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No, the Mayo Clinic I'm referring to is a major/world-class cancer facility that is being built by Mayo and their decision to be here:
The point is they decided to locate in AZ. Given it will attract people with cancer from all over the world, they had their choice to locate anywhere in our country and chose AZ. That says a lot. And my original point in my previous post stands.....I'm not buying the we can't attract a diverse/educated workforce in AZ.
I think it's great that the Mayo Clinic is opening a cancer center in the valley, but the Mayo Clinic has had a presence in Scottsdale since 1987. They also have a presence in Jacksonville, Florida. Did you ever wonder why would the Mayo Clinic ever want to have facilities in both Arizona and Florida , besides the fact getting to Rochester, Minnesota in the middle of the winter during a blizzard for treatment, might be a beaaaaatch?
It just might be due to the large amount of older/retired people that live in those two states. Instead of making patients come to them, they came to the patients, if you know what I mean. It's a win-win for Arizona and Florida, but I don't see them coming to Arizona if it wasn't one of the two huge retirement states.
Not a good look for Phoenix unfortunately. As a recent transfer here to the city, the city definitely needs better paying jobs for the community. Fortunately I was able to transfer here with job/salary in hand. However I do think Phoenix is on the cusp of changing for the better....and I don't necessarily think the politics here represent the community as a whole. Hopefully Phoenix will learn from this minor setback and move forward and leave the backward thinking/politics behind. We can't afford not to.
I think it's great that the Mayo Clinic is opening a cancer center in the valley, but the Mayo Clinic has had a presence in Scottsdale since 1987. They also have a presence in Jacksonville, Florida. Did you ever wonder why would the Mayo Clinic ever want to have facilities in both Arizona and Florida , besides the fact getting to Rochester, Minnesota in the middle of the winter during a blizzard for treatment, might be a beaaaaatch?
It just might be due to the large amount of older/retired people that live in those two states. Instead of making patients come to them, they came to the patients, if you know what I mean. It's a win-win for Arizona and Florida, but I don't see them coming to Arizona if it wasn't one of the two huge retirement states.
Your conclusions on the valley being mostly a retirement mecca is a common fallacy many people have. I'm not sure why people think the valley or AZ as a whole is mostly filled with retirement age people. The numbers say something much different in that the valley is below average in retirement age people from 55-84 as compared to the rest of the nation.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
We are also above average in younger/middle age people as compared to the rest of the nation from ages 1-44. The only numbers that show an above average population in AZ is the age group of people 65-74 as compared to the rest of the nation. However, in this age group, the valley has quite a few less people in this same 65-74 age group as compared to the rest of the nation.
Using your logic of being near more older/retired people, the Mayo clinic could have picked a better location than the valley's below average older/retired people overall in both AZ and the valley as compared to the rest of the nation. And if you read the article/the piece I highlighted, this Phoenix Mayo clinic location is going to attract people is the southwest regional area and is a world-class center, attracting people worldwide to it for it's very specialized. Plus don't forget lots of young people get cancer these days, not just older.
It just continues to amaze me how many posters on here clearly hate their state and metro area.....our family came to hate Illinois so we left......Arizona and the greater Phoenix area is by far much more desirable then other liberal strongholds that some on here like to think....the following come to mind...
Chicago
LA
Detroit
Baltimore
Atlanta
Within my own family there have be 4 families leave the oppressed state of Illinois, weighing to risk having our kids grow up in a place where there is not much of a future that doesn't include very high taxation, crumbling infrastructure, poorly run education system and property values that are way behind all border states.
Soon to be 3 more families leaving and coming to Arizona....weather is just an added bonus.....it is refreshing to see someone like Joe do exactly what those that elected him wanted him to do....if you are in the minority as far as voting you probably don't like much of what he is doing....I can appreciate that.
Your conclusions on the valley being mostly a retirement mecca is a common fallacy many people have. I'm not sure why people think the valley or AZ as a whole is mostly filled with retirement age people. The numbers say something much different in that the valley is below average in retirement age people from 55-84 as compared to the rest of the nation.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
We are also above average in younger/middle age people as compared to the rest of the nation from ages 1-44. The only numbers that show an above average population in AZ is the age group of people 65-74 as compared to the rest of the nation. However, in this age group, the valley has quite a few less people in this same 65-74 age group as compared to the rest of the nation.
Using your logic of being near more older/retired people, the Mayo clinic could have picked a better location than the valley's below average older/retired people overall in both AZ and the valley as compared to the rest of the nation. And if you read the article/the piece I highlighted, this Phoenix Mayo clinic location is going to attract people is the southwest regional area and is a world-class center, attracting people worldwide to it for it's very specialized. Plus don't forget lots of young people get cancer these days, not just older.
I didn't say anything about Phoenix, I said the entire state as a whole has a large number (I never said mostly, you did) of older/retired people. Looking at your own link it shows there are more people aged 65 to 74 in Arizona on average than the US. Here's some numbers from 2013, Arizona QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
65 and older in Arizona 15.4%, in the US 14.1%
That difference is only going to increase.
Why do you think the Mayo Clinic chose Scottsdale back in 1987 when they came to the state and not another place in the Valley or state for that matter?
I didn't say anything about Phoenix, I said the entire state as a whole has a large number of older/retired people. Looking at your own link it shows there are more people aged 65 to 74 in Arizona on average than the US. Here's some numbers from 2013, Arizona QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
65 and older in Arizona 15.4%, in the US 14.1%
Why do you think the Mayo Clinic chose Scottsdale back in 1987 when they came to the state and not another place in the Valley or state for that matter?
Right, I cited the age group of 65-74 in AZ in my previous post and that's why the 2013 data you show of "population 65 and over" shows a slightly larger population in AZ vs the rest of the nation. Lots of retired people in the 55-64 age group and the 75-84 age group and AZ and the valley are both below average in this age group as compared to the rest of the nation. The bigger takeaway is overall we have a larger than average population of younger people and a smaller than average older population in our state and the valley as a whole compared to the rest of the nation in the vast majority of age groups as indicated below.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Right, I cited the age group of 65-74 in AZ in my previous post and that's why the 2013 data you show of "population 65 and over" shows a slightly larger population in AZ vs the rest of the nation. Lots of retired people in the 55-64 age group and the 75-84 age group and AZ and the valley are both below average in this age group as compared to the rest of the nation. The bigger takeaway is overall we have a larger than average population of younger people and a smaller than average older population in our state and the valley as a whole compared to the rest of the nation in the vast majority of age groups as indicated below.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
You're mostly right, Arizona does appear older than it really is, it's actually very youthful.
BUT, a lot of our retirees actually establish their domiciles from where they came from initially. They usually aren't counted as residents as a part of the census even though they are infact residents. Idk how much of a surge this would create, but it's hard to discount the jump in retirees from October until April. It's actually very common to do it this way.
You're mostly right, Arizona does appear older than it really is, it's actually very youthful.
BUT, a lot of our retirees actually establish their domiciles from where they came from initially. They usually aren't counted as residents as a part of the census even though they are infact residents. Idk how much of a surge this would create, but it's hard to discount the jump in retirees from October until April. It's actually very common to do it this way.
Good point! It would be interesting to see the actual % jump in each of the 55+ age groups for those late fall/winter/early spring months.
Not a good look for Phoenix unfortunately. As a recent transfer here to the city, the city definitely needs better paying jobs for the community. Fortunately I was able to transfer here with job/salary in hand. However I do think Phoenix is on the cusp of changing for the better....and I don't necessarily think the politics here represent the community as a whole. Hopefully Phoenix will learn from this minor setback and move forward and leave the backward thinking/politics behind. We can't afford not to.
As a recent transfer to the Phoenix area I worry about our career prospects if we were to leave our companies. There just aren't the same kind of well paying professional jobs here as in other metro areas. I think this is something that transfers to the area need to be aware of.
I think it's interesting that AZ has a reputation for being "ultra-conservative" when it's actually not. I've lived in the Bible Belt and AZ is much more secular. We came from Chicago and I'd say that people here are more conservative than in Chicago in the sense that they are more likely to vote for Republicans. But in a weird way Chicago is actually more religious than Phoenix. Chicago is, to paraphrase Flannery O'Connor, Catholic haunted just like the deep south is Christ haunted. I don't pick up on the same kind of 'haunting' here in the Phoenix area.
Overall, I'm optimistic about Phoenix. We've found it to be a very easy place to live compared to Chicago. And I think many families like ours would appreciate the life here. But things like the Sheriff and education obscure that for people outside of the state.
DC spends more per pupil than anywhere in the United States and they also have the worst schools. The reality is that the achievement level average at a given school is determined by the demographics of the parents. Spending properly may enhance that average a very minor bit even if you quadrupled the spending like DC, you'll see only minor improvement or even terrible results if the demographic population of the parents of the students are like DC.
As for making political statements about companies moving or not to Phoenix, the nation is pretty much split so Conservatives will favor a political climate they're comfortable with and vice versa...so Phoenix political climate will win some jobs and lose others...same goes for liberal meccas.
I look at completely Democrat cities like Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, and New Orleans and I see crime ridden cities I have zero desire to live in. Cities like SF and New York are Democrat controlled and no one can afford to buy a house there...only 10% of the people in SF can afford to buy an average house there now. Seattle is still nice but heading in the same direction as far as cost.
Phoenix offers value as a low cost city with a great climate. If you don't like it, why don't you move?
As far as the competing cities, Salt Lake is more conservative and religious than Phoenix and they are attracting companies, same for Dallas & Houston. I do agree that having good schools is always going to be a factor for anyone with school age kids.
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, besides the fact getting to Rochester, Minnesota in the middle of the winter during a blizzard for treatment, might be a beaaaaatch? 
