DSNA Meeting Minutes: February 2026

Minutes Date

Call to Order: 7:05pm

Attendance/Introduction Question: Dustin Daley, Christy Stewart, Thomas Stellini, Karen Greene, Kiana Necoechea, Jacob Hardy, Mark Goehring, Nancy Bender, Sophie, Alexis, Ruth Ryman, Maass, Alexander, Aliyah Cardenas, Nash, Brendan Shea, Natasha Winnik

Changes/Approval to Previous Month’s Minutes: No Changes

Treasurer’s report: $521.41

Announcements (External and Internal)

Karen - Noted that Lisa Scoblink passed away last night. Requested an agenda item for next month to discuss a memorial donation potentially to Old Pueblo partnership. Thomas - Environmental Services will host a workshop in April, date TBD Thomas - The Spring newsletter is currently in progress. All submissions must be sent to Dustin by February 24th.

Thomas - Open call for board volunteers. Interested parties are encouraged to submit their names by the newsletter deadline for the official announcement but volunteers are welcome at any time before the April meeting.

Karen - Menlo Park Neighborhood is hosting a buffelgrass adobe brick-making class this April.

Karen - BARN - Building a resilient neighborhood. Shared resources regarding emergency preparedness and heat resilience checklists. Discussed a "Block Pals" initiative to ensure neighbor wellness checks during extreme heat waves.

Karen - Library on Wednesday there is going to be a lunar new year celebration with a dragon dance and the jazz music ensemble will be performing 3-5. Grant slab on Friday 2-330. Next Wednesday afternoon at 3pm any tweens that like to play Minecraft will have an event.

Karen - The library is also doing “love of reading” events to help people fall in love with reading and find recommendations for things to read.

Discussion

No on RTA Next Presentation (Maass + Ruth) - Upcoming vote on March 10th will decide the future of RTA Next, a 20-year extension that would give the RTA control over almost $3 billion in infrastructure spending. The plan is to be funded by a half a cent sales tax increase and it was noted that although the City of Tucson generates approximately 63% of these funds, it is currently slated to receive only 44% of the project benefits. No on RTA Next highlighted concerns regarding the first RTA’s performance with inefficiencies in fund management, project timeline overruns, and a lack of transparency and accountability. Our Ward 1 city representative is in support of RTA Next, though the current stance of our Pima County representatives remains unclear.

Neighborhood Rapid Response Update (Christy) - Christy provided an update on Rapid Response resources and more information about the trained team available through Dunbar and Friends. The group holds monthly meetings and is hosting a neighborhood block party on Saturday, March 21st at the Dunbar basketball courts. The team will also be door knocking to introduce themselves and getting to know more neighbors and create connections. Christy also distributed contact cards for those needing to reach the Rapid Response team.

New Basin Archeological Permit (Dustin) - Dustin provided an update on a requirement from the City of Tucson that digging in the public right of way north of 2nd Street (old Court Street Cemetery area) now requires an archeological monitoring permit. At minimum the permit costs $7,000 and potentially more if artifacts are discovered. This has a huge impact on the efforts to continue beautifying the neighborhood by creating street side basins. We are not opposed to having archeological monitoring, just the permit fee having to be paid for by residents. Dustin asked if we could vote to write a letter to the Mayor and Council asking to waive or subsidize the permit fee. Vote to allow a vote passed unanimously. Vote to write a letter passed unanimously.

Reports From The Field

  • DNARC (Downtown Neighborhoods and Residents Committee) - No Updates
  • Downtown Links - Piano phone is installed
  • Dunbar Coalition - No Updates
  • HFAC (Historic Fourth Avenue Coalition) - No Updates
  • Stone/Speedway - Housing department will be at our meeting next month to discuss
  • 11th Ave/1st st housing project - No Updates
  • WAMO (Warehouse Arts Management Organization) - No Updates
  • Quick zone celebration committee - Mark requested we take a moment of silence for the quiet zone committee. Suggested that we get a committee together to plan the celebration.

 

For The Good Of The Cause - Future Topics

Alexander - Looking for a committee around traffic calming measures. Looking to get something added to the newsletter and a link to a shortened survey regarding traffic calming measures in the neighborhood.

Brendan - Wrote a letter to give to Union Pacific about the train crossing.

Adjourn: 8:05pm

Resolution(s) Passed