#JusticeinPimaCounty: Week 85
We bring you our Weekly early in the morning this week because our day will be focused on all the fires that need tending and most especially the hearing that will take place this afternoon in Nelson, where the PCAO People’s Office has joined Planned Parenthood in arguing for the healthiest and safest reproductive healthcare for all Pima County residents.
We will keep you updated on developments as we are able.
This week can best be summed up by the following email subject line I sent yesterday to our TPD Chief and Sheriff:
Chief, Sheriff: retail, small business, homelessness, substance use disorder, mental health, overdosing.
It was indeed a very intense week.
It began with my summer police ride-along within Operations Division South where, as you can guess, I continued to observe a lot of heart and culture in the community, as well as a law enforcement team that really loves the South side, despite busy times and short staffing.
I moved from there to a consultation with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, an entity that focuses 90% of its resources on its 90% small business/family-owned operations.
Meetings followed with the Fort Lowell Neighborhood Association and a group of area business owners along Ft. Lowell, Stone, and the Oracle corridor.
And from there, I met with an international firm first launched in Chile, that is revolutionizing the ways in which Walgreens in Southern Arizona vows to stay open and continue to provide our parents and grandparents, our viejitos y abuelitas, with walk-up neighborhood prescription services.
All who I met with are seeing first-hand the tough times on our streets. Covid, the economy, the 57 percent rent hike in just ONE YEAR; homelessness, fentanyl, MENTAL HEALTH and ANXIETY, have taken a toll. A real toll.
I am hearing it. I am listening. I agree this will take a County/City collaboration and a whole lot of creativity, because we are NOT slipping back into the War on Drugs. As troubling as the situation is on our streets, we must continue to see the humanity in every person whose path we cross and fight hard to do what is best for them AND for those affected.
We must act now. The Chief, the Sheriff, and I agree.
Let’s go. Vamanos.
Laura
