Phoenix metro is getting too big IMO (Mesa, Chandler: transplants, real estate)

[Ztonyg]

Originally Posted by new2colo

There was a football game yesterday that made traffic unusually heavy on the 10. If you admittedly stick to your enclave for your needs, what does it matter how big the city is? I drive all over the Valley for various reasons and I don't think the city is that big. I don't feel like I'm in a city with 4.5 million people except during rush hour. I will agree that the metro area is spread out. I find that I do become restless if I have to drive all the way across the Valley. Cities like Houston are much worse though.

The metro area is spread out but it's a heck of a lot easier to get around than the Detroit area (with a similar population). The freeways here actually go places where people want to go. Once the snowbirds leave, traffic is a total breeze.

[Leaving Arizona]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Verge? LOL. As far as I am concerned it was about right in 1980 and in the population boom around 1990 became unlivable. I kept moving out further to get away from the congestion, but it just keeps coming to me.

This. Phoenix is now a smaller, less cultured Los Angeles with less to offer... and this is coming from someone who hates L.A. Boooooring.

[azdr0710]

if you moved here from somewhere else, you are part of the problem....no whining allowed.....

"Phoenix was perfect the day I moved here....been going downhill ever since"

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

if you moved here from somewhere else, you are part of the problem....no whining allowed.....

"Phoenix was perfect the day I moved here....been going downhill ever since"

That's not what people are saying and is simply dismissive of a serious discussion. In my own case, I said it became too many people twenty years after I got here. Population more than doubled in that time. Along with it came a lot of good things that improved the quality of life in general. There's a limit. There comes a time when more is too many and we are there or well beyond. It the law of diminishing returns. New residents bring more problems than opportunities now. They are poisoning the well and I wish that the rate of growth could be curtailed. I doubt it will be. I am hoping to do my part by leaving, but that is not working out too well.

[stevek64]

I think labeling a metro or city as being "too big" is relative and in the eye of the beholder and very subjective. I've known some people who grew up on a rural farm and view a city of 40k people as a big city while some who grew up in a Burrough of NYC would probably look at a city of 200k people in a suburban city spread out a bit as fairly small. Given this, for those who feel the Phoenix metro and all its suburbs, far flung or close to the city core, are too big and dislike such a thing where it impacts their quality of life in a big way, I think it's time to move. Especially given the growth projections of the Phoenix metro over the coming decades. Arizona and many other states have small towns/rural towns in the middle of nowhere or on the outskirts of big cities galore so it's all quite achievable. And in a wide variety of price ranges. Work/jobs and other factors are a big thing I know in keeping many in a given area but I've always believed if a place is really that distasteful to one, I believe life's too short to stay in a place they are unhappy in just for the sake of maintaining a good salary.

[pbenjamin]

I look at it the opposite way. When we first moved here in the late 70s it was too small. Eventually it grew up to include many of the amenities that we enjoy today such as major league sports and a thriving restaurant scene. I don't see that traffic congestion is any worse than it was when we had only one freeway. The only negative that comes to mind is the water scarcity caused by all of the additional people.

[JGMotorsport64]

Phoenix possesses one of my least favorite quality in a city. It grows but it doesn't necessarily get better. It sprawls further, it gets more congested, it gets more polluted, and thanks to water scarcity for additional residents we're starting to curtail some of the QOL items we enjoyed thanks to water sourcing (green lawns, agriculture, etc.). It's not even growth, its mindless growth at the expense of the Sonoran Desert in favor of pink rock lawns, navajo white crackerboxes and terra cotta roofing, of course with the requisite mini malls, that one shopping center w/ Target, JoAnns, Michael's, Ross, McDonald's repeating itself every few miles. That all of the neighborhoods seem to have the same 3 words worked in different directions: over there is Valley Canyon Ranch, down there is Valley Ranch Canyon and across the street is Ranch Canyon Valley. . .

Do I like Phoenix? Sure, I have to at this point. I liked Phoenix a lot more about 20 years ago.

[azriverfan.]

Even from the 1990's, the city has improved and become more of a "real city" and I think it's only getting better. Back then it had too much of a cowboy western feel and definitely was small in every regard both in terms of the physical size of the city and population. To me the city could still grow and add amenities. We could use a 2nd airport, an amusement park, an expanded light rail that reaches the suburbs, a bigger arts scene, a bustling downtown with more corporate jobs and real living communities.

It's relative and depends on your background. I from L.A. so Phoenix still feels small but if I was from a smaller city or town , Phoenix would feel like it's gotten too big. I love the direction the city is going and only want to see more. In the past the NIMBY's got in the way but as more people like me move here, we will continue to grow and get bigger and better things.

[PCALMike]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

Even from the 1990's, the city has improved and become more of a "real city" and I think it's only getting better. Back then it had too much of a cowboy western feel and definitely was small in every regard both in terms of the physical size of the city and population. To me the city could still grow and add amenities. We could use a 2nd airport, an amusement park, an expanded light rail that reaches the suburbs, a bigger arts scene, a bustling downtown with more corporate jobs and real living communities.

It's relative and depends on your background. I from L.A. so Phoenix still feels small but if I was from a smaller city or town , Phoenix would feel like it's gotten too big. I love the direction the city is going and only want to see more. In the past the NIMBY's got in the way but as more people like me move here, we will continue to grow and get bigger and better things.

Where should the metro area grow towards though? Towards Carefree, Anthem and Wittman?

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Leaving Arizona

This. Phoenix is now a smaller, less cultured Los Angeles with less to offer... and this is coming from someone who hates L.A. Boooooring.

Comparing the PHX area to LA is any category is silly especially relating to congestion. LA area is out of control and typically ranked the #1 worst area for traffic. The traffic is a nightmare 2 hours before and after rush hour here. It is easy to understand by simply looking at the population density. The greater LA area is 18.5 million people or around 4X larger.

PHX traffic and congestion is child's-play! See New report details Phoenix-area's traffic congestion . LA is #1, PHX is ranked #40.