Week 64 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Update: Scooter Creep

Three weeks ago I provided the phone numbers and email addresses to reach the two scooter companies and the City to voice a concern you may have about dumped scooters. Now I have a quicker and more efficient way to get your message across.

Just call the Transportation Department at 791-3154 and describe the problem. They will make note of the situation and alert the scooter company involved. This method creates a better record and minimizes your involvement.

I learned about this simpler approach when I called Code Enforcement to ask a question about homeowner responsibility when scooters were left as an obstruction on the sidewalk. Under normal circumstances, homeowners are responsible for keeping a clean sidewalk and/or easement.

But what about discarded scooters? That was my question and Code Enforcement forwarded me to the Tucson Department of Transportation, the folks monitoring the scooter test program. I spoke to Erica who was most helpful. She gave me a more effective reporting system. Then I asked her who is responsible if a person is tripped up by a discarded scooter and gets hurt on a homeowner’s sidewalk? Is the homeowner, the scooter company or the City responsible?

Erica couldn’t answer my question because she’s Tucson Transportation but did connect me to the person who could. By the end of this week I will be called  back with a definitive answer.

A note about dealing with the City. Yes, calling a bureaucracy is no fun at all, but when you finally get the right person on the phone, you will be talking to a real pro like Erica.

Through my community service involvement, I have discovered many more pros who work for the City. Adding another one like Erica to my list is always exciting to me

Finally, had a Panda Express fortune cookie speak to me.

This week we donated 212.1 lbs. of pet food, four steel cat bowls, one pill bottle, one box of treats, one green bag carrier, two thermal pads and $40.75 in cash and one check. There were 15 cat food cans which was three better than last week.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 63 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks

Morel Canned Cat Food, Please

When I walked through the door, the PACC receptionist came from behind her desk and took the plastic bags I was carrying. “Oh good,” she said, clutching the bottom of the bags, “the cat shelter told me they were running low on cat food. Thanks.”

That’s the first time I got a comment besides, “Oh, wow, that’s a lot of food.”

Most weeks we donate between 10 and 15 cans of cat food. If all our cat food donors could add just one more can to their gift, we could come close to donating a 24-pack each week. That would cut down on the meowing a bit at dinner time.

Paid in Pet Food

Last Monday, I noticed the roll-off on S. Vine Street was only about a quarter full and was worried it would not fill up like the other three around the neighborhood. I only had till Tuesday morning to do something about it.

My first thought was to take the trash stacked outside the roll-off on 12^th Street and transport it to Vine Street. That would help. To my surprise, someone saw that mess

and shoved all of it into the roll-off. Now that was considerate, but I was still short some trash.

On my drive home I saw a large stack of old carpet piled up in front of Gerry’s house on Miles Street. Mitchell, her grandson, greeted me at the door. He was installing new carpet and would appreciate help with chucking the old.  

As I took the last load, Mitchell told me to come back Wednesday and pick up a pet food donation he and his dad wanted to give me. Turned out to be a 55 lb. bag of Pedigree. (See photo above).

While finishing up at the Vine Street roll-off, I noticed Rossana on 13^th Street trimming her tree that drooped over the easement alongside her property. She was using a long-handle clipper that looked arduous. I walked over and handed her my battery powered saws-all. A little instruction and soon those massive, low hanging tree limbs were on the ground. At last, the roll-off was full. When Rossana returned my saws-all she said, “This tool is going on my Christmas list.”

This week we donated 258.2 lbs. of pet food, one Bark chew, one pill bottle, one cat collar and $50.60, in cash and three checks.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 62 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Fixing Streets and Collecting Pet Food

Patrick Hartley, our Tucson Department of Transportation Complete Streets Program Coordinator sent us an invitation for two street design seminars at the U of A School of Architecture. I decided to attend both because one was in the morning and the other offered lunch. In addition, since both were scheduled for 90 minutes each, the 2-hour parking meters worked perfectly. It would have been a no go otherwise because parking around the University is very stressful.

Both lectures were presented by Peter Koonce,

a national leader on innovative transportation

engineering and planning solutions for safer

multi-modal transportation.

Of course, there were a lot of young folks in the lecture hall but I fit right in because I said nothing like most of them. In the morning session I learned a very interesting fact which I already suspected was a normal human trait. When folks plan for far into the future, say 25 years which is the timeline for our committee, they seldom-to-never accomplish such a grand plan. The colored lines in the chart above are the projected time span and the black dots indicate the level of achievement over a 14-year period.

This tells me that concentrating on fixing potholes and  building sidewalks and bike paths is the right way to go.  

In the afternoon session I really did learn something about speed and pedestrian safety. At 20 mph, 9 out of 10 pedestrians survive, 5 out of 10 at 30 mph, and only 1 out of 10 at 40 mph. Very sobering and yet there doesn’t seem to be a way to slow the vehicles down.  I’m thinking that perhaps just posting the mortality numbers on every Speed Limit Sign would help a lot. This information sure gave me pause.

While standing in line for my Jimmy John’s roast beef sandwich and oatmeal raisin cookies, I got a chance to speak to Dr. Arlie Adkins, Assistant Professor, Urban Planning in the College of Architecture who coordinated the two lectures. When I asked him about adding a speed limit indicator in all automobiles as they now have for most trains, he said that the situation is quite political with resistance from auto manufacturers and congress. I for one would love to have a speed limit indicator on my dashboard. And there would be fewer accidents, fewer smashed up cars and … oh, wait, I get it. 

This week we donated 119 lbs. of pet food, one bag of cleaning pads, 14 pill bottles and $111.71, in cash and two checks.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 61 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

FYI, The Scooter Creep

You probably have noticed a significant increase in the number of abandoned scooters in the neighborhood and around town. People just rent the scooter and drop it wherever it dies. Of course, the companies say they will pick up the scooters and charge them. I contacted both companies and Razor proved to be the more responsive.

When you want a Razor scooter gone, just send an email to customersupport@razorusa.com along with a photo and a location address. Also, include the nearest intersection. Within hours they alert their pick up team.

Send the same information to this Bird email address support@bird.zendesk.com They, too, respond quickly but they ask all kinds of question about location and scooter number even though you did provide a location. My inclination is not to touch or get near one of those scooters. Take a photo from afar is my M.O. and emailing.

If no action is taken, send your photo and info to Tucson Code Enforcement. https://www.tucsonaz.gov/code-violation-report That should make the Razor or Bird scooter disappear.

This week we donated 206.6 lbs. of pet food, one large sheet, and $82.75 in cash and two checks. Last week the pet food amounted to 205.5 lbs. How did that happen?

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 60 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Neither snow nor rain nor blown electrical thingy under the glove box ...

Photo by Anna Carr

Woke up Saturday to a dead battery and something clicking on the passenger side even when the key was removed. So disconnected the battery and called Brake Masters for a tow.

The weather was perfect on Sunday which made the two hour walk around the neighborhood really pleasant. Couldn’t have done that in August!

Since the electrical guy at Brake Masters has Monday’s off, my truck won’t be ready until late Tuesday or early Wednesday, depending on what he finds wrong tomorrow. This means the Monday delivery to PACC had to be postponed. There’s no photo but we do have the results.

This week we will donated 205.5 lbs. of pet food, 12 XL leather gloves, 2 pill bottles and $36.87 in cash and one check once Brake Masters returns my truck.

SPECIAL NOTE: Just received notice from Environmental Services that the 4 free roll offs will be in the neighborhood November 7^th through November 12^th. The printed announcement will arrive at your door next Sunday, but you can start thinking about what to pitch now.

See you Sunday,

Peter