Desirable vs. safe in Phoenix metro area (Glendale, Peoria: apartments, house)

[badestdudeintown]

After reading a lot of the threads on this board, i could easily see how someone researching moving to Phoenix could get discouraged with all the negativity regarding some areas of the Phoenix metro area.

I think part of it is that people are confusing "safe" with "desirable". I've lived here since 1993, and i honestly can count the number of times i felt unsafe on one hand. There are plenty of areas that i would consider undesirable, as in i wouldn't purchase a home there. But many of these areas i would feel completely comfortable running up to the local Circle-K to grab something at 2am. With that said, i don't generally find myself hanging out in Maryvale or South Phoenix very often... but how many other areas would you REALLY feel unsafe? Besides, those are really the only two areas i think i would feel unsafe in. Even sunnyslope isn't THAT bad. I think petty theft crimes are the biggest problem. I've had quite a few car stereos stolen, the same car stolen twice, and other random stupid stuff, but never anything violent. Overall, i find the Phoenix metro area to feel pretty darn safe for as large of a city as it is.

By the way, i've always lived on the westside in generally pretty good areas, N. Glendale (51st ave & Union Hills), N. Phoenix (35th ave & Bell), Surprise (Reems & Bell and 114th ave and Bell, where i currently live), and Peoria (79th ave & Tbird). I think the problem east siders have with the westside stems from the fact that they drive west, hit 35th ave and Camelback, get scared, and turn around They never get to see how nice it gets once you go nw from there.

Oh, and i've only been shot at once the entire time i lived here (they weren't after me, they were doing a drive by on a bar that kicked them out and i just happened to be standing there) and guess where it was... on the EAST SIDE


P.S. after re-reading this, i realized that the amount of crime i've experienced goes against the point i'm trying to make... keep in mind that those incidents occured over a 15 year period

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by badestdudeintown

P.S. after re-reading this, i realized that the amount of crime i've experienced goes against the point i'm trying to make... keep in mind that those incidents occured over a 15 year period

No kidding! All that in 15 years? I have been here much longer than that and all I have had stolen is a lawn mower from my front lawn (east side). The only times I feel unsafe (and that is really the wrong word - nervous is more like it) is driving around here with the all the hotheads with guns in the cars. Otherwise, I never even think about personal safety here.

I think most cities are like this, though. Crime is concentrated in certain areas and outside of that it's random property stuff or people who know each other doing bad things to each other.

[badestdudeintown]

I think my problem is that i've spent a lot of the time living in apartments, which are like shopping malls for car stereo thieves.

[badestdudeintown]

Here's a good example of what i'm talking about.. i was just at Metro Center the other day, because they had a Deck The Walls, which apparently isn't there anymore I just bought a house recently, and needed some art.. oh well. So anyway, i've been to Metro a million times. Everyone talks about how horrible and dangerous that mall has become. But how bad is it really? It has certainly gotten worse since back when i used to hang out there in high school, in '94 or '95, but i've never felt in danger for my life. I did, however, see a car get stolen right in front of me while i was driving around looking for a spot. We were gonna call the cops and circle around to see if we could block them, or at least get the license plate number, but they were gone in, well, 60 seconds

So anyway, this just shows what i'm talking about... the "bad" areas that everyone talks about in Phoenix do certainly have their issues, but those issues are usually petty stuff like car theft. I ran into a guy at the bar tonight that just moved here from L.A., and he was talking about living about 10 minutes from Watts and Compton. He now lives right around 51st ave and T-bird, which i would consider a very average middle-middle class area, and he was talking about how it was so peaceful, and actually used the word "paradise" to describe his experience here so far. And that's the point i guess... The bad here isn't the same as it is there, or in a number of places back east. I grew up in a suburb of Chicago, and i remember driving through neighborhoods where all off their windows were the thick block glass, because they're more bullet proof. I don't know of anywhere in Phoenix like that.

So, should you buy a house near Metro Center? Probably not, although if it was all you could afford, you'll survive, it's not that bad. Should you be afraid to go there? No! Just lock your car