Distinctive Differences between Cities in the Phoenix Metro area (Mesa: fit in, rental)

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by Ztonyg

Most of the metro area lacks major distinctions.

Cave Creek, Litchfield Park, and Scottsdale have unique downtowns.

Fountain Hills is probably the only city in the area on rolling hills (pretty much everything else is flat) and it has the huge fountain.

The sales tax rate varies (ever so slightly) between the cities.

The renters tax also varies (slightly) between the cities.

On my return flight from San Jose a couple of weeks ago I could see that fountain from the airplane. Pretty cool!

[new2colo]

Originally Posted by Ztonyg

Most of the metro area lacks major distinctions.

Cave Creek, Litchfield Park, and Scottsdale have unique downtowns.

Fountain Hills is probably the only city in the area on rolling hills (pretty much everything else is flat) and it has the huge fountain.

The sales tax rate varies (ever so slightly) between the cities.

The renters tax also varies (slightly) between the cities.

Cave Creek, Carefree, Buckeye, Phoenix, Goodyear, Peoria, Mesa, Apache Junction and Scottsdale all have neighborhoods in hilly areas.

[ibarrio]

Originally Posted by esiebert7625

Sure ain't color, all the cities are painted desert sand, there are definitely class distinctions in certain parts of town and between towns based on median income. The more people make, the nicer an area is, Scottsdale is probably the snobbiest area in the valley. As far as laws go, I don't think you'll find much difference, you can pack heat almost anywhere, fireworks laws very by city though. Above the law you'll have to deal with stupid HOAs which rule much of the valley.

Fireworks laws no longer vary from city to city as individual cities can no longer ban them. What is legal in Gilbert is legal in Surprise. New fireworks law: What's legal and what's not - FOX 10 News | myfoxphoenix.com

[petroglyphin]

Originally Posted by esiebert7625

, Scottsdale is probably the snobbiest area in the valley.

[RenW]

I've only been here a year but I have caught some distinctive things about various areas. I was just looking for more I might have missed. I could be wrong about a lot of this and I don't mind corrections. Here are some of my impressions so far. I hope I don't offend any by my initial impressions.

Sun City and Sun City West were built as retirement communities and they obviously cater to older residents.

By statistics Guadalupe's residents are 73% of Latino and Hispanic descent. It is the center of the Yaqui culture in the area. It has a very distinctive look and feel as if you've been transported into a Mexican town vs. a suburb of Phoenix.

Most parts of Scottsdale and Paradise Valley show the affluence of its residence with the higher end businesses, restaurants, and houses. Scottsdale in particular has historically catered to affluent tourist as evidenced by its downtown area and 70 resorts and hotels. Paradise Valley seems to have more wide spread affluence, while there are some older parts of Scottsdale that have middle class residences.

Tempe is dominated by Arizona State University. From what I've studied the Teacher's School which eventually became ASU was founded when Tempe was a small farming community right in the oldest part of town. As the school has grown the town and University have really merged. The downtown area is now an upscale college town area. The residences around the University include college housing that by and large appears to be nicer than many college "ghettos" and historic homes. (Sometimes they are one and the same.) Tempe probably has a larger precentage of apartment complexes than many cities in the area? The northern and southern parts of Tempe have middle class residences and the businesses that cater to them. I've also been told that Tempe is probably the most liberal city politically in the area.

Chandler for me has two distinct feels. It seems to be reviving its historic district and central Chandler has many older businesses from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. (At least the buildings are older.) The outskirts of Chandler appear to be very new with many upper middle class residences and businesses. There are miles of really new houses and nice businesses with little to any roughness to it. I'm still trying to delve and learn more about this city.

Mesa is a really odd mix for me. The town was founded by Mormons and there is definitely still a strong presence here. There are nice parts of town but there also seem to be many areas that are poorer and even seedy. Mesa also seems to proportionately have more of a hodge podge RV parks and 55+ communities than a lot of the cities in the area. They've invested in reviving their downtown with Museums and a nice Art/Entertainment complex but the downtown area doesn't feel polished. (Hard to explain this.)

Gilbert - Now this is a town that has little distinction for me yet. A lot of it seems and feels like Mesa to me. I had a very hard time even finding a downtown. The fringes of Gilbert are taken over by newer residences and communities and large shopping complexes. In fact, there appear to be many planned family oriented communities in the southeast area of Gilbert and moving out of town. It felt a bit surreal driving through blocks of white fences, green grass, and trees in some parts of that area. Granted I haven't spent a lot of time here.

Ahwatukee was annexed by Phoenix in the 70s and 80s but seems like its own town even though it appears to lack any sort of downtown area. Ahwatukee also appears to be upper middle class, but doesn't have as much of the shiny newness as the newer parts of Chandler to its east. The foothills here give it a different feel than the flat areas surrounding it. The South Mountain area seems to gradually shift from the upper middle class of the Ahwatukee area towards the poorer and more industrial parts of Phoenix.

Phoenix itself is big and sprawling. The downtown area is characterized by tall skyscrapers and when you are the midsts of it all it really feels like a city. But very quickly abruptly this area changes character as the building dramatically drop off. Right to the south of Phoenix downtown is a poor, industrial district transitioning into poorer neighborhoods. A lot of Phoenix's residential areas appear lower middle class to poor. But the city is so large and spread out that it is diverse and the edges take on the character of the cities surrounding it.

Apache Junction appears to be mostly 50+ communities with some older residences and ranches. It definitely feels like the outskirts of the metro area as it merges with the surrounding desert.

Glendale appears to have had a dying downtown that they've been trying to revive. In fact, a lot of the older residences in that area have been converted and restored into charming businesses. The historic areas seem charming, but there also are older parts of the area and businesses that haven't been well maintained. I definitely need to explore this area and especially Peoria since I haven't seen enough of it to really comment.

The area is so big there are some communities I haven't even been and obviously haven't included here. Again, I'm far from being any sort of expert, these are just my first impressions.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by esiebert7625

Scottsdale is probably the snobbiest area in the valley.

Originally Posted by petroglyphin

Please, let's not turn this into another discussion of the Scottsdale stereotype. While there is an element of that, there is a VERY large middle class and lower middle class population in Scottsdale. It's a long, narrow city geographically, and from about Indian School Road south, the demographics of the residents differs a great deal from the northern part of the city. A bit of driving around the much less affluent part of the city will make that obvious.

[swbrotha100]

Originally Posted by cre8lite

back in the 90s, glendale? or peoria? i forget which one, their street lights were kinda amber-ish in color. not sure if it's still that way.

Glendale used to have street lighting that was different from everywhere else in the area. Most of the lighting is now similar to other valley cities.

[swbrotha100]

Originally Posted by phx1205

The traffic signals at intersections as well as street signs are different in each city. It's actually pretty easy to tell when you cross into a different city based on that alone.

Some cities use logos on their traffic signal signage. Others paint the poles various colors depending on the area of town.

[petroglyphin]

Originally Posted by observer53

Please, let's not turn this into another discussion of the Scottsdale stereotype. While there is an element of that, there is a VERY large middle class and lower middle class population in Scottsdale. It's a long, narrow city geographically, and from about Indian School Road south, the demographics of the residents differs a great deal from the northern part of the city. A bit of driving around the much less affluent part of the city will make that obvious.

It was a sarcastic thumbs up.

FYI I dont really think the different areas of the valley have THAT much of a difference....besides maybe Guadulupe, Old Town Scottsdale, and perhaps Apache Junction

[observer53]

Originally Posted by petroglyphin

It was a sarcastic thumbs up.

FYI I dont really think the different areas of the valley have THAT much of a difference....besides maybe Guadulupe, Old Town Scottsdale, and perhaps Apache Junction

There's no way to tell that from your post, of course, since the emoticon was the extent of it.

On the surface, I agree that with several of the Valley cities, the differences between them aren't that significant. Once less obvious details are compared, more differences emerge. It depends on what the OP is actually trying to compare.

In a spread out metro like this, many choose where to live based on proximity to work, to family members also living in the area, to specific recreational activities, etc. Those choices don't have anything to do with the city itself-- they are just geography.