Tucson: The Ugliest City in The West? (Phoenix, Flagstaff: college, living in)

[Zorina]

If you think Tucson is so ugly, I'd like to know what your definition of a good-looking city is if there is such a thing?

[jjbradleynyc]

An ugly city is Detroit, MI--mostly, anyway. Downtown is changing/has changed. But overall, the city is very unattractive. Also, Bridgeport, CT in parts is so blighted and extremely unattractive overall. In the past, the city was beautiful, but mismanagement, corruption, and loss of manufacturing jobs over the past 40 years has resulted in a city that looks like it was forgotten about long ago. Some changes are happening, but overall, the city is very unappealing visually.

[History Eagle]

Let me offer a different perspective. I am originally from the Chicago area. I fell in love with Tucson the first time I saw it. One can find ugliness anywhere if they look long enough. It all depends on that persons state of mind. I agree every city will have it's blemishes but to call Tucson "UGLY"? I say compared to what?

[NY2Cairo]

Originally Posted by eric351982

I am a native Californian who grew up in Portland, Oregon. I've been in Tucson for a year so my partner can earn his masters degree at the U of A. I grew up lower middle class and don't have an ounce of snobbery in me, but I just can't swallow the sprawling nothingness of Tucson. The sprawl is sprawling away from nothing, just sprawling further (or nearer?) to the next Walgreens or Frys? My only frame of reference for a city like this is Bakersfield, CA or Fresno, CA. If they held a contest for the ugliest, worst planned city in the country, my vote would go for my temporary home of Tucson, Arizona.

Yes, yes, and yes. Tucson is the ugliest city. People are drugged into loving Tucson because of the mountains. If you take away the mountains, theres no other reason to be here unless your in the university or the army.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by NY2Cairo

Yes, yes, and yes. Tucson is the ugliest city. People are drugged into loving Tucson because of the mountains. If you take away the mountains, theres no other reason to be here unless your in the university or the army.

He-he, not a fan of Tucson here, but that's a pretty silly statement. If you take away the ocean/sea from many other places, what's left is not going to be much different.

[Bummer]

Originally Posted by History Eagle

Let me offer a different perspective. I am originally from the Chicago area. I fell in love with Tucson the first time I saw it. One can find ugliness anywhere if they look long enough. It all depends on that persons state of mind. I agree every city will have it's blemishes but to call Tucson "UGLY"? I say compared to what?

Great point, History.

Having lived in a number of cities . . . Tucson is definitely in the Top 3 and possibly even higher.

Bottom line . . . UGLY is a State of Mind.

[KC in PT]

I'm visiting in Tucson at the moment up in Saddlebrooke north of the city. I've been here since the end of October. I live in Washington. Regardless of the sprawl, I find the area very beautiful. Amazing sunrise and sunsets. Not to mention the unique plants and wildlife (I never heard of a javelina until I saw one on the golf course. I could do without those darn scorpions though...) Terrific people, too.
If you think it's ugly here, take a trip to the Saguaro National Park. It will change your mind.

[Bummer]

Originally Posted by KC in PT

If you think it's ugly here, take a trip to the Saguaro National Park. It will change your mind.

Great point, KC

Not only beautiful but amazing how those plants survive under such brutal conditions . . . Summer and Winter.

[miamiman]

I admit that Tucson has unique natural beauty, but the primary point of ugliness in Tucson is its built environment.

A lot of the built environment of Tucson looks old and tacky, which is never a good combination. The feeling of newness of the built architecture in Phoenix is absent in Tucson. Some would use that to say that Tucson has "character" and that Phoenix is a cookie-cutter place. I think the old, tacky architecture shows resistance to change.

[socrates1234]

Originally Posted by jeff stratton

Ah yes, Tucson, "The Old Pueblo", the place of my 'coming of age'. I lived there from 1975-2000, having immigrated from the Bay area, and then having raised my children, worked and retired with the City , and owned 3 homes there over that period of time; 22nd/Wilmot, Avra VAlley, and Speedway/Silverbell. My wife invested 40 years of her life there until we moved to Colorado. CAn we say "Old Pueblo Transit Co.", Myerson's Dept stores, Gentle Ben's, the original El Con and Jacome's??

My points are as follows: any city or town is bound to change with time, whether that is real progress or not depends on one's perspective. I read that most of these posts are focused on newcomers or old timers; i.e. comparing Tucson to other cities or comparing Tucson to itself way back when. If you agree that the past is the past, and that there is not a whole lot we can do to retrieve it, then let's deal with the Tucson of today. That Tucson is a metro area of 1 million pop., about 200 sq. miles incorporated, and surrounded by some of America's best scenery. Tucson is the LAnd of America's longest running non-mechanized rodeo parade the Fiesta de Los Vaqueros, the El Tour de Tucson (one of America's premier bike races), and the GeM Show, the world's, yes the World's, greatest gem and mineral shows, running over 40 years now. There are plenty of other events and venues that only Tucson can lay claim to, but these are some of the best.

Balance that, if you will, against a city of high crime rates, low wages but high housing costs, increased traffic and pollution, and an insular, liberal, political base where the former mayor would hand out hams to the homeless as they occupied the state and county government buildings, (late 1980's-early 1990's), and where the increasing desperation of local govt. to create another tax base, Rio Nuevo, is causing huge consternation . Yes, Tucson sunsets are spectacular, the smell of the creosote after a rare rain is pungent, and the food is excellent; MExican, East-Indian, Italian, eclectic, and cowboy steakhouses amongst others. BUt understand this is a city of immense contrasts, an Air Force base not far from a huge University, ghettos/barrios everywhere competing with multi-million $$ foothills homes, and impressive museums covered with grafitti. Tucson's proximity to Mexico down I-19 is telling, the crime patterns are most commonly guns,stolen cars and money going south, drugs and illegal immigrants come north.

This is a city where a dozen years ago 20+ cars a day were being stolen, home invasions and drug rips are now an everyday occurrence,and the homicide stats keep climbing. Snowbirds will brag about their winter holidays in Tucson, but the reality is that most spend their time in the Foothills or scattered in mobile home parks in Pima County, or near Old Tucson, miles from the real Tucson. Unfortunately there is a brain-drain from the U of A, and from medical complexes all over the city, yet Eegee's and Luke's are still thriving.

Tucson today, the real Tucson, is a southwestern metropolis experiencing many pains, eager to move on, yet wanting to invoke its glories of the past, a place where you can experience the best and the worst of life on any day, where you can enjoy mother nature or ephemeral pleasures by day and be burglarized or killed a few hours later. You quickly learn what parts of town you can hang out in, depending on your skin color, and the make of your vehicle. TAke a quick drive up A-Mountain, catch the incredible views and listen to the gunfire, far off and up close.

I could go on, but suffice it to say, by all means visit Tucson if you think you wanna live there, but expect to apply for a Concealed Weapons Permit soon. Ride your bike across town, but expect several near misses in traffic, until you are fatally run over. Enjoy the local chimichangas until you read the state is accusing them of being filled with horse meat. Enjoy those beautiful sunrises until they burn your eyes while stuck in endless I-10 traffic, and remember that the only way to get thru life along the border is to get a bumper sticker that exhorts "CACA PASA".

You can say all this about most cities in the Southwest. Blame it all on weak local and state gov'ts, and a complacent, transient population, and developers able to build and change at will......nothing happens in a vacuum.