Homelessness, transitional housing, low-income housing and affordable housing are obviously big problems in the state of Arizona. Currently, the Arizona House is considering a mixed bag of bills that tackle different parts of the housing problem. Today’s video focuses on SB1471 which provides a creative funding mechanism to put up to $10 million per year in the … Read more
Recently four other such green/blue parking meters were installed — 1) outside Public Works Center at 201 N. Stone Avenue 2) at Mercado San Agustin at 100 S. Avenida del Convento 3) at Tucson Children’s Museum at 200 S. 6th Avenue and 4) TCC Arena, 260 S. Church Ave. Photos courtesy of Tucson Change Movement below.
Last Wednesday I stumbled upon a green/blue parking meter outside the Joel D. Valdez Main library (101 N. Stone Ave.), not a regular parking meter but one that collects donation$ for homeless programs. Just missed the press conference about Tucson Change Movement (in association with the Community Foundation of So AZ), a new program that is setting up about 20 of these colorful meters around downtown, the modern streetcar line and 4th Avenue, I took these photos to inform our readers. And I put in a quarter, just to test it and it read that I had paid for “12 minutes” just like regular (gray) City of Tucson parking meters on the streets.
So, if you have spare change, drop it in this meter when you visit the main library, or other locations around town. More info at www.tucsonchange.org. You can also insert a credit card for any amount of a donation. Hopefully we will hear back later how successful this new program is.
PDA Tucson Coordinator Jim Hannley speaks against both the crowd management ordinance and the urban camping ban at the City Council meeting.
The Tucson City Council was scheduled to vote on two ill-conceived ordinances at their St. Patrick’s Day meeting this week. The Crowd Management Event ordinance would have given the police chief considerable discretion in controlling groups of 100 or more people. The second ordinance would have outlawed urban camping on all city property, thus criminalizing the homeless.
When word got out via email blasts, Facebook posts, and the blogs, public outrage built against these two measures. Social media posts called for protests and for phone-calling to Council members. A Facebook event to protest the Crowd Management Event ordinance had more than 100 potential attendees on Monday afternoon. An hour before the protest, the Tucson Sentinel reported that the city had taken that ordinance off the agenda.
Before the Tuesday meeting, 20-30 homeless and homeless advocates gathered outside of the Council chambers. When I arrived with my video camera, one of my homeless Facebook friends told us that Councilman Steve Kozachik had talked with them just a few minutes earlier and said the camping ban ordinance would be tabled.
We went into the meeting anyway because my husband and I had both planned to speak against the ordinances. Between us we represent two major progressive groups– PDA Tucson and the Arizona Democratic Progressive Caucus– and we wanted the City Council to know that progressives stood against both of these measures.
If your first amendment rights are important to you, you should start watching the Tucson City Council agendas very closely.
Embarrassed by the Safe Park quagmire and the subsequent scolding by the district court judge, City Attorney Mike Rankin wants to crack down … on them and on us.
Thanks to a tip and a Facebook event invite from local activists, I learned about two bad ordinances that were scheduled for tomorrow’s City Council meeting. (See items #13 and #14 on the agenda here.)
Ordiance Prohibiting Camping or City Sidewalks and Other City Property (PDF) seeks to prevent another Safe Park or Occupy Tucson from happening. The memo clearly states that “homelessness is not a crime, and only the conduct of camping, and not the state of homelessness, is prohibited by the Code.” So, where are the homeless supposed to go when there aren’t enough beds in shelters? Are they supposed to camp or sleep on private property– like one of those cute front yards in Armory Park?
Ordinance Providing for the Designation of a “Crowd Management Event” for the Purpose of Maintaining Public Safety (PDF) gives the Tucson police chief sweeping crowd control measures. The ordinance defines a “Crowd Management Event” as “a gathering of 100 or more persons that requires the provision of law enforcement services”; allows the chief to set geographic boundaries for the “Crowd Management Event”; prohibits people from entering or leaving the designated “crowd management” area; prohibits people inside the area from wearing masks or protective gear, like a gas mask. (Hmmm… just like shooting fish in a barrel with that pepper spray. What could go wrong?)
