Arizona cities, Phoenix, Tucson & Mesa: How they compare to El Paso,TX (Scottsdale: environment)

[1979]

In the southwest I am only familiar with El Paso, which is very desert like, mountainous, has tons of strip malls and fast food restaurants. El Paso is also somewhat depressed. The houses mostly all look alike, with everything in them looking like it came from Home Depot. How do cities in Arizona compare with El Paso? Is Phoenix, Mesa or Tucson more picturesque? How is traffic?

Is the desert vegetation similar? I know there are no seguaro cactus here, few Canary Island palms. El Paso has mostly Mexican fan palms and pear cactus.

[sablebaby]

Moved to Phx forum for better viability.

[ibarrio]

Phoenix is very cookie cutter city but does have it's areas of uniqueness.

Mesa is a suburb and looks like suburbs look...

Overall, I think Tucson is a better looking city then Phoenix or El Paso.

How I rank the cities of the southwest (In terms of how it looks). I left off towns like Sedona,Az and Ruidoso, NM because they are small towns...

1. Santa Fe/Taos
2. San Antonio
3. Las Cruces/Mesilla
4. Tucson
5. Scottsdale
6. Albuquerque
7. Phoenix
8. El Paso

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by ibarrio

Phoenix is very cookie cutter city but does have it's areas of uniqueness.

Mesa is a suburb and looks like suburbs look...

Overall, I think Tucson is a better looking city then Phoenix or El Paso.

How I rank the cities of the southwest (In terms of how it looks). I left off towns like Sedona,Az and Ruidoso, NM because they are small towns...

1. Santa Fe/Taos
2. San Antonio
3. Las Cruces/Mesilla
4. Tucson
5. Scottsdale
6. Albuquerque
7. Phoenix
8. El Paso

The Tucson foothills are nice: the metro areas of that town look 'ghetto' to me at least----------especially factoring in the overpriced housing and low wage jobs. I do not like slamming Tucson either; I suspect it was indeed much nicer 25 years ago.

As for Phx proper: I like the older enclaves between downtown (south) Sunnyslope (north) 15th Ave (west) and 56th St (east) for the most part............sidewalks, mature vegetation, etc.

[miamiman]

Tucson is the nicest city by far. Tucson actually embraces it's natural environment, has more majestic mountains, and has nicer areas than many people here in the Phoenix area give it credit for. Tucson is the most similar to El Paso. The housing stock in some Tucson neighborhoods is quite old, which can give the city a "worn" look, similar to many older neighborhoods in El Paso. Some people mistake this for being "ghetto," just because the houses aren't all tile-roofed, stucco boxes like a good part the Phoenix metro is. The climate of El Paso and Tucson are the most similar, however Tucson has longer, hotter summers and much warmer winters. Tucson feels like it has a much richer hisotry than Phoenix, and embraces it's Hispanic and Native American history more, as well.

Phoenix is a much larger city than El Paso or Tucson, and is pretty much Los Angeles without anything that makes Los Angeles enjoyable. The economic picture in Phoenix is better than Tucson and El Paso; that's not saying much, though. Phoenix is larger, so there is a more diverse job market.

Mesa is pretty much what would happen if you took Tucson's worst attributes and transported them into a setting like Phoenix's. No thanks.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by miamiman

Tucson is the nicest city by far. Tucson actually embraces it's natural environment, has more majestic mountains, and has nicer areas than many people here in the Phoenix area give it credit for. Tucson is the most similar to El Paso. The housing stock in some Tucson neighborhoods is quite old, which can give the city a "worn" look, similar to many older neighborhoods in El Paso. Some people mistake this for being "ghetto," just because the houses aren't all tile-roofed, stucco boxes like a good part the Phoenix metro is. The climate of El Paso and Tucson are the most similar, however Tucson has longer, hotter summers and much warmer winters. Tucson feels like it has a much richer hisotry than Phoenix, and embraces it's Hispanic and Native American history more, as well.

Phoenix is a much larger city than El Paso or Tucson, and is pretty much Los Angeles without anything that makes Los Angeles enjoyable. The economic picture in Phoenix is better than Tucson and El Paso; that's not saying much, though. Phoenix is larger, so there is a more diverse job market.

Mesa is pretty much what would happen if you took Tucson's worst attributes and transported them into a setting like Phoenix's. No thanks.

I mostly agree with this assessment, although now that I actually live in LA I've found that Phoenix, though it's often compared to LA, is actually better than LA in a lot of ways. Tucson is great-- if you can find the right job there and make it work financially. To that I would also suggest the OP look at ABQ as a possible consideration. Although strange to hear this coming from you, miamiman-- sounds like an about-face from what you used to say. I thought you used to say Phoenix was the best place on earth and Tucson sucked?

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by miamiman

Tucson is the nicest city by far. Tucson actually embraces it's natural environment, has more majestic mountains, and has nicer areas than many people here in the Phoenix area give it credit for. Tucson is the most similar to El Paso. The housing stock in some Tucson neighborhoods is quite old, which can give the city a "worn" look, similar to many older neighborhoods in El Paso. Some people mistake this for being "ghetto," just because the houses aren't all tile-roofed, stucco boxes like a good part the Phoenix metro is. The climate of El Paso and Tucson are the most similar, however Tucson has longer, hotter summers and much warmer winters. Tucson feels like it has a much richer hisotry than Phoenix, and embraces it's Hispanic and Native American history more, as well.

Phoenix is a much larger city than El Paso or Tucson, and is pretty much Los Angeles without anything that makes Los Angeles enjoyable. The economic picture in Phoenix is better than Tucson and El Paso; that's not saying much, though. Phoenix is larger, so there is a more diverse job market.

Mesa is pretty much what would happen if you took Tucson's worst attributes and transported them into a setting like Phoenix's. No thanks.

Each to their own.

As for the newer enclaves here in the Phx area.............I have no use for then either. I vastly prefer central Phoenix between downtown and Sunnyslope and the Scottsdale border and 15th Ave.

[SlowHeavyGroove]

I lived in El Paso for 28 years......it is a **** hole and will always be a **** hole....scarce jobs, low paying when they are to be found(On the border....yer ****ed)...dirty......poorly planned, ugly, behind the times, doesn't have even the most common of restaurants, stores(and lack of common ones.....a typical Wal Mart visit will make you want to kill all of humanity be cause it's so crowded and over run, line waits at about 1/2 an hour minimum) , etc........no vision for the future....nothing to do.....the only plus for El Paso is the low crime rate...one would think being right on the border crime would be thru the roof, but it is insanely low and the Mexican food....The entire Phx area is insanely beautiful compared to El Paso........we have everything under the sun in terms of stores, jobs(I say this because comapred to El Paso, this place is job mecca), things to do(again...a mecca)...looks 500% better.....crime sucks.....the Mexican food sucks(Yeah, it sucks here......comapred to El
Paso...like really bad........none of you have ever had real Mexican food it seems)...other than that everything else kicks ass. El Paso is a dead end town......nothing changes, it always sucks, and I was one of the last of all my friends to leave.....but we all did eventually. And none of us have ever looked back. If you're using El Paso as a comaprison point......wipe it off....because it compares to nothing less than hell.

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

I mostly agree with this assessment, although now that I actually live in LA I've found that Phoenix, though it's often compared to LA, is actually better than LA in a lot of ways. Tucson is great-- if you can find the right job there and make it work financially. To that I would also suggest the OP look at ABQ as a possible consideration. Although strange to hear this coming from you, miamiman-- sounds like an about-face from what you used to say. I thought you used to say Phoenix was the best place on earth and Tucson sucked?

No, I've always thought that Tucson was a nice place. The infrastructure could use a severe overhaul and some economic development wouldn't hurt, but other than that it's still nicer than a lot of other cities. Phoenix and Tucson are so different, but there are aspects of both that are unique and enjoyable.

When I say that Phoenix is pretty much Los Angeles without anything that makes Los Angeles enjoyable, I am referring primarily to Phoenix's lack of recreation (besides hiking), nightlife, entertainment for people of all ages, and diversity. I will stick up for Phoenix when someone launches into uncontrollable fits of verbal diarrhea about the area, especially when it is clear that they have never been here. Still, the pollution, the general lack of sophistication in many respects, and the repeated failed attempts to make Central Phoenix hip while wasting tons of money, are all elements I can do without.

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by ArizonaBear

Each to their own.

As for the newer enclaves here in the Phx area.............I have no use for then either. I vastly prefer central Phoenix between downtown and Sunnyslope and the Scottsdale border and 15th Ave.

I agree with you there. The established neighborhoods in Phoenix are very nice. Sunnyslope and Arcadia definitely have the feel that I would like more neighborhoods in Phoenix to have. However, the random streets throughout Phoenix that are filled with these tile-roofed, stucco-clad huts do not do anything to enhance the city. If there was some architectural variety even, I could accept that. Oh well.