City of Sierra Vista

Sierra Vista is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census the population of the city was 43,888. The city is part of the Sierra Vista-Douglas Metropolitan Area, with a 2010 population of 131,346. Fort Huachuca, a U.S. Army post, is located in the northwest part of the city.Sierra Vista, which is Spanish for "Mountain Range View", is located 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Tucson and serves as the main commercial, cultural, and recreational hub of Cochise County.Like most of Cochise County it was part of the Gadsden Purchase. At the end of the Apache Wars, with the protection of Fort Huachuca and the completion of the Southern Pacific and El Paso & Southwestern railroads, the San Pedro Valley began to be populated by American Settlers.The first business that opened just outside the east gate of Fort Huachuca was a saloon and house of ill repute owned by John and Ellen Reilly opened in 1892. In 1911, Margaret Carmichael bought the Reilly homestead and business. By 1913, Margaret Carmichael had leased the business back to the Reillys. Oliver Fry and his two oldest sons traveled from Texas on the railroad and settled on 320 acres (1.3 km2) just east of Fort Huachuca in January, 1913.In 1918, the Carmichaels changed the name of the store and named it after the Garden Canyon Sawmill. They also called their Post Office where Carmichael was the postmaster, Garden Canyon. In addition, the Carmichael's built a home across the street from Garden Canyon store, as well as 18 rock houses, on Garden Avenue. From 1927 to 1938, the Frys rented the Carmichael store and ran the post office. The Frys established their own General Store and the first official federally recognized Post office established in 1938 as Fry Post office, so the name of this settlement changed to Fry.When the base was reactivated in February 1, 1954 the base commander Brigadier General Emil Lenzner, pushed for incorporation as both a way to solve the on base housing problems as well as to distance themselves from reputation of "The White City" and Fry Town Settlement, hoping to encourage people to want to live off base in a more family friendly community, away from undesirables like the minorities allowed to live unsegregated in Fry Town. Petitions for incorporation began to be filed in 1955 and were legally accepted in 1956 which included what had been Garden Canyon and Buena but pointedly did not include most of Fry Town as a way in part to keep a Federal Housing Authority (FHA) housing project contacts for housing off post away from the Fry Town area was used as an excuse to incorporate and begin getting a share of tax revenues without having to pay the Fry family for the parts of Fry Town considered desirable and wholesome.In 1955, the first attempt to incorporate and rename the area was rejected, as Fry opposed both incorporating and renaming the town that bore his family name. In 1956, the ballot issue failed 76 to 61. People who owned land outside of Fry's property in the area of Garden Canyon/Overton and Buena, as well as parts of Fry went forward with incorporation and renaming by petition on May 26, 1956, excluding the half-square-mile owned by Fry that included the local red light district called "the White City" as well as off base housing of the African-American "Buffalo" soldier officers families, and other minorities and groups they considered undesirable in the 1950s.They were described as the "Fry People."Sierra Vista was incorporated in 1956. The city is the economic and commercial center of Cochise County, and northern Sonora, Mexico. Sierra Vista annexed Fort Huachuca, a U.S. military base, one of the largest employers in Arizona, and the adjacent community, in 1971.The proposed city counsel held a radio contest asking for names of the proposed town. Marie Pfister the city clerk asked her friend Nola Walker to store the suggestions. When the town was approved, they called Nola for the contest winner, but without counting the votes she told them her personal entry of "Sierra Vista" was the winner. On July 13, 2006 at a special ceremony during the city's 50th anniversary, Nola was granted "clemency" for her misrepresentation of the vote.In 1961 the town grew large enough to have the name changed to a city allowing establishment of a community college. Sierra Vista was the site of the first McDonald's drive thru, which opened in 1975. The owner, Dave Rich, drove the innovative approach to gain the business of the soldiers from nearby Fort Huachuca. At that time, soldiers were not allowed to wear their military fatigues off of the military base.

I was trying to like SV but there are traffic traps everywhere and I and got a ticket. Tried to fight it but no one in the court that day got any lieniency at all! I'll be spending my $ elsewhere.

* Holly Davidson motorcycles have been tearing down America's ears.*I've lived in Sierra Vista for nearly 6 years.Hope I am qualified to talk about good or bad about the city. I have a few issues, but will talk about one of them for now: Severe Noise PollutionIt's a small city that has only one busy street: Fry blvd. But the noise polution here is severe. I am worried about my ears: Motorcycles, all Harley Davidson's ear-teardowning dangerous noise out of its muffler all day. Many of them are military people and vets, and it won't stop at night. The city doesn't do anything about it. Recently, motorbikes joined them making it worse.Mr. MAYOR DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.