Denver vs. Phoenix (Scottsdale, Tempe, Flagstaff: appointed, how much, university)

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by tolovefromANFIELD

Wow, all these relocation posts revolve around, how nice/hot is Phoenix.

Don't you all consider other more important factors other than the weather? Like SUN/SNOW put food on your table. It would be very nice to SEE an objective thread on this forum without added "feelings" from either side.

How about quality of schools, accessibility of the public transportation, cultural diversity, restaurants, night life, parks and recreation, quality of jobs, crime etc....I mean the stuff that matters. None of this silly If I don't see snow or feel the oppresive heat I would die a happy man.

Are you all retired, and the weather is the only thing that concerns you or what? Those joints little sore

but in the end, just how hot is it anyway

[Big B]

I lived in Denver and Phoenix.

The heat in AZ is a brutal oven in the summer. Im not kidding. All of the people that rave about dry heat are usually the ones that are spending about 5 minutes a day outdoors.

I work outdoors, and the people that I work with all agree that humidity and sub100 temperature is a preferable environment. There is a reason that its so brown here. It is not made for human or most plants survival.

The best part about Phoenix is the ability to leave this dust pit (oops i mean Valley of the sun.) It is only 5 hour drive to the Ocean, Mexico, or Las Vegas. You have to do some serious driving if you want to leave Denver.

[desert sun]

I noticed that when people mention the best things about Phoenix they always mention how close it is to the beach,but the beach is not in Phoenix so that may be a trip people make a couple times a year,so in other words one of the best things in Phoenix is leaving Phoenix.

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by Big B

I lived in Denver and Phoenix.

The heat in AZ is a brutal oven in the summer. Im not kidding. All of the people that rave about dry heat are usually the ones that are spending about 5 minutes a day outdoors.

I work outdoors, and the people that I work with all agree that humidity and sub100 temperature is a preferable environment. There is a reason that its so brown here. It is not made for human or most plants survival.

The best part about Phoenix is the ability to leave this dust pit (oops i mean Valley of the sun.) It is only 5 hour drive to the Ocean, Mexico, or Las Vegas. You have to do some serious driving if you want to leave Denver.

lived in both Den and PHX and let me tell you, Den is one brown town man. PHX is lush green year round in comparison. Palm trees, cacti, trees that stay green in the heat with those sparse leaves, but green netherless, makes Phx the green city between the two. Denver has LESS humidity by the way, its the dryest place I have lived. So dry that it made my nose bleed for months and months. Also, no matter what time of the year you arrive in Denver, you get to "get used to the Altitude". My wife got sleep deprvation sickness (wrong term, I know). I would never get used to climbing stairs. I am overweight a little and would try and workout, but I could never catch my breath. Got tired of gasping for air. We were always ichy and dried out. I also got headaches. You also feel a major energy loss in high altitudes.

Here in Phx, I excercise every morning. I am getting ready to buy a bike, we go hiking almost every opportunity. There is MORE humidity, but not enough to be sticky. Im not waking up with an ichy back, and my wife has smooth skin again. Here Denver lizard feeling skin was not as appealing let me tell you.

Another ding on Colorado. Static electricity. Every time I touched metal, even a nail in the wall I got shocked. IT got to the point where we were messing up electronics such as laptops, and DVD players. They were bigs zaps too. We would zap metal, zap our kitties (that was actually funny), and zap eachother.

So glad to be out of Brown town, that ichy bitchy, not getting rich, zappy town, that had no air and made me frown.

[Beena]

Lived in Denver for 22 years and Phoenix for 14.

No comparison. The Phoenix weather is far superior. The Arizona lakes are beautiful. The outdoor life in Phoenix is awesome.

Nothing against Colorado...it is a beautiful place on a sunny day in the summer. But that is a dam short summer.

[_Charles_]

It all comes down to the folks who will be your neighbors. Long story short - I know both Denver and Phx very, very well.

The people in Phx are much friendlier relative to the folks in Den. If they speak to you at all, the first question folks in Den will ask you is - "where are you from?". Then based on your answer they will decide whether or not they like you.

Whereas in Phx - you will encounter lots of smiles and warm greetings.

[vegaspilgrim]

Of course you guys all hate Denver-- this is the Phoenix forum! Out of any major city in the US, where do you think you're going to find the most amount of people who hate snow and worship the sun? Right here! No wonder why you guys all agree with each other! Most Phoenicians would never dream of living in a place that gets as much as one ounce of snow. Of course Phoenicians are more friendly than Denverites; when the number one industry driving your city's growth is homebuilding and real estate investment, you had better be friendly to newcomers! BTW, I agree with sberdrow, Denver, at least during the winter half of the year, is indeed a very brown, drab looking place. From October to April, Phoenix is the place to be, especially if you hate snow and have no interest in winter sports. But from May until September, Denver is the preferable place to be, hands down. Both cities are acquired tastes.

What I find laughable is when many Phoenicians think they are living in paradise, in a "California" like climate, when they're not. I just got back from another trip to San Diego-- and San Diego, not Phoenix, is the benchmark of the perfect climate with the most beautiful hillsides and layout of a city I've ever seen. Perfect in the summer and winter. That's all Phoenix is and all it ever will be-- a southern California wannabe. San Diego puts both Denver and Phoenix to shame. Both San Diego and Denver blow Phoenix away when it comes to having a great downtown and walkable neighborhood business districts. Downtown Phoenix and the Central Ave corridor is such a pathetic joke I think Phoenix would actually be a better city if they just bulldozed it. Phoenix does a great job at building suburbs, and has some beatiful suburbs, both old ones and new ones, but when it comes to building urban areas Phoenix absolutely sucks. That's the conclusion I've come to after living here the last 4 years.

BTW, I stand loud and proud, GO BRONCOS!!! They might have their ups and downs (last year was a major disappointment, obviously), but if you think the Cardinals can even remotely match the Broncos... then, you just plain aren't a football fan.

[Patrick754]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

What I find laughable is when many Phoenicians think they are living in paradise, in a "California" like climate, when they're not. I just got back from another trip to San Diego-- and San Diego, not Phoenix, is the benchmark of the perfect climate with the most beautiful hillsides and layout of a city I've ever seen. Perfect in the summer and winter. That's all Phoenix is and all it ever will be-- a southern California wannabe. San Diego puts both Denver and Phoenix to shame. Both San Diego and Denver blow Phoenix away when it comes to having a great downtown and walkable neighborhood business districts. Downtown Phoenix and the Central Ave corridor is such a pathetic joke I think Phoenix would actually be a better city if they just bulldozed it. Phoenix does a great job at building suburbs, and has some beatiful suburbs, both old ones and new ones, but when it comes to building urban areas Phoenix absolutely sucks. That's the conclusion I've come to after living here the last 4 years.

Why are you injecting San Diego into the argument ? This is a Denver versus Phoenix discussion. It would be just as silly if I brought up the fact that Denver's Downtown is a joke compared to Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia etc.

[steve22]

Originally Posted by sberdrow

lived in both Den and PHX and let me tell you, Den is one brown town man.

And Phoenix, by rights, should be a brown town, too, considering that it's in the middle of a desert. But it's not, because there aren't any freakin' watering restrictions. How IDIOTIC is that? At least the city planners who run Denver are smart enough to figure out that it behooves them to practice water conservation methods in a region of the country with such a tenuous water supply situation. Enjoy your green now, cause it won't last.

By the way, I always thought that, when the best thing you can say about a city is that, well, it's close to a lot of other places you'd like to go, that's not a particularly ringing endorsement of said city, now is it? A great place to live, IMO, is one you don't have to leave & drive hundreds of miles in any direction in order to find a nicer place to spend your leisure time.

[Patrick754]

Originally Posted by steve22

By the way, I always thought that, when the best thing you can say about a city is that, well, it's close to a lot of other places you'd like to go, that's not a particularly ringing endorsement of said city, now is it? A great place to live, IMO, is one you don't have to leave & drive hundreds of miles in any direction in order to find a nicer place to spend your leisure time.

This came up in another thread and it seems to be a rather ineffective criticism of Phoenix given the fact that people pile out of most every major metro on the weekends for leisure. Phoenix heads north and east, Denver heads to the Mountains and turns I-70 into a parking lot, Chicago goes to Wisconsin and Michigan, NYC goes to the Hamptons and upstate.