Please help! Does anyone out there like living in Tucson??? (Catalina Foothills: house, unemployed)

[sassypants]

Ok, I will start off by saying that I am a Tucson native. Yes we do exist. I have lived here my whole life except for a few years that I lived in San Diego.

What I have to say here may be repeat as I did not read thru all the posts.

I will start with what is good in my opinion:
Low cost of living. Beautiful Mountains. Summer monsoons-the smell of the desert after the rain is heavenly. Sunsets. Low chance of natural disasters. Very mild winters.

What is bad in my opinion:
Summer is nearly unbearable at times. Seriously don't think about doing anything outside for 5 to 6 months out of the year. Now I know some will chime in about how much the love the heat. But trust me. They are not the majority.

It's a desert. Ok again this is my opinion. Many love the desert and they would put that in the positives. For me it is a negative. Dirt and cactus just aren't pretty to me. The further you get away from the mountains the the less appealing it gets. If you are considering a move, I would look at NW, Oro Valley and the foothills. Those are the prettiest parts of Tucson.

There isn't a lot to do here. If you like to shop, go the the movies and go out to dinner you're set.

As far as crime goes, stay away from the South side and parts of Central and you should be fine.

When it comes to choosing a place to live, it's all very subjective. One man's paradise will be another's hell. It all depends on what you like.

I moved back from San Diego for family reasons. I am now getting ready to leave again. I work for the government and will hopefully be moving to Coastal NC in a few months.

I LOVE the ocean! That's just me. Luckily we live in a big beautiful country with a little bit of something for everyone.

Good luck to you. No Tucson is not that bad. If you're looking for positive, you will find it everywhere you go.

[~PaperMoon~]

Originally Posted by missmouseaz

I loooooove living in Tucson. I've been here for 11 years, and have lived on 4th ave (fun, but noisy), Armory Park (quirky, but EXPENSIVE!) and currently just south of 22nd near 4th. Yes... the scary, scary, scary south-side. And it's the safest I've ever felt in Tucson. In the other two neighborhoods, I frequently had my car windows bashed, bikes stolen, vagrants sleeping in the yard, drunks peeing everywhere.

My current neighborhood is full of quiet, tight-knit families, who look out for each other and the neighborhood at large. And that includes me, the 'rubia'. Keep in mind that when people talk about how 'scary' the southside is, they're usually saying (in reality) how 'brown' the southside is. If you can get past that, you might be pleasantly suprised.

Overall, Tucson is laid-back, friendly, and for 9 months out of the year, the weather is near perfect!

Good post, I feel the same way, I absolutely love it here and I'm glad I moved here.

[sassypants]

I think it's unfair to generalize that people who say the South side has more crime are prejudice.

I grew up on the south side. I know first hand. I would suggest people considering a move do their research. The facts speak for themselves.

[SeaLover]

I lived in Tucson for 8 years, leaving in 1999 for North Carolina; spent years in the Phoenix area and graduated from ASU, as did my wife. I have lived in the Northwest (Seattle), California (Santa Maria), North Carolina, Colorado (18 years), and I can tell you that Tucson has many attributes that other areas of the country can only dream of having. If you love sunshine, golf, tennis, hiking, biking, star gazing, and out-of-this-word Mexican food, Tucson is the place. Also, within easy travel time to Mexican resorts, San Diego, Nevada, mountains, etc. One could do a lot worse. As a matter of fact, having retired, mi espousa and I are planning on moving back to Tucson within a month.
Hasta luego

[actutus]

I lived in Tucson for four months back in 2001, and plan to relocate there long-term with a young family. The question of Tucson really boils down to this: how much do you really love the desert and mountains? Tucson has plenty of weaknesses to go along with its strengths, but if you are enthusiastic about the desert and mountains, you can for the most part tune out the negative aspects of living there. If mountains are something you only care about once a year during ski season, and you feel "If you've seen one cactus, you've seen them all," think hard about moving there.

[Mike_]

Ok, I will chime in although this was posted last year I am sure anyone considering Tucson is reading this. I have been here about 3 months, my Girlfriend about 1. We live in the NW mostly because of where I work (2 minute commute). I did do research on communities and based on the crime rate I cannot say absolutely that the southside of town has more crime. There certainly is more in the central area. I would not choose to live in some of the areas because I don't like the way the neighborhoods are kept. I don't like junk in the yards, rusted fences/gates, don't care for gangs and grafitti. I am lucky enough to make enough that we can live away from that. If I did not make enough to live where we are, I still believe we would be fine in many areas of Tucson.

As for the heat, I do find it very hot many times but, not unbearable. The mornings and nights are still nice and we can still take walks and sit out with the dogs. We think it is a good compromise to have 8+ months of great weather.

We do have some issue with the bugs. Helena got stung by a scorpion (not a great experience), we see many bugs we are unfamilliar with around the house and greatful they are not inside. Have seen several spiders inside. We sprayed for insects and hope it helps.

The biggest concern for right now are the hawks. We are concerned for our little dogs, they do not go out alone.

For the most part people are friendly, they will readilly chat with you but, then are on their way. Not too many want to get really involved. Even our neighbors, we say hi but only if they happen across you. They don't really go out of their way to say hi, seems odd but.....

We have been experimenting with some of the local restaraunts. We do like Nico's Taco.

So after 3 months I like it here, after 1 month Helena thinks she will like it here...

[Ms Joan 2010]

Originally Posted by missmouseaz

You're right - Statistics don't lie. I just went to the TucsonAZ.Gov website crime stats page, and filtered for all violent crimes for the past 7 days. Even a cursory glance at the page will show you that the south side of town (say, between 22nd and Irvington) is no more crime-ridden than the rest of the city. In fact, it looks like a lot less congested than the rest of the map.

All of midtown, and the mid northwest-side, however. Phew! Looks pretty 'scary' to me!

I'm very glad you're not a racist. If you want to pretend that there isn't a strong, historic precedent of villifying black and brown neighborhoods, go ahead. But you and I both know what people really mean when they say they don't want to live 'south of 22nd'.

Thank you for your post. This is a perspective that I am glad someone had the nerve to stand up and post. Kudos to you!!!!!!

I am very brown and still moving to Arizona...

[jksn75]

Originally Posted by Ms Joan 2010

Thank you for your post. This is a perspective that I am glad someone had the nerve to stand up and post. Kudos to you!!!!!!

I am very brown and still moving to Arizona...

There are "brown people" in every single part of this city. They are not limited to the south side of town. You will be welcomed in any part of town you choose to live.

[robabeatle]

I lived in Tucson for ten years and just moved to Laguna Beach. I love Tucson for many reasons: winter, world class road biking, great hiking, low rent, character, 4th ave., sunshine, and I could go on. I worked at BASIS schools which is nationally ranked, check it out for a great school with an amazing culture.
BUT, the summers are not 3 months long, more like 6 months. It really became unbearable, not after 3 years, not even after 6 years, but at about year 8, it just started to get to me. So I decided to try somewhere new. It is much more expensive here in OC, but I can say that it does seem friendlier and many many more people are health conscious here and active which I appreciate. Now, I feel that this will not be my final home as the mountains have always held a special place in my heart but I can see many improvements over Tucson, the biggest minuses are the expensive rent and the overabundance of wealth.
I think living in Tucson is a treat, if only for a few years, enjoy.

[barbeecutee]

Tucson is at the bottom of my "heap" (well put) or list. I miss everything about every other place I've ever lived, esp. the FOUR seasons. Here it's just summer or non-summer and summer sucks. Days on end of 100+ degrees is just a little taste of hell. The sunsets are gorgeous and gas is relatively cheap but those are the only positives I can think of.