MIDTOWN NEWS AUGUST 1997
MASSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT’
Gone fishing’—See Ya in Tha ‘ Fall?>
ANGEL OF THE MONTH…
Goes Out from Midtown to Oonagh Morrison Midtown resident and owner of Hai Burn’s Flowerland Florist and Gift Shop on 5th and Rosemont. Una has decided to turn
Inspiration into action—she is donating flowers to Midtown and will deliver a bouquet
Every month to a special Flower Angel designated by Midtown in this newsletter. Here’s
Your chance to nominate a neighbor for the Flower Angel—call 323-5049 with your report. (We need name, good deed, and address). This month’s Flower Angel goes out
Manny Aldez on Louis Lane. Manny spends at least one afternoon a month doing yard work for a neighbor who needs the help. She relies on his aid, and he always keeps a watchful lookout on her behalf. What a sweetie enjoy your flowers Manny. Margaret E.
Morgan wrote to he “ neighborhood friends “ to thank Chris Sutton and his group of young people who spent the time to weed her yard and dig trenches in her hedges to make watering easier. Read more inside about Midtown’s Pet Angel, Bonnie Pitblado.
CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE FORUM—DATE CHANGE;;;
Instead of our August 19 meeting the Forum will take place the following week, on
Tuesday, August 26, 1997 in the Wright School Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. We are very excited about this forum—four neighborhood associations are participating—Midtown, Palo Verde, Blenman Elm, and Miramonte. These neighborhood associations all have common concerns such as traffic, graffiti, noise, crime, etc All seven candidates are invited (5 Democrats,1Republican, 1 Libertarian). Each candidate will have 3 minutes to
Introduce him/herself and then we will have a series of questions which each candidate will have a limited time to answer. Call 323-5049 with your burning questions. At the
End we will have an open forum, question/answer period. Plan to attend. Bring a neighbor.
AND DON’T FORGET TO VOTE. –
August 118 is the deadline to register to vote in the primary. Call 323-5049 for more information on how to register, September 16 is the primary election (if you’re a Democrat, it’s awfully important that you vote) and November 4 is the general election.
This is the election where we choose our next City Council Representative for Ward VI.
Let’s plan on getting out the vote in Midtown—the higher our voter turnout—the stronger a message we are sending to City Council that Midtown Neighborhood Association follows up words with action.
OUR FALL TREE PLANTING DATE HAS BEEN SET—SATURDAY OCTOBER 18,
1997.
We are going to have a strong street-tree push this time out—the goal is 150 trees. For those people who plant street trees, we will have a fabulous array of wildflower seeds to plant in the tree wells. Call Margaret at 323=5049 if you want more information on how to organize a street tree planting in your neighborhood. (All you have to do is get your neighbors interested , we’ll do the rest). We will also have a yard planting program later in the fall, in late November.
NO NEW YET ON PIMA STREET…
We are waiting to hear from the City of Tucson’s Transportation Department. They are contracting out to a private consulting firm that will then conduct a series of public forums on Pima Street, to which you will all be invited. Several possible design options will be available at these forums, and people will be asked to cast their vote.
RETROFIT IS IN…
If you happen to live in Midtown Neighborhood Association…energy retrofit, that is. The average house in our neighborhood was built in the early 1950’s at a time when energy efficiency wasn’t usually a part of home design. And, because most of the housing
Stock is approaching the 50-year mark, lots of repair is on the horizon. This is an opportunity, not a problem. The City of Tucson’s Special Projects Department, the Civano Institute, and the Metropolitan Ministries of Tucson are working with Midtown
Residents to explore creative solutions –an energy retrofit pays for itself as well as brings
In much-needed scape improvements such as street lights, sidewalks, and street trees.
Midtown has been promised $200,000 in start-up funds for this project. We are surveying targeted neighborhoods for more details, and will be reporting at the August meeting on our progress. Hopefully we will have a proposal ready to submit to Mayor and Council by early September. For more information, call Margaret at 323-5049.
HAPPY ENDINGS IN MIDTOWN(AND A PLEA TO MAKE THEM HAPPEN).
PetSmart, located on the southeast corner of Grant/Swan is host to a wonderful volunteer program called “Friends of Animal in Risk”. FAIR was foundered a little
Over a year ago by volunteers from Pima County Animal Control who realized that
Adoptable dogs and cats were often running out of time before homes could be found
For them. Fair adopts animals when they are in imminent danger of being euthanized and
Places them in foster homes until permanent owners come along (which is usually quite
Quickly –within a week or two).
We have been on both sides of the FAIR equation, as foster parents and permanent adopted parents of two wonderful dogs (plus a third from the Humane Society), We wanted to let folks in the Midtown neighborhood know about FAIR program, because it
Has brought us tremendous joy—and it is a joy that can be relived as often as one wants to be a foster parent.
Let us tell you about our first foster dog, Clovis, We were browsing in PetSmart late one Friday evening when we go to chatting with the FAIR volunteers on duty. They had one lovely young German left that day who needed a foster parent; in thirty minutes if a foster home had not been found, he would be returned to Animal Control and euthanized.
Needless to say, we couldn’t refuse.
Once we committed to fostering him, FAIR officially adopt Clovis from Animal Control and the next day took him to the Humane Society spay/neuter clinic where he was sterilized and received all necessary shots. We picked him up that night and brought
Him home. The next day, Sunday, was a designed adoption day at PetSmart. We brought him in, and voila he was almost immediately permanently adopted by a family with another German Shepherd and a big yard with trees, It made us so happy that with such a
Tiny investment in time and caring, we made the difference between death and a great
Life for Clovis. It keeps a person going back for more.
Foster parents always make the difference between life and death for FAIR dogs and cats. If foster families aren’t found, animal are killed
. And there are too often too few foster families. This is where caring people in the Midtown Neighborhood can step in, When one agrees to be a foster parent, they are
taking on just a few duties: if the dog or cat needs sterilization, the foster parent picks up the animal after the surgery and brings it home. Then, on a designed adoption days
(Saturday mornings, every other Sunday, and Mondays) they bring the animal to PetSmart, and if it is not adopted, pick it up at the end of the day (it’s like day-care for dogs and cats)—and it’s easy when one lives so close to PetSmart . FAIR is even happy to provide and supplies for the animals, so there is virtually no cost involved for volunteers. If you would like to try fostering a FAIR animal (and we can guarantee you’ll be glad you did) you can any of the following: drop into PetSmart around dinnertime on a
Friday (Fridays are doomsday for animals without foster homes; they are returned to Animal Control and killed)—you get the immediate gratification of saving a life on the spot; call FAIR at 792-6414 and leave a message that you’re interested in being a foster parent; call FAIR at PetSmart during the designated adoption times at 322-5080; or visit the FAIR internet homepage at http://www.azstarnet.com/public/nonprofit/fair/for more
Information.
-Bonnie Pitblado and R.A. Varney
TERRY GALLAGHAN OF THE METROPOLITAN MINISTRIES OF TUCSON STILL HAS ROOM FOR ABOUT 6 MORE FAMILIES…
To help them get started in buying a home. Terry’s program has successfully placed four neighborhood families into home ownership in the neighborhood. They have also
Refurbished houses in need of repair in the neighborhood. Call Terry at 322-9557 for more info.
CORRECTION: The President off Broadmoor Neighborhood Association called recently to .let us know of an error in last month’s newsletter. In the article on “Saving the Old YMCA” we had said that Dick Bayse was a member of the Broadmoor Neighborhood
Association when in fact he is not, and does not live in that neighborhood Thanks to BNA for pointing out our mistake.
From live and learn and Pass it On by Jackson Brown I’ve learned that it takes a lot more creativity to find out what’s than what’s wrong
Age 38