Building Neighborhoods, Building Community
It’s the people who make Tucson so amazing. We Tucsonans are always looking for ways to reach out to each other and strengthen our community, and I see the benefits everywhere I go around town. When neighborhoods have a problem, neighbors find a solution.
Just today, the Star reported on the Eastside Neighbors Volunteer program in which people are helping elders do cleaning, chores, and shopping. They especially need volunteer drivers because our public transit system is currently underfunded and unable to help many seniors maintain their independence. In my neighborhood of Blenman Elm, we board members are working with the Pima Council on Aging to run a similar program called Blenman Elm Neighbors Care, so that we can connect generations and create the bonds necessary to allow older seniors to continue living on their own in our neighborhood, adding to the richness and diversity of our community life.
Neighborhood heroes like Aunna Elm saw a major problem: thanks to increasing traffic, parents didn’t feel safe letting their kids walk to their neighborhood schools, and the resulting increase in childhood obesity and traffic congestion made things worse. So she started a Safe Routes to Schools Program that has now been embraced and funded by Pima County, and is helping more kids get to school on foot or bike in a safe and healthy way.
Many other people have been working hard to solve major issues. From Colette Altaffer and the Neighborhood Infill Coalition fighting the scourge of ramshackle mini-dorms in our University-area neighborhoods, to Terry Nordbrock identifying and stopping the sources of toxics that put our children at risk for cancer, to Montserrat Caballero who is working to protect immigrant women in our community who are victims of violence, Tucsonans all over are standing up and doing what needs to be done.
The City of Tucson needs to listen to our creative solutions and give us the administrative and financial help we need to solve our problems ourselves, and to strengthen our communities and neighborhoods. We’ve got the wisdom–and the solutions–if we work together.