A Tale of Two Tucsons? (Oro Valley, Pima: low income, sales, houses)

[ToursLepantovienna]

My research suggests there are 2 radically different Tucsons:

(1) The exurban Tucson of gorgeous mountain and desert vistas, plentiful sunshine and blue skies, lush golf courses, upscale homes, swimming pools, tennis courts, etc. enjoyed by well-off retirees who dwell in various towns ringing Tucson, but almost never venture into the city itself.

(2) The urban Tucson of desperate poverty, homelessness, rampant violent and property crime, unrelenting heat, drug dealing, dead-end jobs, potholed streets, rundown neighborhoods, incompetent political leadership, etc., populated by impoverished or addicted people unable to better their circumstances.

How accurate is this assessment?

[steiconi]

I think there's a lot more crossover than you think; affordable places in beautiful settings, expensive homes in the city.

[carnivalday]

I dont think theres hardly any city of that size that you can't say the same about.

[ArniBoy]

...You can extend the incompetent political leadership to both 1 and 2.

[grmi66]

This is your first post on CD, so tough to tell where you plan on taking this. But in very general terms your assessment is correct. I was a geography major at the U of A with an emphasis on demographic movement and urban planning. Remember one of my urban planning professors joking that Tucson was essentially the northernmost city in Mexico back in the 1990's.

There are some pockets of high income neighborhoods within the Tucson city limits, though the real money is north in the foothills , NW Tucson and Oro Valley.

For work the other day I had to spend some time in the 85711 zip code which is pretty much dead center for the metro area. Roughly Broadway and Swan and surrounding areas. The median family income is $41,000. This is almost half as much as the average median family income in my neighborhood in 85742, which is $79,000.

My take is that Tucson has low income, it has high income but lacks much of a middle class. Personal opinion and observation here, in the 1990's it was quite possible to have a family income of $40-$50,000 due to a dual income of two retail workers. It was enough to buy a house. The appliance sales people at Sears, the electronic sales people at Circuit City, being a manager at a bike shop, etc... Tucson had a lot of retail and service jobs that paid $20,000 or more a year in 1992. Most of my circle of friends fell into this category. One friend managed a bike shop and his wife was a teacher, together they made $45,000 which got you a decent house in a mid-town neighborhood. Those days are over, being a retail manager or sales person doesn't pay much more than they did 30 years ago.

[trailtramp]

Original post could be a reference to hundreds of cities in the US

[grmi66]

They made three posts and disappeared. Don't know if they were trolling us or what.

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by ToursLepantovienna

My research suggests there are 2 radically different Tucsons:

(1) The exurban Tucson of gorgeous mountain and desert vistas, plentiful sunshine and blue skies, lush golf courses, upscale homes, swimming pools, tennis courts, etc. enjoyed by well-off retirees who dwell in various towns ringing Tucson, but almost never venture into the city itself.

(2) The urban Tucson of desperate poverty, homelessness, rampant violent and property crime, unrelenting heat, drug dealing, dead-end jobs, potholed streets, rundown neighborhoods, incompetent political leadership, etc., populated by impoverished or addicted people unable to better their circumstances.

How accurate is this assessment?

Generalizations come all too easy to the intellectually lazy!

No matter where I've lived I've been a dyed-in-the-wool Centralite, whether it be Denver, Minneapolis or Las Vegas., I would have to take some classes as how to behave if I lived outside the central core.

It's happening all over the country as it was prophesized years ago: Our suburbs are our future slums. Think San Bernardino, which filed for bankruptcy a few years ago. Or how about Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis!

I live in such a dream location in Tucson I can walk to Crossroads Festival @Swan/Grant and walking distance to TMC's Emergency Room, and I can survive without a car here.

I take long walks with my ferret at night, down to Pima, over to Swan, over to Craycroft and I love looking at these well-kept brick houses in Midtown, as opposed to the wooden fire traps in the suburbs.

The conditions of the roadways in Tucson should give you an idea of what roadways in most cities will look like some day. Tucson is just ahead of the pack, or call it a leader?

[Oklazona Bound]

Originally Posted by ToursLepantovienna

My research suggests there are 2 radically different Tucsons:

(1) The exurban Tucson of gorgeous mountain and desert vistas, plentiful sunshine and blue skies, lush golf courses, upscale homes, swimming pools, tennis courts, etc. enjoyed by well-off retirees who dwell in various towns ringing Tucson, but almost never venture into the city itself.

(2) The urban Tucson of desperate poverty, homelessness, rampant violent and property crime, unrelenting heat, drug dealing, dead-end jobs, potholed streets, rundown neighborhoods, incompetent political leadership, etc., populated by impoverished or addicted people unable to better their circumstances.

How accurate is this assessment?

The unrelenting heat occurs all over the Tucson metro area. And the sunshine and blue skies are for all as well as the views.



As far as Tucson goes I always tell people north of River Road or East of Pantano you cannot go wrong in Tucson. Outside of those areas it is hit and miss.

[tijlover]

^^

Someone definitely needs to do more exploring of the Midtown/Sam Hughes area, and then it will be much more difficult to generalize.