How would you describe Phoenix to someone who has never visited? (Mesa: high school, statistics)

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by john3232

How would I describe the Phx metro? Live and let live attitude. A purple state. Largely working class or blue collar where I live (Mesa.) Rush hour freeway traffic sort of like Southern Cal. but not as congested. Hot summers. Mild winters. A good place for a fresh start.

One of my nieces living in Chicago I hear is going through an unpleasant breakup. She's 27 and earns 80k a year.

I've suggest she move here esp. if she can earn roughly the same salary. The trendy areas of Tempe or Phx would be a perfect fit.

People REALLY need to stop using this comparison. We were just out in Pismo Beach last week and had to drive through Los Angeles during rush hour. Even taking the 210 through Pasadena to 101 was backed up for miles. Our traffic is NOTHING like Southern California. We just have fewer choices of freeways to get to a certain destination.

[john3232]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

People REALLY need to stop using this comparison. We were just out in Pismo Beach last week and had to drive through Los Angeles during rush hour. Even taking the 210 through Pasadena to 101 was backed up for miles. Our traffic is NOTHING like Southern California. We just have fewer choices of freeways to get to a certain destination.

I'm was referring to Southern Cal in general. My experience with driving in S. Cal has been the closer I get to LA the more the traffic backs up. The same with leaving LA and heading South. Between 3-7 p.m. for example is a a crawl.

But the freeway traffic in San Diego and the surrounding areas aren't too bad.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

People REALLY need to stop using this comparison. We were just out in Pismo Beach last week and had to drive through Los Angeles during rush hour. Even taking the 210 through Pasadena to 101 was backed up for miles. Our traffic is NOTHING like Southern California. We just have fewer choices of freeways to get to a certain destination.

Oh, you mean if you leave LA on any Friday night going eastbound around 8 PM, you will be stuck in i-210 traffic around Pasadena going 5 MPH? Ask me how I know.

Around specific spots near LA, you only can dodge daily rush hour from about 10:30 am to 1:30 pm and it gets congested again. Therefore, comparing PHX area traffic to LA is like comparing apples to brussel sprouts. I suppose we could because each contains vitamin C. lol

I'm not referring to anyone in specific. But you are right. Re: traffic. there is absolutely no comparison. Even the Bay Area traffic is childsplay in comparison. LA has won the well-deserved award of the "world's worst traffic" for many years in a row. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...206-story.html

[singlegirlinaz]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

People REALLY need to stop using this comparison. We were just out in Pismo Beach last week and had to drive through Los Angeles during rush hour. Even taking the 210 through Pasadena to 101 was backed up for miles. Our traffic is NOTHING like Southern California. We just have fewer choices of freeways to get to a certain destination.

For starters the whole LA area is thousands of square miles and many more millions of people.

Adding to it is their freeways don't have any more lanes than ours and they're old.

If I remember right, Phoenix didn't build freeways until about 30 years ago. Our system is newer and easier to navigate.

These are just some reasons why LA traffic issues are massive and Phoenix traffic is sometimes congested but manageable.

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Oh, you mean if you leave LA on any Friday night going eastbound around 8 PM, you will be stuck in i-210 traffic around Pasadena going 5 MPH? Ask me how I know.

Around specific spots near LA, you only can dodge daily rush hour from about 10:30 am to 1:30 pm and it gets congested again. Therefore, comparing PHX area traffic to LA is like comparing apples to brussel sprouts. I suppose we could because each contains vitamin C. lol

I'm not referring to anyone in specific. But you are right. Re: traffic. there is absolutely no comparison. Even the Bay Area traffic is childsplay in comparison. LA has won the well-deserved award of the "world's worst traffic" for many years in a row. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...206-story.html

Or if you have a 9AM meeting in Santa Monica and have to leave Anaheim Hills at 6AM? So glad I was visiting and not living there.

[singlegirlinaz]

Originally Posted by john3232

I'm was referring to Southern Cal in general. My experience with driving in S. Cal has been the closer I get to LA the more the traffic backs up. The same with leaving LA and heading South. Between 3-7 p.m. for example is a a crawl.

But the freeway traffic in San Diego and the surrounding areas aren't too bad.

San Diego traffic is light compared to both LA and Phoenix.

It's a breeze to drive around San Diego, forget anywhere in LA or even Orange County.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Or if you have a 9AM meeting in Santa Monica and have to leave Anaheim Hills at 6AM? So glad I was visiting and not living there.

If you leave now (and because it is 11 AM), it's 1 hour and 4 minutes. But if you leave around 2PM, double it. I don't know how people do it. I'd go nuts with that kind of traffic.

[john3232]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Me either. If you read my note differently, you misread it. I said that there is a correlation between money spent and services. And when companies spend more money on staff, you get better caliber employees. In just one example of many, let's observe the caliber of Costco staff members as compared to Sam's Club employees doing the same job. IMO, it's not close. That doesn't mean there are not worthless staff at Costco or incredible workers at Sam's. But it correlates. The only question is how much it correlates. In stats, it's called the correlation coefficient.

Stereotypes often happen because correlations are observed. And it's easy to prove correlations exist specifically related to income. You spend more on a property, you have more $ to take care of it (and people might be more particular about cosmetics with their property). Parents who make more money generally were smarter or worked harder. I'm not talking about an example of someone who inherited money. Nor am I dissing a down-to-earth family from Indiana who works hard for their money. I'm saying show me an upper-middle-class neighborhood and compare it to the town I grew up in and there will be vast differences in brainpower, how people act, etc. ON average (a.k.a. a correlation). It is what it is and it shouldn't be up for debate. Follow the money. I'm not snubbing my nose at anyone. I am doing my best to dodge as many knuckleheads as possible. And there are a lot of them roaming this country.

No question a waiter or waitress will kiss ass big time working in high end restaurant where the bill is often in the hundred of dollars. In Pacific Palisades even picking up a pizza requires a nice tip. The same with Starbucks. You see a lot more smiles and eagerness from Starbuck employees than where I live because patrons are quick to toss in a few bucks.

Now... are those living in Pacific Palisades or the posh areas of N. Cal on average smarter than those in E. Mesa? Anecdotal speaking I would say yes. Working as a cooperate lawyer, making it big in country music, inking a 30 million dollar deal with Dream Works production usually require smarts.

But perhaps more important are such people any happier than the large family gatherings I see in Red Mountain park celebrating a child's first birthday, grandmothers birthday or a girls sweet sixteen coming out party? I'm not sure. (To be clear I'm not suggesting you feel money equals happiness.)

On the other hand rock legend David Lee Roth once said, "Money can't buy you happiness but it can buy a yacht big enough to dock along side it." So there you have it.

[pathrunner]

When I lived in North Phoenix/Scottsdale, natives used to tell me how before the 101 was built, people would drive 70-75 mph on the east-west streets (Bell, etc.) Some of them felt that many people haven't gotten out of the habit even after the 101 was built. IMO the drivers are mostly reacting to the backups on the 101 during rush hour.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by john3232

No question a waiter or waitress will kiss ass big time working in high end restaurant where the bill is often in the hundred of dollars. In Pacific Palisades even picking up a pizza requires a nice tip. The same with Starbucks. You see a lot more smiles and eagerness from Starbuck employees than where I live because patrons are quick to toss in a few bucks.

I wasn't necessarily thinking about "high end". Rather, higher end. Higher end places have the money to hire better-caliber people. Call it brainpower or a better work ethic or more polished communication skills or a higher education or ________... Or maybe the combination. Whatever it reason, I prefer it over the last place I lived.

Originally Posted by john3232

But perhaps more important are such people any happier than the large family gatherings I see in Red Mountain park celebrating a child's first birthday, grandmothers birthday or a girls sweet sixteen coming out party? I'm not sure. (To be clear I'm not suggesting you feel money equals happiness.)

Agreed. Money cannot buy you happiness. But not having enough money can make your life miserable. Once you have more money than you need, you just have a better garage sale.