College student from Tucson considering Phoenix (Scottsdale, Tempe: fit in, apartments, crime)

[Daniel_T]

Hi, I have lived in Tucson for four years and have no clue what phoenix is like. I am considering coming to phoenix to attend C.C and hopefully get into ASU.

What is Phoenix like? I can't stand Tucson. I find it crime ridden and dirty. Is Phoenix the same? What are some similarities between the two?

What parts of the city are safe to live in and affordable for someone without too much money? I live in Central Tucson and it's the pits. I can't believe this place. I have heard pretty good things about Phoenix. The worst I hear is that the pollution is bad, the traffic sucks, and it's too sprawling. that doesn't bother me too much.

If you can compare the two cities and give me advice on what areas of town are nice to live in that are affordable, I would appreciate it.

thanks,

Daniel_T

[joninaz]

What's your budget?

Also.. What are your interests? What's your intended major?

It would help if we knew more about your desires as PHX is a huge place with many pods of interest to different people, professions and living costs.

[Daniel_T]

My Budget would be an apartment with all utilities and necessities like food and stuff for under $1000 a month for one person.

I like to hike and explore different places. I like to get out and get to know a place as best I can.

Seeing Phoenix is so huge, I figured there would be many different niches. I wouldn't really know where I would fit.

I want to major in Journalism. First at a C.C then transfer to ASU.

Daniel_T

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by Daniel_T

My Budget would be an apartment with all utilities and necessities like food and stuff for under $1000 a month for one person.

I like to hike and explore different places. I like to get out and get to know a place as best I can.

Seeing Phoenix is so huge, I figured there would be many different niches. I wouldn't really know where I would fit.

I want to major in Journalism. First at a C.C then transfer to ASU.

Daniel_T

I live in Tucson and I'm familiar with Phoenix. Phoenix does have some nice areas that would be fun places for a young person to live (I would like the areas around Biltmore, Mill Avenue in Tempe, downtown Scottsdale). There are also better and newer apartments. However, they're not going to fit in your budget (it's not enough to live even in Tucson's more decent parts). I'd imagine your living conditions will be the same as in Tucson if not worse unless you manage to work some on the side and increase your income.

[Ponderosa]

Think of Phoenix as Tucson with freeways and landscaping. If you don't like Tucson, you won't like Phoenix either.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Think of Phoenix as Tucson with freeways and landscaping. If you don't like Tucson, you won't like Phoenix either.

That's not exactly true. While Phoenix would hardly be my first choice either, I'd prefer the areas in Phoenix I mentioned. Granted, it comes with smog, traffic, etc.

[Daniel_T]

Is Phoenix as nasty as Tucson in terms of the lack of upkeep of houses? I have never lived in a place where people don't take pride in their property. You drive down the road and there is nothing but litter and abandoned buildings scattered throughout. Especially in the Central part of town.

I was in Las Vegas for two weeks in July and that city is a lot nicer and cleaner than Tucson. I can say that because my friend drove me all around town. We even went into some rough areas and they still looked somewhat nicer than Tucson. At least Vegas is attractive. Tucson has beautiful mountains and a beautiful skyline, but everything else is ick!!

The downtown area is dead at night and is not the cleanest. Midtown sucks. The only real nice part (yeah right) is around the U of A and that's not that nice. Basically anything north of river Road (20 percent of tucson) is nice. The rest is sleazy and going downhill.

Daniel_T

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by Daniel_T

abandoned buildings scattered throughout

As God and most of the regulars on this forum know , I'm not a fan of Tucson, but some of your statements are pretty ridiculous. Considering all these years you haven't been even to Phoenix, I'd imagine you haven't been much out of the area you're talking about. While there are plenty of nasty neighborhoods (like in any city), I'm yet to see abandoned buildings... as in really boarded and abandoned or abandoned and falling apart. Boring it is... no doubt... but most of Phoenix is the same suburban sprawl, short of a few areas. As far as "downtown," it's as dead as Tucson's.

[vegaspilgrim]

You know what Daniel_T? Phoenix, Vegas, Tucson-- any large city is just too damn big to generalize about is it "nice" or not, are the houses kept well or not. It all depends what part of town you are talking about. There are some very nice parts of Tucson too-- Oro Valley and the Catalina Foothills.

Why don't you come up here some time and do some exploring? Check out Tempe and ASU for starters. It's only less than 2 hours away. I've driven down to Tucson a bunch of times and explored down there-- you can do the same, in the opposite direction.