Welcome to District 5's Home on the web!
I want to keep visitors to this website up-to-date on what the board is doing on behalf of county residents in general and my District Five constituents in particular. Those who survey all the features of this website will get a good idea of who I am and where I stand. Hopefully, it will inspire you to get in touch with me to let me know where you stand, and where and when you believe I am on track or astray.
District Five Helps Dedicate the Lorraine Lee Hidden Canyon Trail 11.19.2009
Richard and the Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Department, in conjunction with Chicanos por la Causa, will dedicate a hiking trail in Tucson Mountain Park on Saturday to the late multicultural community leader and activist Lorraine Lee.
A 1.2-mile loop trail behind the Starr Pass Resort will be named in a formal open-to-the-public ceremony, beginning at 10 a.m., as the Lorraine Lee Hidden Canyon Trail. The event will feature music, Native dance, refreshments and speakers. Each attendee also receives a commemorative tile.
Lorraine was a remarkable woman of great integrity who left a significant positive imprint on Tucson and Pima County. She was compelling orator whose outspoken championing of the poor and disenfranchised, and of social and racial justice, was legendary and impactful. She served as a leading spokeswoman for the local Latino community, yet her father was of Chinese descent and early Philippine Islands heritage.
During a 24-year career as executive vice president of the non-profit Chicanos por la Causa in Southern Arizona, Lorraine helped grow it into a powerful force for economic development, social services and education. Under her guidance, CPLC had a positive impact on the lives of thousands of the disadvantaged in Southern Arizona.
All the while, Lorraine was a loving wife and a mother of two daughters. With her family, she loved to hike into their beloved Tucson Mountains. Lorraine lost a decade-long battle with cancer on Oct. 31, 2007. The dedication of this trail in her name is a fitting tribute to her memory.
Board Honors Conservation Plan Architect Maeveen Behan 11.05.2009
Maeveen Behan, a 16-year Pima County employee who was a primary architect of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, had its Conservation Lands System named after her with Board of Supervisors action on November 3. Moments after the action was completed, Maeveen, who watched it on television, expired after a yearlong battle with cancer.
“I’m glad she was able to hear the words of the Board and the statements of the conservation people,” Chairman Elías said. “It was beautiful, in a way.”
Maeveen, 48, took charge of work on the county’s ground-breaking and award-winning Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan in 1998 and steered it to completion and partial implementation before falling ill. A critical part of the plan is its “Maeveen Marie Behan Conservation Lands System,” which identifies county lands that must be preserved or protected for their wildlife habitat, or movement corridor, values.
When the plan was conceived, developers and home-builders and other commercial interests opposed it; environmentalists distrusted how the county would craft it. Maeveen worked tirelessly to win over the disparate interests and always ensured that the plan’s restrictions were based on sound biological science.
Maeveen was an extraordinary woman of great intellect and integrity who always remained down-to-earth and accessible. She earned a doctorate in Arid Lands Studies from the University of Arizona, a juris doctorate from the University of Alabama School of Law, and bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Georgia. She is survived by her husband of 23 years, Harry Goldwasser.
Board Enacts a Resolution Against Artifical Trans Fats in Food
11.06.2009
The Board passed a resolution on November 3 that Richard sponsored calling for the voluntary elimination of unhealthy artificial trans fats from food sold in restaurants and served to the public in other venues such as schools and hospitals.
Artificial trans fats are found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil that has been chemically modified; they do not exist in nature. Scientific evidence is mounting that shows human consumption of artificial trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, pre-term births, strokes and other serious afflictions.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that people minimize their consumption of trans fats and since 2006 has required packaged food companies to list the trans fats content of the marketed food on the package.
However, the FDA regulation does not apply to restaurant, bakeries, or school or hospital cafeterias and many of them still serve food high in trans fats content. Richard’s resolution calls for restaurants and food-service establishments in Pima County to voluntarily eliminate trans fats from the food they serve.
Bishop's Committee Works on Refugee Assistance Plan 11.05.2009
Bishop Gerald Kicanas is chairing a refugee-issues committee that includes Richard, Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup and representatives from Pima County, the City of Tucson, refugee-assistance agencies, the State of Arizona and the business community. The committee will create a plan to improve the lot of refugees in Tucson and Pima County. After an initial meeting October 16, we continue to work on the plan.
There are more than 10,000 refugees from 69 countries living in Tucson and Pima County who have settled here after fleeing violence and persecution in their homelands. In recent years, between 1,000 and 1,200 have been arriving in this area to take up permanent residence here each year.
The federal government provides funding for resettling these refugees, but this funding is good for only six months after thier arrival. Many of these refugees speak little or no English or Spanish and for many the employment skills that served them in their home countries do not easily translate to available local jobs.
Successful survival after the first six months is very difficult for many refugees. State and local assistance programs are limited and may of them have criteria that render many refugees ineligible for their funds.
Areas that the committee needs to address in its plan include: asking our Congressional representatives for addtional federal assistance; compiling statistics on the status of local refugees; obtaining estimates from local assistance agencies on the financial needs to get refugees to independent stability; finding out if English-language teaching can be improved; addressing refugees' transportation needs; improving refugees' employment training and job placement; and addressing the health care and housing needs of refugees.
Hope Cramer Joins the District Five Staff 10.05.2009
District Five is pleased to announce the addition of Hope Cramer to the office as a special staff assistant. Hope replaces Anna Harper, who has taken an excellent position with Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse.
Hope is a native of Long Island, New York. who moved to Tucson to take up permanent residence in 1978. She owns a home in District Five in the midtown Palo Verde Neighborhood.
She is the mother of two grown children, both of whom live in Tucson. Her son, Cullen, 33, is a University of Arizona graduate who works for the U.S. Census Bureau and also is a District Five resident, living in Dunbar-Spring Neighborhood. Daughter Caitlin, 22, is living with Hope and finishing work on her bachelor's degree from the UA -- she will graduate in May 2010.
Since coming to Tucson, Hope has held a variety of employment positions. For 10 years, she worked for the UA, first in the Arizona Cancer Center and later in the Department of Neurology.
Hope brings intelligence, a good heart and a strong work ethic to the District Five office. We are very glad to have her on board.
District Five Intern Goes to ASU on a Full Scholoarship 10.05.2009
Andres Cano, who did an excellent job interning in the District Five office during the last year when he was a senior at City High School, and for much of this summer, has gone on with a full scholarship to Arizona State Univeristy's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in downtown Phoenix.
Andres earned a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation scholarhip through its Gates Millennium Scholars program. He was an outstanding high-school student, graduating at age 17 after just three years of coursework.
Blessed with an abundance of energy and a bubbling personality, Andres last year chaired the Governor's Youth Commission and served on the Board of SharMoore Children's Productions. His resume also includes: executive producer and founder of Snap Back! TV; Board member of Pan Left Productions; community organizer for PRO Neighborhoods; chair of Substance Abuse Prevention Summit 2008; and Board member of Every Voice in Action.
With wisdom and poise much beyond his years, Andres contributed significantly to the District Five staff during his internship. He worked closely with other staff members and freqeuntly accompanied Chairman Elias when the chairman participated in forums and attended important events. Andres was inquisitive and soaked up knowledge during his stint in the District Five office. He was instrumental in the layout and dissemination of a District Five Newsletter last summer.
We miss Andres very much, but he keeps in touch with the office and is enjoying his first year in college. Andres is destined for success on whatever course his young life takes him.
Dealing With Foreclosure/Don't Borrow Trouble Pima County
03.02.2009
Pima County has sponsored several workshops on how to deal with the threat of foreclosure on homes and how to deal with foreclosures after they occur. Attendees received general information and private, confidential consultation. The events were associated with the onging Don't Borrow Trouble Pima County campaign to deal with the crisis in home foreclosures.
If you want to buy a home, to refinance a home mortgage, to take out a home-equity loan, to prevent an impending foreclosure, or to consolidate debt, you can make use of Don’t Borrow Trouble Pima County campaign resources.
The campaign includes brochures, radio and television announcements, workshops, an informative website: http://www.dontborrowtroubleaz.com, and a telephone “hotline,” (520) 792-3087, that reaches trained professionals who can answer many questions for free and can refer callers to appropriate experts who can answer other questions.
Pima County and several local organizations have joined Freddie Mac in this campaign to inform people about how to avoid predatory mortgage loans, which have caused a widespread national outbreak of loan foreclosures and of lending company failures.
If lenders make claims that sound too good to be true, their claims probably are not true. “Pre-approved” home loans offered over the telephone or in the mail are an invitation to trouble. Borrowers must demand to have any offers in writing and should talk to several lenders before making a commitment, or signing any papers. Borrowers should ask about “prepayment penalties” and “additional fees.” They should not sign documents with any incorrect dates or blank fields.
Scam lenders use an array of gambits to trick borrowers into agreeing to a bad deal that can cost them dearly, and too often even costs them their home.
Borrowing against a mortgage or on an increase in a home’s value can result in a much longer-term loan at a higher interest rate, so the borrower ends up paying much more over time. Since the borrower’s home is collateral, borrowers can lose their homes if they fail to make payments. The number of people losing homes to foreclosure has gone up 200 percent since 1980.
Freddie Mac is a government-backed but stockholder-owned company that Congress created in 1970 to support homeownership and affordable rental housing. In addition to Pima County there are 23 other local supporters of Freddie Mac’s Don’t Borrow Trouble Pima County campaign.