Setting Up House
We understand that there is still work to be done even after you have signed the necessary paperwork and the for sale sign has come down. There’s the telephone to hook up, automobiles to register, and finding the businesses to help make your house feel like home. We’ve included the necessary resources to assist with the settling-in process, from pet licensing to contacting the Tucson Water Department.
UTILITIES & BASIC SERVICES
The utility companies listed below serve most or all of Pima County. Plan on phoning about a week ahead of your scheduled move-in date. Deposits may be required for new service.
Community Water Company
Customer service 625-8409
communitywater.com
Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Marana Water
Customer service 382-2570
marana.com
Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Metro Water
Customer service 575-8100
metrowater.com
Mon.–Thurs. 7:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.,
Fri. 7:30 a.m.–noon
Oro Valley Water Utility
Customer service 229-5000
orovalleyaz.gov
Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Tucson Water Dept.
Customer service 791-3242
tucsonaz.gov/water
Mon.–Fri. 7 a.m.–6 p.m.
WATER-SAVING TIPS FOR YOUR HOME
- install aerators on faucets and shower heads
- do not run the water continuously while you brush your teeth, shave, or wash dishes
- set full plastic bottles inside large-size toilet tanks to displace some of the water, so less is used when you flush; or replace your toilet with an ultra-low-flush (1.6 gallons or less per flush) model
- repair dripping faucets
- cover swimming pools to reduce evaporation
- plant low-water-use plants in your yard
- improve the texture of your garden soil so it will retain moisture
- make shallow watering basins around your plants
- use drip irrigation
- water early in the day, when less water will evaporate
Pima County Wastewater Management Department
Mon.–Fri.
7:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. 740-6609
After-hours emergencies 443-6500
pima.gov/wwm
Qwest Communications
| New residential service | 800-244-1111 |
| New business service | 800-603-6000 |
| Repairs, residence | 800-573-1311 |
| Repairs,business | 800-954-1211 |
| Qwest’s Center for Customers with Disabilities | 800-223-3131 |
Southwest Gas Corp.
Customer service 889-1888
swgas.com
Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Gas leak emergencies (available 24 hours) 800-722-4277
TRICO Electric Cooperative
Customer service 744-2944
trico.coop
Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Tucson Electric Power Co.
24-hour customer service 623-7711
tucsonelectric.com
Mon.–Fri. 7 a.m.–7 p.m.
CABLE/PAY TV
Cable TV suppliers include Comcast, serving Pima County residents including Marana and Oro Valley (744-1900), and Cox Communications, serving residents of Tucson and South Tucson (884-0133) and Patagonia ( 394-2413), along with Green Valley and parts of Sahuarita (884-0133). DirecTV (888-238-7177) and Dish Network (888-825-2557) provide digital satellite alternatives to standard cable TV.
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
Call providers to check Internet connection options and service areas. Some offer bundled packages to include Internet, phone, and TV services.
| Comcast comcast.com |
744-1900 |
| Cox Communications cox.com |
884-0133 |
| Dakotacom.net dakotacom.net | 745-3900 |
| Earthlink earthlink.net | 866-EARTHLINK |
| In Reach inreach.com |
866-416-0998 |
| Qwest Communications International Inc. qwest.com |
800-475-7526 |
RESIDENTIAL GARBAGE PICK-UP
Tucson trash is collected once a week Mon.-Fri. at a cost of $14.50 a month. Trash must be out by 6 a.m. on the pickup day. Phone 791-3171 to initiate pickup service. Outside the city limits, several private companies compete for the service (some also provide recycling services).
| Desert Dwellers Disposal (DDD) in Marana dddpima.com | 682-8002 |
| Saguaro Environmental Services saguaro-republic.com | 745-8820 |
| Waste Management Tucson, Marana, Oro Valley, Catalina wm.com | 744-2600 |
| Household Hazardous-Waste Collection tucsonaz.gov/hhw |
888-6947 |
| County Landfill Information deq.pima.gov |
740-3340 |
RECYCLING
Curbside recycling is offered once a week citywide for single-family dwellings and apartments of four units or fewer. Special bins are delivered to residents, with instructions and schedules for their use.
The City of Tucson, Pima County, and Tucson Clean and Beautiful have initiated Tucson Recycles, a community-wide campaign encouraging residents to rethink what they buy, use, and throw away. All recyclers accept at least seven basic items. Phone 791-5000 or see tucsonrecycles.org for more information.
Recycling Drop-off Sites
Neighborhood Drop-off Centers have also been created to accept recyclables.
- Booth-Fickett Magnet School, 7240 E. Calle Arturo, south of Broadway Blvd.
- City of South Tucson/Food City Shopping Center, southwest corner of 6th
Ave. and 38th St. - Jacobs Park, on Fairview Ave. south of Prince Rd.
- Joaquin Murrieta Park, Silverbell Rd. north of Speedway Blvd.
- Kennedy Park, Mission Rd. north of Ajo Way
- Los Reales Landfill, 5300 E. Los Reales Rd.
- Mansfield Park, 4th Ave. south of Grant Rd.
- Miller-Golf Links Library, southeast corner of Golf Links Rd. and Harrison Rd.
- Morris K. Udall Park, Tanque Verde Rd. and Sabino Canyon Rd.
- Patrick K. Hardesty Midtown Multiservice Center, Alvernon Way and 22nd St.
- Tucson Convention Center, northwest corner of Cushing St. and Granada Ave.
- Ward 5 Council Office, 4300 S. ParkAve., north of Fair St.
- Himmel Park, 1st St. at Tucson Blvd.
NONPROFIT DONATIONS
Drop off clothing and household goods at one of these nonprofit centers that give back to the community by, for example, providing job training, employment, housing, and medical assistance.
Casa de los Niños Thrift Store
1302 E. Prince Rd.
325-2573
casadelosninos.org
Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona
Multiple locations
623-5174
goodwill.org
Salvation Army Thrift Store
6715 E. Tanque Verde Rd.
722-6525
salvationarmyusa.org
World Care
3538 E. Ellington Pl.
514-1588
worldcare.org
AUTO REGISTRATION
If you reside in Arizona more than seven months in one calendar year, you must title and register your vehicle in Arizona. An emissions test (if required), certificate of title, and proof of insurance are necessary. Fees vary.
- First get your emissions tested at one of the following locations:
- 1301 S. Stocker Dr. (south of 22nd St., west of Sarnoff Dr.)
- 3931 N. Business Center Dr. (north of Prince Rd., west of I-10)
- 6661 S. Renaissance Dr. (Commerce Ct., south of Valencia Rd.)
- After your car passes the emissions test, go to one of the five Motor Vehicle Division office locations:
- 1360 S. Stocker Dr.
- 3565 S. Broadmont Rd.
- 7330 N. Shannon Rd.
- 601 N. La Cañada Dr., Ste. 102 (Green Valley)
DRIVERS' LICENSES
If you reside in Arizona more than seven months, you are required to get an Arizona driver's license. Permits and licenses may be obtained at the following locations:
- 1360 S. Stocker Dr.
- 3565 S. Broadmont Dr.
- 7330 N. Shannon Rd.
- 601 N. La Cañada Dr., Ste. 102 (Green Valley)
AAA ARIZONA LOCATIONS
| 8204 E. Broadway Blvd. | 258-0504 |
| 6950 N. Oracle Rd. | 258-0504 |
Or visit aaaaz.com
HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Newcomers might be forgiven for thinking that Tucson is brand-new, what with home developments sprouting up on every edge of the city. But inside the outer ring of new construction lie a number of historic neighborhoods at Tucson’s center. In fact, the Old Pueblo boasts 17 National Historic District neighborhoods. These charming districts chronicle a long stretch of the city’s history, starting with the 19th-century downtown barrios of Mexican times and continuing up to plush mid-20th-century developments with open desert landscaping.
El Presidio located north of the city's central business district, boasts of being Tucson's oldest neighborhood. It was here that the Irish mercenary Hugo O'Conor established a presidio, or fort, in 1775 to help the Spanish ward off Apaches on this far northern frontier of New Spain.
Barrio Histórico, south of the government and convention centers, is a remnant of the old Mexican barrio that once lay outside the presidio walls.
Fort Lowell, located several miles east of the city center along the lush flood-plains banking the Rillito River and Pantano Wash, made an ideal dwelling place for Hohokam Indians from about AD 300 to 1250. Today the adobes sitting haphazardly amidst the mesquite trees retain a rural Mexican feel.
Armory Park, located near downtown, sprouted east of the abandoned military plaza, on what’s now 6th Avenue. Once the railroad rolled into town in 1880, the neighborhood, just south of the tracks, became home to railroad executives and workers. A new development at the east end emulates the historic styles.
West University, sandwiched between downtown and The University, sprawled from Speedway Boulevard to 6th Street as Tucson’s first suburb. The University of Arizona began in 1885 on a plot of land then considered way out of town; houses for the middle and uppermiddle classes began popping up just west of the new college between 1890 and 1930. Sixty blocks strong, this large district features contributing houses, as well as the pedestrian-friendly Fourth Avenue Shopping District.
Feldman’s Addition, located north of Speedway Boulevard and west of Park Avenue offers more modest homes than its southern neighbor, West University. Built in the first three decades of the 20th century, Feldman’s cottages include wooden-floored bungalows, Spanish Colonial stuccos, and Craftsman houses.
Iron Horse Historic District, another railroad neighborhood, sits closer to downtown, just east of 4th Avenue and north of the tracks. Built from about 1890 to 1908, Iron Horse has always been a mix of rentals and small houses in assorted styles from Sonoran adobe to Queen Anne.
Pie Allen’s nine small blocks lie east of Iron Horse, between Euclid and Park Avenues. Railroad workers also lived here north of the tracks, in small houses built between 1880 and 1936. The remaining historic houses, tucked between student apartment complexes, tend toward the usual period mix of adobe Sonoran transitionals, Queen Annes, and bungalows.
John Spring has always enjoyed ethnic diversity. Located west of Stone Avenue just north of downtown, it was home to Yaqui Indians, Mexicans, Chinese, and African-Americans by 1900. After Tucson opened its segregated elementary school here in 1917, the neighborhood attracted numerous middle-class black families.
Sam Hughes, the sought-after tree-lined neighborhood east of The University, began life in the early 1920s with residences for tourists. Historic Sam Hughes Elementary, 23.6-acre Himmel Park, a library, a public swimming pool, and the retail stores and cafés of 6th Street are in the heart of the neighborhood.
El Encanto Estates, east of Country Club Road and north of Broadway Boulevard, is an upscale neighborhood developed between 1928 and 1941. Deliberately designed to attract wealthy residents, particularly from the East, El Encanto has a formal symmetrical pattern of curving streets and romantic houses meant to evoke the Southwest.
Colonia Solana, south of El Encanto, went up between 1928 and 1949. Its irregular, curvilinear streets follow the contours of the desert and washes. Some modern and ranch houses mix in with the neoclassical revival homes and Spanish Colonial revivals.
El Montevideo is a small slice tucked between El Con Mall and Alvernon Road. Famed architect Josias Joesler designed several Montevideo homes. Lots of desert cacti line the quiet streets.
Indian House is another tiny neighborhood, close to a different mall. North of busy Park Place on East Broadway Boulevard, Indian House stands as a hidden remnant of Tucson's desert past. Dirt roads meander between large lots filled with undisturbed creosote and cacti.
Catalina Vista got its start as early as 1924, but it already took the automobile into account. Located in midtown, south of Grant Road and east of Campbell Avenue, this neighborhood of wide curving streets and generous lots is designed to accommodate both people and cars. But it also subscribes to City Beautiful planning principles: small parks, landscaped medians, and traffic roundabouts.
Blenman-Elm is one of Tucson’s most recently designated historic neighborhoods. West of Country Club Road and north of Speedway Boulevard, the large district of 900 contributing houses dates from the 1920s to the 1950s. Its houses range from Spanish Colonial revival to brick ranch.
San Clemente, designated in February 2005, shines as Tucson’s "newest" historic neighborhood. Bounded by Broadway Boulevard on the north and Alvernon Way on the west, the neighborhood, which was initiated in the 1920s, really boomed in the 40s and 50s, once the Depression subsided.
Learn more about Tucson in A Guide to Tucson Architecture, by Anne M. Nequette and R. Brooks Jeffery, published by The University of Arizona Press. Available at local bookstores or online at uapress.arizona.edu. $22.95
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