East Valley vs. West Valley (Scottsdale, Sun City: college, live, wealthy)

[ibarrio]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Gilbert may be losing that honor with the murders there this summer.

Most likely will drop from the top spot, but it was an isolated incident caused by a crazy person. Now, does Gilbert's ultra rightwing conservative atmosphere attract these fringe characters?

[S. Chris Webb]

"Almost all the lower income, high crime areas are in West Phoenix and Glendale"

I suspect you haven't been north of say, Thunderbird Road, for a while. There is a lot more to "West Phoenix" and Glendale (and nearby Peoria) than many people in the East Valley seem to think. Some of the Valley's most desired, higher income, lower crime, neighborhoods are in these cities. Even the areas of Phoenix and Glendale that you are most likely thinking of, have nice pockets. These areas do have a lot of the Valley's older, less expensive homes so of course lower income folks (most of whom are friendly, law-abiding citizens, which needs to be added) are going to be attracted to live there. That doesn't make the entire cities that way. There are neighborhoods and individuals in every town and city in the Valley that have lower income housing and higher crime than is typical for the Valley as a whole.

That said, many people prefer the West side because you get more bang for your buck as far as real estate goes. Part of the reason for this may be due to stereotypes that are propagated in threads like this.

[El_Waiboi]

Originally Posted by S. Chris Webb

"Almost all the lower income, high crime areas are in West Phoenix and Glendale"

I suspect you haven't been north of say, Thunderbird Road, for a while. There is a lot more to "West Phoenix" and Glendale (and nearby Peoria) than many people in the East Valley seem to think. Some of the Valley's most desired, higher income, lower crime, neighborhoods are in these cities. Even the areas of Phoenix and Glendale that you are most likely thinking of, have nice pockets. These areas do have a lot of the Valley's older, less expensive homes so of course lower income folks (most of whom are friendly, law-abiding citizens, which needs to be added) are going to be attracted to live there. That doesn't make the entire cities that way. There are neighborhoods and individuals in every town and city in the Valley that have lower income housing and higher crime than is typical for the Valley as a whole.

That said, many people prefer the West side because you get more bang for your buck as far as real estate goes. Part of the reason for this may be due to stereotypes that are propagated in threads like this.

I think this is an excellent and un-biased post. Respect to S. Chris Webb on this one.

I just want to add that since Phoenix city proper is such a huge land area, that it is even hard to define the city by "West Side", or "East Side" etc... For example, the West Side is so huge that you can have vastly different neighborhoods that are both considered the West Side. I.E. 35th Ave & Van Buren is W/S Phoenix, but then again, so is 51st Ave & Bell Rd, and those those two neighborhoods are extremely different.

Or 16th St & Roosevelt is E/S PHX, but then again so is the Biltmore area, so the term "E/S" is a little too general.

I can understand isolating a certain neighborhood or maybe even zip code, but to demonize an entire quadrant of the city due to a few "bad apple" neighborhoods is not portraying an accurate picture of Phoenix; and this is mostly important for the people who browse these forums from out of state with the idea of moving here. Since they are not here, they have no choice other than to believe what we have written here, for that reason I believe it is our obligation to paint an accurate picture of the city for these people, as they may uproot and bring their money here and help grow our economy.

[mearann1990]

I wanna get the hell out of Los Angeles. Rather than move somewhere around here, I've been liking the idea of Arizona...ideally Scottsdale. I hear a lot of good things about that city, and I've been there before and people there are ten times nicer and laid back than the people out here. Is there anything else I should know before I consider making the move?

[observer53]

Originally Posted by mearann1990

I wanna get the hell out of Los Angeles. Rather than move somewhere around here, I've been liking the idea of Arizona...ideally Scottsdale. I hear a lot of good things about that city, and I've been there before and people there are ten times nicer and laid back than the people out here. Is there anything else I should know before I consider making the move?

There are so many threads here already about Scottsdale. Use the search function at the top of the page and you will find threads with all sorts of information, a discussion about Scottsdale alone and whether it's the right choice for you is off topic for this thread.

[observer53]

Multiple posts deleted. Off topic, off topic bickering between two posters, orphaned posts.

The person who revived this

[observer53]

Multiple posts deleted. Off topic posts and resulting orphaned posts, and a string of off topic bickering posts between two posters.

Stick to the topic, please. Thanks!

[jdahunt]

I came across an article a couple of days ago and the auther was stating that there is now more millionaires in Sun City then there is in Scottsdale...does anyone know if that is true.

I will try and find the story.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by jdahunt

I came across an article a couple of days ago and the auther was stating that there is now more millionaires in Sun City then there is in Scottsdale...does anyone know if that is true.

I will try and find the story.

I have heard this before, but I'm not sure if it was in an article, or where it would be found online. There very well could be a higher PERCENTAGE of millionaires in Sun City than in Scottsdale, but you have to consider that Sun City (population 40,000) is much smaller than Scottsdale (population 220,000). Sun City is made up almost entirely of elderly retirees who accumulated their wealth through many many years of scrimping & saving. Scottsdale is much more diverse & has a higher combination of wealthy, middle, and working class.

So while there might be more people in Sun City who have a net worth of $1 million or more, many are living very frugal lives. Scottsdale is a much different scene: you have millionaires and lots of "wannabe" millionaires who are living lavishly. Basically, two different worlds: Sun City is for retirees who want a quiet lifestyle, and Scottsdale is for those who like to live it up.

[mjd2k]

Rather than argue this forever, can't we just let it die and all agree...West is best, east is least . OK Moderator, quick, close this thread.