The Presidents Day holiday will be observed on Monday, February 21st. All City of Tucson residential and commercial customers will have their trash and recycling collection delayed by one day.

TRAFFIC ALERT: PROPOSITION 101 'TUCSON DELIVERS BETTER STREETS' REPAVING PROJECTS - Roadway repaving projects are scheduled to begin this month as part of the voter-approved Proposition 101 "Tucson Delivers Better Streets" program.

A number of residents have commented recently about the increase in cut through traffic due to construction work on Alvernon, Grant, and Columbus, with Pima thrown in occasionally. Construction signs have not been being placed to direct traffic not to travel our residential streets. In November, Bob Roggenthen, City of Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility Project Manager, assured the neighborhoods bordering Grant and Alvernon that any time traffic was reduced to one lane, signage would be placed at the entrances to the nearby residential streets. This has not been happening recently.

Garden District is in for a very, very long, disruptive, frustrating haul with road re-paving, water main repairs, re-location of utilities and then, beginning in June, the actual RTA construction to widen Grant Rd. Bob Roggenthen said that Grant will look like Broadway for probably two to two and a half years. TEP, Tucson Water, and SW Gas are currently in our neighborhood, and there are numerous other contractors for cable companies who will also be working in our neighborhoods in the next few months.

You can also copy our Ward VI aide, Dora Maldonado, and let the Ward know about your concerns.

CYCLOVIA RETURNS NEXT MONTH - After a two-and-a-half-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Cyclovia Tucson is returning on Sunday, March 27, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Five miles of car-free city streets will be open to people of all ages and abilities to walk, bike, roll, or skate and enjoy neighborhoods, participate in free activities, support local businesses, and connect with one another. Enjoy some of Tucson’s oldest neighborhoods as you make your way between seven different activity hubs, parks, schools, and South 4th Avenue’s restaurant row. Dig in the dirt at Drachman Montessori’s eco-themed hub, get down with Zumba while you watch BMX bikers soar through the air, bounce your worries away at Ochoa Community School hub, and pick up dog treats all along the route. Volunteer opportunities are also available. Cyclovia Tucson is a program of Living Streets Alliance, in partnership with numerous sponsors. Learn more about the event by following the Cyclovia link below.

Valet VITA for the first time will also offer DO-IT-YOURSELF CLASSES for those who want to learn how to prepare their own taxes or don’t qualify for the free tax preparation.  The new DIY classes will be held at the Kino Service Center, 2797 E. Ajo Way, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 17, March 2 and March 15.

*In-Person and Valet Drop Off VITA COVID-19 Protocols: All in-person and Valet VITA Tax Preparers will be fully vaccinated, including boosters and will be masked. All taxpayers must show proof of vaccination and be masked at all times during any in-person meeting. If taxpayer can't show proof of vaccination, we encourage them to use our free online service at www.getyourrefund.org/en *see full statement below

Pima County Mobile Valet DROP OFF VITA Sites & Dates

Services hours at all three sites will be Tuesdays from noon to 5 p.m. and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

SAVE THE DATE:

SEEKING DONATIONS OF POTS - seeking donations of used or new pots for plants - clay or plastic. Will be painted and decorated and available at the plant swap for a donation to the neighborhood. Leave pot donations on the front porch of 3973 E Desmond (between Village and Alvernon.)

YARD SALE VENDORS:

COLORFUL SEED PACKETS: Some residents are building a new Little Free Library which will be placed near the entrance of the Community Garden in the NW Quadrant on Bell. They are seeking colorful unopened or opened with the picture intact vegetable or flower seed packets. They plan to decoupage the back inside of the library using seed packets.

They will empty any seeds out into a container and cut the directions on the back of the packet off to include with the seeds. These will be saved for the Plant Swap/Give Away. The fronts will be used for decoupaging.

If you have some old seed packets lying around, please leave inside the Little Free Library on the corner of Lester and Justin under the big mesquite tree.

BOOKS FOR THE NEW LITTLE FREE LIBRARY THAT WILL BE AT THE COMMUNITY GARDEN - The library is moving along and almost ready to be painted and decorated. We are starting to collect books for its grand opening. We will be most in need of teen and children's fiction and non-fiction books, but adult fiction and non-fiction are also appreciated.please leave donations at the Little Free Library on the corner of Justin and Lester, 4102 E Lester. Leave donations on the front porch of the home.

Thank you to Mary on Desmond for making these wonderful "Mess Mitt" tubes out of PVC pipe. They will be stuffed with plastic bags for picking up dog poop and eventually placed one in each quadrant. Watch for them around the neighborhood.

Mess Mitt (AKA Poop Bags) dispensers are an effective and proven way to lower the amount of dog feces in yards and on the street. Dog waste that is not picked up is a quality of life and safety and health issue for us all. On our neighborhood webpage, there are other ideas for how to make dispensers for Mess Mitts. https://gdna.weebly.com/mess-mitt-boxes.html

SEEKING PLASTIC BAGS - ideally if there is a Mess Mitt dispenser near you, please keep an eye on it and refill with plastic bags as necessary. If you have extra bags, you can leave them at the Little Free Library at Justin and Lester. Plastic shopping bags, bread bags, the bags the newspaper comes in, etc. The lighter flimsy bags for veggies are not as useful for picking up dog waste sine they are so thin.

FROM WARD 6 COUNCILMEMBER STEVE KOZAHCIK: Even before the Omicron numbers began to fall, we were getting the occasional email asking when parks programs would be reopening. To their credit, our parks leadership has taken a cautious approach. Now that we’re seeing good progress on the COVID front, we’re also in a position to begin the slow ramp-up to reopening some of our park's facilities.

Starting March 1^st non-meal sites will resume their extended hours of operation, and all memberships will be re-activated. Activities for seniors will resume with small group sizes – examples include ballroom dance, and PCOA Healthy Living will have a 20 person maximum participation. That 20 person cap will also apply to gym activities.

On April 1^st, the onsite congregate senior meal programs will resume. As of now, those sites will continue to have limited hours of operation. But it’ll be good to start getting people back into the same space again.

Do you sometimes feel like you are owned by all the STUFF you have accumulated in life? Or are you faced with emptying out the home your parents have lived in for 50 years? Maybe the thought of having a yard sale is overwhelming. You want to get rid of all those things in a responsible way and not just send good stuff to the landfill. So, what to do? Oracle Foothills Neighbor and writer, Marge Pellegrino, confronted this situation recently and writes about her creative solutions. This may give you some ideas!  Read about her Quest to Divest.

March 14th-18th Monday-Friday 9am-12pm Enroll in our 5 sessions bicycle repair course and earn a bicycle, helmet, and lock to take home. All camps are sliding scale, scholarships available. Register at: www.bicas.org/camp 

REQUEST A FREE REPLACEMENT TRASH OR RECYCLING BIN: 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.

Overall, precipitation amounts were, not surprisingly, below-average for January just about everywhere in the state. The warm stretch in the middle of the month pushed temperatures to above-average for January for most of Arizona as well. Short-term drought conditions, which were continuing to improve due to the decent December precipitation have stalled out, with all of Arizona observing at least abnormally dry conditions and over half of the state still experiencing moderate or worse drought levels: Arizona drought monitor map

Thanks Fran Garcia, North Dodge newsletter editor

There are future improvements slated at the park. Funds have been identified for irrigation improvements that will be coordinated with green stormwater infrastructure improvements that will allow more trees to be planted. This work will likely commence in early 2022. In the next 12-24 months, Parks and Recreation and UA Landscape Planning Studio will work to develop some concepts that may be useful for future improvements. Take the survey to help us plan and prioritize improvements. 

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.