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Everyone is entitled on CD to state their opinion good or bad as long as they don't go after each other, and as stated above no place is a utopia in all aspects. When all someone does is state negatives in every post they make (with venom), then that is different. I like to see both sides when stated with some tact, as anyone with any life experience would know no one place is all good and that would make me wonder and I would search elsewhere. Opinions are not overall fact, just opinions. Play nice please, and FYI when you see a thread you don't agree with...ignore it and post nothing or report it. When people start arguing it keeps the thread at the top, otherwise it will fade away...
Last edited by Grannysroost; 08-11-2010 at 11:00 AM..
It's a good place to live if you are:
- college aged
- retired, retiring or living the lifestyle.
- are a young family wanting housing bang for the buck
- like a laid back, burb lifestyle
- don't mind driving to everything
- are ok with a smattering collection of arts, culture, events
- If white collar, happy to work in a mid-level job for a national company
- fine with the occasional exotic eatery or store but generally happy with chains.
- Can deal with heat, dryness and lack of seasons.
It's not a good place to live if you are:
- single, over the age of 25
- wanting a more eclectic mix of nightlife and entertainment
- having lots to do within walking distance
- working in an industry with lots of similar opportunities nearby
- wanting to get out of the house on weekends during the summer, but not to a pool party
- not keen on having your friends live 10-30 miles away
This isn't a bash on Phoenix. I've simply been traveling all over N. America this year and have paid a lot of attention to lifestyle desires. That's part of the reason I mentioned at the top of my post to ignore costs... people without much means do whatever it takes to stay in NY, LA or SF - much more expensive cities.
Your thoughts?
If you mentioned San Diego or Las Vegas, I might just agree with you. However, anywhere in NY is much worse than Phoenix. The other two are about the same considering the earthquakes and high cost of living.
After living in various different cities myself and spending the last 3yrs out here in phoenix I have to agree with the original poster on the majority of his points. Granted no matter where you live it is what you make it, Phoenix as a whole is severely lacking, especially for someone like myself who likes to get out a lot and party during the week..
I think traveling around is a lot different than living somewhere, making the mortgage payments, wasting away in the cubicle, driving the kids to school, shopping for groceries and all the other mundane trappings of life. Whether you are in Minnesota looking to AZ or AZ looking to New England or whatever, it always looks nice "over there", particularly if you are not happy where you are for whatever reason. Unless you have actually lived somewhere else, you can't make a fair comparison. Even if you have, that comparison will always reflect your personal preferences, deeply held biases, and may have nothing to do with someone else's reality.
So one can only state how things truly are and try to do that objectively. When people go beyond objective data to qualify a place as good or bad, it strikes me as just the overlaying of one's biases on the character of an area. That is how I find your post and I disagree with much of it. These kinds of posts are best ignored by people considering a move.
I will illustrated what I'm referring to. Let's break this down. Let's take one of the OP's points
It's not a good place to live if you are:
- single, over the age of 25
- wanting a more eclectic mix of nightlife and entertainment
- having lots to do within walking distance
- working in an industry with lots of similar opportunities nearby - wanting to get out of the house on weekends during the summer, but not to a pool party
- not keen on having your friends live 10-30 miles away
So what is it that you can do in other cities in the summer that you can't do here on the weekends? Besides pool parties, you can
1. Drive to multiple cities in Arizona on the weekend like Sedona, Flagstaff, Sonoita (vineyards and wineries).
2. Drive to California on the weekend...hello San Diego
3. Go to multiple restaurants, bars, clubs...go to Yelp.com/phoenix and there are too many to count
4. Go to MLB Diamonbacks game and then around downtown for an emerging number of restaurants and bars in the area
5. Go to the Lake...many lakes in the area
6. Golf on one of many amazing courses
7. Rock climb, mountain bike, hike in the mornings
Seriously, what is it that you are going to do in Chicago in the summer than you can't do here...it's pretty similar. Again, it comes down to psychology. If people don't see high rises, they assume there is nothing to do here
In terms of being single, there are not many better cities to meet people. If you can't date people here, there is something wrong with you considering everyone moves here from some place else and doesn't know anyone. I mean seriously, can you not ask for a better situation? You are not having to compete with ex-boyfriends or a cliques of friends. It's not like you are competing with a ton of people who all went to the same high school or college. You are not dealing with an Evangelical population in which girls marry early and have kids early like you find in Southern cities like Dallas, Nashville and Atlanta. If you are a single guy and can't meet women in Phoenix then there is likely a problem with you since there are single beautiful women everywhere. Here is cue guys, if you meet a beautiful girl without a ring on her finger and says "Yeah, I just moved here from Minnesota"...that's a cue that she is likely single aka talk to her and get her number. It's not hard
There are some valid points like the diversity of jobs and there are not plenty of white collar business related jobs but in the medical, legal and engineering industry, there are these types of jobs.
Last edited by azriverfan.; 08-11-2010 at 12:14 PM..
It's not a good place to live if you are:
- single, over the age of 25 -- There are certainly BETTER places for singles over 25 such as Vegas, New Orleans, Miami, etc., but Scottsdale, and to a lesser extent the rest of the valley has as much going on for singles as most cities.
- wanting a more eclectic mix of nightlife and entertainment -- Again, it is there, you just need to look for it. I know people that go out at least 5 nights a week, usually in Scottsdale or Tempe.
- having lots to do within walking distance -- Not so much in the suburbs, but Central Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe offers this. But I agree the valley is very automobile oriented, like most newer cities.
- working in an industry with lots of similar opportunities nearby-- Well, it used to be homebuilding and the peripheral jobs, LOL, but that has hit the skids. We are making strides in Solar and Bio Tech type jobs, and Chandler has a ton of high tech employment in the semiconductor industry. This is an area that needs improvement.
- wanting to get out of the house on weekends during the summer, but not to a pool party --- Well, my family in Houston and New Orleans have the same heat problems that we have here in the Summer. Same with my former college roommate in Chicago. Only, he doesn't have the benefit of being able to do outdoorsy stuff in the Winter like we can.The majority of my family in Southern California does have scoreboard on this particular category, though.
- not keen on having your friends live 10-30 miles away -- Most of my friends live really close in Chandler, Tempe or Gilbert, with one in Litchfield Park. That's not counting the friends in Chicago, Boston, California, Texas, etc. If I moved back home to So Cal, I would be 40-50 miles away from many of my friends I went to High School with, so there's really no difference.Once people get married, and start having kids, they don't live a life like a sitcom such as Friends or How I met your Mother. That typically doesn't happen in real life.
My replies above. I'm never one to claim PHX is perfect, as I've said time and time again, I prefer certain parts of So Cal, but I think a lot of the issues brought up here are non-issues for most of us.
Totally agree on the dating aspect. I have hardly met anyone that is from here originally though there are a few. I met my current husband out here (thank goodness!) and you could almost consider this area a newer version of the great American melting pot And don't forget popping in on Las Vegas for a weekend...I will totally miss that when I leave. I used to travel a few hours down to Rocky Point before it wasn't a good idea to do it anymore, I think that's where I fell in love with the idea of beaches.
Quote:
Originally Posted by azriverfan.
I will illustrated what I'm referring to. Let's break this down. Let's take one of the OP's points
It's not a good place to live if you are:
- single, over the age of 25
- wanting a more eclectic mix of nightlife and entertainment
- having lots to do within walking distance
- working in an industry with lots of similar opportunities nearby - wanting to get out of the house on weekends during the summer, but not to a pool party
- not keen on having your friends live 10-30 miles away
So what is it that you can do in other cities in the summer that you can't do here on the weekends? Besides pool parties, you can
1. Drive to multiple cities in Arizona on the weekend like Sedona, Flagstaff, Sonoita (vineyards and wineries).
2. Drive to California on the weekend...hello San Diego
3. Go to multiple restaurants, bars, clubs...go to Yelp.com/phoenix and there are too many to count
4. Go to MLB Diamonbacks game and then around downtown for an emerging number of restaurants and bars in the area
5. Go to the Lake...many lakes in the area
6. Golf on one of many amazing courses
7. Rock climb, mountain bike, hike in the mornings
Seriously, what is it that you are going to do in Chicago in the summer than you can't do here...it's pretty similar. Again, it comes down to psychology. If people don't see high rises, they assume there is nothing to do here
In terms of being single, there are not many better cities to meet people. If you can't date people here, there is something wrong with you considering everyone moves here from some place else and doesn't know anyone. It's not like you are competing with a ton of people who all went to the same high school or college and have been dating the same person for 7 years like you find in cities like Dallas. If you are a single guy and can't meet women in Phoenix then there is likely a problem with you since there are single beautiful women everywhere. Here is cue guys, if you meet a beautiful girl without a ring on her finger and says "Yeah, I just moved here from Minnesota"...that's a cue that she is likely single aka talk to her and get her number. It's not hard
There are some valid points like the diversity of jobs and there are not plenty of white collar business related jobs but in the medical, legal and engineering industry, there are these types of jobs.
Location: A circle of Hell so insidious, infernal and odious, Dante dared not map it
623 posts, read 1,224,977 times
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I think the whole "having/not having a job" issue can be argued pretty easily. I spent a lot of time and energy in graduate school for jobs that simply don't exist in abundance in Phoenix. Any available typically pay PROPORTIONATELY (note this keyword) less than other cities, even when you figure in cost of living. Personally, I would be absolutely miserable working at a job I qualify for present in Phoenix. Referring to Yelp, just look at the jobs available with them at their home office in San Francisco and the ever-inviting positions available in Phoenix.
The nightlife scene in Phoenix is pretty mediocre and the dining scene is lacking compared to other cities. I'm surprised there aren't more places scattered throughout the Valley for bar hopping. As for dining... I haven't seen or heard of a place in Phoenix that serve Vietnamese sandwiches or Indian ice cream like I had in San Francisco, Bangladeshi or cooking with the bhut jolokia like in New York, nor Korean-Mexican fusion or a place like the Stinking Rose like in Los Angeles. I guess my point is there are more and better options elsewhere. And if it comes to this argument, technically the City of Phoenix and Greater Phoenix are more populous than San Francisco and the Bay Area respectively.
Sure, you can find golfing and hiking opportunities... but if you're into more cultural and educational amenities, you will find Phoenix falls short. The Phoenix Art Museum definitely does not compare to the Louvre or MoMA. More on the cultural note, when a movie coming out has a limited release, Phoenix is rarely, if ever, on that list; with the extreme anti-taxation/spending mentality in Greater Phoenix, the city isn't likely to see a great work of art/landmark appear to give the city a more distinct look.
Another thing I've noticed is the area seems to have very little initiative to better itself and reach its fullest potential.
I personally like to express my opinion because 1) the OP asked for opinions and 2) because whether people want to read it or not, it's best to take in the good and bad. I almost moved to Russia for a job opportunity and I heard a lot of good things about living in Moscow. Luckily, I got really sick and never went. Later I went to Moscow just for vacation and it was absolutely miserable, mainly because the people there are awful in general. Some people might like it, sure, but I didn't really get good arguments for and against it. In any case, had I moved it would have been a mistake. I would just hope if someone is toying with the idea of moving to Phoenix they wouldn't take in just the positive (and often times vastly distorted) aspects of life here. I agree there is good and bad about every city, so there should be no problem expressing both on an open forum.
Last edited by phxgreenfire; 08-11-2010 at 01:55 PM..
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After 30 years in Phoenix and finally leaving I found out what I was missing.
And don't forget popping in on Las Vegas for a weekend...I will totally miss that when I leave. I used to travel a few hours down to Rocky Point before it wasn't a good idea to do it anymore, I think that's where I fell in love with the idea of beaches.
