The Phoenix City Council approved $1.5 million to fund climate-change friendly urban farming, with up to 60 percent of grant money exclusively for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). The grant term lasts up to five years.
The Biden administration prompted this program; they will fund it entirely, as part of their greater goal of equity. The city council revealed that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) selected Phoenix as a pilot location for this type of program.
In addition to creating jobs and innovating farming practices in an urban setting, the city will require farmers to “advance equity” in the food system, mitigate production and distribution-induced climate change, and adopt or expand upon sustainable food production or aggregation.
The deadline for the grant proposal passed earlier this month, Dec. 5. The city will announce grant recipients this coming spring.
In all, the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) may invest up to $43 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into urban, underserved nonprofit or private farmers. Those classified as “underserved” include beginners, the socially disadvantaged, those with limited resources, and military veterans. The USDA will target areas where FSA hasn’t been present before to implement this funding, or Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture (RSA) grants.
The $43 million is the first portion of $75 million to “support a fairer food system” while expanding nutritional food accessibility and strengthening the crippled supply chain.
The FSA focus on urban farming expanded with the 2018 Farm Bill, which established the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP). Over the past two years, the Biden administration’s USDA has allocated hundreds of millions in funding to urban, minority-focused initiatives.
The USDA has a county office committee devoted to urban agriculture in Phoenix, as well as in 16 other cities: Atlanta, Georgia; New Orleans, Louisiana; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Cleveland, Ohio; Portland, Oregon; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Dallas, Texas; Richmond, Virginia; Chicago, Illinois; New York, New York; Detroit, Michigan; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; and Oakland, California.
These FSA committees recently held their elections. The deadline for ballots was the same day as the deadline for Phoenix’s grant proposal. A total of 506 people voted in the last FSA committee election in 2019.
The newly elected county committee members take office on Jan. 1.
President Joe Biden appointed former Democratic congressional candidate Ginger Sykes Torres to serve as the State Executive Director for FSA Arizona at the beginning of this month. Sykes Torres formerly served as chair of Phoenix’s Urban Heat Island Tree and Shade Subcommittee
Honored to announce I’ve been appointed by @POTUS to serve as @USDA State Executive Director, Farm Service Agency, Arizona!!!
I’m truly humbled & excited to continue serving the people of our great state & country in this new role! https://t.co/xPKpleNpoM
The Phoenix City Council unanimously approved a plan to spend $102 million to replace its bus fleet with electric vehicles. Outgoing councilmember Sal DiCiccio wasn’t present.
Over $86.7 million (85 percent) comes from federal funding; over $15.3 million (15 percent) comes from regional funding. The initiative is part of the council’s goal of achieving a total zero-emissions bus fleet by 2040. The current fleet consists of 500 buses.
The city will procure a variety of electric buses: battery, hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell. The council waived standard competition in its procurement process to award the five-year contract due to supply chain issues; reportedly, the city learned it couldn’t acquire its first round of zero-emissions buses until after 2025, well after its planned timeline. The city selected a supplier who could meet their timeline: the Washington State Transit Bus Cooperative.
Mayor Kate Gallego indicated that their goal of true zero-emissions would come from future negotiations with power companies. Gallego noted that the plans to create an electric charging grid launched by the Biden administration and state would facilitate their efforts.
“It cannot be zero-emission if the power going in is not zero-emission,” stated Gallego.
Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari noted that this plan put the city on the same timeline to zero-emissions as New York City and California. Ansari promised that the council would accelerate their plan even further once the supply chain stabilizes and inflation costs reduce.
Ansari credited the Sierra Club, Arizona Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP), American Lung Association (ALA), and CHISPA AZ for allowing their plan to come to fruition.
“We will only be ordering hybrid and zero-emission buses after 2024, which will completely then end our dependence on fossil fuel transit in terms of new purchases,” stated Ansari. “This is a public health win, a quality of life win, a climate win, and a very big win for Phoenix.”
Public comment came from two organizations that advocated heavily for the $102 million expenditure:
Joanna Struther, ALA senior director of advocacy, cited ALA data ranking Phoenix as the fifth-most polluted city in the nation. Struther stated that the city’s air pollution presented a severe harm to circulatory systems.
The ALA claimed that electrification of city fleets would result in 38,000 less asthma attacks and $15.1 billion in public health benefits. ALA asserted that its polling revealed 70 to 80 percent support among Arizonans for electric vehicles.
PIRG’s executive director, Diane Brown, noted that not only would residents benefit from improved air quality from bus electrification, but the city would increase its access to federal funding.
The city rejected a plan last year to renew their current fleet powered by fossil fuels for another five years.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio has been posting daily updates on police reporting since September. It’s part of the outgoing councilman’s efforts to apprise citizens of their local law enforcement’s work on a daily basis.
These daily police reports offer details on crimes happening in the community. DiCiccio’s posts offer a small glimpse into their daily work — he doesn’t include the entire report.
DiCiccio’s latest report detailed an aggravated assault on an officer, two robberies, arson, several assaults, a school shooting threat, several misconduct weapons incidents, and several accident investigations.
11-29-22 / Police Reporting
Our next police report posting, so you can see exactly what happens each day.
These are just the highlights of what our police officers do. They also do much much more that have not been included in these reports.
Last year, DiCiccio would share these reports as well as updates on police staffing to advise citizens of the rising crime rates combined with staffing shortages.
OCTOBER COUNCIL DISTRICTS CRIME REPORTS:
Emergency calls for service have increasingly delayed response times. All of this is happening while we are losing dozens of police officers each month. Folks this cannot be sustained. pic.twitter.com/8pkSyt6lQO
DiCiccio also informs the community about breaking crime issues, such as a homicide that occurred Monday.
🚨 MEDIA ADVISORY: Homicide
Anyone with information can contact the Phoenix Police Department, or Silent Witness (480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish). pic.twitter.com/QjfL4hJQsJ
In addition to crime and police-related content, DiCiccio posts about community events like park openings and lifeguard certification classes, dog adoptions, and school board updates.
DiCiccio posts constituent-focused content far more frequently than his fellow council members. The others tend to rely on their monthly district newsletter to inform constituents, with the exception of Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari, who posts more frequently at the rate of several times per week about community events pertaining to her office.
As of this report, Mayor Laura Pastor informed constituents last week about a toy and clothing drive last week, Councilman Jim Waring last tweeted thanks to his voters for reelecting him two weeks ago, Councilwoman Betty Guardado advised constituents to read her district newsletter two weeks ago, Councilwoman Ann O’Brien last retweeted a fire escape plan notice in mid-October, Councilwoman Debra Stark last retweeted in April about her appearance at the Phoenix Fire Department, and Councilman Carlos Garcia last tweeted last November about Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport hiring.
Several council members are more active on Facebook. Their posts mainly reflect community events rather than major updates.
O’Brien encouraged constituents to vote, wished constituents a happy Thanksgiving, and updated constituents on the council’s approval of Metrocenter Mall’s redevelopment.
Waring last posted in October to encourage constituents to vote.
Stark shared her appearances with different groups, recent toy drive involvement, and a call to action for upcoming Habitat For Humanity home repair projects.
Pastor posted about several events: the toy and clothing drive, and an Alzheimer’s benefit.
Guardado posted videos of her attendance at a festival, and involvement in a tree donation event at a park.
Garcia posted an update about their quarterly Laveen Community meeting last week.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Last Wednesday, the Phoenix City Council declared that COVID-19 no longer constitutes an emergency. The council passed the resolution quietly and without discussion, lumping it in with dozens of other agenda items.
It has been two years and eight months since the city first declared COVID-19 as an emergency. Yet, the issue that instigated controversy and struggle for so long was passed over with little notice.
The resolution rescinding the emergency declaration for COVID-19 cited the CDC data from late last month listing transmission levels for Maricopa County as “low.” This means that all declarations related to the COVID-19 emergency are rescinded.
Although the city rescinded the emergency declaration, they continue to offer COVID-19 mitigation resources like testing kits and masks.
With several holidays gatherings and holiday travel upon us, be prepared for possible #COVID exposures with these free City of #PHX resources:
❇️ At-home testing kits ✴️ KN95 masks ❇️ Mobile testing vans ✴️ Vaccine events ❇️ Health information
The city lagged behind the state in determining that COVID-19 no longer constituted an emergency.
Governor Doug Ducey ended the state’s COVID-19 emergency in March. The city last updated its face mask policy in February, requiring mask-wearing if risk levels were considered high. Phoenix went through periods of rescinding then reimposing its mask mandate.
It wasn’t until April that the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport dropped its mask mandate in accordance with the Transportation Security Administration no longer enforcing the federal mask mandate.
Like most other cities, Phoenix capitalized on its $396 million in COVID-19 relief funds to subsidize community needs and other projects.
COVID relief funds should be used to prevent COVID. That means kids wearing masks at school. I support the President’s efforts to compel Arizona’s governor to do the right thing.
This included allocations like $75.5 million for homeless shelters, housing, treatments, and resources; $31 million for affordable housing and financial assistance; $16.7 million for a “Resilient Food System” to increase agriculture in the city with a focus on equity and inclusion; $10.5 million for planting trees and making homes energy efficient; $8.3 for refugees; $5 million went to community college tuition assistance.
As for COVID-19 mitigation efforts and expenses: $28.9 million went to city testing and vaccination efforts, $28 million funded current and projected COVID-19 health care expenses for the city, and $22 million funded premium pay for essential city workers.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The city of Phoenix plans to spend over 25 percent of its $396 million in COVID-19 relief funds on homelessness and affordable housing initiatives. It is the city’s second-highest expenditure of relief funds after city operations.
According to the city’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) plan for this year, over $99.5 million will be spent on homelessness and affordable housing. The majority of this, around $75.5 million, is slated to address the homelessness crisis.
Even with tens of millions allocated to mitigate the homeless crisis, notorious encampments like “The Zone” continue to worsen. City spokespersons informed reporters in September that the city is working to approve contracts and allocate the funds, which expire in 2024.
THE ZONE: Over the weekend, PPD responded to discovery of a dead & burned fetus in PHX’s largest homeless camp. Last night – a tent on fire w/ a man seriously burned inside.
There are 764 unsheltered people in the zone, nearly 3X last year this time but down from end of summer. pic.twitter.com/eR4Qjsqm62
Earlier this week, the state’s largest homeless shelter told12 News that they lacked enough resources to meet community needs, though they receive city funding. The city announced on Wednesday that it allocated $8 million to expand shelters for homeless families.
Comparatively, the city’s allocation of relief funds for other initiatives amounted to far less.
Financial, utility, and rent assistance for low-income families totaled $26 million altogether — about one-fourth of what’s slated for homelessness and affordable housing. Funds to advance the city’s workforce training facility and program, as well as establish workforce tuition and apprenticeship programs, totaled $28.5 million.
Concerning COVID-19 mitigation, the city allocated $28.9 million for testing and vaccines. From last July until the end of June, the city provided nearly 120,000 tests and 15,700 vaccines.
The city also allocated $28 million for COVID-19 health care expenses for its workers, and another $22 million to give premium pay for its essential workers. The city’s revenue replacement totaled $20 million. It set aside $23 million to rehabilitate a recycling facility and manage stormwater projects with the county’s flood control district.
$6 million went to tuition assistance and college prep for high school students, with another $3 million to update the Mesquite Library. $5.9 million went toward public Wi-Fi, with a small portion of that allocated for laptops and hotspots for the community, and $22 million to improve internet connectivity in certain neighborhoods.
$8.3 million went to refugees. $10.5 million went to climate-related initiatives: $6 million to plant trees, and $4.5 million to make 200 homes energy efficient.
Child care-related initiatives received $14.8 million, with the majority slated for airport employee child care and establishing an early childhood education program for 300 children.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
