TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Are you convinced the city will never do right by you and your neighborhood?
Read on.
People in Tucson’s midtown Palo Verde Neighborhood convinced the city to install traffic barriers to help reduce traffic troubles and make the area less attractive to possible criminals.
The barriers have a story to tell about how an effective neighborhood association, can convince the city to improve things.
The little intersection of Adams and Camilla was trouble.
Edward Bennett lives nearby and says, “A lot of people walk their children through here, and when people drive through the wrong direction they don't stop here at the intersection. They just shoot right through the intersection."
Bennett saw that sort of danger all the time. Then there were the shady late night visitors.
“They would stop and hang out for five, ten, fifteen minutes and then drive away. Whether it was drugs or prostitution I don't know, but I can't imagine a legitimate reason why someone would pull in the alley and one, two, three in the morning for just a few minutes and then leave."
He contacted the office of Ward Six Councilmember Steve Kozachik. A staff member led him to Palo Verde Neighborhood President Ronni Kotwica. She knows the system, knew City Transportation would have to approve the barriers and knew the city did not have the roughly $5000 for a project like this.
She got with TMM Family Services which houses a lot of people nearby.
Kotwica says, “Rev. (Don) Strauch from TMM Family Services is the one who stepped up and asked his Foundation, his Board to fund the project and so that's who paid for it."
Now the barriers are up, the problems are down and Edward Bennett learned how to get the city to get things done.
Just because you can get the city to move does not mean it will always move fast. Bennett remembers the process as taking about six months.
