Moving to Phx area from WI: Honest Opinion (Phoenix, Mesa: hoa, vacation)

[daaver]

Originally Posted by Nea1

It may not be everyday but it does happen, like this week for example, I have talked to quite a few that say, it happens every year.

I would definitely agree that there are days that go below freezing overnight every year. I'm just saying that if you need more than a hand or two to count them, then it is probably record breaking cold. On the plus side, I can't recall a day ever in Phoenix where the high temperature was anyway near freezing (not to say there haven't been any, ever, or anything. Ever is a mighty long time.) There have been several days so far in my record breaking warm first winter in NYC that I would have done backflips for a 50 degree high, heck, something in 40s would have been fine! If anyone is looking for a place where you don't have to _ever_ deal with an occasional freezing temp, I would recommend Miami, it isn't as hot as Phoenix in the summer, and it isn't as cold in the Winter. And they got beaches

[dusesean1986]

Originally Posted by Nea1

It may not be everyday but it does happen, like this week for example, I have talked to quite a few that say, it happens every year.

Very true, but someone who comes from Wisconsin isn't going to feel cold. There average high in the winter is high 20's to low 30's. I've been to Michigan and I know it's not the same state, but they both receive the Arctic air from the North, and it just goes right through your bones!

[cmist]

As an outsider reading back on forth on your heated debate, I wanted to mediate a little here just for fun.

I am very successful here and my views don't come out of bitterness but its just my perspective.

I believe Phoenix is a good place for those that need & crave routine. Nothing changes from the weather, to anything new they may build. There will never be a *new* and exciting restaurant or store or form of entertainment to come up. Any new construction you see will just be a carbon copy of the same chains they built a few miles away. Or maybe an apartment complex or more new clone houses. Granted, this may be the way the whole country is going, not just Phoenix, but since we don't pre-date this style of growth, that is ENTIRELY what the whole city is...

When you get into downtown, its true there may be a little history there. That little bit of history will cost you an arm & a leg for a fixer upper home, not to mention will get you in a crime-ridden area and force you to shop at "southwest supermarkets". So if you are one of the trendy rich, downtown people, you will be mingling with the lowest of poverty & gangs in the same store and that type of mixing doesn't usually produce a wonderful sense of community.

Nothing that is here really belongs here. Grass, Golf courses, stagnant lakes with stucco homes around them... If the town was to forget to water its landscape for a couple days it would fry & return to the native desert that it is, which would probably be better.

If the only thing that makes a place "ideal" for you is a place that you don't have to "shovel snow" you will have it made.

I will also clarify that it isn't that there is *nothing* to do here... its just that the type of things to do here are as follows.

1. Hiking - you must love hiking so much that you will never get bored of it and you can climb places like lookout mtn., camelback, squaw peak, superstitions, estrellas, etc. as often as your little heart desires.

2. Golfing - If golf is your thing, there are plenty of courses, but most of them are VERY expensive and will cost you. So if you are an affluent golfer that needs nothing other than your little affluent golf community and a closeby course, you can have that type of life here.

3. Eating & Movies - Seems like the most happening place is the movie theatre & restaurants on the weekends. With that in mind, get there at least 2 hours before you are hungry so you can wait like cattle for a table on the weekend. Also bear in mind, you must love chain eateries because unless you venture into the crime ridden central phoenix area, your options will only be typical chain restaurants. At this point, I can taste every dish from every chain restaurant without even having to eat there anymore.

4. Retirement - If you want to find a mass population center of nothing but hoards of OLD people, and you HATE kids, then you will LOVE Sun City and all her sister communities. They even have restrictions on how long the grandkids are allowed to stay to keep the pesky brats out, and better yet, they have plenty of watchdogs that will start the clock ticking the minute they smell someone under 60 in the area.

5. Road trips - to get "somewhere else" other than Phx. Which first off I want to say that the closest ski resort is probably 3 hours, not 1.5 hours... that is serious sugarcoating. From the northernmost part of the city its probably at least 2 hours away by way of speeding to the city limits of Flagstaff and then another half hour or 45 minutes up the mountain behind a chain of slow traveling cars. If you were an hour south into the city, add another hour onto that... Its not 2 hours away from ANYWHERE in phx metro.

With all that said... there are other things to do like any city, such as bowling alleys, bars, mini-golf, whatever, but after so long those get boring if there isn't a sense of belonging to the community, and Phx seems to be so full of people that are coming & going that its difficult to form those strong bonds.

Just my 2 cents....

[dusesean1986]

HAHA LOL...You know what happens to your car when its stolen in Phoenix, the parts are sold in Mexico.

[Nea1]

Originally Posted by dusesean1986

HAHA LOL...You know what happens to your car when its stolen in Phoenix, the parts are sold in Mexico.

or used to smuggle illegals!!!

[cmist]

Originally Posted by Nea1

And while I might not agree with everything you said, atleast you said it constructively and non slandering.

Ya, I'm not trying to bash it here...

but people need to have an interest in more than just finding a place that doesn't have to shovel snow. After all, what are you going to do with all that free time now that you don't have to shovel snow in the winter?

The things I list are things that I really believe you have to like to endure it here over the long haul... You can't just come here cause you "hate" snow and expect to be happy... you also have to LOVE heat, monotony, and the sacrifices that come with this climate.

[dusesean1986]

Originally Posted by cmist

You can't just come here cause you "hate" snow... you also have to LOVE heat and the sacrifices that come with this climate.

Ummm you have to be married to heat! Then you can relax once you get used to her temper..lol

[Nea1]

Originally Posted by cmist

Ya, I'm not trying to bash it here...

but people need to have an interest in more than just finding a place that doesn't have to shovel snow. After all, what are you going to do with all that free time now that you don't have to shovel snow in the winter?

The things I list are things that I really believe you have to like to endure it here over the long haul... you can't just be running away from snow and love it here over the long run... You can't just come here cause you "hate" snow... you also have to LOVE heat and the sacrifices that come with this climate.

I LOVE snow, so I am missing that. But we came for reasons other than weather, and so far so good. I dont want to live the rest of my life here, but I will enjoy it while I am here.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

There you go again, AussieGirl, using flawed statistics. I told you the other day you were wrong. Maybe you missed my post - or it could be that I just forgot to help you. Here's the thing with Morgan-Quitno. They take FBI crime statistics - the latest of which were released a couple days ago - and then take the number of reported crimes in 6 categories from Murder to Auto Theft. All categories are equally weighted. So a murder equals an auto theft. Now then, PHX as I am sure you know has a lot of auto thefts. So does Atlanta but here it is has been elevated to an art form. So do you get it? The auto theft rate drags up the "dangerous city" rating. Nobody likes to get their car stolen and if a person truly values the Beemer it would be better to live in Atlanta than Phoenix. But if they valued their lives the most and didn't want to be murdered, raped, robbed, or aggravatingly assaulted their odds of those terrible things happening to them would be 2-3 times less here in the desert than in Atlanta.

But don't take my word for it. I suggest you check the FBI statistics for 2006. If can't find them, just get a copy of the Atlanta Journal Const. from yesterday. They ran an article informing you all that Atlanta had a shocking INCREASE in its violent crime rate this year, up nearly 5%. The rate in murders went straight through the roof - nearly 20 times the rate of increase in the nation as a whole. Phoenix, on the other hand, barely recorded a blip of increase in its rate - in spite of the serial killers. Should the trend continue through the end of the year, Atlanta will likely regain its claim to shame as one of the top ten most dangerous cities in America - a distinction it had long held in spite of well-documented cooking of the books by a notoriously corrupt police administration(see the AJC again). Do check this out as I know you pride yourself on accurate data. And before you embark on the laborious but obviously quite necessary task of getting your facts straight - check your door locks.

And AG, no need to rush with that review. You can get back to us on the AZ forum in a couple weeks or so. Have a nice holiday.

[dusesean1986]

Phoenix is five months of hot scorpion hole, seven months of pleasant feeling.