Topics in This Issue:

-Plastic Blocks

-Sol y Luna Again

-¡Viva Tucson!

-911

-Code Enforcement Link

-Refugees

-Sonoran Stitch Factory

-End of Life Options

-Water Security

-Sustainable Tucson

-COVID

Plastic Blocks

We are just over 5 weeks into the plastic diversion program and you’ve passed the 5-ton mark. More on that below, but the popularity of the program has gotten us to the point where we’ve needed to set up a regular schedule for emptying the roll off with our environmental services partners. That matters to many of you because each time it’s getting emptied inevitably someone shows up to drop off donations. Starting next week, the roll off will be gone for about an hour every Monday and Thursday. If you happen to show up and its gone, please feel free to bring your plastics into the office and we’ll toss them into the bin when it returns. Getting to a regular schedule is a part of the program progressing.

Last week we extended the reach of the program. The Oro Valley Basis school is now involved. We appreciate them making the long drive and committing to the work. But they were topped by the guy who drove down from Phoenix to drop off some plastics. He poked his head in and asked if I could start up a program in Phoenix. I told him that we’ll get there, but Tucson is the focus right now. He’ll be back with another load.

The city of Flagstaff topped us all last week. They’ve issued permits for the construction of a 600 square foot house that’ll be made using ByBlocks. Many of you have asked if this is construction-grade material. The two bedroom/one bath house that’ll soon go into construction in Flagstaff is evidence that the material is a fitting replacement for cinder block. We’re doing benches, walls and enclosures – this is the pilot. I am fully confident that we’ll have much more significant structures being built with the plastic blocks once this program is fully integrated throughout the community.

So, what about the ‘reach’ of the pilot program? Those of you who have signed up for the updates and have given us your zip code are included in this map. It shows that virtually every area of the region is participating – with one single drop off location. That’s why we’re filling it with more than a ton of plastic every week:

Here’s our current progress report. Averaging about a ton per week is pretty impressive. You all should take a bow. It’s also testimony to the reality that you simply cannot avoid plastics – and therefore you simply should be collecting it and bringing it to Ward 6’s roll off.

What those numbers reflect is purely the residential involvement in this program. ByFusion, my staff and I are committed to using only what residents bring in to demonstrate the popularity of the program to the mayor, council and city staff. That’s what you’ll see in the graphics showing the progress each week. And yet we’re also generating spin-off partners. Last week one of them – a local plastics producer – baled up over 4,000 pounds of their waste and we had it shipped to ByFusion. This guy’s loading some of the baled plastic waste onto the waiting delivery truck. As more commercial-scale partners come on board, the tonnage data will spike upwards. Call me if you’ve got a business that would like to join in on this work. I’ve got several conversations in play right now – more is better.

Recently a lady stopped in and asked if we can use the plastic twine used for things such as horse-leads. She is affiliated with a local stable. That’s one of what may turn into a more commercial-scale partner. Below is a picture of all sorts of plastic twine that was pulled from the ocean during a 45-day marine debris cleanup that Ocean Voyages Institute conducted. Their tour brought in 96 tons of plastic waste. Much of it was transported to the ByFusion Innovation center – the non-profit arm of ByFusion that’s working hard to pull plastics from both the ocean and from landfills. We’re doing the landfill piece with them.

If you’d like to read more about the innovation work being done through ByFusion’s non-profit, use this link: ByFusion Unity

If you’d like to sign up, use this link. It’ll take you less than a minute.  Signing up will get you regular updates (beyond my newsletter) on how the project is progressing, and it’ll give you insights into other work being done that’s related to our project. The Ocean Voyages Institute work is an example of what you’ll see when you sign up. The goal is to demonstrate to the city that the community wants this program and that we need to find a way to make it happen broadly. When that comes about it’ll be because of your support and encouragement.

https://www.byfusion.com/pilot-program/

One factor that will make things much easier when your material gets to the ByFusion facility is that you put your plastic into a clear plastic bag. If the people running the conveyor-line at ByFusion can easily see inside the bag it saves a bunch of time where they’re having to cut open say a black/opaque bag to be sure they’re not sending something other than plastic to be shredded. We’re still giving away clear bags – come grab some if you’d like. We’re open until 1pm every weekday.

Sol y Luna Again

Last week Dora, Diana and I walked into Sol y Luna and were invited on a visit to the upper floors by residents. It was the mess I wrote about it in the last newsletter, and it continues now. Since then, Sol y Luna’s ownership Nelson Partners has put on file with TPD a No Trespass letter. That’s good. Me and my team won’t be doing any more ‘site visits’ now that that’s in place, but parents and students continue trying to get resolution to a variety of quality-of-life issues. And they continue sending pictures from the facilities so we’re up to date on whether any progress is being made. Note to Nelson Partners – having a No Trespass letter on file is much more effective if you also have exterior doors that lock and security at points of entry.

On September 1^st, Bloomberg ran a piece on the student housing industry. Any business sector that exceeds $10B in investments earns that label – industry. In 2021, student housing experienced what was described in the article as ‘near record deal levels’ more than doubling the investments they saw right as COVID started. At the time there was concern student enrollment would plummet and student housing would take a significant hit. That didn’t happen.

In April of ’22, Blackstone Inc announced they had purchased a familiar name to us in Ward 6 – American Campus Communities. That’s the group the UA entered into a land deal with in order to avoid having to follow city zoning. They built the Honors College on the outskirts of Feldman’s neighborhood. ACC has now sold out to Blackstone for just under $13 billion dollars. That’s billion – not a typo. The expectation is student enrollment will grow by about 10% between now and 2031. That’s an additional approximately 1 million beds to fill.

Not all student housing companies are doing that well. The Bloomberg article had this to say about our friends who own Sol y Luna:

But a handful of off-campus developments were forced to seek legal cover following the pandemic.

San Clemente, Calif.-based developer Nelson Partners put three of its luxury student housing projects into bankruptcy last year, citing revenue loss caused by the pandemic. But the firm had also been plagued by financial and legal issues, including litigation brought by lenders.

In June, Nelson Partners put its Auraria Student Lofts building into Chapter 11 less than an hour before lender Fortress Investment Group LLC was set to foreclose on the downtown Denver high-rise, it stated in court papers.

“Like any type of real estate, you can really get yourself upside down if you have too much debt,” Litt said.

With that as a backdrop, our efforts to get Sol y Luna into a safe and livable condition continued all week last week. One unfortunate development was the lady who had been assigned as point of contact began receiving some threatening emails – likely from parents who have had it with their sons and daughters living in an unsecured building. But threats are not how we’ll solve this. Nelson tried this approach first:

Going forward, we will not be communicating through this forum any further, email chain due to privacy issues. Residents/ Parents, can email the [email protected] for any issues that need attention. All work orders should be entered into the resident portal, both parent and students can enter and view status.

Predictably that resulted in a renewed volley from parents – like this:

So you will not communicate on this forum because of privacy, but you will leave unlocked doors, which risk the safety of these young adults? That clearly is a bigger issue than privacy.

And this:

If a resident is raped or killed, so much for their life, or privacy, right?

The lady who has been our POC advised everyone that their Chief Operating Officer would take over as contact person. When I reminded her that we had been told she was our go-to, this was the response:

POC is James MacQueen going forward. Please do not contact me again. Thank you!

I guess I’m not surprised. There are over 500 people on the Facebook page formed to try to resolve the concerns. Some of us in the office have wondered out loud how any of the NP staff can justify continuing to work for a company that welcomes tenants to a property that’s charging north of $1,000 per bed with conditions like this:

Unsecured entry doors with no security present:

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