Time to MOVE TUCSON: Fill out the city's transportation survey and interactive map

All this downtime has given Tucsonans a chance to reflect on how we do things here. When the city shut down, people drove less and air pollution decreased! As soon as the state weakened the stay at home recommendation, air quality got worse. This is a teachable moment!

Join Sustainable Tucson's next virtual Topical Issue Meeting to learn more about the Move Tucson public input process and how you can make your voice heard on a more inclusive transportation plan! 

Tuesday, June 9th, at 6pm

Join with Google Meet: meet.google.com/ehf-xquo-uso

Join by phone‪: +1 252-696-1240‬ PIN: ‪465 615 840‬#

The City of Tucson is preparing a city-wide transportation master plan that will create a mobility blueprint for the City’s future in a rapidly-changing world. The plan will be innovative, creative, and inclusive. By working together, we can commit ourselves to create a mobility future that works for all of us.

How can streets be made safer? How can we expand travel options so more people can walk, bike, or take public transit? How do we improve reliability of travel time, particularly as we grow? You help is needed in shaping the City’s vision and action plan to answer these questions and more. Together, we can create the city we want to be.

The City of Tucson has been hosting town meetings to introduce their mapping app. This app is so cool. You can click on specific areas and add your own suggestions of what should be included there (like sidewalks, biking trails, green infrastructure, shaded bus stops, safer crosswalks, etc.)

Do you know of an area of town that needs any of these features? Do you have your own ideas? This is your chance to share them!

Here is a link to the website with the transportation survey and the interactive map app. 

https://movetucson.org/

The outcome of the planning process will be a document that informs the Mayor and Council’s decisions in the very near future about policy, resources, and how welcoming and livable our city is to visitors, residents, and business owners.

#MoveTucson

Call our Governor’s office and request some financial help for Borderlands Produce Rescue

During the coronavirus lockdown Bordelands Produce Rescue gave our community  the opportunity to eat healthy at an affordable price ($12 for 70 lbs of produce)  and also helped prevent food waste by keeping produce from being dumped in our landfills. 

Please, take a few minutes and call our Governor’s office and request some financial help for Borderlands Produce Rescue. There is definite power in numbers, please help by asking for some of the Food Bank Dollars set aside by the State to include Borderlands.

Governor Ducey: 602-542-4331 or send an email

https://azgovernor.gov/engage/form/contact-governor-ducey?ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_5_28_2020_14_8)&mc_cid=15ba0a9df3&mc_eid=9601d9c06b

TELL CONGRESS: GET PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT TO NURSES FIGHTING THE CORONAVIRUS

Coronavirus cases are still on the rise in 17 states, and most health care facilities currently have less than a two-week supply of personal protective equipment (PPE).

In many hospitals, nurses have already taken desperate measures to cobble together their own protection with trash bags, swim goggles, office supplies, and even diapers. If something doesn't change soon, health care workers could be forced to choose between protecting themselves and treating patients.

The House of Representatives has passed new legislation, the HEROES Act, which is our strongest tool to ensure that workers have the equipment they need. Now, the Senate needs to pass this legislation.

The HEROES Act will ensure:

• A national database that monitors medical supplies, drugs, and vaccines to ensure that progress is made toward closing gaps that lead to shortages;
• Constant communication with Tribal, state, and local officials to ensure health care facilities have sufficient PPE and other medical supplies;
• Prevention of price gouging due to demand of critical medical supplies; and
• Funding to support mobile testing and contact tracing.

Health care workers shouldn't have to risk their lives.

Can you take a moment to ask your senators to get nurses the PPE they need?

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema : (202) 224-4521

Phoenix, AZ: tel: 602-598-7327

Sen. Martha McSally : (202) 224-2235
Phoenix, AZ: tel: 602-952-2410
Tucson, AZ: tel: 520-670-6334

It's best to speak in your own words, but here are some points to get you started:

Our health care workers don't have the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need to protect themselves in the coronavirus pandemic. Losing these workers due to infection or quarantine not only risks their health, but also endangers the stability of our entire health care system. I am calling to urge the senator to support the HEROES Act (S.2248) with all of its current provisions to maintain the medical supply chain. This act would require the White House to get health care workers the PPE they need and create an equitable and transparent process for the delivery of necessary supplies. I urge the senator to protect health care workers by supporting the HEROES Act.

Call Senators: Pass the Heroes Act to protect essential workers

Essential workers are on the front lines of this pandemic, and many are working in high-risk conditions without appropriate equipment, safety standards, compensation, or job protections. Democrats in the House have passed the HEROES Act, which includes an Essential Workers Bill of Rights and direct relief for millions suffering during this crisis, as well as support for state and city governments, the Postal Service, and expanded access to voting.

But now it's up to the Republican-controlled Senate—and all senators need to hear from constituents today so that all Democrats fight for this historic relief package and Republicans feel pressure to act!

Call your senators, Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally, now at 855-912-2982 and ask them to pass the HEROES Act to protect essential workers and provide essential relief to the people who need it most.

You could say this:

 Hi! My name is ____. I'm a constituent in Arizona, and I'm calling to urge you to pass the HEROES Act and include the full Essential Workers Bill of Rights to provide more relief to working people and families, not wealthy CEOs and shareholders. You have a responsibility to ensure ALL essential workers have the protections they need, the rights they are entitled to, and the compensation they deserve.

Today, in Washington, D.C., we're delivering your petition signature with over a million other MoveOn members' signatures to support essential workers. Partnering with Greenpeace, Daily Kos, and Courage Campaign, we've got over 2 million signatures demanding action from senators. We know the House heard us, as they included many of our demands for an Essential Workers Bill of Rights in the HEROES Act. Now we need to keep the pressure up to make sure the Senate follows suit.

Let's flood their inboxes and voicemails so all senators hear it loud and clear: Pass the HEROES Act to get essential workers the protections they need, the rights they are entitled to, and the compensation they deserve.

Call your senators today at 855-912-2982, because essential workers can't wait.

- MoveOn

Tell Congress: Essential workers deserve essential protections

Millions of essential workers across the country are rising to the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic and, unfortunately, are having to put their lives at risk to care for our communities. Essential workers from health care professionals to farm workers and grocery workers to bus drivers deserve support on the same scale they are providing to all of us. Pass an Essential Workers Bill of Rights in the next federal relief package to provide needed protections, compensation, and safety nets to all essential workers.
Why is this important?

Essential workers are on the frontlines of this pandemic, and many are working in high-risk conditions without appropriate equipment, safety standards, or job protections. Workers who remain on the job without the ability to telework during this emergency include doctors, nurses, home care workers and other healthcare workers, grocery store and drug store employees, domestic workers, food service workers, federal, state, and municipal employees, janitorial staff, farm workers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, transportation workers, and child care workers. These workers put their health on the line when they go to work every day.

In New York City, 41 transit workers have died as of April 8, and reports of essential worker deaths are on the rise. There are grocery workers who are denied sick leave and whose companies won’t provide masks or allow masks to be worn in stores. And health care workers including medical technicians, orderlies, EMTs, nurses, doctors, hospital employees are working long hours to save lives while their own families are on the edge of health and financial disaster.

The country has a moral responsibility to protect essential worker’s health, to create financial security for their loved ones, and to offer peace of mind during a time of heightened mortal and emotional stress.

This includes policies like healthcare, paid sick leave, and workplace health standards to protect against more workers getting sick. We need hazard pay and childcare to properly compensate the risk workers are taking to benefit us, and enable them to keep coming to work. And we need to hold corporations who don’t follow these guidelines accountable because lives are on the line.

Congress continues to debate more relief efforts as the coronavirus pandemic deepens the health and economic crisis hitting our nation. The next bill must meet the needs of people and our communities, with an essential worker bill of rights, and not provide more corporate bailout funds. Congress should ensure that any taxpayer dollars handed to corporations go to help workers, not wealthy CEOs, rich shareholders, or the President’s cronies.

Congress should pass an Essential Workers Bill of Rights, including:
1. Health and safety protections
2. Robust premium compensation
3. Protections for collective bargaining agreements
4. Truly universal paid sick leave and family and medical leave
5. Protections for whistleblowers
6. An end to worker misclassification
7. Health care security
8. Support for child care
9. Treat workers as experts
10. Hold corporations accountable for meeting their responsibilities

Look up your Members of Congress here:

https://contactingcongress.org/

Find out who your Representative is:

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Ask Chase CEO to stop funding fossil fuels

Tuesday is JPMorgan Chase’s Annual General Meeting, which is the bank’s most important shareholder meeting of the year. Over the last few years, climate activists have asked Chase to align its business model with the Paris Agreement and stop violating indigenous rights. They’ve also pushed to get climate denier Lee Raymond kicked off the board.

This year, we can’t go out and protest outside the meeting, but we can still get CEO Jamie Dimon’s attention by flooding his phone and inbox with calls and messages asking him to take climate action. So, this Monday or Tuesday, take a few moments to call or write.

Call: 212-270-1111

Call Script: “I’m calling because I want to ask that JPMorgan Chase aligns its business model with the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees. I hope that JPMorgan Chase will phase out all business with the fossil fuel industry.”

After you call, please consider filling out this survey to let us know how it went.

You can also send Jamie Dimon a personal email urging him to end the bank’s funding of the climate crisis. Jamie Dimon’s email addresses are: jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com and executive.office@chase.com.

- The Years Project

#stopfundingFossils

Ask your County Supervisors about Chuck Huckelberry's premature call to return to work

On May 4th, 2020 the Pima County Administrator, Chuck Huckelberry, emailed a memo to county employees, demanding they return to work. You can find the “Return to Work Guidelines” memo here: https://webcms.pima.gov/UserFiles/Servers/Server_6/File/Government/Administration/CHHmemosFor%20Web/2020/May/Return%20to%20Work.pdf

It appears the Pima County Supervisors were not consulted prior to the memo distribution to employees (the memo is actually addressed to Supervisors). It does not appear the "Business and Employee Health and Wellness Task Force," set-up by Huckelberry to map out a safe reopening of businesses, was consulted or notified prior to the memo's release. The memo is dated May 4 and the Task Force didn’t have an official meeting until today. You can check out the members of the Health and Wellness Task Force here: https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=569992

The membership certainly reflects a Who’s Who of local business interests, but for a “health and wellness” group it seems strange there are no frontline healthcare workers, health scientists, epidemiologists, infectious disease specialists, occupational health experts, teachers, or directly impacted community-members.

We are concerned Administrator Huckelberry has acted unilaterally and prematurely, and that his recommendations put county employees at increased risk. Pima County is the ninth largest employer in Tucson, with over 6,000 employees. The memo ignores important realities for county employees who are parents or caregivers; without school, summer camps, day-cares and other resources available, the administrator is forcing employees to choose between their children and loved-ones and returning to work. It is alarming to see these restrictive and punitive policies outlined in a memo that shows no concern for the difficult circumstances county employees and their families are facing.

- Represent Me AZ

·

 

Find which Supervisor District you live in here: 

https://webcms.pima.gov/UserFiles/Servers/Server_6/File/Map%20Room/SupervisorialDistricts/allpc_bosdist.pdf

Ally Miller, district1@pima.gov, (520) 724-2738
Ramon Valadez, Chair district2@pima.gov ,(520) 724-8126
Sharon Bronson, district3@pima.gov, (520) 724-8051
Steve Christy, district4@pima.gov, (520) 724-8094
Betty Villegas, district5@pima.gov, (520) 724-8126.

To help ensure our county employees' health and welfare is protected, we encourage you to contact your County Supervisors with the questions below.

1. Did the Supervisors review and provide input into a draft of this memo? What alternative proposals were considered? Who is advising the Administrator on return to work strategies? What health professionals and infectious disease experts are included in the advisory task forces? What community members and workers are included? Why would Huckelberry require a return to work when the Business & Employee Health & Wellness Task Force hasn’t even had their first meeting?

2. What health data is being considered?
Why isn’t a phased and flexible approach the main strategy? The memo is contradictory in saying departments may use a phased in approach, but then saying all tele-work employees must return to work, at the in-person workspace, immediately.

3. Were the benefits of tele-work to employees, the county, and the community discussed and considered? Many employees can effectively work from home and by decreasing the in-person workforce they contribute to the safety of other employees whose jobs require their physical presence.

4. Other major employers are continuing to require tele-work for employees who are able to do so. Why has Huckelberry decided differently?

5. Why is Huckelberry requiring employees to reveal private personal medical information about themselves or their family in order to continue to tele-work? Why are county employees being required to seek out healthcare (to get a physician note) when physical distancing guidelines are still recommended?

Image: Titled “Has Chuck Huckelberry Gone Rogue?”
Photo of Chuck Huckelberry by Rick Wiley Arizona Daily Star with a list of the Pima County “Business & Employee Health & Wellness” task force members that includes all the Chambers of Commerce, members of the Chambers of Commerce, Downtown Business Alliance, etc.