North Central Phoenix Info

North Central Phoenix Info The buzz on events, schools, local businesses, etc. in North Central Phoenix. It is our mission to maintain and enrich the neighborhood.

For more than forty years the North Central Phoenix Homeowners Association has guarded North Central from inappropriate commercial and residential encroachment. We support the responsibly guided and zoned growth and development that is crucial for vigorous economy and growing city. It is our goal to ensure that the beauty, charm and history of the neighborhood is preserved. Neighborhood Boundaries

: From the north side of Missouri Ave. to the south side of Northern Ave.; the east side of 7th Avenue to the west side of 7th Street. We represent approximately 2500 residential parcels and commercially zoned properties on the 7’s.

Many neighborhoods across Phoenix continue to advocate for legislation (SB 1118) that would provide historic homes with ...
06/06/2026

Many neighborhoods across Phoenix continue to advocate for legislation (SB 1118) that would provide historic homes with a modest level of protection from the impacts of the Middle Housing Bill. This effort has received strong support from our State Representative and State Senator.

Unfortunately, one State Representative whose district includes many of Phoenix's historic neighborhoods continues to oppose these protections.

On Monday, the bill will come before the Arizona House for another vote. Thank you to everyone who has made phone calls, sent emails, filed RTS positions, mailed postcards, and engaged in conversations with elected officials. Your advocacy has brought us this far — but we cannot afford to let up now.

Please consider respectfully contacting the following representatives and asking them to support SB 1118 with a "YES" vote when it returns to the House. It only takes a few minutes.

• Pamela Carter – (602) 926-3153
• Lupe Diaz – (602) 926-4852
• Gail Griffin – (602) 926-5895
• Alexander Kolodin – (602) 926-3560
• Michelle Peña – (602) 926-3696
• Cody Reim – (602) 926-3436
• Justin Wilmeth – (602) 926-5044

Thank you for lending your voice to this effort and for continuing to support Arizona's historic neighborhoods—irreplaceable treasures that are worth preserving, protecting, and fighting for.

The proposed rezoning case, Sofia on 6th, has done it again — continued for yet another round. As a result, the case wil...
06/06/2026

The proposed rezoning case, Sofia on 6th, has done it again — continued for yet another round. As a result, the case will not appear on the June 23 agenda of the Alhambra Village Planning Committee. It is now tentatively scheduled to be heard on July 28, 2026 (barring any further disappearing acts). We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as additional information becomes available.

Those olive trees lining Central Avenue are not just beautiful. They are extraordinary.The olive trees you see between B...
06/02/2026

Those olive trees lining Central Avenue are not just beautiful. They are extraordinary.

The olive trees you see between Bethany Home Road and the Arizona Canal were planted by William J. Murphy between 1906 and 1915. They sit on private property just outside the public right-of-way, and today are mostly the original trees.

The same ones Murphy planted.
Still standing.
Still growing.

Olive trees are built for the long haul. A healthy olive tree can live up to 500 years. The original ones on Central Avenue are already more than 100 years old, and if they are well cared for, they could be shading this street long after any of us are gone.

The trees Murphy planted were fruit-bearing. Replacement trees are non-fruit-bearing. That matters in Arizona. State law prohibits nurseries from selling olive trees that produce pollen and bear fruit, making the newer trees the only kind you can plant here now. Good way to tell their age. But don't ask. It's rude.

They are also irreplaceable in another way. For every dollar invested in urban trees, research shows the community receives $2.50 back in environmental benefits, including cleaner air, lower temperatures, and a healthier neighborhood overall. Not to mention the shade.

These trees are an asset. A living, growing, irreplaceable asset that belongs to the story of North Central Phoenix. One day, we hope our children's children will still be walking beneath the canopy.

Next week: the fascinating science behind just how old these trees really are.

06/01/2026

Ordinarily, we'd be thrilled to rank 3rd in the world. Why the sad faces? Well, there are some records you don't want to beat.

On January 1, 2025, Phoenix ranked 3rd in the world
for the worst daily PM-2.5 air quality concentration. OUCH!

The cause? Consumer fireworks.

Air quality that day was classified as Hazardous, a level that poses serious health risks for everyone, especially children, seniors, and anyone with respiratory conditions.

And here's the geography reality most people don't think about: we live in a valley. Particulates don't disperse the way they do in other cities. They settle, and they linger. Especially in the winter, when that inversion thing happens. That makes what happens on New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July more consequential here than almost anywhere else in the country.

This is worth knowing. And worth sharing with your neighbors.

Learn more: azmag.gov/fireworks

Heads up, neighbors. If you use SR 51, plan ahead.Southbound SR 51 is closed between Indian School Road and I-10 through...
05/31/2026

Heads up, neighbors. If you use SR 51, plan ahead.

Southbound SR 51 is closed between Indian School Road and I-10 through 5 a.m. Monday, June 1. On-ramps at Glendale Avenue, Bethany Home Road, and Highland Avenue are also closed during this time.

Nightly lane restrictions (one to two lanes) run June 2 through June 5 from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Another full southbound closure is planned June 5 through June 8, same stretch, same hours.

Detour options:

For I-10: westbound Indian School Road to southbound Seventh Street.

For Loop 202: eastbound Indian School Road to southbound 24th Street.

Note: the rough pavement you may have noticed on SR 51 bridge decks is temporary. Final resurfacing (diamond grinding) is coming as the project continues over the next several months.

Full details at azdot.gov/SR51-I-10-Shea-Pavement-Rehab

North Central neighbors: the City of Phoenix wants to hear from 👉🏼you. Or should I say, NEEDS to hear from you. I mean, ...
05/27/2026

North Central neighbors: the City of Phoenix wants to hear from 👉🏼you.

Or should I say, NEEDS to hear from you.
I mean, really, really NEEDS to HEAR from you! 📣

Phoenix is studying transportation and mobility in our area, and they need input from residents between 16th Street and 19th Avenue, McDowell to Dunlap.

The online survey takes just a few minutes, and the deadline is this Friday, May 29.

We shared the direct link in our newsletter this week. Not a subscriber? Sign up at ncpha.org so you never miss updates like this.

Take the survey at
https://www.phoenix.gov/administration/departments/streets/initiatives/projects-studies/midtown-core-transportation-study.html

Long before Phoenix was Phoenix, and long before your street was your street, a man planted some trees in the desert.Tha...
05/26/2026

Long before Phoenix was Phoenix, and long before your street was your street, a man planted some trees in the desert.

That was 1895. And most of it is gone now. The estates. The citrus groves. The horse-drawn buggies rolling down Central Avenue. The ice wagon making its rounds through the neighborhood, delivering blocks of ice to homes along the street. One of those homes on Central Avenue belonged to the owner of the ice hauling company itself.

But before you think this is a horribly sad story, life goes on, and the olive trees did too.

William J. Murphy had an idea that started with lines on a map. He called it the Orangewood Subdivision, a two-square-mile stretch of open desert from Northern Avenue to Bethany Home Road, between 7th Avenue and 7th Street. He divided it into 20-acre lots, set his sights on wealthy investors, and designed Central Avenue as a grand driving corridor that would make people want to put down roots in this desert.

To do that, he planted actual roots. Rows of olive and ash trees along Central Avenue, and citrus throughout the subdivision. He planted them to create beauty and shade and a sense of place. He planted them to say: this is somewhere worth being.

He was right.

And over 125 years later, some of those same original trees are still standing on Central Avenue, still growing, still shading the street he designed for a city that barely existed yet.

This neighborhood has long memories. If your property has history, if you have a story passed down from a previous owner, or a memory of this street that deserves to be told, we want to hear it. DM us. You might just end up in the next post.

Next week: what makes those olive trees so extraordinary.

Today we remember.Memorial Day exists for one reason: to honor the men and women who died in service to this country. No...
05/25/2026

Today we remember.

Memorial Day exists for one reason: to honor the men and women who died in service to this country.

Not the long weekend.
Not the cookouts.
The sacrifice.

If you lost someone in military service, drop their name and branch of service in the comments below. A parent. A sibling. A neighbor. A friend. Someone from our streets, our hearts, who never came home.

We want to create a small wall of remembrance right here in our community so we can remember together.

What's on your calendar this weekend?
05/22/2026

What's on your calendar this weekend?

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