Moving to Coolidge or Casa Grande Arizona (Phoenix, Tucson: relocating, house)

[bits]

What is Coolidge and Casa Grande Arizona like? The community, work, schools.? We have two kids at home and one attending college in Tucson (UofA). Kids are Soph and 4th grader. Concerned about the HS and Elem. I plan on attending CAC in Coolidge. How hot is it there during the summer too? Like Phx? Googled Coolidge and sounds like a decent place to go to college.

[Ponderosa]

U of A, great school! My alma mater. I didn't know they sprawled to Coolidge yet. That's sad, if true. Casa Grande and Coolidge used to be dusty farming communities with the John Deere store, a greasy spoon restaurant, a church or two and little else. I'm probably being a little harsh, but you get the idea. Case Grande is fast becoming a bedroom community of Phoenix. As such it has the same tiny-lot, look-alike stucco homes in subdivisions with cool names like "Dripping Springs", ""Pebble Creek", "Deer Crossing" - some of the the names in the Phx area. There are no springs, no pebbles and no deer - in Casa Grande or anywhere else. Don't misunderstand, CG is as good a place as any, I guess. Almost everything is so new the paint is barely dry including schools, and the life-style, at least on the weekends, will make your friends in the old place jealous. You can probably afford a pool - they are cheap here, you can BBQ year round, and you can hop in the car and get away to the pines up north when you can't take the heat anymore. If you commute to work - and you must unless you pick cotton for a living - you will chug right along for about 20 minutes and then get at the back of a line of traffic that runs another 20 miles or worse depending on where you are going to work. There is enough shopping within 20-30 miles to satisfy just about anyone. It's all good and I bet you will like it there, but don't come to AZ expecting some small town life on the edge of the metropolis. You pretty much get either sprawl or squalor around here.

Oh, it's hot. Coolidge is especially renowned for its temps. It probably cools off a little more at night than the more built-up places. Plan on 115 from about June 15 to Sep 1. Above 100 anytime from Easter to Halloween. It does rain more down that way in summer which is nice, but they have legendary dust storms too. Welcome!

[Ponderosa]

The heat strikes terror in many considering living here. And don't buy that stuff about the humidity. Dewpoints in summer are in the 60s and it is muggy and miserable. It's not San Antonio, but its no day at the park. But it's not the 118 stuff that makes it so bad. It's that it goes on for so long. There is no break like in the midwest, no cold fronts roll through, there is never a cloudy day - maybe an hour or two in the morning after a storm. It is just endless heat from April to November. The nights cool to 95-100. You can't escape it unless you go to the mountains - thank goodness we have them - for months on end.

[monsoon74]

Casa Grande is substantially bigger than Coolidge, and is right on the Interstate. It has most of your franchised restaurants and motels.

Coolidge is about 20 minutes off the highway, and has a lot less commercial, although that is changing by the minute. They have already taken the first step...building the SuperWalMart, then everything else follows. (No, that is not a knock on Walmart!!) I'm in construction, so I can tell you both cities are adding affordable subdivisions like there's no tomorrow.

CG tends to be more Hispanic, while Coolidge seems more Native American.

The nice thing about both is, within a few miles of the city limits, you're out in the middle of either farm country or the natural desert. And of course, you're still close enough to the major city if you need something.

[englishnurse]

i wonder if any one can help me out here
i will be working in casa grande regional hospital, i am with an agency which has placed me there, they are offering accomodation, in The Colony apartments in Casa Grande, we have two children 10 and 12 years old.
I had got it into my mind that we would go and live in Chandler and commute to Casa Grande every day but my agency dont think this is a good idea, they think i will find the commute hard but obviuosly i want to go to he place that is best for my children.
does anyone have any information or opinions? i am starting to feel worried now
thanks xx

[quantummom]

for anyone considering Casa Grande or Coolidge area,please,please if you have children HOME SCHOOL!!! I am serious. the schools are really aweful. They are filled with hoodlums and the staff resents being there! I have had four children in the school districts in casa. They are the most violent of places. I am really agast at the schools here but I am not the only one. I have lived here for 6 years now and the subject has come up more than once. A co-worker of ours was the principle of a school in coolidge, she quit to home school her children! We have had another co-worker whose husband is a school teacher and when they moved to coolidge from chandler he quit! I have heard Coolidge schools are worse than casa but I find it hard to believe that any other area could be worse. Do people not realize what that means to our future society? I love Casa its been very good to me. Southern Arizona is very healing. It is hot for 4-5 months of the year, the other months are wonderful. But the other wonderful months are filled with a greenless sunshine. Landscaping your yards is about your only recourse but even that dies in the summer heat. It has taken me 5 years to get anything to grow. I have met really wonderful people here but then I wanted to. What type are you expecting to meet? There is good & bad like everywhere else. We survive the heat with 'its our winter'. you stay indoors. If you need green stay up north. If you love a change in culture you might really dig it. but please watch out for your kids, for them its not that safe.

[quantummom]

By the way, we are relocating out of state for job and have a beautiful home for sale in Casa Grande.

[tucsondesertdweller]

Ok, here in the Tucson area, it does "cool" down more then 100 at night even in the hottest months, but as we get more built up we will not doubt not cool down as much!!
Yes its not the heat that gets to me, its the duration of the "summer" that is starting to get boring.
We should be in the low 70's this time of year which is perfect, but we have been in the 80's. Hope to see the temp's dropping soon, very soon

[cooltowncowboy]

I have lived in Coolidge for over a year now. I wish that I wasn't stuck here in a brand new house that would be practically impossible to sell. Coolidge is, frankly, a dump. There is a lot of new development going on, with a lot of young upstanding people moving in with their little families. That has been fun, getting to know these good people. Other than that, I have developed a sour tast in my mouth for anything that has to do with Coolidge or Pinal county. Harsh as this may sound, I would say that for the most part the people here don't value things such as maintaining personal property, or common courtesy, or respecting the property of others. Please, do yourself a favor and do not move anywhere in Pinal County, especially Coolidge!

[shell07]

In 2004, I moved to Arizona City, which is a community right outside of Casa Grande. That area seems to be "rougher" as far as people, however the economic groups are diverse....meaning rich and not-so-rich are mixed in together. I felt CG was a great small town, however, having a degree in business, there was not work for me there. Coolidge is right next to the Gila River Indian reservation and is growing with small businesses. I recently moved to Tucson, which is big for me but like the availability for things at your fingertips. The job market there for an average business-degreed person is not as good as I thought. If you are in the medical field, AZ is the way to go from Phoenix to Tucson b/c of the need. The schools are NOT what I expected and I would consider private schools after elementary school. HOWEVER, Marana, which is located in the NW side of Tucson, is a great place to be and the schools there are improving. Right now, I am considering Lake Havasu City vs. Tucson/Marana...any suggestions? Thanks!