Welcome to District 5's Home on the web!
I want to keep visitors to this website up-to-date on what the board is doing on behalf of county residents in general and my District Five constituents in particular. Those who survey all the features of this website will get a good idea of who I am and where I stand. Hopefully, it will inspire you to get in touch with me to let me know where you stand, and where and when you believe I am on track or astray.
Save Your Home From Foreclosure/Don't Borrow Trouble Pima County
3.04.2008
Pima County is a sponsor of "Save Your Home From Foreclosure," a free forum and workshops set for Saturday, March 29, at Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave. Richard will moderate the forum. Congressman Raul Grijalva will deliver welcoming remarks. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. People also can register in advance at http://www.dontborrowtroubleaz.com
After a forum with panelists in the morning there will be afternoon workshops in Spanish and English. During the event, confidential consultations and children's activities will be available to those who need them. Those who want a private, confidential consultation should bring the mortgage loan documents with them to the event. A lunch will be served at no cost.
If you want to buy a home, to refinance a home mortgage, to take out a home-equity loan, to prevent an impending foreclosure, or to consolidate debt, you can make use of Don’t Borrow Trouble Pima County campaign resources.
The campaign includes brochures, radio and television announcements, workshops, an informative website: http://www.dontborrowtroubleaz.com, and a telephone “hotline,” (520) 792-3087, that reaches trained professionals who can answer many questions for free and can refer callers to appropriate experts who can answer other questions.
Pima County and several local organizations have joined Freddie Mac in this campaign to inform people about how to avoid predatory mortgage loans, which have caused a widespread national outbreak of loan foreclosures and of lending company failures.
If lenders make claims that sound too good to be true, their claims probably are not true. “Pre-approved” home loans offered over the telephone or in the mail are an invitation to trouble. Borrowers must demand to have any offers in writing and should talk to several lenders before making a commitment, or signing any papers. Borrowers should ask about “prepayment penalties” and “additional fees.” They should not sign documents with any incorrect dates or blank fields.
Scam lenders use an array of gambits to trick borrowers into agreeing to a bad deal that can cost them dearly, and too often even costs them their home.
Borrowing against a mortgage or on an increase in a home’s value can result in a much longer-term loan at a higher interest rate, so the borrower ends up paying much more over time. Since the borrower’s home is collateral, borrowers can lose their homes if they fail to make payments. The number of people losing homes to foreclosure has gone up 200 percent since 1980.
Freddie Mac is a government-backed but stockholder-owned company that Congress created in 1970 to support homeownership and affordable rental housing. In addition to Pima County there are 23 other local supporters of Freddie Mac’s Don’t Borrow Trouble Pima County campaign.
Board Sends Home Health Care Privatizaion Plan to Hearings 12.27.2007
Acting at the request of Chairman Elias, the Board on Dec. 18 unanimously directed Pima Health System to conduct a series of public hearings in early 2008 on its plan to privatize its provision of home care services to elderly people and others who have severely limited mobility. The proposal would take about 600 attendant-care workers off the county payroll and scramble care for thier care recipients.
The final public hearing on this issue is Wednesday, March 5, at 6:30 p.m. in the TMC Senior Services Avalano Skilled Nursing Facility (fomerly El Dorado Hospital), first-floor meeting room, 1400 N. Wilmot Road. If you have questions, call Carolyn at 628-4625, or Rosalva at 360-6353.
When the county administration made its plan public on November 27, it came as a surprise not only to the Board of Supervisors, but also to the workers and, most importantly, to the dependent people they serve. Citing a shortage of attendant care workers locally, the administration said the 600 workers to be cut will be able to obtain employment with 18 private businesses in this field locally. It plans job fairs to help facilitate their changes of employment.
But workers and the dependent people they serve said they worry that the change might affect them negatively and they have many questions about how it can be carried out so as to avoid unhappiness, suffering and debilitating complications. Many people in the field are concerned that this move might exacerbate the existing shortage of home care workers.
People receiving care and their affected attendant care workers are concerned most about about how to maintain continuity of care. The workers and those they care for often are relatives and even if not, they usually have developed a deep mutual relationship in which the workers know precisely the needs of those for whom they are caring. No two people are alike and no two care recipients need to receive care in the same manner.
Despite the overall shortage of attendant care workers locally, there is as yet no assurance the 18 local private companies have the capacity, wherewithal or interest in hiring every one of the 600 county employees, let alone assuring each care recipient continuity in his or her care. Not every worker is likely to find a good fit -- many companies will rightfully be selective in who they hire and many county workers might wind up with a new employer with whom they do not get along. The county does not pay these workers high wages and many receive few or no benefits, but their new employers -- if they fine one -- have no obligation to match the pay and benefits package they have with the county.
These concerns and problems, and others that might arise, will be discussed and worked on over the first three months of 2008 at the public hearings the board has ordered on this issue. We will post the dates and times of these hearings when they become available.
Supervisors Oppose Interstate 10 Bypass Highway Proposal
12.27.2007
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Dec. 18 to approve a resolution that opposes construction of a new controlled-access highway associated with Interstate 10 that would bypass the urban areas of Tucson and Phoenix. Chairman Elias was the primary sponsor of the resolution. Routes under study would exit I-10 near Willcox or Benson and knife through the San Pedro River Valley behind the Rincon and Santa Catalina Mountains, or exit I-10 just east of Tucson to cut south of the city and then up the Avra Valley behind the Tucson Mountains. Any such bypass route eventually would reconnect to I-10 west of the Phoenix urban area.
The resolution advises the Arizona Department of Transportation and Gov. Janet Napolitano against further study of, or construction of such a bypass highway. The Transportation Department is considering the bypass proposal, which Tranportation Board member Si Schorr of Tucson suggested a year ago.
The resolution says contruction of a new controlled-access highway anywhere in either corridor would:
-- Further jeopardize the 55 local animal species of concern that the county's landmark Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan seeks to conserve.
-- Encourage increased car and truck travel in the region as the county's recently adopted Sustainability Program seeks to reduce it.
-- Encourage new suburban development in sensitive areas the county's land-use plans seek to preserve in their natural state.
-- Degrade the biologically rich, diverse and important San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area or Tucson Mountain Park, Saguaro National Park, Ironwood National Monument, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Central Arizona Project Mitigation Area.
-- Cost taxpayers many billions of dollars to buy new rights-of-way, and concrete and asphalt, and to pay contractors to build the huge roadways.
-- Divert motorists away from existing I-10 corridor businesses that are dependent upon the commerce that I-10 motorists generate.
-- Exacerbate existing local air pollution problems caused primarily by car and truck travel.
The resolution further notes that I-10 traffic congestion could be reduced with much less cost and environmental degradation if freight and passenger train capacity is expanded and improved upon, and other work is undertaken in the existing I-10 and rail corridors.
Board Orders Study of Petroleum Vapor Capture Systems 12.27.2007
Vapors containing toxic and cancer-causing gases, the most notorious of which is the potent cancer agent benzene, escape from petroleum products as they are pumped from nozzles into the tanks of our vehicles. As if that is not bad enough, these chemicals rise in the air and react with sunrays to form ozone air pollution, which is a severe irritant to people with asthma and other respiratory conditions.
Chairman Elias in December proposed to have retail petroleum-dispensing stations in Pima County install "Stage II Vapor Recovery Systems" to capture these vapors and send them back into underground tanks to both drastically cut direct human exposure to the dangerous chemicals, and to reduce ozone pollution. Since Pima County for more than a decade has flirted with the federal limit on ozone pollution, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to lower its limit soon, it is likely these systems soon will be required anyway.
Representatives of petroleum companies turned out in force on Dec. 18 to raise questions about the cost and effectiveness of these systems, so the Board of Supervisors sent the issue to a committee that will be formed in January, study the issue for three months, and report back to the board at the end of March.
These vapor recovery systems are required in Maricopa County, all of California and in many other states, counties and cities spanning the United States. They have proven effective. Many petroleum service stations in Pima County already are plumbed for these systems since local ozone levels are so high and the county and Pima Association of Governments (PAG) proposed to require them in 1997 and 1998. Since PAG is made up of the county and other local governments in the greater Tucson area, it proposed to have each jurisdiction approve the Stage II requirement. The Board in 1998 approved Stage II, but the Tucson City Council of that year rejected it, and it was shelved.
Childhood leukemia is a common benzene-induced cancer and several people told the Board on Dec. 18 that they blame it for their children's leukemia cases, at least one of which was fatal. People who work at service stations or who live very near one typically have the greatest benzene exposures.
Pima County and Tucson Plan for Comprehensive Water Study 11.16.2007
Acting on a proposal that Chairman Elias crafted with Tucson City Councilwoman Karin Uhilch and District Three Supervisor Sharon Bronson, the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 13 directed County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry to work with City Manager Mike Hein to lay the groundwork for a detailed joint "Water Planning and Infrastructure Study."
The two top administrators are to deliver to the board and the Mayor and City Council by mid-February: a proposed set of goals for the study; a draft scope of work for the study; and a draft intergovernmental agreement to facilitate the study.
"We recognize that water issues are at the forefront of our community's concern at this time, and we support a collaborative effort to better plan our area's water future," the three proponents stated in a memorandum to Huckelberry and Hein.
In the memoranudm, the three stressed how important it is that the effort be based on sound science and not on political or short-term-economic expediency.
"Water is a much more important issue than we realized, and a more delicate one," Richard said.
Issues sorrounding water availability and quality were raised in Proposition 200 that was on the Nov. 6 city of Tucson election ballot. The measure was defeated at the ballot box, but it sparked discussion and interest in these critical issues. It would have halted new Tucson Water connections if Central Arizona Project deliveries are cut off or significantly reduced, or when annual usage reaches 140,000 acre-feet a year -- roughly the average amount nature supplies in this Sonoran Desert watershed. It also would have prevented privatizing the city's Tucson Water service and would have prevented the mixing of treated sewer effluent with potable water.
The County Moves to Protect Tumamoc Hill
11.16.2007
The Board of Supervisors on Nov. 6 approved a plan that should allow Pima County to purchase 320 acres of state school trust land on iconic Tumamoc Hill's western slope so it can be preserved for future generations.
The board asked the Arizona Land Department to put the land up for public auction. Pima County will bid on it, expecting to be the highest bidder if not the only bidder.
Although the land has city of Tucson zoning for residential development, the slumping housing market and other critical factors are expected to keep development bidders wary, or away.
The land includes a closed landfill the University of Arizona once used, and it is known to be contaminating local ground water. A successful bidder should have to assume liability for cleaning up the landfill, at an estimated cost of $9 million.
There are remains of ancient Hohokam stone terraces on the land that date to 300 B.C. and dozens of Tohono O'odham burial plots dating to the early historical period when the Spanish took control of this area. Preserving artifacts and mitigating the damages to these treasures of development would cost between $3 million and $5 million.
Finally, two parallel underground petroleum-delivery pipelines traverse this parcel and would pose another disincentive to its residential development.
Since the mid-1990s, the county has tried several appraoches to buying this Tumamoc Hill parcel to preserve it. All have failed.
Tumamoc Hill is too valuable to Tucson and Pima County for its beauty, its symbolism, its housing of the renowned Carnegie Desert Laboratory -- which has done continuous research on Sonoran Desert flora at that site for more than a century, its remains of ancient and historic Native American presence and its recreational features to be developed. It must be preserved. It will be preserved.
The Community Loses Noted Activist Lorraine Lee
11.16.2007
Tucson native and vocal advocate for people in need, Lorraine Lee, lost an 11-year battle with throat cancer on Oct. 31. She was 51. For the last 24 years of her vigorous and spirited life, Lee served as executive vice president of Chicanos por la Causa.
The daughter of a man of Chinese ancestry who had grown up in the Phillipines and a Latino mother, Lee delivered memorable oratories at rallies and events in support of the undocumented, the unappreciated and the down-and-out. As the leading Chicanos por la Causa offical in Southern Arizona, she worked tirelessly to provide affordable housing and home ownership opportunities for families in our community of modest means.
Lee grew up on Tucson's southside and never forgot her roots. She served her childhood friends and relatives as chair of the TCE Subcommittee of the Pima County Board of Health. This subcommittee represented and advocated for southsiders who were exposed for years to toxic and carcinogenic trichloroethylene in the water delivered to their homes. When she later was striken with cancer, she wondered if her childhood exposure to TCE might have been its cause.
Many boards, commissions and councils were well served over the years with Lee's membership. These included organizations associated with Pima County, the city of Tucson, the University of Arizona, the state of Arizona, the federal government and several charities.
Lee's dedication and consistent activism for justice and social causes, particularly on behalf of the area's Latino and Asian communities, earned her tremendous community respect and national recognition. She was the recipient of numerous awards and honors for both her activism and her professional accomplishments.
Bilingual and tricultural, Lee earned a degree from the University of Arizona and went on to earn a graduate degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.
In addtion to her career and her activism, and despite her long and courageous battle against her fatal disease, Lee also was a beloved wife, a devoted mother of three girls, and an involved member of a large extended family.
Our loss of Lorraine Lee leaves this community with heavy hearts and an aching void.
Former District Five Employee Heads South Tucson Library 12.17.2007
Former Special Staff Assistant Sol Gomez has not let any grass grow under his feet since leaving the District Five office in 2003. He has earned a master’s degree in library science, married, had a daughter, and risen rapidly through the Pima County Library District ranks to become manager or the Sam Lena Library in South Tucson.
Sol, who grew up in the Sierra Vista area in Cochise County, left District Five to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Arizona, taking advantage of its Knowledge River program. Knowledge River is designed to help Latinos make their way into library careers. The program is threatened with federal budget cuts, but Sol is such a believer in it that he is one of its co-coordinators of student support for the 2007-2008 school year and is helping in the effort to find new funding for it.
In a year and a half, Sol had his master’s degree in hand and by that time was married to Adelita Grijalva. A month after obtaining his degree, Sol was hired by the library system – then run by the city of Tucson with half its money coming from Pima County – as a temporary/intermittent librarian at the Valencia Branch. After six months primarily doing reference work at Valencia, he was transferred to the Quincy Douglas Branch to be the children’s section librarian.
Sol worked at Quincy Douglas for six months before being named manager of the little Santa Rosa Branch, which at the time was just a computer laboratory but was in the process of adding a modest book collection. Sol oversaw that transition, soaking up more library knowledge along the way.
After eight months at Santa Rosa, Sol was named manager of the Sam Lena Branch, where he operates a 9,000 square-foot facility with meeting rooms with two full-time employees and six part-timers. Sam Lena offers several community programs, including computer classes, story time for youngsters, baby time for reading to babies and early literacy offerings.
During Sol’s tenure with the library system, it has switched to making all the books within it available system-wide. If you find that a book you want is at a branch other than the one you are at, it will be brought to your branch for you. And recently, it has gone to Sunday hours at most branches, including at Sam Lena. Sunday hours were made possible with additional funding now that the library system is fully funded and operated by the Pima County Library District.
Sol, who has his hands full with a darling year-old daughter, Adelina, finds his library career rewarding and satisfying. His former co-workers on the District Five staff are pleased with his happiness and proud of his success. We're not surprised, we've always known this bright, talented and personable young man is a winner.