Moving to Prescott? (Phoenix, Prescott Valley: mortgage, environment, relocating)

[esselcue]

Ria Rhodes...stating that MOST Prescottonians are over weight and lazy rednecks is a very abusive and demeaning thing to say. Your post is obviously from a person who does not like Prescott and that is your opinion, which you are entitled to have, but for MOST people who live here it is a very nice place to live. There is a LARGE hispanic population, unfortunately many are illegal.

For the people who have made Prescott their home, retired or otherwise, it is by their choice and obviously they like it. Many are retired, but certainly not all. Many are educated and have been successful in life, but is that a crime? I am not one of those lucky retirees, I work for a living and I live in Chino Valley because I cannot afford Prescott, but I find most Prescottonians to be good, decent people who enjoy the pretty mountain town they call home. You are entitled to your opinion but you are not entitled to name-calling and accusations.

[Ria Rhodes]

I'm a bit of a provocateur (and purveyor of sarcasm) as I've stated on the forum many times. It is not a way to endear yourself to most people as you demonstrate in your response. I have lived in m-a-n-y places (due to an upbringing in a multi-ethnic military family and a continuity of same from my years also serving the country in uniform stateside and abroad). I embrace contrasting viewpoints in observations of the American lifestyle in place and behavior, while I go about embellishing and peppering my missives about same. Take my utterances here with the proverbial grain of salt, and rejoice that you have found your happy place here in the predominantly Caucasian Central Arizona environs. Speaking of the educated people in Prescott, how many of them do you know who read, write and speak Spanish? Perhaps you do? If so you know it's far easier to be more understanding of the plight of immigrants when you can converse with them, and the level of xenophobia drops. Most peoples of the world learn enough of the language(s) that share their borders to be less ethnocentric. America is not one such country, and we live with the results.

[LBear]

One thing that is VERY TRUE & undeniable about Prescott, there is NO diversity.

The black population is less than .05%. American Indian comprise 2%. The Hispanic population is 8.2%. The white non-hispanic makes for 88.2%

Most of the people do NOT take kindly to "immigrants" but they are the ones who work the jobs that nobody else wants to. Go to any hotel and you will see that mostly Mexican immigrants work those jobs. I take my hat off to those people for working a hard job for low pay. Would you want to change somebody's bed sheets and clean their toilets for $7.00 an hour?

Prescott undeniable LACKS diversity. The stats speaks for themselves. All the anti-immigrant talk in Prescott is nauseating. When the rich, retired Californians living in Prescott want service they call on them, but then they turn their backs on them when they are done "serving" them.

[thedfly]

No, if you're looking for true diversity, this might not be the place for you. I do think those numbers are a bit off. They may be on reported, legal, hispanic population...but there is a far larger hispanic community in the tri-city area. If you look on greatschools and pull school, and more specifically student info, it will also give you a clearer picture. For example, Miller Valley Elementary in Prescott currently lists 63% white, 30% hispanic, and 4% native american. Mountain View in Prescott Valley lists 58% white, 39% hispanic. Not that all schools have the same ratios, but there are pockets and areas where if you choose to have a little more diversity, you can. And I have never seen a city like Prescott where you really have so many changes in economics within neighborhoods. Many blue collar workers, doctors, retirees, artists, stay at home moms, hippies, and everyone in between. Living side-by-side. I think Prescott offers a home for all types of people and walks of life while being very accepting towards others. IMO

[esselcue]

Ria...I know a lot of Caucasian people who speak Spanish but I'm not sure what you are getting at here. Why should we have to learn Spanish to communicate with the illegals? Or legals for that matter? If they choose to live here they should also choose to learn the language. At a food bank out in Chino Valley we had a Mexican lady come up for her free food and then she complained, in Spanish because she could not speak English, that she couldn't read the labels on the food and we should write down all the contents in Spanish for her! On her FREE food box! This annoys me.

And I do know that your numbers (statistics) are way off, however...WAY off.

MY problem with your post was your choice of words...lazy, fat rednecks? Please. That isn't sarcasm, that's name-calling. You are obviously a very bitter and disenchanted person who dislikes the Prescott area...so leave. You have a right to your opinion but not to abusive terms. And why is it wrong to have a higher percentage of Caucasians in a town in the first place? Why does this make the town bad? If a person wants more diversity then he or she should choose a different area. Give it up! Crikey!!!

[StormiNites]

Wow.. A lot of people are split right down the middle about Prescott.

A lot of people don't look at it from all sides of the plate on the immigration stuff.. Yeah, Oklahoma's economy is actually quite sturdy compared to many surrounding states. But I think one of the main reasons for that is the fact that we have had all types of races to begin with. To me, it seems Prescott is quite.. I guess you could "new" to haveing immigrants and so forth. At least, that's what it seems like to me. Please do not take it as an insult of any kind. This is just what it seems like from my point of view.

Thank you for you guys' input. It is quite obvious that I will have to see for myself. I am actually flying out there next Tuesday and staying for a week. During that week, I will be look at apartments. I will be moving out there June 1st. I will be looking at places in both Prescott and PV. My job that's transferring me is located in PV so we are leaning more towards PV now.

[Ria Rhodes]

"I do know that your numbers (statistics) are way off, however...WAY off."

Reread OP.

[LBear]

Originally Posted by Ria Rhodes

"I do know that your numbers (statistics) are way off, however...WAY off."

Reread OP.

The numbers are NOT way off. They are from the Census Bureau. There may be a small amount of Mexican immigrants that are NON-REPORTING but the black population at .05% is 100% accurate, as is the other races.

Prescott is 89% white. That is a FACT.

[esselcue]

I read the Original Post and it has nothing to do with statistics. Her question was straight-forward about moving to the Prescott area and dealt with the what it has to offer and was asking about the rumors she had heard about numbers of illegals and her other interests. I only replied to the forum when Ria Rhodes threw in the "sarcasm", which seemed very unwarranted and ugly to me. I did not mean to start a race statistic thread.

The Census Bureau mainly counts legals and cannot possiby keep track of the hundreds and hundreds of illegals living in this area (last estimate was over 3500 undocumenteds in Yavapai County alone). I will grant that Prescott City Proper is mainly Caucasion...but the "Prescott area" encompasses PV, Chino Valley, Dewey-Humboldt, etc and I guarantee you the Hispanic population is much larger there. I work for the sheriff's Office...the jail houses well over 50% Hispanics. And I really don't care about that. My original point was never about that. It was about being disrespectful and rude.

[Ria Rhodes]

esselcue, I spoke to my OP in this thread. I did not cite statistics.
Your post implied I did. If you're going to dispute multiple posters in one message, stipulate which poster you are addressing. Thank you.

LBear, address statistics disputes with esselcue as I did not cite them as I've made clear. It appears some here are confused as to who said what.