Tucson, AZ

Tucson’s real estate market enjoyed booming sales just two short years ago. About mid-2006 the market started to slow down a bit and now seems to be moving at only a trickle of its previous pace. There are many factors that go into this slow down and we won’t go into all of them here.

This morning it was announced that local mortgage lender First Magnus would no longer be funding new mortgage loans. Their announcement follows on the heels (more…)

real estate, mortgage lender, First Magnus

Its fairly common knowledge that the housing market in Tucson has slowed dramatically from its boom just two years ago. There has a been a swing from the seller’s market that realtors, sellers and those associated businesses enjoyed in the summer of 2005. Back then houses were often selling before they even hit the MLS and were fetching top dollar. Fast forward to this summer - the pendulum has definately swung into the buyers market. Buyers now have time to shop around with more houses on the market then there are buyers waiting to buy.

This shift has had an impact on the downtown redevelopment project dubbed Rio Nuevo. There were several condominium projects planned for the area and it seems the sluggish market has placed these plans on hold. (more…)

downtown, Rio Nuevo

When I was walking through the Tucson Mall the other day I noticed busy workers removing the fixtures from the Godiva chocolate store. The store has obviously been closed.

Apparently, Campbell Soup Co. has sold off Godiva chocolate in their quest to create a more healthy image for the company. They have owned Godiva chocolates for more than 40 years.

Recently Campbell’s has reduced sodium (more…)

Godiva, chocolate, Campbell’s

In June it was reported that the Tucson Sidewinders may be leaving Tucson potentially heading to Reno. There have been mixed reactions to this news. Baseball fans will certainly miss the excitement of the games.

However, paid attendance at the Sidewinders games is not as high as projected. The Sidewinders pay the city of Tucson a certain amount based on the paid attendance numbers and their departure may actually mean more money for Tucson.

Currently, during regular season play, because of complaints (more…)

Tucson Sidewinders

No, not the tv show, or the phenomena that school-aged children go through. These growing pains are of the traffic sort. In January, the Arizona Department of Transporation (ADOT) launched the I-10 widening project which will widen the stretch of I-10 from Prince Road to 29th Street. The project is expected to be completed in Spring of 2010. During this time all the exits between those two roads are closed down making it difficult to navigate Tucson’s streets leading to the Downtown area. Drivers need to exit before the closures and use frontage roads to get to their destinations. ADOT did add a third lane of one-way traffic as well as re-timed the lights to help cut down the commute times during peak hours. (more…)

ADOT

Downtown Tucson is undergoing an overhaul dubbed the Rio Nuevo project. Taking in large areas on both sides of I-10, there is a huge master plan with several projects that are expected to take ten years to complete the full scope and vision of the project. Several of the key projects are connecting the areas on the east and west sides of I-10, providing new residential areas, creating more business opportunities, beautifying the Santa Cruz river, creating cultural attractions including a science center and museum and constructing a new large neighborhood park. As part of the project there will be traffic considerations and changes made, beginning with the I-10 widening project.

An important part of the project is preserving the historic (more…)

Downtown Tucson, Rio Nuevo, Santa Cruz, I-10 widening

go round and round…. thats right! While the rest of the country is still enjoying their summer local schools are beginning the annual Back-to-School preparations. Over the next few weeks children will begin packing their lunches, gathering up their supplies and laying out their clothes for that important first day of school.

Here is a list of the first day of school (more…)

Back-to-School

There is an emerging problem in our country that has recently come to light with the recent charges filed against Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, and three others. Allegations that Vick participated in an organized dog-fighting ring have propelled an awareness of a growing problem.

History tells us that dog-fighting began with ancient civilations and evolved into bull and bear baiting. Once that was outlawed pitting dogs against other dogs became a popular sport, one that is still popular today despite being outlawed on state and federal levels. Most states have even made it a felony.

But that hasn’t stopped a gruesome and cruel occurance from happening. Unfortunately, spectators are not limited (more…)

Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcons, dog-fighting

At the end of June the Arizona Daily Star created a very controversial database accessible through their website. In the interest of taxpayer information, the Star utilized the right to request state public records in order to create a database of employee salaries at the two major universities - The University of Arizona in Tucson and Arizona State in Phoenix.

These databases are searchable by name, title, department or even salary. Because the employees are state employees their salaries are a matter of public record. At any point any individual (more…)

Arizona Daily Star, The University of Arizona, Arizona State, Phoenix