HANA Articles

A collection of articles and items of interest for our neighbors by your neighbors. If you would like to contribute your thoughts, contact us and we'll see what we can do.

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Graffiti Update

Addressing the current state of graffiti abatement efforts in the City of Tucson

Posted by Robert on Wednesday January 04, 2012 4:38 pm

Hello HANA neighbors;

Recently I had the opportunity to meet Officer Jack Woolridge, who is currently in charge of the anti-graffiti efforts of the Tucson Police Department, when we both spoke at the Campus Farms NA meeting in December. He has emailed me an open letter to the community which he has asked me to share with you. In the letter, he talks about efforts that are underway to combat the graffiti problem, but he wishes to make the point that without some changes, including greater community involvement, we cannot adequately address the problem and find solutions.

Remember that there are several ways you can report graffiti to the city for removal:

call 792-CITY (2489)
use the webform at: http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/graffiti/report
use the smart phone app: mytucson

If you are currently removing graffiti yourself from your street or property and can provide photos of the graffiti prior to its removal, it will help TPD in prosecution of offenders if you report it using the webform listed above. Just make sure you mark the "Yes" button under the heading: "Removed Graffiti Yourself?"

Here is Officer Woolridge's letter:

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Ladies and Gentlemen, E-mail seems to always be the best way to communicate about issues that concern us all. As a member of the community and the Graffiti Sergeant with the Tucson Police Department, I have felt and heard all of your frustrations with Graffiti. But through your ideas and discussions, we are on our way to giving the community and Tucson Police Department better tools with which to address these issues.

Due to the huge increases in graffiti, this has become a hot topic of concern. The City of Tucson has established resources to assist in dealing with this epidemic but without Community awareness these goals will fall short.

As I have said numerous times, This is a community problem and your public servants are here to work with you to address the issue. But, this is a community problem that we all need to work together on.

On that note, I want to discuss some issues that through your support we have been working on.

The Downtown Partnership started a project in July to deal with their overwhelming issue of Graffiti within the City. As a project area, they were getting tagged twice as many times as any other part of the City of Tucson. The City of Tucson Police Department with assistance of Council Members Kozachik and Romero worked with the neighborhoods to develop a pro-active approach to dealing with Graffiti. The plan involved several Community efforts. The Neighborhoods took ownership of the project as their own with the knowledge that their public servants were here to support them.

The plan involved several elements that we found to be crucial to the success.

. Community Ownership and Education

. Reporting of Graffiti immediately and removal within 24 hours

. Community participation

. Working with the youth to educate

. Working through their Public Servants and fixing the problem

. Public Safety

. Enforcement

. Prosecution

. Rehabilitation

Through this project, we all learned quickly the pitfalls to our Community Efforts.

If we remove Graffiti within 24 hours it does not return right away but will at a later date or somewhere else. But, if left it becomes a magnet for other tags.

We, as a Community

1) have done a poor job in rehabilitating these offenders and stronger efforts need to be added.

2) do not understand what has added to the Graffiti epidemic of today. Our history lessons have been forgotten.

3) are spending a large amount of money in the abatement (clean up) only.

Through these lessons we have made these changes...

We do not have a true Cost Analysis to deal with Restitution for Graffiti. For this a lot of offenders slip through the cracks and do not pay for the damage they have done. The Tucson Police Department Budget section has created a system and now await approval of City Council.

The Downtown Community Project, Tucson Police Department and Transportation Department with the assistance of Council Member Kozachik are working with the Utility companies to address the financial burden that has been placed on the tax payers.

Council Member Kozachik and Uhlich have addressed the need for additional legal resources to deal with this problem.

Director of City Prosecutor Office, Baird Greene is working with the Tucson Police Department to provide resources and legal expertise.

Council Member Uhlich has agreed to meet with the Tucson Arts Council and has set a Special Session with Council on February 7, regarding Graffiti.

We are on our way to a positive change but this will have to continue to be addressed as a Community effort with your Public Servants here to support your cause.

If there are any further questions and suggestions please forward them to me. I have heard numerous suggestions that I have been able to work with to further our efforts.

Jack Woolridge

Tucson Police Department

Bicycle Administrative / Graffiti / YNIDI

520-837-7847

Jack.Woolridge -at- tucsonaz.gov

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Help Tucson's Homeless Youth

PCC class soliciting donations of coats, blankets, sleeping bags and hygiene items

Posted by Robert on Saturday November 26, 2011 1:30 pm

Gabie Davenport, one of the staff members at The Haven, is part of a Community Organizing class in the Social Services Department at PCC, and her class is holding an event for Tucosn's homeless youth at Skrappy's downtown on December 7th.

They are collecting travel size toiletry items to make hygiene kits and new or used sleeping bags, blankets, and coats of all sizes.

Donation boxes are set up at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ, 2848 N Mountain Avenue, and the Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 1145 E Fort Lowell Road.

Please ask people you work with and your family and friends if they can help. Many of us have the unused soaps and shampoos from hotels we have stayed in just sitting in our closets.

The hygiene items can include but are not limited to:

Soap
Shampoo
Conditioner
Hand Sanitizer
Band-Aids
Gauze Pads
Alcohol Wipes
Feminine Hygiene Products
Toothbrushes
Tooth Paste
Lotion
Deodorant

See the PDF flyer for the Youth Chow Down event, which has contact info if you have any questions about how you can help, by clicking here.

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Sponsors Help Make Thanksgiving Potluck a Success

Five Businesses, the Ward 3 and District 3 Offices and the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ honor the spirit of giving

Posted by Robert on Tuesday November 22, 2011 2:00 pm

Sponsors Help Make Thanksgiving Potluck a Success

This year's Thanksgiving Potluck was a great success thanks in large part to the donations solicited by our neighbor Russ Weir from five area businesses, who provided salad fixings, rolls, paper and plastic goods and, most importantly, judging by the crowds near the kitchen's side window, desserts! Thank you Russ for your persistence over several weeks to secure those donations.

If you aren't already a customer of the businesses who gave us donations this year, please consider checking them out to see what they have to offer.

The sponsoring businesses are:

Walgreens, 3180 N Campbell Ave
Sunflower Farmers Market, 4282 N 1st Ave
La Palma Mexican Bread & Tortilla Factory, 3624 N Oracle Rd
Oroweat Baking Company Thrift Store, 1110 W Prince Rd
Oroweat Foods Co-Wholesale Bakery, 3770 S Park Ave

In addition, the Ward 3 Office of Councilperson Karin Uhlich and the County District 3 Office of Supervisor Sharon Bronson provided two of our turkeys, vegetables, pie, milk and butter. Thank you to Council aides Cheryl Rodgers and Bennett Bernal and special assistant Deb Miller from the Supervisors Office for their significant contributions.

Last but not least, a huge thank you to our consistently helpful neighborhood partner, the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ, which has allowed us use of their meeting hall for the past three years for this event. Thanks to Jody for her excellence in scheduling and to Justin for his hard work keeping the church clean both before and after our dinner.

To see a full report and picture gallery from this year's Thanksgiving Potluck go to this page.

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Nico's Gets Good Neighbor Award

Local business is responsive to neighborhood needs

Posted by Robert on Monday October 17, 2011 5:05 pm

Over the summer, we were asked by a resident whether anything could be done about the volume of the speaker on the drive through of Nico's Taco Shop, 2965 N Campbell Avenue, which was on top of the menu board and pointing directly west down E Blacklidge Drive. We checked out the situation and did indeed discover that the sound could be heard clearly at least halfway down the block.

Consulting with the Campbell Avenue Business Partnership, we were advised that writing a polite letter would be a best first step, rather than going in person and surprising the manager with a complaint. So a letter was drafted and sent. Although we did not receive a reply from Nico's, some time later we noticed that the problem had been rectified, with the speaker being moved into the base of the menu board so the sound is blocked from entering the neighborhood by the customer's vehicle.

If you are already a Nico's customer, please thank them for moving the drive through speaker the next time you are visiting them. If you are not a customer, please consider trying their tasty and reasonably priced menu offerings.

We salute Nico's Taco Shop and thank them for being a Good Neighbor!

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"Changing Hearts and Minds" Mural Dedication & Party

Refreshments! Live Music! Video Premiere! Speechifying!

Posted by Robert on Tuesday August 23, 2011 5:46 pm

What's behind the blue tarp in the picture? If you want to find out, come to our "Changing Hearts and Minds" mural unveiling and find out!

Thanks to the unflagging efforts of our friends at CODAC, there is an exciting event planned for this Saturday that includes tasty refreshments, some brief statements by renowned Tucson artist David Tineo and representatives of the various organizations involved in the creation of the mural, live music, the premiere of the video documentary made about the mural project.

This event is open to all; you don't have to be a HANA resident to attend. We hope to see friends from all the neighborhoods around us.

This Saturday evening, August 27, the festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ, 2848 N Mountain Avenue (at E Adelaide Drive; southeast corner).

Download the full color invitation (1.5 MB PDF) by clicking here.

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