surrounding Grant and Alvernon         

If you cannot attend, but have concerns about suspicious activity in the neighborhood, please send a detailed email to news@thegardendistrict.org If you have concerns and have observed ON-GOING criminal activity, bring as much specific information as you can (addresses, descriptions of vehicles and people, etc.).  

Residents in our neighborhood and adjacent neighborhoods have posted warnings this past week about door to door salespeople, some of whom have been scam artists. There have been door to door folks wanting to come into a home to take water samples, alarm companies wanting to enter your home to evaluate its security, solar companies who want to see your electric bills, etc. In Palo Verde, on the west side of Alvernon, a man in a white or red truck is trolling the streets looking for vehicles with damage. A woman paid him cash in advance to do some paint and body work. He returned for more money a couple of times and did not do the work he said he'd do.

Be extra careful driving, especially on our residential streets.

In the past few days, there have been three serious accidents within GDNA boundaries. Yesterday, a black car was speeding and failed to yield at the Sycamore and Lee intersection, striking a truck in the intersection. The black car then fled the scene and continued at a high rate of speed north on Sycamore. He evidently ran the stop sign at Pima and struck a vehicle on Pima. The driver of the black car jumped out of his vehicle, did not render aide to the injured woman in the vehicle he'd just struck, and fled on foot. Police believe they know who the driver is. The two cars were severely damaged and the woman in the vehicle the black car struck was injured and had to be transported by ambulance to the hospital.

The day before, a vehicle failed to yield at the Yield sign at Catalina and Lee and struck and totaled the car of a resident as she was driving through the intersection. On Monday, a motorcyclist reportedly ran a red light at Columbus and Speedway and was struck by a vehicle and flew through the air. According to KGUN 9, the motorcyclist amazingly suffered only non-life threatening injuries. A resident picking up trash on Columbus saw a truck this week become impatient that the rest of the traffic was obeying the speed limit. The truck pulled into the center turn lane, floored it, and drove for blocks at high speed down the turn lane. It was lucky no accident resulted from his actions. And to top it all off, Palo Verde Neighborhood, west of Alvernon from us, had a roll over accident this week at an interior intersection, Dodge and Seneca.

Attend the Alvernon Grant Initiative crime meeting on Tuesday evening and/or contact TPD and Chief Kasmar to ask for enforcement of speeding and other traffic laws. TPD Online Comment form, ​520-791-4444 (8:00 am - 6:00 pm)

Contact Steve Kozachik and copy our Ward VI aide, Dora Maldonado to express your concerns and ask for help in resolving problems. That is the job of the Ward VI staff.

Think a stop sign is necessary at an intersection? Or that the Yield sign at Catalina and Lee,needs to be changed to a Stop sign, report it to the Ward Office. Think speeding, red light running, ignoring traffic laws is an issue on our streets, let the Ward office know.

Speed Humps and traffic circles: Especially with all the cut through traffic from construction lately, a number of residents have inquired about installing traffic calming infrastructure on some of our streets. The city says residents can request a speed hump, but the residents have to pay for it at the price of $4,500-$5,000 per speed hump and $5,000-$5,800 per speed table. Traffic Circles are in the $10,000 range. That's a lot of money to expect citizens to raise to protect life, home, and property.

Once a year, each Ward is allowed to offer five - only 5 - speed humps for $500 each to neighborhoods. With 40 registered neighborhood associations in Ward VI alone, you can imagine, those 5 humps are quickly applied for and awarded, plus the Ward office has to ensure the speed humps are spread out equitably throughout all of Ward VI.

Contact Steve Kozachik at Ward VI expressing the urgent needs in our neighborhoods for more traffic calming devices and an affordable avenue for receiving them. FIVE speed humps spread out over such a huge area and over 40 neighborhoods is not anywhere near adequate for servicing the needs of the citizens of Tucson.

Even though it is just outside Garden District Neighborhood, the Association has received some queries about the very large homeless encampment along Arcadia Wash for over a block from Speedway to north of Bellevue. Arcadia is one block east of Swan.

Sgt. Jack Julsing of the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) said that at the end of next week there is a large cleanup/outreach deployment scheduled for the Arcadia Wash camp. The team will contact the campers and help them access services for medical, housing, mental health, drug rehab, etc. Environmental Services will also clean up the large amount of trash and debris that has collected in and along the wash behind the homes on Arcadia.

HOMELESS CAMPS - If you are concerned about a homeless situation near you, contact TPD's Homeless Outreach Team. It is actually faster to contact them by email than by phone.

No one is allowed to camp on private property without your permission. The utility easements are considered private property. It does help to post "No Trespassing" signs at the entrance to easements and behind your property. A huge, huge deterrent is to gate and even lock your easement. There is information on this on our neighborhood webpage under the "Crime Prevention" tab.

To view an excellent, very informative slideshow explaining the mission and the operation of the Homeless Outreach Team, CLICK HERE.

TRASH OR RECYCLING BIN:

It does not matter if it was stolen or is damaged- you can quickly and easily request a new trash or recycling can from Environmental Services at no charge. Either use the Recycling Coach app or call ES Customer Service at 520-791-3171 or contact ES online.

Cook and Co, the company fabricating our new neighborhood identification signs are on the last color of paint for the screen printing process. The neighborhood association has contacted the City's Sign Shop to alert them to the fact that we will soon be requesting the installation of the signs. The Sign Shop will drill the holes for installing the signs on the street name poles and then will install the signs on their own schedule.

We will hold back all the signs that should be installed on Grant until the widening of Grant Road is completed which could possible be years. We do not want to chance that our signs will get destroyed as street name poles are removed for construction. The signs we will wait to install are for Grant at Walnut, Catalina, Ralph, Belvedere, Madelyn Circle, and Venice Place.

Visit our neighborhood webpage to check out the location map and our generous residents and neighborhood businesses who donated to cover the costs of the signs. The Signs will be worth the wait!

PIMA COUNTY, March 31, 2022 -- The Pima County Department of Environmental Quality’s (PDEQ) Clean Air Program launches the spring #ThisIsCleanAir Challenge by inviting the public to submit super-short seven-word stories about their personal experience commuting to work or school using an alternate mode of transportation. Concise descriptive words can be surprisingly, witty, profound and poetic. Alternate modes of travel include bicycling, walking, taking transit, teleworking, carpooling, and compressed work schedules.

Entries submitted by Earth Day, April 22, are eligible for prizes, and seven winners will be selected randomly. Prizes include winner’s choice of a Hydro Flask bottle, bike pannier, insulated backpack cooler or Loop bike jersey. Pima County residents, 18 years of age and older, may submit their stories (and photos) in celebration of National Poetry Month and to highlight personal efforts to keep our air healthy to breathe, as well as save money on costly gasoline.

Save the Date! 

Tucson Environmental Services and community partners will be hosting a Zero Waste Collection Event on Saturday, April 16, 2022. This is your opportunity to clean out the closets and bring your gently used clothing, home goods, documents for shredding, e-waste, prescriptions, and more. Materials collected will be repurposed and reused. More info is available tucsonzerowaste.com

New look? Your electric bill will come in brown envelopes temporarily in response to a national paper shortage. Go paperless altogether by signing up for e-bill. You can do your part for the environment here: http://ow.ly/1gSV50IxKAM

End of April/beginning of May

Grand Opening of a new

Little Free Library

on Bell next to

the Community Garden

Installation of Neighborhood

Identification Signs

Porch Fest 2022 and Plant Swap/Give Away in the Fall

Brush and Bulky Curbside pick up - Aug. 8, 2022

Read the Ward VI newsletter by clicking here:

Click here for information on $2.000 rebate from Tucson Water for active and passive rainwater harvesting. Also, click here for more info from Pima County.

FREE CLASSES OFFERED THROUGH WATERSHED MANAGEMENT GROUP

To sign up, you can either reply to a newsletter or sign up on our neighborhood website. thegardendistrict.org  

YOU CAN ALWAYS CONTACT THE NEIGHBORHOOD BY HITTING REPLY TO A NEWSLETTER OR GOING TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD WEBSITE thegardendistrict.org Complete the Online Form.

AGI (Alvernon/Grant Initiative) Crime Meeting with Tucson Police and  

Garden District Neighborhood Association Quarterly Meetings - Time and date will be announced in this newsletter.

WELCOME TO GARDEN DISTRICT LETTER - When you get a new neighbor, print and share.