor, members of the council, council member Lee, this was um brought uh forward as part of the overall approach to creating the heart of Tucson as a uh a um tourism district in the downtown area. It is um largely centered on the street car extents and the heart of Tucson boundary is is generally a walk shed around the the downtown or the Sunlink stream car. Um it is correct that we recently did changes to meter rates and hours and this was um intended to raise additional revenue into the downtown area uh extending through 4th Avenue and to the university and back. Um as additional revenue to um to that area. Um how that revenues could be used would be uh further revenues to Park Tucson itself which is uh to address our our parking needs, our meter exchange outs that are necessary and the garages themselves. U but it also could be used to enhance um the the safety and security of the of the region. So this was initiated as part of that discussion around the heart of Tucson.

6:40:48 – 6:41:34•0

Okay. Thank you, Tim. Um, I will be honest and I think I speak for a lot of Eastsiders as well. Parking is my number one concern. My team knows when you put an appointment in my calendar, put where I'm going to park because it can be a challenge for folks like Jason mentioned, folks who don't have access to good transit services and don't have an opportunity to do anything but to drive or take an Uber downtown. So, it is a very real um challenge. I guess the question that I have, we've heard a lot of reasons as to why we should say no. I would like Tim just to understand the impact of us saying no. You know, does this mean we have to dip into reserves to cover just what would be the impact today if we decide not to move forward?

6:41:31 – 6:42:13•0

Honorable mayor, members of the council, um council member Lee, I do not foresee that this is a situation where if you say no, we have to dip into the general fund reserve. The park Tucson itself is a special revenue fund. um during COVID and uh time frames around that the Park Tucson revenues were not matching uh the costs of operating the uh facilities and the operations. However, we've largely climbed out of that. We're still seeing quite honestly the impact of the recent changes to uh hours and and rates that occurred not too long ago. Um but I don't foresee that this would be something that immediately impacts the reserve.

6:42:11 – 6:42:26•0

Thank you, Tim. I think for me uh I think there's enough compelling reasons as to why this is probably the not not the right approach to move forward with right now, but I would love to hear what the colleagues have to say. Vice Mayor and then Council Member Cunningham.

6:42:24 – 6:44:21•0

All right. Um thank you, mayor. Just I know to like refresh also for my colleagues. Um this was something that council member Ulich at the time had brought forward as well as myself on um how do we uh rightsize parking in our downtown? We know that we have a culture of not liking to pay for parking and I will be the first one to say that. Um, but I also had the experience of being a a student at the UOVA and not being able to afford parking at the UOVA and that forced me to ride a bike and use our public transportation system to get around. And I will forever be grateful for that experience of allowing me to get to see my city and get to meet people and see things in a different light. Um because when you're when you're riding a bike, when you're using public transit and you're walking, you're seeing all the needs that our community has. Um and you have a different relationship with your environment when you step out of your vehicle and you're not in such a car centric mentality. So, I want to start my remarks with this simple idea because I think we don't think about it that free parking or subsidized parking isn't really free. And so, what we're asking from neighbors is if you own a private vehicle, why should the expectation be on the taxpayer to subsidize your free parking or your, you know, your your cheaper parking? I don't think that that is fair to put that on taxpayers to have to foot the bill. When parking is underpriced, the costs show up elsewhere with congestion, pollution, higher rents, and a downtown that prioritizes car storage over people. So, this isn't just about parking. It's about how we manage our public space, mobility, and the real costs of driving. Parking is one of the largest public land uses in the urban

6:44:19 – 6:46:00•0

core, and how we prices shapes travel behavior, land use, and who our downtown works for. Urban planner Donald Shupe has spent decades studying this and his research shows that cheap or free parking doesn't make cities more accessible. It makes them more congested and harder to navigate. Drivers end up circling for spots, wasting time and fuel while our streets get more crowded. Pricing parking closer to market rates does the opposite. It makes parking easier to find, reduces cruising, and encourages people to choose the option that works best for them. Whether that's parking once and walking, using a garage, or taking Sunlink or transit, this is not about punishing drivers. It's about managing the limited public space responsibly and giving people real choices. Right now, we heavily subsidize driving and parking, even for those who don't benefit from that subsidy at all. What's also important is what happens to the revenue. These adjustments help cover rising maintenance and security costs. Allow us to reinvest in the urban core, supporting mobility, safety, and the heart of Tucson work tied to Sun Link and downtown access. Ultimately, this is about aligning our parking policy with our values, moving away from subsidizing congestion and toward managing our public spaces responsibly. It means less congestion, better access, reinvesting locally, and a downtown that works for everyone, not just those who can afford to store a car all day. Thank you,

6:45:56•0

Council Member Cunningham.

6:46:02 – 6:48:00•0

I think there's a lot of people who um if we're going to talk about subsidies, we're subsidizing transit pretty significantly as well right now. And so I I think it's I think we have to have balance there. Um I don't think there I think it's a I think it's an exercise that I don't want to have if we're going to pit transit riders with car drivers, especially being an east side guy who drives. Um I think there's uh places where we can talk about car pools. We can speak in in all those 100,000 foot levels, but right now for me the issue is timing uh and kind of the execution of how we go about this. Uh I think there's some things some details that I'm just not comfortable with yet. Like the folks that are talking about the two-hour limit, they're speaking to me. That really concerns me. I mean, we want if we've got extra parking off the avenue, off fourth Avenue, then the bottom line is is that we shouldn't have a problem with 2, three, 4 hour parking. Shouldn't be a problem to to be able to do 4 hours. I'm going to be honest with you on the meter side, adding an extra 10 cents or 15 cents per 15 minutes, we only charge a buck an hour. I'm okay with popping that a little bit, but uh the monthly fees and the stipen with the employees, that really concerns me. I'm like, wait a minute, not so fast. Uh the other part is on the 4th Avenue side [sighs] when we're talking about the 400 uh pieces, are we including what we've got up along 8th Street and 9th Street as well? And how far are we going all the way to university to uh the the bridge where you go over to Club Congress or is it excuse me Hotel Congress or are we talking about just

6:47:57 – 6:49:56•0

4th Avenue from 6th Street uh to the shanty because that probably has a big way on where I am. Remember when we built the development uh next to where the Ali's parking lot was, we lost a bunch a spot where a bunch of people parked on the avenue. And so for the folks who operate businesses on the avenue, they're still reeling in some of those revenues. So while I appreciate the effort and this is a really good fourth earnest piece right now, it's not quite ready for t prime time, I'd like to delay it and give us a chance to meet with some of the folks who spoke tonight. What's really interesting about the folks who spoke tonight, and this is just me, you know, I've only been a councilman for 15 years, so what do I know? But um it doesn't look like you guys just organized a thing where everybody showed up and said the same thing. This is literally a organic ground swell of opposition from a bunch of different perspectives. And that right there should be a red flag when you're making good policy. So, while I don't want to reject this wholeheartedly and [snorts] summarily, I do think it's important that we say, "Hey, look, why don't we delay or table this item or and go back to the drawing board a little bit? It needs some tweaks, especially when it comes to uh the hour, the length of time you can do a meter downtown. Uh whether or not we can help out our employees with the stipen and actual residents and even cooperate with some of the hotels and why don't we see how we can tweak this a little bit. I think it's really great work by staff as far as they their intent is pure. Their intent to try to make downtown and 4th Avenue work is pure. So, I don't want to be slamming staff about this, but at the same time, this one's just not quite ready. I think we got some work to do, and I think we can come up with a package that even everybody else out here who said no can live with. Let's

6:49:55 – 6:50:28•0

see if we can come together, people. I think there's I think there's something there. Uh I think definitely the per 15minute rate is definitely worth doing. I mean, but I think it's really hard to parse that out at the table tonight. So my proposal is if anybody wants to entertain the motion like that uh is to delay this and see if we can just make some tweaks that that are a little bit more workable. All righty. Before we move in this direction, I know that council member uh Schubert wanted to speak and then council member Vargas.

6:50:28 – 6:52:24•0

All right. First, I want to thank everybody who's reached out to the W 6 office and also shown up here tonight to speak. I know it's not easy even sending an email. Um, and I also want to acknowledge that, um, I'm less than two months into this role. Um, and I understand, um, and really appreciate Vice Mayor Santa Cruz and Council Member Ulick putting this together for us. Um, but it does feel a little bit like I I jumped into the middle of the conversation. Um, just a few other comments. My my perspectives about parking are incredibly similar to Vice Mayor Santa Cruz. Um, I too um appreciate the work of Donald Shupe on the impact of parking on our cities and affordability especially um in terms of subsidizing public transit. Um I'll just comment that we all subsidize the roads through our taxes um whether we drive or not. Um so we're subsidizing all kinds of um public amenities for everybody else. Um I want to call attention to the responses that we received. Um, as council member Cunningham commented, um, it it was very organic. Everybody's saying things, um, in their own words. It's not a coordinated, um, effort. We received about 10 me 10 emails, half directly from W six about this issue, all in opposition. Respondents included, um, Jill from Shaes, who's also the new co-chair of the El Corazone bid steering committee. I know the heart of Tucson was mentioned, um, Wooden Tooth, Sirly Wench, Aveda Institute, and more. Um, more comments are continuing to come into our office. A few of the arguments we've received, uh, one is that Park Tucson hasn't been regularly meeting in order to adequately weigh in. Um, I just wanted to ask the question of, um, because I saw in the November 5th Marining Council meeting, um, general public outreach and engagement with Park Tucson was supposed to happen. I just wanted to ask if that if that did happen.

6:52:28 – 6:53:10•0

Honorable mayor, council member Schubert. Um, are you talking about the Park Tucson Commission? Yeah. Yeah. So, there was public outreach and the opportunity for residents to Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that question. So, there has been uh conversations with the Park Tucson Commission uh as as recently as December. Um, we following the I believe it was the notice of intent. We have uh we do have information on our website. Um and we also did uh quite a bit of public outreach, the first round of um fee increases as well as the extended um meter enforcement hours. So there has been an ongoing dialogue with uh with stakeholders around these changes that are being proposed tonight.

6:53:08 – 6:54:52•0

Thank you. And the original vote on the fee increase was in April of 2024. Is that right, Director Credo? Okay. Thank you. Um common themes we heard folks complaining about parking challenges, costs, also the accessibility of the app. Um many concerns over the revenue from the meters not being spent on ex investing in the same areas that are in need of investment. We heard from Aveda students who are on financial aid. Uh we heard many comments about inconsistent and confusing signage and 4th Avenue not benefiting from parking revenue and infrastructure as much as downtown. Um, also a lot of a lot of comments about employee safety and the cost of parking for low-wage earners. And we know that the restaurant and hospitality and you know industry that that drives downtown is you know the the pay is not awesome many in many cases. Um the parking app is confusing especially for elderly um residents who aren't used to using their phones. Um, and it's clear from the public hearing tonight and from the comments we received that there's a clear disconnect in people's minds between paying for parking and then investing in the area, charging for the parking. So, I'm really interested in what we can do to visibly improve the landscape and places where we charge for parking. Make it very obvious where your money is going. Um, and there's still a lingering impression about how there's no parking downtown. And this has been a problem for years as people have said. Um so I have a few comments. Um do we have any data about the impact of previous fee increases? We've received many comments but I wonder if we have actual analysis from the city um about that.

6:54:55 – 6:55:22•0

Honorable member mayor council member Schubert. Um the the only data I think that we have is just taking a look at our our parking revenues and and where they're coming in at. Um we absolutely expect that there would be some sort of price elasticity. Anytime you increase fees or extend meter enforcement hours, we would expect that there would be some um shift in how people are going to choose to park.

6:55:19 – 6:57:17•0

Thank you. I'm also really concerned hearing about residents, tenants, and workers who literally have to pay to park where they so that they can go to where they live and where they work. That doesn't feel that doesn't feel right to me. Um when we are concerned about equity, um I've heard concerns about the the 2 hours versus the 4 hours thing. I've heard I've lost track of the complaints I've heard about that. Um the broken meters is real. Um let's see. workers whose parking stipens haven't increased. Um, you know, I mean, overall, any other city, you know, if you go downtown, like we're still a bargain to park in, but I also think that we've heard very real concerns tonight um about [snorts] things like accessibility and affordability. Um, and as as the representative who, you know, W six is the most affected by these changes. Um, so I I would feel pretty good about continuing this item just to allow more time to delve into those concerns and ensure that they are fully addressed. I would also be interested in seeing if we could have a report in 6 months to a year after implementing whatever changes we decide to um just to see the tracking of where the investment in revenue occurred and is it working basically. Um, I think that you all are going to feel better about any potential changes if you have some measure of assurance and accountability about how that money is being spent because we definitely need more investment in the heart of uh in the heart of downtown the Elorone um district which includes 4th Avenue um and the area nearby. So, um again, I just want to appreciate everybody for reaching out to our office and for making your concerns known. I know this isn't an easy um topic and I'm glad that we can have open discussion um at the deis about this.

6:57:15 – 6:57:59•0

Council member Araas. Thank you, Mayor. Well, before I share some comments, I do have a couple questions. Um what costs such as updating signage and information on the parking meters will be incurred as a result of these changing changes? And will there be an inventory just to check the current existing um meters to make sure they work? And the second part is is Park Tus has Park Tucson ever explored uh prepaid options or other ways to balance out this fee for you know workers and and students and then I have some comments but go ahead. Thank you. Yeah, thank you honorable mayor council member Brahouse. What was the first part of the question? I just missed it.

6:57:57•0

What costs such as signage um and information on parking meters will be incurred?

6:58:02 – 6:59:32•0

Thank Thank you for those questions. Um the cost for signage is is typically pretty negligible. Um we we've already signed um we've resigned many of the signs around downtown for the 700 p.m. We would do the same for 10 p.m. What we've done is we've designed it in a way that we can easily update those signs. We don't have to recreate the entire sign panel. We can just update essentially the decal that goes over the current one. So, I'm I'm not too concerned about the cost there. Regarding the meters, um we do know that that is an issue. We have a a team that works on repairing the meters as quickly as we can. Um we also on we should have almost on every single meter a sticker that advertises that uh you can also pay through the app. A lot of times people pull those stickers off and then it becomes difficult. How do you pay if the meter doesn't work? So, you can always pay the meter through the app if the if the meter is not working. Regarding the meters themselves, we have begun talking um with the city manager and our part Tucson staff about the need to replace our meters citywide. Um it's a substantial cost. I know it's in excess of million dollars that we currently don't have a budget for. And so, you know, part of the conversation around these uh fee increases and the extended meter enforcement hours is developing uh some fund balance to be able to pay for these deferred needs. And was there another question at the end there?

6:59:30 – 6:59:54•0

Um, if Park Tusan has explored any type of prepaid options or other, you know, incentives for workers and students. Um, I believe I I don't know if we have prepaid options. I mean, the best thing that we have right now are are permit um passes that we offer that people can come in and and buy. I don't know that we have a prepaid option, but that is something we can look into. Thank you.

6:59:52 – 7:01:51•0

Thank you. Um, I do want to share a few words and I want to thank our business community and our our downtown residents for being here with us tonight. I do understand concerns uh from the community that these increases do not impact everyone equally. Those who don't have the convenience walking, biking or transit access to downtown, those who need to drive for accessibility accommodations, those that have families, and those who find these increases unaffordable. That said, we do currently offer free fair free transit and I encourage our community to use our transit system, including the Sunlink Street car with the new especially with the new transit app that is easier and more convenient that it than it has ever been. Um I I also want to share a little story. I did study at UCLA and actually took Professor Donald Schup's class and I'll tell you um you know he's famous for talking about the high cost of parking, free parking and that was the most difficult class for a Tucson kid to understand um how expensive parking was in Los Angeles. However, it did force me to take the big blue bus or to carpool with students coming from the east side or south side of Los Angeles because parking was very expensive in Westwood and at UCLA. And I have also worked in communities where I have seen parking fees um transform cities. You know, I've worked at a youth center where those parking fees were reinvested in the youth. So if this is going to be enforced, we must reinvest in this community and especially our business corridors. I do want, you know, the heart of Tucson to be accessible for all to our Tucson community as well as our tourism district. And I would like to propose that we really study and evaluate how these parking fee increases will impact our residents, our workers, our business owners, and our working-class families

7:01:49•0

before we move forward. Thank you. Thank you, council member uh council member Dal.

7:01:55 – 7:03:49•0

Thank you, mayor. It seems like we might be working towards a consensus to postpone a little bit so that we can do some a deeper dive, which I agree with. Um I think there are going to be higher fees and we may eventually have um uh the late night, but let's do it in a way that doesn't hurt businesses. And um I agree we need to look at the stipend. Not that we rich in money right now and maybe it doesn't happen this year. Um, and what really intrigues me is is the quandry of two hours benefiting businesses because of the turnover versus 4 hours benefiting other businesses because then they're there and they don't have to leave your business. And and there might be some ways of resolving that. In some areas, four hours would be great around the Rialto um along Fourth Avenue where you're wanting people to come in and out. Maybe it's two hours turn. I don't know. But let's take some time and maybe maybe look I'm asking staff to to take some time and look at that. Um uh and maybe we don't come up with an answer. Um and I agree there when we can get people into alternatives um and maybe there's some strategies where employees can take can find a better parking place, a safe parking place. I really agree with that. By the way, my son's a downtown employee. I think you know him probably, right? #um to use the the the Sunran as a way to get get to your business um as an employee and because it's an amazing thing and I've seen over the last 11 years having the the modern street car build up everything. Um and so for us to support that effort I think is is where we're coming from. Um and hopefully we can get there without destroying small businesses and pissing off people who live downtown. So, um, I agree with the post. Thank you.

7:03:48 – 7:05:45•0

Thank you. Thank you, council member. Well, I I just wanted to add to the conversation. Um, and I just want to remind everyone the conversation that we had that got us here today. Uh, the conversation about the heart of Tucson and being able to create a district that would reinvest in itself. um that parking and transit indeed shouldn't be pitted against each other, but that it should work with each other uh to make sure that we make it much more accessible and available uh for everyone to use the street car and to be able uh to have an easy time finding parking in our downtown. Um, I know I I hear the same thing, Council Member Schubert, that there's not enough parking uh in our downtown, but we do have certain parking garages that are completely empty um after 5:00 p.m. And so I really do believe we've got to uh be able to create um the communications plan and action plan to be able to use those parking garages after 5 uh for the bene benefit of workers of people that live downtown uh and people that are using the entertainment in our downtown. And so, um, you know, I I I think that one of the most important things that we could do is support the, you know, our residents and and our small businesses. I heard from Mr. Owens and Rachel, and we do business, the city of Tucson does business with you, and you all do such an incredible job. You're so valuable uh to all of us. Um, you know, I I I hear

7:05:43 – 7:07:40•0

the constituent concerns. I hear my colleagues on the council in terms of um being able to delay it and then have additional conversations with our businesses. I absolutely understand council member Schubert that you want to have an at least an opportunity uh to work this item and work this issue so we can come to a good conclusion. I think we're going to have to move that process forward and move it quickly. um a and and be able to come to a um responsible solution for everyone. Um I I I I think that uh the more information we share about um really what parking is costing us um and how we best use it in our downtown. It concerns me um that Jasmine uh from I think it's Sorly Ranch uh I was here when we had the conversation about 4th Avenue and finding additional parking especially for the workers and I think that we had thought about how we find solutions um for 4th Avenue workers especially um there is uh there is uh evidence that proves that moving um moving people quickly from parking meters is better for businesses. It's keeps people moving and brings new clients into the into the business and opens up parking um spots throughout in our case 4th Avenue or or Congress or

7:07:37 – 7:08:43•0

Broadway. But saying that, I also understand the the request to take our time to get the input to do more outreach and be able to uh come to a to a good conclusion. So I would request um that we do not uh throw this and all the work that has been done for this away. I think that we can reach a good conclusion amongst all of us, especially those on on the council that um you know are closer in terms of representing the businesses and neighborhoods that are affected by this um and work diligently to find some solutions uh to to the issue. So, I would request that we delay the item and then bring it back within the next three months. Uh, or I don't know. I I don't know what the request would be to bring it back, but uh bring it back with an alternative um solution.

7:08:41 – 7:09:22•0

Do we need a motion for that, mayor, or do you do do we need a motion? And I think um council member Schubert was in line for this motion. Okay. I move that we continue this item to a future meeting not to exceed three months from now. So there is a motion. May I have a second? There's a motion and a second. U and do we need to do roll call? All righty. Let's go to roll call. Miss Schubert. I. Mr. Cunningham. Mr. D. I. Mrs. Lee. I. Mrs. Barahas. I. Vice Mayor Santa Cruz. I. Mayor Romero.

7:09:17 – 7:09:35•0

I. Motion passes by vote of 70. And council member Schubert, you have a lot of homework to do, lots of engagement, and I would be more than happy to help with that as well. Thank you. All righty. Thank you all. Thank you for coming. Really appreciate you.

7:09:44 – 7:11:44•0

Are you Thank you, everyone. Yeah. Stretch up. Stretch up. Um, Um, so we're going to move on to item nine if that's okay with you. I think we need we have a couple more items. So item nine, Miss Clerk, reszoning ordinance adoption TP ent 0623 000030,

7:11:40 – 7:12:20•0

Mr. Car wash Grant Road C1 to C2 in Ward 2. City manager communication number 18 dated January 21st is received into and made part of the record. This is a request to reszone approximately 1.23 acres from C1 commercial to C2 commercial zoning. The resoning area spawns two parcels and is located on the north side of Grant Road approximately 200 ft east of Crayftoft. The city manager and zoning examiner recommend approval of the resoning request. Is the applicant or representative of the applicant present?

7:12:25 – 7:12:50•0

Mayor and members of the council. Uh Lexi with the planning center on behalf of Mr. Carwash. Hi Lexi. Are you agreeable to the proposed requirements in this? Yeah, it's already built. So, we are we are very much so in agreeance. So, thank you all so much. Of course. Thank you so much, Lexi. All righty. What is the council's pleasure?

7:12:47 – 7:13:31•0

Oh, Miss Clerk, you're requested to read uh ordinance 12221 by number and title only. Ordinance number 12221 relating to zoning amending zoning district boundaries in the area located on the north side of Grant Road approximately 200 ft east of the Craig Crraigh Road and Grant Road intersection T in case TP NT 0623 000030 Mr. Carwash Grant Road C1 to C2 and setting an effective date. Mr. Cunningham, please tell us this is the same one that we have been dealing with. This is the fourth time we voted on this car. This is the fourth time that we have

7:13:30 – 7:14:12•0

had this in front of us. The the the biggest thing with this one is there's there's a technical sliver on like 22 feet after the fact they built it and then I think they're taking over for another one. But at this point, because I feel like we've had three car washes come back to the council three times all the last three months, which is three cubed. That's 27 votes for those following along. I don't even know which car wash this is anymore. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. This is the Grand Cray car wash. It's already completed, your honor. It meets all the setbacks. The the neighborhood opposition, everybody kind of knows what's going on. So, I move we pass and adopt it. Second.

7:14:10 – 7:14:37•0

All righty. There's a motion in a second. Any further discussion hearing? None. Let's go to roll call. Mr. Cunningham. I. Mrs. Lee. I. Mrs. Schubert. I. Miss Barahas. I, Mr. Dah. Hi, Vice Mayor Santa Cruz. I, Mayor Romero, I. Ordinance 12221 passes by a vote of 70. Item 10,

7:14:35 – 7:15:39•0

reszoning ordinance adoption, major change to preliminary development plan and conditions. TP MOD 0825000045 Superstar Car Wash Golf Links in South Pantano C1 to C2 in ward 4. City managers communication number 19 dated January 21st is received into and made part of the record. This is a request on behalf of the property owner SSWC22508 Golf Lings LLC for a major change to the preliminary development plan and conditions for the resoning case TP- N-1022-00001. The proposal is located at the southeast corner of East Golf Links Road and South Pantano Pantano Parkway. The city manager and zoning examiner recommend approval of the resoning request. Is the applicant or representative of the applicant present? [snorts]

7:15:37 – 7:15:52•0

Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Madison Leak on behalf of Superstar Car Wash. Hi, Madison. Thank you for waiting. No problem. Are you agreeable to the proposed requirements? We are. Thank you.

7:15:50 – 7:16:35•0

All righty. Thank you, Miss Clerk. You are requested to read ordinance 122 222 by number and title only. Ordinance number 12222 relating to zoning, amending zoning conditions and pre preliminary development plan in the area located on the south side of East Golf Lings Road approximately 350 ft east of the intersection of Golf Lings and South Pantano Parkway in case TPM mod 0825 000045 related to TP NT 1022 00001 Superstar Car Wash Golf Link C1 to C2 and setting an effective date.

7:16:32 – 7:17:12•0

Same question goes to you, Councilwoman Lee. Is this the same car wash we have been uh seeing here in front of us? Yes, ma'am. We get we get the mayor's wrath when a when one of these comes forward. No, this is the same uh item and it is up and running. I've washed my car there and the staff is amazingly wonderful people. So, this is just a minor change to an agreement with a wall between the neighbors. So, same same uh car wash and mayor, I would like to move that we pass and adopt ordinance 1222. Second. Second, your honor. There's a motion in a second. Any further discussion on this item? Yes, your honor. Okay. Council member,

7:17:10 – 7:17:37•0

everyone know Miss Lee and I are in agreement. Please developers, no more East Side car washes. Thank you. [laughter] Okay. Um if no further discussion, let's go to roll call. Mrs. Lee. Hi, Mr. Dah. Hi, Miss Barahas. I, Mubert. I, Mr. Cunningham. Hi, Vice Mayor Santa Cruz. Hi, Mayor Romero.

7:17:34 – 7:19:00•0

I, ordinance 1222 passes by a vote of 70. Item 11, reszoning ordinance adoption TP NT0425 0000007 Tunidito Children and Family Services North Mountain Avenue and East Duke Drive R1 R2 to01 in Ward 3. City manager communication number 20 dated January 21st is received into and made part of the record. This is a request to reszone approximately 0.25 25 acres from R1 R220 or 01 um at 1320 East Duke Drive expansion parcel. The 0.25 acre site contains an existing 1440 square foot structure to be used as a medical service outpatient facility that would connect with a new pedestrian path to the existing Tunidito Children and Family Services Complex on a separate 1.09 acre property located immediately adjacent at 3922 North Mountain Avenue. The city manager and zoning examiner recommend approval of the resoning request. Is the applicant or representative of the applicant present? Hi Carrie, I have not seen you. How are you?

7:18:57 – 7:19:17•0

I'm great. Happy New Year honorable mayor and members of the council. Uh Carrie Silvin with Lazarus and Silvin representing Tuno. And is the applicant agreeable to uh the requirements? We are and we are very excited to get going. So

7:19:14 – 7:19:56•0

yeah, we are too. We are two. Um, Miss Clerk, you are requested to read ordinance 12223 by number and title only. Ordinance number 12223 relating to zoning amending zoning district boundaries in the area located on the southeast corner near the intersection of North Mountain Avenue and East Duke Drive in case TP ent 0425 00007 to tun always have a hard time children and family services 1320 East Duke Drive R1 R2 to 01 and setting an effective date. What is the council's pleasure?

7:19:54•0

Madame mayor, I move we pass and adopt ordinance 12223.

7:19:59 – 7:20:44•0

Seconded. There is a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I just want to add that tuned children and family services as a place of hope, understanding uh and care for family families navigating loss, grief, and trauma. Um this particular expansion is something that's really good for our community. Tumidito uh will reach even more families and children uh providing comfort and counseling in a safe, welcoming, beautiful space. So I just want to add how how much we value Dunidito and what it does for children and families in our city. With that,

7:20:42 – 7:21:27•0

uh Council Member Cunningham. So, one one quick thing and again this we're going from an R1 to an 01 which is fine. It's actually this is a no-brainer and tunedto what all that stuff but uh with Corin here I want to give her this one when we're going from this R1 to R2 to 01 I think this is part of that um adaptive reuse discussion I want to have because if we do ever want to go back to residential I want it to be easy. So that's kind of why we're having this discussion. So anyway, that's a I know that's a platitude that's not directly related to this, but I think it should be mentioned for the rest. Thank you, council member. With that, let's go to roll call. Mr. D, I. Miss Schubert,

7:21:27•0

I. Mrs. Lee, hi. Mrs. Barahas, I. Mr. Cunningham, I. Vice Mayor Santa Cruz, hi. Mayor Romero,

7:21:34 – 7:22:48•0

I. Ordinance 12223 passes by a vote of 70. Item 12, spe special exception ordinance adoption TP NT 072500000015 Verizon and Cletus East Metric Place I1 wireless communications facility in Ward 5. City manager communication number 21 dated January 21st is received into and made part of the record. This is a request to approve a wireless communication facility as a special exception land use. The special exception site is located about one4er mile north of East AoE and is adjacent to Interstate 10 at 1501 East Metric Place in an industrial one zone. The city manager and zoning examiner recommend approval of the resoning request. Is the applicant or representative of the applicant present? Good evening. David Kluchnik here representing Pinnacle and Sunset Towers.

7:22:46•0

Thank you, Mr. Klitchnik. Are you agreeable to put the proposed requirements? Yes, we are.

7:22:52 – 7:23:37•0

Thank you so much. Miss Clerk, you are requested to read ordinance 12224 by number and title only. Ordinance number 12224 relating to zoning a special exception land use wireless communications facility TP NT0725 000015 Verizon Cletus Monopole East Metric Place 1/4 mile north of East Ao and adjacent to Interstate 10 approving with conditions the construction of a wireless communication facility 80 ft in height located in the I one zone and setting an effective date. What is the council's pleasure? I move to pass and adopt ordinance 12224.

7:23:36 – 7:23:59•0

Second. There is a motion and a second. Any further discussion on this? Hearing none. Um, let's go to roll call. Mrs. Barahas. I. Mr. Cunningham. I. Mr. D. I. Mrs. Lee. I. Miss Schubert. I Vice Mayor Santa Cruz. I. Mayor Romero.

7:23:57 – 7:25:00•0

I. All righty. Ordinance 12224 passes by a vote of 70. Item 13, special exception. Ordinance adoption TP NT 072500000013 Verizon Relish Monopole South 12th Avenue C2 wireless communications facility in Ward 1. [snorts] All righty. Uh, city manager's communication number 22 dated January 21st is received into made part of the record. This is a request to approve a wireless communication tower as a special exception land use. The special exception site is located at 4775 South 12th Avenue approximately 7 ft 700 ft north of the intersection of 12th Avenue and Irvington Road on the east side of the road. The city manager and zoning examiner recommend approval. Is the applicant present or the applicant? Oh, okay. Hi.

7:24:58•0

I am. Uh, are you agreeable to the proposed requirements? Yes.

7:25:03 – 7:25:52•0

All righty. Thank you so much, Miss Clerk. You are requested to read ordinance 12225 by number and title only. Ordinance number 12225 relating to zoning a special exception law use wireless communications tower TP NT0725 000013 Verizon Relish Monopole located approximately 700 ft north of the intersection of South 12th Avenue and Irvington Road at 477512th Avenue approving with conditions the construction of a wireless communication tower 70 ft in height. to place with an approximately 1,575 ft ground area surrounded by an 8 foot in high CMU wall and setting an effective date.

7:25:50 – 7:26:34•0

What is the council's pleasure on this item? Mayor, I move to pass and adopt ordinance 12225. Second. There is a motion and a second. Any further discussion on this? Your I'd like to make a special announcement. Okay. I got a text right now. I want to update the council about tonight. The Tucson Unified School District had its spelling be and my son Luke got out sixth place and he was very upset that I'd be mad at him. So, I want to tell him publicly that I'm very proud of him that he made the district spelling pee and got sixth place. Okay. Nothing to do with the item, but I will give you a point of personal privilege. [laughter] Thank you for indulging me, your honor. All

7:26:33 – 7:27:07•0

righty. All righty. So, let's go to roll call. Vice Mayor Santa Cruz. Hi. Uh, Mrs. Lee, I Mr. Cunningham. Hi, Mr. Dah. Hi, Mrs. Barahas. Hi, Miss Schuert. Hi, Mayor Romero. I Ordinance 12225 passes by vote of 70. Item 14. Adjournment. Council will stand adjourned. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2026 at or after 5:30 p.m. Have a wonderful rest of your week, everyone. Literally text me. That's where you'll be.

This transcript was automatically generated from the official public meeting video and is presented unedited. It reflects remarks made on the public record by elected officials, staff, and public commenters. Transcript accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.