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Originally Posted by prizm
I'm shaking in my shoes. I can't believe how people hate Phoenix.
So here's the deal. I live in Manhattan. Love it This city is sooooo amazing. Don't want to leave, but the almighty dollar calls. Phoenix opportunities are calling. But ****, is it really worth it? I love the culture, people, vibe of New York City. I'm guessing Phoenix is just an incredible hell hole. That is the vibe I'm getting from long time residents.
Just shoot straight. Would I regret every second of living in Phoenix if I moved from NYC? Is there really no culture? Cool areas to live? Is it THAT awful?
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Yes Prizm,
Phoenix is a hell hole! It is the most awful place in the world!
I am an Australian that comes from the regular winner of the most liveable city in the world, Melbourne, and all 5 major Australian cities are in the top-10, so I am aware of what it takes to be a good city to live in. I have also been living in Seattle, and that is a beautiful city too, despite the dreary rain, but at least the rain provides green, flowers, and clearer air. I have an investment in Seattle, so I will have a tie there for sometime.
I moved to Phoenix in March for work, and I feel as if I am in jail! My freedom has been taken away from me, and thankfully I am moving to midtown Atlanta for work in September. Phoenix is disgusting, it is high in crime, high in pollution, and there is nothing to do for an urban girl such as myself. Phoenix is not a city, but one big suburb from one end to the other.
Phoenix is like the background of a cartoon that keeps repeating itself over and over. Ugliness, and strip malls. There is not any culture whatsoever here, and not any cool areas to live. I live in an area that is supposed to be good, and three blocks to the north are million dollar houses hiding behind ugly fortress walls and ugly desert landscaping, and three blocks to the south are meth addicts, crime, and car theft operations.
It is like that all over the metropolitan area, pockets of rubbish areas everywhere, so you can't avoid them when driving from one place to another. Scottsdale is suburban, overpriced, and fake and not an option, and all people care about there are the job that you do, the Hummer that you drive, and the amount of money that the women spent on their fake boobs. Tempe is too far out and not much better.
The growth of the area is about 250,000 people per year, but you don't see them! They get tacked on to the outskirts, and the only way that it can be determined that this growth is happening is by the forever increasing crime rate. People that have been here for a while resent the 'newcomers' and the crime increase, so don't expect any 'welcome' signs, and instead people withdraw into their homes.
People do not walk around at all, and they all use their cars instead to drive to the closest strip mall. There is nowhere to walk, and nothing interesting to look at while walking. Apartment complexes that are full of drug use and car theft, houses with signs out the front that say 'keep away and take it downtown,' and dust. Why would anybody want to walk around when this is all that can be seen?
In Australia, people say hello to each other, but whenever I come across a stranger and say hello here, I get looked at as if I have three heads. Some people actually say "what?" Then I will say, "I said hello, it is a friendly greeting, do you understand what that means?" People here are rude, and people here are afraid of the crime, and there is no way to escape it because unlike most cities, it is not kept to certain areas and instead it can occur anywhere.
The architecture is mainly post-1980 because the population of the metropolitan area in 1990 was 1.5 million people, and now it is 3.7 million or so. What that means is that new structures keep popping up, and the architecture has no character. Phoenix is not an old city, so it's not as if there is an interesting mix of old and new, just ugly new buildings. The architecture is hideous.
Maricopa county is one of the few metropolitan counties in the US that went to Bush in 2004, so don't expect any money spent on the arts or entertainment. All people care about here are the things that they own, and keeping safe when they lock their doors when they get home at night. Phoenix is not a city to go out for fun at all. People have to drive to go out for drinks, and how can that be fun? I'm not going to pretentious Scottsdale or juvenile Tempe, so my option is to go to wherever there is a pub at the closest strip mall. Yuck!