Ward 2 Council Member Paul Cunningham

At Tuesday’s meeting my colleagues on the council and I worked on three items having to do with our environment. We got an update on PFAS contamination in some of our wells, worked on the planning process for future green stormwater infrastructure projects, and discussed future code changes to accommodate electrical vehicles in new construction.

Some concerns about the recycling monitoring project have come back to my office. I wanted to talk a little bit about it. 

Since the city has had curbside recycling, Environmental Services has had a number of educational campaigns about what should be recycled and what shouldn’t. This has included public information campaigns in local media and inserts in water bills to remind people. Unfortunately, this has not been working. 

On Monday, I attended the opening of twelve new pickleball courts at Udall Park. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what pickleball was until I was approached by several local pickleball players a few years ago. They wanted more places in Tucson to play their sport. 

Ward 2 Council Member Paul Cunningham and Tucson Parks and Recreation invite you to celebrate the opening of the pickleball courts at Morris K. Udall Park. The court renovations were completed using Tucson Delivers Parks + Connections voter-approved bond funds from the November 2018 election. The renovations included the conversion of four existing tennis courts into 12 standard-size pickleball courts.

Last year, I received an email from one of our Ward 2 neighborhood associations. Due to lack of traffic on east side streets during the COVID curfew, street racers had seen an opportunity and grabbed it. They used those wide, empty streets for organized racing, sometimes with speeds over 100 miles an hour. 

Back in 2010, I was appointed to a vacancy after the previous council member resigned. The final decision to appoint me was made by the mayor and the five remaining members of the council. There was a community process: we submitted applications and we all had a chance to make our case to be appointed. 

Earlier this week, it looked like COVID-19 cases were trending down slightly, but this morning’s Arizona Department of Health Services numbers show new cases have increased again. 

This is why it is still important to take precautions: maintain social distance and wear a mask when you are in public. Also, if you are eligible, make an appointment to get a vaccination.