Need help from the City of Tucson? Call 311

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Sometimes you have a problem the City of Tucson should be able to help solve, but you just don’t know where to start. KGUN9’s Craig Smith was near Park and Ajo learning about a new three-number phone call that can help.

By now most of us are familiar with the idea of 911 where emergency help is as close as your phone but a lot of times there’s help you need from the city that’s non-emergency and that’s why there’s a new 311 system.

Alfonso Romero says, “It’s gratifying because we actually were able to help and just to help anybody makes me feel wanting to come back to work and understand the magnitude of our job.”

Alfonso Romero has spent a lot of time taking 911 calls helping people who needed emergency help when lives were at stake.

But more often people need the city’s help with important, but more routine parts of life, like fixing their streets, or finding an affordable place to live.

So now Alfonso and other 911 call takers have cross training to take calls to 311— a number to connect you to ways the city can help without forcing you to figure out city government on your own.

“We're going to ask you to describe what your need is, we'll help you get to the right resource, because we've connected with all of those departments and we understand who does what pieces of what's going to meet your needs.”

Program manager Geoff Kuhn says if Pima County or a private, non-profit agency can help, 311 can help you connect with them too.

There is an online version of the 311 program too.

Kuhn and Romero say 311 helps 911 handle emergencies better because it frees 911 to concentrate on the life saving calls, while 311 handles the calls that can make life better.