Mesa surpasses Long Beach as largest suburb (Miami: suburbs, metro area)

[yukon]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Congratulations to Mesa for being the nation's largest suburb, and also for approaching the status of being Arizona's second largest city in the near future. Too bad it's mostly a blandish overgrown bedroom community, and has little to offer as far as nightlife, jobs, or cultural activities. Tempe would be the closest "suburb" for those things.

I agree, not much in Mesa in the way of nightlife...if you mean bars. Well, we do have bars, but no "bar scene" like Mill Avenue where one can hit several on foot in a short radius. But we have bars.

Jobs aren't as good as PHX or Chandler, but it's not all bleak - Apple, Boeing, Infineon, Bridgestone, Mitsubishi, Textron, and Dexcom all have significant operations in Mesa. I think Chandler has more because developers built the kind of offices that businesses want. For some reason, there's a shortage of light industrial/manufacturing and class A office space in Mesa. I have no idea why.

As for no culture? Have you ever looked at the event calendar for the Mesa Arts Center and the MCC Performing Arts Center? They're the secret gems of Mesa. I'm hoping to catch Stomp and Shen Yuan this year. We have art centers, art shows, and art walks - just like Scottsdale but without the upturned noses. We have festivals and sports games. Downtown Mesa is fun at Christmas. The New Years Eve Extravaganza at the National Comedy Club sounds pretty fun too.

Mesa may not have much that appeals to college age or 20-somethings, but there's plenty to do for the 30 and over crowd. More than most people probably realize.

[HTY483]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Congratulations to Mesa for being the nation's largest suburb, and also for approaching the status of being Arizona's second largest city in the near future. Too bad it's mostly a blandish overgrown bedroom community, and has little to offer as far as nightlife, jobs, or cultural activities. Tempe would be the closest "suburb" for those things.

Thank goodness someone finally said this. Mesa is the worst of the burbs IMO. Heck, even Chandler has little downtown area with a few shops and restaurants.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by HTY483

Thank goodness someone finally said this. Mesa is the worst of the burbs IMO. Heck, even Chandler has little downtown area with a few shops and restaurants.

Many people were hoping the light rail extension would help spur development, but it hasn't happened much in Mesa (or in many parts on the Phoenix section of the line for that matter). Seems like Tempe is the east Valley city which has benefitted the most, but that's largely because it's landlocked, and the only way to grow is upward and inward.

[kttam186290]

Originally Posted by asufan

Being from Orange County I considered Long Beach as just a big suburb. I never considered my OC town a suburb of Long Beach, they are all LA suburbs in my book.

I get what you're saying, but keep in mind that it IS possible for a metropolitan area to have more than one urban center.

Long Beach is actually very urbanized. It is a major port/harbor and center of commerce and industry for Southern California, and really, the Southwest U.S. when you factor in the truck traffic in and out of the port.

Long Beach also has a significant skyline with lots of high rises and office buildings, a world-renowned aquarium, lots of ethnic diversity, a large LGBT population, liberal political activism, a state university branch and a vibrant downtown nightlife. It has pockets of very wealthy (Bixby Knolls, El Dorado Park, Naples Marina, State College, Belmont Shore, etc) and very poor areas (North Long Beach, Hellman, Zaferia, CambodiaTown, etc).

A "suburb" ????

[Pink Jazz]

So, why is Tempe a suburb of Phoenix while Long Beach isn't a suburb of Los Angeles? They both have a downtown skyline and are major employment centers. In fact Tempe has a higher population density than Phoenix. I haven't met anyone who doesn't consider Tempe a suburb of Phoenix.

[DougStark]

To add to this discussion, would you then consider Riverside and San Bernardino suburbs of Los Angeles? Residents of those cities would say "absolutely not."

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by Pink Jazz

So, why is Tempe a suburb of Phoenix while Long Beach isn't a suburb of Los Angeles? They both have a downtown skyline and are major employment centers. In fact Tempe has a higher population density than Phoenix. I haven't met anyone who doesn't consider Tempe a suburb of Phoenix.

Long Beach was already an established city for many years ... in fact, it was even more populous than Phoenix up until the 1960 census. What happened was Los Angeles & Orange Counties grew around it, and it basically became a Los Angeles suburb, even though it's really a city of its own. Tempe was pretty much a small town until about the 1980s, and the rest of the east Valley grew around it & forced it to become landlocked. That's why Tempe has a higher population density, and why it looks & feels like a fairly large city, despite its population still being under 200,000.

Originally Posted by DougStark

To add to this discussion, would you then consider Riverside and San Bernardino suburbs of Los Angeles? Residents of those cities would say "absolutely not."

I'd say they are distant L.A. suburbs, especially since they're part of the Los Angeles consolidated metro area. But there again, both of them (especially San Bernardino) were already established small cities before the eastward suburban sprawl took hold. Now, you can't really tell the difference between Riverside & Moreno Valley, or between San Bernardino & Rialto.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by HTY483

Thank goodness someone finally said this. Mesa is the worst of the burbs IMO. Heck, even Chandler has little downtown area with a few shops and restaurants.

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Many people were hoping the light rail extension would help spur development, but it hasn't happened much in Mesa (or in many parts on the Phoenix section of the line for that matter). Seems like Tempe is the east Valley city which has benefitted the most, but that's largely because it's landlocked, and the only way to grow is upward and inward.

There is some new restaurant development downtown, thanks to the Mesa Arts Center. But, it's been slower coming than it needs to be. There are still redevelopment plans in the works, I think.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by observer53

There is some new restaurant development downtown, thanks to the Mesa Arts Center. But, it's been slower coming than it needs to be. There are still redevelopment plans in the works, I think.

Yes, I know there have been some efforts to revitalize the downtown area, but Mesa is still very much concentrated on suburban type of growth/development. Development of the central core is a lesser priority. The light rail extension hasn't done much of anything for Apache Blvd/Main Street ... still plenty of vacant lots and pretty much an eyesore.

[dtuba]

Originally Posted by kttam186290

Nobody in L.A. or Southern California thinks of Long Beach as a "suburb", to be honest.

Although within L.A. County, it's a city of its own with its own set of suburbs that spill over into Orange County (Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Los Alamitos, etc.)

kttam is correct. Long Beach is a secondary/satellite city of LA. It's the Southland's version of Oakland. Or Tacoma.